Harvesting rice
Rubber tree
Supper outside in HCMC
Tyler in a Cu Chi tunnel
Friday, March 13, 2015
Day 6
Today we started our day in Siem Reap, Cambodia and are ending it
in Saigon, Vietnam! We boarded our plane for the lengthy 45 minute flight
to Saigon this morning at 10 am. Upon arrival we were greeted by a lovely
31 degrees Celsius. Once getting into the airport we needed to apply for
a re-entry visa which took a little time, however it went faster than we all
expected! Saigon has a population of 8 million people making it busier
than Northern Vietnam. We were all very pleased to arrive at another
amazing hotel, Harmony Hotel. The major highlight of this hotel is the
fact that the entire wall between the bathroom and the bedroom is made of
glass. None of us had ever experienced this before, so it was quite
entertaining. After arrival at the hotel we had a nice break before
embarking on our adventure to the Ben Thanh Market. In Vietnam the
streets are very busy, so crossing is tricky. Mopeds, cars, and buses
line the streets from building to building so when crossing you must move at a
slow enough pace so that they may maneuver around you. We encountered
this while following Thai to the market during rush hour traffic. The Ben
Thanh Market is the main market in the vicinity with over 10,000 visitors a
day. The goods sold here range from seafood to shoes. It gave us
yet another chance to try out our bartering skills. After the market
visit, we went to dinner at a local restaurant where we enjoyed yet another
Vietnamese feast. Then it was back to the hotel to prepare for our
journeys tomorrow.
Erin Christenson and Lea Puckett
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Day 5
The warmer weather we were looking forward to arrived today. The
temperature is above 90 degrees with high humidity. The weather did not stop
us today as we had the opportunity to visit Ankor Wat and Angkor Thom, Buddist
and Hindu temples that are the largest religious monuments in the world. These
ancient temples were built in the 10th and 11th century. Angkor Wat housed one
million people while Angkor Thom housed 20,000 people. It was difficult to wrap
our mind around the population of Brookings living in this area. It was amazing
to think of a bustling population 1000 years ago. The temples in Angkor
Thom are being restored because they were taken over by the jungle. The
temples in Angkor Wat were not taken over by the jungle because a population of
monks took care of it, but have undergone some restoration. The original
temple color is red and when the sun would set the stone would have a golden
look; in Thom some of the stone is still red. In both of the temples the
carvings were of the everyday life of the Khmer people; some of the other
carvings were of wars. The temples have four faces on the towers.
The stones of the carvings are made of sandstone.
The Cambodian people have never forgotten that the temples
existed, but it was the French who discovered the temples. The
French recorded the history of the temples. On the carvings the scripture
is written in a different language from the oral story telling tradition.
Justine loved all of it, "to best describe what we saw today, see attached
pictures." Rachel enjoyed the noises of the birds, monkeys, the
trees, heat, and the music of the local people.
We were privileged to visit a location where people from all
around the world visit. Tonight we are going to enjoy a traditional
Cambodian dance show.
Rachel Achen and Justine Meis
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Day 4
We started our day at 8:45 this morning
- we got to sleep in! Our first stop was at the United States Embassy in
Hanoi, Vietnam. We talked to Michael Ward (please forgive him, he's a Packers
fan from Wisconsin) and Mark Dries, who work for the USDA. We talked mostly
about imports and exports between the United States and Vietnam. They complete
very important work- build relationships, improve economic well-being of
Vietnam, United States, Cambodia, and Laos. They work to resolve many issues
for both countries. This year, 2015, marks the 20 year anniversary of
Renormalization of U.S and Vietnam after the war, which started in 1995.
After visiting the Embassy, we visited one of the local Markets in Hanoi. This
market had products such as pork, chicken, duck, dog, frogs, assorted fish,
with assorted "offals" (intestines, feet, head), rice, all fresh and
cooked on sight. Vietnamese people do not prefer frozen food, therefore they
attend the market once a day to purchase needed foods.
We walked the French Quarter and streets in Hanoi after dinner at the Five
Spice Restaurant. The streets of Hanoi are indescribable; they are constantly
full of people, motor bikes, and small scale shops (mom and pop shops). Each
street has a theme; one street is food, the next is paper goods, hardware,
steel, and so on.
Towards late afternoon, we packed up and headed towards the airport. We arrived
in Siem Reap, Cambodia at approximately 8:30 PM. Everyone is excited for the
adventures to come. Now, we relax at the Tara Angkor Hotel to set out for
another day tomorrow.
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