Part of the great appeal of traveling through some of the places we’ve traveled through, is that Lonely Planet said we could get rooms for like four bucks. For a dollar more, we’d get hot water and air conditioning. Luxury stuff.

In Thailand, we were fully geared up for a cheapie bungalow on the beach, easy living under budget. Instead of $4 (no hot water, no A/C), our cheapie bungalow on Koh Tao cost us $12 a night. Either there’s been some inflation since Southeast Asia on a Shoestring was published in
March 2008, or we were paying extra for the monster that stayed in our room.

I can’t complain too much. Our beach was clean and had no more than six people on it at any given time, ourselves included. The snorkeling was excellent; just 30 feet from the beach, huge schools of big yellow fish fed underneath our goggles. Bands of little fish swam near the surface, circling us like the tail of a glittering blue comet. The daytime, outside of our bungalow, was perfection.

And I suppose, in an effort to keep my complaining to a minimum, that our $8 monster kept out smaller, inferior monsters, so this also was a real benefit.

I wish I could tell you the genus and species of our monster, or even its common name. What I can tell you, however, is that one day it was poking its body out from behind a picture on the wall. Though the picture, actually a dusty old jigsaw puzzle, measured about 18 inches wide, I am certain that the creature itself was a good 500 feet long. That it had a lizard shape and its little phalanges stuck to the smooth paneled wall suggests it may have only been a gecko (there are thousands of species), but I’m not buying it. Geckos are everywhere in Southeast Asia, cute little guys scampering across walls and TVs, eating mosquitoes and bringing luck to the house. This thing in our bungalow, if I haven’t made this clear, was enormous and horrifying.

Confronted with this beast, Andrew and I went for practical tools. He grabbed the broom, I grabbed the camera. While he shooed and I shot, the thing scurried* across the wall, into the bathroom and out through the hole (!) in the ceiling. For the rest of our stay, we rigged the bathroom door so it would stay shut and keep the monster out. Twelve dollars a night, apparently, does not buy you a functioning doorknob.

This was a fine plan, until our last morning, when I flung open the door for one last view of blue water bliss. Instead of a breath of sea air, the monster fell from somewhere above, forcing me to shriek and do an embarrassing dance wherein my feet were not supposed to touch the ground. Andrew, getting my back, did the same thing. From the porch, it stared through me in the doorway and into the room, like it was going to make a break for it. The blue pustules on its back shone in the sun. I continued to shriek and wake the neighbors** until it ran away. We quickly packed our bags and did likewise.

Yesterday we arrived in Bali. Loaded down with backpacks and the disappointment of not being able to afford the beautiful guesthouse across the way, I pushed for putting down the bags and saying yes to the budget option. Big mistake. The towels smelled like motor oil, the sheets smelled like urine, and the ants came marching in.

Tonight we’re somewhere lovely and mostly within the budget. Things smell good. There is hot water. Geckos remain outside.

*The creature, most likely one of Godzilla’s offspring hustling off to fight Mothra, moved like something that “scurried,” was fast enough for a “scurry,” but did not make the sound that “scurrying” entails. Think of the sound of people pounding on wooden bleachers. Fortunately I watched a Jackie Chan movie with some Cambodian tuk tuk drivers while we were in Siem Reap, so had it come to violence it would’ve been back to the Loch with old Nessie…Jackie Chan-style…or something. – Andrew

**The neighbors, like just about every other tourist in Koh Tao, were German. They were staying in the $9 variant of our bungalow (which we rejected because the gaps in the floor were, well, gaping). We were awakened the night before by the sound of pounding and stressed-sounding German. After 45 minutes of this we decided to investigate. Thankfully, the pounding stopped as we approached the bungalow and heard what sounded like a door popping open. Apparently $9 will buy you a bathroom door that won’t open once closed. Who needs satellite TV? -A

monkeys. monkeys? monkeys!

So we're in Cambodia -- Siem Reap to be exact. We've decided to pretty much sit down in Siem Reap and see as much as we can of the area. "There's nothing to do at night here so don't stay too long," they said. "It's too hot there. Go to the beach in the south," they said.

But we didn't listen to the doubters! We said "Good day!" to them. Within a few hours of landing we'd already seen a sundown and a raging thunderstorm at Angkor Wat. Yeah, it was hot, very, very hot. The thunderstorm cured that for a while. Seeing the clouds above you is imposing enough, but having the storm clouds 10 feet in front of you brings just the right amount intimidation to send a mass of mesmerized tourists packing.

An early morning hike to Kbal Spean allowed us to take in cool(ish) air, a quietly raging waterfall, and most lingas we've ever seen. The previous high mark was 1 linga. What is a linga? I'll tell you when you're older... but let's just say that typing "linga" for the 4th time in as many sentences is making me blush a bit. The ones you see here are carved into the rock at the bottom of the creek leading to the waterfall. I doubt OSHA would approve of having a bunch of malnourished monks carving lingas (*blush*) into the bottom of a flowing river without pay. My how the times have changed.

