Cambodia: Part One

After we landed in HCMC, and spent the night, we hopped on "The Mekong Express Bus"-greatest bus we've ever been on- to Phnom Penn, Cambodia . It had great leg room, a foot rest (the best!), reclining seats that actually reclined, complimentary water and pastries, a toilet (much needed on a 7 hour journey) and even wifi (basically only worked enough to check emails but still)! Anyone heading to SEA, we would highly recommend The Mekong Express (to, from and within Cambodia). We arrived in Phnom Penh after a fairly easy border crossing and bus ride, we checked into a hostel type hotel equipped with a little pool (much needed with the extreme heat). We found out just before we arrived that the King of Cambodia had died three months prior but that this week was when they would parade his body up and down the capital's streets and later cremate him near the river for everyone to watch. Little did we know that this meant everything would be closed during those days and getting a tuk tuk or any other kind of transportation would be extremely difficult. Luckily, we arrived two days before the start of the parade and we able to go and see some of the sites. 

For those of you that are unaware (or need a little refresher), Cambodia experienced a genocide from 1974-1979 in which a quarter of their population, just over two million men, women and children were brutally murdered by a Cambodian political group called the Khmer Rouge (also referred to as the Pol Pot regime...Pol Pot was the leader). Being that Phnom Penh was and still is the capital, many of the murders occurred in and around this city. We were able to visit the Killing Fields, one of 300 in the country, where Cambodians were sent (much like the concentration camps) to their deaths. This particular killing field we went to was one of the largest with burial sites still visible to interested visitors. Once at the fields we were given a pair of headphones and a recorder that would describe in detail what we were looking at by a Cambodian who once was at this site. It was absolutely heart wrenching to listen to and to see exactly the spot where thousands were murdered and buried. There were numerous "mass graves" which essentially were  just small pits that over four hundred men were buried. Other graves, with just as many people, were for women and children only. I can't even begin to describe to you the emotions running through everyone that were at this field. On site there was also a large tower/building that was a couple of storey's high that had 17 levels in it filled with over 8000 skulls of those that were murdered on site. You could even see bullet holes in the skulls...absolutely the scariest and saddest thing to see. 

Despite the horrible history that Cambodia has been through, the people are surprisingly happy and thankful. They, so far, have been the nicest people that we have encountered on our travels and it is just so amazing to witness their positivity despite what they have been through. It was shocking to realize that this occurred only 30 years ago. 

After the Killing Fields, we went to a nearby high school that was turned into a prison for both men and women. Cambodians were thrown in jail (many of them murdered here as well) for reasons such as they had soft hands or that they were "intellectuals". Anyone who did not follow the rules of the Khmer Rouge were instantly tortured. The "prison" consisted of old school rooms being divided into roughly 30 cells (only big enough to stand up and lay down). To be able to walk through these rooms and enter the cells was something I will never forget. Just picturing in my mind what would happen in these cells was enough to make me feel sick. The history of this country is incredible and it is shocking to know that something like this could happen at anytime to any country. Outside of the buildings sat an old man who at one point was a prisoner and now selling books detailing his story. His entire family had been brutally murdered, including his children, and he was thrown in jail and tortured. He was only saved because at some point one of the soldiers had found out that he was good at fixing typewriters. Despite this mans horrific life, he was so positive and wrote in his book that he actually was not angry with any of the soldiers who had treated him so poorly and who had murdered his family. He had forgiven them as he said they were only doing as they were told  (from their leader, Cambodian, Pol Pot). It is disgusting that someone would want to start a genocide against their own people. As I later read in a history of Cambodia, the Pol Pot regime gained followers around the time when the US was invading Vietnam. Because many Vietnamese had fled to Cambodia, the US was bombing Cambodia and a result killing many people. Pol Pot had told the Cambodians to stand up and fight and from that, the genocide apparently started. 

Needless to say that day was a very somber and painful one but we are so glad that we were able to experience a part of their horrible history and learn more about Cambodia in general. 

