Phuk Et

In the absence of cats, and with only a few dogs to be found, Jen has taken to feeding the local birds. (Local restaurants, I'm sure, are absolutely thrilled about this.) We discovered an Italian-style cracker called Scrack, and if she waits long enough, they'll come up and eat it from her hand.

She's also been a hit with one of the local beach bum pooches, Scoobes. (Seriously, I've taken to calling her the animal whisperer.) Twice he has joined us in our afternoon sunbathing, huddled in the shade beneath her chair.

As for me, I have only attracted the attention of an older Australian gentleman while out for a walk on the beach one morning. As I walked briskly by the water, I overtook him as he ambled in the same direction. I was dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, hair pulled back in a messy ponytail. (In other words, so NOT hot.) He wore a black speedo, and about 100 extra pounds.

He called out to me as I walked past, offering me a piggy-back ride if I got tired. I laughed, briefly, and picked up my pace. In parting, he said, "or maybe you could give me one." I kept walking.

Once I reached the end of the beach, I turned to make my way back. This time, I walked farther from the shore, in the softer sand. I saw my Australian friend closing in, still headed in the opposite direction. I turned my gaze towards the tree-lined street that bordered the beach and tried to avoid eye contact.

Unfortunately, he changed course and made straight for me. He told me I was a "ray of sunshine" and had made the morning walk worthwhile. I thanked him and he chuckled, adding "I'm an old dog, aren't I?" I laughed and told him to enjoy the rest of his walk as I hurried back to the hotel.

See, Frank? Nothing to worry about!

For dinner Saturday night, we tried a Thai place that sat right on the beach. I don't remember much about the food, only the conversation at a neighboring table that we couldn't help but overhear. There were two older British men and three, rather young, British girls. What caught my attention initially was their comments on penises: whether size mattered (not necessarily), if circumsised or not was preferred (no definite consensus here). It was hard to ignore, as they were drinking heavily and talking loudly. The conversation then moved onto the topic of Thai girls, and how one of the men in particular had found a few who wanted to sleep with him for free, but begged him for some money so they wouldn't lose face in front of their friends.

I was appalled, both that this might happen and that he was talking about it so nonchalantly. He went on to describe how he'd gotten one girl pregnant, and it was years before he even bothered to meet his daughter. He talked about how "they" all had different men, each paying for some aspect of their life: car, house, the multiple children running around, etc.

Now, I don't know a lot about this sort of thing, like how prevalent it is, or whether or not some of the older-white-man-and-young-Thai-girl couples you see here are genuinely based in love. But on the surface, I find it disturbing in the very least.

And just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, one of the girls changed the subject to how much she hated all Americans. No explanation, no exceptions. At this point I was seriously tempted to turn around and interrupt, but I bit my tongue (what good would it really have done?), we paid our bill and went to find some ice cream...

There's a security guard at our hotel. He stays mainly in the front, with his handy whistle to help direct parking efforts. Every time we walk by, he clicks his shoes together and salutes us. He adds a somewhat sinister chuckle after we've passed by. Charming, really.

And thus, our time in SE Asia is nearly up. We leave at 7:00am Thursday morning, which is 5:00pm Wednesday, LA-time. Then, after approx. 29 hours of traveling, we land back in reality. Or, as close to reality as La La Land can be!

Safe travel wishes to Audrey, who'll head in the opposite direction on Friday!

And I'll see if I can't come up with some type of conclusion to post when I get home!

Rai Lay All the Way

Let me start this post by saying: I LOVE Rai Lay. If it had a few more good food options, I probably would've begged Jen to stay there for the remainder of our trip. But, alas, all good things must come to an end.

But first, more climbing! On Wednesday, we spent the morning lying by the pool where Jen burned herself right good. In the afternoon, we went back to Hot Rocks to rent some climbing gear and headed to the 1-2-3 Wall for Jen's first lead climb EVER!!!

Here, take a look:



Impressive, no? And for good measure, me, her humble belay slave:



The rest of the afternoon was spent climbing, and then relaxing, followed by some delicious pizza for dinner. (What? A girl can only eat so much rice and noodles!)

We left Rai Lay on Thursday, taking a speedboat to Phuket Town, and then a van to Kata Beach, where we're spending the last week of our trip.

