Natalie and I left for Bangkok on January 10th with $1,000~ USD and 20 days to travel through 3 countries. Here are the photo-highlights. Please, click here to see all of the photos I picked to put online, and click here to see those photos with a full-screen slideshow.

We  arrived at about 4 something in the morning, managed to get to a total gnarly run down looking hostel, I think it was like $3 a night? I slept on a cushion on the floor, and guys with dreads met us with smiles.



Tuk-tuks are a major form of transportation here.

Red light district.

We actually only came to Bangkok because the flight was cheaper than directly into Cambodia. Here we are crossing the border on foot / avoiding the visa scam many tourists fall into.

At one of the bus rest stops we encountered this scene, a church group leaving and kids saying goodbye. I asked, and a man said they had just built a cafeteria for the kids over the past month and were now going home.


We made it to Siem Reap, Cambodia, home of Angkor Wat.














The next day, we hired the same tuk-tuk driver to take us to the Floating Village, along one of the bumpiest roads ever. Along the way we passed this herd of cattle, as well as a gas station that uses glass bottles of fuel to fill up motorcycles/tuk-tuk’s.









Stumbled upon this scene on the way back to our hostel. This kid has a chain locked around his ankle and a bloody nose, with a crowd of locals gathered nearby, including a police officer. Nobody had any idea what happened, and the kid wasn’t talking, maybe in shock, not sure. They took him to a darker corner to avoid a scene, and I felt compelled so I went and bought a water and gave it to him. Wish I could have helped more.



Bed-prison AKA night-bus to Phnom Penh, on more of the bumpiest roads ever.

The Killing Fields in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.



Left is the memorial with skulls stacked a few stories high, on the right is the “Magic Tree” where a loudspeaker was hung to help drown out the noise of people moaning from being murdered.

Mass grave holes.

After the capital of Cambodia and waiting on a visa for Vietnam, we entered Ho Chi Minh.

It reminded me more of China, in terms of infrastructure, at least, just with a bunch more motorcycles. Cambodia had little to no infrastructure.


My first time seeing a dragonfruit whole plant.



Then on to the lovely beach town of Nha Trang, where we were pleasantly stuck for a few days, being Lunar New Year and everyone in the entire region trying to travel at once, so the price of everything was very high. We waited it out a bit and enjoyed the relaxing town.

One of those days we hired two motorcycle drivers to take us to a nearby waterfall and show us around some. In a word, their driving is ‘exciting’.





Street food, legit.

Food in restaurant, also legit.


Boom.

They do know how to use fireworks ’round these parts.



A much more comfortable bed-prison northward to Hanoi.



A few decades ago, a sight like this would have been a much more serious thing in this area.

Lots of traditional activities happen on Lunar New Year.




Finally it was time to head back to China.

Along the way, the van stopped on the side of the road several times to see if we could cram anyone else in.

and then, it was over.