Siem Reap and Ho Chi Minh City

After Angkor Wat, we were wiped, so we went back to the hostel, showered, changed and napped awhile.  Bedhead:

When we awoke, it was nighttime and we were ready to experience Siem Reap at night.  Bring it on, Cambodia!

Here are some shots from the roof of our hostel (we were in the heart of Old Town-right next to the night market and Pub Street-a perfect location <patting myself on the back>):

Check out the tuk tuks in Cambodia:

Same same, but different.

First stop: Night Market!

This palm sugar looked interesting:

and these bowls were coconut shells, but painted really pretty inside:

Random knick-knacks:

Angkor Wat souvenirs:

Some sort of alcohol with a scorpion and a snake in it (way too intense for me):

Pretty art:

I swear, if we were going home after this I would've stocked up on all kinds of goodies (we literally say that about every place we go).

Angkor Wat shotglasses: check!

Niny, how dope are these??

They even had a massage parlor area in the back:

After we fulfilled our shopping fix, we went for food:

Check this out:

They do a lot of frog and crocodile dishes here:

We've tried both before (on a cruise to Mexico), but we were ready for some more.  Unfortunately, they had neither at the restaurant we went to.  What a crock!  Hehe get it?  Okay, sorry that was lame.  Instead I got noodles with chicken:

Aaron got ribs:

and we shared bak choy:

Yum!  GET IN MY BELLY!!! (Austin Powers anyone?)

Then it was time to party and where else would we go but Pub Street:

Whoa!  These guys look pretty wild:

Don't get them started.

We started at Temple Bar (perfect name, right?):

I don't quite get the whole bicycle wheel ceiling decor, but whatever puts your pedal to the metal, I guess.

Aaron played pool with these nice guys from France:

and whooped both their butts!  Back off ladies, that's my man!

They had a full crocodile menu here too:

Who ever would have thought you would need so many croc options?  

Next bar:

This one had a lantern theme.  You would have thought with this many lanterns it would be more bright.

We listened to live music:

and met up with the France guys from the last bar (Pub Street isn't that big):

Rooftop selfie:

Anybody want some street food?

Finally, we went to X Bar, which stays open later than the rest (5am, I think):

We met a nice couple (guy from England, chick from Cambodia) and played pool.  I ordered BBQ chicken pizza for the table:

Yea, there goes that fat kid voice making me do things I don't want to do!  Really good pizza though.

More guys showed up (Australians) and were all really cool.  We ended up staying until almost 5am.  Overall, not super crazy (like Patong), but fun night!

The next morning (by that I mean afternoon), we were famished and got chicken lok lak:

Traditionally it's made with beef (which I wish I knew at the time because I would have gotten beef!), but I opted for chicken because I didn't know!  Cool story, bro.  Anyway, lok lak is meat marinated in a bunch of stuff (sugar, tomato sauce, oyster sauce, soy sauce, garlic and probably etc.) and then you stir fry it.  Traditionally you wrap the meat in lettuce leaves, but we just got fried rice and it was bomb!  Amazing sauce, I wish I could've ordered more before we left.

After stuffing our faces, we decided it was only fair to feed those far less fortunate:

We've been wanting to do this forever!  In Greece and Thailand, the fish are much smaller, so we wanted to see what the bigger fish were all about:

OMG it was SO TICKLISH!

We started in the big fish tank and these guys just went for our feet like they were chum.  It was incredibly hard not to freak out because it feels like someone is brushing your feet gently with something rough.  It's hard to explain, but it's tingly all over and they're really aggressive about it.

I took a video because it was too funny!

After being in the big tank, we switched over to the smaller fish and that was much more bearable (although still torturous).  I swear if it was Gitmo, I would have cracked and told them everything.

My feet don't necessarily feel any different, but it was a way cool experience.

We hung around the rest of the evening, sorting our pictures from Angkor Wat and woke up at 7:30am to catch our flight to Ho Chi Minh City.  We caught a tuk tuk to the airport:

Look!  There's a separate section for cars and scooters:

Even though these tuk tuks are much more roomy than the ones in Thailand, they're much slower!  Good thing we weren't in a rush because this guy took forever!  

Finally made it to the airport and it's super small, but actually a nice airport:

I liked these lamp thingys:

We got visas for Vietnam while in Cambodia (it's very common for people visiting Cambodia to go to Vietnam, since it's so close).  We went to a travel agency and it took 24 hours (we had to leave our passports with him, which I didn't like) and cost $60/person for 30 days max stay!  Man, oh man Vietnam sure things highly of themselves!  Anyway, here's what our Vietnam visas look like:

Yes, I cut off the bottom because it has Aaron's passport number.  I also covered it with my finger.  Hey, you can't be too careful!

While we're at it, here's Cambodia:

Pretty cool, huh?