After checking into the hotel, I made the fatal mistake of turning on the tv. By some mysterious hand of fate, it was programmed to ESPN and they were showing a replay of the Chelsea v. Manchester United Champions League game. Jen and I took it as a sign and spent a good portion of the afternoon watching the game, as it stretched into overtime and eventually progressed to a shoot out. I think we were both crying with John Terry when Chelsea lost, after playing so well, and down a man in the end.

But we shook off the malaise and explored Kata during the afternoon. Friday was spent at the beach, with Jen checking out the waves for a possible surfing excursion later in the week and me burning myself rather successfully...

We both decided to avoid too much sun exposure yesterday, and instead walked toward Karon Beach and played a round of mini golf. (It was awesome!)

And now it's Sunday, and we're headed back to the beach. We leave Kata early Thursday morning, to fly to Bangkok, catch another flight to Hong Kong and then from where, LA. I cannot believe it's been almost six weeks...

Adventure Race-ing It

When the alarm went off at the un-Godly early hour of 6am on Monday, Jen and I both groaned and then dragged ourselves out of bed. We hadn't been able to book our flight to Bangkok ahead of time (apparently the airlines are closed on the weekends?!) so we were planning on getting to the airport around 9am to finagle our way into a flight later that morning.

We had been warned about Monday morning traffic in HCMC and it's no joke. It took nearly two hours to go the 7km from center city to the international terminal. Along the way we passed a parade in honor of Uncle Ho's 118th birthday. Because, why wouldn't you hold that on a Monday morning at 8am?

We arrived at the airport and went to the ticketing counter. We asked the woman if there were any flights available to Bangkok. She asked, increduously, "today?" Um, yes please. We soon had our one-way tickets in hand and were checking our baggage. (Which seemed to have gained a couple kilos unbeknownst to us...)

After making it through immigration and security, we passed two wankers, one wearing an iPood t-shirt, with a picture of a man sitting on a toilet, and the other wearing a FedSex t-shirt... seriously, what were they thinking?! We killed the time until our flight buy ordering over-priced drinks at the Illy cafe and perusing the duty free shops, where water was more expensive than LAX.

The short flight on Vietnam Airlines (have I told you how much I love their hand wipes? They smell SO good!) was uneventful and we soon landed at Bangkok. We went through immigration, yet again, collected our bags and hiked the three flights up to domestic departures, to book our flights to Krabi. After getting the run-around by a travel agent, we decided to go directly to the AirAsia counter and book there. Right as we were about to pay, their computer system crashed. So we sat in front of the counter for over an hour while they tried to get back online.



Luckily, they pulled it off, we booked our tickets, checked our baggage, walked to our boarding gate and bum-rushed the airplane (apparently, AirAsia is a free-for-all seating arrangement, a la Southwest). This flight was also short and sweet and we soon found ourselves at Krabi Internation airport. After collecting our packs (I swear they get heavier each time) we hopped a shuttle to the Ao Nang pier, got an (expensive) long-tail boat ride to Rai Lay (it's only accessible by boat) and found a hotel for the evening.



The next day, we awoke to the sounds of construction outside our door. The sounds stopped for awhile after Jen went out and spoke to the workmen, but we decided to find a new hotel after breakfast. When that was all sorted out, we rented some climbing gear and set off for Diamond Cave. As soon as we got there, it started to rain, so we sought refuge in the bar situated next to the crag (I could really get used to that kind of layout...) and waited it out. Soon the sky cleared and I was on my first lead in quite some time. We stuck with some of the easier climbs (rated 5s on the French scale) and had a wonderful time.

(The view from the top.)

Of course, even when you're not in LA, you're still in LA, and the couple climbing nearest us was comprised of some guy named Luke and Peta "La Femme Nikita" Wilson. Random.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing around the pool and enjoying our swank digs:

Stop the Presses!

I can't believe I almost forgot to tell you. Please, PLEASE, say you'll forgive me? Really, I can't go on until I know that you don't hold it against me...

It's ok? Really? Okay, well, then-

On our last night in HCMC, we went out to dinner. It was a local place, around the corner from the apartment. I played it pretty straight with some fried rice and spring rolls. But Jen, ooh boy. Jen went all out...

Jen ate SCORPION!!! And washed it all down with some crocodile!

(I would love to attach the picture here, but I have stupidly forgotten the cord. Which, admittedly, is better than the time I forgot the camera.)

So, picture(s) to follow. My sincerest apologies. But you've already said you forgive me, so there!

