Had a 13 hour layover in Tokyo, so we headed to Disneyland for the day. Ticket was only $65, and we were able to get a last minute reservation for the Blue Bayou restaurant inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Excellent deal, especially considering that US Disney os is around ~$200/day.
Back home now, and enjoying the couch at home. Thanks for tuning in and leaving comments. ❤️❤️
13 hour layover, so we headed to Tokyo Disneyland for the day
Paddling canoe os a ride at Tokyo Disney
Shawn too tall to crawl in the TeePee
Pretty sure they removed all the Tom Sawer stuff from the US Parks, for a reason.
R2D2
It’s a small world
Still a small world
Scored a table right along the bayou
350-scaled.jpg”> View of the Blue Bayou restaurant from the Pirete’s ride
Riders floating by while we eat
Airport lounge in Tokyo is fantastic!
Lay flat seats worth every penny on long redeye flights
Ahhh, back to US airport lounges. No more fresh sushi, just a rubbery boiled egg from a bag, a slice of cheese, and wine in a paper cup. It’s good to be home 🤣
the scorpion hooch made it home!! who wants a shot?
Last two days were basically just relaxing and doing some last minute shopping. Next stop is Tokyo, then home. We’ve got a 15 hr layover in Tokyo, so we’ll have enough time to get some good food and last minute shopping in.
kinda like Aloha-Friday
Starting our double decker bus tour of HCMC
The famous cathedral is under massive repair
Cau Ba Son Bridge on top of the double decker bus
Windy crossing of the Cau Ba Son Bridge on top of the double decker bus
Traffic is fun on a double decker bus, ask mom n dad about the time I took them on one in Paris and we spent over an hour stuck on the Champs Elysees 😂
Normal traffic
Visited the War Remnants Museum, very somber and like Hiroshima, interesting to see the other viewpoint.
Some of the left behind US military vehicles are on display
pics from the War Remnants Museum in HCMC. Most were pretty horrific, especially the Napalm and Agent Orange ones. Needed cocktails after visiting.
The French loved their guillotines and used them regularly in Vietnamese rule 😵
Seriously, needed some stiff drinks after that museum. Luckily there’s some great cigar and whiskey bars.
more creepy stairs that end in a cool cigar bar on the fifth floor
The hunt for good whiskey and cigars has been a success this trip
Random assortment of pics…
These poor mannequins are COLD! Such cruelty
HCMC lights at night
Some Vietnamese pop star named “Mono” took over the Louis Vuitton store. He’s like the local Justin Beiber, as crowds of excited cans were gathered around
The electricity isn’t really stable here in HCMC, just one of the many brief blackouts we experienced
Can’t wait to eat this pizza!
Shawn fell asleep with his pizza, I was forced to rescue it and eat it
One last Bahn Mi while shopping at the very large Ben Thanh Market https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%E1%BA%BFn_Th%C3%A0nh_Market
Spent our last day in Cambodia eating really great local food and visiting the modern temples in Siem Reap city near our hotel.
First was Wat Bo, unfortunately the famous murals were undergoing preservation, but still many beautiful things to view, and was a clam quiet place to just sit in the shade and enjoy some respite in a busy city. more info here:
the monks at this Wat care for many sweet doggos. ♥️
This huge bell must be loud when the monks swing the log to ring it!
Next was Wat Preah Prom Rath, which was very near the tourist central zone, and clearly made more in donations from the larger amount of tourist/foot traffic.
Unlike Wat Bo, this was very flashy like Las Vegas.
Fancy topiary and peacocks
Hana Hou!
Sitting Buddha in the main temple
Very large laying Buddha, hard to tell scale from this pic
O.G. “How to Train Your Dragon” 😂 If you haven’t seen the movie or its sequels, please check em out. https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0892769/?ref_%3Dttls_li_tt
Love the floating flower displays at this Wat
I think this scene is depicting place where old people went to die, then get their guts picked out by some animals?
More cool displays, this Wat had interesting things to view around every corner
Headed back to the room to shower and go to the airport for our flight back to Vietnam. To help reduce pollution and its affects on the ancient structures, Siem Reap recently moved their airport from the edge of Angkor Park, to an hour outside of the city. What we didn’t realize was that this international airport is less than 3 months old! It was just opened on October 16, 2023. It’s very large, and was very empty, when we flew out, but kinda cool to enjoy a BRAD NEW airport. Creepy in a way, and felt like flying during the pandemic again almost.
