This year I’m once more heading up into Asia. G Adventures are again my people, and not just because I get a 10% discount for booking with them again (although it is a little bit). I’m spending 26 days in South East Asia on the tour Cambodia and Vietnam on a Shoestring. I officially start my trip New Year’s Eve in Bangkok and then explore Cambodia and Vietnam. If you want the boring overview of my adventure I’d suggest clicking on the link for the official site. For a summary with my usual charm and bad jokes continue on.
28th -30th December – WE’RE OFF
I Fly from Adelaide at 2:30pm on the 28th arriving in Kuala Lumpur at 7:30. There I transfer onto another plane at 9:55 which takes me to Bangkok at 11 o’clock at night, where I accept the fact I’m doomed to never arrive at a destination at a reasonable time.
I can’t stay at the hotel where I meet my group until the 31st so I’ll be staying at Lub D in Siam Square, an awesome looking hostel. They offer the great service of Airport Transfers, which I’m taking full advantage of because we all remember how well I handled my last arrival in a foreign country.
I have two days before my tour begins. I’ve got a bike tour lined up the 29th at 8 in the morning but beside that I’m seeing what I feel like on the day.
31st – BANGKOK
On the 31st I zip line through a Thai jungle, an experience that will likely require a bit of screaming and perhaps a change of pants. Once that awesome and somewhat insane experience is done I head to the hotel where I meet up with my future best buds (aka the tour group) at 6pm and go through all the intros and paper work then celebrate the New Year in style. I don’t know how yet but I’m sure it will be totally mind blowing.
1st January – SIEM REAP
We wake up, eat and we are off to Cambodia, the bus ride with the hang over I’m expecting will be torture. A four hour bus ride will get us to the border where we deal with getting Cambodian Visas which, if chat rooms are to be believed, is a pain in the place below the back. G adventures has also warned us that it’ll take a while, “This process can take up to an hour or more so please pack your patience.” Which isn’t a good sign for the inpatient people, which I’m totally not….most of the time…some of the time….sometimes…..every now and then. We then cross the border by foot.
Once we’re done with that adventure we get onto another bus for three hours and head to Siem Reap. In the late afternoon I get to drive an ATV (All-Terrain Vehicle) on a tour around the countryside. Depending on the day of the week we will either enjoy a meal in a nearby village at the Planeterra-supported New Hope project or visit a local home in a nearby village for a traditional meal.
2nd – ANGKOR WAT
Siem Reap is also the location of the famous Angkor. Former capital of the Khmer Kingdom, and one of the wonders of the archaeological world. There can be found the faces of Bayon and the temple of Ta Prohm. Basically I’m going where they filmed Tomb Raider. You know where she finds the first part of the triangle. Yeah, I’m going there and I plan to ‘accidently’ dress like her for photography and nerdy-ness purposes.
3rd -4th – PHNOM PENH
On the 3rd we take the 6-7 hour bus ride to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. It’s a public bus so we are fare-warned to have earplugs if we are not a fan of loud Khmer pop music. After the usual orientation walk we are free to roam around. Sights like the National Museum and adjacent complex of the Silver Pagoda, Royal Palace, and the famous Russian Market are mine for the exploring.
We will also be visiting the Killing Fields Killing fields of Choeung Ek and the Tuol Sleng prison. For those who don’t know, a man by the name of Pol Pot took power over Cambodia in 1975 and the country then become a centre for unspeakable violence and mass-murder with millions of Pol Pot’s own people dying horrifically. As you may have noticed by the name a large amount of the murdering took part there.
5th -6th – SIHANOUKVILLE
4-5 hour bus ride away is the south coast of Cambodia and the beaches of Sihanoukville. The bus has Karaoke so I’m not entirely sure how that is going to end. Here we relax on the white sand, get a massage, or join a boat trip for a day of snorkelling and lunch on an uninhabited island. In the evening, we get to enjoy a barbeque on the beach before hitting one of the many fun bars to dance the night away. I’m one of the rare Australians that hate beaches so we’ll see how these two days go, who knows, maybe it’ll turn me.
