Before we got to Vietnam we had a Halloween dance on the ship! It took forever to figure out what we were going to be because obviously we don’t really have costumes or anything so we had to get extremely creative…I came up with my roommate and her two best friends being the three blind mice and they looked adorable…I ended up being the green M&M and my friend Greg was the red M&M I thought we were pretty creative for having nothing haha…hmm…lets try putting pictures in my blog! The dance was shortened when we hit the massive typhoon all around south east Asia….so we just danced in the rain…it was sooo much fun!
A couple days later we were in Vietnam...sadly I didn’t get to see a lot of Vietnam because I got really sick and because I was on the Cambodia trip I only got one day in Ho Chi Minh….which is a crazy town by the way haha…the second we got off the ship we were bombarded with hundreds of little Vietnamese men trying to get us to go on their motorcycles and not a single one could speak any English…it was funny now looking back on it, but at the time we couldn’t get them away from us haha…we finally got a taxi after a long ordeal and we attempted to go to a tailor because everyone wanted fitted suits and dresses for very cheap…Blake, Jared, Sachin, Brittany and I finally found a place and everyone got fitted for suits/dresses…I was feeling horrible so I just helped the guys pick out their suits haha…after that we went to buy a ton of DVD’s which mission accomplished because we got over 100 for like 10 bucks and they have all worked so far! I was feeling awful and it was pouring rain (it was actually on CNN that day about the rain in Vietnam, northern Vietnam was completely flooded) so we went back to the ship for dinner and got ready to go out…which completely ruined the trip because I was leaving for Cambodia the next morning and going out was not going to help…but when you have so many friends that are begging you to go out and saying that you only have one night in Ho Chi Minh how can you say no? haha…so we went to this place called Apocalypse Now which was PACKED with Semester at Sea students….apparently it was the most famous club in town haha….
I think I might be bold enough to say that Cambodia has been my favorite country so far! It was incredibly beautiful and I loved the people and the culture so much! I remember learning about Cambodia in elementary school thinking I want to go there someday and I am so happy I did…and Dad has never been there hahahaha! We flew to Phnom Penh and went straight to the Mekong River for a sunset cruise…when we go off the plane it was more complete downpour but as if we were in a movie it stopped right when we go to the river to get on the boats which was nice…
After the sunset cruise we got to visit an orphanage that was founded by a couple of Semester at Sea alum after they visited Cambodia…the ages of the children ranged from around 5 to in the mid teens…the children were so smart and extremely excited we were there! I was so sad we were only there for an hour! The facility was lovely and it was inspiring to see how willing they were to learn and travel as much as we have…all the girls kept saying to me was “I love you! I love you!”
After we visited the orphanage and shared our tearful goodbyes (its amazing how much you can bond in an hour) we went to dinner at a pretty Cambodian restaurant with some local music…afterwards we went to the prettiest hotel I have seen on the trip! It was gorgeous and very fun for college students like ourselves…some people got massages in their rooms while I took a long awaited bath in the massive bath along with slippers and robe in our room…sleep was much needed after the night before and the long day…
The next day we visited the heart wrenching genocide museum…which speaks for itself I guess…it is incredibly sad to hear that people were doing this to their own people…on a lighter note that was followed by a tour of the kings palaces and temples which were just striking…but then we had to visit the killing fields which I really don’t want to talk much about…again…something that speaks for itself….that night we watched sunset at our first view of Angkor Wat….which I must say has been the prettiest sunset I have ever seen in my life…yes, something actually beat my sunset on the rocks in Lisbon…I didn’t think it was possible haha…pictures couldn’t possibly do it justice....
That night we had dinner at another restaurant/show place which was lots of fun haha…
The next morning I had to wake up at 4 in order to go back to Angkor Wat to view the sunrise…which was stunning yet again…We spent the entire day in different parts of Angkor Wat….It was one of the coolest places I have ever been on the planet! I wish I could possibly describe how awesome these ruins are! The perfect place from anything to a honeymoon, family vacation, or Wilden seminar :)….literally I fell in love with this place! We then visited the part where Tomb Raider was filmed and where we believe the inspiration for Legends of the Hidden Temple (a show when I was little) was formed…it was the coolest place on earth! Because of all the floods we had a very hard time getting back to the bus haha….We then had a little while longer to explore until our flight back to Ho Chi Minh and I met this little boy who was adorable! Him and his friends were selling fruit outside the temple and he was so smart! He knew all of the capitals of all of the states and was asking about Obama and everything…it was amazing to see the intelligence being displayed by this 8 year old boy selling fruit…truly a life lesson….we then flew back to Ho Chi Minh with out forgetting to stop at the Dairy Queen in the airport which we all felt was hysterical…speaking of which I would like to make it a point to state that for those of you who don’t know…we have seen KFC in every single country (including Namibia and Cambodia!)…even more so than McDonalds! Who knew?! Haha
My last day in Ho Chi Minh was sadly spent on the ship….I had to get over whatever flu type thing I had before China…but the grand thunderstorm that took place over Ho Chi Minh as we were sailing away definitely cheered me up!
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