Display showing all the souvenirs that you cannot bring in your carryon OR checked luggage.
More souvenirs you can’t bring home. I really would have loved to get dad the airplane made out of ammo though!
Spooky empty!
Cool Buddha statue in the middle of the empty airport
Feels like flying during covid times all over again
Skylight at the shiny new SAI airport
Settled back in HCMC (Saigon). Shawn found great whiskey and cigar bar for us to enjoy.
Negronis and cigars
Ahhh, good ole 7-11. Still a savior for late night snacks and hydration
Used up the last day in our pass visiting some more temples today. Angkor Archeological Park is massive, and covers so much area and history.
More info here: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/668/
How does access work to Angkor National Park? Well you purchase a one, three, or seven day pass and have to upload your picture too. May seem annoying, but we were constantly asked for our passes and they were scanned. I wish more national parks did this, cause it helps keep the crowds down and the pilau (trash) out. We purchased our tix online and took our pics at the airport in Hanoi
elephants!
moar elephants!
reenactment of how the restoration team excavated these temple and statues
Drainage (dragon?) built throughout the temple. If you look close everywhere , the engineering is just gobsmacking
More engineering awesomeness with the drainage
amazing ❤️
endless seeming corridor
Sacrifice stone? Not sure, shitty wifi and Google is failing me right now
Aloha
The size and magnitude of these ancient temples is very humbling
Shored wall. The restoration, preservation, and upkeep of this world heritage site is global effort. All temples are “sponsored” by global countries along with Cambodia. Cool to see a lot of university students getting first hand education.
Very hot, and we returned to Siem Reap for cocktails and food.
Like most of SE Asia, food is so great
Yummy
Adult arcade games 🍾
Found a lil bar that also had karaoke and BOGO drinks, ruh roh raggy!!
Got snacks on the way back to the hotel
As y’all know Shawn is lactose intolerant, but loves cheese. I need to keep a better eye on him when he chooses snacks from 7-11
EDIT: Holy fuck, this was basically noodles, cheese, and ghost peppers. There was no warning of the Scoville level with that cute cheese-hugging character on the package 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
While the upper levels were closed for much needed repair efforts, we enjoyed the carvings of “everyday life” for the ancient Cambodian people. It is also interesting to note that back in 1980 the government asked for world assistance to help preserved this wonder area, and each temple is “sponsored” by another country. Bayon is sponsored by Japan.
I was right to be suspicious of the street dog…the bun was sweet like a doughnut 🤮
Bayon temple
paddling canoe with underwater scene
Crocodile chomping some dudes leg. ouch!
monkeys 69ing in a tree…?
Crocodile chomping a fish, while a turtle escaped
spear to the face!
Bayon temple
Next we hopped on a tuktuk to get to Ta Prohm Temple. Some may know it from the movie “Tomb Raider”, but we were there for the Dinosaur carving. Remember, dinosaurs supposedly never existed with humans,but there’s clearly a stegosaurus carving here!
Conspiracy Theory time. ♥️ Ancient Aliens, Angkor Wat, and the Dinosaur
If you want to know about Tomb Raider filming,
https://theculturetrip.com/asia/cambodia/articles/ta-prohm-cambodias-tomb-raider-temple
On to the inner city of Angkor Thom: https://cambodianess.com/article/the-five-gateways-of-angkor-thom
bridge on the way into Angkor Tjom and Bayon temple
Another view of the dinosaur
seeing what the jungle has done to some of these massive temples is just mind blowing. Mother Nature always wins
mage-1703″ /> Looking up through a very old and very tall tower [/caption]
Shawn channeling his inner Lara Croft from Tomb Raider
Ta Prohm Temple
Jungle overtaking Ta Prohm Temple
Ta Prohm Temple
Jungle overtaking Ta Prohm Temple
The gate at Ta Prohm Temple was under restoration, so they built stairs up and over the wall
For the most part, you get free reign to explore all the nooks and crannies of the temple ruins
Donation station for the monks that care for the temples
Hungry jungle trees
Shawn chasing monkeys at the temple. 😂
Ta Prohm Temple
We didn’t want to take a tuktuk back into the town cause it’s not exactly safe or comfortable for long distance, but cause of timing and need, here we are.