The oppressive heat hasn't kept us from going to Angkor for the last 3 days. If anything it has spurred us on. Ok, so that's not quite true. It is pretty oppressive. After Kbal Spean we started the ruins-seeking part of our trip. Day 2 took us to more ancient sites where we climbed temples that have handicap-unapproved staircases. One temple had an old nun who was blessing travelers for a dollar. Say what you want about the current economy, but you'd pay a lot more than a dollar in the US for a blessing. Biking to Angkor Thom yesterday (day 3) where we saw more temples, trekked to some Buddhist monasteries, we blah, blah, blah...

We played with monkeys! Monkeys! Not stuffed, not pretend, not supervised by some over-protective zoo worker. Pure, unadulterated monkey time! Melissa was walking around feeding and watching the monkeys when one little guy saw something on her head that he liked: her hat. They had already stolen the water from some people on a tuk-tuk and now were looking to take Melissa's new straw hat. The monkey climbed up her leg and onto her back and started tugging at the hat. She handed me the camera and I started videoing the tussle. Then, out of nowhere, Melissa's assailant's buddy did the same thing to me and tried to take my sweat-soaked hat. He wrestled with my big head until Melissa's monkey jumped onto my back and grappled with my monkey until they fell off. We caught the whole thing on video, which, unfortunately, is too big to post. So this paltry description will just have to do for now.

Today we're taking the day off from jungle-walking, temple-climbing, and monkey-fighting to rest our legs and sitting bones (I would like to carbon-date our bikes just to see how old they really are). The local mosque's morning prayer is in the background and the black coffee is going down smoothly. Tomorrow it's back to the temples, trekking, and tussling. -Andrew

Why did we learn about the pyramids but not Angkor? Angkor = amazing.

After a couple of days in Saigon and three in the Mekong Delta, we've planted ourselves on the beaches of Mui Ne for a brief while. This is a touristy town, or it would be if it weren't the slow season. Mui Ne is quiet. Except for the kite surfers, we have the beaches pretty much to ourselves.

The photos here are from our trip through the delta, where we crossed and recrossed and boated up the mighty Mekong for closer looks at rice noodle factories, floating markets, fish farms and a weaver. The highlight, maybe, was our five-hour boat ride from one city to another. Sounds long, but when you spend it sitting on the top of a boat watching the sunset and a far-off lightning storm, time moves along quite pleasantly.

Tomorrow we return to Saigon for one final night in Vietnam, and then it's off to Siem Riep in Cambodia. We'll be spending some time checking out the temples of Angkor.

- Melissa

Trip to Lantau Island yesterday, just off of Hong Kong. This island is home to a giant Buddha, built in 1981. Though it's far from ancient, it's an awe-inspiring site. A monastery sits nearby, and from the main temple there, you can get a great view of the Buddha. At the monastery, we took in the sights of a monk talking on his cell phone, the smells of incense, and the sounds of monks chanting.

Today we've arrived in Vietnam and are staying in Ho Chi Minh City. On the ride to our hostel from the airport, it became obvious that we would never be able to cross a street here. Rivers of motorbikes keep everyone on their toes.

Exhaustion finally caught up with me today - I slept for a few hours this afternoon while Andrew looked up some travel information here. Anyone have any input on whether we should head for the Mekong Delta or go for the south central coast? We're torn.

Cheers,

Melissa

Are you worried about H1N1?

Well don't be. A billion Chinese are already. Signs are posted all over the
place telling when different parts of town have been last disinfected and will be again. The average is about every 2.5 hours. There are "pollution experts" (their uniform says so) that go around disinfecting high-traffic areas of human touching. While this is very reassuring, the signs warning you about coughing aren't exactly. I'm not saying that anything bad will happen or that they're implying something will, but there was a threat to quarantine anybody who's suspiciously ill at the HK airport. There was a line through the line "the government of China will hold you" but the message was clear. You can get into trouble for being sick and not wearing a mask. Needless to say the allergy medicine is in full effect. And people are worried about too much government in our health care.

Here are some pictures of different dwellings in HK. Some are for animals. Some are for people. Some are for money-making animals. - Andrew

First Foggy Day in HK

We've done nothing but confuse the hell out of our poor bodies and minds. Around 8 am this morning (7pm YESTERDAY biological time) we were trying to reconcile the earliness of the day with the tiredness our bodies felt. So Melissa's been busy taking many pictures so we will someday be able to cure ourselves of amnesia. Furthering the confusion is all the English that makes sense but still doesn't put us on the right street or is on a girl's t-shirt that says "Ms. Slut."

Anyway, here's some pictures of things our eyes have seen and brains have put in the processing queue. Some of these things we've eaten. I probably don't need to explain which ones are which.