Theme :

General hints and tips

Greetings

Kids waving
Always wave to children with catapults
Lots of people wave and shout hello, or stare in amazement, especially in less built-up areas. Kids get especially excited and often try to tag you as you ride past or race you (they'll probably win!) It's heart-warming and makes you feel very special - just be careful not to run anyone over or go off the road! It's nice to try and reply to their greeting in the local language, so make an effort to learn a few words.

Travelling as a couple

Double rooms cost less per person than single rooms, plus you can share the luggage and chivvy each other long. It felt like people treated us with more respect as a married couple; it's easier to pretend you are married even if you're not and you can make up children for added kudos! Apparently single men get hassled a lot by people offering them prostitutes.

Budget

As a very general rule of thumb, $25 per day will feed two people and put a roof over their heads. Country-specific budgets can be found for Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

Hotel / Guest House / Resort

Royal palace, Phnom Penh
The golden roof implies this is probably a hotel
Q. What's the difference between a hotel and a guest house?
A. About $20

There's a lot of overlap between the quality of guest houses and hotels. Generally, hotels have toothbrushes in the rooms (to clean your bike with) and are more likely to have HBO on the TV, but we've found that guest house owners are more friendly and eager to help. This is very useful when you need directions to the next town! A resort tends to refer to a single out-of-town establishment rather than a large complex of hotels, in the european sense of the word.

Being vegetarian

It's impossible (or near enough) to be a strict vegetarian outside tourist centres or specialist restaurants. Many dishes have very small amounts of fish sauce and shrimp paste and meat stock is often used for soups. However if you're not too fussy and don't mind picking out the occasional bits of meat, you can enjoy lots of delicious fresh vegetable dishes. Check out the veggie vocabulary in Thai, Vietnamese, Lao and Khmer.