Today we had another lazy day and were productive only when we bought our bus tickets to Bangkok. We did go to the tour place at 12:00, but the guy wasn’t there, so we have rescheduled the meeting to 19:00…hopefully he’ll be there. Anyways, the bus seems to be about the same price to have them make all the connections for you rather than to do it on our own. So we found a place that gave it to us for 240,000 kip each ($30) and we have to meet at the restaurant/guesthouse/tour agency at 11 tomorrow morning. We could have bought a bus to Ubon in Thailand and then switched to train, but it was way more expensive. So first we go to Pakse by van and then take a bus to Ubon and then ... read more

Today we slept in until we rose (hey, we’d had a long couple of days) and at about 12:30 or 13:00 went to lunch and rented bikes. We had been told that Don Kane island was the more touristy one and thought it would be worth it to wander around there. It was a short and very bumpy ride to the bridge connecting the two and we were unhappy to have to pay to get onto the island. We didn’t really know where we were going so we just started riding and ended up at Long Beach. There are three restaurant huts there and I think it’s the place you have to go to in order to catch a boat to see the dolphins. We just wanted to explore and I wanted to cool off in ... read more

Today was a lazy day and we really didn't do anything apart from buy bus tickets to Laos. This in and of itself, is quite an ordeal. I even called the company for the prices because we had been told from $25 - 38. The company told me 25 with a free pick up at the hotel. No idea what it costs for locals though. Basically, there are about 2 or 3 options and most places only offer you one -- 5:30 am, 12 hours, and varying prices. Ronald found one spot that offered a night bus and a VIP option, so we bought from there. They had $26 listed as the price, but I asked them if it wasn't 25, and then they gave me that price. Who knows what the real price is, but ... read more

Today we were picked up by Rany at 9:30 and first went to Angkor Wat, the main temple. We went to a few others, but really I thought the most interesting one was Ta Prohm because it had humongous trees growing on top of it and all around it. There's a video below of some ants that were there, crawling along a really long wire. Our plan for the evening was to go to the COFCO orphanage to see their dance show – we had gotten a flier from one of the kids and thought it would be fun to go to. We wanted to donate things instead of money, so we wanted to buy school supplies. Rany suggested 50 kilos of rice, but we declined for two reasons: rice is boring, and they can probably ... read more

Today we took a “thirty-minute ride” in a tuk tuk from close to our guesthouse to Choeung Ek, also known as the Killing Fields, and then the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum for $12. We had the slowest driver on the face of the planet, but we did arrive safely, so I guess that’s a good tradeoff. It was $2 to get in and you can hire a guide there, but we decided not to and went first to their little museum. Here they had some photos on display of some of the leaders and gave a little background information on what had happened. They also showed a video that did about the same thing, documented the highlights of the region’s history. After the museum we walked outside to where the memorial temple was and walked around ... read more