Just a trip to Cambodia and Vietnam
This is a memoir of my short trip to the fascinating countries of Cambodia and Vietnam smeared with pop history, travel tips and some photos.
“Wandering restablishes the original harmony which once existed between man and the universe.” ~ Anatole France
This is the first time I ventured to the East of the Indian subcontinent in more than a decade, and it was such a good decision. The itinerary was to go backpack through Cambodia and Vietnam for a 2 week period with a halt in Singapore on the way there and the return. The initial plan was to do just Cambodia, but in retrospect I am so glad we decided to add Vietnam to the plan.
I say we to include my travel bud Trishla who gets much of the credit to get me excited about this trip as well provide the initial push to make the initial few flight bookings. Had those bookings not been made months before the trip, it would have never materialized. It also helped immensely that she is someone who knows how to travel and has documented some of it on her awesome blog here.
So first stop on the trip was Singapore. As far as transit hubs go, it’s difficult to find a city in the world that is more efficient than Singapore. It was also awesome because I was staying with a cousin who’s been living Singapore over 7 years now who knew his way around the city like the back of his hand.
Highlights of Singapore:
- Dinner at one of 100 food courts that give a great meal at an affordable price. I went to one near Little India.
- Night out: starting on Club Street and end up with going to 1 Altitude, which is the highest point in the city and makes for a pretty spectacular view from the top. Props to Arik (afore mentioned cousin) for getting us in without paying cover! When on top, keep an eye out for Eduardo Saverin’s penthouse pad and a large part of the F1 city race track in Singapore. This place can be pricey, so make sure you don’t go crazy on ordering too many beers here!
After a weekend of Singapore, we were ready to leave the rather ‘sterile’ city of Singapore to get a taste of what we had really set out to experience. On the flight to Phnom Penh was when we first felt like the trip had begun. Everything thus far seemed very comfortable and familiar, in part because of the friends we met with in Singapore, and in part because we had both been to the city before.
And we dived into the madness from the minute we landed. We took the first tuk-tuk guy who responded to the instructions, “bus-station Siem Reap” (yes, it’s funny how you begin to sound when you’re trying to communicate with a populace whose first language isn’t English). We were taken to the most shady looking bus-station ever with absolutely no-one who spoke any English. Thankfully the next bus to Siem Reap was 5 hours away — enough impetus to look for another bus service. For US$4, we were happily taken to the Sourya Bus Service station where we found a bus leaving in the next 5 minutes. Perfect.
Or so we thought for a few minutes. We had the last two seats in a rickety bus which was packed to the brim. Of course, packed to the brim doesn’t mean the same thing as it does back home: the ratio of the number of people to the number of seats remain 1:1. In India on an equivalent type of bus service, it’s 2:1 or more. Even still, there was enough here to suggest that this was going to be an interesting ride. And it really was. Half way through our journey, the bus broke down for about an hour in the middle of nowhere. After this we stopped for lunch at a Cambodian style Dhaba. By this time, we had made friends with 3 Australians who were on the bus with us, and sat with them to get some food. As if the bus breakdown wasn’t enough drama for the first day in a foreign country, there was a HUGE blast about 30 feet away from us where the food was being cooked. One the gas cylinders must have gone off. What was bizarre to see was how quickly everyone returned to work — including the station which had the blast!
The book I had picked up for this trip was Amitav Ghosh’s Dancing in Cambodia. I had no recommendation for it except the name of the book and the author that wrote. It turned out to be an excellent choice, for in it’s format of long essays, personal notes and narration of history, Ghosh makes for the perfect companion on a travel trip through the landscape of Cambodia. I learnt a lot about the history of the Khmer people and region from the his notes in the book, and it added a vital layer to my trip across this landscape and it’s people.
One part of what Ghosh talks about really stuck with me for a while. Anyone that lands in Cambodia will notice the importance the ‘image’ of the Angkor Vat plays in the lives of the people. Right from the graphic on it’s currency to beer bottles to taxi services to massage places, the silhouette of the Angkor Vat is a constant. His assessment of this phenomenon was that there was a stark difference in what the monument stood for fo the people of the country and the people of the world. For people from abroad, the Angkor was an image of a bygone era — something that transported you to a time in the past. But for the people of Cambodia, the Angkor had become exactly the opposite — it stood a symbol the bridge into the future.
