Angkor - Day 1

Angkor Wat was the main thing to see during this trip and one of the things I had to see in life.
It is really impressive and I can only recommend everyone to go and see it at least once. It is difficult to show it in pictures how great the place is.
The whole of Angkor Park is massive and has lots of temples to see, from small to big. Angkor Wat is only one of these but one of the most impressive.

This is a series with a few pictures from the first day.
I will also post more picturs for the next 2 days and maybe do some more series in the future on it since I have too many pictures to effectively show in a single blog post.

River Views

After too short a stay in Phnom Penh it was time to board the boat and head to Siem Reap in the morning.
It was a great trip and much nicer than taking a plane or bus. This series is a collection of pictures I took from the boat to give you and idea of what you can expect to see.

Sleepover in Phnom Penh

Sometimes this trip feels like we're always on the road travelling. The good thing about this is that you first get to see a lot of stuff but it also makes your holiday seem/feel longer. I feel like I have been away for weeks and not just days.

Today, we arrived in Cambodia and Phom Penh. Not as early as planned so the stay here will be very short since the boat to Siem Reap leaves tomorrow mornig at 7am.

The first walk after dinner through Phnom Penh was really nice though. It is really relaxed and chilled out and the people are very nice, even after coming from Vietnam.

So far I like the country and city a lot and regret not having more time in Phnom Penh but Angkor Wat should make up for it.

I tried to give a quick impression of the place with my pictures but realize this is not possible in the short time I have here. So just take them for what they are and trust me that Phnom Penh is very nice and worth a visit, I will definitely be back.

Day in Saigon

Arrived in Saigon at 5am this morning for a one day stopover on our way to Cambodia.
It is funny how much you get done by getting up early, by lunch time we have already seen most of he sights in Saigon.
Saigon feels very loud and busy, especially after Hue and Hoi An but is quite interesting.

Did not get any amazing pictures so only a very small series with my main impressions of Saigon.

All Aboard

Spent most of the day in the train from Danang to Saigon so no series for today.

While the train journey was long it did give time to relax a bit and sort through the pictures taken so far. The journey itself has great views and is definitely to recommend over flying.

Tomorrow will be a day in Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City and then it's off to Cambodia.

Hoi An After the Floods

After half of the old town in Hoi An was flooded yesterday, the water retreated and the day was nice and bright today. It was great to see people all getting on with their business and cleaning up the mess.
If I would not have seen (and waded through) the flooded streets yesterday I would not have known of the flooding in some of the places.

Water, Lots of Water

Woke up this morning without power in the hotel and water almost in the reception area, the good news was that it stopped raining.
By the time I finished breakfast the water levels went down a bit although it was still not possible to leave the hotel without getting wet feet.
Rather than stay longer in Hue we decided to stick to the plan and leave for Hoi An, for this we had the hotel arrange a car for us. we took some pictures along the way.

The weather was nice and sunny although the flood waters were visible everywhere along the way.
Once we arrived in Hoi An we found out that half of the old town was flooded, not getting discouraged we decided to go out and take some pictures anyway even if it meant wading through more water.

This is a series depicting the day and focusing on scenes with water in them (not that I have a lot of pictures without water in them). It is a longer series but I wanted to give a good overview of the situation we have been in.

I have a lot of respect for the Vietnamese people who despite all this flooding and having no electricty at the hotel were always friendly and managed to help us out with everything possible. Even the people we saw who had their houses flooded anyway had a smile and made the best out of the situation. Live just goes on here without too much fuss. I hope my pictures can show this.

Rain

Arrived in Hue after a night in the train and got out in the rain.

It started off with rain, it continued with stronger rain and finished with even more rain and flooding in between.
I guess this is not the best time to come here, I have never seen so much rain in one day.

Still, life goes on and so does the holiday. Despite the rain we set out to do some sightseeing and to take pictures.

This was one of the times when I could have used a weatherproof body and module for the GXR. The current body and Mout A12 moule did very well though and braved the rain better than me.

Hue is a great place even with monsoon-like rain so I can only imagine how much nicer it is when the weather is better.

Thanks for all the comments, I will reply as soon as I get the chance.

To get a different viewpoint have a look at Tom's blog here.

EDIT: My title was not very accurate, it should have been 'Flooding in Hue' instead of simply 'Rain'. Because of this I decided to post 2 bonus pictures to show the before and after of the street next to the hotel.

To put it in words, on my way out this morning I did not even get wet feet as long as I avoided the streams, of water, on my way back the water was knee high so there was no avoiding anything but wading though.

People in Hanoi

The first full day in Vietnam was a bit hectic, we had to take an earlier train than expected to leave for Hue so only had till 6pm to see Hanoi. It is a busy city with lots of people around and the traffic is crazy. At times it reminded me of my stay Marrakesh with the scooters everywhere. Like in Marrakesh my photography for the first day was not first rate, it is not easy to keep up with everyting and do some sightseeing while at it.

Nightfall in Hanoi

After a long flight with a stopover in HK and a quick meet with Ricoh , I arrived in Hanoi.

There was no much time other than to go for a quick walk in the evening and take some photos. While I ended up deleting a lot of them, these 5 I liked best.
All taken with the GXR Mount A12 and the Voiglander Nokton lens.