Ang and Kelly's Top 10 Never-Again-At-Least-Not-Intentionally List (tough though, given we both plan to travel in developing countries again)

1. Um, deep-fried crickets definitely tops this list. Apparently the locals eat them like popcorn at the movies… yum?

2. Public mini-bus. Way too many hot and sticky people crammed into one place

3. Trudging through muddy, shin-high rain water in flip-flops. What was that that just brushed against my ankle?

4. Squatty potties. Given this is a typical type of commode everywhere but home; avoiding these could be difficult.

5. Sleeping with ants. Worse yet, waking up to ants crawling on your arms, face and legs. Ants in your pack. Ants on the floor, on the walls. At least they aren’t bed bugs.

6. Bad 80’s karaoke. I think our ears bled a little

7. 52 hours in the same clothes. What? No clean undies? But, we didn't smell, thanks to showering!

8. Renting broken bikes and riding them all day, through crazy traffic and stifling heat. Renting good bikes is totally worth it though!

9. Propositions from creepy old men with bad teeth. “No thanks” Ang says, “I won’t be joining you for a nap in your cabana.”

10. Sweat. Everywhere. Eye lids , upper lip, boob, belly button, lower back, thighs, legs… all the better for the dirt and fumes from the street stick to you, my dear.

Ang and Kelly's Top 10 Must-Do-Again List

1. Canyoning and Abseiling – worth every penny we paid and every mouthful of dirty river water that we swallowed.

2. Beng Mealea – crumbling Angkor style temple that you actually get to climb around. Bombed by the Khmer Rouge, and overgrown with jungle fauna. You feel like an explorer, discovering it for the first time.

3. Extreme Biking in Phnom Penh – who wouldn’t want to take their life into their own hands, braving the motos, cyclos, cars, trucks, fumes, livestock and glaring sun?

4. The FOOD – waffles with frozen yogurt, toasted rice paper quesadilla things, street vendors, and all for less than a dollar!

5. 4 island tour in Nha Trang, hosted by OK Adventure. Karaoke, Funky Monkey, the turquoise ocean, sandy beaches and meeting great people.

6. Getting lost... really. You always end up in neat places that you couldn't have found on a map.

7. Cold showers and the occasional A/C. Never thought I would say this, but on occasion, I missed A/C.

8. The Lakeside and sunsets in Phnom Penh.

9. Meeting new people, and then running into them again, and again and again. It did not matter what city or country we were in, they kept popping up!

10. The markets. Total mayhem. People everywhere, smells like dried squid, meat hanging from the roof, vendors calling to you in words you don’t understand, and everything is cheaper than borscht!

More pictures

The South China Sea as seen from our GH in Nha Trang, Vietnam.


World's greatest snack. Made from rice paper, an egg, green onions and chilis. So delicious


Canyoning in Da Lat... well... just practicing


Kelly sliding down Mother nature's waterslide


Ang abseiling down a 25m waterfall along the Datanla River. Shortly after that we jumped off a 10m cliff into a pool of water...

Pictures - Round 1

I"ll try posting captions later...


Crossing the border into Cambodia


Angkor Thom at Angkor Wat


Sam Mountain in Chau Doc Vietnam

Running back to Saskatoon

We're back!! Kelly and I arrived in Calgary yesterday, on time, and with no hiccups. All of our luggage (we added a few pieces in Bangkok, just to make sure everything got home) came off the line in good order. Very thankful. I flew home to Saskatoon today, and have just been chillin' at my parents for the afternoon. Well, really, I'm here for laundry, internet, food, visiting and showing pictures. Speaking of pictures, I'll definitely start posting some of the best for your viewing pleasure.


I would like to introduce you to Moose. We picked him up at the beginning of our trip. He did everything we did. He is Canada's most well travelled Moose, and a great way to start conversations, or at the very least draw strange stares from the locals.

Moose picked up a few names along the way. Additional suggestions are always welcome.
Clouse - means "brush" in Khmer. An employee at our G.H in Siem Reap gave it to him because his antlers kind of look like brushes.
Monkey - because he kind of looks like one
Sargie - given to him by the 2 cute British boys (aged 7 and 9) while on our way to Vietnam
Moose - because we couldn't think of anything original...

Shopping, shopping and more shopping

Hello from Bangkok!

