Month: January 2016

Week 34 – Ninh Binh, Hanoi, and Halong Bay, Vietnam

Cooling Down in the North

Vietnam – Halong Bay

Note: We are still alive, despite the late posting! We had some weird internet issues early in the week and couldn’t get connected. But all is well and we are back on line.

This week was full of changes. First, we experienced record low temperatures in northern Vietnam. It’s normally around 60 degrees Fahrenheit but it was only 40 for the most of this week. Brr! Considering that we have spent months at 80 and above, the cold was a welcome (if slightly shocking) change. Our second big change was meeting up with Lindsey’s parents for ten days of travel. Traveling Chadwick-style is slightly more luxurious than Nomadic Cadence-style. We have been really lucky because they have planned nearly everything – they even had lunch reservations!

1. Go

Bus – 115 km. We took a crowded tourist bus in the rain from Ninh Binh to Hanoi. Our second bus was slightly less crowded, but no more comfortable from Hanoi to Halong Bay.
Taxi – 72 km. Most of this was our private car tour around Ninh Binh, but we did take a few taxi rides around Hanoi.
Boat – 50 km. In and around Halong Bay for our cruise.
Foot – 78,000 steps in 7 days (approx. 39 miles)

2. See

We started the week in the Ninh Binh province. We stayed in the tiny town of Tam Coc (if that name makes you giggle, just wait). It’s close enough to Hanoi to be done as a long day trip so the middle of the day was slightly busy, but any time before 11:00 and after 15:00 was delightful. The area is described as Halong Bay on land with huge limestone karsts scattered amidst the rice paddies. To explore the area, we used the high quality, free mountain bikes from our hotel for several days and even did a full day tour by car of some places slightly further out. We visited a few temples, starting with the small Bich Dong temple located in a cave with a spectacular hike up the karst behind it. We spent several hours wandering around the Bai Dinh Temple complex which is one kilometer long with a twelve story pagoda (with an elevator), corridors with 500 statues, and huge temples. Our visit to the old capitol of Hao Lu was most memorable because of all the school kids wanting to take selfies with us. But our favorite thing about Ninh Binh was the mild temperatures and the time we spent biking, hiking, and boating – much of it to, through, and around caves. We rode a small boat through the Trang An grottos which are caves along a river that required us to duck to avoid hitting our heads. We spent an entire day exploring the caves, ponds, and other sites of the Bird Sanctuary a few kilometers from our hotel. And the endless climb up the steps to Hang Mua peak was especially spectacular.

Vietnam – Trang An Grottos

Vietnam – Tam Coc

Vietnam – Tam Coc – Bich Dong Pagoda

Vietnam – Ninh Binh – Bai Dinh Temple

Vietnam – Trang An Grottos

Vietnam – Hang Mua

Vietnam – Heaven, Earth and Hell Cave

Midweek we arrived in Hanoi to meet up with Lindsey’s parents. The Chadwick’s are very good travelers who appreciate culture, natural beauty, and delicious food… all things that we love too! We had a delightful day in Hanoi touring the Museum of Ethnology, eating tasty French-Vietnamese food, and watching a water puppet show. The Museum of Ethnology focuses on the minority tribes throughout Vietnam. There were lots of artifacts, photos, and videos showing the customs, clothing, and environment of the tribes. Outside the museum were reconstructed traditional homes of the tribes including a house on ten foot stilts with a springy bamboo floor. The water puppet show was surprisingly entertaining. There was a lot of physical comedy, variation, color, and live music.

Vietnam – Hanoi – Museum of Ethnology

At the end of the week, we made the journey to Halong Bay for a two night cruise. This is when the weather really turned and we experienced record breaking low temperatures. The weather was so bad that the government was not allowing any ships to cruise the bay. As a result we were stranded on land for the night. They weren’t sure if we would be able to cruise the following day, but we decided to try and wait it out. The next day, they originally said they would not be able to cruise, but at the last minute we got the OK! Although it was cold, it was beautiful. We got to kayak through caves, hike to viewpoints and through caves, learn to make spring rolls, enjoy a seven course meal, and dress up like kings and queens. We did it all!

