Cambodia to Malaysia

Today is Wednesday, March 11, 2026, my birthday.  This is not a big birthday but it is the start of the last year of my 50s.  When did I get this old?  Most days I don't feel that old.  Some days it feels like just yesterday I was dancing to Bizarre Love Triangle wearing my Units. If you are too young to know what this means, Google will tell you.  But some of you know EXACTLY what I am talking about.

But today I am so very lucky to be traveling the world with the person who has been by my side through every single up and every single down in the past nearly 33 years.

This trip we have celebrated Blaise's birthday, today mine, and then we will celebrate our 29th anniversary in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on Azamara Pursuit.  We hop on the cruise ship in two months on May 9.  This time has flown by on this trip.

It has been lovely to see all the amazing places we have been and not constantly thinking about or talking about politics.  Maybe some say we should be home dealing with all of this.  I don't know.  But life is short.  I can only make so much of a difference.  I have spent my whole life doing for others in one way or another.  Maybe I am selfish to want to do this and to actually do it, but I think if I can't be a bit selfish now, when can I?  Or maybe I never should be. Just thinking.

For those wondering, we are safe.  We are smart travelers, checking on a regular basis about where we are going and what we need to look out for.  When things went down in Iran, we did do some research to make sure the place we were and the places we were going were still safe.  We will keep doing so. We are not in so much of a travel bubble that we aren't keeping an eye on things.

Leaving Cambodia

We left Cambodia March 2.  I feel like we did not get the true Cambodia experience since we both spent that time recovering from colds.  We are still not 100% but we are getting close.  I still have a lingering cough.  Surprise, Surprise.  Blaise still has an ear that has not popped back.  This is causing him some balance and hearing issues.  I hope it pops soon; it's driving him nuts.

We found the people of Cambodia to be lovely people, kind and welcoming.  You can get used to the no tipping culture very quickly.  We still ended up tipping most of the time since things were crazy cheap there and I suspect the person serving our meal could make use of a bit extra - an "extra" that would not change our lives if we kept it but maybe improve their lives in some small way.

Arriving in Malaysia

Our flight to Kuala Lumpur (in Journalism school, we learned to write "Kuala Lumpur (KL)" to indicate in parentheses how the writer was going to refer to something for the rest of the story rather than write the whole thing every time.  I will say it the attorney way - "Kuala Lumpur, hereinafter KL.") was event-less, just like you want a flight to be.  We de-boarded the plane around 7 PM.  Customs was smooth and quick since we filled out the entry paperwork online two days before the flight. This was the smoothest entry into a country yet on this trip.  Malaysia gives U.S. citizens an automatic 90-day tourist visa upon entry.  It is not a physical visa; it is just 90 day you get to visit upon entry.  The online form is the customs form like you fill out from time to time when you are on a flight to a new country.  In Malaysia, that form is tied automatically to your passport so when you get off the plane and go through customs, you merely scan your passport and they take your picture.  You don't even see an actual customs person if you are a U.S. citizen and have nothing to declare.  Easy peasy.

Quick Country Entry Preparation Sidebar

I am glad I put all of our customs and entry requirements for each country in a spreadsheet so I don't have to start from scratch every time we are heading to a new country.  I  can just look at the spreadsheet and know exactly when to fill out whatever online forms we need to fill out.  For some that require a visa, you have to start a couple of weeks in advance.  For others, like Malaysia, it is just a quick form a couple of days before arrival.  For other places, like Japan, you don't have to do anything - just show up.  I put the link to each country's website in the spreadsheet so all I have to do is click it and go straight to whatever form I need to complete.  I also have a link to the US State Department website for each country so I can check for new safety concerns or entry requirements from the last time I checked.  It has been very handy.  In hindsight, I could have taken it one step further and put calendar entries in our calendar so we would have been notified when it was time to complete the paperwork/website forms.

Back to Malaysia Entry

We were through customs and had our luggage by about 7:30 PM and decided to take the train to the city center for a couple of reasons:  1) the express train was right there; and 2) the express train dumps you out 30 minutes later at KL Sentral train station, which is a short walk from where we are staying.

The cost was $8 each which we found out later was slightly more expensive than merely taking a Grab (Uber in Asia) right to the entry of our AirBnB.  This actually becomes important because we wandered around with luggage, in the dark, in an unknown area, for about 30 minutes.  How did this happen?  Because stupid Google maps took us to the wrong place.  It took us to a gas station.  We had to rectify this by going into the AirBnB app to get directions that way.  THAT took us exactly where we needed to go, which was only about 5 minutes from where we were.  But when you are in the dark, it all seems more confusing than it should be since you are in an unfamiliar place.

We really do like taking public transport when it makes sense, but perhaps this was not the time.

Our AirBnB

Our AirBnB is different from most AirBnBs we stay in.  We try to get a true authentic local experience whenever possible - so long as it has the majority of creature comforts we prefer.  While we are in a very central location, this place we are staying in is a 53-55 story building that is set up for extended stay travelers.

I say 53-55 stories because the numbering is funky.  Some floor numbers are missing and there are some that have an A behind the number. For example, there is no floor 44 but there is a 43 and a 43A.  I am wondering if some numbers are unlucky and that is why they skip them.

Since originally writing this, I looked more closely and in each set of 10, there is no 4 floor.  No 14th floor, no 24th, 34th, 44th, or 54th floors.  There are floors 3A, 13A, 23A, 33A, 44A, and 53A.

We are on floor 45.  I did not take pictures of the unit before we unpacked but the place is clean with a comfortable bed, hot shower, great air conditioning, and a kitchenette.  There is a toilet room and shower with frosted glass walls.  A bit odd but once you get used to it, it is no big deal. It is not the smallest place we have stayed in, but it is smaller than most of our other accommodations on this trip.  We also get a free weekly apartment cleaning. 

Night time view from our AirBnB

The smallness of the apartment is made up for by rooftop pool, a gym, a co-workspace, and a nice "garden" area on the 30th floor. 

View from the rooftop pool. Note the glass bottom strip at the bottom of the pool.  The co-workplace is directly below the pool.

