After a couple of fun-filled and hectic days in Ho Chi Minh it was time to move up the coast and relax for a few days, next stop Hoi An! Hopped a flight to Da Nang and our pickup was there to take us to our hotel, the obviously named Green Field (it is painted a shade of green I had never known existed, and it is probably visible from Space...haha...). With it being a pretty decent whirlwind trip to that point we had decided ahead of time to spend four solid days here, to relax and more importantly celebrate my birthday! More details on that to come... It was dark and raining slightly when we arrived, so after checking in we grabbed a taxi into town and had a bite to eat...the following morning we ... read more

Well our time in Cambodia was sadly up but we were certainly excited about the next leg of the adventure: Vietnam. We bought our tickets for the 12pm fast boat from Phnom Penh to Chau Doc, but with the help of the ticket guy we waited around for a mysterious “1pm” boat that wasn’t listed (the 12pm one was packed and quite small). Turns out this is the boat coming from Chau Doc and they were returning there the same day…so instead of being jammed into a four hour ride in a small boat we ended up being the only ones on a boat twice the size…score! Trip was cool and relaxing, great cruise down the Mekong. Border crossings were smooth and painless, and after four hours we pulled into Chau Doc. Due to the time ... read more

So the next adventure begins with 26 hours of travel, finally touching down in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. This is the beginning of a three week trip that will cover Cambodia, Vietnam and my 40th birthday…haha! Arrived late and hopped a cab to our hotel downtown, a really cool oasis called the Blue Lime. Highly recommended; the place is beautiful, walking distance or short tuk-tuk ride to everything and the people are very friendly. Also arrived to a wonderful surprise; my friends Darryl and Sarah had called ahead and arranged to have cold beer waiting for us in our room along with a note of birthday wishes, fantastic! Really meant a lot, and certainly a great way to start the whole adventure… Next day we got up and went for a stroll to get our bearings, starting ... read more

Didn't get enough of the volcanoes in Nicaragua so we were off to El Castillo and the Arenal Volcano... Arranged a Jeep-Boat-Jeep transport (more of a Bus-Boat-Bus) to get us there, it's apparently a lot faster than trying just the roads. Basically a bus picked us up at our hotel in Santa Elena, and after about an hour trip we arrived at the Laguna de Arenal where our small ferry was waiting. It was a beautiful day, and the Laguna was amazing...it was about another hour on the water, and about twenty minutes in we rounded a point and there was the Arenal volcano in the distance, amazing! It was quite a sight to see it from the Laguna, with the smoke slowly billowing out of the top and drifting right down to the water... We ... read more

After hanging out in Granada for a couple of days it was back in the Yaris and off to San Jorge, departure point for Isla de Ometepe... We were warned that the majority of the roads on the island were atrocious so we had mercy on the rental and left it on the mainland for a few days...again no real plans when we arrived at the ferry but the gal working the info booth quickly put together a package deal for a couple of days that included driver and 4x4, english speaking guide and accomodations at a little resort on the water, pretty much took care of everything! Ometepe is an island in Lake Nicaragua comprised of two volcanoes; Concepcion which is active and Maderas on the southern tip which is dormant. The two land masses ... read more