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Family Of 5 Vietnam + CambodiaFamily Of 5 Vietnam + Cambodia
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3 weeks from the South to the North of Vietnam via Siem Reap in Cambodia Read more
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  • Family Of 5 Vietnam + Cambodia
    2
    Day 1

    Landed in Vietnam! By Matt

    July 14, 2023 in Vietnam ⋅ 🌧 28 °C

    After a worrying moment at Gatwick check in when they couldn't seem to find our tickets on the system, we boarded the flight to discover to our delight that we were in premium economy. Before our excitement was over a flight attendant came over and asked if we were all together. Our hearts sank thinking we were going to be moved back into regular economy where we belong. To our utter astonishment she asked if we would mind giving up our seats and going into club class. With the 'downside' that we wouldn't be next to the kids. It took us a fraction of a nano second to decide and 5 minutes later we were stretching our legs out in our club class beds ordering champagne!! It was unreal. We'd gone from a seat where you could see about 30 people without moving your head to one where I could just about see Simi's shoulder. The only people I saw on the flight was an occasional Millen with a manic grin on his face and the stewardess asking me if I wanted a champagne top up, food from the menu, chocolates, wine, more food, more chocolates and more wine! I put my footstool down, wrapped up in the duvet, relaxed onto the giant pillow and blissfully dozed imaging every flight would be like this from now on.

    7 hours later we were turfed out of club class into Doha airport, bustling, full of glitzy shops and, bizarrely, a giant yellow bear. Our 3.5 stopover became 4.5 hours then 5.5 as our plane was delayed due to technical problems. Sadly there were no upgrades on our next flight and we fell asleep on each other, exhausted and dreaming of club class comforts.

    We landed in Ho Chi Minh city 8 hours later alongside hundreds of others and it took us another hour to get through passport control. Finally we met Tango, our friendly tour guide for our brief stay in the city. He cheerily started filling us in on facts about the city, housing over 10 million people, pointing out sites along the way and a noodle place round the corner from our hotel. Breakfast at 645 and pickup at 715 he declared and left us to relax for what was left of the evening. As we sorted ourselves out in our rooms, a thunderstorm blew in and we watched the lightening and sheeting rain out of the window, a walk for some dinner less and less appealing.

    Judging the worst of the storm to have passed we stepped out into the rain to walk round the block to Tango's recommendation only to discover it closed at 8. We tried another place with the same result and struck third time lucky. As we sat down a cockroach the size of a well fed cockroach scuttled by our table but no one seemed bothered, least of all the waiter dancing to the beats of local pop music. It sounded like Gangnam style to me but that's probably like saying the Beatles sound like the Stones.

    After noodles, egg fried rice, prawn rolls and fried chicken we headed back to the hotel to collpase into bed after a very long journey.
    By Matt    Read more

  • Family Of 5 Vietnam + Cambodia
    Day 2

    War Remnants Museum by Matt

    July 15, 2023 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    After a whistle stop tour of the Notre Dame cathedral and Old Post Office- we stepped barely 5m from the mini bus to look left at one then right at the other- our first major stop was the War Remnants Museum.

    On the outside, those remnants consisted of the iconic Chinook and Huey helicopters plus a collection of tanks, jeeps and planes left by the Americans. Impressive though they were, their emotional impact was dwarfed by the pictures, accounts and facts on the war that lay within the museum.

    Tango took us through the facts that led to the American invasion, following on from the departure of the French colonists from South Vietnam and threats from the North to expand their communist regime, with the support of the Soviet Union and China. This included the falsification of an attack on a US destroyer by North Vietnamese torpedo boats on August 4th 1964. President Johnson could then use this as legal justification to send troops and engage in open warfare with North Vietnam.

    Some of the information felt decidedly one sided, including comparisons of financial and human costs with other wars, but there was no denying a war that lasted nearly 20 years changed the way the world viewed both countries forever.