If you look carefully, you can see the co-working area through the non-frosted glass.  If you look at the ceiling in the room, you can see that the pool is directly above this area with a strip of glass bottom so you can be in the workroom, look up, and see the pool above and the people doing whatever they are doing in the pool.

There is a wide variety of people staying here.  The people are from all over the world.  You hear all kinds of accents and languages on the elevators.  There are older couples like ourselves and some even older.  There are younger couples, families, younger backpackers, and people traveling solo of all ages.  This building was opened in 2024 and is a magnet for all kinds of people.

So far I like it.  The building (called Riveria City or The Riv - they are both on the signage) is a 5 minute walk to the monorail station, about an 8 minute walk to a mall and then maybe a 12 minute walk, including through the mall, to the KL Sentral train station where you can catch a train heading to various places within the city and to various places outside the city.  It is equivalent to their Grand Central Station or Rome's Termini station.

What is KL Like?

This is such a cosmopolitan city.  It is very clean with a sophisticated public transportation system, plenty of shopping, and food from around the world.

I had someone mention to me that when they had been to Malaysia, it was impoverished and dirty.  This is the cleanest place we have been to in months and we have seen very little poverty, not that either of those has stopped us from visiting many of the places we have been. KL is actually cleaner than many places in the D/FW metroplex. Just look at the highways as you are driving around. They might need to revive the "Don't Mess With Texas" campaign.

Public Transportation

The public transportation is rather comprehensive here with monorails, trains, and buses.  We have taken a train but usually take the monorail - it seems to go most places we want.  No buses yet.  Everything is very clean and inexpensive.  For example, we took the monorail last night to dinner.  It was 7 stops and cost us 5.40 ringgits (Malaysia currency) for both of us one way, that is approximately $1.37.

The monorail has several "don't do" signs on them - things like you can't eat or drink on the monorail, nor can you take pets on them.  But one of the unusual things is no kissing.

Westerners

We have noticed the make-up of the Western visitors here are different than others.  By Western, I mean mostly white people from North America or Europe. Always lots of young backpackers, here and everywhere. But in Thailand and Vietnam, we saw lots of older single white men. Some of these older men, were with much younger local-looking women but the majority were just older men all by themselves. Way more single older men than older retired couples.  Here, in Malaysia, the older western folks seemed to be coupled up more so, like they traveled here together from North America or Europe.  Here in KL we see very few single older men.  I am not saying anything about this other than this is what we have observed.  What can I say, we are observers of the world.

Stinky People

I hate to say this, but it bears noting that there are more stinky people here than any place else we have been on this trip. I am not sure why this is but we come across people in elevators, on the street, and in the mall, that stink of body odor. We have not encountered that elsewhere on this trip.

International KL

We are staying in the Brickfields area in KL, which is known as Little India.  KL has a large Indian population.  We have noticed this not only around Brickfields but also around other areas of KL we have visited.

There are so many people here from all over the world. It is actually pretty cool. It is a reminder that the way we live and how we do things is a small microcosm of the world.  From time to time, we run across something that is so much better than what we have or how we do things at home.

For example, here in KL it is HOT.  We are very close to the equator so it is hot and muggy.  In some of the places that have more pedestrians than others, they have covered walkways or elevated air conditioned walkways.  Can you imagine having something like that in Fort Worth, Texas?  That would be a game-changer.

They also do more of the stopping of the escalators if no one is on them.  If the escalator has stopped, you just hop on and it starts moving again.  Why don't we do this more in the US?

KL, the Las Vegas of Asia?

I ask this question not because there is a bunch of gambling here or it seems "sin cityish." You know how on the strip everything seems like it is just right there - an easy walk but it's not? It is actually very far away. That's the way it is here.  You see a building or other site and think "Oh, it's right here."  Guess what?  It is not.

Yesterday, we got up early and walked to the Botanical Garden.  Beautiful place by the way.  When we got back to the AirBnB and were looking out the window, one of the buildings we walked by looks so very close but it is really a 30-minute walk away.  We noticed this last night as well.  We went to eat at a place 7 monorail stops from us, looked up and saw the Petronas towers.  They looked like they were right there but we knew from visiting them earlier in the week, there was no way that was a short walk.  Maybe it's because everything here is so big.

Beautiful street art on the way to dinner the other night

What Have we Visited While in KL

While we have spent some time doing some personal maintenance things:  haircuts, root touch-up, manicure, pedicure, etc., we have visited some varied sites:  the Petronas towers, the park behind the Petronas towers, an Aquarium, and the Botanic Garden.

Petronas Towers

The Petronas towers are really aesthetically beautiful and interesting up close and from a distance.  We have not been up them yet but we did go see them.  You have to schedule your date/time to go up the towers.  I will be doing this but Blaise will not - he has a fear of heights.

Us at the Petronas towers

Aquarium

We decided the aquarium was a bust.  It was a fun little trip with a fun tunnel through an aquarium with sharks and large fish swimming all around and other aquariums with cool fishes and rather randomly, they also had some meerkats.  But the entrance fee was $20 and we were done seeing everything in 30 minutes.  It was one of the smallest aquariums I've been to.

What was handy, which we didn't figure out until we got to the aquarium (which oddly, was in the convention center) was that there was an elevated air-conditioned walkway from just outside the monorail stop all the way to the aquarium/convention center.

One of the aquariums at the aquarium

Botanic Garden

As comprehensive as the trains and buses are here, there was no easy way to get to the Botanic Garden from our AirBnB:  Multiple bus or train transfers and then you still had to walk 25-30 minutes to the garden.  So we got up early Sunday and walked all the way there.  It was 45 minutes, about the same time or less than if we had taken public transportation.  I suppose we could have taken a Grab but we both wanted to walk and get our exercise in.  We got up early to avoid the heat, which is very difficult to do here.

The Botanic Garden was more like a beautiful no-charge park.  There were runners, people doing Bollywood dancing for exercise, people doing Tai Chi, and a group of women there for International Women's Day doing a "Sari Walk."  There was a rather large contingent of Indian women there dressed in beautiful saris. As we passed a few of them who were picking up hand fans that were provided to them (I think those saris are really hot because there is so much cloth), one lovely woman wished me a Happy Women's Day.

