Day 13: Angkor Wat – A Bucket List Dream (and Reality Check)

Lizz and Andi in front of the Bayon Temple in the Angkor area

Today, a travel dream that’s been simmering on my bucket list for over 30 years finally became reality. Angkor Wat—yes, that Angkor Wat—has always felt like a place out of reach, something for other travelers, or maybe just the pages of National Geographic. To finally see it with my own eyes, after decades of dreaming, …

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Day 11: Da Nang – Saigon – Phnom Penh: Airports, Airplanes, and Arrival in Cambodia

a group of cambodian temple dancers

Today wasn’t about temples, markets, or tasty street food. Today was about airports, queues, and the strange sense of limbo you get on travel days, where you spend more time waiting for planes than actually flying on them. We kicked things off with a flight from Da Nang—booked with VietJet but, in a fun twist, …

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Vietnam Travel Diaries: Day 5 – The Hang Mua Challenge (or, How Not to Injure Your Knee at Sunrise)

a beautiful view from Hang Mua in Ninh Binh

Day 5 in Vietnam started with the kind of ambition you only have when you’re still jet-lagged: we set our alarms for 5 am, determined to catch sunrise from the top of Hang Mua (Mua Cave) viewpoint. The plan? Easy. Just a quick 500-step climb to one of Ninh Binh’s most breathtaking vistas. The reality? …

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