We arrived here late on the 14th. Had our first taste of Khao San road... and it reminds me alot of Bourbon Street in New Orleans or the Strip in Las Vegas. Lots of neon lights, bars, street vendors, and children. Why people bring their small children, still pushing them in strollers to such places, I will never understand. But it was pretty crazy. We managed to find a small but clean place about a block off Khao San, for cheap, which we have been very thankful for.

Friday and Saturday were both spent walking and shopping. It is great. We have each had to buy an extra bag (or maybe 2 after we get through today) just to make sure everything makes it home. That's what you get when you give 2 girls 3 free days at the end of a trip...

We leave for home tomorrow morning. Pictures are still to come, and we're preparing a couple of top 10 lists. Even though this incredible trip is coming to an end, there is still lots to come, so keep checking back.

People in Calgary, we'll see you in a few. Saskatoon, I'm home on the 19th, but we'll definitely be in need of some down time.

A&K

It's a Small World

And now you all have that song in your heads... But really, it is a small world. You would think that in a city of over 5 million, you wouldn't expect to see people that you know. But it has happened far too often. yesterday we were at the grocery store, stocking up on a few sundries, and whom do we spot through the window... but the Canadian couple we met so many weeks ago. You can imagine all of our surprise. it was nice to see familar faces though, and we quickly caught up with each other.

Today is our last day in HCMC as we head back to Bangkok tonight. HCMC has been nicer the second time around, but we still both prefer the small towns like Chau Doc and Da Lat that we have visited. Fewer tourists has generally meant nicer locals and an atmosphere that one could spend a considerable length of time enjoying. But that kind of talk is for another time.

As the end of our trip quickly approaches, we are starting to crave the things we have lived without for the last month. Proper shampoo... our own beds... personal space (my how the Vietnamese love to touch and hit us)... friends and family, you know, the little things. I guess when the end is near, you allow you can allow yourself to think about those kinds of things.

Oops, a little earlier than expected

We are back in HCMC, and arrived at the most ungodly hour of 4am... Our trip up to Nha Trang took nearly 10 hours, so we figured 7-8 from Da Lat back to HCMC, seeing as it was about 100km closer. Wrong!!! So what do 2 girls with backpacks that are overflowing do at 4am? They sit in a well lit park, reading by the street lamps, waiting for the city to come alive. Then they set off in search of Vietnamese iced coffee and a place to sleep. Something I have to mention about how early things get started here. By 4:30, there were maybe a dozen people walking and running in the park we had set up camp in. By 5, there were several dozen, and by 5:30, the streets and park were full of people and traffic. Very different than life in Canada.

We were fortunate to find a cheap GH just down the street, and they offer free internet. Hooray!! We're hoping over the next couple of days to try and download a few pictures to share with you. Don't get your hopes up though, neither of us are very computer illiterate.

Today, besides being super tired, we set off in search of the Southern Vietnam Woman's museum. It was quite an interesting place to visit. It is filled with stories, pictures and artifacts of women who served their country during the French and "American" aka Vietnam Wars. Many women lost so much, while others gave their lives to fight for what they believed. I was struck by how integral a part of Vietnamese culture the role of women are. During the late stages of the war, many women embarked on peace missions on behalf of the Vietnamese government, holding positions of high regard and power. Overall, very interesting, and extra bonus completely free!

Only 6 days left before we come back to Canada.

The Extreme Adventures of Ang and Kelly

Yesterday, we decided to add a little risk to our travel itinerary... and went abseiling and canyoning along the Datanla River just outside of DaLat. Abseiling, according to dictionary.com is to "descend at the end of a rope". Canyoning on the other hand is to to "jump into fast mountain streams for traversing gullies, rapids, and falls on one's back". That is exactly what we did. Our guides Diep and Tao were great. Diep, was a bit of a daredevil and took any chance he could to show off for us. At one point, he jumped off a 25m waterfall that we had just descended by rope and safely landed in the pool below. It was really cool.

Kelly says that it was pretty much as exciting as jumping in and out of helicopters. We were buzzed on adrenaline most of the day.

Today is our last day in Da Lat. We're taking it easy this morning, and will probably rent mountain bikes this afternoon. Tonight we'll try the night bus to Saigon. We're sort of hiding out in the internet cafe, trying to avoid Easyrider guides and small children who keep trying to steal our strawberries and smack our bums. It was cute for the first 5 mins... then got bad enough we had to find a new spot to eat breakfast.

