Cambodia & Vietnam, a life changing journey.
 

Just back from our amazing trip to these two fascinating countries, for us our first real Asia experience (previously only Hong Kong for one week). We are frequent travellers to Europe and also on a lesser scale the US. We being my husband, Stephen & two of our good friends, David & Sue, with whom we’ve travelled many times, three of us will be 50 this year & Sue next year. This trip was really on Sue’s wish list for quite a while and we are just happy to travel so quite excitedly ‘tagged’ along. As it happened Sue got very busy with work and as I’m ‘retired’ I took on the planning, which I love to do. So with the time frame sorted and with Sue’s outline of places she wanted to go, the trip was put together in January this year and we were ready to go.

<b>Places visited:</b>
Siem Reap - 4 nights
The Mekong River - 7 nights
HCMC – 3 nights
Hanoi – 4 nights
Halong Bay – 1 night
Sapa – 2 nights

So including travel time and two nights on the train, to and from Sapa we were away three & a half weeks.

<b>Monday, March 19 Brisbane to Siem Reap</B>

Bags were packed and the ‘roster’ for puppy sitting (10 month old Lab) with the ‘kids’ (23 & 25) was sorted and thanks to points, we boarded our Singapore Airlines business class flight to Singapore at midnight. Love the ease of boarding with B/class no lines etc it’s a real treat. We tried to sleep most of the way 7ish hours to Singapore, not too hard after a nice meal, a glass of Champagne and a movie. Singapore is one of our favourite airports, so much to do, shopping, massages etc. etc. We really just hung out in the lounge. Although for the first time through Singapore we had to change terminals, which was very easy to do with the light rail. Surprising or not, the terminals are pretty identical re shopping lounge etc. We boarded our Silk Air flight to Siem Reap which was only about 2hours so went very quick. B/class on the Silk Air flight was just the first couple of rows at the front of the plane with bigger seats, much like B/class domestically here in Australia.

In Siem Reap you disembark on the tarmac and that’s when you know you have arrived in Cambodia!!!!

Looking forward to reading your TR.

ok, dreamer,that last sentence has me on edge of the seat...

Ha Ha CaliNurse, that was my intention.

I forgot to mention the formalities for entering Cambodia. I know from my research that there’s lots of questions regarding this. I'd been very diligent and downloaded a visa application form, filled it out and attached photos. Waste of time!

We got handed the relevant forms (which looked nothing like the ones I downloaded) before boarding the flight from Singapore to Siem Reap. There were 3 each, Arrival - Departure & Customs. All of which have 'exactly' the same info. So filling out 6 of these (dh leaves that up to me grrr) is very tedious.

<b>Siem Reap Tuesday, March 20 - Friday March 23</b>

On walking down the steps off the plane the heat hits you in the face like a slap, it takes your breath away. We live in sunny Queensland, where we all whinge and moan about the heat & humidity of an Australian summer. Never again, this was on a whole new level, my face was instantly red and my hair that I’d taken much time to straighten and smooth, immediately went into a spasm of frizz and curl that pretty much did not settle until Hanoi. I had anticipated this and reigned the unruly mop in with a big clip that was to be my best friend for the next two weeks (that and every cold face washer I was offered).

Being up the ‘front’ of the plane we were the first ones inside to begin the visa procedure. Easy but I wouldn’t say that it was clear what you needed to do. Once people started pouring in (another plane had also just landed) it became very confusing. We went to the beginning of a very long counter and handed over all our forms and photos, the customs forms were handed back. We really didn’t know what to do next but were waved back away from the desk, while our passports were added to a huge pile. These passports were then handed out in piles to the waiting officers sitting along this huge counter. After maybe 10-15 minutes we were waved over to the end of this counter and handed back our passports, with the departure card attached to one of the pages. We collected our bags and headed towards the exit passing a bench that said ‘Customs’, as no one was there we placed our cards in a basket (there were some cards already in it) and exited.

So lovely to see a smiling face holding a board with our names on it, this smiling face belonged to our Tuk Tuk driver for the remainder of our stay, Panyay. We were so excited when he took us to his Tuk Tuk; we’d presumed we would be transferred by car. What a wonderful way to arrive, we had grins from ear to ear. The ride was about 20minutes to our hotel and gave us a great first look at Siem Reap.

Our hotel was The Golden Temple www.goldentemplehotel.com and I really can’t say enough good things about this place. We were greeted so warmly with a lovely cool drink and the first of many cold towels, the reception area is open air beside the pool. Unfortunately we were too early for our room, so left our gear and headed off walking. The hotel is in a great location for walking, it’s only a short stroll to the river, then on to the markets, Pub St. etc. We walked around for a while, through the markets which were wonderful, we love food markets and there were some wonderful things see. As we were still in the same clothes we’d left home in and we were really feeling the heat, we headed back to the hotel. Checked in and headed to the pool, never before has a pool been so needed or appreciated. It was an oasis. We spent the rest of the afternoon swimming and enjoying the really good food the restaurant offered, spring rolls, rice paper rolls and a couple of Angkor Beers each, went down very well and all for under $10!!! It was a lovely lazy afternoon so much so that we opted for dinner at the hotel as well. David & Sue were to arrive the next day, so we were saving our real exploring ‘till then.

