Mormon Bloggers

Today was our first whole day here in Cambodia. It started with Sean not getting up to exercise like he’d planned. And then we all got up later than we’d intended and it was a little bit of a rush to get everyone dressed and down to breakfast.Sean had to go into the office today so I was on my own with the two kids. I had a tour set up for us to go to an animal park outside of Phnom Phen. We hired a tuk-tuk and set out for the cafe where we’d meet our tour guide. Our tour group consisted of two other people from Australia. When it was time we loaded ourselves in the back of a leopard print jeep and took off for the park. The ride was pretty uncomfortable. They had benches for you to sit on,  but the bars along the side made it near impossible to sit back. You were basically sitting for an hour with your back unsupported on a bumpy road in the hot, hot sun. I put sunscreen on me and the kids and I still managed to get fried. Terryn and Jayce both slept on the way there... Read the rest of this entry »

Our two week vacation to Cambodia and Thailand started yesterday. I refer to it as our Thaibodia vacation. We got everything ready and left the house at around 9:00. Sean drove us to his office and after a brief stop to get some banh mis (sandwiches), we arrived at around10:00. Here we grabbed Duc, some cash from the bank and then Duc took over driving and we headed toward the Cambodia-Vietnam border.We made it to the border after about two hours of driving. Terryn was driving us nuts at this point. We was just being kind of awful. It helped once we put on a movie, but we had the feeling this was going to be a long trip.The border took a while. We had to get our visas and then go through immigration. Sean did most of it by himself. They let Duc drive us past immigration and to the fence that I guess was the designated border. On the other side of the fence was waiting the driver from the hotel. Luckily it was a short distance to transfer all our stuff. We waved farewell... Read the rest of this entry »

My parents’ last day was on Tuesday. It was the day after we got back from Mui Ne. We didn’t have a whole lot of things we had to do that day. My mom had to pick up stuff from the tailors and they wanted to go back to Ben Thanh Market for a few things. I told them we had to get a picture of them in front of the market since we never took pictures of that. So we ran all our errands and then crossed the busy intersection in front of the market. It’s a roundabout that has crazy traffic most of the time. We managed to get the pictures we wanted and then we went to lunch. Sean ended up staying home from work that day because he still felt horrible, but he joined us for lunch. We went to Pho Le which we’ve deemed the best Pho in Saigon. It’s super yummy beef pho. The place looks a little dodgy, but it really is delicious. My parents agreed. They really enjoyed the pho. After that we went back to the house so my parents rest, pack and so I could go shopping for... Read the rest of this entry »

Before we reached Takou Mountain we decided we had to go up. We found out that it would probably only take us an hour to do it and I think we would have regretted not going. The last time Sean and I were here it was so foggy. It was also lightly raining so it was near impossible to get good pictures. This time Sean stayed in the car with the kids again and the rest of us went up. We took the gondola up and it was a bit hot inside. As we ascended up the mountain the temperature noticeably dropped to a more comfortable temperature. We noticed it got substantially mistier too. I joked that there were rumored to be monkeys in these mountains, though I never saw any the last time we were here. The big pagoda they were building last time we were here was still being constructed. As we continued climbing up the stairs, some tourists were all talking at once to us about some camera guys scaring off some monkeys. Seriously? What are the odds? I figured we probably wouldn’t... Read the rest of this entry »

Unfortunately for us, there was a typhoon heading straight towards Phan Thiet for the time we were planning on staying in Mui Ne. To top it off Terryn was still sick and the rest of us (me, Sean, my Mom and baby) were all starting to come down with the cold too. We were planning on spending 3 days in Mui Ne. We showed up at our hotel and right off, we had some problems. We got there about 2 hours after check-in time and our rooms still were not ready. We waited for awhile and they finally got us in our rooms. I was not happy with our accommodations. I had used Agoda to book our rooms and all the reviews sang praises about this place. I thought the place was sub-par. I was sad because I had hoped to stay in a really nice place while we were here and it ended up being a mediocre place. It wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t the nice resort I had hoped. If I could have done it all over again, I would have booked a different place. After we arrived the kids and I went swimming.... Read the rest of this entry »

The day after we got back from Hanoi was a day to relax. We did go into the city to go to the tailor and the market. It’s the day my Mom and I got pedicures too. The next day I was going to take my parents on a tour of the Cau Dai Holysee and the Cu Chi Tunnels. Unfortunately Terryn got a really high fever so I decided it’d be better if I stayed home. I sent my parents on the tour without me. Apparently they got to go to a shop that makes the egg paintings that are so popular here. That would have been interesting to see. My Mom really enjoyed the Cau Dai Holysee, but she wished they would have had more time to explore the grounds. I think my parents enjoyed the Cu Chi Tunnels too. I guess my Dad went through the entire section of tunnel. Go Dad! Unfortunately though, they had an unpleasant encounter with a fellow tourist that put a damper on the rest of the tour. I think they were glad to back to house. The next day we’d be going to Mui Ne.  Read More →

