Dive Right In

Day 83- We have officially been travelling for 3 months and it has flown by. To start our next adventure we took a train from Saigon to Nha Trang. There are a few options for transportation but we wanted to give the train another shot. The train offers 3 different modes of travel to enjoy your journey; soft chair, hard sleeper and soft sleeper. The most popular option for travellers is the soft sleeper. It is only a few dollars more than the hard sleeper and sitting in a seat for 9h did not sound appealing. The ticket cost us $33 each, which gave us a soft bed, wall plug ins, a pillow and a blanket. We also had 3G wifi on our phones, which we purchased for $15 in Saigon, making the trip fly by. Again, I loved watching all of the landscapes and villages as we flew by on the train. 

A food cart came through a couple of times throughout the journey with some random meats, greens and rice for $2 dollars. It was pretty tasty and didn't get us sick, success!

Our 6 hour train ride flew by and before we knew it we were in Nha Trang. We stayed at a lovely hostel called Mozjo where the staff went above and beyond to make our visit great. They would ask us where we were going before we would leave for the day making sure we had directions and reminding us to keep our belongings safe from thieves. Breakfast was included in the morning and the yogurt muesli option was a nice change.

We went for dinner at Ganesh, an indian restaurant near our hostel. Pricey but delicious. After dinner we found a little cafe, called Ice Coffee, which we returned to everyday during our stay in Nha Trang. (great wifi) 

Day 84- We went to Nha Trang for one main purpose.. for me to get my PADI- open water diving certification. After reading many reviews, we booked with a company who will remain nameless. (They were not very good, email me if your planning a dive here) My course was set to start the next day. Prior to this trip I had done two discovery dives in Thailand and Bali, so my ability to perform the basic skills under water were pretty fresh but I was looking forward to getting the full meal deal. But first, Mike and I needed to have a little fun in the sun!

Mike and I have gone to some sort of theme park on almost every trip we've been on, so when we found out that Nha Trang had an amusement park, we were on the next gondola ride over. Turns out the gondola ride to Vinpearl (the amusement park) is the longest over water gondola in the world, not to mention super high up.

The theme park seemed very familiar, almost toooo familiar, then Mike started singing along to the music without even thinking... of course!!!! It was the music from splash mountain. Had we taken a wrong turn somewhere and ended up in Disneyland?!! The more we looked the more similarities we saw between our beloved land of Disney and Vinpearl. They even had a castle! So I assume Vinpearl is Vietnamese for Disney right? Wrong. Haha but almost as good as the real thing.

The first ride we went on was the rollercoaster and I noticed something this park had over Disneyland... no line ups. We were the only people on the ride. In fact they started it up for us. 

Hmmmmm I think they may get more riders if the seats had safety bars. I guess its the second row for us. 

As funny as we thought it was that the first seat we sat at was broken, it was even funnier when the ride broke/stopped 5 seconds in. The ride operators needed to get it back to the start line to fix it so of course they ran the ride through with us on it! How else were they going to get it back? (insert wide eyed emoji here)

What made the day even better was that this amusement park had a water park! Different sizes of tubes wait at the bottom of each slide, the rider picks their poison and off you go. 

                       

"Hey doc... do I have any cavities?"

That's a long way down!

I tried to capture a picture of Mike blasting out of the ride... this was all I got.

I didn't feel good about going to see the next attraction but Mike insisted. SeaWorld? At least the dolphins are kept in the ocean.

When we thought our day couldn't get any better, we discovered an aquarium... an aquarium with a people mover also known as a conveyer belt. It was very cool. 

                     

On the way out, the gondola was lit up like the eiffel tower. Have you ever heard the saying "the best of both worlds"? Well, I think that saying translated into Vietnamese is "the best of ALL worlds". 

                    

All in all, it was a pretty fun way to spend a day on the road. We even got to enjoy some fried food before heading home. 

