Greetings from Vietnam!

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Well hello to everybody reading this! (Most likely, my mum) As I’ve promised for weeks I was going to open a travel blog to record all our fun-filled adventures and mishaps, I thought it was about time I got started, before I completely lost the motivation! I do apologize it hasn’t started sooner to those of you who I’m sure will have been on the edge of your seats since we left 10 days ago, but it should be easier now we’ve settled down a bit and aren’t rushing from city to city quite so much… Although, given by how much I’m struggling to type on this ridiculous Vietnamese keyboard, you will have to bear with me on the grammar, spelling and length (ie- on how long I can stand this keyboard before it goes out the window!!)

Right, introductions aside I guess I should fill you all in on what we’ve been up to! An update I’m sure our families will appreciate is that we are in good health, eating relatively well (easy on the relatively…) and nothing has gone disastrously wrong yet. (Apart from Michael losing our cash card within the first 15 minutes of arriving at Bangkok airport, but we don’t like to dwell on that…) We’re having a brilliant time and the days are flying by, but at the same time it feels bizarre that we’ve only been gone 10 days- normal, every day life feels very long ago!

So, after our rather bumpy start to Bangkok, we ended up having a pleasant two days on Khao San Road when we arrived, where we got busy spending our money on cool ‘travel fashion’ clothes (Michael’s now constantly in Chang vests and shorts, I’m in tye-dye dresses, and we’re both wearing beaded bracelets. Yeah, we’re hip), arranging our onward travel to Cambodia, drinking Chang beer and eating gorgeous Pad Thai and Thai curries (I still prefer Thai food to Cambodian and Vietnamese) It certainly provided us with a gentle transition into Eastern culture- blaring UK pop charts, Mcdonalds and shot girls made us feel we were just at an unseasonably warm Blackpool pleasure beach rather than 5000 miles from home. Whilst I love the unadulterated tackiness of Khao San Road (the backpacker hub of Bangkok, for those not in the know), Michael was rather offended by it and was very happy to be leaving after our short stay!

So, after two nights we caught a 5:55am train to take us to the border of Thailand so we could cross into Cambodia. The train, along with the obscenely early start, was absolute hell and I would NEVER do it again… Boiling hot, sweaty and heaving with Thai people (and a scattering of equally uncomfortable-looking westerners), we had to sit completely upright with no leg room (and I had a little Thai kid continually kicking my leg) for nearly 6 hours. Then we had to spend 2 hours passing through immigration and another 3 hours getting an overpriced taxi from there to Siem Riep, our destination. Still, we made friends with a lovely South Ảmerican boy- Migeul- on the journey, so it wasn’t all bad…

Siem Riep was awesome and we really loved our time there. We spent our first day chilling by the pool and wandering round the market buying more tat, had a famous fish massage (where we had rather large fish obliterating our feet- was absolutely hilarious!) and spent the evening sampling the local beverages on ‘pub street’ with some Australian and American friends we made… All I have to say about that is, wow- Australians can bloody drink!

We then spent the second day exploring the temples of Anghor Wat- which was just as spectacular for me seeing it for the second time round as it was for Michael seeing it for the first. And the fact that it was boiling hot and we had terrible hangovers did not undermine the amazingness! I really think everyone should see the Anghor Wat temples at some point in their life, they really are totally unique; you’ll never see anything like them. We’ll put up the pics on facebook soon for those who want to see the amazing photos we took…

After a really lovely few days in Siem Riep we moved on to Phnom Pen (the capital) as it was on our way to Hoh Chi Min City and Michael wanted to see it. (Having been before, I did not!) Phnom Pen was exactly as I remembered; smelly, polluted and dirty, it is certainly an interesting place but far from pleasant. I can’t believe it’s the capital, rubbish lies in heaps in the streets and the people live in such poverty, it’s quite heart-breaking. Still, when you learn about the very recent history of Cambodia, it becomes more understandable. On the afternoon we arrived we went to the Killing Fields, and then the Teul Sleng museum of genocide (a really happy place) in the morning. Both were very sobering experiences and we learnt a lot about the Pol Pot regime and the mass slaughtering of Cambodian people at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. It feels so weird that all these atrocities only went on 30 years ago- I’m not going to go into detail here but I think it’s a subject that people should learn about. Just horrendous.

So I’d summarize our brief stay in Phnom Pen as interesting and educational, but certainly not fun and happy like Siem Riep!

Anyway, I think I’ll leave this first entry at that before this computer, along with the keyboard, go out the window! Thanks to everyone that’s messaged us so far; sorry we (especially me!) have been pretty bad at replying, these last few days in Hoh Chin Min City have been very busy…. But I’ll tell you all about that next time! J



Off to catch our night bus to Mue Ne now- BEACH TIME!



Much love, and peace out,



Carli and Michael x

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Comments

[Pauline hearne]

Your trip
It all sounds relly interesting and I suppose that's why we say that travel broadens the mind, linking events read about to the reality of being in that country. We are eagerly awaiting photographs!! I have no idea of how to pass on your blog to others who aren't on FB. However we are going to nanas on sunday so I will show her then. Lots and lots of lu xxxxxxx