Give Way Down Under We flew on a red-eye flight from Bangkok to Melbourne--9pm to 9am with a 3-hour time change. We were both excited to get one more continent checked off our list. It was really nice to be in a country that observes the same rules that you are used to--though, we do get quite confused on which way to look when crossing the road! Not to mention that you have to get in the far left lane to turn right. At this time, it's spring here, and that means it's quite a bit colder than what we are [View Full Entry]

---

---

Kathmandu, I'll Be Seeing You--An Ode to Cat Stevens We left Bangkok headed for Nepal via Bangladesh on an evening flight--unfortunately, Biman (Bangladesh Airlines) did not get the same memo, so at 4:30 AM, we finally left the Bangkok airport headed for Bangladesh. Upon arrival at 6:30 AM, we found that due to "no fault of their own" our only having 6 hours between connecting flights, instead of 8 hours, we would not be getting a hotel room as promised. We weren't even allowed in their travel lounge--even though, we were given a "travel lounge" button. Once we left Bangladesh (o [View Full Entry]

---

---

Death to Drug Runners As we flew into Indonesia, we glanced at our entry card only to see written in bold, red letters "Death penalty for drug trafficking." Hopefully, no one had put any surprises in our bags! Entering the Bali airport, I looked around and expected a lot more out of a major international hot-spot airport, but it was nothing short of old and broke as I entered one of the most happening travel spots in the world. I jumped in a taxi and took it to the most popular beach in Bali--Kuta Beach. I was supposed to meet Billy's [View Full Entry]

---

---

Arriving in Hanoi We got to Hanoi to find ourselves drenched in sweat. I'm pretty sure this is the first really humid country on our trip--I've been extremely lucky this year! Hanoi was much like it's counterpart Ho Chi Minh City--lots of motos! We headed to our hotel and then out to find some food. For supper, we settled on a nice French cafe and ate Italian and Russian food. Point of fact: Russian salad is not a salad with Russian dressing. It's some kind of potato, carrot, cucumber, egg, pickle, onion, tomato concoction drenched with mayo. Not good. After dinner, [View Full Entry]

---

---

Eat Fresh! When we arrive on Khaosan Road, we always feel a little bit like we're at home. I think it's because there's so much excitement, great food, nice places to stay, and that comfortable feeling of knowing that there will be 10 guys from India selling you a new suit. Luckily, D&D Inn had a room available for us . . . a double twin room, but non-the-less, a nice room. We had much to do as soon as we arrived. We needed to iron out plane tickets to Nepal, get visas to Vietnam, find a day trip to the [View Full Entry]

---

---

KK and BK We arrived late in Kota Kinabalu. I was starving . . . since all I had eaten that day was some bread and jam in Macau. Once we finally found a place to stay--many places were booked up . . . I guess it's travel season for Europeans, we went hunting for a place to eat. The only places open for business at nearly midnight were KFC and Burger King. I'm sure you can guess what we ate . . . Burger King got our business. After dinner, we wandered around the town a little bit looking to [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hong Kong Dong As for the title of this section, in Korean, "dong" means "area or district" where "ddong" means "poo", so we obviously mean, Hong Kong Area. We arrived in Hong Kong during a HUGE rainstorm. I thought it might die down if we waited it out under the cover of the subway entrance, but it just poured harder the longer we waited. We found where we thought our guest house should be . . . only to find it closed up. So, in the pouring rain, we trudged around the streets of Kowloon looking for a guesthouse at just [View Full Entry]

---

---

Oksaka-it To You! When we arrived in Osaka--after the craziest flight day ever--Japan greeted us with that humid, wet heat that only Billy can appreciate. We found our way to the Youth Hostel (in the Osaka Dome), settled in, and went to find some dinner to celebrate our 2nd Anniversary. This year, we ordered out of a vending machine. Though . . . we actually had a meal. I guess there are many restaurants in Japan where you choose what you want from this vending machine, you pay for it in the machine, and a real waitress brings the food out [View Full Entry]

---

---

Saigon We took a bus from Phnom Penh to Saigon. It was a very nice bus, and we had an unexpectedly short drive between the two capitals. When we arrived in Vietnam, we missed being able to speak the local language and know where we were going. We had to rely on good old “yellow book” our trusty Lonely Planet guide. After getting hassled by the local taxi drivers, we decided to walk to our hotel. We found a nice hotel located in Minihotel Alley—the main backpacker hangout. That night, we did a little window-shopping before we ate a delicious [View Full Entry]

---

---

Angkor Wat? After a short flight from Laos to Phnom Penh, we headed up to Siem Reap to see Cambodia's most famous historical temples--in fact, Angkor Wat is the largest religious building in the world. The bus ride from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap was especially nice--all paved roads! Siem Reap is a nice little town in the northwest. When we arrived, it was mid-afternoon and extremely hot, so we decided to find a guesthouse and take a nap! We found a nice room at Shadows of Angkor, right along the riverside. After a little nap, we decided to see [View Full Entry]

---

---