Kim vs. The World!

Good morning Vietnam! (you know it had to be said.) We crossed into Vietnam on a boat. The Cambodian customs office at the boarder looked like someone's farm house, and the Vietnam boarder had a floating customs house. Yet, we had to get our visas months in advance and wouldn't be let in without one! Our first night in Vietnam was in Chau Doc. Pretty uneventful except for 2 things: 1) The difference between the Vietnamese general population and the Cambodians was immdiately evident. They are much more inclined to be rude, and have absolutely no regard for personal space of social courtesy. If you need to pass them, they will look at you and not move, however if they need to get by you or want to you enter their shop, they have absolutely no quams about shoving you or yanking your arm! 2) We ate at the mosthilarious restaurant that was a testement to Asian creativity. The restaurant area by day is a small hotel lobby, with the hotel staff still attending to guests while you eat....

As much as we loved Cambodia - the people, the temples - it would be a disservice to both ourselves and the people we met if we had left and not been observers of the tragedies of the Pol Pot regime. For 4 years in the mid 1970s Pol Pot and his soldiers attempted to bring Cambodia back to the feudal age; what Pol Pot called "Year One". All urban dwellers were abruptly taken from their homes and forced to work long ours of hard labour in the rice fields. Anyone considered a threat to the regime, including anyone with education, government ties, and all of their families, were killed immediately. Others who were dissenters or in any way suspicious were jailed, tortured, and almost certainly killed within 2-4 months of imprisonment. Some Cambodians, on the brink of starvation or thinking that it was their only option, joined Pol Pot's army. Most of them were killed as well in the end. When the Khmer Rouge came to power, Cambodia's population was approx 7 million. After o...

The night before we left Siem Reap, our tour guide was nice enough to invite all of us to his house for a traditional dinner. His wife and sister-in-law (and likely daughter and mother-in-law) cooked for us, and we all piled into the tiny main room and ate on mats. It was beautiful to see them in their home and how the people there really live. They do not have much, and were a bit embarassed that they didn't have chairs and a table to seat everyone, but we thought it was wonderful. The food was great and we each gave them $5, which I know made a big difference to the family's short term finances. Mom/Auntie - not to worry, you have raised us well. We asked another guide what the tradition was, and thus we brought them a lovely fruit basket as a thank-you for having us. They were very surprised and grateful for this gesture... we told them it was for our own benefit so that we weren't shunned when our moms found out we were invited to dinner and didn't bring food! Of co...

You can get a tourist visa on site at the Cambodian/Thai border. This can be accomplished by a few steps, including walking through a shanty market in the blistering heat while a random guy has already taken off with your luggage in an ox cart, waiting in an outdoor stall area with various animals and people running around, paying $28US, waiting a while, and then wandering through very loose security (my customs agent was talking on his cell) to reclaim your luggage that has aged 20 years in the heat. A very interesting afternoon! We arrived in Siem Riep, Cambodia, with our tour guide Kaesar - a tiny little Cambodian man with a hilarious lagh and a knack for telling long winded but quite comical stories. Our first night the entire group went out for a traditional Cambodia meal. Mars and I had fish amok, curry, and a few local Angkor beers, which cost a grand total of about $3 each. During our meal we were treated to some very beautiful apsara dancing. I was absolutely fascinated by how...

We are currently in Bangkok on the famous Kaosan Road. We both went on a bit of a last minute Thailand shopping spree... we both spent about $30 CDN which is a lot for us over here! haha . Yesterday we went out for dinner with a friend of my moms who is living and working in Bangkok. He picked us up with his driver, and paid for our meal... a huge score for us broke backpackers! Before dinner we wandered around our hotel, which is in the middle of Chinatown. In all honesty, we were the only white people on the streets. Anywhere! After dinner mom's friend Martin dropped us off (well.. his driver did!) at an amazing night market. Every stall inside was like a trendy boutique store on Queen Street! It killed me not to buy hordes of shoes and clothes! After that we took a crazy tuk tuk to the Patong Market.. famous for it's "Ping pong shows" (yes, the ladies working there can apparently do some very creative things with their hoo - hoos ... like ping pong shows, w...

With only one day to spend in Phuket ("Poo"ket, again for the raunchy ones that liked "Pee Pee" earlier), we knew we had to stay in the famous raunchy, sleazy, crazy Patong Beach. This section of Phuket is like the dirty Thai version of the Vegas strip. Almost everything you can imagine on sale in a 2 block radius - including prostitutes and lady boys. People are constantly yelling at you, haggling, and trying to hold our hands asking "where you from pretty girls?". This continued day and night... all night!! We also took in another lady boy show.. this one much more extravagent. Had a great time. We also had our dinner from this great row of stalls, and then ate on mats on the sidewalk. The food was AMAZING. Gotta run.. internet time up!!!!

There were so many options, but we have decided that Koh Phi Phi is our favourite island in Thailand! We spent four nights here and have really enjoyed ourselves. This island has the perfect mix of scenery, nightlife, great beaches, and plenty of activities. So much stuff... where to begin?? When we arrived on the island, we were accosted by a mob of Thai workers selling bungalow accommodations . You get to see laminated pictures of an endless selection of rooms at almost any price.... all up for a negotiation on price, of course. Once you choose one, a small man will load all of your shit into a push cart and weave you through the crowded and oh so humid streets to your chosen bungalow. It is actually an extremely efficient system, as they know that almost none of us backpackers arrange any place to stay in advance. As we are nearing the end of our Thailand trip (but not anywhere near the end of our big trip!) we made the decision, egged on by the immense sweat dripping from us, to ...