Vietnam compared to Cambodia

After biking in both countries and hearing from our local guides, it’s clear that Vietnamese people look to the future. They seem to have largely recovered from their tragic history. During the last 1080 years, they have been at war for all but 180 years. But it is now 40 years since the “American War” ended, and 64% of the population is under 40 years of age—so they don’t have any experience of war at all. Our guides (Long in Hanoi and Dat in Saigon) each spoke of the current government’s corruption, but they basically think that the government is still doing good things. It would be much worse if they were corrupt and doing nothing. Long also spoke of the period of time when the country was truly communist—with crops taken from farmers and redistributed according to families’ needs. It made people lazy, he says. Since Glasnost (around 1986-90) things changed quite a bit--people were allowed to sell their crops and capitalist approaches began to be tolerated. Cambodia, by contrast, still seems to be reeling from the effects of the Khmer Rouge, who were pushed out of power in 1978 but weren’t completely routed until 1998. Our main guide, Chak, is a lovely man who clearly cares a lot for his community and its culture, but there’s a kind of sadness about him. During the fighting—when he was young—his family took refuge in the Angkor Wat Temples at one point. And memories of friends hurt by landmines are still fresh. The country is much poorer than Vietnam, and it’s obvious—even in the Siem Reap tourist mecca where luxury hotels exist side-by-side with people who are dirt poor. We saw the poverty in the countryside, biking around, and then returned to our ridiculous hotel with its spa and “four hands” massage—which Scott and I enjoyed, though not without a sense of ridiculous privilege.

Shopping!

Wink, Denise and I had a few great shopping sessions. First at the Night Market in Siem Reap, where we loaded up on silk scarves for gifts; and at the silk farm in Siem Reap as well, where I got some silk pillows, a bag, and some more scarves. We also liked the embroidered pictures at the roadside rest stop en route to Ha Long Bay. I bought one of a farm scene. And in Hanoi I got an “Ao Dai”—one of the classic Vietnamese tops/dresses that are worn over pants—as well as some coasters, a bowl, and a few other odds and ends. In the Old Quarter we also enjoyed the Propaganda Poster shops, and bought two for Mike as a thank you for the great trip.

Biking Outside Hanoi

On our final full day in Vietnam, we set out for the countryside with our new bike guide, Dan. We started from his home, where he served us tea and introduced us to his son. Dan is a lovely guy who enjoys biking more than anything else. And he knows his way around the roadways and paths for miles around. He was a terrific host for the day, and took us through miles and miles of vegetable gardens growing cabbages, rice seedlings (that later get transplanted to the paddies), lettuce, broccoli, corn, cilantro, and many other crops. All the fields were orderly and well maintained. And, as in the Mekong, the stone and tile graves of the ancestors are poised in clusters in the middle of the fields. Interestingly, people are initially buried in mounds in the fields. After 3 to 5 years, their remains are exhumed by the eldest son and “cleaned” by professionals before being arranged properly in ceramic boxes and buried in the family tomb. Mike (our American guide who has been with us since day one) has trained Dan to show us the really local things. So he took us on paths right beside people working in the fields – so that the people ask him “why do you bring them here instead of on the roads?” And we stopped at a local festival in honor of a village’s founding. The people there were eager for us to join them for lunch, but we couldn’t (because our Hot Pots were waiting for us—see below). They insisted we enter their temple and drink their tea, and they gave us each a package of crackers when we finally got up to leave. Dan also took us to a traditional home. He just walked in and asked the owner if we could see it! He’d never met the guy before! We sat down for tea but the owner’s stove wasn’t working so he only could serve water, which we all pretended to drink! We stopped for a lunch of “hot pot” – a broth that is heated on the table. You then add meat or fish and lots of vegetables to the pot, and take them out to eat them with some of the broth. It’s delicious, though a bit chaotic. We all had a little bit of beer as well as a taste of the local rice wine, which is really more like a brandy – 40% alcohol! Dan, like many Asian people, is allergic to alcohol. But he likes it anyway. His face turned quite red and he became even more voluble than he already was. He talked and talked (his English is very good) — lots of stories about Vietnamese culture. We were with Dan from about 9 to 5 when we got back to his house, he wanted us to stay for more beer but we begged off, eager for some shopping in the Old Quarter in Hanoi. But it was a great day, and we all wished Dan well (though hoping that he doesn’t drink too much!)

