Vietnam & Cambodia
I was not very familiar with Vietnam war that went on for just under 20 years and finally finished on the 30th April 1975. There were huge losses of life during this time. We paid a visit to the famous Cu Chi Tunnels about an hour out of the city. The tunnels were used by Viet Cong soldiers as hiding spots during combat, as well as serving as communication and supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon caches and living quarters for numerous North Vietnamese fighters. The tunnel systems were of great importance to the Viet Cong in their resistance to American forces.
Next on the itinerary was three nights on a Pandaw cruise boat along the Mekong river, disembarking in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. We travelled on a lovely traditional river boat, just right for this part of the journey. We left the vessel daily on sampans to visit local villages and see how the country and boat people live. We learnt how to make traditional summer and deep fried springs rolls on board.
On leaving the boat we spent a night in Phnom Penh. We visited the Cambodian Killing Fields, where over 2 millions people are buried in mass graves from torture and execution. These atrocities were carried out by the Communist Khmer Rouge, to anyone who was suspected of connections with former governments or foreign governments.
We then flew up to Siem Reap in Cambodia and spent a couple of nights there, a must visit if you want to see the famous Ankor Wat Temple, along with many other different temples. We enjoyed our time there, with a walk along the river and nightly visits to the famous "Pub Street" a very lively brightly lit area on the town with lots of bars and restaurant.
Next stop, back to Vietnam and Hanoi for two night stay, we arrived late on the first evening, so did not get much time to explore. Our hotel, La Siesta was in the "Old Quarter" highly recommended to be near everything. A bustling town again with lots of motorcycles. We were given a guided tour the next day of the city and saw the Mausoleum Ho Chi Minh's embalmed body is held.
The following day we were driven for about three and a half hours to Ha Long Bay, where we boarded our vessel for two nights.
Haong Bay, in northeast Vietnam, is known for its emerald waters and thousands of towering limestone islands topped by rainforests. Junk boat tours and sea kayak expeditions take visitors past islands named for their shapes, including Stone Dog and Teapot islets. The region is popular for scuba diving, rock climbing and hiking, particularly in mountainous Cát Bà National Park, where we did a 5km cycle ride to a local village, which was great fun. The only downside to this part of the trip was the sun was not shining for us. I don't think it brought to life the beauty of this UNESCO World Heritage site.
Our final stop on this very hectic schedule was Hoi An, on the east coast about an hour or so flying time. We stayed in the Alamanty hotel just outside the "Old Quarter" of the town. It was a great location for us to walk in an explore. On our first morning we did a half day cookery class. We met the chefs and they guided around the fish, meat, vegetable and spices market, advising us what to look for when purchasing quality! A 4km meander along the Thu Bon river to our cookery school. We watched the demonstrations by the chef and then undertook to make the recipes for ourselves, which was great fun. We then got to eat our own cooking, delicious. Hoi An is a great place to shop for made to measure clothing, I bought a lovely cotton dress.
If you want adventure and culture then I would highly recommend this trip.
