Day 115-116: Transit to Bangkok and last day in Southeast Asia

We realized only after we booked our 5:10 am flight that if we made the journey from Cambodia to the airport in one day, we had only left ourselves a 2.5 hour flight to try to power nap and rally for the next day. As a result, we decided to transit to Bangkok the day before our flight. Now, we've heard horror stories about the border crossing from Cambodia to Thailand from Siem Reap. We met multiple people who have said it was so horrible and took them so long that they would rather have flown. Backpackers saying this! It must be hard core! 

Pallavi did some research on the best ways to do this crossing. It involved taking a bus to the border, then a few more details about the immigration crossing, and then a bus or a train to Bangkok. I looked up bus and train schedules. Well, I swear I did... But attention to detail isn't my strong suit.

The key to the crossing is to get there early. Immigration can take between one and four hours. Our options were to leave at 6 am or 8 am. The 8 am bus reached at 11:30, which we thought would be too close to catch our1:00 train. 

Our day thus began with a 5:30 pickup. While in the van, Pallavi asks for the train time. 1:55I reply. That's right. Attention to detail deficient Sarah had missed that critical 55 minutes! That means when we arrived at customs at 9 am and cleared everything by10 am that we could have taken the 8 am bus instead! 

Immigration was so easy and organised. We don't know what these people were on about. It was a shorter queue than we've waited in in Melbourne airport and just as organised. It was too easy. That's how we ended up at the train station at 11:30, playing the ukulele a bit for some locals, and killing another 2.5 hour for the train. 

When the train finally came, it was almost a completely different and more comfortable experience than it had been when we went to that awful town of Ayutthaya. It was cool, smelled like a rainy hot summer day in the country side, wasn't crowded, and was only 40 minutes late. However, did food we wanted to eat  come in the evening following our mango and chili snack?  No!! We spent another train ride starving our way into Bangkok. 

We had wanted to say somewhere with good accessibility to the airport but couldn't find anything easily within our budget, so we just went to Khao San road, where we had stayed before. We found a hotel in a quieter area, dropped our bags, found our favourite place to eat in that area, and went to sleep! 

We decided to spend our last day in Southeast Asia with our friend Vikki, who we had travelled with for a bit in Indonesia (Pallavi's haggling partner in crime), who was in Bangkok. She convinced us to come to her hostel in Sikomvit with the info that it's just a 10-15 minute walk to the airport link train. 

So we asked what bus went to the area and where we could find it. Once we got on, we showed the address to the conductor who was stumped! It took her, the driver, and two other local women a few minutes to figure out where we needed to get off. An hour and a half later we get off! We asked somebody else where to next. They said the next road, and take a cab. Where the heck is this place??? We turn the corner and take another bus. We got off and must have asked a few more people before, two hours later, we made it to Vikki's hostel. 

We had such a nice visit. It was great to 'start' and end our trip with her. It felt like the perfect bookends. Then, in a mad 'did you want to take the train? It stops in 45 minutes at midnight' dash, we said goodbye and made it the very short distance to the airport link. 

Back to the real world in India just for a little bit for a much needed bad backpacker break.

Sent from my iPhone

Day 114: Angkor Wat

Angkor what??? I know it's not an uncommon play on the name Angkor Wat ('Wat' means temple), but I feel that it's a pretty accurate description of my knowledge of this place up until a few years ago. I had no idea it existed, let alone that it is a wonder of the modern world. 

The primary reason for us to go to Siem Reap is to see Angkor Wat, which is 6 km outside the city. I think Angkor Wat is the primary driver for most visitors to Cambodia, and boy is it a money maker! 

Every hotel is named some variation of Angkor [insert second differentiating name]. Every tuk tuk want a fair to Angkor Wat, which ranges from $10-15 USD. For 6 Kms! Granted, it is also for them to take you around the full day, but still! Then, Angkor Wat itself charges $20 USD for a one day pass. It's crazy. 

Wanting to avoid the tuk tuk mafia, we had this ambitious plan to rent a tandem bicycle and bike to and around Angkor Wat. We figure tandem would be a good way to see a small part of the 400 square  park (don't get excited. We'd only bike a few kms in the park) so that, in the event that one of us got tuckered out, the other could bike the extra weight. 

Pallavi's Hindu gods must have intervened and, as she said, "my child, you have no idea. We'll show you." We got into a fight at the tandem bike place about them refusing to accept my driver's license as a deposit with some ridiculous amount of USD as well. In a fit of principle, we stormed off and got a tuk tuk instead. 