Our last day in Halong Bay was a good one. I was expecting us to have breakfast and then the rest of the day would be cruising back to the mainland where we’d have lunch and then be on our way back to Hanoi. This was not the case. We had breakfast and we did cruise around a bit, but then we stopped at one of the islands. This island had a very small beach and you could tell it’s where the tour company keeps it’s kayaks. There were stairs ascending up the rocky side of the island. We disembarked and our guide led us up the stairs to the small mouth of a cave. At this entrance there were some pretty cool looking trees with long dangling vines. I managed to convince everyone to pose for a group shot. The cave was pretty cool, albeit small. Our guide told us that fisherman used to use this place as a shelter in bad weather. Terryn I think was pretty pooped after our short hike through the cave. He still wasn’t feeling well. We took our time at the... Read the rest of this entry »

The next day we had another kayaking excursion. We told my parents that they should go kayaking together, but they insisted that Sean and I should go and they’d watch the kids. They seemed pretty set on it so we conceded. We kayaked for a long time. We went from cave to cave seeing different hidden beaches, stalagmites, stalactites and other rocky formations. Sean and I joked that some of these caves would have proved good hiding places for pirate treasure. Hahahahaha. It was pretty awesome to be able to go into these caves. Again the tide was in our favor. I think it was probably a good thing that my parents didn’t go though, because Sean and I both got pretty tired. We were fighting the current during part of it and I think my Mom especially might have had a hard time with it. We stopped and checked out a couple fishing boats while we were kayaking. They had a cage in the water full of cuddle fish (they kinda look like squid). One lady showed us an octopus they... Read the rest of this entry »

When we boarded the small bus to drive out to Halong Bay, there was one other couple on board. They were from Australia. They were pretty nice. We had some good conversation on the way there. My Dad and I sat in the front row so he got to see every scary driving moment aboard. Terryn sat in the very back row in the solitary chair left unoccupied by everyone’s luggage. He was starting to feel sick from the fall that he had back in Sapa. We think he was running a bit of a fever.  The little guy was so tired too. He ended up falling asleep with his face smashed up against the side of the car. It was pretty funny looking. We finally arrived in Halong Bay after about 4 hours. The tour company we used this time had us embark from a different location than when we did the Halong Bay tour last time. They have a fleet of about 14 ships that have exclusive permission to visit certain places in Halong Bay. Our boat was a decent sized one. There were only four cabins aboard... Read the rest of this entry »

We woke up the next morning to the sound of rain. It was also kind of cold….. and…. the power was out. I was so glad I had showered the night before because the water would have been freezing. We got up and got ready. We ate breakfast and then Terryn and I went on a mission to find some shoes for the both of us and a coat for Terryn. Terryn’s stuff was wet and I could tell he wasn’t feeling well. We needed to keep him warm today. We ventured out and I miraculously found shoes and a coat for him. I also found trekking socks for me, Sean and Terryn AND a pair of shoes, albeit a half size too small, for me. We all got ready and by 9:30 when Chi showed up to take us around, we were ready. This time we took off down the road in the other direction. We went through the Sapa market and headed toward the village of Cat Cat. Luckily the rain had stopped quite early in the morning and surprisingly the roads were in pretty good condition. We managed to get a group shot of... Read the rest of this entry »

We continued our hike through the valley. One of the guide made Terryn a cute grass llama doll. He thought it was cool, but I he must have dropped it somewhere along the way. Chi showed us were they grew some indigo. The Hmong use this to dye most of their clothes. We got to see a barrel full of the indigo dye. Eventually our trek took us into the terraces. It was easy walking most of the way, but we reached one section that was pretty muddy. That’s where we ran into some trouble. I remember walking and I slipped and kind of screamed in surprised. One of my shoes went completely under the cold water and mud. This scream startled Sean who let go of Terryn’s hand. Terryn then fell down the terrace, getting his pants all wet and muddy. This event pretty much ruined the rest of Sapa for Terryn. He got cold and moody. It kind of traumatized him and he kept telling us he was scared of falling. While we were walking, Chi showed us some hemp plants. Hemp is what most... Read the rest of this entry »

Now if you’ve ever heard of Sapa… you think of green terraced hills full of rice and beautiful forested mountains. In actuality you get… well… you get exactly that. The picture above is one my parents took while we were there. Gorgeous isn’t it? The bus ride into Sapa was quite picturesque.  While we were waiting for our tour guide we noticed many of the villagers waiting outside our hotel. There was a hoard of Black Hmong ladies waiting to take advantage of gullible tourists. Hahahahaha… They were all really nice though. My Mom went outside to talk with them and they let her take their picture. They probably tried to sell her some of their embroidery too. The rest of us stayed inside and laughed as my Mom was surrounded by all these ladies. Jayce fell asleep in grandpa’s arms. After awhile I went outside with Terryn to scope out the view of the hillside. The ladies all thought Terryn was pretty... Read the rest of this entry »