Tucker and Katie

Team, A quick list. We've eaten some weird animals: crickets, pigs, ducks, chickens, cows, tarantulas, snakes, squid, fish, shrimp, freshwater snails, saltwater snails, scallops, crabs, lobsters and who knows what else. We've taken all sorts of transportation: long-tail boats, river-boats, taxis, minivans, cyclos (bicycle taxis), tuk-tuks, saengthews (pickup truck taxis) buses, sleeper trains, jumbo jets, elephants, small-horse drawn carriages, party boats, sleeper ferries. Spent time in four different countries in Southeast Asia (seven including layovers in airports.) Took three cooking courses in two different countries (lets see if we remember anything.) Jumped off of rocks, trees and boats into rivers, lakes, waterfalls and oceans. Tried and enjoyed probably twenty different beers, most of them in Vietnam, home of the 18 cent street-side beer. Visited p... read more

Friends, We'll do our best to keep it brief. After Don Det and 4,000 Islands we spent a few days in Pakse. I caught the flu and watched the olympics in bed, Katie teamed up with a Spanish woman to head over to the Bolavan Plateau, home to waterfalls shrouded in mist and tea and coffee plantations. A problem we encountered in Southern Laos was a pronounced lack of tourists. With few or no westerners in the area interested in heading on a day trip to the Plateau, we had to pay extra to get the organizer to take a few tourists instead. In Pakse we overdosed on cheap, delicious Indian food and ate the spiciest green papaya salad in existence. We caught a bus heading up to Savanakhet the day after Katie's tour. To whomever ... read more

Wow... Before diving into our three days in the temples of Angkor, lets bridge the gap a little. As mentioned prior, my clothes were missing for two days in Phnom Phen, captives of an uncaring guesthouse it would seem. When they were finally returned to us it was such a joyous occasion that we couldn't bring ourselves to care about the mildewy smell. In all fairness, with the amount of rain we saw, it would be difficult for anyone to dry clothes in southern Cambodia that week. We happily said goodbye to the lakeside district of Phnom Phen and jumped on a bus headed towards Sihanoukville on Cambodia's southwestern coast. While the weather was nice (our first 24 hours there) Sihanoukville was the best. The beach we were staying on was lined with seafood shacks begging ... read more

Equipo, It is currently pouring buckets of rain just outside the internet cafe in Da Lat in the southern highlands of Vietnam. Every minute or so about five gallons of water come pouring off the veranda of the shop across the street when the water weighs it down too much. Three minutes ago there was nothing falling from the sky. Nam. Da Lat is a puzzling town to us, the tourists it attracts are more often honeymooning Vietnamese than western backpackers. All the same, we have enjoyed its cool climate and pine covered hills, as well as its swan shaped paddle boats and enormous flower exposition. Tomorrow we get on a bus, possibly our last bus in Vietnam, to head to Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City. When we last posted we were getting set to head south ... read more