Hey everyone,
Well we are almost to china! But we need to fill you in on what we did in Cambodia and Vietnam. The first day, we left the ship and headed to the airport for our super quick, 45 min flight to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. We had severe turbulence on the flight but managed to land safely and very quickly. As soon as we arrived, we were taken to the Palm Tree Orphanage where we got to hang out with the coolest little kids for about 1 hr. They performed two dances for us, one by the girls the other by the boys. We were supposed to go to a museum after that but our bus we held up by the police for about 45 minutes because they were looking for bribes. We then proceeded to dinner at a very nice restaurant and ate delicious, traditional Cambodian food and were then taken to our hotel, which was right across the street from the US embassy.
Day 2: We woke up around 6am and headed out to the killing fields where the Khmer Rouge regime killed thousands of people. It was a very humbling experience. There was a mausoleum type structure, located in the center, that held 8,000 skulls of people that had been killed there. The rest of the grounds were slightly overgrown but signs were posted saying what happened and where. After that we headed to the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda which were beautiful and impressive. The Silver Pagoda had a floor that was made entirely out of silver, hence the name. Next we headed to the genocide museum that was in the same building where thousands of people were imprisoned and tortured by the Khmer Rouge. It was an old school building and the rooms had either pictures or objects from the days when the prison was in use. It was extremely sad and hard to see but we learned important things about Cambodia’s history that we hadn’t previously known. We then boarded a flight to Siem Reap, Angkor Wat. Upon arrival, we were taken to our hotel, which was awesome. It was gorgeous and we didn’t want to leave! At sunset, we drove to the Ankgor Wat temple and explored it until dark. The mosquitoes were horrendous, MALARIA! We had dinner at this huge buffet like restaurant that was packed full of all the tourists that were currently in Angkor Wat. We had a leisurely evening to ourselves in our gorgeous hotel room.
Day 3: We woke up at 4am to explore the Angkor Wat Temple at sunrise. It was beautiful and awe inspiring. After that we went back to the hotel for breakfast and then headed to the Ta Prohm Temple were Tomb Raider the movie was filmed. It was awesome and we had about 2 ½ hours to explore the ruins and take millions of pictures, some of which we put up on flickr. Then we drove to the east gate of Angkor Wat and explored that area for a while. We headed back to the hotel for lunch then went back out to the south gate of Angkor Thom, the Terrace of the Leper King and the Elephant Terraces. Upon entering the south gate we walked passed about 50 Buddha statues with good ones on one side and evil ones on the other. When we entered the temple, we climbed up into it and there were many pillars with the four faces of Buddha on them. EPIC! It was very, very hot and humid and by this point we were beat and drenched in more sweat than we both have experienced combined. We were also stuck with a very crabby old woman who made it a point to complain the whole time. After that we headed to the airport for our flight back to Ho Chi Minh city.
Vietnam Day 1: We let ourselves sleep in a little to recuperate from our great, fulfilling Cambodia trip. We immediately went and hit up the huge market. It was also very hot and sweaty there….we’d say probably 90 in the shade. The market was chaotic and stifling but fun to browse in because they had everything under the sun for very cheap. We spent a good amount of time there then headed back to the ship for a little R&R and to prepare for the night. We headed out with our friend Liz and Grace and rode motorcycles to the bar! They don’t really have taxis and the motorcycles only cost a dollar or less and they provide helmets for no extra charge. The nightlife was great and we had a lot of fun.
Vietnam Day 2: We woke up and headed into the city again to drop more dong…the Vietnamese currency. We got coffee, which was delicious and Rachael picked up the dress she had made. Before heading back to the ship, we stopped into a local restaurant and had pho, which is noodles in a broth with either veggies, beef, chicken or fish. It was one of the most delicious things we have ever tasted. We stuffed ourselves full of pho then headed back to the ship, on motorcycles no less. We had a whirlwind experience but loved every minute of it. This port has been both our favorite so far and we hope that all of you can make if here someday. We have taken thousands of pictures that we cannot wait to share with everyone. We highly recommend going to a local Vietnamese restaurant in your area and trying some pho! You won’t regret it…..we sure will when we get home and rehash the good ole days in nam!
PEACE AND LOVE
Rachael and Kiah

hey guys.....sorry the link to the 2nd flickr account is flickr.com/photos/raekiblog2

hey ya'll we have uploaded more pictures to flickr and we also created another account flickr.com/raekiblog2. check them out! we'll update the blog a little later and give details about cambodia and vietnam!

hey ya'll!we uploaded more pictures from mauritius and india!