Author: Elize Tikmane
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Giving up on and discovering Hue
I do not really remember why we decided to go and discover Hue. Part of it is UNESCO World Heritage Site, but that was about all we knew. After Siem Reap temples old castles start to lose their significance, especially if you are trying to do it all in one go. But back on Hue,…
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The Romance of Hoi An
If you have read any blog or guide about Vietnam, you know that you have to go to Hoi An. Or you might regret it the whole life. I am exaggerating of course… Though, do not wonder long, as there “might be no tomorrow” for Hoi An. We left the Slavic Nha Trang by train.…
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Saigon after tet
Big was my surprise when we were asked to take off our shoes at the doors of the bus. What is this? It is not polite to have our shoes on in the bus anymore? We were given plastic bags to put our shoes in. Once we got in the bus, it started to become…
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Celebrating Tet in Vietnam
Once we met Binh the days got shorter and filled with many activities. We had not been so active for quite a while. Family visits, drinking with friends, excursions to floating market and fruit garden, beauty procedures, constant ‘change of plan’ (Binh’s favourite sentence) and celebrating the New Year (Tet in Vietnamese) on top of…
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Arrival in Vietnam
Our first city to visit in Vietnam was Can Tho. We would meet Stijn’s good friend Binh, whose family comes from Vietnam. We were to celebrate Lunar New Year together with him and his family. As Phnom Penh was very stressful, we decided to flee from there few days before Tet (the most important…
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The chaos of Phnom Penh
I guess entering any capital by bus on an afternoon is a disaster. Once again we suffered from Phnom Penh’s traffic. Arriving in the bus station 2 hours later than expected. We wanted to explore the capital of Cambodia before going to Vietnam. It had been a while since we shared our sleeping space with…
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Kep
Kep is very close to Kampot and technically can be done as a day trip from there or vice versa. I wanted to have some beach time, before we move to Vietnam. As Stijn did put his veto on Sihanouk ville, we decided to say few nights in Kep. Our chosen accommodation was Khmer Hands…
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Relax in Kampot
Getting to Kampot To get to the riverside paradise once again we had to suffer the local buses. First the manager of our guest house had forgot that we will be taking a night bus to Kampot. The bus company was supposed to pick us up. It was pretty much last minute that the manager…
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Battambang, the real Cambodia
“Go to Battambang and you will see the real Cambodia” (Karl Grobl) We wanted to escape the tourism obsessed Siem Reap. The descriptions of Battambang promised colonial architecture at river side. A calm town? Sounds like a perfect destination for us! Circus We took a minibus from Siem Reap and arrived in our guest house…
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Temple hunting in Siem Reap
Since we were a little bit in love with Bangkok, in the airport we both had the same question in our minds: “do we really have to go to Siem Reap now?”. At some point we were not ready for Cambodia. Maybe because we had not done our research (as always). The getting on-arrival visa…