I'm so glad we did! I had told Pallavi the night before we went that my hope for Angkor Was was to be impressed by it's size. I was impressed! We would never have been able to bike this place. 

It's been a long time time since I said 'wow' after ever new temple. If Angkor Wat makes you feel overwhelmed by its size now, imagine if you lived there at the time. 

Angkor Wat itself has a 1.5 km by 1 km most surrounding it. It's built like a typical Hindu temple, says Pallavi, but obviously bigger. I like the attitude of the ruler who built this place. In Sarah's interpretation of history, this ruler finally defeated his arch nemesis, the Chams, and to make sure he never got attacked again, he built a big temple. "Ha ha! This temple will either show my enemies or help sway the gods to be on my side. To help sway them, I shall dedicate this temple to Vishnu, show lots of amazing detailed carvings of my battle vs the Chams and Vishnu's heroic role in the milky ocean (probably easier for you to Google it)." Well, somebody should have told his descendent of the plan, but he missed the memo and turned the place into a Buddhist temple instead! 

We read to bring lots of sunscreen and water because it's hot in Angkor Wat. It must be hot all of the time and the day was no different. It was also crazy crowded. What's the world come to when you can't even find a place to take a seldom without somebody in the background? This place was even more crowded than the Taj Mahal. 

After an hour we made it back to our tuk tuk and had him take us 3 km to the next place: the area around the old city of Angkor Thom. Angkor Thom had a population of 1 million people at a time when London had only 10,000. It was a big city. 

A bridge lined with Buddhas on either side of you and a single lane gate crowned with 4 large Buddha heads facing the cardinal directions greets you. The first stop in the complex was the Buddist temple of Bayon. It is lined with 1 km of carved panels, one quarter of which depict the daily lives of the villagers at that time. Cockfights, picking fruit, fishing, etc. The temple itself looks like a vertical maze of faces. 37 towers with faces on all 4 sides, which they think are either of a certain Boddisava or of the king who built it. 

We then continued by foot through the park, past a few more temples, the royal palace, and the wall of elephants where the king would greet his people. 

Finally we made it back to the tuk tuk driver, had a fight with him after he accused us of taking too long when he had agreed to take us until 4 or 5 pm (it was 3-3:30), made it back to twin, and started to get ready to head back to Bangkok. 

We walked 5 Kms just around a few of the many places the park had to offer. We must have seen 1,000 people if we saw one person - and this is low season. What a money maker for Cambodia. I just hope they do something good with it.

We had a ball. We know there was much more to see but we feel we had a great experience and really know what it's like. We also didn't want to see so many temples that we got burned out and stopped appreciating them for what they are. It was an awesome experience. 

Day 113: Beng Mealea

The actual Tomb Raider movie was filmed in the Angkor Wat Archeological Park. If you want to feel like you are a Tomb Raider, then you need to go to Beng Mealea. We met some foreigners who were on holiday in Vietnam from  working on a farm in Cambodia. They advised us that there are some amazing temples 60 kms outside of Siem Reap. We decided that to make the 2 hour tuk-tuk trek out to check at least one of the interesting ones out.

We got a bit of a late start and we should have known better. It's monsoon season after all!

At least as we drove the 2 hours in a tuk-tuk going 40 km/hr in a 100 km/hr zone on the shoulder of the road (we weren't the only ones!) we passed all sorts of village Cambodian life. We even saw a Buddhist funeral procession on the road. At least 3 or 4 monks stood with the coffin on a cart. They were preceded by a parade of children, the first of which was holding a picture of the person. The cart was then followed by the rest of the mourners.

The people were also selling some sort of charcoal/bbq bamboo shoots. We have no idea what these were for; however, if we saw 1 person selling them, we must have seen 30 people selling them.

Go figure that 3:30 p.m., just 5 kms outside of Beng Mealea, our tuk-tuk would get caught in a 30 minute thunderstorm. Even though it was still sprinkling outside, we decided that we had already paid for the tuk-tuk and made it this far - talley ho!

The temple was touristy, don't get me wrong. Surprisingly tourist. However, the puddles along the long walkway to the entrance of the temple combed with the light drizzle and heavy clouds overhead to really make you feel like you were in Tomb Raider. This temple was founded by the Hindu Khmer kings as a predecessor to Angkor Wat. It uses the exact same layout as Angkor Wat, just a lot smaller (it's still a good size though). However, if the people hadn't rebuilt the long 800 meter entrance to the temple from the road, you'd never have seen it from the road. This temple reminds you that once/if people disappear from the Earth, that nature will take over all of our buildings.

