Bye, Bye Bali

Well, we've had fun, but our time here is just about finished. We had a jam-packed day today: we went bike riding in the rain, went to a yoga class, made some silver jewelry, attended a traditional dance performance, and ate some Balinese cuisine. Tomorrow we head to Egypt and, hopefully, will update with a blog post with more pictures and stories from our time in Bali soon.

Thai Street Food

While in Bangkok, Reid got to fulfill a life-long dream of eating Pad Thai from a street vendor. His wife was sweet enough to capture the moment in photos and post them here for you to enjoy.

To My Sister-in-Law

Dear Tory,

I saw this shirt on the street in Bangkok and said, "we should get that for Tory."



Reid said, "now you're thinking like a Henderson."

Love, Dyanne

Bali

After being disappointed in Kuta, we found a lovely B&B in Seminyak, just up the coast, and stayed for three nights. Reid took two surfing lessons (see the middle photo) and Dyanne got a great message and pedicure. We arranged a driver to take us up the coast to Amed tonight, but right now are sitting in Padang Bai for lunch, a slight detour, to await a cremation ceremony that was blocking the road.

We are planning to stay in Amed for a couple nights before continuing to Loving (on the north coast) and then to Ubud (familiar to those who have read Eat, Pray, Love). If we still have a couple days left we might head to the Gilli Islands. If not, we'll just head on to Egypt for our whirlwind tour of the Pyramids, Valley of Kings, and Petra (to name just a few of those sights).

We'll try to post again soon, but internet has been spotty. 'Til then, trust that we are enjoying some R&R on the beach and maybe doing some diving or snorkeling between sitting on the beach, doing some yoga, and getting massages.

Beautiful Bali

We arrived in Bali this afternoon, but it took several hours to get our visas on arrival. We settled in Kuta for the evening, but it's VERY crowded and expensive (ugh! high season travel!), so we're planning to move on to Lomok and the Gilli Islands tomorrow or the next day.

Where in the World are Reid and Dyanne? The Updated Itinerary

After hours on the phone with United (including explaining to a lady at the rate desk that overland does not count as two flight segments) and a hefty sum (change fee plus.... increased fuel surcharge, because I guess these things go up in the summer) we finally have an updated ticket. Here's the new itinerary:

7/19 - 8/1: Bali

8/1 - 8/16: Egypt & Jordan

8/16 - 8/26: Istanbul and Mediterranean coast of Turkey

8/26 - 9/9: Meeting up with Reid's parents for a one or two week sailing trip in Turkey/Greece and celebrating Reid's 30th birthday.

9/10 - 9/15: Finding some romantic spot to spend our anniversary in Turkey, seeing Capidoccia

9/16 - 9/22: Italy (Rome, Cinque Terre)

9/22 - 9/25: Croatia (Dubrovnik)

9/26 - 10/15: Munich for Octoberfest and Dyanne's 30th birthday. We're thinking about finding a cheap flight somewhere else in Europe so we don't wear out our welcome at the Kunklers' (Free) Guesthouse before returning to Munich for our flight back to Chicago.

Dyanne is supposed to start work in DC on October 27th, so we'll probably head down to DC around October 20th.

Angkor Wat

We spent four days in Siem Reap--three days exploring the temples and one day recouping and doing a little recon on our next few stops. Seeing "Angkor Wat" actually means going and exploring many temples including the Angkor Wat. We booked a guide for our first day who took us on the "Small Tour" which includes Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and Bayon, and Ta Prohm (the temple from Tomb Raider with the trees growing on it). The next two days we just went out ourselves with the same tuk tuk driver who drove us around to the various places we wanted to stop. It was definitely a highlight of our trip and I'm sort of sad that it's behind us now, but we have a lot of amazing stuff yet to do...

Bangkok

Well, I tried to post some photos of Angkor Wat, but internet in Siem Reap was too slow. We arrived in Bangkok and are settled in at our hostel. We're heading to dinner now, but will do a more in depth post in the next couple days.

Angkor Wat, here we come!

So, we arrived in Siem Reap in one piece and have scheduled a guide to meet us at our hotel at 7:30 tomorrow morning to visit some temples. We're pretty excited and will try to take lots of photos.

