3x the Laughter, 3x the Fun

Statement of fact:
Vacations are the greatest thing that has ever been invented.

I say that statement with the full realization that there are so many different ways of doing "vacation". Cambodia was an interesting mix. Going into the week I had this vision of us being those cool travellers, you know the ones I mean. The, we're adventurous and travelling through Cambodia on our break from Vietnam types. The, we are going to explore ancient temples in SE Asia types. The, we are cooler than normal foreigners because we live in Vietnam types. You know, those ones. But I forgot a few important factors. One being, 1,000 year old temples in the cool/dry season of a hot climate during a major holiday of the surrounding countries does not equal low-key calm tourist destination. Another being, just because we "know" Vietnamese and the culture here doesn't mean anything about what we know of Cambodia. The third being, we were all equally burnt out and in desperate need of a break, which sometimes does not mean running around doing one cool thing right after another. As soon as I realized these facts (which was pretty quickly), I adjusted and fully embraced the concept of simply being a tourist on vacation. Which lead to the first statement of fact--vacations rock!!

Calah, Hannah and I had an incredible time. We spent a lot of time on buses and only a couple of times reverted to what must have been our 13 year old selves due to lack of sleep and boredom. We spent two days exploring the temple's of Siem Reap. We were complete history nerds and read a book about the temple's out loud to each other as we went. We hung out with some MCC people in Phnom Penh. We made lots of new friends (albeit the travelling type of making new friends where it is really only for a day, with the exception of a girl who also lives in Hanoi and who we are hoping to hang out with again soon!). I hung out with a friend from high school (random, right?!). We experienced two extremely touristy sunsets, one with thousands of people on the top of an ancient temple and one with just good friends on a boat looking out at Phnom Penh. We ate a lot of delicious Western food (I know, you probably expected that to say Khmer food. But there is actually good western food in Cambodia as opposed to the Vietnamese versions of Western food and we just couldn't help ourselves! It was soooo good and totally worth it!). We lounged by the pool at our hotel. We went dancing, twice! We walked a lot. We were told by strangers that we laugh a lot and asked, "why are you so happy?" We simply loved our lives.

The last afternoon we spent hours at a cafe in Ho Chi Minh City between our morning bus ride and late night flight. As we sat and enjoyed our Vietnamese coffee we reminisced about the week and all of our favorite parts and what we were looking forward to about going back. We were all amazed that after a week of being together we still had things to talk about. While sometimes it is hard to return after the freedom of being away, spending that afternoon with Hannah and Calah made me realize something: the week was fun because I was with them. Cambodia is an amazing country and we saw amazing and historical things, but it was experiencing it with good friends that made it so enjoyable. Being able to laugh about it both during it and afterwards makes all the difference. The best part is, they are a part of my life here in Vietnam as well! So while life might not seem as glamorous here, it can be just as full of laughter :)

PS Soon there will be a facebook album with more details if you are interested. I'll keep you posted

PPS See here for Calah's excellent summary of the trip as well