It seems that after a ridiculous amount of time we finally owe you an update, apologies in the delay- various messages from our parents have informed us that we aren't keeping up with demand at all!
After killing nearly two weeks in Cambodia before our Vietnam visas were valid, we are finally back on track and heading slowly north through Vietnam! It is safe to say that there is definitely a difference between the two countries, we have been in Vietnam for nearly 5 days now and it has been somewhat of a shock to the system and taken some getting used too. I think we had both got a bit complacent with feeling like we knew Cambodia like the back of our hands! Overall we have noticed that economically Vietnam is thriving in comparison, more high rise buildings and generally a greater feeling of wealth in the cities compared to Cambodia, however this isn't something we are complaining about - yet - as we were both craving somewhere that felt a bit more like home. However it must be said the Vietnamese are white business-like, as opposed to the friendly Cambodians. Two months in and we have found that our minds tend to wander when doing not a lot to things to do with home, to be expected now and again I'm sure!
So what's new?
- We said goodbye to the orphanage on the morning of Friday 28th February, and set off with the other four volunteers to the seaside town of Sihanoukville. We had spent the precious evening throwing a big party for all the children, which was very fun. Lots of coca cola was drank, sweets eaten, and dance moves busted. We had such a fun time, being taught some Khmer dancing (which involved slow hand movements and delicate footwork) in exchange for us teaching them some of our moves - most received with giggles and laughter! We received a lovely present from two boys in our class - a bunch of lotus flowers each and letters thanking for being such 'great' and 'beautiful' teachers - we were chuffed to say the least! In all seriousness it was a big turning point as the boys didn't often attend class, and after doing the weekly test and both boys achieving high scores, we felt like we had made an impact to their future and learning. The orphanage was overall a great experience!
-Sihanoukville gave us much needed time to relax and get our tan on. We spent a great couple of days on the beach, with our shakes again, needless to say we were well and truly happy. Mair had a much needed manicure on the beach (the last one had chipped) and Rach enjoyed soaking up some rays again. The weekend unfortunately turned a little sour however, as Mel one of our fellow volunteers got her passport, money and cards stolen from the beach! We spent some time searching for some children, who we detected from the loitering, were the suspects, but no luck was had. (After a very stressful week or so, darting to and fro from Phnom Penh to gather a police report, which we didn't think to get her when she was at the beach, she has luckily got herself sorted and has now flown home)
- That Sunday we said our goodbyes to Beth, Mel and Alex, a sad occasion after spending four weeks together! However we are looking forward to being reunited hopefully with Alex in Laos and Mel in her home country of Oz. We moved along the coast to a small place called Ream beach, the two of us and April. Mair very unfortunately picked up a cold, which lingered, and in the heat seemed highly unjust! It was made no better by the constant tut tutting of Marco, the strange tempered Italian man who owned the hostel we were staying, every time Mair used a tissue!! He did however cook the best pasta, and after getting rather bored of Cambodian food (not very flavoursome) some carbonara and bolognese was warmly welcomed.
-We enjoyed a boat ride from Ream beach, which took us along the river with mangrove trees either side, and some wildlife - jumping fish and birds, to the sea. We stopped off for a few hours to catch some rays in a deserted beach, which give it 10 years will sadly be bustling as the Chinese have just bought it and intend to turn it into a major resort. We were lucky to enjoy its beauty though, and were treated after to a little jungle walk by the Cambodian tour guide. It was very unexpected, and despite Rach in flip flops and Mair choosing to go bare footed, we thoroughly enjoyed the walk!
-Our stay at Ream beach promptly came to an end, despite loving the tranquility of the place we were ready to say goodbye to Marco and his bad temper and hello to a little bit of hustle and bustle. This saw us to Kampot, a small town only an hours drive from Sihanoukville but situated along the river, surrounded by Bokor National Park with its mountains. We were fortunate to have found ourselves staying at a guesthouse called Kampot Pie and Ice Cream a Parlour, much to Mair's delight- she has the biggest sweet tooth around... Thanks be to her Grandad for that one! The lemon meringue pie was what it was renowned for and boy did it go down well, Mair can now proudly say that she experience her first, and many more, lemon meringue in Cambodia, not a first that any of us would have expected! And Rach found herself incredibly satisfied with the banana cream pie. Despite not having much to offer other than a chilled out atmosphere, Kampot did us nicely in terms of killing time before our visas were valid. We did however head of on a tour around to local countryside thanks to a rather crazy tuk tuk driver, finding ourselves being shown everything that we never would have seen in any other case; salt fields, a fishing village, an elephant cave, secret lakes and pepper plantations!