we laughed cause the tuktuk driver in front of ours was decorated with “Ford”, until the douchebag stopped for no reason in the middle of the street, forcing our tuktuk into a controlled drive into the ditch on the right to avoid an accident. Cheers to our guy, fuck the “Ford driver”. Apparently you can’t avoid these assholes anywhere
TukTuk Life. One of the easiest ways to get around the vast Angkor complex of endless temples and ruins
Kinda glad to get outta the tuktuk, but our driver had some major balls, avoided an accident, and took us through a ditch without tip[caption id="attachment_1696" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Long day of being Indiana Jones, but a good cigar and whisky fixes everything
ping over.[/caption]
want some questionable home made hooch with a cobra head and gigantic scorpion in the bottle? no? me either. but I will definitely eat the chicken sandwich in a bag from the 7-11 😂
Mr. Papadapolous relaxing after a long day
Random monkey video, cause nobody is paying attention here 🐒🐒
No post yesterday, cause it was a travel day. It was a 2 hour cab ride from Halong Bay to Hanoi airport, then check bags, get thru customs, eat Vietnamese Burger King, and a short 90min flight to Angkor Cambodia airport. Get through customs again, then another hour ride to Siem Reap hotel.
Got dinner and zonked out, but made it to Angkor Wat today, another UNESCO Heritage Site & one of the wonders of the world. Not as old as the Giza pyramids, but wayyyy larger. Very zen and amazing!
More here: https://definition.org/angkor-wat-even-bigger-feat-egyptian-pyramids-combined/
Let’s get to the pics!
Food in Cambodia is great. Dinner
appetizer of okra and mushrooms
Shawn breakfast of waffles and bacon 🤮
Laurie got a local egg, pork , and noodles dish for breakfast
Woo hoo, life goal unlocked. Made it to Angkor Wat
Buda and seven cobras
Buda sculpture at Angkor
Buda sculpture at Angkor
Buda
Cool to still see the original paint in areas
more original paint
This shit is STEEP! pics don’t do justice
Shawn laughing from the bottom while I take my time down the steep ass stairs 🤣
Shawn made it up the rickety steep stairs to the top of Angkor, me next 💀💀
Looking out at Angkor from the top.
monkey butt!
Shawn taking a picture of me taking a picture of a monkey butt. (they move fast!)
Parts of Angkor were being restored and in rough shape, not unusual for a place so old.
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The carvings everywhere are amazing
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Next took a short tuktuk ride and was the hiked up the mountain for sunset views from Bakheng temple.
Hot hike up the hill to Bakheng Temple for sunset
spooky hole
lion statue asses
Indiana Jones style hiking, just random temples appearing through the jungle
Sunset starting. Just like Haleakala, we’ve learned that sunset is just as good as sunrise, you don’t have to get up ass-early, and the crowds are way lighter
moo! sunset colors in the background. Just like my dad taught me, we headed down a bit early to beat the crowds, so we could easily get a taxi back to town. Love you Dad 🤣😎♥️
Pub Street in Siem Reap is a welcome site after a hot day of hiking around.
More prepared for tomorrow. Got laundry soap to do more bathtub laundry tonight, then mosquito spray, hand sanitizer, and a hand fan. all for $3
Buy one Get one free cocktails on Pub Street, plus really good music
Today was a chill day, especially after staying out late at the club last night. (more on that later).
Went to the museum today which was a mix of natural history and cultural history, and there ended up being a ton of school groups there. They all wanted to practice their English with us, and we had many conversations throughout the day. However Shawn was an extra hit with his beard. They all wanted pictures with him, he felt like he had paparazzi surrounding him at times. 😂
Odd looking otter…I think Google translate got broken here. 😂
One of Shawn’s fan clubs
Amazing view along the waterfront behind the museum
After the museum, worked on our goal to visit a tiki bar in every country we visit
Tiki menu
Nice location on the beach, with a great view of Halong Bay
Bahn Bao. A delicious steamed bun filled with rice noodles, pork, and egg. Costs about 50¢ from a street vendor and makes an amazing snack
Back to the loud ass club last night. As they say, if you can’t beat em, join em. Had fun, and we both enjoyed the eye-candy gogo dancers.
Looks pretty baller, but half of the glasses are the redbull chasers they kept bringing with our drinks. skipped em, didn’t feel like being up for three days straight 🚀🚀
Halong Bay is an amazing UNESCO World Heritage site in Vietnam’s Gulf of Tonkin. Instead of a live aboard cruise, we opted for a 9 hour day cruise and it didn’t disappoint. We were especially glad we opted to pay a little extra for a day room with private balcony and bathroom, especially after seeing the state of the public bathrooms.
we were excited for the jacuzzi, till we found out it was ice cold 😢
Shawn’s excited to get on the boat!