ADDENDUM: the photos!

Uncle Ho

I am only slightly ashamed to admit that Jen and I spent our first full day in Ho Chi Minh doing laundry... do you have any idea how dirty clothes get after four weeks?!

But on Friday, we ventured out to see the sights. First on our list was the Reunification Palace:



For the low, low price of 15,000 dong (approx. $1) we got a guided tour of the entire palace, including the game room (with its moh jong table) and the bomb shelter. Unfortunately, for no added cost, we also got an extremely irritating girl who flirted with our guide part of the time and neglected to pay attention the rest of the time, so the poor guy had to repeat himself. But then she gave him her cell phone to play mah jong on, so maybe it was ok...

We decided to stop for lunch at a place that our hosts had recommended: Pho 2000. Apparently, it is highly recommended by a lot of people, as there was a photo of President Clinton eating there during his 1999 visit. Who knew we were so cool?

That evening we couldn't hold out any longer (ok, I couldn't) and we stopped at Cantina, a Mexican restaurant run by a Californian. I have to say, the chips were delicious, the choice of salsas not bad and my burrito was pretty good too. Oh, and the margaritas were excellent :) However, it was no Los Jerritos, so I'll be making a stop there (almost) as soon as I get home!

Saturday, we visited the War Remnants Museum. There was an exhibit on war photographers who had been killed while reporting, malformed fetuses due to Agent Orange exposure on display and "tiger cages" (where prisoners were kept) that you could walk through. Not fun.

We tried to lighten the mood that evening with a water puppet show. The show itself was highly entertaining. I tried to take lots of pictures, but the lighting wasn't the greatest:



The rest of our time in HCMC was spent wandering around, bargaining over pearls and fake Rolexes and maybe getting pampered a little bit at the spa... It was a nice mix of sight-seeing and relaxing. Ya know, to better prepare us for Rai Lay and Kata, which would be ALL relaxing!

Forgotten Gems

In the rush of writing posts to keep up with the demands of our (approximately 2-4) readers, I've forgotten some particularly funny little gems. So, here you go:

While walking around Bangkok early in our trip, a tuk tuk driver offered us a ride for 15B. We declined and started to walk away. He called after us, "ok, 20B!" This man needs a lesson in bargaining technique. One does not get much business by raising prices.

During our exploration of the Pak Ou Caves north of Luang Prabang, we came across some children selling little birds in cages. Apparently, if we bought them, we could set them free. (An excellent selling tactic, I might add, that appeals to all the guilt-ridden tourists, especially Americans, who can't bear the thought of poor, innocent creatures behind bars.) As disturbing as this was, it wasn't nearly as bad as the two captive moles, each tethered by a string around one foot, as the children casually hung them upside down. Jen still cries herself to sleep at night for neglecting to save them from their captors.

I've already mentioned the multitude of children selling postcards, guide books, water, etc at the Temples of Angkor. I was proud, and then ashamed, when I bargained one of them down from $2 to $1 for a 10-pack of postcards. A little while later, as we walked to the next temple, one of the girls approached Jen, selling postcards. She suggested that she could send one to her husband. Jen mentioned that she didn't have a husband. "Well, then, your boyfriend," said the girl. Jen told her that she didn't have a boyfriend. "Wanna know why you have no boyfriend?" the girl asked. "Because you no buy postcards." Clever, that one.

Later that day, as we splashed through puddles on our spiffy bicycles, a couple on a moto nearly took Jen out as they turned into her from a side road. Jen stopped suddenly and said "dude!" At which they laughed. Since Jen was not run over, I feel okay admitting that I too laughed when I heard the story afterwards. The girl has been in LA way too long!

I often marvel at the optimism of the (mostly female) tourists who wear white pants while out and about. It's just not a good idea.

In an effort to decrease the weight of my pack, I've taken to leaving something behind everywhere we go. In Bangkok, it was a book. (Which, admittedly, I was able to sell, so I didn't exactly leave it, I suppose.) Same in Kanchanaburi and Chiang Mai. In Luang Prabang, I left behind a pair of cheap convertible pants that had never fit quite right. In Phnom Penh, another book, this time sitting on the nightstand, waiting for the next unsuspecting tourist. (It was a really wretched book.) In Hanoi, a book and a pair of shorts I had bought in Luang Prabang in an ill-advised moment of consumerism. I tried to leave a tank top on the boat, but the crew found it before we disembarked and I had to take it with. Suddenly, I'm reminded of that Mitch Hedburg line about people passing out flyers on the street. "Here, you throw this away..."

