Vietnam & Cambodia — Summer 2022

Hey hey. Long time no see.

You have my sincerest apologies for being mostly absent on my blog for the past few months. Here’s a very short summary of where I’ve been (namely, Vietnam and Cambodia) and why I haven’t posted much about it.

Visiting Vietnam for a Month

Cream & I traveled around Vietnam for a month, from mid-June to mid-July. You can check out my guides, information, and photos for each of the 10 places we went here.

To be honest, I’ve had cognitive dissonance about writing a blog post about our time in Vietnam because I have very mixed feelings — there were a lot of things we liked, but a whole lot more things we didn’t like. I don’t want to seem negative, but it wouldn’t be genuine for me to write a raving review about the country. Instead, I’ll give you my honest opinion, which is a lukewarm “It was just okay.”

Some people seem to love Vietnam, so maybe it’s just me. But if you were to ask for my personal recommendation, I’d recommend traveling to any other country in Southeast Asia before Vietnam. The only exception to this is Ha Giang province, which I highly recommend as the most beautiful place I have ever been in my entire life. You can view my Ha Giang photos and see for yourself.

What It’s Like To Travel In Vietnam

One statistic is rather telling: of all the travelers who visit Vietnam, less than 10% return. For comparison, Thailand has a return travel rate over 60%, and most countries in Southeast Asia have a rate around 50%.

Why, you ask? Well, Vietnam is at an interesting point in its history right now. Major investment, development, and international tourism only really took off in the past decade. Today, Vietnam is growing at an astonishing pace — it’s one of the fastest growing economies in the world — however, it still has a long way to go, especially in terms of its infrastructure.

There’s no way to sugarcoat it: Vietnam is a frustrating country to be in. Getting from place to place is tedious, whether you take jerky, long bus rides, or pricey flights through overcrowded airports. Hanoi’s domestic terminal was by far the busiest airport I’ve ever been in — and we were there before 6 a.m.

With almost 3 times the population density of Thailand, Vietnam is a particularly crowded country. Every single day of our trip we found ourselves getting cut in line, stuck in traffic, and walking precariously through busy streets — since every sidewalk is blocked by parked motorbikes. Not to mention, between the generous honks of motorbikes to the nightly karaoke parties (including just next door to most hotels, it seems), it is insanely noisy.

Don’t get me wrong — Vietnam is a beautiful country with a lot to enjoy. But if you add up all the frustrations for a week or two (or in our case, four), it makes for a pretty unpleasant vacation; at least, that was our experience.

Today, Vietnam’s infrastructure is improving, with countless airports, highways, and new attractions being built. But I’m not sure how much they will help. The overcrowding, noise, and chaos are likely to remain a challenge.

View all Vietnam photos.

My Bangkok Birthday Party

After Vietnam, we headed back to Thailand for a few days. We missed the food and there’s no place I would rather celebrate my birthday.

I know long periods away from home can be stressful — and Vietnam is far-and-away the most stressful country I’ve been to — so I figured it would be nice to help Cream adjust with a breath of her homeland’s air and for me to get back to what’s become my home-away-from-home country.

A few days before my actual birthday we went to Siam Amazing Park, a small (by American standards) amusement park in Bangkok with some good roller coasters and a waterpark.

Afterwards, we went out with some friends to Sukishi, one of my favorite restaurants in Thailand, where we enjoyed the delicious gra ta. It was fantastic as always, even though we all got food poisoning this time around. Hey, I’ll still go back.

View all Bangkok photos.

Our Time Traveling in Cambodia

On my birthday itself, we flew to Siem Reap, Cambodia. I’ve been wanting to go to Angkor Wat, the eighth wonder of the world, for a long time now and it was time to make it happen.

Our few days in Cambodia were shockingly emotional, filled with intense revelations and challenging contrasts. I haven’t written about it until now because I wanted to give that trip the attention it deserves. Rather than simply telling you about the places we saw in Cambodia, I’ll tell you about how I was moved by the experience as a whole. Visiting Cambodia changed my perspectives more than any other country I’ve been to.

View all Cambodia photos.

A Crash Course in Cambodian History

You may know that Cambodia is the second poorest country in Southeast Asia (Myanmar is #1 by a narrow margin). There are a few main reasons for this. First and foremost, it’s always been a largely agricultural nation, growing mostly rice.

Secondly, and heartbreakingly, Cambodia is still recovering from the aftermath of one of the worst genocides of the 20th century.

The evil Pol Pot regime was overthrown in 1979 after it murdered around one quarter of the country’s population in just five years, targeting ethnic and religious minorities, intellectuals, and professionals in its attempt to create a socialist agricultural society. Cambodia was left riddled with unmarked landmines and guerilla factions that continued killing and dismembering civilians for another twenty years.

Of course, if you visit Cambodia now, this is not immediately apparent. The only things that are apparent is that a) there is poverty and b) people are unusually kind. Southeast Asia has a reputation for having an abundance of kind people and Cambodia stands out as having some of the kindest.