Day 85- When I signed up for my diving course I was given an ipad to watch 5 videos that I would later find out, were my only real source of information other than diving itself. After diligently watching all videos, I went to the pool for my first lesson. My instructor was a California dude who carefully took me through the steps to set up my own gear. Next I would prove my fitness by swimming 400 meters and by treading water for 10 minutes. After I succeeded we moved on to the under water skill testing component. The mask skill was by far the worst. When you wear a mask underwater it blocks your nose so it tells your brain you need to breathe through your mouth, when the mask comes off, it feels like you should be able to breathe through your nose... and that my friends is why it is so hard to take off your mask underwater. The day went smoothly and my instructor told me he was quite impressed with my performance... not to toot my own horn or anything but I was FANTASTIC! 

We chilled out for the rest of the day and went for pizza that night. We saw this poster at the pizza place and noticed an insane ressemblance to Mike's uncle Mark. 

                      

Day 86- An early start got us out the door by 7 am for day two of my certification. Mike is already certified so he came along and did some fun dives. After prepping my gear I was ready to prove my first 5 skills. Once again, the mask one was the worst but I got it done. 

                    

We saw some cool stuff under water but our favorite was the cuttlefish. 

Mike swimming along.

Day 87- Day three of my certification began much like the last. I set up my gear and got the lowdown on what skills I would have to perform to finish my course. Once my skills were proven in the ocean, the rest of the time was spent exploring the ocean with Mike. Ok, time to dive right in!

Our dive spot. That house must be exciting during a storm!

                         

We like to mess around on land, so why not mess around in the water.

One thing that probably took up way too much of my dive time was watching the bubbles from other divers regulators float to the surface. haha I like bubbles. They rise up slowly and pop, pop, pop!!

One of my favourite activities in life is to lay under a tree and watch the wind pull the tree branches from side to side. While under water, I witnessed a similar phenomena and I could have floated there all day watching the ebb and flow of life under the sea.

                              

             

Look Ma, I did it!

After completing 5 dives in total, it was time to write the exam. I needed to get at least 75% to pass and luckily I only got 2 wrong. Good thing I paid attention to the videos and studied with other resources online. It was official! I am now a PADI certified open water diver. This allows me to explore our beautiful underwater world as deep as 18 meters. Can't wait for more dives to come. 

Mike and I had just worked sooooo incredibly harrrrd, that we just haaaaaad to relax on a beach somewhere...see you there!

 

Ho Chi Minh City... ya Saigon Done it!!!!

Day 79- We FINALLY received our Vietnam VISA's, so we had the clear to head out of town. We took another Giant Ibis bus from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh city. It took 7 hours and it cost us $19 dollars each. 

We used our time wisely on the bus and watched another couple episodes of Star Wars. Oh how happy my heart was to finally arrive in Vietnam. I have wanted to come here for years and years and if it hadn't been for bad weather, we would have come for our honeymoon. 

They don't standardize the taxi meter rates in Vietnam, so if you have a taxi driver offer up the meter, don't be too quick to accept. We fell for this tactic as soon as we got dropped off at the bus station and after many arguments with thai taxi drivers, begging them to use the meter, we were quick to accept this option in Vietnam when it was presented to us. However, his meter was rigged so it charged us twice as fast and we heavily overpaid. Tip: Look up where you are staying in town in advance, and agree on a set rate before you agree to a ride. As dramatic as this realization was, in hindsight it turns out that twice the rate is stil quite cheap...haha. 

Our first stop was Ho Chi Minh city, also known as Saigon. (It was changed from Saigon to Ho Chi Minh after the Vietnam war in honour of the famous revolutionary leader.) We stayed at a lovely guesthouse called Giang Son 3, located in the heart of district 1, on the backpacker street. This area can get pretty chaotic but our home was on a side street, so we were able to avoid the noise and chaos of our fellow travellers. The staff was very helpful and they served a delicious breakfast every morning, included in the cost of the room. Definitely one of the nicest rooms yet and we paid $30 bucks a night. A little more than we usually like to spend but there were not a lot of cheap options when we were searching. 

We were pretty tired from sitting on the bus all day so we grabbed some quick McDonald's to satisfy our hunger. It was delicious, as always, and it was the nice reminder of home we were itching for. 

