theboonedoggle

Cambodia is like a good movie plot. As my mother would quote, it's a 'celebration of the triumph of the human spirit". ;) Hard to believe that in my own lifetime this place saw the wholesale slaughter of one-fourth of its population under the Khmer Rouge. The people here are warm and kind, resilient, and quick to return a smile. We spent only a week in Cambodia; it's not a very large country, and one can (and we nearly did) drive from one border to another in a single day. But in that week we experienced among the most interesting scenery and amazing sights of our trip. We spent our first two nights in Phnom Penh, the capital city. Arriving late our first night, we were dropped off in one of the more touristed areas of the city, which didn't bother us so much as it afforded us a rare opportunity to savor a tidy pair of gin-and-tonics and a close approximation of Mexican food. Fear not, a "close approximation" is the closest we've come in our travels t...

Sabai-dee, Its no surprise that our time in Laos has been absolutely amazing - almost everyone we have talked to, who has traveled the Indochina area, told us that Laos was their favorite by far. Laos is a small country (landlocked by Thailand, China, Vietnam and Cambodia) and life here is quiet and easy going. Right now we are in Vientiane, the capital, and we still can't get over how small and quiet this town is. If you are looking for nice country in Asia to relax in - this is it. The people here couldn't be nicer, the food is delicious, there are fresh fruit shake stands ($0.50) on every corner, beautiful rivers, breathtaking limestone mountains and a ton of colorful culture. We crossed over from North Vietnam into Laos about 2 weeks ago on a comfy little bus, and by that I mean one of the worst bus rides on our whole trip (our bus rides in India, Nepal and Africa had nothing on this one). Half of this small bus was filled with rice sacks, forcing 30 people to share space m...