seemehear

📖 Reading Tip – open in your device’s browser to see the photo galleries 📷 Just tap “Read on blog” at the top (they don’t work in email 😭).

We decided not to go to Myanmar, so we had some days to play with, and without much hesitation, Vietnam was swiftly added to our itinerary, as it was the best transfer option for getting to South Korea. But before that, we travelled to Siem Reap to visit the much-acclaimed Angkor Wat.

Cambodia 🇰🇭

Siem Reap has a brand-new airport, built and commercially owned by China, so landing and getting into the country was beyond efficient. Cambodia also has a very friendly visa process that you can complete on landing, paying the necessary fee in U.S. dollars (which continue to be widely used). You move along a countertop where one person checks your form, the next takes your payment, and then another person stamps your passport – it felt kind of musical. Buses to the city are waiting outside and are very easy to hop on/off.

Our hotel was beyond expectations; we learned from the very kind team working there that it was French-owned but had to close following the economic impact of the pandemic. Not wanting to be out of a job, the people that worked at the hotel managed to club together to take on the ownership and operate a co-op venture. With around 60 families being supported from employment at the hotel, it’s an amazing achievement, and the dedication they put into their roles at the hotel is obvious – they’ll make this business work well, as it’s their livelihood at stake. The hotel is suitably named People by the Community.

Angkor Wat

Our hotel was just down the road from Angkor Wat, with the city on the other side, so we were well positioned to get to either. Our Angkor Wat day started very early as we wanted to watch sunrise and try to beat some of the crowds. We paid for a Tuk-Tuk (an in-house hotel service) to drive us to the main Angkor temple for sunrise and then around the various other Angkor sites. A very reasonable price of about £20 for the day. 

Arriving at the main Angkor temple at just after 5am, it was pitch black, but there was a steady stream of visitors making their way in the same direction, so we just followed them, opting not to pick up a guide. 

We camped up at the lake just in front of the main temple and waited for sunrise with several hundred other excited tourists. We had to jostle for space, but it wasn’t too bad compared to some of the attractions we’d visited over the last few months. The sunrise view was beautiful, with deep shades of blue into orange, against the silhouette of the temple. We made the wise decision to move on before the sun was fully up to explore the temple complex, ahead of the crowds. 

You’re very much free to wander anywhere you want in Angkor Wat, which adds to the wonder. It’s a vast labyrinth of corridors and stairs, and the architecture is incredible. It’s hard to imagine how this place was essentially rediscovered and documented by the Western world in the late 19th century. It’s now one of the most visited wonders of the world. It’s not actually in the official wonders of the world list, but it was shortlisted as a contender in the early 2000s when they were deciding on the ‘modern wonders’ (in my royal opinion, I think it’s superior to some of the official list 😁).

Our Tuk-Tuk driver chauffeured us between the various temples and significant areas (including the now famous ‘Tomb Raider Temple’, Ta Prohm, that was used in the movie. We’d opted for the inner circle tour, which covered off a lot, but there’s still more you can see if you want to dig deeper. Every bit we visited was just as impressive, and the huge amount of tall trees adds to the wonder of it all. In parts, the roots and branches of the trees wind and grow in and out of the stone of the buildings, making nature and structure one. It’s hard to sum it up in words; definitely a place everyone should try and visit at some point in their lives. 

We only had a long weekend in Cambodia, so we tried to soak up as much of the city as we could. Siem Reap is loud during the evening, famed for having ‘pub street’, a network of streets with huge pubs/clubs pumping out music in various genres. It was LOUD – maybe we’re getting old 😅

You can’t come to Cambodia and not reflect on the atrocities that occurred less than 50 years ago. 1.5-2 million innocent Cambodian citizens (nearly 25% of the population at the time) were cruelly murdered in one of the worst genocides the modern world has seen. It’s a difficult piece of history to digest.

Standing today in Siem Reap, it’s hard to imagine it was a short time ago. The city is modern, with a decent infrastructure and many thriving businesses. The people have what seems to be a limitless amount of enthusiasm and optimism, and the country is rapidly developing. 