The inevitable finally happened in Hanoi: our van driver hit a moto. It was a narrow street, with motos all around, and suddenly, thud. Luckily, she looked surprised more than injured, so the people on the sidewalk (and I use that term loosely) helped her up, righted her bike, and we kept driving.

We're staying in Ho Chi Minh City right now, at the apartment of my best friend's old bosses. They are currently out of town, and were incredibly kind in offering us their place to stay for the duration of our visit. (Their generosity overwhelms me, and I hope in the future I am able to reciprocate in some way.) They also arranged for the building's van to pick us up from the airport, thus eliminating the possibility of another errant taxi driver. When we came out of the airport with our baggage, the driver was holding a sign that said "Welcome Ms. Kristen Jerry and Ms. Jen Dusik..."

Random Picture Post

A scoop of Luang Prabang's finest mint ice cream:


Jo Ma Cafe, or as we call it, Jo Mama:


In case you were wondering, this is how you cook a snake:


Our first tuk-tuk ride, ever, in Phnom Penh:

We're Just Along for the Ride

Breakfast on Tuesday was early, at 7:30am. But man, was it delicious! Anyone who serves cake for breakfast and a decent cup of coffee is okay with me!

Dorothy and Caroline took off a little while later, heading back to shore and a flight back to Melbourne. Jen and I relaxed on the top deck and only realized in the evening that we had succeeded in burning ourselves quite well. We did a drive by (sail by?) of a pearl farm and then sailed to a local fishing village, to see the school. It basically consisted of a few rooms floating amongst the houseboats, and the teacher who spoke with us was very sweet. Although she never said directly, she hinted at how hard it was to live on the school boat five days a week, with a two hour journey back to the mainland on the weekends. I can only imagine.


After that, an amazing lunch, again, where the chef seemed to forget he was only cooking for two now. Tam, our guide, took us into a secret little cave that required a flash light, and thought he was pretty funny when he pretended not to know how to get back. (Actually, he was pretty funny, but the complete darkness kinda freaked me out, and made me wish I had brought my headlamp!)


We went for a swim when we got back to the boat, but scared ourselves with Jen's stories of the giant catfish that live in the bay! We bought some water off the women who row up with their boats filled with Pringles and Choco Pies (wtf?) and then I decided to give up my previous dislike of Oreos, since I was craving chocolate so bad!


Everyone lazed around after that, with a few of the crew sacked out, sleeping on the boat. Later, when we dropped anchor for the night, Jen and I protected our sunburned bodies by reading in the shade while the crew played cards in the Captain's quarters. It was a mix of feeling decadent, having the boat all to ourselves, and feeling like one of the crew, which was pretty cool.

Rub the Head for Longevity

Monday morning, we were scheduled to leave for Ha Long Bay between 8:00 and 8:30am. Mornings are always a little rough for us, and the lackluster breakfast didn't help much. (I swear, I won't be able to eat another egg for months and months to come.) Even worse, the coffee was the most wretched thing I had ever tasted! I had such high hopes, after reading in the Vietnam Airlines Heritage magazine that the Vietnamese were big coffee lovers. Sigh.

The bus arrived, we loaded up, picked up the rest of the group and set off. The French couple in front of us kept making out, which made it even harder for us to hold onto our breakfasts, but eventually the guy settled in to sleep on his girlfriend's lap and we were spared any more overt PDA.


Most of the people were only going for a day trip, so when we got onto our boat, it was just Jen and me and two Aussie girls, Dorothy and Caroline.


Once we were settled in our cabins and headed out of port, we sat down for lunch. The table was covered in white linen, our napkins were elaborately folded and we had two servers waiting on us.


Even better was the food: The first course was crab, which the waiter had to crack for all of us except Jen. (Not bad for a recent vegetarian!) Next were oysters, then seafood salad, then chicken and rice and tofu and veggies. For dessert, pineapple. It was delicious, but someone needs to explain to the chef that fruit is NOT dessert! (I know you agree, Scott.)