Botanic Garden

Botanic Garden

Blind People

We have been here a week and we have seen more blind people here than we have the entire time prior to KL during this trip.

I've been thinking maybe for some reason, Malaysian people are more prone to some disease that causes blindness than others.  Blaise and I talked about how unusual this has been.  Around a dozen in a week and zero the whole 5 months prior to now.

As we were walking to the Botanic Garden the other day, not far from the KL Sentral train station and mall, we walked right past the Malaysia Association for the Blind. NOW it makes sense.  But I had to laugh because I was going to Google why there are so many blind people in KL.  I don't have to do that anymore.

Eating in KL

While I do like to try new things, contrary to what Blaise believes of me, I have grown weary of Southeast Asian food.  Some of it I like and some of it I don't but having it every single day for months on end is getting old.

There is a great deal of Indian food here since there is such a large Indian population here so it is a shame that it is not my favorite cuisine. We did find a place in the mall near our AirBnB that has pretty good Indian food.  Of course my favorite is the bread items - the naan, etc.

It is hard to find western breakfast here.  In this part of the world, they really don't have the kinds of breakfast items we have in the U.S. They have soup and rice dishes for breakfast and that doesn't appeal to me in the morning.

What do I miss from home?  Breakfast sausage and bacon as we eat it in the U.S.  You order bacon in this part of the world and it might be bacon and it might be more like ham. And it most likely will not be crispy. I miss iced tea, sandwiches and Mexican food.  We have had some places with pretty good burgers and pizza so I don't miss them.  There are other things I miss but those are the heavy hitters.

We were very lucky to find a Vietnamese coffee place in the departure area of KL Sentral, the train station.  We were really missing Vietnamese coffee which may have ruined all other coffee for us.  So each morning, the last three mornings (since we found it), Blaise has ordered his sua da (iced coffee with condensed milk), I have ordered my iced salt coffee, and we sit and watch the trains arrive and depart. 

Religion in KL (and Malaysia)

Also different here, is the number of women wearing hijabs.  Depending on where you get your numbers, Malaysia is 60-65% Muslim. So far it seems to be a very accepting and tolerant society.  No one looks at me oddly because I am not covered up.  But you do have stores in the mall selling hijabs and other clothing for Muslim women.  I guess it never crossed my mind where you might buy a hijab or other clothing to cover you in that manner.  But there has to be a store, right?

We did have an unusual experience in a restaurant in the food court in the mall.  I had not decided what I wanted to eat when Blaise made his choice.  He told the woman behind the counter what he wanted but she called a guy from the back to come out and help him.  He took Blaise's order and that was that.  However, when I decided what I wanted, it was from the same place and the guy was the only one out there.  When I gave him my order, he called the woman from the back to take my order. Originally we thought it was a language issue - the woman didn't speak English well so she called the man to take Blaise's order.  But when the man called the woman out there to take my order, she spoke perfect English.  We are wondering, because she was wearing a hijab, thus Muslim, maybe she couldn't talk to Blaise because he was a man and the man could not talk to me because I am a woman?  I don't know.  

Many of the restaurants here will say on the door if they are Halal or not.

I thought I would feel more out of place in a primarily Muslim country than I do. I do not for the most part.  However, the other day, after I got my nails done, I had to go to the bathroom.  I was in the mall and went to where the sign says there was a bathroom.  I went down the hall to where I thought the bathroom was but all these men were sitting around and looked at me very oddly.  A guy that worked at the mall asked if I was looking for the bathroom.  When I said "yes" he told me that that was the hallway to the mosque.  Oops!  He directed me elsewhere and I was on my way but I did feel a bit uncomfortable.  I know we are in the middle of Ramadan and I did not want to intrude on their worship or prayer time.

I did notice the sign to the bathroom also had an unusual hat on it.  I am not sure what I thought that hat was for. Directing you to the knitting room? Or a hat-making class?  But looking at it the next day, I did notice the top of the hat had crescent moon and a star on it. Perhaps that should have been my first clue.  In my defense, there really were signs indicating a bathroom was down the hall.

These two signs were right next to each other.

We also get prayers over the loudspeakers here several times a day as we did in Cambodia since it is Ramadan.  It makes more sense here since over 50% of the population is Muslim.

Please know I mean no offense with any of this. I am just learning and observing and respect everyone's inalienable right to worship their God.

Here, Islam is the state religion, but they do have and allow freedom of religion.  According to the 2020 census, here is the breakdown of Malaysia by religion:

• 63.5% Muslim;
• 18.7% Buddhist;
• 9.1% Christian;
• 6.1% Hindu; and
• the rest practice religions like Sikhism, Taoism, and traditional Chinese religions.

The National Mosque of Malaysia

A Catholic Church near our AirBnB

Religious Make-Up of Countries Visited

How does this stack up to other countries we have visited or will visit on this trip?  You can skip this part if you don't care.  I find the religious make-up of a country fascinating.

Japan

• 48.6% Shintoism (traditional shrine-based)
• 46.2% Buddhist (focus on funeral rites and afterlife)
• 1.5% Christian
• 6% Other/New religions

Many Japanese identify with both of the top two and participate in both Shinto rituals and Buddhist ceremonies.

Thailand

• 92.5% Theravada Buddhist
• 5.4% Muslim
• 1.2% Christianity
• 0.9% Other (including Hindu, Confucianism, Taosim, and animism) or none

The government formally recognizes five religions:

• Buddhism;
• Islam;
• Christianity;
• Hinduism; and
• Sikhism.

Vietnam

• 76% Non-religious/Folk Religion, including ancestral worship and atheism
• 13% Buddhism
• 6% Catholicism
• 1% or less Protestantism
• 1% Cao Dai (not sure what that is - I still have to Google it)
• 1.4% Hoa Hao Buddhism
• there are also small communities of Islam, Hinduism, and Baha'i

South Korea (We will be there in about 6 weeks)

• 51-60% No religion
• 31-33% Christian (20% Protestant, 11% Catholic - approximately)
• 16-17% Buddhist
• 1-2% Other religions like Won Buddhism, Confucianism, Cheondoism, Daesoon, Jinrihoe, and Islam)

Weather

It is HOT and muggy here.  Highs in the mid 90s with humidity in the 80s and above.  This will be the last hot place we will visit for the rest of this trip.  It will be spring when we are in Japan and South Korea and so the temperatures will be much lower.  I just don't do well in all this heat.

