Vientiene -> 4,000 Islands -> Siem Reap -> Phnom Penh -> Can Tho

Yikes this trip is going by fast! Not sure if it's all the travel or the amount of countries or how much we do every day but either way, time is flying and we have seen a ton. I will do my best to recap, but my end up putting in the picture highlights.

We spent a relaxing two days in Vientiane- there's not a lot to do in Vientiane besides visit some beautiful Wats and wander around and eat delicious French food, which we treated ourselves to and it was amazing. We couldn't get over eating with a knife! And cloth napkins! It was really fun.

Wat Sisaket in Vientiane where we lit some incense for my late step Grandma MelWat Mikai at sunset

Then, we hopped on a bus around 8 pm on our last day to head overnight to the islands. The sleeper bus was suprisingly comfortable, but then, we weren't paired up with the large, smelly, snoring man like a friend of ours was. As a nice break up to our trip we stopped for a day in 4,000 Islands, an area in the South of Laos where the Mekong gets very wide and is scattered with -you guessed it- about 4,000 Islands. We easily found a little bungalow along the river, complete with hammocks, for less than two dollars and spent the afternoon biking around the islands to a waterfall. The waterfall was nice, but my favorite part was the bike ride because these islands are seemingly not to corrupted by tourism and many people are going about their daily lives living along the river. It was really neat to see.

our not-too-shabby view from the bungalow in 4,000 Islands

From 4,000 Islands, we headed to the border with Cambodia and hopped on another all day bus to Siem Reap to spend time visiting the Temples of Angkor Wat. We bought a three-day pass to the temples. The first day we rented bikes and visited the main temple of Angkor Wat (which is the largest religious building in the world), and started to see Angkor Thom before a big storm rolled in and we had to head home, but not before we snapped these shots:

Angkor Wat at sunset

The second day, we hired a tuk tuk (a motorbike with a cart on the back) to take us to some of the temples that were further away. We had an amazing time visiting some of the more remote temples and took a hike up to Kbai Spean, where the ancients actually carved the bottom of one of the rivers to bless the waters heading into their cities. Unfortunately, the storms made the water a little too murky to see much, but it was a beautiful hike all the same. Then more temples.

Asparas, the goddess-nymphs decorating almost all of the temples at Angkor

The third day we were back on our bikes to visit some more of the famous ones. It was hot, but it was another great full day of temple-ing and being awed by these stone creations. Each temple was unique and absolutely beautiful. Our pictures don't even come close to doing it justice. Siem Reap is also a really great city to hang out in for a few days and we had a surprise meet-up with some of our friends from the spicy hostel. Good times all around. (We have a million amazing pics and there's just not enough web space for them all...)

a sample of the intricate carvings on the walls

say cheese

From Siem Reap we hopped on another bus to Phnom Penh. There, we had a sobering day visiting the Killing Fields and the S-21 genocide museum where people were tortured under the brutal regime of the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot. We were exposed to the horrendous recent events in the countries history and did our best to pay respect to the victims.

That night, we had the famous Me Cha (no idea how to spell this one... but it's a delicious noodle dish with meat and egg and veggie made differently all over) and Phil invited a kid begging to eat with us. Given the voracity of his appetite, we hoped that was the best thing for him and were left feeling good about that small effort but daunted by how many kids in Cambodia need a good meal in them.

The day after Phenom Penh, we hopped on yet another bus which took us to a boat, which took us to another boat and we were in Viet Nam! We were dropped off in Chau Doc, got a little ripped off for the first time on a bus ticket, and made it to Can Tho, where I studied abroad four years ago. We've already been to my host families house where we had a delicious lunch and time with them. It's SO good to see them again, and it's such a good time to be here because they are all home for the wedding of my oldest host sister, which we will be attending on Saturday. It feels good to be back in Viet Nam and Can Tho, although it's taking a little while to figure out where everything is again, but it's really fun.

I want to give a quick props to Phil for his knack for languages, well, at least South East Asian languages. He knows Thai very well and because he knew a little of the northern Thai dialect, he was able to pick up the essential Laos phrases as well. Then, after two days in Cambodia he was able to compliment people on their cooking and say some other conversational phrases. (Now that we're in Viet Nam, I've realized how much of the language I've forgotten and I'm pretty sure Phil will be even with me in a few days.) It's been awesome traveling with him.

Ok, more after my host sister's wedding!

(check below for more pics from Laos!)