What I’ve Learned About Khmer Culture

To start, our hotel staff was incredibly accommodating and respectful. Our driver and tour guide, Charky, deserves special mention, as his care and service went so far above and beyond that it left an imprint on our hearts. If you ever visit Siem Reap, please let me connect you with him — he is both a knowledgeable guide and a wonderful person. He’s very friendly and genuine, and he loves sharing Cambodia’s history and culture with visitors, which made our trip so much better.

At one point, I commented to Charky that people seem very kind here. His reply has stuck with me: “We’ve all lost grandparents, parents, brothers, sisters, friends, children, and acquaintances. We don’t want any enemies anymore — only friends.” Pol Pot’s wound will take several generations to heal and its scar will likely never be fully erased, yet it is inspiring to see people respond with so much love and forgiveness.

As Charky showed us around the grand temples of the Angkor Wat complex, the stone ruins echoed whispers of a different past — the glory of the mighty Khmer Empire almost a thousand years ago. The main Angkor Wat temple is still placed proudly, front-and-center on Cambodia’s flag, honoring that golden age.

Cambodia’s Past vs. Present

What really hits me is the contrast, this once-great empire’s fall from grace. Perhaps life was better back then. Surely they could never have imagined what was to come.

I don’t mean to imply that Cambodia is doomed or that it will never rise again to that level of greatness. But today, it is struggling and what hits me in the heart is the hardships that struggle creates, a handful of which we witnessed.

It’s hard, for example, to get your kids a good education when private schools cost thousands of dollars, public schools are understaffed and overcrowded, and the average family only makes a few hundred dollars per month. Signs around Angkor Wat advise visitors against donating to begging children, since this teaches them not to go to school. No matter how brilliant a child may be, what opportunities would they need in order to excel in that environment?

During my time in Cambodia, I reflected on my own life and the countless opportunities and support systems that I have previously taken for granted. For example, many people would consider me smart. What they don’t know is how hard some of my middle school and high school teachers personally advocated for me to get into my school’s honors programs, despite my test results not qualifying. Being treated like you’re smart is one of the easiest ways to start believing and acting like you’re ‘intelligent,’ which, in turn, has helped me learn to value myself and have a healthy (sometimes too healthy) sense of entitlement and purpose throughout my life.

Could that have been possible if my classes had three times as many students; or if there were no honors programs at my school? Could it have been possible if my school was made of grass instead of brick, or if it hadn’t had enough whiteboards or paper? What if growing up my school had to close every time the monsoon floods came each spring? Could I have ever become who I am if not for a million strokes of simple, stupid luck?

Another thought that constantly occupied my thoughts was food. Consider the simple liberation implicit in being able to decide what to eat every day rather than whether eating is a possibility. For many Khmer people, that question became all too real when the pandemic wiped out tourism, one of the country’s biggest industries — almost all of which is in the Siem Reap region.

What I Learned in Cambodia

It is painfully clear that life in Cambodia is infinitely more difficult than my own. This makes me feel so much more grateful for the opportunities I’ve had throughout my life. To be born in the environment that I did, to get a good education in a supportive and affluent community, and to now have so many more opportunities available to me as a result – including being able to travel the world and visit Cambodia and Southeast Asia.

I also note the critical role that my education has played in all this — I believe it may have played the single most important part in creating who I am. Recognizing this made (and makes) me want to give back, to try to empower others with the same opportunities that come with a good education.

I hope to make significant efforts on that front throughout my life. For now, every penny made by my next album will be donated to support building schools in rural parts of Southeast Asia, though that’s a story for another article.

Last, but certainly not least, let me mention again that the people in Cambodia are so kind. Again, this is in the context of lives that are so much harder than my own. Yet Khmer people have still managed to find so much meaning, to smile, to welcome, to share community, to make each other’s lives better, and to rise above the challenges of their circumstances.

Cambodia and its people remind me that happiness is a choice, that being with other people is better than being against them, and that (forgive the cliche) opportunity and joy can always be found in the little acts that make up our daily lives — no matter our past.

In a sentence: Cambodia and the Khmer people are living proof that we can learn from the past and transform hatred, pain, and violence into love, hope, and goodwill.

View all Cambodia photos.

Onward

After that sobering trip to Cambodia, Cream and I settled down in Bali. I’ve been here for almost two months, while Cream returned to Thailand about a week ago to start a new job in Koh Phangan. We will see each other again soon, and I will write about my time in Indonesia in an upcoming post, I promise!

I’m also about to hit my one-year anniversary of moving abroad. It’s crazy how time flies. In another post, I’ll write about that too.

In the meantime, I have a lot of photos to sort through. Check them out on the Galleries page — I saw so much this summer and I’ve handpicked the best moments to share with you there.

Thanks for reading and please be kind to others,

Andrew

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Have thoughts, questions, or comments about this post? I’d love to hear from you in the comments section below!