Day room with private bathroom and balcony was worth the xtra $30
We’re on a boat!
Oh my, a CAVE!
Who remembers the difference between stalactites and stalagmites from school?? (no cheating!)
We had only 30mins excursion on this island, not enough time to hike to the top observation deck and get back to the tender boat. oh well, beers were cheap and cold.
Don’t do this…I don’t care what transportation it is. 🤮
Pics don’t do it justice, videos do a bit better.
Cruise back was relaxing until the thumping music started. It was loud, and had a live band singing terrible American music hits. We kept the gin n tonics flowing and made the best of it.
Back at the room enjoying a half million $dong cigar, and drinking Korean Soju cause a club about a mile away is obnoxious and the bass shakes everything in a multi mile radius.
ok, we’re going to the stupid club now. this thing puts Coachella to shame. 🤣
Booked a private car for the easy 2 hour drive from Hanoi to Halong, got settled and went to explore a bit. They are really trying to build this entire city up, and it’s shocking how many endless empty hotels and restaurants are around.
Decided to take the world’s longest sky tram ride (1.3 miles), which included entrance to part of the Sun World amusement park.
Similar to Downtown Disney or Universal City Walk, area outside of the park has tons of restaurants, bars, and entertainment options. however they’re mostly shuttered, probably still recovering from covid.
Ticket included a visit to their version of Madam Teausada, and foreign wax museums are a hoot! Steffi Graf looks like a beast compared to Michael Jordans height, and they have Obama and Putin in the same room. Shakira looks like she grew up with a British dental plan. Then there’s the one for the lady with the world record tatas….😂
“Obama”
this is a strange looking pope john paul
Marilyn Monroe looks rough, this must’ve been modeled right before she overdosed 😂
World’s largest & longest sky tram
The other open side of SunWorld, it’s definitely not Cedar Point
Found a pirate ship bar walking back to the hotel, and were the only people there
This place is like a ghost town
Some bar shaped like a pirate ship, we were the only people here
Hanoi is huge,but found some great highlights today. Just gonna say we’re happy to have Marriott points vs Hilton. Also got to eat at one of the places Anthony Bourdain loved, then made famous by eating there with Obama. Also so so happy for the plentiful foot massages and great food and beer!
Landing in Hanoi
The infamous “Hanoi Hilton” POW prison, not the Hilton you want frequent visitor points from
align=”aligncenter” width=”225″] supposedly John McCain’s flight suit [/caption]
Anthony Bourdain and his shows were always one of our favorites & sources of travel inspiration, and we got the chance to eat at one of his favorite spots. The “Parts Unknown” Season 8,Episode 1 show was one of the best, and we got to have an amazing $5 lunch with beers here.
Secret service doesn’t look amused 😂
Hanoi’s famous “Beer Corner” didn’t disappoint. Cheep beers and lots of free crazy people and action watching!
Now I want these cocktail glasses..
Lots of walking, time for foot massages
Looks like the Macy’s parade with so many balloons
Aloha, by the time I post this we’ve already celebrated and recovered from our NYE celebrations, and most of y’all are just getting started. Hope 2024 is happy and prosperous for everyone!
This evening we’re getting on a flight north to Hanoi. Here’s pics from the last 48 hours. At least the ones we’re willing to share 😂😘
We both did our final fitting at the tailor and cobbler. Just biding time for a couple of hours before picking up our goods
Brisket Bahn Mi ($5), was delicious!
Cutting through tight alleys to avoid the busy streets
New swanky custom leather shoes n belt in less than 48hrs. And yes, yes he did get Miami Dolphins orange liners 🐬🐬
Two new fun blazers in 48hrs. Won’t find this at Macy’s or Neiman Marcus!
Dinner of the local Cau Lau noodle dish before heading out to the festivities
Potent Vietnamese coffee and a long Island ice tea to get NYE festivities started
WCGW buying Roman Candles from a Vietnamese street vendor?
It seems we bought safe fireworks from the street vendor! yay! missing fingers aren’t on our 2024 resolution list.
Y’all saw this already, but Happy New Year ❤️
NYE resolution!
Buy one get one free cocktails? Don’t have to ask us twice, day drinking and waiting for the flight to Hanoi this evening.
View of the Blue Bayou restaurant from the Pirete’s ride