Vietnam – Halong Bay

Vietnam – Halong Bay – Our ship

3. Eat

Traveling through Vietnam has been a culinary delight. It is easily one of our favorite food countries. Specifically, we love the regional specialties. Every region has a dish that they make better than everyone else. This week we had grilled goat in Ninh Binh and jellyfish salad and squid cake in Halong bay. They were all much better than their names sound!

Wow! Traveling with the Chadwick’s has opened us up to a whole new level of Vietnamese food. We still love our $1 pho on the street, but we are enjoying the gourmet Vietnamese fusion too. Our favorite restaurant was the Green Tangerine in Hanoi. It is French cooking with Vietnamese flavors and we would eat it for every meal if we could. Not only was it beyond tasty, it was beautifully plated and the building was a charming 1928 colonial villa.

Vietnam – Hanoi – Green Tangerine – Ying Yang soup, candy shaped pasta, fish and apple tart, and pork ribs

4. Drink

We may have a caffeine problem and we blame it on the Vietnamese coffee. It’s just so delicious that we can’t help ordering it at breakfast, then again before noon, then again at lunch. It takes nearly all our willpower not to order more at dinner.

5. Sleep

Our hotel in Tam Coc was on the main road, but was still pretty sleepy. The guy running the place seemed so excited to see us every time we walked by. He served us ginger tea every time we tried to leave and then again when we came back – even when we were gone five minutes at the convenience store down the road.

With Lindsey’s parents, we are staying at what we like to call “real hotels” – you know, the ones with room service, a safe, a shower curtain, great service, and food safety standards. The beds are like fluffy marshmallows with lumbar support and the showers have good pressure and hot water at the same time. We feel like the king and queen!

6. Move

This week was what we expected all our weeks to look like! We biked around Ninh Binh for two days. We hiked to view points, through caves, around museums, and down city streets. We even got a chance to kayak in Halong Bay. Lindsey and Glenn shared a kayak, while Pat had to pilot a two person kayak by himself. It was only about 40 degrees and our guide looked miserably cold. Our hands were pretty stiff after using the metal paddles held together with packing tape, but kayaking through the limestone cave made it all worth it.

Vietnam – Halong Bay

Check out Pat’s CADENCE Week 34 post (coming soon) for details about this week.

7. Etcetera

Lindsey’s parents have expressed surprise that we don’t look tattered and exhausted and to be honest we are too! We thought after nearly eight months of wearing the same four shirts and two pants and washing them with bar soap in the hotel sink, that they would be falling apart. Surprisingly, all our gear and clothes are in really good shape. We’ve only replaced a few items and only for climate changes, not wear and tear. To combat travel fatigue, we are very deliberate and thoughtful about taking rest days where we don’t do anything touristy. We spend the day reading, watching movies, shopping, eating, or working out. We try to get in at least one rest day per week. We also have found that we do well when we have hard and easy days (lots of touristing and little touristing) instead of lots of medium days. Traveling can be exhausting and it’s easy to get burnt out, so we focus on a nomadic cadence that makes us happy.

Check out our Flickr album to see all our photos from this week.

Week 33 – Hoi An and Hue, Vietnam

Charming Central Vietnam

Vietnam – Hoi An – Japanese Covered Bridge

We are continuing to fall in love with Vietnam. We spent the first half of the week in the charming town of Hoi An and the second half in the old imperial capital of Hue. The old town of Hoi An is a maze of alleys and lantern strung streets. During the day, it’s beautiful, but it’s true charm is revealed at night when all the lanterns are lit and candle boats float down the river. We had longer than we needed in Hoi An, so we chose to take a cooking class for a day. Our second destination, Hue, is not as cutesy as Hoi An, but has lots of sights and history. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see all we wanted to see in Hue because Pat’s cold came back and required a rest day. We finished the week taking another overnight train north to Ninh Binh.

