Monday --- We landed in Sandakan just after 3 p.m. I could tell from the descent that this was a much bigger city. We grabbed a taxi and headed to the Novotel Hotel that Sherry had booked for 2 nights as her treat. We soon realized that the hotel was miles away from the city center and in a shopping mall type area. Not our scene. Fortunately, the Irish girls back at Uncle Tan's had recommended The Meridian Hotel as a nice stay when in the mood to spoil yourself. And we were definitely ready for that after being in the [View Full Entry]

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Friday --- Our Air Asia flight was scheduled to depart at 10:00 a.m. and of course we were running late. Luckily we had a taxi pre-booked and asked him to hurry to BKK. He said yes and was a speed racer! We got on the freeway and zoomed past every car on the road. It was impressive. Unfortunately this was an unnecessary risk since our Air Asia flight was cancelled! An agent booked us on the 1 o'clock flight which left a very short layover in Kuala Lumpur but there was nothing we could do so we didn't waste time being [View Full Entry]

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Thursday --- The van picked us up at 6:30 in the morning for our tour to the Bridge over the River Kwai and the Tiger Temple in the Kanchanaburi Province of Thailand. We were the second ones picked up, so it took a while to grab the other members of our group before driving northwest out of Bangkok. I fell asleep for a bit and when I woke we had arrived at a World War II Cemetery for Allied POW's. We walked around and I noticed how young the soldiers had been at the time they passed. It was pretty depressing. [View Full Entry]

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Tuesday--- Sherry and I caught a share taxi from Siem Reap at 8:30 a.m. to the Cambodian-Thailand border. It took around 3 hours and wasn't a particularly exciting ride. I listened to my ipod and observed the rural side of Cambodia outside the window. We had to stop a few times for cattle, but that was as out of the ordinary as it got. I liked being out in the countryside, it made me think of just how far away I was from home. We reached the town of Poipet on the Cambodian border. Talk about a shit hole! I had [View Full Entry]

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Sunday -- After an exciting and jam packed 24 hours in Phnom Penh we set off on a bus towards Siem Reap, home to Angkor Wat. Our journey aboard the Mekong Express left PP at 8:30 a.m. and we were hoping the ride would take around 5 hours. I slept the first half of the journey, then we made a brief and uneventful stop at some town along the way full of dirt roads and electronic shops. We got back on the bus and I tried to fall asleep without any luck. We were sat at the front of the bus [View Full Entry]

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Saturday-- Sherry and I arrived after a grueling 3 flight journey that departed Salt Lake City on Thursday night. The worst was the LAX-Taipei flight (over 13 hours) but luckily we found some great airport dumplings and beer when we landed (hey, it was night in Salt Lake). First impressions of Cambodia involved the rather efficient and speedy immigration at Phnom Penh's airport. And I liked the shiny new Cambodia visa in my passport. We stepped out into the humidity and grabbed a tuk-tuk to take us to our hotel. I was looking forward to riding in a tuk-tuk and it [View Full Entry]

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Wednesday -- Laura and I put a few days worth of clothes into our packs and were ready to head four hours south of Coco to Manuel Antonio. We got picked up by an air conditioned van that shuttles tourists and backpackers around the island for pretty cheap. On our way down I asked the driver if he would stop at Rio Tarcoles for a moment so we could check out the crocodiles. And I was glad he obliged! Rio Tarcoles is one of the most crocodile infested rivers in the world, and there were several right below the bridge we [View Full Entry]

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Thursday -- My friend Laura and I arrived at Liberia Airport around 2 p.m. after spending the night in Atlanta with my old and dear friend Justin and his girlfriend Annie. Laura had flown to Atlanta from Manchester (UK) while I traveled from Salt Lake so she easily won the furthest traveled contest! Atlanta was a great layover, we took the train to the outer limits of ATL and then Justin and Annie took us out for dinner and drinks. I had been to Atlanta once before and really enjoyed the city. This time was no exception. But enough of that, [View Full Entry]

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Did not feel too hot waking up this morning. Even thinking of Jager made me want to vomit. Oh well it's only once a year right? By the time I woke up my roommates were all gone thankfully, and so I felt sorry for myself for a bit while lying in bed. I managed to finally get up and take a shower. It was raining outside, so I had to think of something to do that was indoors or come up with something I hadn't planned on. After a few minutes I realized I was right by the Hauptbahnhof and came [View Full Entry]

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I arrived at the hostel pretty late last night, so I read a little then went to bed. I'm staying at Wombat's Hostel which is conveniently located adjacent to the Hauptbahnhof (train station). Getting into town was a piece of cake, the public transportation here is pretty amazing. Oh those efficient Germans! Anyway the hostel is nice, it's huge, but my room is super clean and the other girls in the room are polite and quiet. So anyway... March 3rd, today is March 3rd. Oh yeah, my birthday! And I'm on vacation, in a foreign country, and everyone back home is [View Full Entry]

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