Cambodia and Vietnam

History repeats itself.

We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam last Thursday and my trip left that day for Cambodia. The Cambodia trip is by far the most sought-after SAS trip because SAS has a rule that you cannot leave the country we port in unless it is through them. It’s a good rule, and probably the main one people don’t actually try to break since we have visas for almost every country we’re traveling to. Needless to say, I was really lucky to get it because it came highly recommended by previous SASers. Unfortunately, Jess and Tessa didn’t get the trip, but my friend Emily from Colorado was on it with me. We left Thursday morning around 11 a.m. for the airport, which was one of the nicest we’ve been to in quite a while. We were probably some of the only people in the entire airport, and it was a short 35 minute flight to Cambodia. Once we got into the airport, we had to buy our Cambodian visas. It was strange that you wait until you were already in the country to buy the visa, but anyways… After meeting our tour guide he took us to our first stop, which was a museum where we looked at ancient statues of Buddha. (I have to be honest, I couldn’t really understand the woman giving the tour so that is about all I gathered from this specific part of the tour.) After the museum we headed to our Mekong Delta River cruise, where they sold us beer for $1- what a deal!
After the cruise, we were told we were going to a children’s orphanage, which was news to us. We were all kind of bummed because none of us had known we were going so we didn’t bring any gifts for the children. Some students bought a few huge bags of candy at the airport to pass out, which was the best we could do on short notice. We arrived to screaming little children that were thrilled to see us! They were all so cute. After being there for a couple of hours, I got to talking to a girl who was 18 years old and had lived in the orphanage for most of her life. She spoke English really well, but according to her it was thanks to the people at the orphanage, not her schooling. She told us that she has pen pals all over the world who have visited her in the orphanage and she kept in touch with, so I gave her my email. We had a really great conversation with her and she was begging us to come back the next day. We talked for quite a while and we asked her what she wanted to do when she was done with high school. She wanted to be a business woman, and I told her she’d be a great one with such great English! She started to ask us what our animal was and Emily and I looked at each other not really knowing what she was meaning by this. She kept saying “I’m a cobra; I want a cobra on my arm.” Finally I realized she meant the animal of the year she was born, and that she wanted a tattoo of a cobra on her arm. We told her not to get a tattoo… she didn’t know what the word tattoo meant, so she made me write it down on a piece of paper and kept thanking me for teaching her a new word. It wasn’t really our intention to teach her that, of all things, but then she wrote down what tattoo meant in Khmer. (It’s “Sark”, or something like that) Anyways, we felt bad not giving her anything so we gave her a travel hair brush and lip gloss and she ran inside and brought us two rings from her room. Unfortunately, our time ran out and we had to go so she gave us a big hug and kiss and kept waving bye to us as we walked away. It was so sad leaving the orphanage, knowing that most of the children we met would never get adopted and they would live there, like the girl we made friends with, for most of their childhood. It made us all feel so good knowing that we had made their lives a little better, if for only a few hours. I’m sure the adults at the orphanage were thrilled that we came in and riled them all up with candy.
After the orphanage we went to a great dinner at a famous restaurant. I ate a few things that I didn’t know what they were, but that is pretty much the story of my trip throughout Asia, thus far. (A day trip on SAS in Vietnam was to the Cu Chi tunnels and the students were fed dog there and didn’t know it until afterwards!!! Eww There were also given 10 bullets to shoot AK 47s- it was just a bizarre place) The next morning we headed to what used to be an internment camp and then the Killing Fields. It was extremely sad visiting these places. As you entered the Killing Fields there was a tall glass monument, and inside were hundreds of skulls on shelves and beneath them were piles of clothing. The field was full of large dug up grave holes that once held hundreds of bodies. Next to each hole was a description of the state the bodies were found in, many beheaded or naked. Between each grave site was a path for us to walk on, but jutting out of the path were bones and clothing that you could see were left behind. According to our tour guide, the torture methods were arguably worse than those used in the Holocaust, as each victim was killed individually. It is just so incredibly frightening that after the Holocaust, the world can continue to let things like this happen. Needless to say, it was a very dismal day. We also saw the Silver Pagoda and palace and then off to the airport to Siem Reap.