Day 80- Saigon is a walking city and it was great to have some freedom back, to go where we wanted, when we wanted. We set out to see some of the sites and explore our new city. We walked in every direction and our first stop was the opera house. We bought tickets for the performance, scheduled the next night. 

Next we went to Pho 24, which is one of Vietnams best Pho restaurants and it is also a franchise so it is possible that you may see this restarant in other places around the world, not to mention all over town. It felt like the Canadian version of Tim Hortons but instead of serving delicious coffee (I don't care what anyone says, I LOVE Tim Hortons coffee) they serve pho. The name has 24 in it because they use 24 ingredients in their pho recipe. For those of you who know me from home... I love Vietnamese food! For my first Pho experience... it was delicious and it only cost $2.50!!! 

After our tummys were full, we went to a Starbucks so I could buy a mug from Vietnam to add to my collection at home. We had a lot of research to do for Vietnam and Australia so we sat down with a chai latte in hand and researched away. It was another great reminder of home once again. 

We had a lot more to do than we realized and we stayed there for the next 3-4 hours. After we had a good plan in place we headed for dinner. I read about our dinner spot on a blog and it said "if you're looking to try some street food, this is the place to go".  The restaurant is called Nha Hang Ngon. We were confused when we walked up to the place because it seemed more like a fancy restaurant than a street food eatery. Once we sat down, we realized that the restaurant area was completely surrounded by individual booths that worked on orders brought to them from the waiters. Such a cool idea and place. I couldn't wait to order pork vermicelli with spring rolls and let me tell you...it was A M A Z I N G!! Meghan and Kassie ...oh boy has this changed the viet game! By far the best food we've eaten so far this trip.

Here are some of the many cooking stations that surrounded the restaurant. 

                        

After dinner we went to yet another night market. Although Mike does not agree, I can't get enough of them. I could walk around these markets for days and I don't think I'd get sick of the constant howls and whistles that are thrown our way, in hopes that we are their next lucky customer. Luckily, Mike holds me back from buying any "dust collectors", as my mother would call them.

I did however convince Mike to let me buy some Vietnamese coffee for my sister and brother in law. As I was taking a photo of the coffee table, the little girl working the booth flashed me the biggest smile!

While walking home from the night market, a group of college students greeted us and asked us to sit down. It wasn't clear what their intentions were until they told us that they would like to practice their english. Mike and I both sat down with different groups and we discussed different topics such as; the Vietnam war, their homes in the countryside, what they study in school and what Calgary is like.  I showed them pictures of the rocky mountains and they were very curious to learn about our bears. After speaking with them for some time, I learned that they went to that place everynight of the week, after school and work, in hopes of grabbing foreigners attention to practice their english. It was really interesting how tirelessly they worked to improve their english, increasing their chances at a better career. The kids in Vietnam see how lucky they are to have an opportunity like an education so they don't take it for granted. If that means they need to spend every night trying to improve their english, they will do it. 

We sat on our street and enjoyed the madness with some Saigon beers in hand and the voices of hundreds of travellers all around us. 

                      

Day 81- After we enjoyed some fresh Vietnamese coffee, we set out for a day of sight seeing. First we went to the day market inside their famous clock tower. One realization we had is that one thing that never seems to change from country to country is the product sold at the markets. We have yet to see any differences between the products in Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia and now Vietnam. Perhaps this is the source of Mike's indifference to them... but what does he know, its market time!

Next, we headed to the Notre Dame church. The inside of the church was decorated beautifully with unique stain glass windows. 

                             

                       

                         

This one below is particularly interesting as it depicts what can only be an angel slaying a demon in the form of a dragon. I have seen many churches but never anything quite like this;

                       

It was time for more pho. We read about another spot that made a top 5 list for pho in Saigon. They make pho with more of a northern Vietnamese influence and use fewer ingredients than the typical southern pho. The restaurant is called Pho Thin Ha Noi and we paid $3.00 each. 

Pho crying out loud it was gooooooood! Maybe even better than the last one? 

Even though it is rainy season in southern Vietnam, we had experienced very little rain. That is, until we got caught in an extreme downpour. But pour us couldn't be kept down with our new rain gear purchased for $0.50. 