Nail Tech from Myanmar

This doesn't fit in any of the other categories.  I think the person who did my manicure and pedicure last week was the first person I have met from Myanmar.  I have always heard that Myanmar is a very dangerous place to visit due to their repressive government.  She seemed to be OK with talking about her home country so I did ask some of my burning questions.

The nail tech is 18 years old and moved to KL at age 16 with her older sister where they lived with their cousin.  She has 2 brothers and two sisters.  Her other sister lives somewhere in the United States but she didn't know exactly where.  One of her brothers lives in India and her other brother and his wife live with her parents. She is the youngest of the five siblings.

I got the impression that her parents sent them away from Myanmar for their safety.  She told me in Myanmar as a female she could not go to school or work.  And someone had bombed their local school anyway so no one could go to school.

When she arrived in KL, she did not know how to speak English.  Two years later, she was able to carry on a conversation with me with minimal struggles. I think it is amazing how well she speaks English when 2 years ago she could not get a job because she could not speak English.

She was very clear that Myanmar is currently NOT safe to visit.  She said it is not even safe for her to visit at this time.  She and her sister are trying to talk her parents into moving to Malaysia but they will not because they have an established home with a garden where they grow their own food.

She said Myanmar is a beautiful place and hopes it will be safe enough one day for her to return and for me to visit.  She misses home but will not go back even to visit due to safety concerns.

Myanmar is about 98% Buddhist but there is a province, Chin, that is about 85% Christian and that is where she is from.

I asked her if they prefer to call Myanmar Burma or Myanmar.  She said Myanmar because it is the new name after British rule.

She did say she loves it in Malaysia though.  When I asked her what she loves most about Malaysia she said "freedom."

Hotels We Will Never Stay In

During this trip, we have compiled a mental list of hotels we would never stay in based purely on their names:

• Lucky Hotel
• Cozy Hotel
• Easy Hotel

Next Steps

We leave here on March 30 for Osaka where we will spend three weeks.  Our flight to Osaka and our Osaka accommodation are booked and paid for.  We get there just in time for peak cherry blossoms, according to forecasts.  This is the part of the trip I have been looking forward to the most!

We travel to Seoul, South Korea on April 24 and stay there until May 8 when we will fly to Tokyo to catch our Azamara Cruise to Whittier, Alaska which leaves May 9.  We have our accommodations booked for Seoul but have not yet purchased our flight from Osaka to Seoul or from Seoul to Tokyo.

Things get a bit fuzzy once we hit Alaska.  We have not quite made up our mind exactly how long we will stay in Alaska or where.  We will likely head immediately from Whittier to Anchorage and make that our home base for Alaska.  I am looking forward to Alaska - I have never been.

We have toyed with the idea of leaving Alaska after spending time there and heading to Lake Louise, a place I have wanted to visit for many years.  Then we would head to North Dakota to visit friends and then back to Texas.  We have not quite made up our mind about Lake Louise.  We may save that for another trip.  We don't know yet. 

From Vietnam to Cambodia

Today is Thursday February 28, 2026.  We are in Siem Reap, Cambodia and have been here since February 16.

Leaving Vietnam was easy.  There were no flight delays, the check-in process was smooth as was the flight, and customs at the airport in Siem Reap was quick as well.

In addition to completing an online visa application for Cambodia, within three days of our arrival, we had to go online and complete an entry/declarations form.  At the completion of the online declarations, we were given a QR Code.  So when we went through customs, we showed them t paper copies of our visas (yes, in this digital age, we were required to have a paper copy of the visa they e-mailed us), they stamped our passport, and we were through.

Cambodia is my 54th country and Blaise's 55th.  He traveled to India a couple of times when working for Verizon and I have never been there. Yet. While there were also places he traveled in the air force that I had not been, since we have been married, we have visited those places together.

Since I last wrote, we have visited several places that warrant mentioning before I have some final thoughts on Vietnam and initial thoughts on Cambodia.

Vietnam - Halong and Lan Ha Bays

We started this 8-month-long trip with a rough itinerary that did not include Hanoi.  Blaise saw some videos and read about Halong Bay while we were on this trip and showed them to me.  As a result, we cut out a month in Thailand and went to Hanoi for a month specifically so we could do a 3-day/2 night cruise of Halong Bay.

After a bit more research, we discovered Halong Bay was more polluted and more crowded with boats than nearby Lan Ha Bay but with the same topography so we ended up taking a cruise that started in Halong Bay but spent it's time in Lan Ha Bay.

Lan Ha Bay

It was beautiful! There were still lots of boats and trash in the ocean that should not have been there, but it was still lovely.

Me on the Lan Ha Bay cruise with some of the other boats in the background

Unfortunately, during this time, I was not feeling well (fighting a cold - again) so on the middle day of the cruise, we opted to stay on the boat rather than take the provided excursion that included some kayaking, biking, and a trip to a village.  While we missed those activities,  I am glad we stayed on the boat.  First so I could recover a bit but also because the boat was still cruising through the bay and the views were amazing.  The day was so very quiet and peaceful.

There are dozens of cruise lines that do this type of cruise, but we chose Doria Cruises.  It was sold as a 5-star cruise, but I think it was more 4-star.  Absolutely nothing wrong with the cruise, the boat, the food, or the staff - every bit of it was great - just not 5-stars.

The first day we were on the boat, Blaise saw a guy with a Houston Astros cap and asked the guy if he was from Houston.  The guy said no, he was from the D/FW area.  Come to find out, the couple was from Grapevine.  What are the odds to be halfway around the world and run into someone who lives in the town next to yours?  They are a lovely couple, we enjoyed talking to them throughout the cruise, and we are still in touch.

I do have to mention the dinners.  The food was delicious but it was a 7-course dinner.  Neither one of us can eat that much food.  Some of the portions were smaller but by the time we got to course 5 or 6, we didn't know how we were going to finish the rest of it.  The first night, we skipped the dessert.  The second night, we just ate less of each course so we could see it through to the end.