1. Go

Bus – 125 km. We took a bus from Hoi An to Hue. It was a strange experience. Instead of seats, there were reclining lounge chairs – similar to those found poolside. There were three columns stacked two high. The aisles were so narrow that we had to shuffle sideways to get to our seats. Pat thought it was fine, but Lindsey was very uncomfortable for the whole ride.
Train – 454 km. Our overnight train from Hue to Ninh Binh
Taxi – 6 km. We took two short taxi rides, both in Hue. First from the bus station on arrival, then to the train station for departure.
Foot – 73,000 steps in 7 days (approx. 36 miles)

2. See

Hoi An can probably be seen in one day, but we could have easily spent weeks. The old town has been beautifully preserved and restored. We purchased a ticket book that allowed us to visit many of the old buildings, museums, and cultural shows. There are lots of tailor shops, coffee shops, and restaurants tucked away in this maze.

Vietnam – Hoi An

Vietnam – Hoi An – Japanese Covered Bridge

Vietnam – Hoi An

Vietnam – Hoi An – Want to buy a fish… on a motorcycle?

Vietnam – Hoi An

Hoi An is charming during the day, but it’s simply magical at night (but be warned of people trying to sell candles and boat rides).

Vietnam – Hoi An at night

Vietnam – Hoi An – Lanterns and boats

Vietnam – Hoi An at night

We spent a drizzly afternoon exploring the Citadel in Hue. Despite the rain, we really enjoyed exploring the purple forbidden city. Only a small fraction of the original buildings remain due to the damage from the war for independence from France. They are working are restoring more buildings.

Vietnam – Hue – Citadel

3. Eat

Vietnam – Hoi An – BBQ

Both Hoi An and Hue have delicious food. We are loving the fresh herbs and deep flavors. One of our favorite dishes in Hoi An was a street vendor selling bbq and noodles. The bbq came with rice paper, veggies, and dipping sauce. We got to assemble the rolls ourselves. The noodles are specific to the Hoi An area and are very thick and square shaped. They are unlike anything we’ve had before. It was all the more interesting since we were sitting on tiny stools at a tiny table in a tiny alley – the perfect size for a four year old in a princess dress pretending to drink tea with her stuffed animal friends, but not for two giant Americans trying to eat with chopsticks and roll meat in slippery rice paper. Needless to say, we were all knees and elbows.

We had some extra time in Hoi An and chose to take a cooking class. We started the day by touring the market, then took coconut boats to the cooking center (our guide made us glasses and rings from bamboo and made us wear them the whole time). We started by making rice paper (very tricky) and sauce. The sauce was used in many of our dishes so it had to be good. We made spring rolls, pancakes, pho bo, banana flower salad, and eggplant with tomato. Everything was tasty and we now have recipes to take home.

Vietnam – Hoi An – Coconut Boat ride complete with hats, glasses, and rings

Vietnam – Hoi An – Pat making rice paper

Vietnam – Hoi An – Cooking class

Vietnam – Hoi An – Fruits of our labor during the cooking class

4. Drink

Coffee, coffee, coffee. We are way over caffeinated in Vietnam. We just can’t get enough of the delicious coffee. It’s good hot, but it’s best on ice. Other than copious amounts of coffee, we’ve been enjoying fresh juices, smoothies, and coconut water. There is a strong cafe culture here. so we are getting used to spending some lazy hours sipping drinks and watching the world pass by.

5. Sleep

In Hoi An, we stayed in Thanh Luan guesthouse run by the sweetest woman. She was like our Vietnamese mother and made us feel like family instead of patrons. She tried to feed us every time we saw her. Breakfast was included and once she found out that we like Vietnamese food, she served us delicious pho and bun (two types noodle soups). But it never stopped there – she also served us a huge platter of fruit, mini waffles, and coffee. Once we were leaving for lunch while she and her staff we eating and she insisted that we try what they were eating. We would go back to Hoi An just to stay with her again.

In Hue, we stayed at The Jade Hotel with some of the best service we’ve experienced. The staff bent over backwards to make sure we were happy. They had a huge, delicious all-you-can-eat breakfast. They even let us check out late in the afternoon since we had an evening train.