In the afternoon, we stopped to walk around the largest caves in Ha Long Bay, but it was quite touristy. When we got to the first section, there were these two Russian women, wearing low-cut pants with even lower-cut tops and espadrilles, posing somewhat seductively against the stalactites (stalagmites?). Jen and I could barely contain our laughter, but we managed to leave the spectacle behind and made our way to the turtle formation and rub its head for longevity and good luck.

We tried to see the crocodile and prince/princess formations our guide pointed out. (Or, as the French guide behind us said, "Napoleon et Josephine!" Why does everything sound so much funnier in French? Especially French with a Vietnamese accent.)

After that, it was back to the boat to kayak. Jen and I went around quite a bit, and then met Dorothy and Caroline back at the boat for a swim. Jen even jumped off the top deck!


Dinner was spectacular, with stuffed crabs, fishballs (like meatballs, except with fish, duh), prawns (eliciting a "that's one head I won't be sucking" comment from my traveling partner), fried pork and calamari, green beans, fresh fish and rice. I couldn't finish it all, but Frank, you'll be happy to know, they had normal Coke. (I tried to explain the difference between the Cokes, that different factories use different kinds of sugar, but I don't think the girls believed me. You'll have to give me the rundown again, ok?)

The rest of the evening passed in a blur of good conversation, although Jen and I did most of the talking. (Ok, ok, I did most of the talking. Somethings never change, no matter how many international date lines you cross...)

Another Important Question Answered

After our six hour bus ride to Ho Chi Minh City (did I mention the leaking AC units?) we hopped straight into a taxi and sped towards the airport, hoping to get a flight to Ha Noi that night. We had tried to book ahead in Luang Prabang and Siem Reap, but at both Vietnam Airline desks, they told us it would make more sense, and be cheaper, to just go to the airport in HCMC and book there.

Now, for such a simple concept, it baffled Jen and I. Not only can you not book your own tickets online with Vietnam Airlines, which I'm used to doing in the states, but it's cheaper to book at the airport, right before you want to fly? I think Jen and I had to have them explain it at least three times as we struggled with the simplicity of the idea.

But we decided to go for it and see what happened. We arrived at HCMC airport at 7:00pm and went straight to the ticket counter. The woman informed us that she could get us on the 8:10pm flight to Ha Noi and booked our return flight for Wednesday evening as well. Knowing full well that we now had less than an hour to check our baggage, make it through security and board our plane before take off, we rushed to the check in line.

It was moving slowly, owing partly to the number of boxes filled with apples and wrapped in plastic that one guy was checking (but not before he squished the longest centipede ever, inside the plastic, with his foot) and a general inability to queue properly. (Seriously, the same thing happened in Paris. Do people just not know how to stand in a line?!)

Finally our baggage was checked and we set off for security. We breezed through, and got to our gate just as people were lining up to board. We were flying a 777-200 and it was nearly empty. After our dinner (dumplings), I got up to use the restroom. I never understood before how people were able to join the mile-high club, but now I do. That bathroom was huge!!! It was literally the first thing that popped into my head when I opened the door. (The second involved the geographical equation of the distance between me and my husband, but I won't elaborate, as there is a chance my parents and a large portion of my family are reading this...)

We found a taxi as soon as we landed in Ha Noi and hoped for the best. All seemed to be going well until he took us to the wrong hotel. The proprietor opened Jen's door and tried to get us out of the taxi, saying he had rooms available. I once again lied, and said we had reservations at another hotel, and had already paid. He ended up giving our driver directions to the other hotel, but after the driver stopped to ask a teenage boy on the street where to go, I started to worry again. Shortly thereafter he stopped in front of a stone bridge, pointed down the street to our left, and said "there it is, I can't drive down there, no cars."

Jen and I heaved our bags out of the trunk and walked the short distance to our hotel. We had reservations for Sunday night, but not Saturday, since we weren't sure when we would arrive. As luck would have it, they didn't have any rooms available that night, but the owner did have another hotel, so a few minutes later we were walking down the street to the other location. Feeling exhausted from our long day of traveling, we collapsed onto the beds and fell asleep immediately.

Two Days in Phnom Penh

We slept in on Thursday, and spent the afternoon wandering around the city. I have to admit, I won't be sad to get away from the incessant beeping, staring and cries of "tuk tuk lady." It makes it difficult to get around. And the complete lack of traffic rules don't help! Walking around the city means taking your life in your hands with each step you take. It's an "every man for himself" kind of policy, I think. Normally, I'm not one to shy away from walking out in front of traffic when I think its my turn, but even I got a little nervous a few times!