Vietnam - Ninh Binh

Using the same local tour office from where we booked our Lan Ha Bay cruise, we booked a day trip to Ninh Binh.  I posted pictures of this on Facebook along with some commentary, so I won't say too much about it.

Ninh Binh is not any place we planned to go for the majority of the time we were in Hanoi, but someone on a Facebook group mentioned it.  Then we saw some pictures and booked it for 2 days after we returned from Lan Ha Bay and two days before we left Hanoi.

It was truly one of the most beautiful places I have ever been and the tour was one of the best we have had with one of the best tour guides we have ever had.  On this trip, we visited a temple, we took a boat ride, had a bike ride, and walked up 437 steps to the top of a mountain to see the view and another temple.  OK, Blaise walked up all 437 steps but my slow ass only made it 3/4 of the way up because I ran out of time.

The view from our rowboat ride.  Those are rice fields on the left.

Blaise was sore for a whole week after that trip.

The picture Blaise took after walking up 437 steps.  Love the mountain goat!

Hanoi, Vietnam - Temple of Literature

One of the last places we visited before we left Hanoi, was the Temple of Literature.  This was founded in 1070 by an emperor and is an historic Confucian temple.  It is also the site of Vietnam's first national university, founded in 1076.  The grounds were beautiful.  It is always amazing to visit sites that have been around for more than a thousand years!

Grounds of the Temple of Literature

Inside the Temple of Literature

One thing we did not do is visit the inside of Ho Chi Min's mausoleum. We saw the outside and had thought we would see the inside before we left but you have to have your shoulders and knees covered and when we thought to go, we were not dressed appropriately or it was after 11:30 AM, which is when it closed.  It was also closed on Mondays and Fridays.  Really the only reason we wanted to go inside and see him was morbid curiosity since he was preserved in some manner and on display.

Last Thoughts of Vietnam

We have been to many countries but none of them have changed our thoughts about the country and the people as much as our visit to Vietnam.  I went into the trip to Vietnam with thoughts of my father and how his time in Vietnam affected him and our family.  I am not saying I blamed the whole country of Vietnam but Vietnam has always been associated with negative things for me. It is not anymore.  We hope to return some day.

Natural Beauty

I think we just barely tapped the beauty of the Vietnamese countryside. Every time we left a city for the countryside, we were in awe.  We already have a list of places we want to visit should we be lucky enough to return (just not in the heat of the summer).

The People

Add to our change in view of the natural beauty of Vietnam, I have to mention the people.  What amazing and welcoming people.  I am not saying that the people in the other countries we have visited were not kind and helpful, but I cannot tell you how many people thanked us for visiting their country.  While we have not been shunned or experienced rude locals in other areas (except that woman in Japan who yelled at me in the market for touching a cantaloupe), in Vietnam, the people truly seemed to want us there.

For example, in Hanoi one day, we were sitting on a park bench by the lake in the Old Quarter.  An older man who was walking around the lake for exercise (not unlike us), walked by, stopped and asked us where we were from.  We said the USA (we learned if you said "the United States," or "the US" most people didn't understand that.  You had to say USA.)  When we said that, he lit up, sat down and started talking to us in broken English and through Google Translate.  We talked to him for about 20 minutes.  He told us his two, now adult, children had taught him "broken English" (his words) and started showing us all the pictures of him and his wife when they visited the US.  They had been to several places on the west coast, Florida, and "Chica Go."  It took us a few moments to figure out he was saying Chicago because he said it like 2 words - "chica" like you would say in Spanish and the word "go." He was so excited we were there and told us of all the places we needed to visit.  It was such a neat interaction.

The Negatives

While we love Vietnam, I was very careful about saying anything negative about Vietnam while there.  They are a communist country and while they DO have freedom of religion, there is no freedom of speech.

In many places, the propaganda is real and obvious.

In Hanoi, in particular, Ho Chi Min pictures are everywhere.  He is revered it seems, particularly in the northern parts of Vietnam.  I don't think that is the case in the southern parts.  I have to say, he looks like Colonel Sanders.  I felt like I should have ordered some chicken from him.

When visiting the museum at the Hanoi Hilton, the propaganda was obvious.  The USA was the evil aggressor and Ho Chi Min was just trying to free his people.  But you do have to understand he played a pivotal role in freeing Vietnam from French rule.  It was difficult at times to figure out what was true and what was not. Other times, it was obvious.

There were also lots of hammer and sickle flags interspersed with their national flag to remind you they were communist.  This one bothered me a bit.

We were also careful to use a VPN on our phones and laptop since there is a lot of surveillance there.  From time to time, we would get a message that our WiFi might be monitored.

But these things did not affect our day-to-day living and our interaction with the Vietnamese people.  These things were not enough to say I did not feel comfortable there and I would not return.

I'll say one last negative thing and be done with it - they do not handle trash in Vietnam like we do.  It gets piled up on curbs either just in bags or bins that are way too small for the amount of trash generated.  We found Da Nang to be dirtier than Hanoi but a friend I was talking to who is in this same area of the world said she found Hanoi to be dirtier than Da Nang.  If you look at some of our roads and highways in the D/FW area, is it really dirtier than in Vietnam?  In some places, no.

Someone just burning stuff on the street in Hanoi

Our bathroom in our Hanoi AirBnB. Note the lack of shower door or curtain. This is very common in this part of the world and very annoying.  You have to clean up water everywhere in the bathroom near the shower.

Warning sign on the cigarettes in Hanoi

Cambodia

The sole reason for coming to Cambodia for us is to see Angkor Wat. It is a place I have wanted to see for a very long time - as a adult.  Blaise saw a picture in a text book at 10-years-old and knew he wanted to see it even then. So for us, it is like visiting the Sistine Chapel or the Louvre.

Health Struggles

We were here for over a week before we made it to Angkor Wat. Blaise and I have been struggling on and off with colds. It has felt like we are trading it back and forth.  While we hoped to see more than just Angkor Wat in Cambodia, it may be all we see.  We have really spent this time trying to get well. In hindsight, we probably should have waited a few more days to see Angkor Wat, but we really didn't want to wait until the last minute.