Glad you enjoyed the Golden Temple Hotel -- it was one of the things that made our stay in Siem Reap special. That pool! Small but so inviting. We also loved the tuk-tuk ride in from the airport. Such a treat!

Agree the weather in SR takes heat and humidity to a whole new level. We live in DC which gets its share of heat and humidity but nothing like SR.

Try November next time. Mid-day was warm but the humidity was fairly low and the mornings and evenings were gorgeous. I'll never forget the awesome 45-minute tuk-tuk ride out to Bantei Srei in the early morning--perfect temperature, the breeze from the tuk-tuk, and a chance to wear my new Cambodian silk scarf as we rode through the awakening countryside. And the temple was fabulous to boot!

We will be staying at the Golden Temple in June, I am so glad to read your positive feedback on it!!

<<<I'll never forget the awesome 45-minute tuk-tuk ride out to Bantei Srei in the early morning--perfect temperature, the breeze from the tuk-tuk>>>

We did the same thing, but had lucked out with somewhat cooler (high 80s) weather in March of last year. (And then we took the tuk-tuk all the way to Beng Melea - a little long, but a great chance to see the country side "close up and personal")

Totally agree that the tuk tuk experience is a more up close personal feel. We enjoyed them even in may when the weather was hot hot hot.

Thanks for following along, I'll get to our time at temples etc next.

<b>Sf7307</b>
<i><<<We did the same thing, but had lucked out with somewhat cooler (high 80s) weather in March of last year. (And then we took the tuk-tuk all the way to Beng Melea - a little long, but a great chance to see the country side "close up and personal")>>></i>.

We also did the ride out to Beng Melea in ‘our’ Tuk Tuk, woh what an experience. I’m interested to know which ‘way’ you went. We went out what seemed a really long way through amazing villages and open paddocks of what I think were tapioca plantations but then on the way back we seemed to be on a main road. That’s was the hottest I think I’ve ever been and when we ran out of petrol……………………..

After a wonderful sleep in our lovely air-conditioned room we headed to the open air restaurant for breakfast, it overlooks the pool and is very relaxing, lots of overhead fans. But oh dear lord the coffee is dreadful, like really really bad. This was to be a common theme of the trip, me madly looking for a decent coffee but all bad coffee will forever be judged by the Golden Temple coffee, don’t worry <b>Nokomis</b> you will really enjoy this hotel, the staff are so lovely and the restaurant, pool & spa are wonderful. We headed off for a walk to find our restaurant for the night, Cuisine Wat Damnak as we’d been warned on booking that it can be difficult to find in the dark, due to lack of street lighting. It’s really close to the hotel about 5-700 metres and we found it no problem.

We decided we’d hang around the pool until the others arrived, I even managed a wonderful facial at the spa and can you believe it was only $9? Just amazing, I was to return before we left. David & Sue arrived and we all had lunch by the pool, they enjoyed just arriving and relaxing. We did head back into ‘town’ for a wander around and a much needed coffee for me!! Not too proud to say I actually got a bit sick, headache and quite nauseous from lack of caffeine quite surprised at how long it made me feel so bad. Sue also had left her glasses at the Siem Reap airport and after many phone calls it was clear she was not getting them back, so we went in search of an optometrist. Which we found and half an hour later she had a pair of prescription glasses for the grand sum of $35. David actually went back later and got two pairs.

I should have warned at the beginning that this TR will have a lot of food comments, I spent quite a bit of time researching restaurants and we had some wonderful meals. The walk in the dark to the restaurant was fun; we had small torches which were really useful. Cuisine Wat Damnak (wwwlcuisinewatdamnak.com) is a set menu place with two choices, 4 courses + amuse bouche for $17 or 5 courses + amuse bouche for $24. The guys had the 5 course and us ladies the 4, the meal was amazing and the setting is just wonderful, so nice to step inside that lovely air conditioned dining room.

<u>The men ate</u>:

<i>Marinated maam (aquatic herb) with pineapple & pork shank confit c/w herbs, flowers & local crudités
Calamari salad with braised tofu, sweet potato & crispy vermicelli
Quail red curry with pumpkin & long bean
Pan fried Sanday fish & tiger eggplant, grilled long eggplant & peanut sauce
Steamed dark chocolate cake with caramelized cashew nuts, pandan crème anglaise</i>

<u>The ladies ate</u>:

<i>Tonle Sap croaker fish, pounded coconut with prahok (fish paste) & elephant ear taro stem
Clear prawn consommé with green mango, tamarind shot and lemon basil
Rice wine & wild honey roasted pork ribs with local cresson (watercress I think)
Kaffir lime panna cotta with mango salad & sorbet (devine)</i>

Every plate was delivered with such grace and looked so beautiful and the flavours were just amazing. Could not believe we were eating this wonderful food at this price, just a fantastic way to begin our Cambodian adventure together.

