Boy is it all about the dollar here. The US dollar, that is. When I went to the ATM in Phnom Penh it didn’t even give me a choice between dollars and riel. Only dollars! A little before 9 am I went to the agency to ask where the bus was going to be because there was no point in lugging the bags to the office if we were just going to walk back to our street like we did for the other two tours with them. She said no, that the bus came early and so they were sending someone to pick us up. We rode on motorbikes to the bus with our huge bags and got on to notice that there was almost no open space. This was not because we were late but ... read more

We first went to the agency and have set our bus for 9 am on Monday morning. Hopefully everything will go smoothly and quickly across the border. I keep remembering the crossing from Chile to Mendoza, Argentina where everyone had to get out and stand in pointless lines while they didn't really look through your bags. Apparently we won't have to even leave this "express" bus, so we shall see... We went to the War of the Remnants Museum after lunch and were lucky to see the special exhibit on Agent Orange. Absolutely devastating effects on future generations. Many of the fathers had been sprayed and their children or grandchildren either died from their deformities or live handicapped lives. Some incredible pictures, I have to say, and something not to miss if you're around the area. ... read more

This morning we woke up and got to the travel office at around 7:30 to wait for the bus. 20 minutes later we walked with our tour guide to another office a few streets away where the buses met. This office was literally across the street from our hotel -- we could have had another hour of sleep! Anyways, after some confusion when other buses came to take people on other tours, we were on our minibus/minivan at 8:20. Our first stop was the standard in Viet Nam -- a visit to the Handicapped Handicrafts store. All of the tours stop at these places (we did going to Ha Long Bay too), but this one was pretty neat because here their specialty is with egg shells so they have a more difficult process to go through ... read more

to Buon Ma Thuot, day 1 This day was pretty jam-packed full of things to do. We got up early, had breakfast at the Cyclo Cafe, checked out, returned Eddie's passport to him, loaded the bags, and headed off. Ronald on Eddie's bike, me on Tien's, Eddie's 20-year-old brother-in-law. Actually, he might have been 19 because of the lunar vs. solar calendar, but I didn't ask his year, so I guess we'll never know! Good thing they practically come out of the womb driving motorbikes or else I would have been nervous. We stopped by to see the fisherman at work before heading out of town. Some of them were collecting rocks for building foundations for buildings. Pretty neat to see how fast they are with their hands and those tricky nets (see video below). Fearless ... read more

Today we had lunch at the Green Apple, a restaurant situated between the two buildings of Son & Daughter and owned by rival Backpackers House. They also have a bar, the Red Apple, and that gets pretty darn busy at night. We started walking to Ponagar, Buddhist temples in the city, when "Eddie Murphy" stopped by to say hello. He offered to take us somewhere on his bike (as is very common) and we ended up going with him for 50,000 for the two of us. I was on his brother's bike and Ronald went on the back of Eddie's. The guy actually sort of looked like Eddie Murphy...I wonder who sired him with that name. Anyways, we paid 15,000 to get in and Eddie & brother were going to wait for us and then take ... read more