After our day in the Killing Fields and the prison we were able to share in a day that will go down in Cambodian history-the day that the Kings' body would be paraded around the city. Everyone was dressed in white tops and black pants, in mourning for the king (even though it had been 3 months since he had passed). The streets were filled with thousands and thousands of mourners waiting to see the kings body (in a casket) paraded down the street. It was amazing to see the amount of people flooding the streets showing their respects and their absolute love for their beloved king. Despite the fact that everything was closed (including many streets), we were happy we were able to experience this important day in Cambodian history. 

I'm going to split this blog into two as well, as it is quite lengthy. More of an upbeat blog about the rest of our Cambodia travels will be up shortly! 

Vietnam: Part Two

The next am we headed off to Hoi An on a big tourist jammed bus. We have been trying to avoid these on all costs but it was only a 45 minute ride and was a third of the cost of taking a private car or taxi. We immediately loved Hoi An and found it to be very similar to our favourite town in Bali-Ubud. It was quite touristy but being the only non-vietnamese for over a week and therefore quite the spectical, we welcomed other foreigners. The town is in  between the ocean and a big river and is quite beautiful! At night the restaurants and stores light up along the river and there are hundreds of lanterns everywhere-prettiest town at night that we had been to! Such a quaint and cute feeling about this town-we knew we were going to enjoy this! Hoi An is also known for their hundreds of tailoring shops where you can design and make clothes for extremely affordable prices! We didn't initially think we were going to take advantage of this offer but decided that we couldn't pass it up! Soooo, we ended up having numerous custom made items that we shipped home: two winter coats (pea-coats), two linen pants for me, a suit for Jordan and a dress for me! We stocked up! :) The tailors made these items incredibly fast with the coats being made in roughly 10 hours and my dress being made in 4 (from concept to delivery). 

We also rented a couple of bikes and toured around the town, biking out to the beach and around the enormous rice paddies. The afternoon was spent wandering around all the shops and fruit markets and also taking a little scoot up the river in a rickety old boat paddled by a very old but happy Vietnamese woman! It was a great experience and we were able to get some  great shots of the town from the river. The next day we rented a motorbike (best way to travel!) and headed to My Son (produced me-sun)- a collection of temples and ruins. Quite interesting and very very old. The bike ride there and back was around 1.5 hours and we had a blast! On the way to My Son we noticed that a man had fallen off his bike on a pathway between rice paddies. He was lying on his back with his head down the hill. We stopped the bike and ran over to help him. At first I thought maybe he had had a heart attack but once we got there, I realized right away that the guy was just wasted! He had done a backwards somersault into the rice paddy and was completely covered in mud. He couldn't stand up by himself so Jordan grabbed his hand and literally hauled him up the hill. We think he was just the local drunk because a couple of people poked their  heads down the lane way but didn't do anything. We decided to just let him stumble his way back to his place while leaving the bike where it was. Needless to say we had quite the laugh after and were just happy the guy was ok!

After spending our last night in Hoi An we took a minibus to the Danang Airport and flew to northern Vietnam to a place called Hanoi. After our flight and checking into our hotel we decided to do some bargain hunting for a boat cruise through Halong Bay which is roughly a five hour bus ride from Hanoi. After going to tens of shops/hotels and trying to get the best deal possible, we settled on a three day/two night cruise on the Dragon Cruise boat for roughly $125 each. This was the most expensive side trip we had done but after lots of research and recommendations to not skimp out (what you pay for is what you get), we left around 7 am the next morning. We were on our boat just after 1pm  and enjoying a delicious seafood lunch while cruising through Halong Bay. Our room was surprisingly beautiful (we were not used to having the actual product look just like it did in the pictures!!). We had a queen size bed with a beautiful view out onto the bay with tens of little islands surrounding-absolutely stunning. There were roughly 18 of us on the boat but we had sat at the table seating six and ended up making some friends with young Australian honeymooners and another couple for England and Wales. The Aussies were around the age of my sister and her husband and we got on so well. They reminded us so much of Sar and Rob that I actually got a little bit homesick (and homesick for Australia too!!). 