                         

 

After lunch we went to the War Remnants Museum. This was another harsh realization for myself when learning of the tragic and gruesome events that occured during the Vietnam war. Side note: the Vietnamese call it the American war. I could only bring myself to take one photo at the museum. It was difficult to learn of the terrible things our neighbours did to the innocent people of Vietnam. 

"I learned that the Vietnam war occured because the USA felt as though Vietnam was moving towards communism. During this time in history there was friction, on the global stage, between communism and democracy. The United States feared Vietnam's adoption of communism, would prompt others in the world to follow suit, making them natural allies of China and Russia. On the heals of the Cold war, the USA felt this was an unacceptable risk and began backing a small democratic movement in the south. Meanwhile Russia and China supplied the 80% of society that supported Ho Chi Minh and his "Communist party" in the north. The more I learned the more I realized that the Vietnamese were merely collateral damage in a much larger global political war. Ho Chi Minh, the leader of the Vietnamese revolution, was a nationalist first and foremost. He looked to offer more freedoms to his people who, for hundreds of years, had been a highly oppressed colony of China, France and Japan respectivly. Ho Chi Minh was viewed by the USA as a fanatical communist, when in fact he was a nationalist in every way. It just so happened that he felt communism would be the best political system for his newly sovereign country. This is a very reasonable conclusion when considering the fact that there was already very little social hierarchy in the region, do to the years of colonialization and oppression. The sole goal of Ho Chi Minh was to build an independent country, NOT to spread communist ideals around the world."

As you can see I was exposed to a bunch of information and Mike was kind enough to add the above few sentences. He took a particular interest in this piece of recent history. I will not add to his info but there are some very interesting documentaries on YouTube that are worth watching as well as googling "Agent Orange" will show you just how bad things got during the Vietnam war. I wish we had more time to spend at the museum but a previous engagement had us running for the exit door. 

We had a show to catch so we ran home for a quick shower before heading to the Opera. 

It was fun to dress up a little and wear makeup for a change.

The performance was fantastic. The production told the story of the Vietnamese culture from past to modern day society. Bamboo was used as the only prop to create traditional boats, huts and to represent objects in other forms. The use of the bamboo was artistic and creative, the acrobatics were captivating, the music, harmonious and the story was inspiring. Very well produced show and very much worth the $30 each. 

Turns out we were right by that amazing street food restaurant from the night before and we were starving, so we went back for another delicious meal!

We ended the night off at a little cafe right off the backpackers street and enjoyed some delicious iced Vietnamese coffees. It wasn't until 3 in the morning that we realized how much caffeine we must have ingested!

Day 82- We caught a bus near our guesthouse and headed to the Cu Chi tunnels.  It takes about 1.5 hours to get to the tunnels and the busses will always stop at a factory along the way to get commission for bringing tourists there.  The Cu Chi tunnels were built and used by the Vietnamese during the Vietnamese war. The tunnels maze through 240 km of earth, acting as an underground army base.

                          

The tunnels were not only used by the Vietnamese army but also by villages living above the tunnels. When they were under attack, the villagers would take their entire families and move underground until the fighting ceased. 

Above ground, many traps were set by the Vietnamese to ward off American Soldiers. As the Vietnamese had very little fire power and explosives available to them, they were creative in their tactics and built some pretty effective traps to catch American troops. 

Visitors are given the opportunity to shoot military weapons (this is the real money maker for the tour) but Mike and I have spent plently of time at or local shooting range in Calgary and didn't feel the need to shoot any guns.

Our guide told us that if we wanted to see bats, spiders, centipedes and snakes, we were welcome to crawl through the tunnels from one side to the other. We all laughed, until the first boy went in the tunnel and came out a man. The stories were true and we all quickly lost our nerve. Two other guys in our group who were in the American military couldn't wait to go in and roll in the dirt. Most of the other guys all chickened out. Some of them even got as far as getting in the hole but panicked when they saw the closed quarters and bats inside. Mike was gutsy enough to give it a go and he went the whole way. For those who are wondering, yes those are bats and there were spiders and centipedes (the big red ones), no snakes though. The guide also joked that is was important not to take a wrong turn because someone could easily get lost in there and end up in Saigon. Then again, we thought he was joking about the bats and bugs too... Mike and the other courageous souls said "it was like a maze down there and it would be easy to get lost if we hadn't been told which way to go".

