Sensational Saigon!

To Market to Market in our Cyclos

After a perfectly comfortable 7 hour bus ride from Phnom Penh, we arrived in Saigon (officially named Ho Chi Minh City, but still called Saigon locally). The bus involved a surprising and delightful crossing of the Mekong River (our bus just drove right onto a rusty ferry and crossed the river), as well as an incredibly easy border crossing out of Cambodia and into Vietnam. And we met lots of interesting travelers (Hi Ben and Makenna!) and expats on the journey over. We asked the guy in front of us (now a Saigon local) for any tips on crossing the street safely and his advice was, "don't think about it. Just go and don't panic." We got off the bus, crossed the street, and I promptly panicked (go figure!). From there forward, I closed my eyes, held Cory's hand and just started walking, while the cars, trucks, scooters and cyclos zoomed past us. 

All the most popular attractions in Saigon were a stone's throw from our hotel (and walking all week turned out to be great, as the taxi drivers tend to fleece tourists whenever possible). We were able to walk (via nice, wide sidewalks, which we haven't seen since Tokyo!) to the Reunification Palace, War Remnants Museum, Saigon Zoo, Notre Dame Cathedral, and the Ben Tahn Market.

One of the most popular sites in Saigon is Independence Palace (or Reunification Palace as its sometimes called), where the Vietnam War ended when the Northern Vietnamese drove their tanks through the palace gates and took the south. The palace itself was built and decorated in the 1960's and nothing has been changed since then. It's quite something to step into the 60's, though the point is lost on some, such as the tripadvisor reviewer that said it was "gaudy. They should really update the decorating."

We also spent a morning at the War Remnants Museum, which opened in 1975, just 6 months after the war ended, as a place to showcase atrocities commited against the Vietnamese people (by the Americans). In the ensuing years, it has become a less uncomfortable attraction for Americans (I would imagine), though certainly a one-sided take on the war, with exhibits such as "Agent Orange Aftermath in the US Aggressive War in Vietnam" and "The World Supported Vietnam in its Resistance." To their credit, the museum curators did include several photos of Americans protesting the war, and really highlighted that the war was waged by the US government, and not all the people. We found it to be the most interesting photos-only museum we have ever been to!

As we have decided that cooking classes are totally in our budget (as long as they are less than $25 per person for a day), we indulged in a cooking class at Cyclo Resto restaurant and cooking school. They picked us up in cyclos, took us to the market to choose the ingredients for our dishes, and then we spent a few hours cooking a feast! We made fresh spring rolls with shrimp and pork, 5 color soup, morning glory sauteed with garlic (not my fave!), lemongrass chicken, glazed pork ribs, and sliced pineapple for dessert. We got to enjoy our meal with our only other student, a lovely woman from Japan named Yuki. It was a treat to get to talk with someone about Japan after enjoying our trip there in April!

We spent a less enjoyable afternoon at the Saigon Zoo, which we really went to because it was only 40 cents each, and the only shade we could find to escape the heat! The zoo itself was pretty sad, with very old enclosures and stressed-out looking animals. The highlight by far was when we were looking at the monkeys in their big house, and realized there was a lot of rustling in the trees behind us. We turned to see a family of escaped monkeys frolicking just outside the exhibit, much happier than the ones inside. When we moved on to the crocodiles, lions and tigers, we crossed our fingers and hoped the escaped monkeys were not indicative of a bigger problem!

Rainy romantic lunch spot

The weather was quite warm, but every afternoon around 1pm, the skies would open up and drench the city. We spent more than one lunch hunkered in to stay out of the warm, romantic rain. And the one day the rain didn't cooperate timewise, we felt blessed to be running past the Museum of Ho Chi Minh City: not the best museum, but a great rain shelter for 30 cents each!

We had the joy of celebrating our 2nd wedding anniversary in Saigon, and spent it in style with cocktails at sunset on Bitexco Tower, followed by dinner at the Temple Club.

Celebrating our 2nd anniversary at Bitexco Tower

Telephone lines in Saigon

Spots we loved in Saigon:

The alley to our hotel

Little Saigon Boutique Hotel: crazy well-located, charming little hotel! In 5 days, we saw all the most popular parts of Saigon, all walking distance from our hotel. It's located down a little alley (where you will get run over by a scooter if you don't pay attention), so it's nice and quiet despite being in the center of everything. 

Cyclo Resto Restaurant: Great little dinner restaurant, down an alley in the center of town. They have a single menu each night for $6 per person (and $1 for a large beer if you'd like. We liked!), and a great cooking class for $23 (including cyclos to the market for shopping, learning how to cook 5 dishes, and free t-shirt...a fantastic deal, and a very fun day!). 

L'Usine Cafe: A fancy little cafe hidden down a nondescript back alley then up a flight of stairs.  We had wonderfully filling Anniversary brunch in style with the Saigon's hipster crowd.

Temple Club: Wonderful, incredibly charming and memorable restaurant where we were fortunate to celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary (thanks, Dad and Sherry!). 

Sunset drinks at the bar on top of Bitexco Tower: There's a bar just above the level of the helipad that is a wonderful place to get a happy hour cocktail while watching the sun set over Saigon (and you save on the entrance fee from the tower's observation deck). Definitely a favorite!

