Day 10 - Halong Bay, Vietnam to Siem Reap, Cambodia

Wow. Last night was big. We are all a little worse for wear this morning. Particularly as we have to be at breakfast for 7am and out by 7.30 to go and visit the Hang Sung Sot caves.

What a sight to wake up to though looking out of our cabin window. 

We get a little boat across to the caves. They are absolutely huge with some fantastic rock formations throughout. Very impressive. 

They consisted of three big chambers with little walk ways joining them. Bit more comfortable here than the cu chi tunnels. 

Cave (CAroline and daVE) in a cave. 

Our guide Dave revels in pointing out rock formations that look like things. He said this looked like a finger but me and non tour guide Dave quickly rename it penis rock. ;-)

This one looks like someone is sitting hanging their legs over the side. 

See the people to add perspective. 

Then back to the boat past a host of boats selling delicious looking fresh fish. 

Back at the boat we then had a couple of hours meandering through the rocks on the way back to shore. 

Panoramic view...

Farewells to Dave. Lovely chap. 

Then back onto the bus for a four hour journey to the airport along the very bumpy and slow road again. Great seeing the country side though. Feels like we have seen the real Vietnam in our 20 or so hours on mini bus journeys since we arrived. 

Farewell Vietnam. It's such a great country. Highly recommend it. Will definitely come back one day. Next stop Cambodia. 

Arrived after a nice flight. Dave not in a good way. Pretty ill but got moved to business class for more comfort which was really nice of Vietnam Airlines. Arrived and got picked up by the hotel whilst looking for a taxi. 

First reflections of Siem Reap is how modern it is, route from the airport is laden with nice hotels and generally a modern feel to the place. There are a ridiculous amount of bugs though. The sky is swarming. Reminded us of when we arrived in Delhi. Oh and it's damn hot and humid. 28 degrees at 8pm at night. Nat is not liking the moths that are the size of birds. Being very brave though!

Hotel pretty nice for the price. 

 

My two favourite things. Although Cambodian beer not as good as Vietnamese. The two brands here are Cambodian and Angkor. Not a patch on Hanoi, BGI and Saigon 333. 

That evening we head out into town for a bite to eat. We were told to head to a street called "pub street" which is not a nickname but the actual name. We get there and oh my god!!! If I could describe a place that I think would be more different for Siem Reap it would be this. It's like Magaluf on steroids. Bar after bar, pumping music and drunken Aussies.  Did not feel like we were in the middle of Cambodia. 

Managed to find a nice little restaurant called Le Tigre De Papier although looks pretty rubbish from this picture.

Looking forward to chill day tomorrow. We are all knackered.