After a relatively uneventful 13 hour flight to Taipei, we went thru a very efficient customs to a view of a very hazy Taipei morning overlooking the runway. It was nice to have the terminal to ourselves, the few who had connecting flights that early at 5.30a. It was just us and David Beckham's smiling portrait, holding a glass of scotch in our direction. What's with the David Beckham thing over here btw?




They had the elderly cued in their wheelchairs. We thought of ducks in a pond for some reason.


As we passed over Da Nang, Vietnam, some serious cloud formations came into view.

A quick cab ride, negotiated to $11 from $12 (which we were assured is the new normal).



Bikes and motorcycles and cars weave down the roads together here in what is best described as comfortable chaos. How we didn't witness an accident, I don't know.








We were informed by the hotel staff at the Frangipani Villa-90s Hotel that our rooms were unavailable but we would be moved further south to their sister hotel, the Frangipani Living Arts Hotel. I said I had been advised to stay north of Mao Tse Tuong Blvd, upon which he reassured us that the area is "much better than it was".



So a quick tuk tuk ride south to our new hotel gave us an even closer look at motor transport in Cambodia...

Yes, this is our driver on the wrong side of the road. Yet, it completely made sense at the time.











We're off to get SIM cards for our phones. The first storm came and went faster than I could take a photo, but the thunder strike sounded like a truck driving into our shower.