They had built a walkway so you could get around the ruins. You could see bits and pieces of the various elements of the temple. Mostly you could just hear the songs of the frogs and toads making harmony with the raindrops. You could also see areas where trees had just grown over, in, or around the various stonework. You could see half destroyed figureheads. It was cool. We just wished it wasn't so muddy!

Day 111-112: Transit to Siem Reap & Silk Farm

After another long, boring, and hungry bus journey (damn these buses giving you 2 minutes every time they stop), we finally made it to Siem Reap, neighbor to Angkor Wat.

We got there quite late and decided to take it easy on our first day in Siem Reap. We figured we would just explore the town and see what it had to offer. As I perused my Lonely Planet, I found a company that supports local artisans. They give you free tours around their facility and give you a 3 hour free tour over to a Silk Farm.

Silk Farm? Nope. Never been to one of those! I always love my Mr. Roger's Neighborhood factory tours. We're totally in! It's a place called Artisans D'Angkor. Apparently during the time of Khmer Rouge, a lot of traditional arts and crafts got executed along with the people. This place is trying to bring it back. They participate in all traditional crafts and even work on bigger pieces, such as the restoration of Angkor Wat sculptures or any commissioned pieces for places such as the airport.

Anyway, so here is what we learned about silk what from the silk farm!

1. Silk worms love mulberry leaves. Apparently eating anything else gives them indigestion. 
2. They kill the silk worms for the silk! It seems so logical, but for some reason, I just figured the silk was more like Charlotte's Web, but for silk worms. Not the case. 
3. They keep 20% of the ugly silk moth's for reproduction. 
4. Silk moths cannot fly, which seems all a bit pointless if I was trying to escape a silk farm.
5. The silk actually comes from the silk worm's cocoon. 
6. Each cocoon has both raw silk and fine silk.
7. There is some difference between tie-dye color and the pattern. I do not know what. 
8. There are a lot of stages that are involved to pull the silk from the cocoon and put it on a spindle. 
9. They do not pay these women enough. Or do they? Hard to say. $5 a day. What do you think? 

It was incredibly cool and interesting. I'd put it up there with visiting a tea plantation. 

We spent the rest of the evening trying to crack a $100. Here in Cambodia, the ATMs dispense USD. They also charge a $5 fee; however, if you withdraw more than $100, you get big notes. Here, everything costs $1.00. You feel like a real deutsche if you buy something for that little and give $100 - that's if they can even break it. We went to pay a t-shirt guy and had agreed on $3.00, but when we said we only had $2.15 or a $100, he just gave it to us for $2.15. Who'd have thought that negotiation tactic would work! After a few beers (where they cracked our $100), we called it an early night! 

Time for some temples! 

Days 108-110: Sihanoukville

After somehow falling asleep to the sounds of techno and eating only a packet of chips and one packet of choco-pies, we woke up to the sudden realization that breakfast needed to wait until after we made the 2km walk to go and get money. Thankfully, the ATM on Otres Beach 2 was working, unlike the one where we were staying on Otres 1.

We really debated for quite some time on where we wanted to go in Cambodia. We have only 9 days here before we fly out to India. Where to go? After careful consideration, we decided that we needed more beach time. Despite many opportunities for beach time, we somehow always ended up either being rushed through beach time by something we couldn't move (visa extensions, flights, etc) or we had to make an economic choice on where we wanted to spend our  money, usually involving spending elsewhere. Apparently, we are not meant to have great beach time!

It is low season in Cambodia, and here, in Sihanoukville, it is also monsoon. Not sure if that is the case all over Cambodia right now, but we certainly aren't getting the fun in the sun we had dreamed about! It has stormed at least 24 hours of the 3 days that we've been here. At least we had a little bit of relaxation on the beach, in the sun, even if we didn't get in the water.

We had heard a lot of 'bad' reviews about Otres 1. Some people had said the beaches on the islands are much better. We really enjoyed this beach. We changed hotels from our party hotel to the more relaxed one next door. We also had the opportunity to stay only in beach shacks, which, other than the party night, let us fall asleep listening to the sounds of the numerous waves crashing on the sand.

Yes, there are a lot of locals trying to sell you various wares on the beach; however, they don't nag you too much about it. It's also so windy here that you could really kite surf if you wanted to give it a go. We felt practically like we were kite surfing just trying to sit on the beach chair!

