The lands of Pho & Khmer cuisine
Wanna hear my story of two beautiful countries: Viet Nam & Cambodia from a brand new POV? I will miss out every dirty, unuseful info as I am writing my travel guide after a year of the occasion. With this online tour you could really count in the best experiences that will stay with you forever and not letting toss out surplus money just because of TripAdvisor or other blogs recommendations.
3 weeks — 2 countries — 10 ppl — €1700 — 1 year later
PLANNING
Originally the idea was to visit the classy places in SE Asia so my friends picked Bali and Thailand. 10 friends from university gathered together — one question already pops up, right? How could they successfully put together 10 calendars? — I still have no clue how this big group of ppl could manage this trip but hell yes we did — and we are still repeating it. After everybody collected their own sneak peaks of the area we picked Vietnam and Cambodia. Do you know why? Actually, it happened with a casual decision making. Obviously we didn’t want to end up in a touristy area like Thailand as all of us is more than adventurous, young and bold so probably these countries just seemed like a perfect match to us, not to mention Lara Croft — everybody loves her, right? (laughing time)
End of summer, 2018— we have our final destinations & we agreed on the dates: 3 weeks in March — yaaay! Although we had the two most important parts of our tours we constantly postponed buying the flight tickets for half a year. We waited for Black Friday sale — wasn’t that charming then Xmas — still nothing then after even dropping the trip we finally made it! By using Gotogate we hit a nice deal to buy the return flight tickets from Budapest to Saigon — Turkish Airlines, approx. €500.
As it turned out I will have my farewell party from university some days earlier the original plans had just changed a little bit. Our group of ppl splitted into 2 groups — 8 ppl & 2 ppl. I was in the 2 ppl group which took up 2 girls (for solo travellers these countries are more than safe). We planned a quite nice trip where we had times together (10 ppl) and separately (2 girls) as well. We booked some day trips via getyourguide.com in advance and did some on the spot — no regrets for neither.
Before this adventure I have never flied to oversee. Frankly, I was quite stressed about the long flight but everything went smoothly — luckily no bad first impressions at all (only the lack of liquids I consumed and the terrible sleeping trials that I have to focus more on next time). I would like to take you through the 3 steps of my journey showing the exact preparation, the time I spent there and what happened after. Scroll down and discover all!
BEFORE
We have consulted with doctors about travel related vaccination and I personally got 3 vaccines 3 weeks earlier than my trip started:
Hepatitis + AThypus ABD + Dultavax
Coming home with the needed medicines I experienced tiredness but no fever, only shoulder pain for 2 days — easily survivable even for me who used to be quite a huge hipochonder. :)
Wanna know what else was on my todo/ packing list?
// Visas // Insurance // Linen clothing // Sport shoes // Anti-insect deet spray 40% // Medicines // PÁLINKA // Sun cream // Internet connection
Side note: VISAS — If you only going to Phu Quoc island in Vietnam you do not need a visa permission. MEDICINES — you could bring the basics but I truly recommend to use local ones if you are sick. SUN CREAM — Do not use the ones you normally do, seriously you will need a LOT stronger version to survive. INTERNET — funny but we didn’t set up the service as we were so happy to free ourselves from online world while exploring around, though here is quite a good opportunity, if you feel better with it.
DURING
Budapest — Saigon — Da Nang — Hanoi — Siem Reap — Phu Quoc — Budapest
Day #1 Leaving Budapest
My parents were crying like hell at the airport I had a feeling they just said goodbye to me forever. I got some nice souvenirs which will always remind me home — I laughed at it but actually I needed it later. Two girls went to explore Asia. #exciting
Day #2–3 Exploring Saigon & area
If someone asks me about my first impression I am not sure if I could pick one word or sentence to describe it. It was quite intense. Walking on the crowded like hell streets for a girl who felt so tiny even in London downtown was quite shocking. Of course I watched some videos about the craziness that I will face there — but the true experience was not even close to those pics & videos.
So feelings: SHOCKED
Shocked culturally, shocked what the f*ck is happening in the streets, shocked how luxury meets chaos, shocked how tasty is the food and shocked how much I love being at “Sziget festival” for 3 weeks.
What not to miss out:
Elios Hotel // Backpacker party street // Mekong Delta day trip // Cafe apartments // Ben Tanh market // Pho soup // Poke bowl // Saigon beer:)
What is overrated:
Day #4–6 Meeting with DaNang, middle Vietnam
We used VietJet to transport ourselves inside the country which is quite similar to WizzAir / Ryanair but I have to say I preferred the treatment — especially the end song after every flight. This is the city where I could imagine myself to live for a while as it’s totally fine for my European background. One important note if I didn’t mention yet do not forgot to BARGAIN LIKE HELL all the time in this country!!!!!!!!!