Once we arrived in Siem Reap, we went directly to see Angkor Wat as the sun was setting. After dinner I found an Internet café where it was only $.50 an hour! (Interesting fact: Cambodian ATMS don’t give you the Cambodian riel, but rather U.S. dollars, and it is much more widely accepted.) We had an optional 5 a.m. trip back to Angkor Wat to watch the sun rise, and as difficult as it was to get out of bed, I am so glad I saw it. It was a very long and hot day of visiting temples and palaces; we heard it got to about 100 degrees! The temples were so incredible and so interesting to walk around. It reminded us all of the old Nickelodeon game show Legends of the Hidden Temple… anyone remember that?? Anyways, we headed back to Vietnam Saturday night hot and sweaty and ready for some good A.C!
Jess, Tessa and I got up Sunday morning pretty early to take the shuttle into downtown Ho Chi Minh City. They had become rather acquainted with the place since they had been there the whole time and took me to the tailor where they were getting dresses made. None of the ladies in the shop hardly spoke any English so all we really did was show them the magazine pictures of the dress we wanted them to make, and a nice lady walked us to the busy market to buy the fabric we needed and then get fitted. I gave them two pictures of dresses and a business suit that I wanted made. They simply ask “Same Same?” and you tell them yes, and sure enough, they make you the dress. The poor lady was pregnant and probably didn’t sleep because along with making our dresses, many other SAS girls bombarded her with their requests. She miraculously made my dresses and suit in a little over 24 hours, and they turned out great! I was really happy! The rest of Sunday and Monday were spent shopping for cheap knock offs and gifts, where we were all very successful! A group of about 6 of us had planned on pampering ourselves with a spa day (2 hour massage= $17!!! Yet, another great deal!). Well… pampering is not the word I would use to describe this experience. The visit began by all of us lying down in these wonderfully comfortable chairs where we got an hour foot and leg massage. This part was actually nice, but then came the body massages. They put three of us in a room and told us to all strip and lay down. Reluctantly we laid down on the table and then the abuse began. They had those railings on the ceilings to hold onto as they walked on our backs, then they sat on us. They tried to crack our necks and backs like they were chiropractors, which made me really nervous. The experience was just really strange and quickly turned from relaxing to painful! After the massage it turned really weird when the girls told us that we must tip them before we go downstairs. Since it was $17 we weren’t really planning on giving them more than $5, but when we handed them the money they started throwing a fit saying that their boss gets all of the money and they only get tip and they need more money! I was shocked at their bluntness. We all looked at each other in amazement that this was really happening. Finally after giving her more than half of what I was even paying for the massage I told her I was sorry but was not going to give her more money. We all just ended up really mad, so any relaxed muscle in our body disappeared. We all laugh about the really strange and awkward experience now and it has turned into one of our best memories from the entire trip. My visit in HCMC was complete with a great sushi dinner and then we headed back to the ship. We set sail early Tuesday morning for Hong Kong and then had our third Global Studies exam today. It was so much easier than the last two exams, which was a relief! We don’t really have set plans for China. We have one flight booked to Beijing, but no hotels or anything else. We are planning on getting a ticket on the sleeper train from Beijing to Shanghai, where we will meet back up with the ship next Monday. It’s going to be an adventure! Oh, and if anyone has any DVD requests, let me know! You can buy them everywhere! Between all of the students on the ship I think there are more television seasons to watch than hours left on the trip. Jess and I made the mistake of starting the series 24, and now we are hooked! Lucky for us we have about 8 days at sea from Japan to Hawaii and then 10 days at sea from Hawaii to Costa Rica to watch all of the seasons. Well, until next time! Xoxo Marissa!