porpcorn

Well, I'm writting this a little late but I figured Siem Reap deserves an entry. After coming from Saigon Vietnam we took a series of buses, stopping for a few nights in Phnom Phen. Went to Toul Sleng prison, an old school turned Khmer prison in the 70's where genocide and torture took place against people who committed 'treason' against the khmer government. Talk about buzz kill. I mean they had barbed wire fences covering the balconies just so prisoners couldn't try to commit suicide. Wow... it's incredible that this was happening less than 30 years ago. It was definitely a sombering experience but an important part of Cambodia's history. The killing fields (mass grave site for the prisoners) were also a tuk tuk ride away but we didn't get a chance to head out there. ... read more

So after reading some not so great reviews on Da Lat, right after I was getting really excited to come here, I come to find out... they're all BULLSHIT. Or maybe not just anyone knows how to have fun like us? I mean, we are pretty good at it. Anyways, our first full day we walked around the square trying to figure out what to do. It seemed like all the 'sights' were pretty far distances from each other. We decided to go to the Hang Nga crazy house considering it was the tourist thing to do. It's a plot of 3 to 4 buildings shaped like tree's with different themed rooms (tiger room, eagle room, termite room, etc) and is as if Hang Nga (the architect) had just watched Alice in Wonderland after taking acid ... read more

Ahoy we found ocean! I cannot believe that this is the first time we've been near the ocean after 4 1/2 weeks of travel (with the exception of the bunk snorkel trip in Hoi An). I think serious beach time should be mandatory on any vacation. Especially if you live/work in the snow at bellow freezing temperatures for 5 months out of the year. Anyways. Nha Trang has done us well the last few days and we actually ended up staying a few nights longer than expected (partly willingly and partly unwilllingly because the buses were full until today). On our first full day we pretty much slept from a horrid sleeper bus ride, but once we were refreshened walked around and explored the town. We ate dinner at Crazy Kim's, and I gotta say whose ... read more

We started our trek into Vietnam a few days ago. Thanks to this fabulous Vietnamese man, Larry who was on business in Laos, helping us along the way. Chatting it up along the 15 hour bus ride, extremely car sick, trying not to be rude and keeping conversation. Telling me how he drank weasel poop coffee in pakxe (a farm you can find up in the bolevan plateau) and is a vice director of a trading company up in Hanoi. Not going to lie this weasel poop coffee sounded intriguing and I'm ashamed I missed out (which is a luxury here in SE Asia and sells for 20 US dollars a cup). Anyways, he was of much help, telling us where to go for our exit stamps for Laos, our visa checks, our entry stamps for ... read more

Made it to Vientiane after taking a bus that I feel I could probably use a tetanus shot after riding in. It was pouring rain the whole drive and not only was in raining outside but it was also raining in the bus. and on my lap. But I guess you get what you pay for, right? 30,000 kip for one of the local buses (less than 4USD)... hey throw some cattle in the back, some screaming babies, cut out the floor of the bus and we'll Flinstone our asses to Vientiane... for 4 bucks... you got a DEAL! Anyways, we spent a whole 5 minutes looking for a guest house... frustrated, soaking wet, hungry, etc. We found one. And it has a TV! Holy mole! WITH HBO! Am I seeing things? After watching My Girl ... read more

Sabai-Dee... hello... Made it to Laos via 2 day slow boat ride through the Laos mountains. It is absolutely gorgeous here... I'm in love with this place (100x more than Thailand). It also seems much more cleaner and I feel that the people are much more polite. Drivers actually come to a complete stop when coming to a crosswalk full of people. From Chiang Mai we headed north to Chiang Rai, which wasn't all that impressive, and from there took a bus to the border at Chiang Khong (Thai side) and Huay Xai (Lao side). Just by crossing the river you could see a huge change. We got to Luang Prabang which is a very cute little tourist town. It almost has a French-villa type of feel. It's nestled right in between where the Mekong river ... read more

Greetings from Bangkok. We arrived yesterday after 20 hours of planes and layovers. We spent 3 hours in Taipei Taiwan, and I'll just say they have some very interesting and blunt ways of advertising haha. We took a taxi into Khoasan Road and walked around the markets before we got too hot and had to jump in the rooftop pool at our hostel. Went to the vendors right outside our hostel and had a scrumpdidiliumptious meal of pad thai and spring rolls for only 40 or so baht (just over $1). There are so many pretty colors here... even flying into bangkok, all of the farms and crop fields are so perfectly rectangular and the most vibrant colors of green.. seems almost like a painting. Yesterday we went to sleep at around 6pm Thailand time because ... read more