Calyel

So I got to Mui Ne Monday night feeling much better but decided to take it easy. I stayed at the Wind Champ hotel. It is Korean Owned but I wasn't really impressed by it. It was a typical spot, fair on the cleanliness, AC, bed, mosquito net and luke warm water for the shower. I didn't have a shower curtain and no way to put the shower head up so I could take a standing shower with my hands free. At least it had a bar of soap and "shampoo." Went to the bar with the crazy music and met a couple of people from Belgiam. One of the guys works a the sailing club in Mui Ne as a manager of some sort and also helps teach english and etiquite. He gave me some ... read more

Got up early and had Pho for breakfast with my uncle and his colleague. Pho in Vietnam is a little different than back home, but still very delicious. Went back to the hotel and rested a bit before walking to the Main Post office first. It is an old French-era post office very artsy. Pretty great place for a traveler to start out in HCMC. There is tourist info, telephones services and of course the post itself. I also stopped by the Notre Dame Cathedral since it is about 100 feet from the post office. Next stop lunch, ate at Huong Lai, a vietnamese restaurant on the recommendation of my Lonely Planet book. Had a simple noodle dish with veggies and chicken, quite good. After lunch was Independence Palace. Has a lot of info about the ... read more

Got up at 4:30am... damn it was early! I met up with Christy and Sylvie at 5am and we went to Phnom Bahkeng to see the sunrise. I think we were a little late technically for the actual sunrise over the horizon but you couldn't see it anyway. We saw the sun rise over the clouds. This temple is on top of a little mountain which took 20 minutes to climb up. Next Bayon, with all the faces... was fairly big, lots of faces. Definite must see. We then took a break for a traditional Cambodian breakfast called Bobao, a rice porridge with chicken quite delicious. I also drank 2 cups of coffee with condensed milk, mmmmm. Ta Nei, very small very temple that was about a 10 minute walk. we were the only ones checking ... read more

Landed in Thailand from South Korea. I had more pieces of luggage than I planned but I couldn't check everything in. I took some Snacks with me, wonder if I'll actually eat it all or if I'm just wasting space. oh well. It is too expensive to travel by plane to Siem Reap/Angkor Wat ($230) so I am traveling by bus and Taxi ($65 max). Between customs/eating/resting/beer/getting info it took me almost 2 hours to leave the airport. I took a taxi and got to the North bus station where it took 3 Thai men to sell me a used phone. Spend $30 on the phone plus another $12 for the sim card and value on the prepaid. Called my uncle. Free wi-fi allowed me to check my e-mail on my Droid (at least it isn't ... read more