7th – MEKONG DELTA
On the 7th we make our way to Vietnam. The bus ride is nine hours long, private this time, after about two hours in we break in a Cambodian town called Kampot, apparently it’s a very pretty riverside place. Then after another two hours we reach the Vietnamese border, where we cross by foot once again. Once all the paper work is taken care of we hop onto another private bus for four to five hours to take us to Chau Doc for the night, a basic village for a break from the bus.
8th -9th – HO CHI MINH CITY
The 8th is full of riding the bus to Ho Chi Minh City, seven to eight hours.
The following day is all ours to explore the city. There’s the Cu Chi Tunnels, a complex network of tunnels 90 minutes from the city where the locals lived during the American War or the Ben Thanh Market. Also very interesting is Cholon, Saigon’s Chinese quarter.
In the evening of the 9th we take an overnight train to Nha Trang. Unfortunately as this tour is a combination trip I might lose a few people and pick up a few to finish the tour.
10th -11th – NHA TRANG
We get to wake up to a brand new destination with plenty of time to explore the local shops and markets or we can take a boat to nearby islands for snorkelling. We even get to visit a mud bath. Not one hundred percent sure what the benefit is to getting drenched in mud but it sounds like fun so why not. We also get to try out parasailing and jet skiing.
On the evening on 11th we take another overnight train to Danang.
12th -13th – HOI AN
From Danang, it is only short minivan ride to Hoi An.
Here we have heaps of options, Museum of History and Culture, the Tan Ky house, the Japanese bridge, the Fujian Assembly Hall, My Son Cham (that is its actually name, I didn’t secretly have a son called Cham) Ruins and lunch at a riverside restaurant to sample some of the delicious restaurants for which Hoi An is famous. Here I will also be heading off on a motorbike tour (which I’ve promised to be extra careful) to visit the beautiful countryside surrounding Hoi An. Get to do a cooking class and a Tu Bon river boat trip as well.
Apparently Hoi an is known as a “shopping mecca”. Tailors can produce virtually any item of clothing overnight at extremely reasonable prices, and silk lanterns, lacquer ware and many other crafts. So I will lose basically all my money here.
14th -15th – HUE
On the 14th we head to Hue. Halfway through the four hour bus ride we stop at Hai Van Pass, which has great views of the surrounding countryside.
In Hue we get to explore the former Royal Citadel which was modelled on the Forbidden City in Beijing and travel by boat along the Perfume River, check out the seven tiered Tien Mu Pagoda and maybe even one of the tombs of the former rulers of Vietnam. We will also bike ride around the country side to take in the beautiful sights.
Late in the evening on the 15th we take a sleeper train to Hanoi.
16th – HALONG BAY
We arrive early in the morning in the capital of Vietnam, Hanoi. After a quick intro to our local guide we take a private bus for four hours to the famous Halong Bay. This place is pretty damn pretty or as G Adventures put it more poetically, “Thousands of islands rise dramatically from the waters of the Bay and, to further their beauty, intricate caves have been hollowed out through these limestone karst formations.”
We hop aboard as sailing junk where everyone but me will enjoy a seafood lunch (allergies, a constant pain in my life) and visit one of the islands and caves, we can also hire a kayak if we have time.
17th -18th – HANOI
After breakfast we head back to Hanoi, another four hour journey. Once we get there we get our walking tour of the city to get a hold on it then we are free do to whatever we feel like. We can visit the Tran Quoc Pagoda, the Temple of Literature (Van Mieu) or Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum and Museum. There is also Hoan Kiem Lake which is rumoured to have 100 year old turtles living in its murky waters. In the evening there is water puppets, which is much more impressive than the name suggests.
I also have the opportunity to try my hand at cave rappelling. Where I abseil from a summit, into a cave, then deeper into an ancient temple. Which I think will be my ‘tobogganing the great wall of China’ moment for this trip.
19th – 20th – HANOI
The 19th is the official end to the tour, at least for me but I have two days I’m completely free to do whatever I feel like which is something I have yet to figure out, but I’m sure it’ll come to me when I get there.
HOMEBOUND
I head back home on the 21st. I leave Hanoi airport at 1:10pm for Kuala Lumper at 5:40. Then it’s an overnight flight, leaving at 10:30pm and arriving back in Adelaide at 8:15 in the morning.
Hope you enjoy reading it at least half as much as I enjoy living and writing it for you.
The Anxious Traveler 