Cambodia feels different than it's neighboring countries, that's for sure. However, it's hard to get an accurate read on 'real' Cambodia, as we have only arrived to a tourist destination that is filled primarily with foreigners during this time of the year.

For one, Cambodians quote everything in and accept USD. Even their ATMs given you the choice to get money in USD or in Cambodian Riel. Who does that? You can't just go and adopt somebody's else's currency. Asia isn't the EU (at least not yet, it's not like it).

Unfortunately, due to our location, everything is expensive compared to what we know it should cost. Plus, it's in USD, which thanks to the declining Australian dollar, doesn't buy us nearly as much. We also know that, due to our location, we're also not getting really authentic local food. In that way, we can't wait to get over to Siem Reap. So nothing interesting to report in terms of food.

We take the day bus up to Siem Reap tomorrow and, although we enjoyed the beach, we can't wait to see real Cambodia.

Day 107: Transit to Sihanoukville, Cambodia

We’re now quite veteran, I’d say, at our land border crossings here in Asia. We know what to expect and what we need to do to make sure we don’t repeat our previous mistakes. It’s pretty straightforward:

1. Book a through ticket so you don’t have to deal with the tuk-tuk scams here there and everywhere
2. Look up the visa price in advance and get the appropriate amount of USD
3. Have a passport photo accessible in case you need one for your visa on arrival
4. Bring or make sure you know you can get local currency so you don’t end up starving
5. Bring extra snacks with you, again so you don’t end up starving
6. Look up a few local dishes in the local language so that, when food finally comes, you don’t end up eating questionable food

It seems straightforward enough, right? Ready to go and prepared for our 11 hour bus journey to Cambodia, Pallavi and I had one last delicious Vietnamese coffee, and boarded the bus at 8:00 a.m.

When we got on the bus, the conductor started handing out all of our arrival/departure immigration and visa paperwork. Standard stuff.  The conductor then came around and asked for our passports, our paperwork, and $35 USD for the visa.

I had read 3 things about the border crossing:

1. The conductor usually handles the passports through this particular border crossing and to just let them do it.
2. There is a lot of corruption that happens at Cambodia’s border crossings. If faced with some official asking for a processing fee or an exit fee, know that there isn’t one, and just stand your ground and they’ll back off.
3. The visa fee is currently $30 USD.  NOT $35. At least that’s what I thought…..

I told the conductor that I thought the fee was $30 USD. He said, “no, that’s if you go to the embassy. Here it’s $35.” I said, “no, I’m pretty sure it’s $30.” He told me he’d come back to me. 

We then asked the foreigners behind us what the visa price was. Maybe I had remembered incorrectly? Maybe I had remembered an outdated price? Who knows. Those foreigners said that they thought it was $30, but who knows with inflation. It had been $20 in 2014. 

Finally, we gave the conductor the $35 USD and Pallavi told him, no offense, but we'll just check the price when we cross the border. 

What was the price? $30 USD!!!! 

We confronted the conductor and asked him. He made up a whole bunch of reasons, including my favorite, the one where he stood in front of the sign that said $30 and said it was $35. A very long story short, from what I could make out from the poor conductor, who, after every debate point I presented to him, repeatedly said he didn't have the money to give me back, was that these bus companies pay a bribe of $2 "Vietnam exit fee" to the Vietnamese officials and a $3 bribe to the Cambodia officials for "expedited visa on arrival." 

We never should have given the guy the $35. We should have just given him the $30 or just done it ourselves. 

It's not the amount of money that matters. It's the principle of the whole thing! If I want to bribe somebody (which I wouldn't) that's my decision. Not somebody else's. 

Anyway, we're pissed off and will write a complaint to the bus company to demand the money back. We then cross the border and we change just a little money to get us by for our food needs until we reach Sihanoukville, where we know where we want to go but where we haven't booked a place. 

We go along, we eat the crackers we've brought with, but the bus doesn't stop for lunch like it normally does. Plus, it seems to be running really slow! When it finally stops, we grab something small and get back on the bus. The bus was supposed to arrived at 7 p.m. or so. The plan was to get to town, find an ATM, withdraw cash, get a tuk-tuk to the accommodation (which is supposed to be an $8 USD tuk-tuk away), and then get to the accommodation. Do we arrive on time? No! 

We arrive at 9 p.m.! 9 p.m. and we only have $7 USD! That's not enough time to find an ATM and make sure we get accommodation. We manage to find some tuk-tuk driver to take us to the beach accommodation for $5 USD, and, of course, it starts to pour the second our tuk-tuk arrives. 

