Hanoi to Seam Riep

Asia Trip Fall 2019 October 2

Latrice was restless during the night as was I. I kept thinking it was time to get up when it was only short time later. Finally up at 6:45

Breakfast of fruit, eggs, and juice

Local telling us about his time in Cambodia. Very friendly guy. He told us not to take a tuk tuk.

It was about 40 minutes across the Island to the speed boat. We crossed low lands, water villages, and mountain passes.

The speed boat dock was literally a steel rusty metal plate bridge. We stood on the deck, in the open while crossing. The bay is very shallow here so it’s an easy crossing.

There are several tall towers that will become support for a bridge to Cat Ba in a few years. It’s a very large island and is growing in importance.

On the boat one of the guys asked about a number tattooed on one of the crew. He said that the Viet Kong tattooed people with their birth year. There are few birth records and many people are tattooed with birth year, name, and sometimes when the die. It allows relatives to find them .

Two hours on the motorway and we were back in Hanoi. Socialist housing

Scooters pollution

Drop of at Cat Ba Express Office

Walk around area looking for food and crafts souvenirs

Look at dresses but Latrice was told that they don’t make things in her size, only Asian women’s size.

Looked for food but no luck. There was only local Vietnamese food…not to my liking.

At one shope Latrice found a Bicycle metal sculpture and a wooden geisha.

I spotted a made in Vietnam craft shop and headed that way. There were some interesting items and some that were just not creative. The girl left shop for Latrice change, gone for almost 15 minutes.

I bought socialist poster, ceramic vase in blue with fish, and fabric rabbit for Coral. Used almost all of my cash. What a score.

Just out of time, we returned to find our driver waiting for us - awesome

Ride to airport seeing a Crazy amount of pollution seemed worse than previously witnessed

Latrice received email that her bag was at the airport. We dropped to consolidate shopping into the new red bag while I had some chocolate and green tea ice cream

We checked in with Vietjet first and then went to lost and found in the bottom level. Once there we were told that the bag was on its way to our check in desk so we returned

Arguing with emirates agent about paying for Vietjet to transport her original bag to and from Siem Reap. The language barrier was great and the understanding of English was very poor

Vietjet agent was focused on weight overage not understanding our issue with emirates.

We ended up leaving the bag in Hanoi until we resting on the 5th. We ran back and forth from the first to third floors several times trying to settle this Latrice got $150 At the airport from an emirates agent.

After that and checking the painting back in, she was taken to a room where she was told there was a problem with her red bag. We thought it was the camera but it turned out to be other contraband.

That settled, we started the process of immigration and security. We arrived at our gate late but they were quite late boarding. Free for all boarding and we had paid for priority boarding. Whatever

Finally on board we had the whole front of the plane to ourselves

No snack or drink, I think they were told by the gate agent to ignore us. Whatever.

Entry into a Cambodia was very simple. We filled out a quick form and we had our e-visas ready to go. Picked up luggage and through customs.

The drive was ready for us. We had a tuk tuck to the BNB in town. This was a first for LaTrice. It’s quite an experience. There were lanes specifically for scooters and tuk tuks. It was about 20 minutes and was very, very busy for a Wednesday night.

We ended in a casual, relaxed area that looked like it was a bit of SOHO..nice. We were met by a friendly guy and had a quick check in. He showed us to the apartment and gave us the tour. It was high ceilings and quiet spacious. I would argue that it was the most comfortable and relaxing of our accomodations. We had a kitchen with small fridge, sink, kettle, and a single burner. It was just enough for us. The A/C had been off so it was quite warm and there was a large space to cool down. I removed the key card for the electrical so that the a/c could continue while we were out.

Nearby there was a full, large grocery. We stocked up on drinks, veggies, fruits, yoghurt, and cereal. Just the things I was missing.

LaTrice stoped at a Mexican restaurant on the way back for some take out while I returned and had a bowl of peas and carrots. Yum.

It remained hot even with the a/c. I was concerned that I’d need to sleep on the couch as the air was blowing there and not on my side of the bed.

We were tired and LaTrice went to sleep right away. It had been a day full of stress and drama. I was hopeful for some good rest tonight. Tomorrow morning would be an early one.