Our last night was spent on the train heading north to Ninh Binh. We boarded around 9:30pm, so we read for a short bit and went to bed. It was an easy trip and an excellent way to travel at night.

Vietnam – Hue – Overnight train

6. Move

On our last day in Hoi An, we did a bike ride through the rice paddies and through town for lunch. In all we biked 11 miles. The clouds were out which meant it wasn’t too hot but we did get rained on a little. We had planned to do a few days of biking in Hue, but Pat’s cold kept us from doing too much.

Vietnam – Hoi An

Check out Pat’s CADENCE Week 33 post (coming soon) for details about this week.

7. Etcetera

We finally feel like we have been able to escape the party trail of Southeast Asia. All through Thailand and Cambodia we felt like we couldn’t get away from it. Everywhere we went, we were surrounded by twenty somethings who just wanted to party on the cheap and nearly everywhere we stayed we suffered the thump-thump of music late into the night. No matter what we did, we couldn’t escape it. Thankfully, we have found relief in Vietnam. The party trail is definitely still here, but it’s easily avoided. There are lots of places to stay away from the clubs. Whew! Cheers to a good night sleep.

Check out our Flickr album to see all our photos from this week.

Week 32 – Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

A Breath of Fresh (Humid) Air

Vietnam – Cao Dai Holy See – It’s hard to sit still, even if your church has dragons

We began this week celebrating Pat’s birthday and entering Vietnam. We were more than ready to leave Cambodia. We spent the entire week in Ho Chi Minh City with day trips to the Mekong Delta, Cu Chi Tunnels, and Cao Dai Holy See. Ho Chi Minh City has been exactly what we needed after Cambodia: our guesthouse was quiet but still in the middle of the action, the food is fresh and tasty, and there is more than enough to see and do. We ended the week with seventeen hour overnight train ride to central Vietnam.

1. Go

Vietnam – Ho Chi Minh City – Train from HCMC to Danang

Bus – 770 km. This was a big week for bus travel. We started with a six hour trip from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City. Then during our stay in HCMC, we took two full day trips that involved lots of bus time. On the upside, we got to listen to the first few episodes of Serial and got caught up on some of our other favorite podcasts.
Train – 935 km. We love train travel and booked this overnight train from Ho Chi Minh City all the way to Danang despite the travel agent and hotel owner telling us to fly instead. It was a 17 hour journey, but surprisingly enjoyable. We slept decently well and ate a few mediocre meals. We also met some interesting travelers along the way.

Taxi – 32 km. We took a taxi to the train in Ho Chi Minh. Our guesthouse owner was very sweet and walked us to the road and flagged down a taxi for us. We agreed on a price and got in. The second we started moving he tried to claim that the price was per person instead of total. We firmly said no, he said he couldn’t do it, so we got out. We easily waived down a metered taxi and got the train station at our original agreed upon price. Our second taxi was from the train station in Danang to our guesthouse in Hoi An.
Foot – 78,000 steps in 7 days (approx. 39 miles)

2. See

For our first day in HCMC, we decided to walk the town and visit sights until we dropped. We ended up walking around all day and visited the War Museum, Independence Palace, Notre Dame, the Post Office, and the Market. The War Museum documented the Vietnam War (aka Second Indochina War or American War) through vivid photographs from both sides. There was an entire exhibit depicting the affects of Agent Orange, which was upsetting to say the least. We continued on with the Independence Palace which was the home of workplace of the South Vietnamese President during the Vietnam War. It has been preserved since the end of the war.

Vietnam – Ho Chi Minh City – War Museum

Vietnam – Ho Chi Minh City – Notre Dam and

Vietnam – Ho Chi Minh City – Independence Palace View

Vietnam – Ho Chi Minh City – Independence Palace

Vietnam – Ho Chi Minh City – Fabric choices at the market

We took a full day tour to the Mekong Delta. In retrospect, we probably should have taken a multi-day tour instead. The tour itself was fine, but the bus ride was extremely long – three hours each way. While there we visited a rice and coconut shop where we sampled the treats being made. We explored the large river and floating market on one large boat, then explored a small river with a tiny oar boat. Our oar lady sang “row, row, row your boat,” made us wear Vietnamese hats, and made Pat paddle.