We're so cold!!!

It's been a few days since we last posted. Nha Trang was pretty great, though things are not well set up for the independent traveler. We had tons of trouble finding some of the sites that were recommended to visit. We;re just too cheap to pay for a city tour when we generally do alright on our own.

Yesterday we caught a bus to Da Lat, a mountain town in the interior. The trip was fairly short, comparatively speaking, but the road was not one of the best we've been on. For all my biker friends and family, I highly recommend coming to Vietnam, renting a bike, and enjoying the twisty-turny mountain roads here. They were nuts. At times it hardly seemed that the bus was going to finish the present turn before they had to make the next one. The lady and her son in the seats next to us didn't enjoy the roads so much, and ralphed their lunch into every available "container" for most of 2 hours. Hats, bags, cups, nothing was spared. Everything was saved, and placed neatly in the seat back pocket. That was the less pleasant part of the trip. Thank goodness for my iPod, we just turned the tunes up loud and concentrated on our books or sleeping.

Da Lat itself self is quite a pretty town. There are lots of hills and mountains surrounding the town, and we expect to try some mountain activities tomorrow. Not big fans of the temperature drop though. Its a good 10-15 degrees cooler here, and when your body has aclimated to the heat, to cooler temps leave a person downright cold! Thankfully this morning was a little warmer, and we're surviving.

The market here is great. Last night we walked around and tried not to step on vendors and their wares that filled every available piece of the sidewalk and street. They were shouting things in Vietnamese to attract customers and Kelly and I enjoyed ad libbing in English. I think the market was a bit illegal, as most of the vendors were constantly looking around, watching for the police that were patrolling nearby.

What's next? We're not sure. We're having a tough time deciding when to head back to HCMC in a couple days or heading back to the coast for another beach day, just to warm up.

Lots of love
A&K

Beach Days

Whew, its hot here. We've been in Nha Trang for 2 fulls days, and are working on our third. We've spent some time on the beach, lots in the ocean, and, like every other place we've visited, haved walked around a tremendous amount. Yesterday we took a tour of 4 of the surrounding islands, and had an absolute blast. The tour's guide, Funky Monkey, was an excellent host, and made sure everyone was included. The food was great. Lots of seafood, which I'm convinced they caught while we were all swimming and snorkeling. At least it was fresh. We met tons of new people, mostly from the UK, but a few from downunder, and 1 American. In all, it was a great day!

Hope you are all doing well. Tomorrow we're planning to move inland to Da Lat. I expect we'll do a little trekking, and visit some of the more famous local sites. Maybe even take in a cooking school if we find one.

Miss(es) Saigon

We made it to Saigon, aka Ho Chi Minh City. We spent a full day in Chau Doc, and absolutely loved it. It was a fairly small city, and the people were incredibly friendly. We could hardly bike 2 blocks without a half dozen hellos. Our day there was filled with hiking up Sam Mountain with thousands of Vietnamese pilgrims. It is a religious mountain, but almost takes on a festival or I dare say, even a carnival atmosphere. At the top of the mountain, we caught a great look at the Mekong Delta, and could even see Cambodia.

Of course the food is great, and we are enjoying trying new dishes. Today it was waffles stuffed with rice, coconut, black-eyed beans and mung beans. Rather tasty, but not something we'll choose to eat all the time.

Today we took the bus to HCMC, and what a ride. Thankfully the roads are 100% better than Cambodia, but they compensate for it by cramming as many people as humanly (or inhumanly) possible onto the bus. At top count there were 34 people "seated" on the 20 seater bus. And of course, no A/C. I never thought I would say this, but A/C is something we now seek out, even if its for 30 mins while we stock up on water and fruit.

HCMC is a huge, noisy, traffic ridden city. We managed to navigate the public buses to the right area of town, and then walked to the area we wanted to stay in, with very little trouble. We're becoming quite proficient in finding places, and usually with only one try.

The beach is calling, and tomorrow we are headed to Nha Trang. We're hoping to add one more mode of transportation to our list (the famous Unification Train), but it seems to be quite over priced. We are both looking forward to relaxing on the beach and taking it slow for a few days.
Miss you all!