Quote-o-the-day

"...I started to think about time, and how it keeps moving and draining and flowing forever forward, seconds into minutes into days into years, all of it leading to the same place, a current running forever in one direction. And we're all going and swimming as fast as we can, helping it along. My point is: maybe you can afford to wait. Maybe for you there's a tomorrow. Maybe for you there's one thousand tomorrows, or three thousand, or ten, so much time you can bathe in it, roll around in it, let it slide like coins through your fingers. So much time you can waste it. But for some of us there's only today. And the truth is, you never really know."
-before i fall, lauren oliver

Photo-o-the-day

Saigon, evening rush hour.

Photo-o-the-day

Beautiful day at East Mebon. Angkor ruins, Cambodia.

I heart this song

I love this clip and wish the whole thing was in the movie. Also, Garrett Hedlund makes a hot country singer.

Photo-o-the-day

Profile of faces at Bayon. It was one of my favorite ruins at Angkor.

2010 Books

This 2010 roundup is coming a little late, since we are already partway through February, but I still wanted to post my list. I ended up reading a tad more than last year, 18 books in total for 2010. Really enjoyed Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. The Hunger Games was FABULOUS, and I was able to convince quite a number of friends to read it also. I don't care what anyone says, I heart young adult novels. Couch was quirky and funny. And for the record, I absolutely DID NOT LIKE The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I have no clue why there is so much buzz and hype around the book, it was awful.

A question to YOU, my readers (I'm being hopeful that I actually have readers out there): what did you read in 2010 that you loved? I'm always looking for book recommendations.

2010 books, in the order I read them...
-Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Gregory Maguire
-Coraline, Neil Gaiman
-Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Barbara Kingsolver
-The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
-Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins
-The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
-Prodigal Summer, Barbara Kingsolver
-Couch, Benjamin Parzybok
-The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Steig Larson
-The Help, Kathryn Stockett
-The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, Stephenie Meyer
-Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins
-The Missing: Book 1: Found, Margaret Peterson Haddix
-Touching the Void, Joe Simpson
-The Last Summer (Of You and Me), Ann Brashares
-Durable Goods, Elizabeth Berg
-Zero Regrets, Apolo Ohno
-Three Willows, Ann Brashares

Until Next Time

After a while, you adapt to being in unfamiliar surroundings, to moving from site to site and town to town, to unpacking and repacking.  After a while, the wandering and exploring becomes the rythm of your days.  I wish my days could continue like this, but it's sadly time to close this chapter of traveling adventures.  Our three weeks is up, and we must fly home tonight. It has been wonderful. Goodbye Vietnam & Cambodia, until next time!      

Thoughts on traveling

Yes, it can get tiring--living out of a bag, being constantly on the move, pushing the limits of what I'm comfortable with.  But that is why I travel, it's part of the experience, to jolt my senses and see, feel, taste something new.  To be awed, to step outside of my routine, to know that there is more to life and the world than what I normally witness everyday.  

Other travel blogs

Sorry I haven't been able to update much. I would love to share more details and photos, but lack of time and Internet access has limited my ability to blog as much as I would like. I also decided to leave my iPhone at home and no longer have my dad's laptop to load pictures from my camera to, so I've only been able to blog and share from the iPod touch that Justin lent me (thanks Justin! It's been awesome having this handy iPod to connect to wifi when I can!). I will share more when I get back home, so in the mean time, here are some other things you can read...

For another (and much funnier) perspective on our Vietnam & Cambodia trip, check out Rae's blog. She brought her iPhone, so has been able to take & share a lot more photos and videos than me:
Raelovesdirt

Also take a look at Cat & Nick's blog, read about their time with Rae & I and check in to see how the rest of their world trip is going:
Cat & Nick

Back to the motherland...again

Wow, I can't believe our 10 days hanging out with Catherine and Nick have come and gone so quickly.  I'm so happy that plans worked out and that we were able to meet up with them during their world trip.  It was so much fun being able to explore and travel with a group of friends!  They flew in the night of January 3rd and we've done so much during the past week and a half--Saigon, Cu Chi tunnels, the Mekong Delta, Phnom Penh, and Siem Reap & Angkor.  Today is our last half day in Cambodia, Rae and I are flying out to Hanoi this evening to finish the last leg of our trip in Northern Vietnam, back to the motherland once again. 

I've been pleasantly surprised by Cambodia.  Besides the Angkor ruins, it has never been on my must see list of travel destinations.  I was just going along for the ride, it was more of a "why not?" rather than a "I have to go there!" detour out of Vietnam.  In the end, I am so glad we came here, even though we had to sacrifice the Central Vietnam towns of Hue & Hoi Anh, which I still really want to visit (next time!)  In our initial planning stages, we were only going to stay in Cambodia for three nights.  But in the end we also had to cut out Phu Quoc island, off the tip of the Mekong Delta, since it would be too difficult to get to in such a short period of time (next time!).  So we stayed here for six nights instead of three, and now six nights still just isn't enough!  I would happily stay longer if I could, but alas, we have other adventures calling us in Hanoi & Halong Bay.  

Tuk-tuk driver to Angkor: $9 for the whole day
Buffet dinner & Aspara dance show: $10
Can of Angkor beer: $1
Cambodia souvenir shirt: $2
1 hour traditional massage: $8
Great adventures with friends: priceless!