Giant game of human frogger - Hanoi, Vietnam

Let's just say that you should come to Hanoi if you have ever wanted to play a real life game of frogger. Crossing the streets with hundreds of scooters and cars whizzing around you is definitely an experience. I was tense walking up and down the streets of Hanoi but thankfully we were careful and made it out alive! I don't know how the people living in Hanoi can stand the constant "beep, beep" noise all day long.

We didn't think the city sights were mind blowing. We went to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Complex, Temple of Literature, and Vietnam Museum of Ethnology. We topped the afternoon off by eating a delicious late lunch at KOTO. Next we spent several hours walking around the buzzing streets of the Old Quarter. We attempted to find the amazing markets we have heard so much about from our friends who have been here before but we searched high and low and came up completely empty handed.

The craziness started to wear on all of us so we spent the evening (maybe three hours) at a local spa. Let's just say that all of our individual treatments combined didn't cost as much as one treatment in NYC. This is the place to come and pamper your self without breaking the bank!

Hanoi is definitely worth exploring for a day but you shouldn't stay much longer. The rural sights are definitely the highlights of Vietnam!

Crowning glory of the ancient ruins - Siem Reap

Next we toured Angkor Thom. It was extremely hot at this point in the day (only 11am) but we sucked it up and explored the whole temple complex. Phon told us the history behind this city as we explored the ruins. Our favorite part was exploring Bayon - a structure decorated with 216 enormous smiling faces.


























Our final temple to explore was the famous Angkor Wat. Our guide took us around the grounds and explained the many carved murals. We climbed to the top of some of the buildings. The views of the grounds were incredible. It's mind blowing to think about how this place was built. The designs are so intricate and massive. It's also amazing how well these ruins have been preserved. If you have a chance to visit you must come! It's well worth the long plane ride across the world!
























PS - the monkeys are so cute! You can feed them bananas. You just hold out your hand and they will take it from you!

Tomb Raider - Siem Reap

We woke up at 4:30am to head over to Angkor Wat to see the sunrise. It was still dark outside when we arrived so the setting was very mystical and mysterious. Matt had his trusty flashlight with him so we were able to navigate the stony steps without killing ourselves. We patiently waited inside the temple walls for the sun to rise. Boy, was it worth the wait. The scene was absolutely stunning! I don't think any of us will forget that morning. It was magical!












After we saw the sunrise we headed back to the hotel to eat some breakfast before our day long ancient temple exploring. We picked up our tour guide, Phon, and headed to Ta Phrom, the temple Angelina Jolie helped make famous when she filmed Tomb Raider. This temple was AMAZING. There were funky trees growing all over the buildings. Some of the roots were so gnarly and absolutely gigantic. It felt like we were on a movie set. Things like that can't possibly be real!

Land of ruins - Siem Reap, Cambodia

Cambodia was full of amazing adventures. We hired our cab driver, John (his Cambodian name is too complicated so he goes by John), who picked us up from the airport to drive us around for the two days we were in Siem Reap. He has lived there all his life so he was full of all kinds of information.

The first thing we did was hire a boat to take us around the floating villages. There are about 170 floating villages that house the local fisherman and their families. It was interesting to see how these people live but it was also heart breaking at the same time. Some of these people literally have nothing to their name. So, when little children hop on your boat to sell you things as you are sailing downstream (we call them kiddie pirates) or children with snakes around their shoulders want you to take their picture for money (for the record, I hate snakes and would run away when ever someone would approach us) we could hardly turn a blind eye.

Next on the list was the Cambodian Cultural Center. Unfortunately, this place wasn't worth attending. It's a very sad version of the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii. We had lunch at some little outdoor shack close to Angkor Wat. Scott Hadley had already warned me to not eat while I was in Cambodia because there wasn't much there worth eating. Well, let's just say that he was right! After lunch we briefly stopped by the Killing Fields. This place houses a stupa full of human skulls from innocent people who were brutally murdered by Pol Pot, an evil Camodian ruler. Approximately two million Cambodians were murdered between 1975 and 1979. The Cambodian people have had to live through some pretty horrific events. It's quite sickening.

Next we all went and got an hour long Cambodian massage. I seriously need to move to SE Asia just for the massages. After that we headed over to buy our tickets for Angkor Wat. If you buy your tickets at 5pm you can enter that day to watch the sunset and then you can come back the next day to explore all of the temples.

We were all giddy as we approached Angkor Wat. Thank goodness it lived up to all of the hype! When we arrived we stood there in complete awe of what was standing before us. The architecture and carvings were seriously out of this world. There will be more to come on this in my next post. The pictures posted below will give you a taste of what is about to come.

We ended the night by going to a dinner and dancing show at a nearby hotel. The food was decent and the traditional folk dancing was quite fun to watch. I was a little worried this was going to turn out like Turkish Nights (see blog entry from Turkey) but nope, I was pleasantly surprised. So, at the end of the day we agreed out first day was a huge success!

PS - it is the end of monsoon season here and it had rained in Siem Reap for three full days before we arrived. Some of the main streets were still flooded when we arrived. Do you think that would stop the people from driving their motorcycles, cars, or even bicycles? Nope. They ride through the streets like it's an ordinary day.

PPS - I won't have Internet for the next few days.....so you will have to wait to see the rest of Cambodia. Sorry, but a girl has to sleep sometime!