Switching Countries Getting from Vietnam to Cambodia was an easy 2 hour flight from Hanoi to Siem Reap. The airport at Siem Reap is very nice, clean and modern. Apparently, it is run by a French company; this is what we were told by our Cambodian driver. Regardless, it is a great small airport with a quick, easy, stress-free flow to it. You purchase your visa on the spot, before processing through Immigration and then grab your bags and go… easy. Our hotel driver was waiting for us just outside and 15 minutes later we were at our temporary home for [View Full Entry]

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Planes, Trains & a Birthday 17 April 2009 - Well, after some needed down-time, our travel spirits were recharged and it time to move on. Our final destination was the mountain town of Sapa and it involved several modes of transport to get there. First involved an easy flight from Hue to Hanoi, where we would catch our over-night train to Sapa. The Hue airport was small with almost no security checking at all. We landed in the clean spacious Hanoi airport to see our favorite site; someone standing outside holding a sign with our names written on it and our [View Full Entry]

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Once the DMZ for the North & South 16 April 2009 Hue It was a 4 hour bus ride from Hoi An to our next destination, the city of Hue. Pronounced “Way”, it was the DMZ for the North & South border, back when the country was divided. We were told by many to expect cooler weather, for it was at a slightly higher elevation. Wrong! It was just as hot and sticky as our last location with a tiny breeze in the evening. Once off the bus (cramped with sad A/C) we made our way to our hotel, and our [View Full Entry]

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The Long, Bumpy Road to Hoi An From Da Lat we took a nice air conditioned bus to the nearby beach town of Nha Trang then caught the over-night, sleeper bus to Hoi An; the next stop in our journey through Vietnam. The “Sleeper” bus was a new experience for us. It was a fairly new bus fitted out with sleeper pods; as many as they could fit in there plus a toilet cubicle. They assign seats/sleepers when you buy the ticket, but you don’t get to choose. When the bus pulled in (on time) we got in line (a few [View Full Entry]

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A Few Days in the Highlands 6 April 09 - DA LAT We decided to fly to Da Lat, instead of an 8 hour bus ride. The flight from Saigon to Da Lat was very easy and again we were surprised at how empty the airport was; both the international side when we arrived and the domestic when we left. It took us all of about 20 minutes to get checked in, zip through security and get to our gate. They had a nice café at the gate area so we staked out a table and had some iced coffee [View Full Entry]

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Hello Vietnam Well, after years of talking about it, we finally made to Vietnam. Landing in Saigon, now known as Ho Chi Minh City, around 7pm; we breezed through customs and right into a row of customer service counters. We walked up to the very first one and within 5 minutes we had exchanged money, purchased a SIM card for our cell-phone and arranged taxi service to our hotel. Done! Everyone talks about the crazy amount of motorbikes on the roads in Saigon and on the drive to our hotel that’s exactly what we saw. Our hotel, Blue River 2, was [View Full Entry]

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The Ins and Outs of Koh Lanta Getting to the small island of Koh Lanta is not easy, but not too difficult either; just more steps involved. We flew from Bangkok to Krabi the day prior, due to their not being a flight early enough for us to catch the ferry. So, one night in Krabi and first thing the next morning we were on the ferry for our 2 hour trip to Koh Lanta. The ferry was not much of a ferry, but more like a long basic boat with plastic seats loosely bolted to the floor and a roof [View Full Entry]

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Saying Good-Bye to Work, Again... Well, we've done it; handed in our resignations yet again. This WILL be the last time for KBR. Yesterday was an interesting day. We arrived into Dubai late evening and immediately went to human resources to resign. The HR gal had already gone home for the day so we were told to come back the next day. It doesn't take the company long to say adios. In the morning HR told us to come back in the afternoon as she had 10 other resignations to handle besides ours. Easy enough, we spent the day at our [View Full Entry]

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Heading Back to Thailand Time for our vacation again; yes it does seem too soon, but the timing just worked out that way. Much deserved, let me tell you; both of us have never worked so hard as we have at these jobs. With the flight connections and time change and the stops we had to make, it took us about 24 hours to get to the island of Phuket, Thailand from Dubai. But once there, we were so, so happy! We stayed on the south side of the island with very few tourists. Most of the people here are locals [View Full Entry]

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On the Road to Luxor Getting out of El Gouna was another experience. Tourist travel is very regulated in Egypt and there tourist buses are not available. In the past any vehicle transporting tourists were required to move in police escorted convoys (in reality a few police would just ride on some of the tourist busses). Just recently (December 08) the convoy rule was relaxed and vehicles now must purchase a police permit to transport tourists and go through police checkpoints. We had assumed we could purchase a bus ticket from El Gouna to Luxor but it wasn't so easy. We [View Full Entry]

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