Saigon

Well I am completely bummed out to say the least.  Yesterday I contracted what they call Delhi's Belly, even though we aren't in India anymore.  Drs. put me on Cipro and advised me to cancel my trip to Cambodia !!! the one place I really looked forward to after 50 years.  And then I was depressed that I could even say I was there 50 years ago.  Friends on board ship couldn't believe it and finally I said: Yes I'm 72, damn it.  To make matters worse, it is raining.  Thank God, we have the balcony and can see outside.  Rick will have to write about Cambodia.

We arrived in Vietnam early Saturday and traveled up the Mekong river to Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City. the trip we had contracted with left shortly after we docked. I joined 56 others for a one hour flight from Saigon to Phnom Penh. We split the group into two buses and set out for the  National museum.  I was busy taking pictures of apartment buildings where Joan may have lived in the 1960s, when our bus conked out. Great start to a lonesome trip!

New bus took us to the National Museum, a large area that included several buildings/temples and beautifully landscaped grounds.
Next stop was a"sunset cruise" on the Mekong river. Except it was only about 5:00 PM.  The Mekong is joined by 2 other rivers at this point making it a major method of transportation.
Back on bus to an orphanage visit before dinner.
Sad conditions for schooling and care.

Next day started at 6 AM with visit to the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda.

We then traveled to the Toul Sleng Museum. In the past the museum was a high school. In April 1975, Pol Pot transformed it into an office called S-21 which was the biggest prison  in Cambodia.Thousands of victims were  imprisoned and tortured.  We then traveled about 15 kilometers to the " killingfields".              Since 1981, more than a hundred mass graves  have been found. This is the place where they killed the victims of the S-21 prison. Each grave contains an average of 100 skulls, and the remains of clothing, of men,women, and children.  

We then visited the central market, shopped and flew to Siem Reap. Left at 5 AM for sunrise photos of Angkor Wat Temple.  No sun but hundreds of people with cameras. Angkor Wat is huge, surrounded by an enormous moat, and began in 1113. The kingdom of Angkor endured until the end of the 16th century.

We also visited Ta Prohm temple before lunch. Then on to the South gate of Angkor Thom, Bayon, Baphuon, Terraces of Leper King and the Elephant terraces.And so to our flight back to Saigon.

Hurray, Joan is much better and we go shopping, drinks at the top of the Rex Hotel ( a famous gathering place for officers and such during the war), and dinner at TTT Guon Nom, a Vietnamese barbeque restaurant.  We cooked our own boar, beef and prawns at the table. And now we leave for Hong Kong. Two days down the Mekong river and across the China Sea.

Sorry for all the open space, but I cannot get these pics to go where I want them. Rick