    The next room demonstrated that transformation in tragic picture after picture of dead or dying soldiers, women and children inconsolable and abandoned. There was a series of heroic photographers that lost their lives showing the world the atrocities, including several 'last roll of film' shots they took. But the pinnacle of horror was the infamous My Lai Massacre, the brutal killing of several hundred unarmed civilians, many of whom were women and children, by US soldiers.    Read more

  • Family Of 5 Vietnam + Cambodia
    Day 2

    Reunification Palace by Matt

    July 15, 2023 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    When the Americans evacuated in 1975, the South Vietnamese president hastily departed the palace and the VC soldiers smashed through the gates in their tanks, still present in the garden, and symbolically unfurled their flag on the balcony.

    Nowadays, the grand reception rooms are used to greet foreign dignitaries and host banquets. Upstairs are the living quarters, which retain their 60s vibe, and the animal skulls on the walls include their tails to symbolise long life, something the owners presumably didn't have.

    A bomb shelter lies in the basement, with gray walls and gray rooms containing old gray transmitters and typewriters, which were all very military and, well, gray.    Read more

  • Family Of 5 Vietnam + Cambodia
    Day 2

    Cu Chi Tunnels by Matt

    July 15, 2023 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    Tango led us on a tour round the tunnels to learn how the Viet Cong lived in the jungle during the war with Americans.

    Following on from the educational but harrowing museum, this is a small sample of the huge area where the VC laboriously dug 200km of an underground city using nothing but small spades. We learnt of many tactics to evade the enemy, such as fake termite mounds to disguise the air vents and special shafts to disperse the cooking smoke like morning mist. Just as ingenious, though horrifying, there were mocked up booby traps on proud display, with names such as the seesaw, fish hook and armpit, their gruesome purpose to impale the enemy with as much pain and ensnarement as possible.

    There included an opportunity to crawl through some of the tunnels which, although had been enlarged for tourists, still forced me on my hands and knees in the dirt. The kids then tried a real tunnel size which was a squeeze even for them!

    To think that so many people lived and fought for their country for so many years in these conditions was unimaginable. An on-site firing range only served to accentuate the horrors they went through with the bursts of AK-47s and sharp rifle shots.    Read more

  • Family Of 5 Vietnam + Cambodia
    Day 2

    Leaving for Siem Reap by Matt

    July 15, 2023 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 32 °C

    HCMC airport, referred to as SAG for Saigon, was mercifully quicker on exit and a short 1 hour flight deposited us in Siem Reap where we arrived into a much drier heat after the humidity. We had to pay a visa on entry, a process which involved about 10 smartly dressed officials each with his or her very specific duty, whether that was collecting the passports, calculating the cost, taking the money, sticking the visa or even scamming us out of $10… luckily we noticed but was that a scam or a genuine mistake.. I guess we will never know!,

    Eventually we walked out of the smart wooden building to be met by our smiley guide for Siem Reap, Narim.    Read more

  • Family Of 5 Vietnam + Cambodia
    Day 2

    Siem Reap Hotel by Millen

    July 15, 2023 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    Please note this entry to the blog is just about the bits in between the main events!
    This hotel was spectacular, after a tiring day of flying we deserved a rest, so we took a quick dip in the cool pool and relaxing on the sunbeds. Unfortunately for us the next day was an extremely early start to go to Angkor wat and we had to wake up at 4 in the morning- luckily they provided us with a to go breakfast which completely filled our empty bellies,. We got back around in the afternoon after trekking around different temples and after yet another tiring day we finished it off with a nice swim and at at this place on beer street and after for dessert we had ice cream rolls and went around the market.
    The second night we finally had our first lie in a while, the breakfast was an enormous buffet with excotic fruits, any type of eggs, and lots more. Kian and Narim picked us up with a big smile and we did a couple more temples that day and went OX CART riding . For dinner we went to this fantastic place where the beer was only 75 CENT and the food was sooooo good as well.
    The next day we had another great breakfast at the buffet, making us alll full and we went on an amazing boat trip and then to the colourful market, but our flight was delayed so because the dinner we had yesterday was so cheap and amazing we went to the same place for lunch and then of course we went for another swim and got on our flight to Hanoi!    Read more

  • Family Of 5 Vietnam + Cambodia
    Day 2

    Pub Street by Matt

    July 15, 2023 in Cambodia ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    A colourful, noisy and vibrant area of Siem Reap with many bars and restaurants, happy hours, tourist tut and the obligatory feet munching fish tank. We ate noodles and rice, choosing by pictures, and sat enjoying some cold beers, people watching and the occasional blast of heat as a nearby chef threw something very flammable into his oversize wok.

