Phnom Penh

My first stop in Cambodia was the capital, Phnom Penh where I spent 1 day, 2 nights. I got the coach from Ho Chi Min city in Vietnam and crossed the land border into Cambodia. It was a rather long bus ride and an even longer wait at the border so I didn’t arrive at my hostel until midnight! That unfortunately meant I only had one day to explore Phnom Penh as I was getting the bus early the day after to Sihanoukville to then get the boat to Koh Rong island! A long 10 hour travel day...

A lot of people say not to spend much time in Phnom Penh but as I was literally only there for a day I can’t really comment on whether you’d need more time there or not. It was extremely hot and probably one of the busiest south east Asian city’s I’ve been to so far. I spent lots of time stuck in traffic! Thankfully our hostel had a pool so it was nice to cool down there. They also did the best smoothie bowls - my fave! 

Me and my friend got a tuk tuk driver for the day and went to visit the Killing fields and the S21 museum. It’s a huge part of Cambodia’s sad history and it’s something definitely which should be done while you’re in Phnom Penh. I didn’t know much about the history of Cambodia before visiting but it was extremely eye opening.

In the evening we went to an amazing homemade noodle restaurant called David’s restaurant. They made the noodles fresh right in front of us - it was so good! 

Sorry that this has been a bit of a short post. My next post will be all about my visit to Koh Rong and Koh Rong Sanloem island. 

Ho Chi Min City

My final stop in Vietnam was the capital, Ho Chi Min city (also known as HCMC or Saigon). Despite what I’d been told I actually really liked it and almost wish I’d planned to stay more than 2 nights there. Some people think it’s too chaotic and very polluted but I actually thought Hanoi in the North was far worse! I stayed in HCMC 1 night either side of a 2 day, 1 night homestay on the Mekong Delta.

I stayed in the backpacker area in District 1 so there was lots going on, especially at night. A visit to Ho Chi Min city wouldn’t be complete without going to the famous pub street! There was also some great restaurants with lots of food to try - I had some amazing Mexican tacos and margaritas!

I visited the famous pink church, the Opera House and also went to the Cu Chi Tunnels. It was an amazing experience to be able to see some of the original tunnels and to go through them. It was very hot down there!

The Mekong Delta was around a 3 hour drive from HCMC. I stayed with a local Vietnamese family in the village of Can Tho which is on the Mekong river. Across the 2 day trip we got to sample (and make!) lots of local foods. I did manage to avoid eating fried frog and snake though! We got taken on several boat rides along the river, Vietnamese hats were an obligatory accessory! We also visited the Vinh Trang Pagoda which had some incredible buildings and sculptures of Buddha’s. 

We got up early and went to the local floating market in Can Tho which was a fun experience. The little boats selling fruit and vegetables would attach themselves to bigger the boats, sell their products then move on! 

So that’s it for my time in Vietnam! 3 and a half weeks has absolutely flown by... Next stop Cambodia! My next post will be all about Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia.

Phu Quoc

From Nha Trang I took 2 flights (stoped over at Ho Chi Min city for 2 hours) to get to Phu Quoc. I’d been looking forward to Phu Quoc the most out of anywhere in Vietnam mainly because I’d heard the beaches were beautiful. Sadly I had been quite spoilt in the Philippines and it didn’t quite compare (Philippines is just amazing!!) but it was still a really nice island. I stayed on Phu Quoc for 3 nights and it was a really good break from all the madness of the city’s on mainland Vietnam. 

My hostel was right by the beach so it was a perfect location. During the day it got so so hot and there really wasn’t any shade or breeze on the beach so you’d have to run along the sand to the sea to try and avoid burning your feet! There was lots of palm trees with swings and cool beach bars with bean bags to hang out on.

Phu Quoc had a pretty good sunset so most evenings we’d watch sunset and enjoy happy hour from about midday!

One day we rented a scooter and went to visit starfish beach which is about a 40 minute drive on the other side of the island. The starfish were so pretty and there was so many! 

I also found my favourite restaurant in the whole of Vietnam!! It was called the Saigonese Eatery... I went there twice in 1 day (breakfast and dinner!) and then for breakfast again the day after. I had probably the best eggs benedict I’ve ever had... Really authentic I know! 

Another day we went to explore an area of the beach called the ‘golden sand bar’ it was a bit of a miss-sell as the sand on the beach wasn’t golden but there was some really cool architecture, beach huts and sculptures on the beach! 

I only have 3 more nights left in Vietnam! My final stop being the capital, Ho Chi Min City.