Vietnam – Mekong Delta – Floating Market

Vietnam – Mekong Delta – Making Candy

Vietnam – Mekong Delta – Row boat

Vietnam – Mekong Delta – Row Boat Guide

Our second full day tour was north to the Cao Dai Holy See and the Cu Chi Tunnels. The Cao Dai faith is a blend of eastern and western religions – think of a church with dragons. It was founded in 1926 and pulls from Catholicism, Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. Among other beliefs, they list Victor Hugo as one of three saints who signed the third covenant with God (the first two were with Moses and Jesus). It was a fascinating visit and we wish we could have stayed longer!

Vietnam – Cao Dai Holy See

Vietnam – Cao Dai Holy See – Dragons!

Vietnam – Cao Dai Holy See – Victor Hugo, Sun Yat Sen and Trạng Trình Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm

Vietnam – Cao Dai Holy See – It’s hard to sit still, even if your church has dragons

For the afternoon we toured the Cu Chi Tunnels. These were tunnels used by the Cu Chi people during the Vietnam War. They were incredibly elaborate and some went down four levels. They were used by the villagers to hide from the Americans as well as by fighters to hide or ambush Americas. It was a bit strange touring the tunnels and hearing all the comments about “the enemy.” We were the only Americans in our group and many of the others didn’t know much about the war.

Vietnam – Cu Chi Tunnels

3. Eat

Vietnam – Ho Chi Minh City – First Pho!

Pho, pho, and more pho! Seriously, we have had pho every day at least once. It’s served at all times of day, but most locals eat it for breakfast. We usually get the basic pho bo – beef noodle soup – but sometimes we get adventurous and have other meats, stew instead of soup, or other noodle types (which means it’s not technically pho any more since pho is the type of noodle, but oh well). All have been delicious. Since we are in Vietnam for a whole month, we know we will have plenty of time to try the food, so we went out for Indian food twice. It was just so good that it’s all we wanted to eat!

4. Drink

Vietnam has some seriously good coffee. It’s chocolatey and often serve over ice. Most of the time it has milk and sugar, but we’ve been able to order it black. After months of instant coffee, it’s quite a treat to have fresh coffee and espresso, although we may have a hard time getting to sleep after all the caffeine.

5. Sleep

In Ho Chi Minh City, we stayed at a guesthouse in the middle of the action. Thankfully, the room was quiet. It was on the fifth floor with no elevator, so we had to earn our sleep! The owners were some of the nicest people we have encountered. They treated us like family and made sure we were happy and comfortable every day. When leaving, the lady walked us to the road and got a taxi for us, then hugged us and said, “see you next time!”

Vietnam – Ho Chi Minh City – Outside our Guesthouse

Vietnam – Ho Chi Minh City

6. Move

We’ve fallen off the work out wagon pretty hard, but we are trying to get back on… or at least talking about it a lot! But on the upside, our daily life was more active: we did a short bike ride in the Mekong Delta, lots of walking in Ho Chi Minh City, and 100 meter tunnel walk (super hot and awkward). Now that Pat is healed from his cold, he was able to fit in one lifting session. Unfortunately, Lindsey is now fighting the same cold.

Check out Pat’s CADENCE Week 32 post (coming soon) for details about this week.

7. Etcetera

We had read that the Vietnamese people were not as overtly friendly as those in Cambodia, who aren’t as friendly as those in Thailand. We have found the opposite. The Thai were friendly enough, but the Cambodian people were more genuinely happy. The Vietnamese are down right excited to see us. All our tour guides, drivers, and hosts have treated us like family. They are like long lost relatives excited to show off their town.

Check out our Flickr album to see all our photos from this week.