Today is Thursday and we went to Angkor Wat on Tuesday.  When we went, it wasn't the best experience for Blaise since he has been struggling with his ears and balance.  He couldn't hear well at all because his ear was plugged up.  Like when you get off an airplane and your ears won't pop.

Yesterday, he finally went to the doctor.  There is a clinic about 2 blocks from our hotel.  The ear that he is having the problem with had to have a bunch of wax removed but the good news is he does not have an ear infection.  The bad news is his ear has not popped, even now.

The doctor's visit cost $4.50.  That is it.  We just paid out-of-pocket.  Before you wonder, yes we have health insurance.  But when the out-of-pocket price is only $4.50, it is not worth the hassle of dealing with the insurance.

We decided to continue to take it easy while we are here.  Neither of us are 100%.  We are both still coughing and I get tired easily. Neither one of has ever been sick as often as we have on this trip.  And no, other than the flu I got in Bangkok and the food poisoning I got in Da Nang, we aren't miserable in-bed sick.  It is cold-like symptoms for which we are getting drugs from the pharmacies for but we can never get completely well.  I don't know about Cambodia, but in Vietnam the pharmacists and can write prescriptions like doctors.

I wonder if we are being exposed to different and new germs our bodies don't have immunity against.  Who knows.

The good news is that anything we see above and beyond Angkor Wat is a bonus.  Having been here 10 days, there are new things I want to see but if we don't, then that will have to be fine.

Angkor Wat

We booked a sunrise small group (15 or fewer people) tour with GetYourGuide.  We have had really good luck with GetYourGuide so we went with it.

It is interesting - here and in Vietnam, we didn't have to go to a specific meeting point for our tours.  They pick us up right in front of our accommodations.

We were picked up in front of our hotel right at 4:30 AM.  Starting this early was worth it: 1) to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat; and 2) to avoid the heat of the day. 

While the sunrise was not as spectacular as you see in pictures, it was certainly a beautiful site to see and a great experience.  There were hundreds there to watch the sunrise.

We visited 4 Wats that day (Wat means temple):  Angkor Wat, the temple from the movie Tomb Raider (the 2008 movie with Angelina Jolie), a temple in disrepair that has not been restored, and the second largest temple in the area.  There are over 1,000 temples in the Siem Reap area.

Angkor Wat

However bad it is, here is us inside Angkor Wat in front of one of the baths. There were four baths representing the four elements: air, earth, water, fire.  I don't remember which one this is.

Sunrise

A building inside Angkor Wat

A ceiling inside one of the buildings in Angkor Wat

The outside wall of Angkor Wat

The head of this Buddha was cut off by Pol Pot during the Khmer Rouge era (1975-1979).  Many heads in many temples are missing at the hand of Pol Pot since he did not want anyone practicing any religion. Unfortunately, this is not nearly the worst thing he did.

Ta Prohm Temple (Tomb Raider Temple)

The tree seeds would drop on the moss on the temple and the trees grew from the moss - not on the ground next to the temple but ON the temple itself

This temple was built for a king's mother.  The holes in the walls used to hold gems (diamonds, rubies, sapphires) and gold.  Through the years they were stolen.

Ta Nei Temple

One of the more than a thousand temples in the Siem Reap region.  This one has not been restored in any way.

Bayon Temple

Second largest temple in the region.  If you look closely, you can tell it is in the process of being restored.

There is a great mixture of Hindu and Buddhism in these temples.  The people in this area started out Hindu but over time and as the result of kings converting from Hindu to Buddhist, the Hindu temples were converted to Buddhist temples.

Our tour guide, who preferred to be called Mr. T, was a great wealth of information, not only about the temples we visited, but also about Cambodian customs, Cambodian history, and information about the Hindu and Buddhist religions.

Things We Learned from Our Angkor Wat Guide

We learned from Mr. T that Buddhism is not really a religion - it is a philosophy and a way of life.  Also that there is no such thing as prayer and offerings in Buddhism.  While Cambodia is 90% Buddhist, you will see alters at nearly every establishment with offerings and we did actually see someone praying at one once.  Apparently this is a holdover from Hindu times in Cambodia.  It is not a Buddhist thing.  We saw these same things - alters and offerings - everywhere in Thailand so I wonder if that is a holdover from when they were Hindu also.

Other things we learned from Mr. T:

1.    The prayer bow that we saw in Thailand (called the Wai in Thailand) is integral to the traditional Khmer greeting in Cambodia.  (Khmer is an ancient kingdom of Southeast Asia and is the ethnic origin of the people of Cambodia.)  It is called the Sampeah here. There are 5 levels to the Sampeah:

    a.    Chest level is for peers, friends, and people of the same age;

    b.    Mouth level is for older people, bosses, and those of a higher social status;

    c.    Nose level is for parents, grandparents, and teachers;

    d.    Eyebrow level is for kings and monks; and

    e.    Forehead level is used to pray to God, the Buddha, or someone or something sacred.

2.    The people in southern Vietnam are Khmer and not Vietnamese.  According to Mr. T, Cambodia aligned themselves with Ho Chi Min because he promised to return southern Vietnam to Cambodia but he died before that happened.

3.    The Cambodians are thankful for the French because they freed them from Thailand. 

4.    Before they restored Angkor Wat, it was surrounded by land mines.

5.    There are still land mines in Cambodia, particularly by borders and they have trained rats to find the land mines.  This I had heard before.

6.    The tourists in the Siem Reap area have dropped from about 8,000 a day to approximately 3,000 a day due to the ongoing conflict at the Thai border, even though, that conflict is far from here and a cease fire has been in place since late December.  Think about how the lack of tourists are affecting the income of the people here.

7.    Siem Reap means Thai Defeated since they defeated Thailand (at some point).

I am sure he told us more things but they are just not coming to mind at the moment.

Life in Cambodia

Weather

First and foremost, Cambodia is HOT.  It is much hotter here than Hanoi.  Mid 90s for the high here with 70+% humidity.  Hanoi's highs while we were there were in the mid 70s for the most part.  A day or two we had a high of 78 and every 5-6 days, the high temps would drop into the 60s.  If you go outside midday here, you will sweat. And quickly.