We happened up a cafe that sold those waffles I love so much, and an interesting little Euro/American market that sold everything from Barilla to Ritz to bottles of wine only marginally more expensive than Trader Joe's. After that, tired as we were, we walked by the Royal Palace and contented ourselves with taking exterior shots, rather than do the whole tour thing.

We hit up the Foreign Correspondents' Club for dinner that evening, a must-see according to some friends. We ran into the three older Aussie men we had gone to the Tiger Temple in Kanchanabur with, and chatted with them a bit. I had worried about them, since they had mentioned they were going to Myanmar, but it turns out they never made it there.

It's funny how you start to recognize people on your travels. These guys, and then there was this kid with bad tribal tattoos down both arms that we saw in Chiang Mai and Luang Prabang. There've probably been more, but these two stick out most because the Aussies were super nice and the kid had REALLY bad tattoos.

Jen and I slept in pretty late the next day, partly due to our exhaustion and mostly due to the bottle of wine we split at FCC to celebrate the half-way mark of our trip!

Friday afternoon was dismal, as we had decided to spend it Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and Choeung Ek Killing Fields. Appropriately enough, there were thunderstorms moving through and the rain sounded angry as it fell. Words cannot express the awful things this country has experienced. Apparently, Pol Pot started the evacuation of Phnom Penh in 1975 by claiming that America was going to bomb the city. Coming right on the heels of the Vietnam War, I'm not surprised that people fled. I hate to think that fear of America helped the Khmer Rouge with their disgusting plans.

Six Hour Bus Rides + Tuk Tuk Drivers = Fun (Not)

Let me start out by saying: when we booked our bus tickets, we were told breakfast would be served on board. So, we slept in a bit in the morning, I had a quick cup of coffee, and then we departed on the bus that would bring us to the real bus. (And you know how much Jen and I love having to switch buses.)

All we got was a rest stop 1/3 of the way through, with one miserably slow moving restaurant that meant we didn't have time to stop and eat. We each grabbed something from a stall, and each wished we could get back not only our money, but the portions of our stomachs that had to suffer the indignity of digesting the "food."



Add to the mix that our seats were at the very back of this "VIP" bus, and we were squished in between a guy with a briefcase hard enough to be transporting some serious currency and a couple, the female half of whom decided that her section of the bus included my lap for her feet.

And don't even ask about the toilet.

Upon our arrival in Phnom Penh, we had barely disembarked and there were hands reaching for us, shouting "tuk tuk lady?" We both got frustrated and walked off, not caring how long of a trudge to the hotel was ahead of us.

Luckily, it wasn't far, the staff was pleasant and the rooms clean and large. (And no shower/toilet/sink combo we'd grown so fond of.) We were both starving and could barely hold on long enough to make it to the restaurant next door. We gorged ourselves, racking up a bit of a bill! Cambodia on a whole is quite expensive, comparatively, and annoyingly, prefers using US Dollars, but gives change in Cambodian riels. And since everyone likes to round, we got a little shafted on the exchange each time.

Which isn't to say that it was all bad. After all, we saw this guy, just walking along the streets:

Bits and Pieces

In response to Audrey's question re: how the snake was cooked. It was barbequed. Sort of. With some oil and vegetables. On a portable cooker-thing at our table. Did I mention it smelled bad? And looked like brains? I have a picture, but I haven't been able to download mine yet. As soon as I do, I'll put it up.

I also wanted to tell you about the bathroom we stopped at yesterday, on the bus from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City. Except it wasn't so much a bathroom as a room with a tile floor that slanted slightly to a drain. In one corner was a rather large tub, I suppose you could say, filled to the brim with water, and a scooper of sorts with which to dump water on the floor after you were done. And that was it.

Arriving in Vietnam has done nothing to quench my desire for a motorbike. If anything, it has increased it. As we drove into HCMC last night, the streets were filled with people on motorbikes (sometimes three to four per bike), all wearing helmets of various colors. It was a sea of color, zigzaging across the city. I so want to buy a helmet here for the motorbike I'm getting when I return to LA. After I find a job...

Somehow, way back in Thailand, I managed to change my MySpace account to Spanish. I don't know how I did it, but more importantly, I don't know how to undo it. Ah well. For now, let's just say I'm learning Spanish for my next trip!

