Yo! Its Alex and im gonna be doin the blog this week! Here it goes
Hoi An
3 days with my wife and fam in a super ritzy beach resort. Swimming, playing marco polo, hunting for jelly fish, being scared of jelly fish, riding motorcycles all over, walking the streets at night looking at cool old French architecture (they ruled this place for like 75 years).
Then, my fam left. So sad. They’re back in the States and on to their next adventure. Morgan and I continued on alone. First stop...
Saigon
3 nights in a 10 dollar guesthouse in a backpacker haven. Toured the Cu Chi tunnels (the elaborate network of tunnels the Viet Cong used against the US in the war). Boat tour thru the Mekong Delta (where a huge river that runs thru 3 countries empties into the ocean). Night hacky sack (vietnamese version) with the locals. Listened to the Killers song “Neon Tiger” that references the trails of old Saigon. Visited an extremely sad Viet Nam war museum- terrible. 6 hour train ride to...
Phnom Phen, Cambodia
AMAZING. The Cambodians are very cool. All smiles. We visited “The Killing Fields” and an old torture prison. Very terrible. Cambodia had a nutjob leader take over and destroy most of the country during the 70’s. Then another long bus ride to...
Siem Reap, Cambodia
More great people. One day seeing the ancient temples of Angkor. Very amazing huge old rock temples in the middle of the jungle. (Part of Tomb Raider was filmed here) Morgan spent one day sick in bed and I spent it talking about the meaning of life with a total stranger, swimming in a lake with a bunch of 8 year old local villagers, going back to their village and eating lunch, taking a “bath” and meeting their friends. That night Morg and i taught them all english for 2 hours under their grass hut, (there were about 65 of them, no running water, electricity, or real buildings)
Things I love and have learned.
Saigon is nuts. There are more motorbikes in that city than in the USA. America screwed up badly in the Viet Nam war. We should be ashamed it ever happened and we should do a better job at educating our youth about what happened. Cambodians are dirt poor, awesome, friendly and optimistic. Crazy military leaders SUCK. People are at their worst when they only do what their told without following their concience. Smiles connect people from around the world. Being outgoing and friendly are the 2 best things to be in Southeast Asia.
Love, Alex and Morgan.
so true. you nailed it. i just posted about part of our trip in cambodia, coincidentally. i liked reading this quick overview--that blows morg got sick.
ReplyDeleteWOW. You guys are experiencing amazing things. So freakin awesome. I say your super lucky - but you're not just lucky, you're smart. You guys are so cool for going for it, and creating and taking this opportunity for yourselves. You are inspirational to us all - my friend Sarah talks about you all the time!
ReplyDeleteEnough of that- sounds like everthing is super great. Be safe and keep having a blast - and keep updating this. I love it.
morgan. i hope you feel better! my recovery is going so well. i feel so much better than i did before.
ReplyDeletek, do you remember how i want more than anything else in the whole entire world to spend next summer in cambodia doing research?
ReplyDeletei officially hate you. but only for the next thirty seconds. then i'll go back to just being super jealous and loving you both enormously and wishing you well and waiting extremely impatiently for you to come back and shower me with pictures and stories and food.
ahhhh!