TravelBlog 3.1: The Beginning

The parents arrived on June 23, way late at night. Many gifts were brought, not the least of which was nearly two pounds of beef jerky. Ben got some birthday cards from home, and I got a batch of choco-PB no bake cookies! Mom and Dad were in a hotel just around the corner and Chris crashed on our couch. On their first day in town we hit up the tailor for some climate friendly clothes for the new arrivals. They did some backpack shopping to replace the tattered bags they brought over. Around lunchtime we wandered over to the Lotteria on Tran Hung Dao for some awesome traffic watching. The next dya we did the downtown circuit, the palace, the post office, the cathedral, and of course diamond plaza. Friday was wonderful.

On Friday we caught a city bus to Soui Tien, a newish amusement park on the edges of the city. After visiting many attractions and sweating so much we wondered if becoming human jerky was an option, we took some time out in the water park area. Ben had to sit that one out, as his toe was still wrapped up. And after three days in HCMC we didn’t get rained on. The parents were starting to think we had lied about all that rainy season stuff. But later that night we got rained on, something fierce, it was so bad we ordered in and made someone else brave the weather so we could eat delicious pizza.



Bus to Siem Reap, long and bumpy. Seam Reap, hot sunny, good, mom killed a big flying bug with her hat. Found a temple we had missed last time. Kids at lunch stayed an talked for a long time. Great Khmer dinner and a nice guesthouse. The beginning of the quest to find the best Mojito in Vietnam (and Siem Reap).
Phnom Penh, not so good. Sketchy town, sketchy area, not a minimart to be found, Good food though. We were turned away at the palace comlplex, and got rained on on the way to the National Museum, and waded through the flooding in time to buy tickets 30 minutes before the museum closed. Great museum by SE Asia standards.
“Chicken Burger” = hamburger grilled with chicken skin on one side.

Room: small, dark, smelled of smoke. Chris’s was much the same, not as smelly. Parent’s was much nicer, window, balcony, functional aircon, bigger. They were all reasonably clean though.

Next, we go to HCMC and refuel/do laundry before heading out to Mui Ne and other Vietnamese destinations.