After lunch we hopped into the small passenger boat that we had been hauling with us and headed over to Ti-Top island to climb the mountain to see the beautiful view of Halong Bay. The hike was chalkas- filled with so so many tourists but the view at the top, and the pictures we got, were so worth it. After Ti-Top we headed to a cave (either Amazing cave or Spectacular cave...I forget the name). Wowza. This cave was MASSIVE! It was also filled to the brim with tourists...I mean lineups to get through this thing. The amount of people actually ruined the experience for me but nevertheless, it was still an amazing cave to see. After the cave we headed to a little spot where you could kayak if you wanted to around this little island (while dodging all of the passenger boats). We and a few others (including the Aussies) decided to skip it as the next day was a full day of kayaking and it was also freezing cold!). Instead, a woman in a fishing boat was selling cold drinks and so we all ended up buying a couple of beers each. The cruise that we were on was charging absurd prices for drinks so we decided to take advantage. We also had bought a $2 bottle of vodka before we left (which surprisingly was very good....it had been a while since I had vodka-bad past experiences if ya know what I mean)! Anywho, after a delicious seafood buffet the six of us headed to the roof and started dipping into the drinks that we had bought onshore. We bought mixer (sprite) from the boat but decided to keep our own alcohol hush hush. Not too soon after we bought the sprite we started noticing some employees popping their heads over the stairs peeping to see if we had brought our own alcohol. Apparently there was a sign that said if you bring your own alcohol they charge you $10 for each bottle but they never informed us about it personally and didn't say anything when they were sneaking around trying to spy on us so we continued. It was nice to let loose and have some fun with some new friends and swap travel stories.

The next day we hopped onto another smaller day-tripping boat that we used as a base for kayaking. It was very overcast, rainy and freezing but we decided that regardless of the crappy weather we were still going to take advantage of the events planned. We spent the morning kayaking and then due to poor organization on the boats part, had to wait nearly 2.5 hours while another group went out and did the same tour. We were soaked and cold waiting on the boat. If you wanted a hot beverage to warm you up, it would have cost a couple of dollars and we just weren't having it. If they were going to make us wait in the freezing cold for 2.5 hours (and not even let us go back on the kayaks to get our blood moving), they should have at least offered us hot drinks.  Needless to say the whole group was quite...pissed...but there was nothing that we could do about it. We enjoyed an ok seafood lunch (most of it fried) and headed to a pearl farm.   The pearl farm, as suspected, was a tourist trap and we were there for nearly 2 hours. We were bored and cold and just wanted to head back to our cruise boat to have hot showers and change clothes. Eventually we were back in our room and thawing out while waiting for dinner. Dinner was another seafood buffet and dessert consisted of small hunks of watermelon. We ended up heading to our rooms and crashing around 8:30 after an exhausting and cold day. 

The next morning we were booted out of our rooms by 8:30 and had to wait 3 hours out in the dining room until we got back to shore (we were a bit peeved with that because we had anticipated some morning activities...three days of activities turned into only 1.5 of activities)...not the happiest campers. When we arrived back on shore we headed to a big hall where we were to be served our final meal as a group. The food was okay but just as we were finishing up one of the Aussies spotted a giant rat running across the floor....giant. We decided we had had it and left ASAP. Oh, and before we left I decided to use the restrooms which turned out to be just a row of toilets with no doors (just blinders)...so in order to go you had to walk past all these women. I managed to grab the only 'normal' closed door toilet but it was still very very awkward. Needless to say, we were happy to get the hell outta there! After a four hour bus ride back to Hanoi we crashed in our hotel and decided to book a flight to HCMC for the next night. 

Vietnam was quite the experience and we were able to gain an understanding of the culture that Lukie was born in to. It is certainly different to Canadian culture but we were really happy that we got to experience it. Just before I finish up, I wanted to mention that the orphanage in Ba Ria that Luke was at for the first few months of his life, he had some wonderful nannies that took care of him and the other babies. Four years ago we were sent an email with some pictures attached showing us the beautiful baby boy that would soon be apart of our family. In one of the pictures were two of the nannies that took care of Luke. Since that day we have had the picture of Lukie and his nannies up in his room and show it to him constantly. He knows that those were the ladies that took care of him when he was a baby! 

