Nevadagirlamber

I'm in Cambodia and it is much different than Vietnam - they might share a border, but they are very different as far as I can tell. The language is one of the first major things you notice - in Vietnam they use the Latin alphabet and apparently words are phonetic once you learn the different tones and symbols, but the Cambodia alphabet is a series of letters that I cannot even begin to understand. My first stop (after a whoops at the customs desk) was to Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples of Angkor Thom (tomb-raider!), Bayon and Ta Prohm. The sites were fairly close to each other and the construction was fascinating. The heat was oppressive though, so we paced ourselves, and were able to see all of them in a very good day. ... read more

Just a quick stop over in Hue to see what the city had to offer. We saw a couple Royal tombs - Tu Duc and Minh Mang and the Hue Citadel. We also saw the Thien Mu Pagoda, which is a symbol for the city and took a ride on a dragon boat. Lotus flowers were present throughout the city and are the Vietnamese national flower. We stopped at an incense and conical hat making collective and I've discovered a new talent - I'll go into incense making if this whole prof thing doesn't work out!... read more

Just outside of Saigon are tunnels used by the Vietnamese people to fight the French and then later the Americans and Allies during the Vietnam war. The tunnels were used extensively, and have been widened to allow for the passage of tourists (even local Vietnamese, with more nutrition and different lifestyles, need wider tunnels than those used in previous time periods). We saw several of the traps used and learned some more about guerrilla warfare. It's quite strange to look at war through the eyes of the other side.... read more

Today we left the city and checked out to Ben Tre so we could enjoy the Minh Cong Delta. It's part of Vietnam produces a lot of the agriculture rice and fish that the country eats. Water is everywhere, the humidity makes me sticky, and I'm a tad bit burnt - not a bad day at all. We visited a nice farm where we were treated to some local music, fruits and honey - we even got to hold the beehive! We then moved on to a quick float down the river before seeing how coconut candy is made. Creamy, not too sweet, delicious! We moved onto lunch after another longer trip down the river on a bigger boat. We were served what looked like a carp type of fish, a pancake filled with noodles and ... read more

Marrakech was a 7 hour train ride from Fes and is one of major stops for tourists, though I'm not quite sure it lives up to its hype. Another imperial city, it is also a mix-up of various cultures and has your typical sites; mosques, medinas, palaces (the King has many across the country) and gardens. This city never stops - motorbikes and vehicles clog up the narrow streets and the honking and sound of the motors quickly grow exhausting. We took a day trip to Ouarzazate (Where-zeh-za-tee), the Hollywood of Morocco. We first traveled through the Atlas Mountains for a few hours, seeing some beautiful scenery. We then stopped of at Ait Ben Haddou, an earthen village along a former caravan route, where we were forced to use a local guide to see the location ... read more