What not to miss out:
The Vietnam Hostel // Hoi An // Local bus experience (from Hoi An back to DaNang) // The marble mountain // Golden Bridge // Ba Na Hills // Danang Night market / Dragon bridge show // Pizza 4P
Day #7–11 Discovering Hanoi & area
To be honest this city for me was more than depressing. Dirty, dark, the vibes are wierdo but we finally reunited with the group so I was more than excited. Besides some illegal parties the city is not that fun rather its suburb area. We spent 2 days in Halong bay which was like a dream and booked it at our hostel. Climbed 500 stairs to reach Mua Caves, trekking in massive rainy weather in Sa Pa after a long terribly uncomfy sleeping bus experience but all of the mentioned ones above are so worthy - do not miss these out!
What not to miss out:
The Local Time Village // Train Street // Mua Caves // Halong bay // Ninh Binh // Sleeping bus // Biking // Sa Pa // Pho soup // Cooking spring rolls // Banh Mi // Illegal parties // Honda experience
Day # 12–14 Checking out Lara Croft in Siem Reap
Soon, we moved our base to Siem Reap, close to Angkor to explore the Cambodian area. People were not as nice as Vietnamese who were happy to help us no matter what. Although everybody got terrible food poisoning (which occurred when we followed TripAdvisors restaurants — never do that in these countries it’s better if you follow your gut feelings to pick a place to eat) we were touched by Angkor — massive, beautiful, has its own magical vibe. Personally I didn’t like the party area it felt like I’m back to Europe again, ppl got insane and some tourist guys tried to insult our group. Do not forgot to bargain here as well!! They will try to screw you over and most probably for you that amount of money is still not really valuable but come’n BARGAIN!!
What not to miss out:
Local Time Village Hostel // Tuktuk experience //Angkor tour // Angkor sunrise // Lotus farm // Silk farm // Floating village //Khmer food
Day #15–20 Time to rest in Phu Quoc
Going back to the true love country — Vietnam. We picked Phu Quoc island to finally rest after 2 busy weeks. We just needed sandy, kinda abandoned beaches, good food and time to focus on ourselves before coming back to our daily routine. I was more than thrilled because the island was magical. We rented out a scooter to explore the whole island which was quite funny especially I rode a scooter first time in my life with a passenger sitting on the back — haha. We survived, although we thought we won’t we did and enjoyed it soo much. But before the fun part I got terribly sick. Couldn’t leave the bed for 2 days vomiting having diarrhoea, I felt no energy in my body — I asked for help and our place owner or the manager took really good care of me. He was checking how am I doing every day took me to the pharmacy and deal with my food poisoning in his best way. I got better finally and he still didn’t stop to ask how am I feeling till we left. I thought if I will be this far from my home ppl won’t be this nice to me but it felt really good! (terrible assumptions about different countries and ppl, which mostly fake…)
What not to miss out:
Bauhinia Resort // Pepper farm // Scootering // Starfish beach // Sao beach // Scuba diving day trip // Pepper gin & tonic // Coconut coffee // Coconut juice // Tiger beer // Sunset
AFTER
Besides the depression we felt coming back from our wonderful trip everything I remember you just read about! :) Although I loved the food over there I was soo excited to eat Wiener schnitzel made by my mom again! The best memories were getting in contact with local ppl, stepping out my comfort zone, cutting out the Internet and realising my daily “problems” are really stupid. I have learnt that mostly I have stupid and meaningless things to worry about and I should give a blessing for what I have in life. Go out without your 4G and WIFI and see how good is this tiny world around us. I will definitely go back to these countries as they stole my heart — especially VietNam.
OVERALL
BARGAIN!! // $ is still the king // Local currencies: Vietnamese Dong & Cambodian Riel // Do not follow TripAdvisor restaurants // Contact with local ppl // Try every local cuisine&drink // Get rid of Internet // ENJOY
WHAT I HAVE LEARNT ABOUT MYSELF
I went on this vacay with a job at a multinational company and come back with deciding I am leaving the stable, set up career path and going back to marketing by being a freelancer. I realised I need to be myself always and follow what my heart wants — maybe it’s a little bit cliche but I truly believe in gut feeling and my heart! So go on a vacay or do other stuff which are out of your comfort zone to figure your true path in life. Never late to change — the worst case scenario is that you fall down once or twice but you could see nice stuff out there! :)
