Updated Southeast Asia Posts
I’ve finished fixing up the old posts I had from the trip. There are better versions of the photos and a few new photos. I’ve also added an entry from the 23rd of December that was in a notebook I had on the trip.
Home
I made it home. I managed to get about 3 hours of sleep in the last 48, so I’m well rested. The trip was good. I’ll probably post some follow-up entries in the next week or so, as well as some photos. The mini-bus trip to the Cambodian border with Thailand was interesting and I should have a couple of good photos of that if nothing else. I’d also like to go back and and add an entry about my last day in Bangkok (the third day of the trip). For now, here’s a photo of sunrise over the pacific…
Headed Home
I’m on my way home. There’s a long bus ride to the border then to Bangkok. Then there’s a long series of flights, so I’ll be moving for 40-some hours. I’ll send out another post once I get home, which should be Saturday afternoon at your GMT minus 5.00. Thanks for reading. Adam (and any other motorcycle people who are lurking), look into the Honda Africa Twin, or the Suzuki DR 800 or DR 350. I think the two bigger ones don’t get imported into the US, but the DR 350 with a bigger tank, saddle bags and a better…
At the Coast
I’ve updated this entry and the one about Angkor, and added a bunch of photos to both of them. I’m in Sihanoukville now. For the last couple of days, I’ve been cruising around the coast of Cambodia on a dirt bike. I rode to a town called Kampong Trach on the road to the boarder with Vietnam. I pulled off the road to turn around and saw this man fishing in the rice paddies. It’s the dry season here so there’s not much water, but this place must have water year round. Honda owns the market here for small 125cc…
Angkor: Redux
I just got to Kampot in southern Cambodia last night and I went on a trip up to Bokor today. Bokor is an abandoned resort and casino on top of a mountain. It was built by the French during the colonial period here and abandoned as they left in 1972 due to the Khmer Rouge taking over the country. We hiked a few miles down the mountain and then through some farms to get back to Kampot. But that’s not what I want to talk about. I spent three days in Siem Reap touring the ruins of the Angkor temple…
Quick Update
This will be brief. I’m in Siem Reap, the town near Angkor Wat in Cambodia. I’ve been touring around ruins for a couple of days and I’m beat. Yesterday was the best day of the trip by far. The place has been amazing. I’ll write about it later. Tomorrow, I’m headed back to Phnom Penh and will then take a bus or maybe a train to the coast of Cambodia, either Kampot or Sihanoukville. I’ll put up a post about the last couple of days soon. I need to get better access to the Internet and relearn how to use…
Lasagna, Bombers and Water Puppets
Today I was feeling a lot better. Unfortunately, everything is closed on Mondays so I wasn’t able to see Uncle Ho’s pickled corpse or his house or museum. I’m flying to Phnom Penh tomorrow morning. I ran into an Australian named Rich and his Fiancee Kish who gave me some good info on motorbiking around the south of Cambodia, so I’m out of here. As much as Hanoi was probably the low point of this trip, it’s a fascinating place and I would like to come back. Tonight I went to see a water puppet show. It’s an old art…
Hungry in Hanoi
I’ve been in Hanoi for two days. I’m still suffering from a minor case of Ho Chi Minh’s Revenge. You’ve got two choices during a trip of over a couple of weeks: avoid eating or drinking anything that seems remotely dangerous and get sick after 2 weeks, or eat whatever you want and get sick after a week and a half. Today I went to an Italian place that my guidebook suggested and the neighbor said it closed 6 years ago. I went to another Italian place that managed to make lasagna with bread in it and no sauce. It’s…
Last Day in Laos, for a while
I’ve made it to Hanoi on a French airplane. I flew Lao Airlines and there were no Chinese YUN-12s in sight. Maybe the last of them exploded in mid-air. I was feeling under the weather today. I definitely didn’t enjoy the hour-long mini-bus trip from the airport to the City. Try explaining in Vietnamese that you might have to ask them to stop in the middle of the highway for a biological event. There were some twisted charades that caused real animation in my fellow passengers. In any case, it’s the first time I’ve had any trouble here at all…