Check out more photos from our week in Saigon here:

Siem Reap and the Temples of Angkor Wat

Young Monks in front of Angkor Wat

After an emotionally tiring week in Phnom Penh, it was time to head north to Siem Reap, and see the temples of Angkor Wat. We hopped on our first long bus this trip, a 7 hour journey north across Cambodia. We did some research and picked Giant Ibis, as they pride themselves on having lots of legroom (and boy, did they!). As long bus rides go, it was an easy one through the countryside. Every once in a while (ok, frequently), our driver would lay on the horn, indicating to the cow (or two or three) on the road that they would need to move. Very rural indeed!

We arrived safely, got to our pretty hotel, The Golden Mango (yep, picked purely for the name, as I am a sucker for a mango!), and prepared for 3 days at the temples. We gave ourselves a couple of days by the pool to get over our head colds, not wanting to tackle a day of temple touring feeling like crap (especially with the insanely hot weather!).

The South Gate of Angkor Thom

We hired a guide and a tuk tuk driver for the first day (at a ridiculously reasonable cost of $25 for the guide and $15 for the driver...for the whole day!), and learned A LOT. We didn't hire a guide again, and we certainly wouldn't recommend the one we ended up with. He didn't really "get" us and despite watching Cory take incredible, artsy photos of the temples, spent the morning trying to guide us to all the kitschy photo ops with all the other tourists (the Chinese tourists especially seem to love all the photos: you stand here and in the photo you're nose to nose with a Buddha that's 50 feet behind you, or you stand behind this headless statue and it looks like you have a stone body, etc).

Though Angkor Wat is the largest and most famous temple, the area is made up of many more temples, built over the span of about 300 years (starting in 900 and including additions and renovations over the years, including today). 

So the next couple of days we took our favorite driver, Run, out and he was wonderful. Gave us a little info (and our Lonely Planet book gave us the rest), and stopped anywhere we wanted (which was usually a random spot that we found really cool that everyone else was speeding right by).

Spong Tree at Preah Khan

On our third morning, we went to Angkor Wat to see the sun rise overhead, and although we missed the sunrise (it wasn't spectacular that morning), we had the best day!

Clouds over Angkor Wat

After the sun was overhead, we walked through the temple and walked into the jungle a ways, hoping to see some monkeys (but seeing none). We gave up and went back up to the temple, to see the most incredible, feisty, families of monkeys, all enjoying the early morning on the back wall of Angkor Wat.



After a good half hour of enjoying the cute little guys, we went back to our tuk tuk to head back to bed. As we crossed the bridge over the temple moat, it started sprinkling. By the time we reached the tuk tuk, it was a torrential downpour! As we sped home in the downpour, we heard a little "hi" and looked over to see a charming local boy who was hitching a ride with us to school. After a while, he said, "this is my school!" and waved and smiled as he pedaled off!

Here are some of our favorite photos from the temples of Angkor Wat:

Click here to view the Album: The Temples at Angkor

Lots more photos from our trip adventures on Flickr and Facebook (just click those links!)

Final costs for Cambodia: $441 on housing (avg $29.40 per night), $551 on food (avg $37 per day), $189 on transit, including tuk tuks and buses across country (avg $12.60 per day), $264 on other, including tickets/guide/driver for Angkor Wat, haircuts and mini golf, (avg $18 per day). Total costs for 15 days (not including $58 visa fee): $1445.76. Daily average cost: $96.38. Budgeting and spending money in Cambodia was delightfully easy after so much conversion, because they use US Dollars, and Cambodian Riels (4000 riels to $1) for anything smaller than $1. The only problem is that ATMs hand out $100 bills (which is way to much to spend in one place!) and the ATMs give torn bills sometimes, which no one in Cambodia will accept as legal tender. If we were returning, we would bring $500 in one dollar denominations!

Our favorite restaurants and attractions in Siem Reap:

Cory enjoying Blue Pumpkin

Blue Pumpkin - yummy HUGE fruit shakes and ice cream sundaes in an air conditioned upstairs lounge. The perfect end to a sweaty day of temple visits. But the food basically sucks :(

Viva Mexican - shockingly good Mexican food at crazy cheap prices ($1 tacos and 75 cent beers). It's no gas station taco, but not bad!  Best we've had since San Diego.

Yellow Submarine - Beatles themed burger joint on Pub Street, with pool, ping pong (!!) rooftop terrace and fun bar. Delicious burgers, great herbal tea, and fun owner. Great dinner spot!

Angkor Wat Putt

Angkor Wat Putt - mini putt made by an incredibly entrepreneurial Cambodian guy, who had never been to a mini golf course but read about it on the internet and decided to make one in Siem Reap. Lots of fun!

Beatocello concert - a weekly cello concert and presentation about the state of the children's heathcare system in Cambodia. Very interesting and worthwhile. The doctor who started a series of privately funded, free for all patients, children's hospitals across Cambodia, plays the cello and speaks about the hospitals to raise money. If you'd like to donate, as we did, the website is: http://www.beat-richner.ch/.