This year, for some reason for our annual backpacking trip, we decided to heed to Indochina which to be exact, to explore the truly Vietnam, trying to avoid as much as possible those overly commercialized places in Vietnam where the tourism industry now is fast catching up. We started in Hanoi, (of course flying with chippie flight AirAsia ) then, we continued by train to Na Trang ( about 25 hours journey ) opted for cheapest sleeper coach, which they called it 'hard sleeper' which truly means what they means 'hard' !. Being in the cheapest available bed, we were put scaterred around in various coaches, in upper most bed ( triple decker bed ) where the in the upper most bed is just enough to squeeze your body in, and you can't even sit on it, and don't imagined to stand of course ha...ha... so I don't know either our first angkasawan Syed Muzaffar endured the same fate or not while he was in Soyuz capsule... but ours could be worst I think..and the bottomline, that's the 'punishment' for being kedekut...ha...ha.... Through out the journey, we were passing through various awesome places e.g. Hue ( another UNESCO world Heritage site besides famously acclaimed Hualong Bay...although I would say an overly commercialized Hualong Bay without disputing its beauty absolutely …. ), then the Vietnam country sides DMZ ( demilitarized Zones ) where at one time the most heavily militarized area in the world during the peak of Vietnam War in 1960s, and from Na Trang, we travelled to Dalat with public buses ( yes enduring another 5 hours jalan pening lalat..sampai Nora almost muntah )…. Which in actual via the less travelled trunk road where normally most of the local will reach Dalat via Ho Chi Minh City which the road far more urbanized and in better condition. We had a nice time in Dalat, which at least from my opinion is the best place during this trip. Dalat is less exposed to the foreigner due to the reason that place is not very well connected via road until recently but at long time being known very well among local Vietnamese as ‘City of Love’ … I guess due to its very much colonial French city ( in fact siap ada Eiffel Tower lagi ha…ha… ) as those day during colonial time, this is the place, the French ..lepak carik tempat sejuk similarly macam kat Fraser Hill, Cameron Highland in Malaysia la. Dalat is the city by its own, at altitude about 1500m from sea level, during the cool season ( Nov, Dec, Jan ) , the temperature is really favorable although could be ‘nasty’ during night time…. so call an education hub for Vietnam where a few universities located here, also not to mention the Nuclear Research Reactor also located here ! After Dalat, we took another crazy bus ride to HCMC, which to complete our Trans-Vietnam trip before finally we took another bus to Phnom Penh, in Cambodia which our end point in this 10 days discoveries. So overall, we crossed 2 completely different countries Vietnam and Cambodia in this trip, covering almost 3000KM…moving from cool North Vietnam until the end point of super hot & chaos Phnom Penh., Cambodia…. Experiencing country sides of Vietnam from both sides, North and South Vietnam which used to fight each other due to mainly foreign interference that claimed they are world police or 'expert security advisor'……, seeing the brutality of Pol Pot regime in Cambodia as seen in ‘Killing Field’ testimonial……seeing with astonishment the Mat Rempit in Hanoi & HCMC….( Mat Rempit kat KL tak yah eksyen la…cuba hangpa pi Hanoi nak tengok hampa boleh survive ke tak…ha…ha…. )…The struggle of Viet Cong against the American..... the poetic caption uttered by Viet Cong General during the unification day at Unification Palace in Saigon ( previosuly known as Presidential Palace ) ..... hair down at Lake Side backpacker ‘settlement’ by the Tonle Sap Lake…Eating Halal foods ..somemore Malaysian food lagi at HCMC namely 4 seasons Restaurant which is operated by Malayu Champa Muslim…. Great Muslim foods in Phnom Penh near lake side around the Mosque near Mekong Travel Lodge….seeing the struggle of Melayu Champa community in Pnom Penh……the rustic yet charm of Pnom Penh ( especially the rustic Thmey Market, but caution.... overly charmed for shopping maniac ! ) and top of the list, in 10 days …WE … ..myself, Gadap ( my close friend since I was in MCKK back in 1990 ), Nizam ( fondly known as Nora… which had joined me for various trips e.g. Self drive to Krabi Thailand, Lake Toba, Indonesia), Zaki ( a true supporter of RDAG …… again, we known each other for almost 10 years since our university heyday since he first joined me for the craziest Trans-Titiwangsa Mountains Expedition.. that one of the most memorable mountain expedition I ever had...and keep going…… ) and Cikgu Din, although I just know him during this trip, but we get along very well as we know each other more than 10 years ! ……. We know each other better…. Susah…senang..kena pau…kebulur…merempat mcm setinggan together…. Which something I will treasure for whole of my life……………thanks to ALL ! No next trip...I guess trans-China ??????? tengok fulus....he..he... !