Tag: Cambodia



What’s going on WUSTL and WUSTL alums? This is my blog post about one of our adventures here in Hong Kong. First, an introduction. My name is Andrew Nelms and I am junior in the business school at Wash U. I decided to do my study abroad in Hong Kong since I believe Asia is where the future of this world is being built, and Hong Kong has the unique perspective that being westernized can bring.

Anyways, during our Spring Break some friends I have made here and I decided to go to Indochina for a 12 day trip. We started in Hanoi (Vietnam) and then journeyed to Siem Reap, Saigon (the locals prefer the old name as opposed to Ho Chi Minh City), and Phnom Penh. It was a great trip overall and I loved every second.

Hanoi

Hanoi was great. It was far less developed than Saigon, but it is the Capital of Vietnam so we decided to start our journey there. Among the thousands of propaganda posters spouting the greatness of Communism and Ho Chi Minh were thousands of people riding motorbikes. The city has a distinct French feel, going back to its old days as a French colony. The museums were interesting (and quite anti-United States) and really showed a god-like reverence for Ho Chi Minh. We also did a day trip to Ha Long Bay where we kayaked beneath enormous rock formations and explored some really cool caves.

We met tons of Australians and New Zealanders who were just backpacking around and motorbiking through Indochina. DO NOT MOTORBIKE IN VIETNAM. Everyone does it, and everyone has a horror story about getting hurt. I met countless people who were scarred and maimed; not to mention it is the number one cause of tourist death in Vietnam each year. Do not do it. The traffic laws are not followed well enough to ensure your safety, and it’s a matter of when you get hurt, not if. Above is a typical Vietnamese propaganda poster found in Hanoi.

Siem Reap

9Siem ReapAfter Hanoi we traveled over to Siem Reap which is in Cambodia. Here we saw the world famous temple named Angkor Wat. It was incredible. We went at sunrise and spent most of the day in these temples. Words really cannot describe the intricate detail going into this immense complex of temples; the time spent by the Khmer people building these temples and maintaining them is unimaginable to me, and draws my immense respect. Go to Angkor Wat and experience it for yourself. At left is a photo I snapped of the sun rising over the main temple.

Phnom Penh

After spending time in Siem Reap, we took a bus down to the capital of Cambodia which is called Phnom Penh. Phnom Penh is a total cesspool, but a great experience nonetheless. I have never seen so much trash in the waterways and streets. We visited the Killing Fields where over 2 million Khmer people were massacred in the late 1970’s. We could see the bones and clothes left over from the mass graves. It was incredibly sobering, and a reminder of what brutality communist regimes can bring.

After the killing fields we made moves over to the shooting range. I had my eye on shooting an RPG, while my buddies were more on the shooting an AK-47 train. We journeyed out to a mountain where some old military people had set up a shooting range with a number of military items on sale. Grenades, heavy machine guns, assault rifles; if you could think of it, it was there. We shot for a while and had a ton of fun, but eventually decided we needed to get back to the hostel and get ready for our trip to Ho Chi Minh City, colloquially known as Saigon.

Saigon (Ho Chi Minh)

The name Saigon should be familiar to all you readers who love theater, but for the rest of you it is simply the name the city went by before it was conquered by the North Vietnamese in 1975. It was by far the most developed city in Indochina and you could see how it is quickly becoming the financial center of Indochina.

We bussed over from Phnom Penh and settled in our hostel. We spent the first day doing several museums and markets, including the War Remnants Museum which told the story of the Vietnam War from the other side. It spoke of the atrocities of America committed through Agent Orange and the carpet bombing of North Vietnam, while conveniently ignoring the horrors committed by Ho Chi Minh. I suppose it makes sense how propaganda-y it was, but it was interesting how many Westerners considered the museum to be 100% accurate and had their opinions completely influenced by it. I wanted people to do more research, but sadly I know most won’t and instead their only source of information on the war will be the The Peoples Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

9Saigon (Ho Chi MinhIt was still cool to see the other side of the story though.  The next day we went to the Mekong Delta where we took several boat rides, saw locals making candy, and had some specialty tea. The day was very pleasant and allowed us to really experience the delta up close. We packed up and came back to Hong Kong the day after.

Overall the trip was very enlightening and an amazing time.

Andrew Nelms is an Olin Business School Junior studying Operations and Supply Chain Management and Economics and Strategy while minoring in Political Science.