When we arrived at the orphanage I had no hopes that I would be able to meet the nannies but to my surprise one of them was still there! I knew the language barrier would be tough so I had downloaded tonnes of pictures of Luke both when he was at the orphanage and now so that I could try and explain that he was adopted here four years ago and this is what he looks like now. I showed the picture to one of the first nannies that greeted us and right away her eyes lit up and she kept saying Thinh, Thinh, Thinh! This was Luke's vietnamese name (that is now part of his middle name). She had recognized him and herself in the picture and it was the sweetest thing I'd ever seen. Tears came to my eyes and I just so happy that I was able to meet one of these nannies that we had seen in the picture hanging in Lukie's room everyday. Before we left the orphanage we made sure to get a picture with her and give her a big hug! We told Luke later, via Skype, that we had met the lady that had looked after him when he was a baby (the same lady that he sees in the picture) and a big smile came across his face. 

It will be years before he is able to fully understand the country and culture that he was born into but when that time comes, I'm very thankful that I will be able to help him come to grasps with it. Being at the orphanage made me so thankful that we have Lukie in our lives and I can't imagine what life would be like without him. Like I always tell Lukie (and he finishes the sentence)..."Kikki...loves you so so much"!

Vietnam: Part One

We had been looking forward to coming to Vietnam for a very long time. We flew from Bali to Singapore, Singapore to Vietnam after a combined travel time of roughly 11 hours (door to door). We had to get our visa's on arrival (which was a bit of a pita) but, we were on our way to our hotel in District 1 in no time. Right away, the number of motorcycles was astronomical. For every car/taxi there were 100's of motorcycles. Jordan and I both agree that we've had the perfect transition into this completely different culture. We started with Singapore which is an Asian country but where 92% of the population speaks English (ie. very Westernized). However, you have your Asian food markets, the implementation of scooters, etc. then we went to Bali where there were more crazy scooter drivers and even less that spoke English. This brings us now to Vietnam where it is the 92% that don't speak a word of English (except please look at my shop or you want to buy?). So we definitely did it right-not a huge culture shock for us! 

Our first three days were spent in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) in District 1- the backpackers district and also home to the famous Ben Thanh Market. Lots of hustle and bustle but we loved it! The market was a fantastic spot to buy endless amounts fruit and souvenirs such as purses, clothing, tea sets, jewellery, etc etc. We wandered around this market for hours-great cheap food too! We stayed in two different hotels that costs us roughly $15 a night. This was something we could get used to! Initially we had thought Bali was going to be along the same prices but they were much more expensive then Vietnamese prices ($40/night versus anywhere from $10-25...in our budget!). For $10 you can get a decent sized room, clean, breakfast usually included and...most of the time....hot water! We also went to the Reunification Palace where the president used to live before North Vietnam invaded South Vietnam. Everything was left as is (apparently) including the tanks in the front yard the knocked down the gate. Very interesting! 

As I mentioned in my last blog, our first few days in Vietnam were mostly dedicated to going to the International SOS clinic to get checked out for the whole rabies situation. The rest our time was spent just endlessly wandering around the city, checking the sites and trying different fruit! We decided to head down to Vung Tau (a smaller city on the ocean that was a 2 hour bus ride away from HCMC). Vung Tau is located only 25km or so away from Ba Ria- the town where Lukie was born. Since we left home in December and knew that we were travelling after, it was always in the plan to visit this city and spend a week or so volunteering at the orphanage where Luke spent roughly 5 months of his life as a baby. So we ended up staying the night in Vung Tau and renting a motorcycle for the week to drive to/around/ and from Ba Ria. The motorcycle cost is 700, 000 Vietnamese Dong (VND)-roughly $35 Canadian. Cheap cheap! A full tank of gas costs roughly $5 and gets you probably around 100 km-not too shabby! So off we went to Ba Ria with both of us on this bike with both of our backpacks (one on Jordan's back and one in between my legs)...probably one of the most fun and entertaining drives we have ever done! We arrived and checked in at the hotel (the only hotel in the city) we would be staying at for one week and headed straight to the orphanage. 

