> Be me
> Be a foodie who loves temples and culture
> Have a job that offers unlimited PTO with 2 weeks minimum vacation
> Wants to spend no more than $3k (minus flight)
> Wants to explore SE Asia
> Been to Singapore and Indonesia before, so no need for those two spots
> Thailand too touristy
> Whittled it down to Cambodia and Vietnam
Which country is better? Help me out lads...
Going next summer. Pertains to me as well.
my wife and i chose cambodia over vietnam a couple years ago. absolutely no regrets. temples are amazing, modern history was jaw dropping. everything was cheap as hell, people were super nice.
food left something to be desired, imo-everything is lemongrass+palm sugar+fish oil. it was delicious for 3 days, then utterly disgusted by it.
if you pick cambodia take the betelnut tour to phnom tamao wildlife reserve. i shill the fuck out of it every cambodia thread i see because it was the highlight of a trip of highlights (and they provide a fucking phenomenal homecooked lunch-best meal of the trip). pic related.
I enjoyed the food overall in Vietnam much more than Cambodia. However the food by the beach in Cambodia was some of the best I've had. I recommend Vietnam though as far as food goes. Cambodia if you want drugs, sex, and tourism with some temples here and there.
>>1126267
The temples are very different in Vietnam than in Cambodia. Mostly flashy, gaudy, Mahayanist stuff in VN--very Chinese inspired. A few old Cham sites way down South that are cousins to the Angkorean culture, and maybe an old Khmer temple or two? Don't remember. I know there are two outlying Angkor Empire sites in Laos, and many in Thailand.
Wonderful National Ethnographic Museum in Hanoi, along with your to-be-expected batty Communist iconography.
Angkor is ferociously touristed, but for very good reasons, and there are more out-of-the-way spots that aren't that crowded.
Food is, in my opinion, much better in Vietnam, along with being a lot cheaper (VN has the least expensive food and drink, including booze, in Southeast Asia by a huge margin; only thing that really seems socialist about the place). Khmer food is a bit like Thai food without the spice. Pleasant but kind of bland.
>>1126286
>Angkor is ferociously touristed, but for very good reasons, and there are more out-of-the-way spots that aren't that crowded.
center of angkor wat, peak season, 2014.
>>1126286
>>1126287
literally right on the other side of the wall in the top of my previous pic.
>>1126289
Yeah, that conforms to my experience as well--the main routes are crowded but you can go around a corner and not see as many people. And when I visited Banteay Srei, maybe the most beautiful temple I visited (finely carved pink sandstone) there was almost nobody there.
>>1126294
yeah, banteay srei was fantastic. that was the last temple we went to and it was real easy to not see any people. and the few people that were there were super chill and quiet. it think the jackoff tourists didn't want to stray too far from the places everyone's heard of. and the ride out there was super scenic in a pastoral sort of way.
>>1126296
what the actual fuck? pic's right side up on my hard drive, and it was taken with a real camera not an iphone.
retry
>>1126282
hah, your wife is so cute trying to hide behind the tree like that.
>>1126286
Oh, and to elaborate on my food opinions, I meant to say that I like indigenous/local Vietnamese cuisine more than traditional Khmer food. But Cambodia probably has better international food options overall, although there's some good relatively expensive French cooking in both. Street food is definitely better in VN.
>>1126307
thanks /r9k/. i'm sure it'll be legal for you to marry your pillow waifu in the next decade or so, and then you can go on a couples trip, too. :)
>>1126267
Why not go to Taiwan instead?
Not as touristy as SEA
Food heaven
Temples and nature everywhere
Folk are friendly and helpful
>>1126308
> Proper street food in Vietnam
Hoo boy, I'm digging the sound of that. I know the usual suspects of Pho and noodle salads (Bun?), but what's one dish I got to try that I can't find elsewhere?
>>1126309
Not even the anon, but please don't make me feel bad for not having a wife to travel with ;__;
That being said, I was mostly thinking of going to Taiwan next year, but now that elephant is making me reconsider a bit
D-do you get to pet them?
>>1126574
yep. pet them, hand feed them, blow kisses into their trunk. along with gibbons, otters, porcupines, deer...
>>1126287
Angkor is touristy but there are areas covered in trees that you can head off into that are barren. Some of them have hidden ruined shrines and overgrown footpaths, it's like it's taken out of a movie. Blazing here with my mate while meditating on the Tao Te Ching was the highlight of Angkor.
Tuk tuk for the day was only $18 too, with a ride too and from the hotel.
>>1126648
Waaa that's so cute! Ok, if I ever go there I have to take one if those tours
>run off into the jungle
>live with nice happy animals
>no chads to make me feel inferior
>happy simple jungle life
>>1126746
>Angkor is touristy but there are areas covered in trees that you can head off into that are barren.
yup. that's why i posted >>1126289 as a follow up
>Tuk tuk for the day was only $18 too
aww, i got ripped off! we paid $20.
smartassness aside, tuktuk for a day is the hot setup. we saw lots of people biking, but the complex is fucking HUGE and it was awesome to have the speed and knowledge of the area.
>>1126942
>run off into the jungle
not a good idea in cambodia, unless you want to be an accidental minesweeper
>>1126957
>>Tuk tuk for the day was only $18 too
>aww, i got ripped off! we paid $20.
It's actually only $12 for the small circle and I agreed on $15 for the big circle.
>>1126991
we were $20 for "take us wherever we want", i ended up giving him $30 because he was super nice and on the ball, and we had him come back the next day to take us to banteay srei and stuff. we also really didn't argue prices very much anywhere we went because i loathe haggling and i don't really give a shit about the difference between $3 and $4 but in a country where the average annual income is $650 that dollar's a lot more of a difference.