I've included a photo here that I forgot in the post about the Temples of Angkor: monkeys! More specifically, monkeys fighting over a bit of plastic. It was awesome. And kind of sad, I suppose. One of them walked up to Jen and tried to steal her water bottle! Unfortunately, I wasn't quick enough on the draw and missed the photo op. Next time.

For Audrey and Judy

More toilet adventures for Audrey:



(What NOT to do.)

And for Judy, something(s) special from Jen:


Jack Sprat


Captain Crunch

It's Rainy Season, You Say?

We were up early Tuesday morning for our free continental breakfast (read: coffee and toast) and then off to the Temples of Angkor on our (rather small) rented bikes. The temples were, of course, amazing. The traffic we had to maneuver through and the beeps we had to endure were not.

And the swarms of children selling all sorts of goods were depressing. You just have to walk away, and next thing they'll be offering you a $27.95 guide to the temples for just $1. I couldn't bear it. So I paid $2 for a water...

Each child that approached us would ask us where we were from (always suggesting England, Australia, Canada and even Sweden before they made it around to America) and then receite facts about the US they had learned from other tourists. "Capital, Washington, D.C. Population, 300 million. Alaska, biggest state. Rhode Island, smallest state." Then they would ask what state we were from and inevitably tell us that the capital of California was Sacramento.

When I asked one of the boys if he went to school, he said no, because then he had to pay the teacher, but at the temples, he could make money. So sad.



After stopping at the third temple, the last that we felt we had to see before we left, we decided to head back as it was getting late. It started to rain, which made it harder and more trecherous to avoid certain death on the narrow roads, confronted with speeding buses and dump trucks.

One would think the greater mass law would prevail, but vehicles of all shapes and sizes throw themselves into the thick of it. I stubbornly refused to back down and drive in the dirt, on my rickety bike with no gears, and like to think that in turn for seeing my life flash before my eyes more than once, I earned a little Khmer respect. (I seriously doubt it though. They probably just laughed at me.)

Within a few minutes, the rainstorm turned into a monsoon and I could no longer see where I was going. WE pulled off the side of the road and huddled under some trees. I honestly don't think it helped any. I have never been so wet in my life. When it finally eased up, I pulled my bike out of its watery grave and we set off. On the ride back, we didn't even bother avoiding puddles: we were already soaked through.

But Earthwalkers did have a new room for us, and some clean laundry, and once showered, we both felt a little better. Our shoes still haven't dried yet, though, and they stink like all get out.

But She Cooked My Snake!

After our brief respite at the pool, we decided to walk into town and check it out. Let's just say, Siem Reap isn't the most inspiring place for a walk. We spent some time in teh market, and then made our way to the main restaurant and bar area. We had heard about a bar that showed sporting events, and went to check it out. But the girl working the door wasn't very helpful, and couldn't tell us if there would be any games on that evening. (We were trying to catch the match between Chelsea and Newcastle.)

We walked back into the main part of town for dinner, and settled on a restaurant. What I ate is of no consequence here, as the real story is: JEN ATE SNAKE!!!

I have to admit, it smelled awful as it cooked, but I held back from any judgements until she had a chance to try it herself. I managed a bite, swallowed with a large drink of water, and we agreed: very, very chewy. But hey, it was snake, and how often can you say that?

Unfortunately, between the persistent mosquitos and the rooster that set to crowing at 5am, we didn't sleep too well that night. OR maybe the snake kept us up?

So This Is Cambodia

Jen and I were both pretty excited to be heading to Cambodia. We'd heard wonderful things about Siem Reap and Angkor Wat, if the news about Phnom Penh was a little less than inspiring. When we landed at Siem Reap International, we filled out our visa forms and hit up the ATM. Funny thing, it gave out US dollars. I was ahead of Jen in line, so I handed in my form, one passport photo and my passport. The official told me it would 1000B. As we had just left Laos, the land of kip, I had no Thai baht on hand. I asked how much in dollars, and he said $20. Weird, I thought, since it's roughly 32B to $1 so he was actually charging me less.

I found out afterwards that he had made Jen pay in baht, to the tune of 1000B. Shifty, we thought, but didn't spend much time worrying. After we had gathered our bags, we stopped at the taxi stand and asked for a ride to Earthwalkers, a guest house on the outskirts of town. We didn't have an address, just a point on a map, and hoped they'd know where it was. The guy in charge took our $5 and pointed us towards a taxi. He told the guy where to go, and we set off.

