Saigon. Just the name alone conjures up a flurry of images, even for someone who wasn’t alive during the sixties and seventies. For better or worse, movies and television have taken care of the lack of any actual memories of the history of the place. Hollywood and archival news footage-induced notions aside, I was very excited to check out Saigon, or Ho Chi Minh City, or whatever you want to call it. more»

Mango, the king of fruit, has betrayed me. more»

Phnom Penh is small and quaint compared to most capital cities, and that’s what makes it so interesting. The scooter traffic is as manic as elsewhere in southeast Asia, yet it’s remarkably easy to navigate the city on foot, moto, or tuk-tuk. And it has a slightly rough edge to it, something many people are looking for in their travels. In this respect it didn’t disappoint. more»

We’ve eaten at hundreds of restaurants since the trip began. The service at these places has varied from top notch at swanky places in India to unbearably lax and slow at some beach places in Thailand, and everywhere in between. Here are a few anecdotes from some of the funny things that have happened to us while dining out on the big trip. more»

Sadly, almost the first thing that comes to mind for most people when they hear “Cambodia” is tragedy. Things are looking up for this country that still has its problems, yet failing to explore the events that have put Cambodia where it is today would leave the visitor without a complete picture. more»

One of the main reasons exploring the temples of Angkor is so enjoyable is the way nature has been reclaiming the area for hundreds of years. more»

Ever since my friends in Japan were going nuts over their trips to Cambodia’s Angkor Temples, they’ve been up there at the top of my world travel hit list. And they didn’t disappoint! For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Temples of Angkor, they were built by the mighty Khmer Empire between 800 - 1400 AD. The area consists of tall monuments and vast buildings of carved stone that stretch for miles and miles among gorgeous lush forests. We bought a 3 day pass for $40 each and were driven to and from the sites each day by an incredibly friendly guy named Vinree. more»

…our Powerbook has risen from the ashes! We thought it was doomed, a hard drive failure, shaken apart by so many long and bumpy journeys. I checked around on some Mac forums and tried resetting the power management, which apparently worked. The computer just didn’t feel like working again until a day or so later. Hopefully it’s all good, although something like this could happen again. Better go make some more backups!

Oh yeah, and we’ve been exploring the temples of Angkor for the past few days too.

Apparently our Powerbook couldn’t handle the crappy, bone-rattling ride from the Thai/Cambodian border to Siem Reap. It was definitely one of the longer and bumpier journeys of the trip so far, but wasn’t in another league or anything. At any rate, our Mac is dead. We will be trying to resurrect it, possibly sending it to Bangkok to get fixed. More updates to come. But with this in mind, we might not be updating the site for a few days while we try to handle this unfortunate problem. And as long as the laptop is down, there won’t be any more BTBtv or audio posts. Not the greatest start to our Cambodian adventure, but it was always something that could happen…

There’s nothing like a free visa when you’re traveling to around a dozen countries in a row. Visa fees can add up fast, something that’s easy to forget when you’re trying to calculate expenses. Visa costs are all over the place: free for the UK and the Netherlands, $30 for Turkey (3 month), $15 for Egypt (1 month), $30 for Nepal (2 months), and around $60 for India (6 month). Thailand is the one of the few countries in Southeast Asia to offer a free 1 month tourist visa on arrival. more»