We arrived at the orphanage and right away we realized it was going to be tricky to navigate communicating with them because none of the staff spoke a lick of English. The older kids came up to us right away and asked where we were from and do we know Gangham Style (while imitating the dance)..so they knew a bit if English haha, but not much! I told them we were from Canada and they looked at us like we made the country up. I said do you know Justin Bieber (embarrassingly I sang the chorus to Baby) and they all got super excited "oh yes, Justin Bieber-we like Justin Bieber). I told them that JB was from Canada and then they understood. Over our travels so far we have learned that EVERYONE knows the Biebs...most can't speak any English but they can sing (in extremely broken English) the chorus to at least one Bieber song! We spent a few hours with the kids and then it was nap time. The entire orphanage sleeps from roughly 11-2 in the afternoon (unless the older kids are in school which goes from either 7:30-11 or 12:30-4). We didn't figure this out until a couple of days in but then realized this was the time for us to go back to our hotel, have some lunch and relax and head back for 2pm. With the help of a lady named Loan who was the translator between the orphanage and TDH (the adoption agency my parents used), she was able to convey to the director that we wanted to stay for the week and help do whatever they needed us to. This was still very much lost in translation with the other nannies and so it wasn't until about 3 days in that they started realizing we weren't going away and that we actually wanted to help in other ways then just playing with the children.

Jordan came down with a serious fever and stomach ache and was in bed for 2 straight days and so I continued making the trip on motorcycle to the orphanage twice a day. I started helping look after the 6 babies-ranging in age from 6 months to 2.5 years. There were 4 boys and 2 girls. One of the little girls (who was also the oldest) was unable to talk because she either didn't have a voice box or it just didn't work (we were unable to decipher exactly due to the language barrier). The little girl had a tube in her throat which helped her to breathe and was mostly restricted to the crib where she would lay flat on her back. Right away I asked if I could hold her and they nodded yes. I picked her up and instantly she just had the hugest smile on her face. After that, anytime you would smile, she would give you one back that was 20x bigger. She was such a beautiful and smiley girl despite the fact that she has a very tough life. It brought tears to my eyes just holding her in my arms! 

There was one baby who was the youngest at six months old and was such a cutie. The nannies never said anything but I think he may have been blind as whenever I held him he was never able to follow me with his eyes at all. They were both very glazed and were shut or very small most of the time. The little boy also had the flattest head I have ever seen. We had seen it previously before with Lukie (as the babies and toddlers have flat heads because of constantly lying down in their metal cribs) but this babies head was incredibly flat and coned to the left. It was so heartbreaking to see. Jordan and I were constantly taking turns holding him as we wanted to keep him out of his crib and entertained as much as possible (even though in the long run it makes very little difference). He was a very sweet boy by rarely cracked any smiles. I would give him loud kisses on his cheek and neck and he would give the tiniest, tiniest smile but that was it.

The other kids however were such happy toddlers! They ranged from 1-2 years and they would run and crawl around the room constantly! The babies all slept and ate in the same room that consisted of 7 metal rocking cribs, 1 large wooden crib for the little girl who couldn't speak and two large metal beds for the nannies (but that were mostly used as climbing devises for the kiddies)! There was also one metal table with a few supplies including a rice cooker and some clothes all shoved to the centre of the table as the babies would step up on the bar and try and swat down anything and everything! It was actually absolutely hilarious seeing four toddlers all standing tiptoes on this small metal bar with there heads peering over the top of the counter! We were able to feed the babies and bathe them (only twice though) which proved to be much different then how we would do it at home (from what I've seen and experienced). The young kids were fed while they laid flat on their backs with the baby also being fed his bottle while still in his crib with blankets propped up to hold the bottle in place. This blew my mind because what would happen if the nannies are off in a different room and this little baby starts choking but he is lying flat on his back?? It blew my mind and needless to say, after that either Jordan or I held him every time it was feeding time! The kids also received the quickest and roughest "baths" which consisted of the kids on all fours on the floor with buckets of water dumped on them or the little baby and the little girl just lying on their tummies on the floor. The kids were all dried off with the same towel and were bathed, powdered and dressed in under two minutes each. Definitely a different way of doing things. Regardless of all of this though, the babies are very loved by the nannies and overall are very cheery kids. It was an emotionally, mentally and physically draining week but we loved it and would do it all over again in an instant! 

