After a much less exciting bus trip, we arrived in our final stop, Saigon. Throughout the trip we had heard nothing but negative things about the city, so we were a little unsure about the wisdom of spending our last three days here. Turns out, the critics were wrong and we loved Saigon! We checked in to our last guesthouse and hit the streets of the backpacker area in search of dinner. Saigon is known for its tall skinny buildings built leaning on each other AND its crazy, crazy traffic. 75% of the traffic is motorbikes and you have no hope [View Full Entry]

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The adventure to Can Tho began with a mini-bus trip from Chau Doc. Mini-buses seat 16 people, but children don't count so our's had 21 people on it. We had long since gotten used to the clown car style of travel, but Vietnam had a surprise up its sleeve. Apparently most people living in Chau Doc pretty much never get in a vehicle. About 30 seconds after the bus started moving, the 'sickness' bags were passed around and nearly everyone joined the fun. At first we were really grossed out, but soon it just became ridiculous and it was hard not [View Full Entry]

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Since we were preparing for our final border crossing, we thought we'd try something new and take a long boat journey down the Mekong to Vietnam. For the low, low price of $15/person we got a virtually private boat the full 6 hours to Chau Doc, Vietnam. The boat pulls over to stamp you out of Cambodia (where, amazingly, they didn't ask for any money) and then again for the entry stamp to Vietnam. Then they just pull up to a dock in Chau Doc and turn you loose. The boat that took us from PP to the border looked like [View Full Entry]

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After the grandeur of Angkor Wat, we set out for the capitol of Cambodia, Phnom Penh. One look at a guidebook and you might think we were headed for the kind of place you push heavy furniture against the hotel room door and just wait for the next bus out of town. However, we were pleasantly surprised that we were neither robbed nor injured during our brief stay. After the 5 hour bus journey from Siem Reap (with a Michael Jackson video on repeat....they seem more upset by his death than Americans!), we arrived in PP during a rain shower. While [View Full Entry]

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After surviving the journey to Siem Reap we were pleasantly surprised at what a nice town it was. Lots of great little restaurants and bars to refresh yourself at after a hard day of temple visiting. Of course, the real reason for coming to Siem Reap is to visit the temples of Angkor Wat, often called the 8th wonder of the World. The complex is absolutely massive and nearly everyone hires a Tuk Tuk driver for three days to drive them to all the various temples. We, of course, are not everyone and decided to rent bicycles for the epic three [View Full Entry]

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-----Journey to the Scambodian Border-------- A bit of background on making the journey from Bangkok to Siem Reap (location of Angkor Wat). It has long held a notorious reputation for being one of the most difficult border crossing journeys in SE Asia. Terrible roads, rampant corruption, a dangerous border town. Lucky for us, things have improved......well, slightly. So why would anyone do the land run in the age of cheap flights? Currently Bangkok Airlines has a monopoly on flights between the two cities and charges over $200 one way for the 45 minute flight. So the land crossing it [View Full Entry]

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When last we posted, we were heading out to board the train to Bangkok for the beginning of the Thai portion of our trip. Turns out, Thai trains are WAY better than Chinese trains. Two comfy chairs facing each other and when bedtime comes, they create two relatively comfortable beds for you complete with privacy curtains. Of course, we had been warned that sometimes the train workers are out to make a few extra Baht. One joined us in our card game, while another sold hot water to our friend and never brought change. Luckily it was only $1. After our [View Full Entry]

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Well, our week in Laos went by all too quickly. Since our last post, we've journeyed through the 60's/70's Hippie outpost of Vang Vieng. Now home to what has to be the world's least safe tubing adventure. Basically a pub crawl on a super fast river with each bar throwing you a line and literally reeling the customers in. If the river speed isn't scary enough, there's a variety of trapeze ropes, slides, and other various ways to try to injure yourself. Needless to say, a great time was had by all, even if we have a few bruises to show [View Full Entry]

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Sorry for the long delay between posts. We've resigned ourselves to the fact that we may not be able to post photos until we arrive in Bangkok, so for now a brief synopsis of China before updating you on our current location. end of Beijing- We last we posted photos we had visited the Great Wall, had our requisite Peking Duck dinner (yummy, but expensive and not very much food.....Pat resorted to gnawing on the head and eating the brain). Afterwards, we headed to the olympic village to take those night pictures. In the morning we visited the Temple of Heaven [View Full Entry]

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First, Happy Father's Day to all our Dads! Second, Happy Birthday to Chrissy! Third, we've added pics to the last two posts so go check them out. Lastly, for something different we're posting pics with no blog entry for now. Posting pics is proving to be difficult but internet is easy. We'll explain this pics more soon.......we've also already been through Shanghai, Xi'an (Terracotta Warriors), and are off to see the Pandas in Chengdu tomorrow. Enjoy! [View Full Entry]

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