Adventures in Cambodia

One Month Is Way Too Long

We spent 28 days in Cambodia, December 7th to January 3rd, and thought it was entirely too much time. Originally, we loved Cambodia despite the food poisoning Lindsey got on our third day. We loved Siem Reap, the Angkor Temples, and Battambang. Things took a bit of a turn in Phnom Penh. We couldn’t seem to escape the loud thumping music and sex tourism during both our stays in Phnom Penh and especially our time on Koh Rong. We budgeted a month in Cambodia because we thought it would be quiet, rural travel. We were disappointed to find that Cambodia is firmly on the backpacker trail filled with twenty-somethings looking to party on the cheap. They are easy to identify because they blatantly ignore local customs by wearing skimpy clothing and usually have bandages covering new tattoos or motorbike crash injuries (no license required). The more we tried to avoid the backpacker scene, the more we couldn’t get away from it. However, on a positive note, the Cambodian people are some of the friendliest locals we have encountered anywhere.

1. Go

Transportation in Cambodia is a hot mess. We can easily say that it was never boring and kept us on our toes. They usually drive on the right, but only if it’s convenient. There are sometimes road signs, which are universally ignored. There are trucks loaded way too high, mopeds with a family of four, and tuk tuks vying for road space. The only thing that keeps all this from being terrifying is the slow speed that most vehicles travel (at least in towns). Tuk tuks are common in Cambodia for both tourists and locals. We did several tuk tuk tours which are some of our favorite memories from all of Cambodia.

Cambodia – Siem Reap – View from the tuk tuk

Cambodia – Siem Reap – Our wonderful tuk tuk driver!

Cambodia – Battambang – View from the tuk tuk

We had the pleasure/misfortune of taking several boat rides. The first was a four hour ride that turned into eight brutally hot hours from Siem Reap to Battambang. Then some ferry rides and transfers to and from Koh Rong. These were some of the sketchiest boats we have ever been in. The ferry was fine, but the seas were so rough, we named it the “Barf Boat.” The transfer boats were not only questionably safe, they were often overfilled.

Cambodia – Tonle Sap Lake

Cambodia – Koh Rong – boat transfer in rough seas (not the “Barf Boat”)

Total traveling distances:

Plane – 400 km
Minibus – 740 km
Boat – 160 km
Tuk Tuk – 192 km
Foot – 267,000 steps

2. See

People typically come to Cambodia for one reason – the Angkor temples – and they are outstanding. Aside from that, the only thing we really thought was worthwhile was the S21 Museum and Killing Fieilds documenting the brutal Khmer Rouge regime, but were charmed by the city of Battambang.

Favorite Sights:

Angkor Temples – How can you not love this place? We were worried about battling the crowds, but we only found it to be a problem twice: first at Ankor Wat during sunrise and then at the Tomb Raider temple. We found lots of temples with very few people. It was simply magical.

Cambodia – Siem Reap – Preah Ko

Cambodia – Siem Reap – Ta Prohm

Cambodia – Siem Reap – Chau Say Tevoda

Cambodia – Siem Reap – Angkor Thom

Cambodia – Siem Reap – Angkor Thom – The Faces of Bayon

Cambodia – Siem Reap – Pat exploring Preah Khan

Favorite Museums:

S21 – This former school was turned into a prison and torture center during the Khmer Rouge regime. It is now a museum documenting the atrocities committed during their reign.
Killing Fields – This is one of many killing fields littering Cambodia. It was the final resting place for thousands of Cambodian people killed by the Khmer Rouge for being a threat (including teachers, lawyers, doctors, and their families).

Cambodia – Phnom Penh – S21

Cambodia – Phnom Penh – Killing Fields

Favorite Surprise:

Battambang – This is a dusty, small town (actually, Cambodia’s second largest) that is still on the tourist path, but skipped over by most people. We stayed in a weird business hotel and did a tuk tuk tour of all the sights in one day. The town pretty much shut down around 8pm, which we really appreciated. None of the sights were all that impressive, but we were charmed by our tuk tuk guide and felt like we got to see the real Cambodia for the first time.

Cambodia – Battambang – Our driver/guide with his six month old son

Cambodia – Battambang – The Bamboo Train

Cambodia – Battambang

Cambodia – Battambang – Phnom Samplou

Cambodia – Battambang – Phnom Samplou bat cave exodus

3. Eat

Meh. Although food was easy to find, it felt very contrived and sterilized. Every restaurant served the exact same thing. They all had Khmer curry on the menu on one page, then hamburgers and pizza on the next page. All the street stalls were selling banana and chocolate pancakes. We did not see locals eating at the majority of the restaurants we visited, except for Battambang.