Ha Long Bay

Our trip to Ha Long Bay – the World Unesco site – involved a 4-hour drive each way from Hanoi, and an overnight on a boat along with about 40 other people. The boating operation is run like clockwork, with the crew turning over the bedrooms every 24 hours. And there are boats everywhere. Despite being a tourist destination, it really is a beautiful place with amazing mountains rising straight out of the sea, so we took our share of photos—my favorite being a panorama in which Scott magically appears at both left and right. The cruise director also kept us busy with a hike to a terrific view and a kayak trip through a cave on the first day, and a Tai Chi class the next morning as well as a hike to a huge cave. They also fed and watered us well! In the evening, enjoyed happy hour on the roof deck, which included a cooking lesson in how to make Vietnamese Spring rolls. We all got to roll our own, and the assistant cruise director, who has a future as a comedienne, raced people in rolling their eggrolls, always winning and crediting her mother for teaching her well. With a few drinks under our belts, we also got a little crazy when they turned up the music—dancing wildly to the Macarena and Gangnam Style. Some of us felt that we could have skipped the whole Halong Bay outing in favor of more biking—mostly because of the lengthy drives in the van. I feel mixed about it, because it really is a beautiful sight, and the dancing and Tai Chi on the roof deck were great!

Siem Reap, Cambodia

We spent three days in Cambodia, and I am posting this very late! Summary of highlights: Day 1 -- Biking 50km past houses on stilts on roads of red clay; Dave climbing a sugar palm ladder; Watching a woman stir the sugar from the palm -- the process is much like maple syrup preparation; Riding past women chopping and drying manioc by the roadside; Hiking 4 km to visit a reclining Buddha carved into mountaintop and "a thousand lingas"--symbols of male and female united; Utter, happy exhaustion and a swim in the pool at our luxury hotel!

Day 2 – Tours of Angkor Wat (the largest, most famous temple in Cambodia, from around 900 A.D.), Angkor Thom (fabulous faces of Buddha), Ta Prohm (trees growing on the temple ruins--this is where Angelina Jolie was filmed in the Lara Croft Tombraider movie); The Buddha blessing--water splashed on our heads by a Buddhist monk until we were utterly drenched; afternoon downtime--much needed; Night Market--lots of shops and restaurants downtown; Fish eating the dead skin on Wink's and my feet (lots of giggling).

Day 3 – We took a van ride to a silk farm, where we learned about all of the steps in making silk, from growing the mulberry orchard for feeding the silkworms to spinning, dying, and weaving. We also purchased some beautiful scarves and other items. Then we hopped on our bikes and hit a roadside stand that sells fried crickets and cockroaches. We all tried a cricket! Our biking was fun, taking us past beautiful canals, rice paddies, and water buffalo. We came across a bunch of kids swimming and doing flips into the canal, which was fun. In the afternoon, Scott and I both had the "four hands" massage at our hotel. I'm not sure I can ever go back to two hands! It was awesome! Flew to Hanoi in the evening.

Travel Day

Today is a travel day—a necessary evil when doing a complicated multi-country itinerary. We took a five hour boat trip up the Mekong to Phnom Penh in Cambodia. The Mekong is quite wide--like the Mississippi--and therefore not that scenic. It’s nice to have a down day, in a way. But we did go to the Foreign Correspondents' Club in Phnom Penh for lunch—a spot where you can imagine journalists hanging out during the various wars that have burdened this part of the world. We also made a visit to the National Museum, which houses many beautiful pieces of sculpture from Cambodian temples. We got a history lesson from our guide, and hope it will serve us well as we head to Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat and other temples over the next few days. But we spent a lot of time waiting for our flight to Siem Reap… drinking a beer now to cope!

On Day 3 in the Mekong, we set out early for a boat ride to the floating market in Can Tho (pronounced Con Toe). Farmers transport their produce from their fields in small boats and sell them to bigger boats that then go to Can Tho and sell them to even bigger boats that anchor in the harbor. These boats then sell produce to smaller boats that act as a distribution system, taking produce back out to the communities. Think of it as truck-farming by boat. Our water taxi piloted among the boats, each of them advertising their wares by dangling samples on tall bamboo poles—melons, squash, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, cabbage, etc.. Most of the sellers live on their boats as well, so we saw them washing dishes, hanging laundry, and eating bowls of food bought from the “soup boats.”

From there, we stopped at the land market, with all the typical butcheries, fishmongers and vegetable sellers you might expect, but also including, at one butcher, skinned mice (which we later decided were probably rats, based on their size)!

After the market we started our ride, which today followed various waterways, all beautiful and lush, and perhaps slightly less populous than the Khmer region from the day before. We continue to ride mostly on narrow paths, which give such a personal connection to the place.

Lunch, as on several other days, is in a local streetside spot that serves us Pho Bo (noodles and beef). Delicious. Day three ended with a drive to the Victoria Sam Mountain hotel—amazingly located on a mountain, the first we’ve seen in this country of flatness! Our view over the lush green rice paddies is stunning, although it’s hazy (possibly due to pollution in China?). A swim and some hand laundry before dinner and bed.