We'd made it only a few meters down the road when the taxi driver asked us where the hotel was. I tried to explain it on the map, which he didn't understand. He kept insisting that he should take us to a hotel in town, but we said no, we have reservations, we've paid already for our hotel. (This wasn't true, but we'd been warned of scams such as this.)

Jen then tried telling him things around that area, but still, nothing. Finally she said it was near the Lao Airlines office, did he know where that was? Yes, he did. Driving slow enough for Miss Daisy, he eventually pulled into an empty parking lot on the side of the road, looking around and muttering that Lao Airlines was around here somewhere. We asked him to make the next right then, as that was how it appeared on the map.

A few minutes later, we had passed Bangkok Airlines office, which was past the turn off. He again pulled aside, and when we asked him to turn around and look for the street again, he refused. He started getting angry, as did Jen, while I just sat there wondering what the hell we were supposed to do. He told us to get out of the car or he was going to take us home with him. Jen and I tried to point out that we had paid him to take us to the hotel, and that was what he should do. He refused to turn around and finally, unsure of what he might do, we got out of the car and started walking.

Luckily, we soon found the road we that lead to Earthwalkers, and although the only room available was a dorm with two sets of bunks and a fan, the staff seemed nice and assured us they would have a private room with AC available for the next night. We dropped our gear in the room, went and had some lunch and then laid by the pool for awhile, which helped sooth our frazzled nerves, and made us worry less about what Cambodia had in store for us.

There Once Was a Guy Named Luang

Jen and I spent most of Friday walking around, exploring little shops, checking out the bars, etc. (Also, as of today, we've managed to stop at the only ice cream shop in town every single day for a scoop of mint. It is INCREDIBLE.) We grabbed dinner along the Mekong (very pretty setting, not so good food) and then tried to find a little movie joint called Le Cinema. ("Le" meaning "the" and "Cinema" meaning "cinema" in French.)

We could not find it anywhere. We walked up and down the streets of Luang Prabang for well over an hour. It simply does not exist, at least not anymore. For shame, Lonely Planet, for shame.

So we gave up and settled for the local sports bar. (Of course.) Now, I'm gonna let you in on a little traveling secret: no matter where you are, no matter how small the corner of the world where you currently rest your pack, there you will find drunken Brits. Now shh, don't tell anyone I told you or I could get in really big trouble.

These particular Brits looked barely old enough to drive, let alone travel the world. But they threw back their large Beer Laos like pros, and, almost as often, dropped down for some push ups. Jen sat with her Lao whiskey and Coke, I sat with my Lao Lao sling, and we tried to muffle our laughter.

Saturday, we hired a boat to take us up to the Pak Ou Caves. The ride up the Mekong was quiet and beautiful, and the caves filled with thousands of Buddha quite amazing. On the way back, we ran into a thunderstorm and had to pull to shore for a good 20 minutes. Using the complicated 1 mississippi 2 mississippi etc system to determine the time between lightning and thunder and its correlation to the distance and direction of the storm, Jen and I tried to explain to our "captain" that the storm seemed to be moving father away. He didn't seem to understand. He just kept laughing. (This one had a bit of the yaba, I think.)

Indian food was the order of the night, and afterwards, EPL games at the sports bar. (It's an addiction people! Please, your sympathy is needed in this difficult time, not your derision.)

Today we rented bikes (the regular kind, with two wheels and pedals, and NO motors) and rode around, somewhat aimlessly, but it was beautiful nonetheless. I'd say it'd be a pretty safe bet we'd get some ice cream after this internet session, but the entire town lost power this morning and only got it back recently, so the ice cream shop is closed. I almost cry, thinking of all that melted Mint...

And tomorrow-Siem Reap, Cambodia!

Lao Lao

The bare essentials:

We took a tiny little plane from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang yesterday afternoon. Jen and I both immediately liked the town. Our guest house is super cute, and it's a short walk pretty much everywhere. We've tried some local food (it was, um, interesting) and I went on a mini shopping spree at the night market. (By which I mean I spent about $10!)

We're planning on heading up to the Pak Ou Caves tomorrow, and cycling around a bit today and Sunday. Then we're off to Siem Reap, Cambodia, on Monday.

Between the stupid keyboard and the slow internet connection, that's all I've got for now. Sorry, I promise, more to come!