.: from Kampuchea to Saigon :.

My friends and I traveled to Cambodia and Vietnam for 6 days and 5 nights. Our journey was a whirl of riding tuk tuk, jeep, taxi, van and buses. We explored the Phnom Penh City just for a half day with a tuk tuk that I booked earlier from Malaysia. Mr. Zahri is very friendly person and easy going with us. Even though, he rides us with overloaded, we are so lucky that we can familiarize ourselves with Phnom Penh. We had no regrets as our friendly companion pointed out all the spots with the most breathtaking scenery and helped take a bunch of awesome photos of us too.

We headed for Ho Chi Minh City, an eight – hour bus ride away.  Exhausted from the long journey, we take a break for our first meal on that day before we headed to Mui Ne with sleeper bus for another a five-hour journey.  We reached Mui Ne at almost 1 o’clock in the morning. We just have only 2 hours for night’s sleep before our tour began early at 4.30 am in the morning.

The stunning view that greeted us when we arrived at the white sand dune made the half an hour jeep ride worth. Our timing was perfect, the crowds hadn’t arrived yet and the golden ray of the early morning sun was only just bringing everything to life.  We enjoyed the moment and take a deep breath and soak up the golden scene that we often take for granted. We headed to fisherman village that offer the best view of colourful, rounded, traditional fishing boats. After took photos, we went to the Red Sand Dune.  The Red Sand Dunes is just 20 minutes from the town centre, and the sand is really more orangey-brown than red. The slopes make it not so easy for me to walk on foot (maybe I already felt tired). The tour usually comes with a stopover at the Fairy Springs, an ankle-deep stream surrounded by Grand Canyon-esque landscape on either side. It’s fun to wade through barefoot for an hour or so.

After taking a break just for a few hours, we headed to Da Lat with bus for another a five-hour. The journey was bumpy at least for the first 2 hours and constant stops to pick up the local people before we reached the highway. Furthermore, window seats on the bus are always more ideal for me to enjoyed the view. We enjoyed the night market in Da Lat as a local. The famous fruits are strawberry which is quite fresh and sweet.

Da Lat is a charming highland city with a beautiful climate, people usually consider this town as the “Sapa of the South” or known as the “City of Eternal Spring”. Da Lat is surrounded by many romantic lakes, pine forests and many kind of beautiful flowers, which makes Da Lat a famous place for domestic and international tourists. Da Lat was developed as a resort by the French in the early 1900s, and many reminders of its colonial heritage remain. The weather was perfectly chilly, and we loved the colourful blooms and quirky architecture that filled this town.

The following day, we started our tour by headed to Robin Hill by using a cable car. The rides cover for almost 2.3 km and runs from Robin Hill to the Truc Lam Monastery with one of the most charming landscape ever. Watching the city from the sky with my friends screamed with terrify, I just comfortable using the cable car and enjoyed the moment.  We reached Truc Lam Temple (Buddhist Temple) with tons of beautiful flowers and bonsai trees in a scenic garden.

We continued our tour to Datanla Waterfall to experience some beautiful nature. We have so much fun riding the alpine coaster down to the waterfall where you get to control the speed and brakes of your ride, is a blast! It is a part of the experience, and it is fun ride. I was impressed that the community found a way to make the waterfall more of an attraction. Our next trip was a Crazy House. I think it is a fun place to visit, a cool architecture with some nice view from the top. It is like a maze, and you can’t realty figure out how it is connected. Then, we made our way to Da Lat Flower Park for a few hours and took lots of pictures and enjoyed the flowers blossoming tremendously.

We take a break for a lunch at Restaurant Kampung Pandan and jama' prayer before we decided to continue our journey to hydrangea flower farm. Most of the flowers are a size of a full grown man head. From the farm, we went to Da Lat Railways Station. The Da Lat Railway Station is a local icon. The train for Trai Mat village departs from here, but most people just come to take photos of the station building and restored carriages out the back.  We just took a few minutes in Linh Phuoc Pagoda. It's made up of mosaic tiles and all sorts of other colourful things that draw the eye. We ended our tour in Valley of Love which is set in a beautiful valley. The garden is huge and we didn’t have much time to spend. The Valley of Love is popular for those couples who would like to enjoy their sweet romantic honeymoon.

Last but not least, we wanted to ended our tour by visited the Lam Vien Square which is opposite to Xuan Huong Lake. The place is just a square. But with these two uniquely designed buildings (Big C and Doha cafe), it becomes a great spot of photoshoot.  I stepped up the stairs meanwhile my friends just waiting me downstairs. The Doha Café caught my eyes with the green colour. I did managed to take a picture without a person shown in scale. Yeaaaayyyyy!

The next morning, we off to Ho Chi Minh before departed to Kuala Lumpur for the next day. We spent our last minute time with shopping at Ben Tanh Market, night market and also Malaysian Street. I didn't spend so much money in shopping ( I just bought souvenirs for my loved ones and also a backpack for myself) but my friends spending a lots until I have to sit at the floor while they chooses a plenty of colours and design of the shawls.