Money

The money situation here is weird.  Cambodia's currency is the riel (pronounced ree al, like the name Al for Albert).  There are 4,000 riels for one dollar. There are no coins but there are 100 and 500 riel bills. That means a 100 riel bill is worth 2.5 cents and the 500 bill is only worth 13 cents.  

You cannot get Cambodian riels outside of Cambodia and you cannot exchange their riels for any other currency once you leave Cambodia.  Why?  I googled it for me and for you.  Cambodia's currency is a "closed currency" with no demand or liquidity in international foreign exchange markets.

The dominant currency here?  The US Dollar.  Our tour guide, Mr. T, said it is the US Dollar because after the Khmer Rouge regime fell in 1979, the US came in and helped them establish a new government.  I am not sure how true that is.

That means wherever you go, you will see prices primarily in US Dollars.  You can pay with dollars or riels.  If you pay with dollars and get change, you will get change in riels or a mix of riels and dollars.  It gets very confusing.  Most places have calculators.  Bigger places, like grocery stores will give you what you owe in dollars and riels and tell you what your change is in both.  It is very confusing.  Since we have been here 10 days, it is not as bad as it was for the first few days.  Coming to the realization that the 1000 riel bill is a quarter and the 100 bill is worth next to nothing was a huge help to me.

Cleanliness

They keep the tourist areas very clean but once you get beyond there, it gets dirtier.

Prostitution

Prostitution is not legal here but it is quietly tolerated, particularly in the tourist areas, and as a result, human trafficking is a huge problem.  We have seen a great deal of it and Blaise even had a girl smile at him last night whose smile disappeared rather quickly when she saw me.  I say girl because she looked extremely young.  The whole thing is deeply disturbing to me since I know these girls are likely being trafficked and exploited.

Our Hotel

Our hotel is quite nice.  Four star I would say.

The only real problem is the loud speaker at the mosque behind the hotel.  It is Ramadan so the chanting happens over the loud speaker several times every day. NO! I am not complaining about the religion or that it is Ramadan. Everyone should have the freedom to worship. I believe that as strongly as I believe in the freedom of speech. I just don't understand the loud speaker in a country that is less than 1% Muslim.  The good news is they are usually done by about 8 PM.  And we are not waking up at 5 AM every morning when the chanting starts.  We must be getting used to it a bit.

AND this is WAY better than the karaoke we have experienced at other places.  This part of the world REALLY REALLY loves karaoke.  As loud as you can make it.  It happens everywhere including outside in primarily residential areas.

The People

The people here are kind and helpful, similar to the Vietnamese.

Final Thoughts

We leave Monday for Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia, another hot location.  I think I got spoiled by the cooler weather at our last few stops.  We will be in KL for a month and then head again to cooler weather to see the cherry blossoms in Japan.  Although all of it is not yet booked, we plan on staying there a week and then we head to South Korea until a day before or a few days before our cruise leaves out of Tokyo.

 

Life in Hanoi

It is a dreary, rainy, and slightly chilled Sunday in Hanoi.  We went out for breakfast and coffee earlier, but decided to stay in while the rain falls.  We thought about walking around in our rain ponchos but the traffic here is so crazy, it seemed a bit too much to deal with.

Our time in Hanoi is coming to a close - we leave for Cambodia in 8 days.

Overview of Hanoi

In our first few days in Hanoi, we were skeptical whether or not we were going to like it here.  You have to really hunt for a quiet place here.  The traffic is crazy.  Crossing the street is crazy.  Lots of horn honking. If you want to take a leisurely walk, you are going to have to walk through 10-15 minutes of crazy to get to a place where you can relax and not worry about bumping into people or being run over by a motorcycle.  We have found it is quite common here for motorcycles to get tired of the traffic on the street and simply drive on the sidewalk.  Unlike other places we have been, you can actually find wide sidewalks where there are no motorcycles parked or businesses spilling out on to the walkway.  The dodging things can get tiresome.

But most of that stuff we have gotten used to and actually like it here despite the poor air quality we have had the past week.

Tuesday, we are getting out of the hustle and bustle and taking a 2 night cruise in Lan Ha Bay.  You may or may not remember that originally we were not going to come to Hanoi but we saw a place called Halong Bay that looked beautiful so we decided we wanted to see it.  As a result, we modified our itinerary and made a month in Hanoi happen - mostly to do that cruise.

Then we started researching and found that Halong Bay is overcrowded with tourist boats and the water is not so clear (it’s a bit polluted - shocking).  We learned that you can get the same views with fewer tourists and more beautiful water in Lan Ha Bay.  As a result, that is where we are going.

It is about a 3-hour drive from here. We leave Tuesday morning and will get back Thursday afternoon.  We decided to splurge and selected the 5-star option for our cruise.  We shall see if it really is 5-star.

We booked this through one of the many local tourist shops in town.  We did some online research and started to get very overwhelmed with the options and trying to figure out exactly what company to go with.  That is why we stopped in the one of the local places.  The lady was very helpful giving us all the information and cost for each option and let us choose what we wanted without an annoying attempt to up-sell us.  It ended up being cheaper than what we found online for a 5-star experience.

We were so happy with our experience with her, we went back and booked a day-trip to Ninh Binh which is supposed to be a beautiful location in the mountains.

One last thing to note about Vietnam in general - they erect and open businesses and buildings at a speed I did not think possible. Our thought on this after much discussion is they don't have the licensing and inspections we have.

This building near our AirBnB was a complete wreck of a construction zone when we got here three weeks ago and two days ago, it was this and fully open for business.  We went there yesterday - it was lovely.  If someone had told me it would be done and open before we left, I would have called you a liar!

Cost in Hanoi

While Hanoi is certainly more expensive than Da Nang, Vietnam, it is in no way "expensive." We spend about $8 - $10 for 2 coffees and one breakfast in the morning (Blaise doesn't eat breakfast, unless it is part of mine that I did not finish). We can get yummy coffee drinks anywhere for a total of $4 for the both of us. Dinner for both of us without drinks is usually $10-$12 and add another $4-$7 per mixed drink or wine.

