Vietnam and Cambodia

Day 1
Woke up at 7:30 to see small fishing boats outside of my window as we sailed down the Mekong River. We finally reached Ho Chi Minh City at 11 and I left for city orientation tour. Our first stop was the City Hall plaza which has a large bronze statue of Ho Chi Minh city and the City Hall building. Next we stopped to take photos of a large Catholic cathedral that was built during the French colonization. My favorite stop was the History Museum were we watched a traditional water puppet show. The stage is small pool where the puppeteers hide behind the set and maneuver brightly colored puppets like dragons, fish, and people. Lunch was served at a small local restaurant. We were treated to a full five course sampler meal with rice, squid, crab soup, and other traditional food items. The last stop on our itinerary was a visit to China town and the gorgeous Thien Hau Pagoda which has different incense burning for as long as a month at a time.
After dinner a few friends and I visited the night market which is about a 15 minute walk from City Hall Plaza. Everything is so cheap in Vietnam, especially dvds which cost around a dollar. I got a t-shirt for two bucks and my friend bought a normally expensive north face jacket for about 30 bucks.

The exchange packets offered by SAS give you larger dong notes which can be hard to spend/break in the market. I would recommend that people bring smaller (1 or 5) dollar bills because they are accepted almost everywhere in Vietnam and Cambodia.
　
Day 2:
I Woke up at 8 AM to hop on the first shuttle into town to find some internet. My friend Steph and I had to research places to stay in Kyoto. However, she had to leave for Cambodia at 11 so we only had a short time to find information. We returned to the ship for an amazing lunch of French fries. After a short nap I decided to wander around the famous Ben Than market to pick up a few souvenirs and Christmas gifts. After dinner I walked around town for awhile and ate ice cream before heading to bed.

Day 1 Cambodia
I am in the Cambodia group C which had the smallest number of participants. Groups A and B contained about 60 students each while ours had only 20. This made the trip go much smoother! With our small number we managed to leave the ship at 10 o clock sharp. The drive to Tan Son Nhat airport took only about 20 minutes and the actual plane ride took only 45 minutes. When we reached Cambodia we filled out our visa applications and headed to visit the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda. The Royal Palace was built in the 19th century and it’s interior is largely modeled after French design. The temple includes a monument built for the kings sister who died of cancer at the age of three. After finishing our tour of the palace, we visited the National Museum of Cambodia which houses some of the most marvelous statues and artwork from the Golden Angkor age. This just worked to increase my excitement of seeing the actual temples! Next we drove to the waterfront to take a sunset boat ride on the Mekong River. As we were waiting to exit the bus someone points at the window and yells “elephant!” Sure enough, an elephant is walking down the street. The sunset was amazing! We were supposed to visit a local orphanage, but we were running extremely behind schedule due to traffic so we went straight to dinner instead. We were served a delicious meal which consisted of rice, squid, spicy chicken, and other local delicacies. After dinner we drove to the Sunway hotel where we would be spending the night. This is one of the nicest hotels that SAS has booked. Much nicer than the hotel we had in Morocco. A few people decided to go out, but because our trip left early the next morning I decided to take advantage of the hotels spa/massage service and crawl into bed.

Day 2 Cambodia
After eating the most amazing French toast our trip left to visit the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum. The building was originally a high school that was converted into a prison, called S-21. The compound is separated into 3 buildings. Block “A” contained 6x4 meter rooms that were furnished with small metal framework bed and consisted of shackles and a small ammunitions box for human waste. This is where higher ranked officials from the previous Lon Nol regime were kept and tortured. Normally, prisoners were tortured here and taken to a nearby location to be killed. However, when the Vietnamese invaded Cambodia the guards killed the last fourteen prisoners on site and quickly fled the premises. Seven people were allowed to live. Out of those seven, four are still alive today. The fourteen bodies were buried outside of the museum and a memorial was erected at the site. A Photograph is hung on each wall that was taken by the Vietnamese to show how the body was found.

Blocks B, C, and D consisted of small 0.8x2 meters cells divided by brick walls and contained only a shackle and box for human waste. The buildings are surrounded with barbed wire to stop people from committing suicide. As each detainee was brought in there picture would be taken as evidence for the Khmer Rouges leader, Pol Pot. The museum keeps all of these pictures and display and includes other pictures of many of the guards. Prisoners were held between 2-6 months. During our tour we were allowed to speak with one of the seven survivors that were allowed to live. After seeing the museum we drove to the killing field of Cheoung Ek. The site consists of large monument where the skulls of victims that were found are kept. When you walk along the trails of graves you can still clearly see the impression of bone. Teeth and other small bone fragments litter the ground. a The usual method of death was to dig a shallow grave, have the prisoner kneel on his knees, and bash his head with a blunt object. A few were shot, but the Khmer officials did not want to waste bullets and believed that it did not cause enough suffering. It is estimated that a total of 1.7 million were killed in all of Cambodia during this time. Many SAS’ers have tried, but it is impossible to truly convey how powerful this experience is. Everyone was at the verge of tears even before we had reached the killing fields. I would suggest that every future SAS student take this trip to Phnom Penh. It impacts a person in ways are simply impossible to describe.

After the emotional morning we spent half an hour the Russian market. I finally found the 3rd season of Psych that I had been searching for in Ho Chi Minh City. Lunch was served at a local restaurant and was similar to yesterdays meal. I have been consistently pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoy the international food. After lunch we drove to the airport and boarded a plane for Siem Reap. Our flight took a total of 45 minutes. After landing, we checked into our hotel. Once again our hotel was amazing! Our rooms even had a balcony! Unfortunately, we didn’t get much time at the hotel except very late at night/very early morning. After dropping off our stuff we left for our first visit of Angkor Wat. The temple of Angkor Wat is the largest temple built by the ancient Khmer civilization in the 12th century CE. The temple is every bit as impressive as in pictures. You can see the marvelous spires from miles away. To get to the entrance of the actual temple you must walk across a large stone bridge and through a gate. We only spent a short time here today because we will have a full guided tour tomorrow. I did have enough time to find the “echo” room which all Amazing Race fans should recognize. If you stand in a certain spot within the room and clap your hands or thump your chest, the noise will echo throughout the building. After finishing our visit of the temple we drove to dinner. The food was served buffet style and included a show by local dancer in traditional costumes. After that we headed to the hotel to get a short nights rest before an early sunrise visit of Angkor Wat.
　
Day 3
I managed to stumble out of bed and make it to the bus by 4:30 AM. The best place to see the sunrise and take pictures is at the very edge of Angkor Wats moat. If you stand in certain spots you can see a perfect reflection of temple. It was totally worth getting up at 4 AM to see. At 8 we drove to see another temple named Ta Prohm a.k.a the “Jungle temple“. The temple is largely kept as it was found in a state of “picturesque disrepair.” Over the years the trees have merged and intertwined with the stone temple. The place is similar to a maze and it can be surprisingly easy to lose your way. After visiting Ta Prohm we were treated with a full guided tour of Angkor Wat including the central part where you can best see the spires. We ate lunch at the hotel and checked out. We drove to one final temple called “Bayon” This was my absolute favorite temple we visited. This temple is famous for it’s marvelous stone faces. The temple is divided into three levels. The first two have the stone faces and other carvings while the uppermost contains the inner sanctuary. We drove to the airport and boarded our flight back to Ho Chi Minh City.