-After 3 days in Kampot it was time to find ourselves another beach to chill on and so we headed just down the road to Kep, a very small seaside town that is gradually being taken over by the French and will no doubt soon be overdeveloped with no character! A day on the beach and a bike ride around the headlands, was followed by a freezing cold boat ride to a local island known as Rabbit island where we settled ourselves for another day of tanning - we can't complain ey. Then our final day was spent by a voluntary hike around the local national park... Yes you heard us parents, a VOLUNTARY hike, I'm sure you never thought you would hear the day that would happen! And yes, we did enjoy ourselves, despite the heat, sweat, muscle burning hills and mozzies, the satisfaction at the end was very much worth it and the views, although it was cloudy, were something we hadn't seen before!
-Finally following 3 days in Kep, we had hit the 12th of March and our Vietnam visas were valid! A crazy long 12 and a half hours our journey from door to door found us arriving in the madness that is Ho Chi Minh City, that's Saigon to you older lot, at 11pm! Glad to see a familiar face in April, one of our fellow volunteers who we thought we had got rid of in Kampot, we headed out for some much needed dinner and a midnight pizza, yum yum! Back to the thrills of dorm rooms, a fear for which Mair had developed thanks to the awful homesickness that she experience whilst in a dorm in Bangkok, we konked out for the night! The following day we pulled ourselves out of bed and headed off to a high rise to collect the long awaited parcel containing much needed chocolate provisions, tea bags and marmite, alongside replacement things from Mair mugging- thank you very much mum, dad and Martin if you're reading this for sorting that all out, you have no idea how much we appreciated it! Much of the rest of the day was spent recuperating and chilling out after the madness of the journey. We headed off to the Zoo and Botanical Gardens that Ho Chi has to offer which was an experience in itself, they managed to have every big animal possible, from giraffes, elephants, rhinos and hippos, to tigers, lions, bears and reptiles.
-Friday, 14th of March, (we are nearly up-to-date) and we trotted off to do some sightseeing. Mair successfully managed to drown her camera in her bag about 13 minutes into the days, Yep that's 2 camera in 2 months and a big dent in the travel budget- brilliant! But we got ourselves around Central Post Office and it's rather splendid architecture, followed by Notre Dame Cathedral, Independence Palace, rather ugly in comparison to the palaces of Cambodia, and the War Remnants Museum where we brushed up on the horrors they had to off of the history of the Vietnam War. Something that feels like it could have happened many many years ago but actually was relatively recent and many are still suffering from thanks to the Americans use of chemical weapons. We finished off the day with a trip to the cinema, apart from the constant talking Vietnamese, which we were not impressed with, it was like being at time! Not everyday you can say you did that, it's the simple things that count.
-And so, we are currently in Nha Trang, a coastal city a lovely 11 hour busy journey from Ho Chi Minh! The scenery however made up for the intense length of the journey, offering us vast expanses of vibrant green paddy fields, alongside gorgeous coastlines and the contrast of towering mountains. Unfortunately however that's all we can offer you on what we have seen so far.. We have officially had our first ever duvet day, not of this trip but EVER! After waking up around 11 and getting our heads stuck into our books, before long we realised it was 6pm and actually we had better go and find some food. Thanks to a recommendation from a friend who has recently travelled South East Asia, we have enjoyed a fantastic Italian...We promise we will get stuck in the the Vietnamese cuisine... At some point soon!
Anyhow, we are off to the beach tomorrow, yes, again, I know, that's pretty much all we have done on and off for the last however long but we have to make the most of it, although we hear that home has been offering suitable sunbathing weather so no, you cannot complain to us about it!
We will be sure to keep you up to date more regularly, we have realised ourselves that leaving it so long to fill everyone in makes it much harder for ourselves, several hours later and this blog is complete, another to add to the collection!
Much love from Vietnam until next time!
Good night x
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