The highlights of the Cambodian leg of this trip were the following:
- Angkor Vat is as beautiful as its made out to be. The scale and magnificence of the temple complexes and the surrounding forests transports you to a different time and space. It’s worth giving yourself at least 2 full days if not more to get completely lost in these temple trails.
- REAL cheap foot massages that you get almost anywhere along Siem Reap. They range from USD3 — USD 10. We got went into the first one we saw and got fleeced because we paid USD 10 for half an hour, which at the time seemed like a steel. Till we found out about the others near the city center. Ignorance really is bliss sometimes.
- Siem Reap has some awesome dinner places — all the meals there had some amazing food. Pub street is full of good places — the sights and smells you get while walking about are the best indication of what’s good. O Bistrot des Copains is worth the hype if you’re looking for some great French food.
Given the less than ideal bus ride that we had from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, we decided to pay 5 times the amount plus forego the purchased return bus tickets to take a cab to the airport. Great call in hindsight because the entire trip was so much more comfortable and helped refresh before the the Vietnam leg of the trip!
Enter Vietnam
Landing in Vietnam was smooth enough and the visa on arrival was a breeze — probably spent no more than 20 minutes there which is much better than some of the horror stories that you read when you Google ‘visa on arrival Vietnam’. There were some couples/families that had not applied for the pre-approval letter (which is mandatory so definitely something you want to get done if traveling from India. I used this one for getting my pre-approval letter to travel as a tourist to Vietnam and it’s legitimate. )
The destination the next morning was Mui Ne — a beach town about 4 hours north-west of Ho Chi Minh City. It’s a small sleep town with basically one road that goes through with pubs, hotels and stores on both sides.
It’s fascinating to see how similar these beach side town evolve and resemble each other around the world; Maui (Hawaii), Goa (India), Galle (Sri Lanka) and Mui Ne (Vietnam) all have some very similar characteristics. Even beyond simply town-planning/look-and-feel of the place, there seems to be a similarity in the lifestyle and outlook of the locals that have settled there. Even the flora and fauna is similar.
The second day was the one that I was really looking forward to with me trying wind surfing. I had read that this place was much better for wind-surfing than it was for normal body surfing, and I was excited to try something new. I had seen some guys surf across the section of the beach the previous day and it seemed like a fairly easy thing to do.
Was I wrong. And how. I found wind-surfing far more difficult than the first time I surfed. Not only do you engage your core as much as you do for surfing, but you are also engaging your arms. Catching the wind to power you is an amazing feeling, but also overwhelming when you realize how much power you can harness from a sail. Watch this to see an *extreme* version of windsurfing.
Things not to miss in Mui Ne
- Go to Joe’s cafes in the evenings. Really nice atmosphere and vibe. Good foods, lot’s of people and overall very chill
- Dragon night club is a LOT of fun. Definitely worth checking out on a Saturday night if you’re in Mui Ne — prepare for an all-nighter.
- Rent a scooter and go beyond the edge of the bay to the other side where all the fishing boats are parked. If you’re lucky and it’s a clear day, you’ll get to see an amazing sunset.
The ride back to Ho Chi Minh was also the first sign of the retreat of the trip. We were lucky enough to get introduced to a local friend on the last night in Ho Chi Minh to get a taste of some authentic local cuisine as well as stroll around the city center. Snails, clams and french bread not only make for an unique experience but also some delicious food.
All in all, it was such a good idea to step out of the country and do this hopping trip through Cambodia and Vietnam. Brought a lot of perspective on the region. But more importantly, it inspired me to travel as often as I could. There is something about landing in a new setting that triggers parts of your brain to come alive. It energizes you take on tasks in a different way. But more than everything else, it gives you perspective. Perspective that’s completely different from the reality of your daily schedule and world. There’s a certain routine that most people have. From where they live, to who they meet, what they eat and what they wear. Travel removes you from that to remind you that there are other ways to live. Not necessarily better or worse, but different. There are people who eat differently, sleep & wake up differently and still thrive. For me that perspective becomes invaluable when problem solving and growing.