Driving to Phnom Penh like the locals

We left our hotel at 7:30 am yesterday to take a taxi to the ferry to Ha Tien. Our LP boasted about this "new" ferry because the trip to Ha Tien only takes 1 1/2 hours instead of the 2 1/2 to Rach Gia and is much closer to the Cambodian border. So, we were a bit surprised when our taxi driver dropped us off at the end of a long concrete dock and sort of pointed us down the dock. We took off in that direction but all we could see were fishing boats lined up at the end of this VERY long dock. We walked about fifteen minutes until we reached the end and finally saw the (small) ferry. It was already overflowing when we boarded and the attendant moved a couple Vietnamese people so that we had a seat. No sooner were we seated than the boat departed at 8:24 (it wasn't supposed to leave until 8:30)--I guess they were waiting for us. This ferry was nothing special and I don't know where they got the seats, but my feet couldn't reach the ground. Oh well, it got us safely to Ha Tien where we off-loaded and headed across the street to an office selling bus tickets to Cambodia.

By now it was about 10:30 and the bus didn't leave until noon, so we wandered around a bit and got some lunch while we waited for our noon bus that was to arrive Phnom Penh at 4:00. We met a Danish guy who was on our ferry and bus and chatted with him over lunch. Noon came and went and still no bus--apparently there were thirty folks coming from Cambodia and for some reason it was taking them ages to get through the immigration checks. Finally at about 12:30 we were but on a bus and taken to the border where we waited for about an hour or more before we were stamped and allowed to exit. Most of this time waiting for the group ahead of us to enter Vietnam. Getting in to Cambodia went smoothly, including getting our visa on arrival, although we ended up paying $24 and could have paid $25 in the office to skip the formalities. Finally, it's almost three and we are off....

Or so we thought. One of the bus company workers tells us that we missed our connecting bus to Phnom Penh and we'll have to stay in Kampot or Kep until the next morning because our bus is headed to Sihanoukville. We tell him this isn't acceptable because we paid to get to Phnom Penh and didn't want to go to Kep or Kampot. So, they offered to take us to Sihanoukville and put us on the overnight bus to Phnom Penh or Siem Reap. We continued to stick to our guns that we had been sold a ticket to Phnom Penh tonight and they needed to get us there. They finally agreed and in Kampot loaded us in to a shared taxi to Phnom Penh. Reid and I got in the back seat of the Toyota Camry and Jeppe got in the passenger seat. There was already a guy in the back seat and the driver motions Reid and I to scoot over to make room for another passenger...what?? So, we agree to pay for an extra seat so we have a little bit of room and then they tell Jeppe to move to the back seat. Finally, we agree and two people climb into the passenger seat we vacated. Okay.... And then, a girl climbs into the front seat between the driver and his door and we're off. Yeah, check out that picture again--that is four Cambodians in the front seat of the Toyota Camry where they road the 2 1/2 hours to Phnom Penh. Yikes!!

We finally arrived in Phnom Penh arouond 7:00 and headed to the Pavilion where Jeppe wanted to stay (it was definitely a splurge). There were no rooms, so we were showed another hotel, where we ended up staying even though it was another splurge night, but it was 8:00 at night and we hadn't eaten dinner and we were all tired. So, we paid up and headed out for a great meal--some of the best food we've had in a very long time. We just checked out of our splurge room and are about to head out to explore for the balance of the day.

Where in the World are Reid and Dyanne?

Phu Quoc Island, Vietnam!! We spent a morning exploring the canals and floating markets in the Mekong Delta and then got on a bus to Rach Gia where we caught a ferry the following morning to Phu Quoc. We missed the fourth of July, but celebrated it here on the 5th while it was still the 4th at home. And decided to splurge to celebrate the holiday and spent three nights at a wonderful resort on the island. It has been LOVELY and a much needed vacation from our vacation. Tomorrow morning we head out on the ferry to Ha Tien where we'll get on a bus for Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I can't believe tonight is our last night in Vietnam (we had to get our visas extended in HCMC, which needs its own post). We owe many posts on our recent adventures, but will wait until we have better internet access to post those.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July at home!

On the Road Again

We are getting on the road again today, departing from HCMC to Vinh Long where we'll go see the floating markets in the Mekong Delta. From there our plan is to head to Phu Quoc island for a few days before heading on to Cambodia.