We spent about $870 on our AirBnB in the heart of Hanoi's Old Quarter (prime tourist area) and that includes weekly apartment cleaning and laundry service.

How We Spend Our Days On The Road

Since we are here for a month, we don’t have to rush around and see everything.  There are some days we identify something we want to see that morning and go.  Other days, we wander around and see what we can find.  And other days, we go to the lake in the Old Quarter, walk a few laps around, and watch the locals take their Tet pictures in traditional clothing.

A street we walk down nearly every day.  The people along this street sell produce and a variety of meat.  The woman in the green, walked from right next to our AirBnB to deliver a tray of food to someone working on this street.

Some of the meat sold on the same street.  If you zoom into the meat on the table at the top of the picture, you will see chicken with black feet sticking straight up.

Same street. That guy sits there every single day making whatever paste that is.  Some people simply pull up on their motorbike and pick up food on this street, never getting off the bike.

Yesterday, we wandered around and found the monument for where John McCain was shot down.  The monument was originally erected in 1967 but rehabbed several times since then.  That is one of those places we would have never set out to go see because you really aren’t going to find it as a tourist destination on any list.  And there really isn’t much to see, but it is interesting. Those are the things you are going to find when you are just walking around.  If we had an itinerary every day, we would have never seen it.

Monument of where John McCain was shot down

Information in English about the McCain monument

Same for the opera house we found the day before.  We went walking by the lake and decided to go down a street we had never been down and there it was - the beautiful opera house with a lovely cafe’ we stopped at for coffee.

Hanoi Opera House

Cafe' at the Opera House

Because we stay in one place for so long, we like to get a lay of the land, do some research and then book tours once we are at the location.  I don’t think we have booked any excursion prior to arrival at a location since we have been gone.

We are still walking a ton.  On low days (1-3 times a month), we are only walking about 3 miles.  The most we have walked in one day is 9 1/2 miles.  My pedometer app says we average 5.6 miles a day.

Neither one of us are sure how much weight we have lost at this point since the pharmacies here often have scales but when you ask about them they are "broken."  We have a pharmacy near our AirBnB with a scale.  Blaise would go there and weigh but one day, the scale was partially hidden behind something and yesterday they told us, it is broken.  We don't believe that to be true but the bottom line is they REALLY don't want randos walking in weighing themselves.  I believe I have lost over 30 pounds and Blaise has lost over 20, maybe 25.  I am eating what I want but we are walking so much and I am eating less in general so I guess that is why the weight is coming off.

Coffee

Vietnam has set a new bar for coffee culture!  Their coffee game is even stronger than Italy.  When we started looking into it, we discovered Vietnam is the second largest exporter of coffee in the world, behind Brazil.  I would have never guessed they were 1 and 2 in coffee exports.

I am not a huge coffee drinker.  I don’t like coffee that much.  I would never drink it black and I never drink it at home but there is something about being on the road…  I DO drink coffee when we travel.

And Vietnam has the best coffee drinks from coconut coffee to egg coffee to salted coffee.  They like putting sweetened condensed milk in their coffee and that is delicious too.

I think the United States has really missed out by not embracing condensed milk.  There is so much you can do with it and it really is tasty, in small amounts!

I am going to miss the coffee drinks when we leave Vietnam!

What Do We Do Other Than Be Tourists

When we are not exploring the city or taking a tour of someplace, I read and we watch streaming.  We only watch one streaming show a day so we are really not watching much TV, although I still watch my Food Network shows. I find them comforting.

Since we have been gone we have watched all seasons of The Diplomat (Blaise had not seen the first two seasons), the latest season of Man on the Inside, and several Korean dramas:  King the Land, Beyond the Bar, and we just finished Extraordinary Attorney Woo. I guess we are gearing up for our visit to South Korea.

When watching King the Land, I discovered the two main characters were in separate KPop groups.  Then I went down the KPop bunny trail and now I am a fan of KPop.  Whoda thunk?

I also read a great deal.  In 2025 I read 73 books.  In case you need/want something good to read, here are some of my favorite books in the past year:  Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance (Espach), The Stationery Shop (Kamali), The Widows of Champagne (Ryan), Where the Rivers Merge (Monroe - the first in a series but the next book is not yet out), One Golden Summer (Fortune), Recursion (Crouch), and The Partisan (Worrall).

So far I have read 5 books this year and I am currently reading The Phoenix Pencil Company.

If you have read or watched something you have really enjoyed, let me know. I am always looking for something new to watch or read. (But we only have Netflix, Prime, and Philo for streaming.)

Nipah Virus

We have no concerns with the Nipah virus and have not been affected.  It is not here and not easily transferable between humans.  I did find out from the woman at our regular breakfast/coffee spot that their numbers are down because Vietnam is turning away travelers from India at the airport as a result of the Nipah virus.

Trip Status

We are more than halfway through this trip.  We left on the cruise from L.A. to Tokyo on September 24.  Our cruise from Tokyo to Alaska leaves May 9 and is 12 nights.  How did we get nearly 5 months into this trip already?  We are only 3 months from hopping on a boat back to the U.S.  Time has flown by!

Thus far, we have been to 2 countries we had never been to before: Thailand and Vietnam.

Although we had changed planes in Japan before this trip, this is the first opportunity we have had to spend time in Japan.  When we count the countries we have been to, Blaise counted Japan before this trip but I did not.  My thought is you don’t count a country unless you have spent some time exploring it.

But Japan IS a bit different because before this trip we actually changed airports to change planes, which by the way is so common in Tokyo, they have a whole well-oiled system for busing between the airports. I still don't think it counts.

In this trip, we will add three more countries to the list of countries we have visited:  Cambodia, Malaysia, and South Korea, bringing my count of countries visited to 56 and Blaise’s to 57 (he’s been to India and I have not).

Likely the next time you will hear from me, I will be in Cambodia where we will knock out one of our bucket list items - Angkor Wat.

We have three more bucket list items to mark off before we make it back to Texas:  the DMZ in Korea, cherry blossoms in Japan, and Mt. McKinley/Denali (whatever we are calling it these days).  Isn’t that a variety?!

Blaise LOVES these little trucks!