Vietnam

Vietnam was so much fun and it was great seeing mom and dad. I don't even know where to begin. Mom was crying while she stood outside the boat waiting to get on and don't worry she was wearing a witch hat for halloween. The first day was really intense because we toured ho chi minh city, which everyone calls Saigon. We went the Reunification Palace and the War museum. there is this insane market there as well, the Benton Market, and you can find anything imaginable there including every copied thing ever! We got 10 dollar "north face" hiking bags. Then we went to Cambodia and I love Cambodia. Our first stop was Phnom Penh and our day there was also very intense. We started with S21 prison. For those of you who don't know what that is, it was one of the prisons the Khmer Rouge used to torture prisoners before they were taken to the killing fields. This prison was like what the camps were in the holocaust. It was so erie going through them and I think what got me the most was this one photo there. The soldiers took before and after pictures of all their victims and as you walk through the prison you see them all and i saw this one photo of a man smiling. It was the only photo where someone was smiling and It just really got me. No one made it out of the prison alive, and even as he was facing so much, he still looked at peace. After that we tried to make it to the killing fields, but traffic in cambodia was nuts. Bicycles, cars, busses, and carts are everywhere and the streets are small and then on top of all that we ran into a protest so we turned around and went to the royal palace instead. The palace was so gorgeous i still can't believe it. The pictures don't seem real!! Then we made it to the killing fields and it was so sad. Shredded clothing and teeth are still visible and a monument full of uncovered skulls stands as a reminder of the atrocities that took place there.

From there we flew to Siem Riep where Angkor Wat is. Flying in is so beautiful because you look down and see all the green rice fields. Then driving through is also awesome, there are homes that stick up in the rice fields and the sun reflecting off the water is picturesque. We saw so many temples in Angkor wat, and I don't bore you with the details, but they were all awesome. Instead of The Pagoda ones in Vietnam and Phnom Penh, these were ancient temples made out of stone. The most amazing one by far was Angkor Wat which i got to see on three separate occasions. Others were Angkor Thom, Bayon, and more but i would have to look up their names. It was such a great trip and we all had so much fun being together, although we were so exhausted after it all. Our last day together we spent wandering around Saigon shopping and having great food. You really can't have a bad meal there because both vietnamese and french foods are everywhere. The best drink is vietnamese iced coffee--try it you will love it!