We only had a few days Cambodia, but I’d wholeheartedly recommend it if you’re visiting nearby Thailand or Vietnam, or even further afield in South East Asia. It’s very easy to travel there for a few days. 

Vietnam 🇻🇳

We’ve both visited Vietnam before and loved it, so we were glad we could find a spot to add it to the trip, even if it was only for a few days. We needed to fly from Cambodia to South Korea and Hanoi was the best transfer option.

We slightly naively booked a hotel smack-bang in the middle of the on-street drinking area of Hanoi, but it was pretty fun to see all the action and catch a few drinks there, while sitting on the miniature plastic outdoor furniture that is common across much of Vietnam.

We met up with our friend Harry on our first morning and got to sample some recommended food and coffee, which was a perfect welcoming back to Hanoi. Harry even brought us some local treats that kept us going over the next few days. Thank you Harry 🙏 

Banh Mi 🥖

Banh Mi is an important topic when visiting Vietnam. The French-influenced bread with a unique mix of pickled veg, pâté, and normally pork or duck, with a helping of coriander, is rightly celebrated. Luckily for me, there’s often a veggie version available, with egg or tofu and the same salad/veg mix. The quality does vary, with the lower end of the scale being a bit bland and bready, and the higher end being a sublime mix of flavours and texture, symbolising one of the tastes of Vietnam. As this wasn’t our first rodeo in Hanoi, we were keen to sample some of the best. What was surprising was that a couple of good places from my last trip (2017) had blown up even bigger, now grand commercial enterprises. Which did mean hype, bigger queues, and more diverse menus, which reduced some of the charm. We searched out some new spots though, that certainly delivered on taste. Big thanks, James, for sharing his bahn mi ratings guide from a trip a couple of years back. Number one tip – pick up a Banh Mi before you head to the airport or train station for the perfect mid travel meal. 

Coffee ☕️

Coffee is huge in Vietnam: The frequent experience is either the delicious whipped-up egg coffee; a condensed milk creation; or something that’s travelled through a weasel before entering your cup. But now you’ll also find a myriad of specialty coffee shops throughout Vietnam, serving up artisan drip, espresso, etc. We really enjoyed drinking the coffee from Cong, a Viet uniformed-themed chain that serves up a big range of coffees – we liked their coconut ice coffee; Trung Nguyen for their pour-over bags, which are perfect when travelling; and Egg Yolk for their carefully crafted egg coffee. ☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️

Train Street 🚂

We had no plan to visit the famous ‘train street’. We both assumed it would be a totally overrated tourist hotspot with minimal enjoyment. But Hanoi had other ideas for us when we just happened to end up standing at the end of it with a train apparently due to arrive within the hour. We thought, well, we might as well indulge and see what it’s all about. We got a seat in one of the many bars that line the side of the tightly packed train track and waited for the train to arrive. As we waited, it got busier and busier, and tensions started to fray between some of the eager tourists. One particular incident involved French and German women, with the latter being annoyed that the other one was arriving late for the train spectacle and expected to get a good viewing angle or even a seat! Good entertainment as we quietly watched on. After an hour, the train arrived, and it was an intense few moments as we watched the bar staff try and make sure that no frantic tourist stood too close and got hit by the train. All in all, it was quite fun watching the train go by less than a meter from our faces. I even managed to get a few pics to capture the moment. 

Things had been going a little too well…

At some point from being in Cambodia to my first day in Vietnam, I became ill. Whether it was the misjudged Italian-style pizza I opted for after landing late at night in Hanoi, or the salad I ate before getting on the plane, we’ll never know, but I was not in a good way. Intense shivering; all-night fever, hallucinating night terrors involving a range of characters from reality and beyond; getting a little too familiar with the toilet facilities – I had all the symptoms of some very bad food poisoning. After night one, I thought I was on the mend – even forcing beers and ice cream down to return to normality – but it continued for a good week or so. I won’t dwell on the memory of it, but it did limit my enthusiasm for being in Southeast Asia, just a little bit 😅🤢🫠

Illness aside, it was still fun to be in Vietnam again, and Cambodia had been great. South Korea was up next 🇰🇷🍻