Siem Reap

Most guide books will tell you a 3- or 4-day visit to the ancient city of Angkor will suffice, but don't  be fooled by their recommendation.  I thought 4 full days of exploring Angkor would be enough but I was wrong.  I really needed a week to fully explore and soak in all the splendors of Angkor (and not get 'over-templed' out).  My goal was to see more than just Angkor Wat, and to visit some of the smaller (and less crowded) temples beyond Angkor...I barely got to do this.  This is truly an amazing place and spending a week (even two) around Angkor and Siem Reap would be ideal.

Agent Orange

Today I joined Emma to visit the War Remnants Museum (please note - this museum will make you re-think about the Vietnam War). Clearly the Museum is one-sided but one cannot deny the devastation of Vietnam and its people caused by the war.

Well, after visiting the Museum, I definitely don't want to visit the 'Killing Fields' site in Cambodia. The Agent Orange exhibit was haunting and disturbing to see so many innocent lives affected by it. It's worth a visit (you'll be depressed after the visit)...especially the special exhibit on war photographers who perished during their assignments. Just amazing and inspiring.

Emma and I tried to find a cool rooftop bar on our last night in HCMC, she's heading back to London and I'm off to Cambodia, but we never really found one near our hotel and it started to rain....basically, we were too lazy to venture outside of the walking distance. We decided to chill and find a nearby spot for dinner - only problem was we didn't know what we wanted - Mexican? Thai? Vietnamese? Maybe a combo of all?

Tomorrow...I'm off to Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Location:Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

When it rains, it really rains!

Our brilliant plan of taking the day tour to the Mekong Delta area started at 7 in the morning, which meant no Vietnamese coffee at Highlands Coffee (not a great way to begin the morning). The bus ride took 3 hours to Mỹ Tho on the Mekong River for our first of many boat rides to see bee hives (?), followed by a tour of the coconut candy factory, then to lunch, before ending the tour. About half way into the tour, the sky opened up and started to pour for hours and hours...oh right, it's the "monsoon" season.

Emma and I were soaked and we both started to question if we wanted to stay overnight in Bến Tre with all this rain. Our vision of cycling along beautiful picturesque rice fields and floating markets quickly faded into us riding in the rain. We figured once we got to Bến Tre, everything would work out fine and we would have a great day. Well, our tour guide didn't drop us off at Bến Tre and we were back at Mỹ Tho. "Oh you should have told me you wanted to get off at Bến Tre" - the response from our guide...WTF! We had told him that we would like to go one way and get off at Bến Tre in the morning, clearly he didn't listen or remember. Now we're stranded at Mỹ Tho's Visitor Center and we're told it's a 45-minute taxi ride to Bến Tre...again, WTF! Emma and I both looked at each other and nodded...'let's take the public bus back to HCMC and check into Elios Hotel tonight and bail on the Mekong trip'.

The only available room Elios Hotel had was a deluxe room...done.

Traffic on the Mekong Delta

It's pouring...non-stop!

He's so use to it...doesn't even notice

Flooding in Ho Chi Minh City

Flood...what flood?

Location:Mỹ Tho, Tiền Giang Province, Vietnam

HCMC

Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) buzzes with life on wheels - from bicycles to motorbikes to cars. Trying to cross a street corner as a tourist is an adventure on to itself, but if one takes a deep breath and just start walking, bikers will move around you like a school of fish.



After the fall of Saigon in 1975, the city was renamed after the revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh (both names are used interchangeably today). As the former capital of the French Colony of Cochin-China, Ho Chi Minh City's architectural heritage is linked to its French design of neo-classical buildings. The city is quite expansive with 16 urban and 5 rural districts, but District 1 is the Central Business District that includes many of the historical and cultural importance - The Reunification Palace, War Remnants Museum, Museum of Ho Chi Minh City, Notre Dame Cathedral, and the touristy Bến Thành Market.

Sampling Vietnamese cuisine throughout the city is a must - from numerous Pho noodle shops to the food stalls (indoors and outdoors) of Bến Thành Market. Of course, one cannot miss the best coffee in Asia...Vietnamese coffee, with sweet condensed milk!

By now I was getting tired of sleeping in questionable "hotels", especially after spending a month sleeping in gers and the Beijing experience...the "hotel" Emma and I found in HCMC was definitely cheap but I was able to convince Emma that we needed to upgrade and pamper ourselves a bit, just like what we did in Hoi An. We both agreed that after the Mekong trip, we would move to a different hotel - we noticed a newly renovated 3-star hotel few buildings from our current hotel, found a great rate online for few dollars more and they would hold our bags until our arrival date...done. But we still didn't have a plan for the Mekong delta and we were suppose to leave the next morning. After few hours of research...nothing, until we spoke with the front desk clerk at Elios Hotel (where we'll be staying in two nights) who gave us a travel brochure for the Mekong delta. Emma and I had a plan - we would do a one-day tour, stay at a hotel overnight in Bến Tre, rent bikes to explore the area and then take the bus back to HCMC the following day. It was a brilliant plan, we even found a cheaper price at the travel agency next to the hotel! We headed to the Bến Thành Market for some shopping and dinner, feeling pleased with our itinerary.

Location:Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

To the Beach!

August 19 - 22 (Ho Chi Minh City - Danang - Hoi An)

I decided to meet up with Emma in Hoi An (instead of Ho Chi Minh City), so I can get to a beach and relax after the China fiasco. From what I briefly read about Hoi An, it was the perfect spot to chill for few days.

My flight to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) landed at 1am and I had a connecting flight to Danang in few hours. This time I wasn't going to take the chance of looking for a hotel near the airport or go into HCMC for few hours of sleep, instead I headed to the airport lounge area for few hours of shut eyes. Let's just say I didn't get much sleeping done between the hard seats and the fear of someone stealing my bags..but I did save money!

Of course, the airport pick-up request I had made to the hotel in Hoi An didn't happen, so once again I'm in a country where I don't speak the language and had no clue about getting to Hoi An. Oh hell with traveling cheap, I went luxe and took a taxi to Hoi An (it had air-conditioning)!

Hoi An is a beautiful town by the South China Sea, about half way between Hanoi and HCMC, known for their tailors among other things. The town still has the charm of an old French colonial period with many historic buildings full of tailor shops, restaurants and gift shops. The food here was absolutely delicious and fresh, friendly people, and enough clothing and shoe tailors/shops to stay busy for days. I only had three days but I could have stayed here for weeks, if not for a month.

Wood carver working outside his shop

View of the river from the cafe

The Market

"excuse me...are you sisters?"

Ferry boat for bikes...and people too

I'm guessing...honeymooners

To the beach!

Seaside lunch for about 5 bucks!

Beautiful French Colonial architecture

Love all the bird cages upstairs

Window of a lantern shop

Emma and I learned about a hidden gem (Villa Hoa Su) just outside of town; unfortunately, Villa Hoa Su didn't have any availability until the 21st, the day we're scheduled to leave for HCMC. I was able to convince Emma that we should stay one more night in Hoi An so we could check out the luxurious Villa Hoa Su. Villa Hoa Su was simply magnificent, it had everything I wanted - beautiful room with comfortable bed, outdoor shower and a marble bathtub, infinity pool, and a 5-star hotel service at a 3-star price (they even prepared a dinner for us based on what we wanted)! I can't do justice in describing the Villa, just check out their site - villahoasu.com. One day at the Villa Hoa Su wasn't enough...I definitely need to come back and stay for a week or two!

Location:Hoi An, Vietnam

I Need a Visa for Vietnam?

I couldn't get out of the Hotel 100% Perfect (have to love the name) fast enough...plus I needed to get online at the airport to check on my Vietnam visa status. After some research, I ended up re-applying for a visa as an urgent request since my arrival date to Vietnam had changed by a day.

One positive outcome of my ridiculous mishaps was I got to spend few hours with Tom and Verity in Shanghai. Thanks again Tom on feeding me and letting me do my laundry, take a shower, and print out all the Vietnam visa forms/approval letter! Yep, I finally received my letter of approval to enter Vietnam just before heading out to the airport.

Next stop...Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Location:Shanghai, China

Oh Hell With the Chinese Visa!

The train back to UB was definitely not the 'Trans-Mongolian' rail...it was more like a cheap Chinese knock-off of the Trans-Mongolian. Majority of the passengers were merchants transporting goods from China, in fact everyone in our car were vendors except for the three of us in the last cabin. At this point, I'm just glad to be on a train heading to UB...it's been a long day.