We walk in to the reception/bar area, drenched, to a throng of people, just chilling and drinking, clouds of smoke drafting through the air, and they all turn to us! 

We don't have energy to look for anywhere else, and the vibe seems cool enough. Thankfully, they have accommodation, so we take it. Do they have a working ATM though? 

NO! The local ATM is broken and the next ATM is a 2 km walk away. We'll have to deal with that tomorrow. We have only $2 USD to spend on chips and choco-pies for the dinner, and then we just put all of the beers on the tab. 

We can't believe it. This time we really weren't #badbackpackers. We really were #goodbackpackers and fate was against us! Next time border crossing. Next time. We'll show you! 

We'll deal with the money situation tomorrow. Tonight, we are going to just chill in this place with great music, a great vibe, tons of people, and we'll sleep with the sounds of dance music. 

Day 105-106: Cu Chi Tunnels & Last Day in Saigon

Pallavi and I decided to forego the Vinh Moc tunnels near the DMZ in lieu of the Cu Chi Tunnels. The Cu Chi Tunnels consist of 250 km of hand-dug tunnels about 45 kms outside of Ho Chi Minh City. You have to tip your hat off to the Vietnamese and also to the American soldiers who had to enter this area.

The Cu Chi tunnels aren't just long, but they are complex! They are made of 3 different layers (3 metres, 6 metres, and 10 metres deep). Each layer not only has a variety of tunnels and rooms of different sizes for different purposes, but each layer is also laced with booby traps. Actually, the whole surface of the jungle above the tunnels and the tunnels were covered in booby traps. The booby traps were converted animal traps, most of which involved some sort of spike and hidden floorboards that could kill you in a bazillion different ways. Plus, if the booby traps weren't enough, the Vietkong also used the Americans' un-exploded missiles to turn into weapons to use against the Americans. Talk about reduce, reuse, and recycle. Geez!

Alright, back to the tunnels. The basic necessities of the tunnels also their own unique form of camouflage. The air vent was disguised as an ant hill. The kitchen only operated in the morning so that the smoke from the fire would blend in with the morning mist. The tunnels even had entrances from the river that required swimming. That is just the stuff we saw. That doesn't include the stuff we experienced.

We went to the less-visited tunnel entrance, Ben Duoc. It conveniently is accessible by public transportation, but not many people take that route. We maybe had a group of 11 by the time all of the stragglers had congregated to watch our 15 minute mandatory propaganda video and then joined our guide for the tour. Our guide started us walking us towards the entrance of the tunnels, pointing out the fake ant hill, etc. We entered one area of the tunnels to see their underground well. That seemed pretty cool and easy enough. It was just a bit of a duck down underground into a big room. Simple.

Then we stop. I could see that there was an area of raised land with three opening under it. Clearly a lookout point for the tunnels that has been cleared away for the tourists. The guide tells us about the lookout point and asks if we want to see it. Well sure! He then shifts his feet. It wasn't until he bent over to clear off the dirt that we realized he was opening up the entrance into the tunnels. Seriously. With all of the visitors that they get, and the frequency that they open this entrance, the ground didn't even look worn enough to signal that something might be amiss with it! He opens up this metal rectangular hole in the ground that must be 6 inches by 12 inches wide. He then says, if you want to go in, then go! We all looked at each other and the skinniest tiniest girls decided to go first. Alright, well, that's a given. Just another win for the skinny girls. However, then people started going in increasing order of size, even Pallavi! While I was waiting for Pallavi, the 6'3" Dutch guys entered the tunnel. Well, if they can do it, I can do it too! It was crazy how you can fit into that small little hole.

That wasn't even the toughest tunnel though. We went through a shorter one that required that you walk maybe 10 meters at the second level down in a constant crouch. (Oh, and watch the bat on the ceiling of the 3.5 foot tall enclosure.) We were absolutely in a full sweat at this point. We thought it'd be cooler under ground. However, even that wasn't the toughest tunnel.

The guide then asked if we wanted to go to the lowest level and for a longer 30 meter walk. Feeling brave, we all said, yeah! We started walking and the group decided to try it without any light. Holy crap! This tunnel must have been maybe 3 feet tall by 1.5 feet wide (I'm sure they widened it for the tourists at some places). It was absolutely pitch black. I don't know how any of us didn't bump into any other person. Then, it was so small (even with the widened parts). Pallavi chose to crawl on her knees at some places. I managed to duck waddle my way with my butt basically an inch off of the ground the whole way. Finally, then there was the change in levels! Declines while at a waddle in the dark = whole new level of difficulty.

