The last Leg of the first Ten

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Traveling in tenths The last Leg of the first Ten
日29
Ho Chi Minh (Saigon), Vietnam
2016年4月17日, ベトナム ⋅ ⛅ 35 °C
Ho Chi Minh is the first city I have visited so far where I could see myself living. Perhaps it is because it is so westernized. Perhaps it is because people of this beautiful city walk their dogs on a leash, as opposed to keeping them in tiny cages for eating them later. Ho Chi Minh's people are friendly! I got stopped by students wanting to learn English, and ended up teaching then the basic Salsa dance step in a square in the middle of the city. And while I watched a rehearsal for typical music by a group of women drummers at the same square, I had a nice chat with a different group of college students about environmental awareness in the country. Environmental awareness and well treated dogs. Of course this is my favorite city so far! And since I didn't take many pictures, I'll spare you the "good food" section on this entry. I will only say that I bought lots of coffee before leaving.
Here I visited the Independence palace and the war museum, as well as the Notre dame cathedral and the historical post office. All the tourist attractions are within walking distance from each other, and they can all be seen in one day. The independence palace's bunker is very impressive. Exhibits of the communication equipment and the strategic maps used during the Vietnam war are shown. The war museum was a humbling experience. Granted it shows a very one sided view of what the Vietnam war was and how it came about. But most of it is pictures. And pictures don't lie. I teared up in there and it took me a few hours to overcome the shock of the explicit images shown. The terror in people's faces portrayed in some images will stay with me forever. I left the museum feeling so much admiration for the Vietnamese people. Not because they won the war. But because they were able to forgive and move on after such horrific events. They could have dwelled They could have become a nation of complainers and resentful people. Instead, western tourists walk around the streets of all Vietnamese cities, and they are not only allowed to come vacation here as much as they want, but local people (especially in the south) are kind and welcoming, and striving to learn their language. Amazing!もっと詳しく
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Traveling in tenths The last Leg of the first Ten
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- 死ぬまでにやっておきたいことリストに追加死ぬまでにやっておきたいことリストから削除
- 共有
- 2016/04/19
- ☀️ 14 °C
- 海抜: 海水位
- カンボジア Koh Kong Phumĭ Kaôh Rŭng Sâmlœ̆m Khnŏng Baie de Saracen 10.58216, 103.3228510°34’56” N 103°19’22” E
日31
Koh Rong Samloem, Cambodia
2016年4月19日, カンボジア ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C
A place to do nothing but to watch the sun rise and set, float in the water and swim with fluorescent dinoflagellates in the middle of the night. I will let the pictures speak for themselves :)
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Traveling in tenths The last Leg of the first Ten
日34
Siem Reap, Cambodia
2016年4月22日, カンボジア ⋅ ⛅ 36 °C
Siem Reap is home to Angkor Wat and other majestic temples.

There is also a big and unusually organized night market. Instead of nocturnal stands along a long street, Siem reap's night market is distributed mostly in permanent stands across the street from each other, which open mostly only at night, but also during the day. There is also a day market (the "old" market) where you can find almost anything you find at the night market.
I had some wonderful amok here. And lots of fruit shakes for a dollar. I also had a wonderful massage. The city is very much organized around tourism with big fancy hotels, casinos and restaurants.

A tuk tuk took us to Angkor wat for sunset, and for sunrise the next day. To my surprise, the temples weren't horribly crowded in the morning, and we managed to walk and tuk tuk around for about 8 hours without much interference. It was insanely hot, but our sweet tuk tuk driver kept us alive by offering us cold water at the exit of every temple.

Cambodia is without a doubt the poorest of all the countries I've been to is SEA. There are many many children working around the temples, selling postcards, magnets and books about the site's history. Children as your as the age of 3 years old are all alone, or only accompanied by other children trying to survive from tourists. As almost every place I've seen so far in this continent, the beauty of its history and architecture is countered by a very harsh reality. Child labor, extreme animal cruelty, prostitution and complete lack of environmental awareness are widespread and deeply rooted here.

I spent my last three days in Siem Reap, and in Cambodia, and in South East Asia, in a yoga and meditation retreat place called Angkor Zen gardens. It was wonderfully blissful. The perfect closure for a few perfect months of traveling around.

Namaste :)もっと詳しく
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Traveling in tenths The last Leg of the first Ten
- 旅行を表示する
- 死ぬまでにやっておきたいことリストに追加死ぬまでにやっておきたいことリストから削除
- 共有
- 2016/04/28 8:42
- ⛅ 28 °C
- 海抜: 110 m
- マレーシア Salak South New Village 3.07202, 101.687443°4’19” N 101°41’15” E
日40
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2016年4月28日, マレーシア ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C
I love this city for the shallowest reasons; it is uber developed; it almost looks like a futuristic movie. The public transportation system is efficient, incredibly easy to use, reliable and cheap. The city is clean. And there are amazing looking buildings, such as the petronas towers along with a few gigantic mesquites. The mix of Muslim, Buddhist and Indian makes it easy to find cultural variety, and amazing food of all kinds, for uber cheap. People are nice. And they recycle. No one hassles you or harrases you to sell you things. Taxi drivers only ask you once if you need a car. They don't keep trying you just in case, out of tiredness, you will suddenly need a ride. And, at least here, most people seem to have a decent quality of life. The social and economical inequalities are not as obvious. There are people sleeping on the streets, and begging, of course. It's not a perfect place. But I haven't seen a single child working on the streets, or starving stray dogs everywhere. In comparison with a lot of south east Asia, Malaysia seems to be doing many things right. My only complaint to this city is that the smog in the air is clearly noticeable, so clearly the efforts to cut down emissions are still insufficient. But with as much visible development going on in this city, hopefully this too will improve.もっと詳しく
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The last Leg of the first Ten

Ho Chi Minh (Saigon), Vietnam

Koh Rong Samloem, Cambodia

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia