Friday, January 8, 2010
Monday, January 4, 2010
Angkor Wat
Our final destination within Cambodia was the city of Siem Reap which lies closest to the temples of Angkor Wat. The temples turned out to be truly amazing. The best way to describe the experience is by recommending you watch the Jungle Book and slow-mo during Mogley's visit to King Louie's temple ruins hideout.
Unfortunately, I had left the battery charger for my camera back in Korea and thus was only able to take a limited amount of pictures at this point in our journey.
Mountain-top temples
Unfortunately, I had left the battery charger for my camera back in Korea and thus was only able to take a limited amount of pictures at this point in our journey.
Mountain-top temples
The Killing Fields
After taking a long bus ride up to Rach Gia, a border city between Vietnam and Cambodia, we set out on a slow boat up the Mekong Delta into Cambodia. Our arrival destination was the city of Phenom Pein. From the city, we made a day trip to "the Killing FIelds" near by. It is a mass grave sight where thousands of men, women, and children were ruthlessly murdered during a genocide that occurred between the Khmer Rouge's four year occupation (75-79). A horrible but necessary place to visit. Being at the site combined with realizing how relatively recent this all happened provided a lot of insight as to where and why Cambodia stands today.
As a memorial to the dead, this stupa was built and filled with the bones and skulls of the victims found in the graves.
Mass graves grown over with grass.
As a memorial to the dead, this stupa was built and filled with the bones and skulls of the victims found in the graves.
Mass graves grown over with grass.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Phu Quoc
We arrived in Saigon on Saturday night. And the following day we were out.
The bustling and somewhat strenuous city just wasn't providing the right vibes at the right time.
After a surprisingly easy visit to a Vietnamese travel agent; the next night we were off on a 7 hour bus ride towards the west coast port city of Rach Gia.
We arrived in the early morning, and were immediately taken to our designated ferry "terminal." We would soon catch a boat from here to Vietnam's largest island: Phu Quoc.
Outside the ferry building at sunrise
Our ferry seen here. We were stoked to be on board the Superdong II versus the Superdong I. Our boat had all the amenities, including big flat screen TV's that played techno music videos with naked girls in them. True story. Don't worry, dozens of chilren were on board.
Shipwreck
Vietnamese gas station. Just in case you were wondering what they look like.
Once arriving on the island we were immediately hammered by people wanting to take us to the hotel they were getting commissioned for. They will do anything to get you within talking distance. Including what happened to us: A worker on board the boat found out mine and Nick's names and called them in to a "business acquaintance" on shore. Soon enough, we were greeted with signs with our names on them once we stepped off the boat (completely unaware of how they got there). They then convinced us to ride in their taxi, which would take us wherever we wanted to go. Once inside the taxi, that turned into a bit of a different story. They immediately started selling us on a different place and took us directly there.
This may sound like a rough story BUT it must be said that: this happened on more than one occasion in both Vietnam and Cambodia, and it always worked out fine, if not better. We ended up at one of the best, cheapest,and most low key places on the beach.
The beach on which we eventually took settlement (thats name I will refrain from mentioning due to certain acquaintances affinity for. Hint: "Snoop Dogg's from there. And it's so sick. WHaa!) was quite an odd place. Almost eerie.
First thing to notice, was the overall lack of people. There was hardly anybody filling the dozens of hotels and resorts that lined the sand. Second, were some of the resorts themselves who had been adorned with cheap statues and enpty cabanas.
This mermaid for instance:
This dog quite possibly could have been the general manager of this resort.
Did I mention it was a themed resort?
Did I mention that the theme was completely inconsistent?
After walking for a while past where we were staying, I came across a large lilly padded pond that without-a-doubt in my mind was home to at least 150 giant Jon Voight-eating anacondas. Didn't see any but definitely had a strong gut feeling.
On the other side of the pit-o-death, was the strangest and yet nicest half-built, vacant hotel/resort. I figured that it was still under construction but there was no sign of workers or equipment anywhere. And, nearly everything was finished. All that remained were the innards of each building. It also wouldn't make much sense to not finish a resort in the offseason (which was now).
No windows. No doors. Just a vacant skeleton of a building.
It even had pool furniture.
Here's a glimpse into the home of nearly 1,200 Ice Cube-eating anacondas.
The bustling and somewhat strenuous city just wasn't providing the right vibes at the right time.
After a surprisingly easy visit to a Vietnamese travel agent; the next night we were off on a 7 hour bus ride towards the west coast port city of Rach Gia.
We arrived in the early morning, and were immediately taken to our designated ferry "terminal." We would soon catch a boat from here to Vietnam's largest island: Phu Quoc.
Outside the ferry building at sunrise
Our ferry seen here. We were stoked to be on board the Superdong II versus the Superdong I. Our boat had all the amenities, including big flat screen TV's that played techno music videos with naked girls in them. True story. Don't worry, dozens of chilren were on board. 
Shipwreck
Vietnamese gas station. Just in case you were wondering what they look like.
Once arriving on the island we were immediately hammered by people wanting to take us to the hotel they were getting commissioned for. They will do anything to get you within talking distance. Including what happened to us: A worker on board the boat found out mine and Nick's names and called them in to a "business acquaintance" on shore. Soon enough, we were greeted with signs with our names on them once we stepped off the boat (completely unaware of how they got there). They then convinced us to ride in their taxi, which would take us wherever we wanted to go. Once inside the taxi, that turned into a bit of a different story. They immediately started selling us on a different place and took us directly there.
This may sound like a rough story BUT it must be said that: this happened on more than one occasion in both Vietnam and Cambodia, and it always worked out fine, if not better. We ended up at one of the best, cheapest,and most low key places on the beach.
The beach on which we eventually took settlement (thats name I will refrain from mentioning due to certain acquaintances affinity for. Hint: "Snoop Dogg's from there. And it's so sick. WHaa!) was quite an odd place. Almost eerie.
First thing to notice, was the overall lack of people. There was hardly anybody filling the dozens of hotels and resorts that lined the sand. Second, were some of the resorts themselves who had been adorned with cheap statues and enpty cabanas.
This mermaid for instance:
This dog quite possibly could have been the general manager of this resort.
Did I mention it was a themed resort?
Did I mention that the theme was completely inconsistent?
After walking for a while past where we were staying, I came across a large lilly padded pond that without-a-doubt in my mind was home to at least 150 giant Jon Voight-eating anacondas. Didn't see any but definitely had a strong gut feeling. 
On the other side of the pit-o-death, was the strangest and yet nicest half-built, vacant hotel/resort. I figured that it was still under construction but there was no sign of workers or equipment anywhere. And, nearly everything was finished. All that remained were the innards of each building. It also wouldn't make much sense to not finish a resort in the offseason (which was now).
No windows. No doors. Just a vacant skeleton of a building.
It even had pool furniture.
Here's a glimpse into the home of nearly 1,200 Ice Cube-eating anacondas.
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