After all the craziness of trying to get back to UB this morning, I found out the Chinese Consular Office is only open on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays...definitely not on Tuesdays. F*%K!


The Chinese Consular Office is open from 9:30 to 12 noon, and approved visas/passports can be picked up after 4PM for the same day service.

When I got to the entrance at 9am, there was a line of about 30 people deep...and I thought this was going to be a breeze. After waiting in line for almost 3 hours, I'm told that I do need a new visa and it would cost $140 for the visa plus $30 for the same-day service, and the officer didn't know if the 24-transit permit would allow me to leave the airport...what a waste of my time and energy. I decided not to apply for a new visa and just go directly to Vietnam, which meant I would have to pay a cancelation fee of one night for my hotel reservation (but this would be cheaper than paying for a new visa).

After all the crap, I'm not 100% sure if I can get a 24-hour transit permit at the Beijing Airport, but I took a chance and bought a ticket to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (departing from Beijing on August 18 and arriving on August 19). Oh shit, I had applied a visa to Vietnam for August 20 arrival, not August 19. I can't believe I just made another mistake! Well it was too late to make any changes, I needed to get on a plane to Beijing in few hours and to Vietnam within 24 hours. So far the best news was Hotel Kapok canceling my reservation without a charge...now that's customer service and why I would stay there again!

I must have been in some weird "let's live on the edge" mood because I was cutting everything close - a simple drive to the airport, which is only 18km from the city, became a nail biting journey as we were sitting in traffic for over 45 minutes (train crossing!) and I almost missed my flight. Luckily there was no line to check in and I was able to go through the security check without too much hassle, and had just enough time to pick up a bottle of 'chinggi'.

The moment of truth - I'm in Beijing. At the Customs desk, I found out that I can get a free 24-hour transit permit and I can leave the airport (again the Lonely Planet's information was wrong). I could have spent a nice night at Hotel Kapok and gotten back to the airport the following morning relaxed and refreshed, but now it's the airport lounge since I didn't have the hotel reservation anymore. 488RMB ($75) to use the airport lounge...WTF?!? The best/lowest rate for a hotel room near the airport quoted by the Tourist Information desk was 338RMB...for a shit room...WTF?!? With free transfers and supposedly free Internet, I decided to book a room at the hotel near the airport.

My top 3 reasons why airport hotels are suck - 1) it's over-priced for what you get (i.e., dirty, nasty, smelly room). 2) it's noisy from the planes flying over. 3) people who work at these hotel are never helpful. The hotel I stayed at didn't disappoint - the room was dirty and the bathroom smelled of urine, it's right on the take-off flight path, and the hotel employees were useless...oh and the Internet was "broken". Let's just say I didn't get much sleep!

Location:Zamiin Uud, Mongolia

Deported From China...What the F**K!

After an uneventful overnight train to Erlian (it's no Trans-Mongolian), I had to push and shove past the mob of Mongolians and Chinese to queue in front of the Chinese Arrivals building. I was a bit nervous about my entry to China since I was only given a dual entry visa and I had already entered China twice in the past 2 months. I had read in the Lonely Planet Mongolia guide (BTW, don't rely on Lonely Planet as the sole source of information!) that I could either get a new visa or a visa extension at the border. Well, that was completely and utterly wrong - the Chinese Immigration officials informed me they only process entry for foreigners with valid visas and they do not process visa applications or extensions, and I must go back to Ulaan Baatar to request a new visa. "I have to go back to Ulaan Baatar?" After a 15-hour train ride and 2+ hours of waiting (no, standing) outside the Immigration Office, I was told I've been documented as attempting to enter China with an "expired" visa and immediately be "deported" back to Mongolia. The officials allowed Erica to come back inside so I could let her know of the situation, thankfully they allowed her to ride with me and be dropped off at the bus station on the way to the border.

The border crossings were interesting experiences all by themselves, but not something I want to do again. I was driven to the Erlian Departures building in an official car with a senior officer (all the guards saluted us as we drove by), walked past the departure lines, and placed into a jeep going to Mongolia's border. The jeep driver literally stuffed me into his car with 8 other passengers! One woman sat with my duffle bag behind her, while I held onto my backpack - 5 of us squeezed into the back seat and 3 sat in the front passenger seat - for a 7km ride to Zamiin-Uud, Mongolia. Shit, I'm back in Mongolia again...and Zamiin-Uud is not a friendly town to be stuck and not speak a word of Mongolian. Luckily, I was able to find a customs agent who spoke some English to help me find a taxi to the train station. Again, I was stuffed into a jeep with 6 others without knowing where the driver was going or how much he was going to charge. I definitely experienced how the locals travel...and it's insane!

