(above image is from our previous hotel: Borei Angkor)
Now we have reached our final destination – Sokha Beach hotel in Sihanoukville. Here we will be spending 6 days just relaxing on the beach and eating fresh fruit. But I will be posting up more photos from the hotel and stuff later on (by the end of the trip).
For now, have some from our previous hotel:
You know Venice right? A city which lives on water. The photo above is not from Venice, far from it, it is from a small city (housing 10,000 people) on the Tonle Sap Lake in Cmabodia. People have lived on this lake for generations and will continue doing so, but one thing that separates this town from any other town is that during summer all you can see are poles, thousands and thousands of poles (and I do not mean people from Poland). Then, during rainy season, the water goes up 9 meters and floods everything in sight. Thats why these people had to build houses on such huge pikes as a foundation for their homes. Its an amazing sight, which you wont be able to see anywhere in the world.
After that we had a very nice spa massage and cocktails while looking at the sunset. This is the life.
Photos:
Yesterday, on the 3rd day we took a 1 hour flight from Ho Chi Minh city in Vietnam to Siem Reap in the neighboring country of Cambodia. Once we arrived in Siem Reap and got to our hotel, we were in for a little surprise. Apparently my dad’s agent booked us rooms in the so called Privilege Floor of the hotel Borei Angkor. What this means is that we get our own reception on the floor, free minibar refills, a bathtub in our bathroom, complimentary champagne in our bedroom and free access to the Damnak Lounge where we can have free cocktails while watching the sunset. Well basically we are living in a 5 ☆ hotel with like extra service. Even my dad was like: “I did not pay this much!” All the photos are on my flickr~
Today, we went on a tour of the Angkor temples. These buildings were built in the 12th century and are still mostly standing in tact! Seeing them left us speechless. We were constantly asking our tour guide: “How did they build them so well in those ancient times?!” There were a lot of tourists all over the place, which is understandable as this is THE most famous place in all of Cambodia. But even so there was enough space for all of us, that just goes to show how grand these temples are! Also it was scorching out there, around 35° C so we had to drink a lot of water and cover our heads. That didn’t help us from being drenched in sweat.
Photos here:
Today we had a boat tour of the Mekong river and various markets and factories on it. These included a candy factory, various rice plants and loading facilities, and other interesting places. Most of the day was just spent on the nice little boat, looking around at the houses and slums of the people living there and taking photos of pretty flowers.
It was a good tour and we got to see and experience the life of normal vietnamese people.
More photos on my:
The city of Saigon, or as it is currently known: Ho Chi Minh City is one of the largest cities in Vietnam and has a long history of occupation, war and freedom. Today we had our tour around the most famous parts of the city, such as the Independence Palace, Chinatown, and the War Remnants Museum (you can check my Foursquare for the exact locations of the places we visit).
From today till the 22nd of March, my family and me will be visiting the mysterious lands of Vietnam and Cambodia. We have decided to embark on this journey not only to experience the culture and traditions that these countries keep hidden, but also to relax and enjoy our long overdue vacation.
The trip schedule is as following:
I will be uploading photos and writing up our experiences from this holiday.
(above photo from Google)