Random Asides

1. A Helluva Place to Have a Wedding

There was one of the ruined temples in Cambodia that was available for weddings. Do you know how we know? Because we walked by and saw them setting up:

It looked very cool:

2. Wi-Fi Shenanigans

Almost every hotel or motel or cafe we went to had free, mostly low-powered, wi-fi. What I liked was when we made it to a lame looking hotel, asked about the wi-fi, and they told us the details were up in the room. Really? Let's see:

Wait...is that it, on the upper left side of the picture?

Yup, right there, written on the wall...

3. Lock Shenanigans

Not everyplace had the same integrity on their locking mechanisms. Deadbolts, maybe?

How about pad-locks. At least the door cracked open only a half inch or so...

4. Electricity Fun

Every room we stayed in had a cool electricity conservation program. To get the electricity to work, you had to insert a key-card into a slot inside the door:

This was the same in every place we stayed throughout all three countries. The one problem was that the AC, obviously, wouldn't be on while we'd be out, so each room was nasty hot whenever we'd return. Small price to pay, I guess.

5. To be Clear...Um...

Whatever you say, sign...

6. "Hot" Water

Hot water was more of a suggestion than a promise. Most showers were spigots coming from the wall, the bathroom a tiled spot with an-easy-to-trip-over raised threshold designed to contain the water. You soaked yourself, turned off the water, lathered up, turned the water back on and rinsed. 

Hopefully it could be warm when that was all happening. Rarely was that the case.

At the Sala Champa hotel in Pakse, during the Greatest Shower that Ever Was, the water was steaming hot and coming from a shower-head (wow!) mounted high on the wall (wow!). After our long and grimy jungle weekend, that shower was magical.

Kinda like when visiting Europe and we Americans have to realize that it's us that have an aversion to body odors, we Americans, when visiting Asia (or any developing nation), must realize that hot showers are just not a regular thing.