Cambodia

I was in Anchor Wat in 2009, so I skipped it on this trip. I spent a few days in the Capitol, Phnom Penh, and then headed to the beach. Phnom Penh is pretty meh. The thing that made me crazy was that there was garbage piled up in the streets as if the garbage collectors were on strike. In some places, it was 3 meters high. Talk about a disease vector!

I stayed at Otres 2 beach in Sihounikville for a few nights. It is pretty chill, and the water is excellent for swimming. After riding a bike for 5 weeks, it was just what I needed to relax. I spent a day on a long-tail boat doing some snorkeling. I’d not recommend it. After the Philippines, the snorkeling in Vietnam and Cambodia was disappointing. The best thing about Otres 2 is that it is not overdeveloped yet, and there are almost no hawkers!  It was swim, read, sun, eat and repeat!

Then I took a boat to Koh Rong. From what I heard from others and read, this island is one of the last undeveloped islands in Cambodia. I booked a room for five nights. It was just OK for me. It’s a very social island. Most everyone is concentrated in one place. The only locals are those who work/live there. it’s basically a backpacker island with primarily western food. The issue with all the beaches I’ve seen in Cambodia and Vietnam is the trash on the beaches. Koh Rong is no exception. Most of Asia seems to treat the ocean as its own personal dump and much of it turns up on the beaches. This makes me ill, having grown up in beach culture, where no one would throw trash in the ocean. 

I spent a night in downtown Sihanoukville, so I could quickly jump on the bus to Phnom Pehn to catch my plane to Bangkok. It’s not a nice place, full of young people partying their ass’s off and super overdeveloped and commercial. Sorry Cambodia, but you did not make my list of places I would like to live.

Hue And On To The Beaches

Hue is the most beautiful city I have seen in Vietnam, it was the old imperial capital, and it still shows. It’s also a place for artists, and education is highly valued here. As I head south, the food gets better. One can only eat so much noodle soup!

I had a great lunch with a couple of local specialties and a beer for under $3 bucks.

In Hue, I went on my first guided tour in Vietnam and got on my first bus in this country. Considering that I had a small hangover from two happy hours from the night before, it was an outstanding choice, we visited some of the emperors’ tombs, a pagoda, and the Citadel. Our tour guide was outstanding, and the tour included a buffet lunch and a boat ride. It was a great way to spend the day and interesting to see the country from a nonmotorcycle perspective.

Hoi An is just south of Da Nang, it’s a sleepy little beach town with great food and an unending supply of touts. I spent a day at the beach and got a bit of a burn, so no beach for me today. I’ve spent most of the day so far catching up with my writing dear readers. The hostel I stayed at here has a pool! The heat was almost unbearable on my ride down, especially with all the safety gear I wore. Thank science for evaporative cooling.

It’s 500 km from Hoi An to Nha Trang, so I stopped in a nontouristy place for the night, Quy Nhon, there’s a guest house in a village just outside of town that I really wanted to stay at but they were booked up for several weeks. I stayed at a hotel with a welcoming and friendly staff. It’s one of the few places I’ve been that have no touts and where no one tried to rip me off or quote a tourist price. I went 36 hours without having any hassles with the price of anything.

I took the road that the Top Gear folks raved about during their motorcycle ride in Vietnam. It’s a nice road, but the claim that it is one of the best coastal roads in the world is not true. Apparently, these guys have not ridden on the east or west coast in the US.

Then I arrived in Nha Trang, it is over touristed, the beach is not that great, and it is full of Russians. From what I understand, from here south, it is Russian Central. I took a day to chill and took a day to go to an amusement park. You must take the world’s longest tramway to the park. The park was a bit of a letdown. I went for the water park, but if you have been to a half-decent water park in the US, it just doesn’t compare. However, the tram ride was quite good. On the upside, I had and good cheeseburger and some excellent Indian food!