Off he goes.... bye bye Mike.

                     

I went in for a photo but didn't crawl through. It wouldn't have been a healthy choice for the sake of my nightmares. 

                         

On our way home we witness typical Vietnamese rush hour. 

For dinner we went to a "street vendor" for the BEST Vietnamese sandwiches ever. Although the food carts sit indoors, it is just a shelter for the meals on wheels. You always know it is a safe choice when the lineup is out the door. We politely stood in what we thought was the start of a line until a local told us "you won't get anywhere standing here, you need to get in there". So we made moves and ordered the sandwiches traditional style.  

Fresh baguettes baking in the oven, ready to order. The influence from France is very apparent everywhere in Saigon. The buildings, food and even lauguage are very present in the Vietnamese culture. 

We learnt that meat is not refrigerated in Vietnam so it is very important to find a busy street food vendor or restaurant to make sure the ingredients are fresh. Below you can see our sandwiches being made. Each meat you see there was added to our sandwich... most of them look unrecognizable. It was a mystery meat sandwich.

I can't say it enough, the food in Saigon was absolutely, positively, scrumptious!!!

 

Reasons To Be Thankful

Day 75- We took a 6 hour bus ride from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh. Once again I did some research to find the best valued mode of transportation and we ended up booking with Giant Ibis bus company. They give passengers a delicious baked snack, water, they have wifi (worked better than I expected), it was clean and wall chargers at each seat for the cheap cheap price of $20 CAD/person. We arrived at Eighty 8 backpackers hostel and once again we were lucky that they had a room available for us. The hostel had clean rooms, the staff was friendly and the restaurant/bar served one hell of a Cambodian curry. :)

Day 76- We came to Phnom Pehn to see two things; the killing fields and S-21. The other sites here, such as the national monument and temples, we avoided. It wasn't that we didn't think these attractions would be interesting but we had just spent 5 days seeing some of the most incredible temples in the world and we wanted to let those memories marinate a bit. Also the temples had proven to be a bit of a touring bender, and wanted to chill out a bit.

WARNING: The following text and pictures may be disturbing. 

First let me begin by saying that this was by far one of the most difficult things I have ever seen. I am sad to admit that I knew very little about what happened in Cambodia until our recent trip to the landmine museum in Siem Reap. The museam ignited a research frenzy for Mike and I prior to arriving at the "Killing Fields" in Phnom Penh. We were also given an audio information tour at the fields, which further informed us on the dark times in Cambodia between 1975 an 1979. I found it difficult to take photos of the remaining evidence in the area, representing all of the terrible things that happened there. The killing fields did not get their name by chance. It is a farmers field, where many of the 3 million innocent Cambodian men, women and children were brutally beaten, tortured and murdered in cold blood. The worst part for me was the realization that this did not occur because of a war, or because another country was battling for victory. The 3 million murders were comitted by innocent Cambodians, to innocent Cambodians. The Khmer Rouge was in power and the leader of this fanatical group had a plan to build a unified communist country, with a strong focus on rural production. Step 1, abolish city life and relocate all manpower to the rice feilds; Step 2, remove all free thinking individuals that may oppose the Khmer Rouge's ideals, by any means necessary; Step 3, close off any sources of outside influence to the remaining populous. In other words, take everyone from there homes, seperating them from their families and send them to work camps, execute all social leaders such as teachers, engineers, business men and other educated civilians and lastly, convict and execute any individual that has been in contact with a foreign body in their lives. The problem with this plan is that when the country did not see the economic progress anticipated, mostly because city workers without training don't  make good farmers, "followers" can't help but question their leader. This environment creates a society of fear and paranoia. The fear keeps the distructive system in place and the paranoia, mostly on behalf of the leadership, causes more accusations of treason amongst the citizens. The result, bus loads of people brought to the killing fields 3 times a week, where they would be murdered in the most cost effective way possible. One of the saddest realizations is that the soldiers tasked with carrying out these orders faced death themselves if they even hinted at remorse. A country full of victims in fear of one another. The more the national economy failed, the more the people would question the leadership, the more the leadership became paranoid, ultimately resulting in more accusations and genocide. The leader of the Khmer Rouge stopped at nothing, even killing members of his own family. The destruction was so terrible that between the Khmer Rouges reign of 1975-1979, 1 in 4 Cambodians were executed, totalling 3 million innocent people. I found all this particularly impactful when Mike concluded that every Cambodian we saw around the age of our parents lived through these dark times. Truly a terrible piece of history. 