While waiting at the airport, we had some breakfast.  I ordered an English breakfast (I'm a huge fan of English breakfasts lately, except I prefer regular sausage to blood sausage, thank you very much) with eggs, hash brown, baked beans, tomatoes, sausage, bacon, bread and mushrooms (randomly):

Hit the spot!  Aaron had a giant club sandwich:

Mmmm mmm good!

After about an hour and 10 minutes, we were in Ho Chi Minh City (more commonly known as Saigon).  Goooooood Morning Vietnam!!!  Come on, you had to be expecting that one.

First things first, momma needs some money!  Vietnamese Dong (yes, you heard me):

Awesome!  We also got a taxi:

Let's go!

So sketchy:

Almost at our hostel!  We have to walk through this narrow alley:

There she is!

It's okay, nothing special.  We each have a futon with an outlet and a light and let me tell you the futon is UN-comfortable.  #Hostellife  I'm totally kidding, I don't get hashtags at all and I never will.

It would be so super dope if we had curtains for privacy!  Take notes, Galaxy Hotel!

We each have a locker and check out our weird keys:

I don't know if you can tell, but it's the shape of a star.  However, one side is slightly longer and it goes in the keyhole a certain way, which is annoying.  Good luck opening it in the dark!

At this point we're hot, sweaty and tired, but more than all that we're hungry.  We went exploring to find grub.  Here's our street (once you get through the alley):

Scooters everywhere!  I thought there were a lot in Thailand, but that's nothing compared to here.  It's madness.

After 2 whole minutes of walking (have I yet mentioned it's like I'm-roasting-in-an-oven hot?  Well, it is.) we finally found glorious food:

I can hear angels singing ("Aahhhhh!!").  It's like being in the desert for days and finally getting to fresh water and collapsing in front of it in tears because it just saved your life.  It's just really hot, so go with me on this, okay?

This fancy table setting is blocking the food from getting in my face!

I took lots of menu pictures because everything looked so good (and some stuff just looked weird):

Check out the 7-Up Aaron ordered:

Who's Fido?  Anyone?  Anyone?  Bueller?

After much deliberation, we decided to share this:

The river crap meat hotpot.  Yup, you heard me right.  So, they bring you a pot of boiling broth (think fondue) and you cook your meat and veg in the pot and take it out and eat it. 

 

Along with an assortment of river crap meat, we had noodles, tofu and greens.  Overall, not an impressive meal, although it was fun.  The broth was bland and the meat and veg weren't that tasty.  Basically the name said it all, and now at least I can say I've had river crap meat.

We went back to the hostel, showered, gave them our laundry and took naps.  We've definitely become nap people, which we never used to be.  Travel does that to you, it takes you out of your element and off your schedule.  I guess having no job does that to you too.

We went out and explored the city at night.  The street adjacent to ours has a lot going on:

We went into this bar/restaurant and got dinner on the rooftop:

We didn't eat anything super traditionally Vietnamese, but the food was fantastic.  Aaron got sweet and sour chicken:

and beef noodles:

I got caramelized pork with rice in a clay pot:

 OMG so good!

We decided to walk to a nearby night market.  Walking is the absolute best way to get to know a city.  Even though it's ungodly hot and there's lots of crazy traffic, walking is always how you find the best stuff.  Cabs just don't give you the full experience (trust me, I've done it both ways and walking is the way to go (if you can)).

This is the Bitexco Financial Tower, the tallest building in Saigon.  This is one side and on the other side it has a big helipad.  The building itself is supposed to represent the lotus flower.  Here are my pictures:

Here's the internet picture of the other side:

So, we only saw it from the back, but still cool.

This roundabout is in postcards, so I know it's something I'm just not sure what:

Aaron fulfilled his goal of going to McDonald's everywhere and this is what they had that was different:

We didn't try it because we were stuffed, but we might.  They also had a lot of matcha (green tea) flavored drinks at the McCafe.

Ben Thanh Night Market:

They had a whole block of just flower shops with really pretty arrangements:

Coffee:

These were made of rice:

Really neat!

These boxes were hand carved of stone and really heavy:

I swear if we were going straight home, we would have bought the night market out!  Not to mention (again) that things are quite cheap and I've become quite the haggler.  I can talk someone down from $20 to $3 without even breaking a sweat.  I never pay full price for anything anymore (at least not at an outdoor market).

Food:

Turtles:

OMG this made me so sad I wanted to pull an Elliott from E.T. and free them all!

Street food:

Cockroach:

I guess they celebrate Christmas in Vietnam:

Lastly, we went into a mini mart and saw these:

Aaron said he's seen the chocolate and peanut butter before, but blueberry??  Say what?

Then we laid like broccoli and fooled around on the internet til we fell asleep.  I'm pretty happy with Saigon: day 1.  Not too much going on, as it was a travel day, but I'm glad we got to at least explore our own neighborhood.  More Vietnam, coming at ya!