When we came out of it, we were treated to some running water to wash our hands, some root potatoes and tea that the guerrillas would have made, and quite some stories to tell. Again, I realized that I am not made for warfare in the Pacific. I also realized exactly how horrible it would have been for Americans here. How could they have seen the booby traps and the tunnel entrances. Plus, there clearly was a well mapped long tunnel network lying below them. If you even got one bit, there were still so many other bits to go.

It was an experience we don't think we'll ever forget. Now, passport collected, it's time for Cambodia.

Day 100-104: Cai Rang and the Mekong Delta

Good morning Vietnam! That's what all of the Vietnamese seem to happily say with their eyes as they go about their morning activities. I had read that the Vietnamese are morning people and that if you sleep in they think you are sick; however, morning people to me means 8 a.m. or 9 a.m. It doesn't mean that here. Morning people here in Vietnam means 5 a.m. or 6 a.m. I am a morning person, don't get me wrong; however, I haven't woken up at 5 a.m. since April.

When Pallavi and I had to wake up at 5 a.m to go to the Cai Rang floating market in the Mekong Delta, south of Ho Chi Minh City, I can guarantee we were not saying good morning Vietnam. We weren't saying anything. Not even with our eyes. Our eyes said good morning Vietnamese coffee.

The idea of a floating market is simple. It's a collection of boats trading goods and wares on a water body. We had wanted to go and see an authentic non-touristy floating market when we were in Bangkok, but our timing was wrong. As we made our decision on whether or not to make one last valiant attempt to see a real floating market in Bangkok, we had researched floating markets and discovered there are quite a few in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. As a result, we ditched the markets in Thailand in lieu for those in Vietnam.

Apparently we are among just a handful of foreigners who have discovered this fact. When we arrived at our guest house, people looked as us as if they had never seen foreigners before. I had forgotten what it felt like to have a pair of strange Asian men go on either side of Pallavi and I, while one pretends to click a picture of the other one, when really they are just taking a picture of us. We didn't even look that good! In fact, I'd go so far as to say I looked bad. It's not like we were doing anything fascinating either. I'm sure I just had my usual resting dumb face. I don't understand what is so fascinating about us that required a picture.

However, the women in this town were so sweet. As we dragged our feet at 6:30 a.m. to the coffee shop next door, the woman was so sweet. They loved that we attempted to order our coffee in Vietnamese. 1 cafe sua da (cold coffee with milk) and 1 cafe sua nong (hot coffee with milk). They brought out our coffee and I went to drink my cafe sua nong. The woman came over, said something, and then showed me that apparently the proper way to drink cafe sua nong here is to use a spoon and to lap it up. Then, when you've finished the coffee, you chase it with jasmine tea. We saw this woman over the next 3 days, and each time she seemed to be telling us all sorts of wisdom or nice things, that we really wished we could have understood her. This woman was just a sample of the women who nicely waved to us and smiled at us as we were out and about the town.

Going to the floating market was really easy. We walked down the road and a person called out a price for a boat. We kept walking, they changed the price. We kept walking, they changed the price. We easily  got our price, and we were out on the water. The floating market wasn't nearly as colorful as I imagined, but it was as interesting. Pallavi told me that this is a wholesale market. There were roughly 100 boats all together, each boat had a rope with what they were selling strung upon it. Cabbage, watermelon, coconuts, lettuce, onions, sweet potatoes, and more.

As our boat wove between all of these vessels loading and unloading their wares, we were surrounded by other smaller boats which were filled with women selling breakfast items. Hot soup steamed up in the morning on many a woman's rowboat. Want coffee or tea? Just find a coffee and tea boat. The woman on the boat will then take a hook, attach it to your boat, and ride along with you until you have what  you've purchased, then she'll unhook and carry on. It was absolutely fascinating to watch and think that this market goes on every day while we grab a bowl of oatmeal and head to our offices.

After the floating market, we then just took it easy and would only venture out for either food or to watch the fishing boats at night. How about that blue moon? Nothing beats watching the blue moon rise over the Mekong, highlighting men in fishing canoes pulling up their nets. Wow.

The finding food bit was also a bit tricky. There wasn't much around, and the food we found didn't necessarily have an English translation of the menu. We did come across a place that fortunately told us that the meat we had pointed out to potentially have for dinner was dog meat. We immediately left the place, never to return, and went to find anything else.

The Mekong was such a lovely holiday away. Finally, we had a chance to see un-touristy Vietnam. It was so refreshing.