Above is one of the mass grave sites where hundreds of people still rest. As the earth shifts and the rain falls, bones and clothing continue to make their way to the surface of the killing field grounds. Staff at the grounds clean up human remains on a regular basis, however, they had not gotten to the teeth we saw below. 

The following photo needs no explanation. It was very hard to walk through the fields without crying for all of the innocent victims, especially the little ones.

                           

A gallery of 8 levels with the skulls of many of the victims. 

The governement of Cambodia has declared these killing fields a memorial for the many people who lost their lives. This was only one example of where people were murdered, many more killing fields were spread across the country.

After an already difficult and impactful visit to the killing fields, we made our way to S-21. This stands for Security Office 21. This was a high school that the Khmer Rouge took over and after relocating the city's residence, they turned it into an interrogation and torture facility. With paranoia running wild, a word from your neighbour was enough to get you executed. The scary part was that the Khmer Rouge held political positions on the world stage and in a calculated political manouver to cover their actions, one would be tortured until the Khmer Rouge received written admission to guilt from all of those scheduled for execution. Once the admission was received, they would be loaded onto the many busses and taken to the killing fields where the victims would "answer for their sins". Another sad reality of torture is that victums will not only admit to crimes they did not commit, they will also condemn their friends  and family in an attempt to please their captures. This created a ever growing list of potential "traitors" to feed this vicious cycle. Propaganda posters stating "It is better to convict the innocent than allow the guilty to run free" and "to remove a weed one must extract the roots as well", referring to executing the family members of a criminal to avoid future vengeance, gives you a pretty clear picture of just how bad things got. 

                           

The entire high school was transformed into a place of death and torture. We walked through the grounds and saw the many pictures of the recorded 500 victims that were tortured here, many of them not even in their 20's. There was more to see but we couldn't handle any more stories of death for the day.

We returned home feeling dirty, with the weight of death lurking above us and with a great sense of anger. The most disturbing fact gathered during the entire day is that the leader, Pol Pot, who was the man behind the death of 3 million Cambodians over the 4 year period, was allowed to live a happy life with his family after his reign and got the pleasure of enjoying the younger years of his grandchildren. Only in 1997, following a split in the Khmer Rouge, another person of power seized control, making himself supreme commander. Pol Pot fled to another faction of the Khmer Rouge in the north where he was later captured and sentenced to lifelong house arrest.  He died in 1998 from a heart attack but rumors have it that his death may have been caused by poison. Where is the justice? 

On a personal note I think these moments in history are very important to discuss no matter how uncomfortable they may be. We must recognize the lowest points of humanity so that they may never happen again. 

...

Day 77/78- These days were spent playing games, watching Star Wars (for my first time ever), going to the movies to see Transporter (AMAZING) and catching up on research for Vietnam. We had to get a VISA for Vietnam but we made the mistake of waiting to apply on a weekend. The office is closed on weekends so we had to stay until the Monday before we could head to Vietnam.  Below is a photo of one of our chess games. My talented sister and nieces made it for us by hand out of felt. Aren't we lucky? This is only one of the many reasons to be thankful for the lives we have in Canada. Take a moment every day to remember how lucky we really are. 

 We had some kittens at our hostel that would greet us everytime we went to our room. We also spent a lot of our free time snuggling with them.

                              

And sometimes I like to try new hairstyles. You need to get creative when you're wearing the same 5 outfits everyday. Sometimes the hairstyles work out... and other times they just don't. Hopefully this gave you a smile after reading this very heavy blog post. :-)