Vietnam and Cambodia have always been very high on our list of places to see. Steeped in history, some fantastic, others horrifying. Friends had backpacked Vietnam and Cambodia in their college years, visiting all the tourist spots up and down both Countries. We, on the other hand, didn’t. While we enjoy the odd tent, cabin or hut, being older with creaky knees, AirBnB or hotels are now our preferred choice, and we always insist on a private bathroom.
This particular trip was a guided tour, as we had limited time and wanted to ensure we saw as much as possible with someone who knew where they were going.
Although we had successfully managed to drive around New Zealand in a motorhome, click here to read about it.
Always try to give the local language a go when we visit any country; however, Vietnam and Cambodia were a little too complicated for us to manage more than the ‘hello’, ‘goodbye’, and ‘thank you. Our guide covered our inadequacies, and we could fall back on our embarrassment.
Spending Christmas and New year in a country that didn’t have the same connection with the festivities was also intriguing.
This is the trip:
Places visited:
- Phu Quoc
- Can Tho
- Chai Doc
- Phnom Penh
- Siem Reap
Phu Quoc
Arriving in Phu Quoc on Christmas Day
Usually a family affair around this time of year, Christmas meal back in our house in the UK with family, we decided to fly out on Christmas Eve this year and arrived on Christmas Day.
A few hotels and bars had put bright patterned decorations out for the visitors. This area of Phu Quoc was practically empty, some bars were closed, and shops had shut. A few people walked around like us to take in the place before the festivities started later in the evening.
More signs describing what was going to happen on New Year’s Eve than there were about Christmas Day, so we didn’t end up going out in the evening, and after the token calls back home, we had an early night.
Can Tho & Cai Rang Floating Market
Coach ride to Can Tho and a visit to a temple. Statues adorned the entrance, and monks prayed in a room off to the side. We hopefully didn’t disturb them as we walked around the building taking in the bold colours and intricate designs of the building and furniture.
Arriving back at the hotel, the evening slowly turned into night. The hotel we were at was next to a river, the building lights and decorations starting to shine brightly as the night sky came over.
A funeral possession was heard across the water, and the sound of drums and a gathering of people could just be seen following what was out of sight but imagined as the casket.
Cai Rang Floating Market
The floating market is famous for gathering traders from villages up and down the river. The market starts early in the morning and finishes around lunchtime.
Boats of all sizes arrive at this location, hoping to buy and sell their goods. Smaller boats make trips between tourist boats selling drinks or fruit, and larger boats meet in the middle of the river and transfer their products.
Around the shoreline, there are houses, both on land and in the water. This is the same up and down the river. Women can be seen on their porches preparing food or doing their washing.
What hits me most while I look around is the colour of the water, a dark brown mix of mud and silt, probably from the boats. Moreover, looking around the shoreline, large amounts of plastic waste and paper cover the banks.
Kids are playing on it, and dogs and chickens are looking around it for food. I’m told that the government is trying to clean up the waterways. It seems like a mammoth task.
While the water is brown, there is still a vivid colour palette from the vibrant fruit piled up on the boats to the boats themselves. Legend has it that the eyes on the front of the boats are there to protect the boats from monsters or evil.
Chai Doc
We entered Cambodia from Chai Doc, another early morning start to a speed boat, only stopping at the border guards area for passport control.
The boat ride up went past farms, from cattle to tea fields, temples and shrines. All the boats on the water were either traders returning to their villages with fruit and vegetables or people fishing in the water.
Arriving at Phnom Pehn, the contrast of traditional boats we had gotten used to could be seen in the backdrop of high-rise buildings towering over the dwarf houses and temples.
Phnom Penh
After a few hours of relaxing in the hotel after arriving in Phnom Penh, we were off to see the Independence Monument and the Palace. New Year celebrations in the city were all around, including a wicker pig.
The Royal Palace was, in all its glory, another high-traffic area for tourists, although while busier than other places, it wasn’t as busy as we were told it could get.
Nearly all the buildings are adorned with gold on the roofs, the intricate monuments around the grounds and within rooms. There was even a scaled version of Angkor Wat, showing the vast size and what it would have been like in the days of its use by the monks.
Siem Reap
A quick flight from Phnom Pehn to Siem Reap, millions of people visit here for many reasons. Temple ruins and Pub street was what we managed during our two-night stay in Siem Reap.
There are so many examples of Buddhist and Hindu temples. The scale and detail still visible while visitors climb all over the ruins are truly a wonder. Understanding the history behind the site is also quite remarkable.
In some places, carvings can still be seen in the original colour, and nearly every wall and ceiling is adorned with either a picture of battles or sacred beings.
Angkor Thom South Gates has some of the most detailed carvings, along with the Bayon Temple and the 350-meter Terrace of the Elephants. All form the walled city of Angkor Thom. Given that these have survived centuries of weather and wars, I can’t get over how close you can get to them.
Preah Khan Temple
Looking at pictures is one thing. Walking around the complex and seeing it for yourself is another.
It has an otherworldly feeling, set in a jungle setting, trees growing out of the buildings changing their shape, not simply destroying them but almost like using them to gain more height above the surrounding trees is unique. It looks like the trees have melted over the buildings, like adding too much cheese to a cheese toasty.
From 4th century culture to 21st-century culture. I give you Pub Street. This is where we found the locals and tourists converging.
A few blocks of bars, restaurants and music performances, bright lights, laughing, singing and nearly everyone taking photos of themselves or the surroundings.
We enjoyed Pub Street, sat down for a few drinks and food, and watched a bit.
Although our trip was nearly ending, we did spend another 7 days back in Phu Quoc. A more relaxed affair. Beach, drinks and burning in the sun were pretty much all we managed.