South Vietnam and Cambodia

For the some of you who follow our Instagram travel page you will have already learnt that we had quite an experience on our journey from Hoi An to Ho Chi Minh. We departed on the overnight train to Ho Chi Minh to be woken at 1.30am by a big bang and complete darkness. I instantly knew something wasn’t right. The train guards were running up and down the corridors, we could hear people shouting and the trains power had gone off. Truth be told, I thought we were getting hijacked! Kyle, with the ‘break glass’ hammer in hand, ready to pounce on whoever was about to hijack us , and I wondering what valuable goods I should sneak when they usher us off the train. A few minutes passed and we hadn’t been hijacked, but had noticed the train carriage in front of us had come off the tracks!

The carriage in front of ours!

With only a handful of English speakers on the train, we just had to sit and wait to be told what to do. We were in the middle of NOWHERE! Finally after 9 hours of sitting in a corridor they had detached the derailed carriage and separated the rest of the train. We were then taken to the next train station to then have to wait another 2 hours before finally completing the 4 hour journey to HoChi Minh. It was an absolute NIGHTMARE and I honestly don’t know how we managed to stay so calm. Something I’ve learnt since being away – PATIENCE. Now I don’t have any(I get this from my father) but since travelling, we have been in many situations where we don’t have the choice but to be patient. Along with some mindfulness breathing, I can now stand in a queue for 3 hours and it wont phase me (maybe just a little) but we are miles from the Kate that would kick off and get worked up. WINNING!

Ho Chi Minh is a loud and lively city. We learnt this the second we checked in to our hotel. The whole bedroom vibrated to the bass of the enormous nightclub across the road. We spent the evening overlooking the spectacular views of the city at a roof top sky bar before braving it down the infamous ‘backpackers strip’ with booming base, nos balloons 4 times the size of a football, fire breathing men sweating from the heat of the flames and overpriced watered down drinks being downed left right and centre. Ho Chi Minh’s answer to Magaluf’s infamous party strip.

As our visit in Ho Chi Minh was only a few days we decided to visit the Cu Chi Tunnels. Around a 2 hour drive from Ho Chi Minh. The tunnels of CủChi are an immense network of connecting tunnels located in the Củ Chi District of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and are part of a much larger network of tunnels that underlie the district.

Not only were we able to experience the tunnels themselves, we learnt about the traps that were created and used to capture and kill. Although very gruesome and surreal, you really got to experience the sheer dedication, pain and graft the men, women and children experienced during the civil war. Before leaving Ho Chi Minh, we visited the world famous War Remnants Museum. It contains exhibits relating to the Vietnam War and the first Indochina War involving the French colonialists.

Since being in Vietnam and learning about the war, it really heightened the devastation and damage caused to the people of Vietnam by the Americans. If you are ever in Ho Chi Minh, you must visit this museum. Ho Chi Minh’s streets were filled with western influences, rich Vietnamese history and beautiful sky line.

Cambodia- Siem Reap

A short but sweet visit to Cambodia. The journey from Vietnam to Cambodia took around 12 hours, on a bus and then a sleeper bus costing us around £20 each. The sun was rising as we arrived at our hostel, and thankfully our room was ready for an early check in. We were both exhausted from travelling and took the opportunity to relax at the hostels pool, and boy was it good to just lie and relax in the sun. We had met our friends, Charlotte and Polly, who we had been meeting now and again with since Halong Bay and spent the day drinking local beer and exposing our painfully white skin to the sun. With only 2 days in Siem Reap we spent our final day visiting the famous Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat is a temple complex in Cambodia and one of the largest religious monuments in the world, on a site measuring 162.6 hectares. Originally constructed as a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Vishnu for the Khmer Empire, it was gradually transformed into a Buddhist temple towards the end of the 12th century. We hired a tuk tuk to drive us around the temples for around £10. We decided to go for the sun set as the heat was pretty unbearable during the day. The temples were breathtakingly beautiful, with each one sporting a unique shape and architect. The heat was still very much painfully warm, so finding some shade within the temples was paradise. A lot of the temples were under construction but you were able to look beyond it and see the real beauty of the temples basking in the afternoon sun. We spent our final evening at the local night market, eating frozen yogurt and wading our way through the multiple ‘elephant trouser’ stalls. We wish we could have spent some more time in Cambodia. It had the busy city vibe, but also leant you to some tranquillity.