The town of Ba Ria, where the orphanage was located, had a population of absolutely zero foreigners. We were the only non-vietnamese people and certainly received our fair share of looks, points and laughs. It was the weirdest experience and it seemed liked everywhere we went, we were a constant spectical, especially among the kids. It was an experience for sure but we are very glad we were able to spend some time with the kids and help out a bit.

We left Ba Ria with one bag on the back and one in between my legs and headed back to Vung Tau to drop off the bike and catch the hydrofoil to HCMC. We had done this trip a couple of times as I had to go get a rabies shot earlier in the week and another trip because I had forgotten the iPad charger-we thought it would go as smoothly as our previous trips. Wrongo. About 15 minutes in to the drive I hear this snap and the engine starts revving and the bike stops moving forwards. Both Jordan and I were thinking, you've got to be kidding me! We drove this bike for a week straight and just as we are 20 minutes away it decides to break down on us?! Luckily, after crossing four lanes and a concrete barrier with the bike and our bags, we reached a tiny mechanic shop. I made the hand single for dead and pointed to the bike and the woman laughed and nodded. The belt had snapped and apparently this happens often as they had plenty in stock. They fixed the bike and we were on the road within 30 minutes. We had to laugh about the situation- it could have been worse! So we hopped back on the bike and head down the road. I'm thinking in my head, man we got so lucky that we weren't on one of the many bare stretches of road...there was a mechanic shop right there! Literally as I'm thinking this, BOOM! The damn thing snapped again!! This time we just couldn't believe it. We watched them put it on and didn't see any issues with it. What bad luck for it to happen twice to us within a 5 minute stretch on our very last day. Thankfully, the breakdown happened within a few hundred metres of another 'shop'. This time around though the mechanic didn't seem to know what he was doing. After two and a half hours and the guy going and getting a friend to help, we were back on the road and FINALLY, and in one piece, made it to our destination. We dropped off the bike so fast and hopped in a taxi before anything else could happen. 

Once we got to the boat that would take us to to HCMC, we were told there was only standing room left...we decided that we would take it anyways-we had had it with waiting around! We waiting until everyone boarded and then were let on. To our delight and surprise they took us to the very front cabin in the two front seats with a panoramic view! Looks like our luck was changing! We got to HcMC after an hour and a half boat ride and checked into our hotel near the train station. Our original plan was to sleep in the hotel over night and catch the 1:15pm train the next afternoon so we could meet up with Loan (the Vietnamese lady who helped with Lukie's adoption process) to give her back the phone we had borrowed from her and say thank you. However, we were informed that the 1:15 was sold out and that the 6am and 11 am only had soft seats or hard beds. After reading my dads blog and being advised to splurge the extra dollars for a soft bed, we decided that we would take the 11:15 pm train that night. We headed back to our hotel, had showers, Skype Jordan's mom and then checked out around 10pm- the hotel staff seemed very confused! Haha 

We boarded the train and after asking a few people to switched beds/rooms, Jordan and I were in the same cabin occupying the two top bunks. All soft sleepers have four beds (two sets of bunks) and so we assumed four people would be sleeping there. Wrongo. Six people ended up in the cabin with one of the men keeping the light on the entire night. Regardless of the fact that I drugged myself with Gravol to avoid any motion sickness and to try and get some sleep- I got zero. As there was nowhere else to sit in the train we spent the entire morning in our bunks until about 1pm when I just could'nt lay down anymore. We arrived in Danang after a 15 hour train ride and eager to get off! We met a super nice young American couple (who I had switched bunks with so they could be in the same room) and ended up exchanging tips as they had already been to Thailand, Cambodia and Laos and they were off to Australia and NZ. We then got to our hotel and explored around a bit.

Part Two of our Vietnam adventures coming soon (thought I'd break it up for you, it's a long one)!