Favorite Foods:

Amok – We tried this mild Khmer curry multiple times and liked it every time. It’s traditionally made with fish and wrapped in banana leaves.

Cambodia – Siem Reap – Lunch!

4. Drink

We happened to be in Cambodia during Christmas and New Years, but there wasn’t much variety in the drink selection. All the cocktails were ones you would expect at a resort in Florida and the beers were generic light lagers that were refreshing in the heat, but not terribly interesting. There were lots of stands selling fruit smoothies and juices, but after watching the ice being transported, we had some serious food safety concerns. We did have a few juices and smoothies, but only at cleaner establishments.

Favorite Drinks:

Hot Toddy – Pat came down with a nasty cold during our week on Koh Rong. We taught the bartender how to make a hot toddy (hot drinks aren’t all the popular when it’s 95 out).
Fresh Fruit Juice – Delicious and served everywhere. Unfortunately, we only enjoyed them a few times after seeing the questionable cleanliness of most places serving them.

5. Sleep

We had very mixed experiences with our hotels/hostels/campsites in Cambodia. It was one of those countries where we had to make an effort to escape the partying backpackers, but didn’t always succeed. Regardless of the quality of the establishment, the staff were always beyond friendly.

Favorite Sleeps:

Villa Medamrei, Siem Reap – Our first nights were spent in this lovely, quiet place tucked away.

Cambodia – Siem Reap – Villa Medamrei

6. Move

Continuing with the hot and humid countries has made working out difficult. Cambodia was not an easy country to walk or run in. We struggled even walking a few blocks since there are rarely sidewalks which means we would have to walk in the street with traffic. Pat found a few running routes along rivers, but they tended to be smelly from all the trash and had inconsistent quality. The only place we were able to walk at length was in and around the Angkor temples.

Favorite walking spot:

Angkor Temples – We spent three days wandering these gems. Many were not crowded at all and allowed us to wander and climb at our leisure. We had some very high steps count during our touring days.

Cambodia – Siem Reap – Lindsey on Pre Rup

Cambodia – Siem Reap – Angkor Thom – Pat climbing into the Library of Bayon

Cambodia – Siem Reap – Lindsey on the boardwalk to Neak Poan

Cambodia – Siem Reap – Angkor Thom – Bayon

7. Etcetera

As we’ve mentioned before, our rough budget for this trip is $100 a day (for two people). Our daily average in Cambodia was $72.76. We were surprised it wasn’t cheaper. Everything we read before said that everything from food to lodging would be cheap. We paid a little more for hotels sometimes in an effort to avoid the party crowd.

Our biggest surprise overall was the friendliness of the locals, and not just towards us, towards each other. They were very physical with each other in a playful way – like teenagers flirting. It was not uncommon to see grown men putting each other in headlocks or chasing girls with something gross in hand. At one restaurant we visited, they kept closing the refrigerator door while someone else was trying to get stuff out. The trapped worker would then chase the other trying to kick them, all with huge grins and fits of laughter. It was refreshing to see people unabashedly having fun.

Check out all our photos from Cambodia on Flickr and our post, Colors of Cambodia.

Also, check out our weekly posts from Cambodia:

Colors of Cambodia

Nomadic Cadence - Header - Color - RAINBOW

Cambodia – Phnom Penh – The Royal Palace

Cambodia – Siem Reap – Chau Say Tevoda

Cambodia – Battambang – Gas for motorcycles in sode bottles

Cambodia – Siem Reap – Angkor Thom

Cambodia – Tonle Sap Lake

Cambodia – Siem Reap – Silk

Cambodia – Siem Reap – Angkor Wat

A collection of some of our favorite photos from Cambodia, one for each color of the rainbow. Click on the first photo to view a slideshow. Check out our Flickr page to see all our photos from Cambodia. Also, check out our photo collections by color.