Trying to buy a rail ticket to UB was no easy feat - I waited over 2 hours in line and didn't leave the line for the fear of losing my spot or my bags (there were at least a dozen arguments between policemen and people trying to cut the line). I was hungry, thirsty and had to pee but all that needed to wait until I purchased my train ticket. I was told the ticket booths would open at 2pm, but true to Mongolian punctuality, they didn't open until after 3:30pm. Finally...success! Oh wait, the ticket's for August 16 1:40 - not this afternoon...back to the ticket window to find out how to get on today's train. I tried in vain that I had to be on today's train but I believe the agent was telling me that the 17:30 train was sold out. In absolute dismay and exhaustion, I left the train station in search of a place to sleep near the station. One hotel across the street wanted 35,000 Turgriks per night - I told them that was too expensive but they wouldn't drop the price. Back out the on street, as I was looking for a hotel in the LP book, I ran into the Israeli couple who was waiting to buy tickets to UB. They also had the same ticket as me and were heading to a hotel. I asked about the train schedule and they told me the train leaves at 1:40AM, not 1:40PM - frack, I would have missed the train had I not met them! What dumb luck - I'm not going to miss the train and they suggested I stay in their hotel and travel together. Yippee!!

I'm still pissed that I didn't research more on visa extension requests and just took the first available train to Beijing. This stupid lapse will cost me dearly...I guess I deserved it. The next 2 days will be complete shit and will need to adjust my travel plans to Vietnam or Cambodia. Hope Erica got to enjoy a nice night of luxe and comfort...especially after a month of sleeping on a form pad and not showering for days. I'll have to wait for at least another day or two.

Location:Erlian, China

Back in UB

Ulaan Baatar...suddenly our trip was over! What an amazing journey during the past 30 days, and it seemed we only got a glimpse of Mongolia.

We got back to UB early afternoon for Tom, Verity and I to check the "Black Market" and Erica and Tai to chill at the Khongor Guesthouse. I had heard so much about the Black Market being dangerous with many pick-pocketers, but found it to be no different than other outdoor markets - crowded, vendors selling just about anything, and lots of fake products from China.

Instead of having a final group dinner, it ended up being just me, Tom, Verity, and Hogy at a Korean restaurant, just across the street (same place where I had my first meal in Mongolia!). I was disappointed that Erica and Tai didn't join us but it seemed that they both wanted some alone time. They had already gone the supermarket and settled in for the night.

The next morning seemed very awkward between me, Tai and Erica...they were both quiet and were busy updating their photos, so I tagged along with Tom and Verity for coffee. I guess after a month of being confined to such close space, we were bound to need some personal space.

Erica and I were on the evening train to Beijing via Erlian (China), unfortunately we couldn't get on the Trans-Mongolian Rail as there were no available sleeper cabins from UB to Beijing (not sure if Khongor actually tried or not). We were booked on the local train, which stopped at Erlian for border-crossing process. It would have been a great way to finish my Mongolia journey with a ride on the Trans-Mongolian Rail.

Location:Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia

Night Lanterns

Amarbayasgalant Monastery was our last visit on our incredible journey throughout Mongolia. The monastery was originally built between 1727 and 1737 by the Manchu emperor Yongzheng, and dedicated to the Mongolian Buddhist and sculptor Zanabazar. The monastery is in the Manchu style, including symmetrical layout and imperial color scheme.






The communist destroyed 10 out of the 37 temples and statues during the Cultural Revolution but the monastery has been heavily restored in the past few decades. There are now new structures and statues of Buddha around the monastery (pretty cheesy for my taste).























The highlight of our visit was the lantern lighting ceremony, as we came during the annual festival (Gongoriin Bombani Hural). What an amazing sight...to see hundreds of paper lanterns floating up in the night sky!























Just outside the monastery, a "photo booth" was set up where people can get a photo dressed in the traditional Mongol costumes. Oddly, there was an option to wear a traditional Korean costume (han-buk)...I guess for the Korean tourists???

Location:Amarbayasgalant Monastery, Mongolia