Marci and Steve Go Back to Europe

VIETNAMESE CAR SEAT The Last Vestiges of Vietnam’s Villages Our days on the ship are almost over. But yesterday and today provided many opportunities to visit small remote villages and although we are tourists strolling through, and perhaps gawking a bit, it does not feel like anyone is putting on a show for us.  We travel from the ship onto a local sampan and head to an island, where we gingerly step onto what passes as a dock- usually a piece of old wood. We visit the sleeping mat factory, which, in actuality, is no more than an assembly line across different villager’s front patios. The first house is a husband and wife who have a loom made of simply two bamboo poles strung with jute. The fisherman husband is home today so he perches in a DEEP squat atop a very wide low stool placed under the loom. His wife quickly wraps a reed around a pointed stick and in one second weaves it through the loom warp. Marci helping make the mats  As ...

Floating Down the Mekong - OR - Is it really a boat ride if the boat’s not rocking? So how lazy can you get on a slow boat to Vietnam? So lazy that Steve has not been doing much, if any, blogging in our five days aboard ship. Now in all fairness, internet has been spotty and uploading even one photo can be a fifteen minute exercise in frustration. But last night was our first Anchorage in Vietnam and immediately we can see it is more developed with good WiFi. So, at Steve’s request, I have been assigned to share our week aboard the Jayavaram, boarding near Siem Reap, floating through Tonle Sap Lake ( This lake is one of the most unique ecological water wonders in the world. It is the largest lake in South East Asia and changes in size and dimension every wet season ), floating villages, shore excursions, lovely cabins, too much food and alcohol and a small but very nice group of fellow passengers.  Our ship, The Jayavarman  But a flat bottomed boat on a smooth ...

Answer to WTF #1 We had many correct answers to this first contest, so I guess I will have to make them more difficult in the future....the correct answer is: Cambodian Gas Station  ( petrol filling station for the non-Americans) The Cambodians pay a fair amount for gasoline at the regular stations ( yes, they have gas stations just like in the USA), about $1 USD per liter, so almost $4 bucks per gallon. This would be one reason there are so many freaking motorbikes (over 1 million just in Phnom Penh, the capital, along with 300,000 cars...all in a poor city of 3 million)... that, and a new Lexus in 2018 costs over $220,000 USD ( average income in Cambodia is less than $1,100 USD per year)......So, that, coupled with few filling stations on the road, especially in the countryside leads to these "independent" shops with a small rack of gasoline, in old, used bottles...Johnnie Walker seems especially popular. I’m told that these stands are al...

Our guide, Bun, & Steve While Steve regales you with food porn and WTFs (finally), my Cambodia is about discovering history and culture.  Most Americans who travel to SE Asia would likely visit Thailand and/or Vietnam, believing they have the best tourist infrastructure and also the best things to do and see. But for us, discovering Laos and Cambodia (actually called Kampuchea...Kay- poo-chee) is the winner so far.  Luang Prabang is quite sophisticated for a town of 68,000 people who were cut off from the world until the late 90’s and have been Communist for a long time. I think this is the first Communist country we have ever visited (unless you count Hong Kong) and we were surprised. It is Communist by virtue that there is only one party, the Communist Party. But other than that, it is capitalist - people own land and property, they have wide open access to the internet, and there is scant evidence of Communism. There is religion, mostly Buddhism, but a...

NOTICE: We will be traveling by boat the next 7 days, and I’m sure the Internet access will be poor..I will update as possible..  Food Porn We have had the best meal of the trip (so far) at a small restaurant in Siem Reap called Cusine Wat Damnak....I had reserved this from back in the states in September.....it was also recommended to us by the owner of a restaurant in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The food was simple, but beautifully seasoned, and artfully presented. They only offer two tasting menus, nothing else. The owner/chef was French, charming, and engaging......I share below the menus and pix of our food - we ordered both menus and shared everything ( in the Asian style). Along with a icy bottle of French Rose’, the whole bill was $84.00 USD.