A Postcard from Vietnam & Cambodia - Jasmine's travel story

I recently went on Travelsphere's Invitation to Vietnam & the Temples of Angkor tour, and this holiday was absolutely incredible. Both Vietnam and Cambodia have been on my bucket list for a long time, so this trip encapsulated everything I wanted to see along the way. We had an amazing Holiday Director called Dara, who was exceptional, going above and beyond all the time.

Starting in Vietnam we visited Halong Bay, somewhere I was excited to visit and it didn't disappoint. The limestone cliffs are stunning and there is nothing like waking up in the morning on the beautiful water and doing an early morning Tai Chi lesson. I would highly recommend doing the optional sea plane experience, you get amazing vista's of the bay and limestone cliffs below, and it gave us a great orientation of where we were.

Traveling on to Hue and Hoi An we found out about their traditional lantern making process and this was some of the groups real favourite moment of the trip. It was a fun morning, learning about the lanterns and having ago at making our own.

Another bucket list moment was visiting the Cu Chi Tunnels in Vietnam. It's a really eye-opening experience to learn about what happened in the Vietnam war and afterwards we went to the War Museum which is also a must see.

The temples of Angkor was the absolute highlight, with Angkor Wat being the star of the show. But the other temples are just as amazing, including the Jungle Temple where Tomb Raider was filmed and the Lady Temple which was breathtakingly beautiful.

The food in Vietnam and Cambodia is incredible. It's so light and fresh, and you feel amazing after eating it. We tried a variety of local foods throughout the trip including traditional noodles in Hoi An, White Rose dumplings, a delicious pumpkin curry in Cambodia and visited KOTO restaurant in Hanoi.

We also had the opportunity to get involved and make some of our meals including pancakes in The Garden Village and noodles with Oodles of Noodles.

The Garden Village was a surprisingly amazing experience. It's a green village in the middle of a huge town, where all the food is fresh and they are really keen on organic farming. We had such a fun time doing a cookery lesson and learning about all the local flavours.

Oodles of Noodles in Hoi An is a charity that teaches disadvantaged young adults English and cooking skills, and offers visitors cooking classes where they learn about the different types of noodles in the area. This project is all about giving back to the local community and ensuring visitors have a really fun noodle experience.

Find out more about the Oodles of Noodles project.

We were lucky enough to be in Hanoi at just the right time to see the train go past on Train Street. After gaining popularity on social media this was on everyone's bucket list and to see the train pass inches from your face was incredible, and enjoying a Vietnamese coffee at the same time made it all the better!

One wow moment I wasn't expecting was when we got to Siem Reap in Cambodia and our Holiday Director, Dara, said "If you want to go out and explore there are lots of Tuk-Tuk's about, but I would really recommend the Lady Tuk-Tuk's".

This is a service for women who drive tourists around the area, encouraging them to start their own business and earn some money. We had Kim and she was an absolute superstar! She dropped us off for dinner and waited to pick us up, took us to the craft market and showed us everything we wanted to see around the town. We were with her for about 3 hours and it cost us just $10, which is such good value for money, and she even gave us a little gift.