    Whilst Millen and I contemplated the feet fish, the others queued for some 'ice cream rolls'. This is essentially similar to a crepe machine but as they chop and spread the mixture over the pan it freezes rather than cooks. Once thin enough, they scrape it into rolls and serve.

    We decided to forego the fish for now and headed back to the hotel for some much needed sleep 💤.    Read more

  • Family Of 5 Vietnam + Cambodia
    Day 3

    Angkor Wat by Matt

    July 16, 2023 in Cambodia ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    Arriving just before sunrise, the famous stupas slowly revealed themselves, towering above the jungle. We stood behind the crowd of people trying to get a photo of the reflection in the small pool in front of it. Despite all the people it was very serene and a collective awe grew as the daylight brought out more and more detail of the temple.

    Once the sun was fully risen we briefly explored an ancient library before walking along the causeway flanked by the serpent goddess Naga. We slowly walked around the perimeter of the temple as Narin patiently explained the meaning of the reliefs etched into the walls.

    Originally a Hindu temple, but since converted to Buddhism, it was built to worship Vishnu in the 12th century, when Angkor was the centre of the ancient Khmer empire boasting a population of 1 million people. Hundreds of temples survived in this area, a protected UNESCO site, a lot of which has been methodically restored but much is in grand ruin.

    We entered the temple, which has a massive grass courtyard with the huge towers, representing mountains, on a platform in the middle. We climbed up to the next level from where we could climb some very steep, dizzying steps into the towers themselves. The views of the surrounding jungle were amazing but unfortunately Eashan was too young to go up so we waved to him from one of the windows.

    Representing a mini universe, with mountains, continents and oceans, seen by the surrounding moat, it is truly breathtaking.    Read more

  • Family Of 5 Vietnam + Cambodia
    Day 3

    Preah Khan Temple by Matt

    July 16, 2023 in Cambodia ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    Preah Khan temple is named after the Sacred Sword once housed in one of the outer buildings. It is deceptively long as we walked down a never ending corridor through door after door, room after room the sunlight streaming through gaps in the roof. This path had been cleared and restored, the windows and doors proving views of the moss covered jumble of stone blocks either side.Read more

  • Family Of 5 Vietnam + Cambodia
    Day 3

    Angkor Thom by Matt

    July 16, 2023 in Cambodia ⋅ ☁️ 32 °C

    Built by the king Jayavarman VII, Angkor Thom was the capital of the Kymer empire covering 10 sq km. We entered at the South gate, of which there are 5, flanked by 54 gods and 54 demons engaged in an epic tug of war, known as the Churning of the Ocean of Milk. They collaborated in this event to turn a mountain to churn the ocean and create a nectar of immortality.

    Each gate has a different face of Buddha representing the four principles; sympathy, compassion, charity and equality. Carved into the base is a 3 headed elephant which emerged from the Ocean of Milk and symbolises luck.

    We drove inside and visited the Terrace of the Elephants, a viewing platform from which the king could watch the public ceremonies and his army gather in their splendor before heading to battle through the victory gate.

    Nearby is the Terrace of the Leper king, who supposedly contracted leprosy from a snake that spat at him. We walked to the small Baphuom temple which was inside the Kings palace complex and would have been for his private prayer and meditation. Meticulously rebuilt it has a long causeway.

    We were starting to flag at this point as the heat and 4am start were taking their toll. Our little tour bus provided welcome relief with air conditioning and cold water and the reclining seats were going further and further back!

    At the heart of the citadel is the Bayon temple, also known as the 'face temple' due to 216 giant smiling faces decorating the 54 towers. Around the outside is 1.2 km of bas relief depicting life in 12th century Cambodia, such as a woman picking nits out of her child's head, another giving birth, cock fighting, pig roasting and hunting. I think Narin was sensing our exhaustion by this point as we didn't do the whole thing!    Read more

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