I just came back to update my blog, but here are some photos from our Hong Kong trip last February. I finally ticked off the “Travel abroad with only just my brothers” bucketlist.
We reached Hong Kong a day after the Chinese New Year so the City is relatively packed with tourists, and it’s all the more cold.
I’ll post a better entry when I’m no longer busy. Hola ~
We took the afternoon bus from Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam to Phnom Penh, Cambodia after our Cu Chi Tunnels day tour. There are relatively many bus stations from Vietnam to Cambodia, but we chose the liner that offers the earliest trip.
We were supposed to buy our tickets online, but we made a better choice to look for bus liners in Ho Chi Minh because we didn’t really know our schedule.
The ride was about five hours and 30 minutes long, and we paid 529 Baht each. We alighted at Phuong Heng’s terminal, and luck was on our favor, there was a tuktuk driver waiting outside.
Of course, with my short term memory, I already forgot his name, but he offered to bring us to our hotel after we look for money changers, and he gave us a discount for our Pnom Penh tour the next day. Without any itinerary at hand, we gave in. It was again a great choice. He was nice and he really delivered a quality service.
IN PHNOM PENH ~
Where to stay in Pnom Penh: City Centre Hotel# | Address: #77/79, Street 130, Daun Penh, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
The hotel is near tourist attractions and is at the city so I recommend the hotel.
PNOM PENH DAY TOUR
The tuktuk driver fetched us at our hotel at eight in the morning and our first itinerary was the Choeung Ek Genocidal Center — the site of a former orchard and mass grave of the Khmer Rouge regime victims who were killed between 1975 and 1979. It was heartbreaking.
Here are the heart-rending photos inside the Geonicidal Center. The Killing Fields have the vibe of distress that I pray no one would ever experience.
The entrance fee is US$6 dollars for foreigners and you can rent audio records which you can play and pause in every station.
Mass graves containing 8,895 bodies were discovered at Choeung Ek after the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime. Many of the dead were former political prisoners who were kept by the Khmer Rouge in their Tuol Sleng detention center and in other Cambodian detention centers.
Next stop was the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. It was heart-wrenching just the same.
In there are the actual prisons where they locked up the victims.
Try eating Bánh mì in Pnom Penh. It is unbelievably delicious.
Second to our last stop was the Royal Palace. It was late and I was wearing a rather inconvenient dress, so we decided not to enter the premises. We found a perfect spot to take photos instead: the palace gates.
Our last stop was the Moha Montrei Pagoda, but I can’t find photos so it might have been saved somehwere in my GoPro gallery that I am too lazy to search.
Not being able to stand the dread anymore, we decided to head back to the hotel to fetch our bags. We took the night sleepers’ bus to Siem Reap for 488 Baht each. The trip was roughly five hours.
Even this time, I cannot believe the transport system of Cambodia. Imagine us two sleeping in a section in the sleeper’s bus that could only fit one? *roles eyes*
Next on the blog is temple run in Siem Reap.
I woke up in a different country on my 24th birthday because of another impulsive flight booking. It was supposed to be a solo journey but my motivational skills made my equally amazing sorority sister x ate come with me. I encouraged her by saying it’s for our birthday trip. Of course, she conceded.
Without any itinerary for our 18- hour stay in Ho Chi Minh, we just decided to go straight to our hotel — which was beautiful and calming, really — and deliberated what we really wanted to do. So at 4A.M., we found ourselves booking a day trip to Củ Chi tunnels, and then we slept.
We took a cab to our hotel, because we reached Ho Chi Minh at almost 2A.M., and a taxi was the most feasible, convenient, and we were left with no choice.
Address:
SIGOONG HOSTEL – 92 De Tham, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
So, we ate our own Pho breakfast with a side of super fulfilling Vietnam coffee, then we were set to our Củ Chi tunnels adventure. We booked it online in GetYourGuide.
Our trip came with a side visit to handicapped handicrafts center where they employ PWDs who make really amazing frames and paintings.
The tunnels are at the end of the Ho Chi Minh Trail and it served as the base from where Vietnamese guerilla soldier attacked Saigon. The tour is all about knowing how the fighters of Cu Chi took the war underground by developing a network of tunnels that stretched as far as Cambodia, which included: meeting rooms, kitchens and ventilation systems. These tunnels served as an effective network for engaging in guerrilla warfare against U.S troops.
You can actually enjoy the maze of tunnels in the area. I am not really a fan of tight spaces so I only tried until the second station but Ate Lizi went all the way to the end!
The tunnels were used by Viet Cong soldiers as hiding spots during combat, as well as serving as communication and supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon caches and living quarters for numerous North Vietnamese fighters. The tunnel systems were of great importance to the Viet Cong in their resistance to American forces, and helped to counter the growing American military effort.
They also gave us free Cassava to eat — which was actually the reason why the guerrillas survived the war taking cover underground.
The tour has a lot of walking, and we ended up drinking this at the end:
That was basically our one-day in Ho Chi Minh. We went back to our hotel to get our bags and we hired a tuktuk to get to the bus station to Pnom Penh, Cambodia.
Next blog post, it is.
Other photos of legit Pho, banh mi, and of course coffee xx
Neyziellewanders 