I’m not really sure why, but there’s something about this video that makes me want to kick this old man’s ass:

Me yesterday:

Me today, one haircut and shave later:

The beachside restaurant/bar at Mango Bay:

Winder observed this – whatever the hell this is – crawling/slithering down the beach. I feel sure the Vietnamese not only know exactly what it is, but also eat it regularly:

Father, son:

Thao tempts the captive sea turtle to take a finger off at the knuckle:

Post motorbike ride dinner and beers:

Sun comin’ up and then, the sun it goin’ down, shine through my window, and my friends they come around:

Winder found this lil’ guy inside his mosquito net when he turned in for the night (what is it about Webbs in Vietnam and bats?):

Thao on the squid fishing boat:

Come here squid:

One of the few squid caught that night:

Rock crabs at Mango Bay:

The daily catch:

Winder left for the airport a little before 3pm today after spending two weeks in Vietnam. I think and hope he had a good time – he certainly had some experiences he’d never had before and saw some things he’d never seen before. He was my first family member to come visit me over here – hopefully not the last! I hope that he will come back – and that he can persuade my stepmom, Molly, to come with him next time!

Here is the final set of photos I took in Phu Quoc. I’ll post Winder’s separately.

On a beach we stopped at during our marathon motorbike ride on Saturday:

My homegirl:

Mean Wind-O:

Nice Wind-O:

Our cabin at Mango Bay – Winder on the left, Thao and I on the right:

Mango Bay:

Big red ant on sandal:

Wildin’ out:

Thao and her bumbershoot:

I love this photo for some reason:

Hogging the bumbershoot:

The old men and the sea:

The harbor at Phu Quoc:

Tre pound seven spin around for my brethren, the clouds come down:

What up, dog?

Growin’ that pepper:

Dryin’ that pepper:

That pepper:

It’s Sunday afternoon – about 5:23pm – and we’ve been on Phu Quoc island since Friday. A lot of chillin’, swimming in the ocean, eating good food, and cocktails and beers. Yesterday we rented 3 motorbikes and explored the north end of the island for about 5 hours – pretty interesting. Right now Winder and Thao are off on a squid fishing trip. I wasn’t interested in going, so am chillin’ here at Mango Bay by myself. About to read my book – The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano – and have a cocktail. Tomorrow we head back to Saigon and Tuesday Winder’s two weeks in Nam comes to an end and he heads back to the US. Peace!
 
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A big honkin’ Mekong Delta goose:

Cruisin’ the canals. Me trying to disappear in my palm leaf camouflage:

At the coconut candy factory:

Delta sunset:

The post-Tet scramble for the Mekong ferry:

Gettin’ it down:

Uncle Ho:

Surely these people aren’t challenging me to shotgun a Heineken?

This is how we roll in America:

Big Money, Nam, Winder, Khanh:

View from Sam Mountain in Chau Doc:

We love the catfish in Chau Doc:

Feeding said catfish in said city:

Gettin’ it down:

The cuteness:

Henry slings the net:

And catches a power line (!):

Cruising into Phnom Penh on the Mekong:

Wat Phnom, home of the fattest monkeys ever. Thanks tourists!

“Honey, does this fur make me look fat?”

Winder visits the killing fields:

Phnom Penh suburbs:

Our bus takes one for the team:

Angkor:

Denizens:

Unfinished apsara carving:

Behold the naga:

Your host, Mr. Big Money:

Overgrowth:

Big beehive:

We are perplexed as to how the Khmer knew about stegosauruses (stegosaurii?)/triceratops (triceratopses?) in the 11th century. Sure looks like a dinosaur at least:

At the apsara dance on our last night in Siem Reap:

Okay, so I am back in Saigon and Winder is off golfing and motorcycle touring in Da Lat. He returns tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon.

Here are some photos from our Cambodia trip. Hopefully I’ve fixed the formatting issues and they will look better than the ones before.

Winder chilling at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Phnom Penh:

Our first sight of Angkor Wat:

Monkin’ out:

Monkin’ out, continued:

Yo, you know, just chillin’ out, hangin’ onto my brother’s tail:

Got him!

The eating of the bean:

I think they were trying to de-louse my leg:

Mugshot:

What the hell was that?