Next we begin our Temple visits, Woh!

Just starting to look into a Vietnam trip and I am loving this so far!

Damn. We struck out in our poorly planned search for Wat Damnak Cuisine in December (the tuk-tuk drivers outside the GTH didn't know where it was, and we couldn't provide specific directions). Really regretting that we didn't try again, after seeing your menu. Sounds wonderful.

Funny about the coffee. I don't remember it as being horrible at the hotel. Breakfast was interesting, though--no matter how hard we tried to pick and choose from the set breakfast[s] and get them to bring us less, the staff couldn't seem to grasp that we REALLY didn't want that much! Delicious though, and the service was always good.

Looking forward to your next posts.

Hope its some help jamikins - where are you thinking of going?

aprillilacs what a shame it literally was turn right out of the hotel turn right down the first 'main' looking lane then left. We'd been warned that Tuk Tuk drivers don't know where it is and we may not have been so lucky had we not scouted in the daylight.

April lilacs, you wil just have to go back. I'd say it was one of my best meals anywhere. Well, two actually, as we went two weeks in a row!

I just love your detailed food notes and am really looking forward to your Vietnam sections as, like Jamikins, I am also considering this as a future destination now that their are direct flights from UK.

great report!

Glad you are enjoying :-)

<b>Two days, 5 Temples & another special meal</b>

I had pretty much left the temple touring plan up to Sue as this really was a big part of why she wanted to travel to Cambodia. After another wonderful breakfast we met up with David & Sue’s Tuk Tuk & Panyay who had a map of the temple area and worked out a plan. It was decided we would leave Angkor Wat until dawn the next day, so headed towards Angkor Thom. What a great ride even if you’re not really ‘into’ temples go for a Tuk Tuk ride out of Siem Reap past the temples, it’s such a great way to see the local area. We stopped off to get the pass’s and what really surprised me here was that after all my research and being so prepared with our passport photos, they weren’t needed or even accepted. We had our photos taken there on the spot, didn’t seem to take long, very efficient, so not sure why all the miscommunication re taking photos with you.

We very excitedly went past Angkor Wat and madly snapped photos and continued on to the South Gate of Angkor Thom, where Panyay dropped us with instructions that he would meet us at the Victory Gate whenever we were ready. God he was lovely. Not sure how you describe your first view of an Angkor Temple, magnificent maybe? Panyay had dropped us a little short of the gate so we could walk towards it, breath taking. We walked, climbed and scrambled all over this wonderful temple in the stifling nearly midday heat. Then walked towards The Bayon past the Terrace of the Elephants, just wonderful, I really enjoyed this one with its tangled tree roots slowly taking over the magnificent temple. After more exploring and much photo taking we headed out to find Panyay, no mean feat I may add, there were hundreds of Tuk Tuks at the Victory Gate. But as was to happen quite a lot I think Panyay ‘found us’. We were very hot & hungry, so we stopped off at a road side café for lunch. It actually wasn’t very good and in reality I’m sure the Tuk Tuks get a kick back for taking tourist there but the beer was cold!

Next temple was Ta Prohm another great ride to get there, really feeling the heat. Had a good explore and then declined to see anymore temples for the day and headed back for a much needed swim and rest. We had a booking for Touich for dinner and were being picked up by the restaurant at 7. What a great service, when I emailed to book they suggested that it may be difficult to get Tuk Tuk there as it’s a ‘bit out of the way and would we like to be picked up and returned after dinner? Woh So the driver turned up right on time and off we went, another really great drive, we went along side the river for quite a while and got to see the locals going about their nightly routine, just fascinating. The drive there took about 10-15 mins and when we pulled up we did kinda wonder…..”where on earth are we” but not to fear we were welcomed like old friends and began our beautiful meal.

<u>We ate</u>;

<i>Shared starters – Beef Salad ‘Lab’ Battambang & Beef Salad ‘Lab’ Battambang Thai (this one was HOT)</i>

<u>The men ate;</u>

<i>Beef Filet Marinated with Kompot Pepper</i>

<u>The ladies ate;</u>

<i>Red snapper on glowing Embers from Koh Kong YUM!!! (Basically snapper cooked in salt and expertly filleted for us at the table) This was a whole fish each and it was $8</i>

Another wonderful special meal topped off by the chef coming out and saying hi. Slept liked babies this night knowing we had an early start for the pilgrimage to Angkor Wat at dawn.