BBMS

We left off in Da Lat... The plan was to go to Hoi An on the coast. We took a four hour bus ride down out of the hills to Nha Trang, a big resort town on the coast of Vietnam where the Miss Universe competition was recently held. We got in around 12 and checked in for an overnight sleeper bus ride to Hoi An. We had about 7 hours till departure, so we opted to take a dip in the ocean and relax on the beach. During lunch, Mike's eye starting itching. He took out his contacts and switched to glasses. Swimming was really nice and relaxing--a great break in the middle of a long haul from Da Lat to Hoi An. We got on the bus that night--our first sleeper in Vietnam. Imagine ... read more

Our next destination led us to the nearby beach resort of Mui Ne, aka Fish Sauce City. Mui Ne is a 4 hour bus ride from HoChiMinh City and known for it's fish sauce factories and large tatooine-style sand dunes. It is also quite a popular spot for city locals to take a weekend beach getaway. For us, it would be our first visit back to a beach outside of Thailand. As expected, the Mui Ne beaches were not nearly as good as the islands in Thailand, but it was quite enjoyable to get back to the beach life and away from the urban jungle. We stayed 4 nights at a fairly nice resort on the seaside - mainly kicking back by the poolside: reading and listening to fantastic solid gold 80's music coming out of ... read more

We found these names to be interchangeable, as we see both written everywhere. The bus ride from Phnom Penh was pretty painless, and it of course dropped us right in the middle of the land of backpackers in district 1. I sat with an iced coffee in air con, watching the bags, while Mike followed a friendly lady to look at some rooms. We got a very clean fan room with hot water for $8 a night...not bad (we upgraded to a/c after the mekong tour). Our hotel is behind the main street through a maze of alleys, and its really just a building that is wide enough for one room on each floor (like so many buildings here), with a family living on the first floor. When we got back from the Mekong, the family ... read more

Continuing our adventure through the temples....we proceeded to the outlying regions on Friday. Hinda drove us about 50 km north of Angkor Wat on flat paved roads through farmlands and small towns...beautiful countryside scenery, until we reached Banteay Srei, aka the Citadel of the Women--as recent as 1993 it was mined by the Khmer Rouge. It's a small temple known for it's intricate carvings and dedication to women. We then drove another 15 km on flat dusty roads through more remote farmlands to a site called Kbal Spean, aka - River of 1000 lingas. Here we got off and took a small 30 minute hike to a famous stream and small waterfall. The stream is considered holy as the riverbed of the stream was ornately carved with "lingas," small little half-domed shapes. But now, most of ... read more

After a week of rest and reading in Bangkok, we headed out towards Cambodia. A five hour bus ride from Bangkok to the border on a so-so bus, we were planning on getting our visas at the border, as we had heard many people do. Along the way, we first sat on the bus in bkk while the bus guy told everyone he could get their visas faster and for 1200 baht because he is "under the table". Not surprisingly, there were several takers on the bus who handed over their passports. We decided to hold out, as this was about $40, and we heard a visa was $20. Five hours later, we pull up to a lunch stop (not the border we are looking for), and are told that we wait here for 30 minutes ... read more