Getting an idea:

Making a break for it:

Not so fast:

Get back here:

The takedown:

Damn, mom:

Chillin’:

Airborne:

Surveying the silliness:

Okay, enough monkeys. Sorry about that. I got a little carried away.  How about a rock garden?

Angkor:

Apsaras:

The riding of the pachyderm:

Garuda:

The many happy faces of Angkor:

Apsaras:

Winder and our guides, Sopheap and Panha:

Miscellaneous Cambodian boy among the rubble:

This door looks to have been custom-fit for Winder:

Wall detail (the Hindus carved the Buddhas out of the rocks along the top of the wall when the Hindus took over):

Baby asleep among the ruins:

Buddha and apsaras:

The making of the war upon the pachyderms:

Webb vs. Webb:

That’s it from my camera. More from Winder’s camera later.

[I see that some of these photos are really choppy - at least on the computer I'm viewing them on. I think I uploaded them at the wrong setting maybe. I may fix them when I get back to Vietnam and have more time. In the meantime, if you want to see a higher resolution version of a particular photo, just click on the image and it will open it up the original Picasa Web Album page. Sorry about that.]

I’ve finally been able to upload some photos from the past few days, so here you go:

Two of Thao’s six nieces in Long An on Thursday morning:

Some lovely ladies of Long An:

We are family:

Thao being cute:

Special Tet cakes and coconut juice:

Our guide, Khanh, fits Winder with the mandatory boa constrictor lei in My Tho:

Khanh makes sure the boa and his larger friend are safely back in the box:

These photos are especially for my nephew, O:

Our boat captain paddles us around a canal near My Tho:

“Can’t a man just chill out with his woman and have a cigarette on the Mekong River without being bothered by damn tourists?” Apparently not.

Mekong River drag racing:

“This is my damn altar. Back off!”

On the ferry at My Tho:

Mekong River neighborhood at Can Tho:

The Cai Rang floating market, Can Tho:

“Oh wow! He’s cutting a pineapple!!!” Dumbass tourists:

But hey, these people are loading pineapples from one boat to another – now that’s photo-worthy, not some dumbass tourist junk:

Workin’, drankin’, bidin’ my time:

Ol’ Sparky:

I liked this little altar for some reason:

And the house it was in front of:

Winder and Khanh on the front porch of the floating catfish house – people live in the house and catfish live beneath it:

Fishing the Mekong:

Cute:

“Fish! Y’all been warned!”

Cute:

Uh-oh, fish:

The biggest thing we caught:

I think this is my favorite photo so far:

A boy and his chicken:

Our boat captain cools off:

Okay, that takes us through my Vietnam photos. I didn’t take any at Chau Doc, but Winder did so hopefully I’ll post those later. I’ll post some of my Cambodia photos as soon as I can. Peace!

We are in Siem Reap – leaving to check out Angkor Wat in about half an hour.  We had a long bus ride from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap yesterday – I wouldn't recommend it.  It was only $11, but the 1-hour flight is only $80 and I think that's the way to go.  The seats on the bus were very small.  We had a flat tire, which we had to stop for 30 minutes to fix – which was actually a welcome break and chance to stretch our legs.  Once it got dark it became your usual Southeast Asian cat-and-mouse game with other drivers, pedestrians, animals, etc.  At one point our driver slammed on his brakes to avoid hitting a herd of cows crossing the road.  Our bus started sliding and everyone looked up as we slid toward the cows – all of whom had literal "cow-in-the-headlights" expressions on their faces.  We managed not to hit any of them.

But at some point, to add insult to injury, I guess, the Cambodian bus driver turned off the usual cheesy Cambodian karaoke songs that had been playing the whole trip and turned on . . . the Keven Federline rap CD.  We listended to the whole thing.  It was awful.  Then back to the cheesy Cambodian karaoke.  Not sure why, out of the entire universe of music out there, we were forced to listen to an hour of K-Fed while dodging cows on a dark Cambodian highway, but it is an experience I would not wish on anyone but my worst enemies.

Our hotel in Siem Reap – the Tara Angkor – is very nice – the nicest hotel we've been in so far.  We'll be here another night – heading back to Saigon tomorrow.

I see the Steelers are up 17 to 7 at the half.  I'm pulling for the Cardinals – I guess just because they're such big underdogs.

Peace!