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Belize Part 2; Caye Caulker
*All $ are in American currency
After 5 days on the mainland we headed to Caye Caulker for 10 days. My only change would have been to stay in the mainland a few more days and shorten the time on CC though we did relax and enjoy our time there.
12/6/23
Took ferry to Caye Caulker and got to our place by 1:30. Our lodging was Seremei Villas ($1500 for 10 nights included taxes and cleaning fee etc got on VRB0). It was on the S end of town a few blocks from the airport and not right down near the busy part of town. We loved the hosts and would recommend this to others.
12/8/23 Snorkeling; Sand Life Eco Tours; $90 pp They were okay, and recommended to us. Though they were locals they were sort of the island time partiers. Lunch was fine, but I am sure all tours are the same. Most the same price. We did see and swim with nurse sharks, spotted eagle rays and saw lots of nice coral and other tropical fish. They do send you pics from their go pro but there is nothing earth shattering with the pics. Not ‘professional’ by any stretch.
Entire time on Caye Caulker:
Beer in stores was $1.75 but only 9 0Z not 12!
Morning Fry Jacks were about $4.50-5
Dinners were often the same thing ranging from $15-25 plates
Stewed Chicken,
Jerk Chicken,
Snapper in different sauces,
Lobster ( more expensiver)
We ate out maybe ½ the nights and made things in room the other nights
The bakery in CC is yummy for cinnamon rolls
Don’t think I will ‘crave’ anything food wise from this trip except the fresh squeezed juices, orange, pineapple, melon,
Enjoyed an ice cream cone as a treat at nights
Took bicycles on the ferry to the N island ($7 RT for the 2 bikes). Maybe an 8 mile RT ride??? A good way to help pass a few hours.
Restaurants we’d suggest on CC:
Reina’s (one street back from main road),
Pasta Per Caso Anna (far end of main road)
Errolyn’s House of Fry Jack’s (grabbed one almost every morning, next door to it is a white building that has fresh squeezed juice).
Steve’s Grill (on corner attached to store on main street).
Yummy Yummy; Asian for that is a LOT we had left overs for days (across from police on main street).
Seems like every store in town is owned by Vietnamese which we found interesting! The stores remind me of shopping in rural Alaska. Not a lot of choice and random items are really high priced and other things are shockingly not expensive.
Rum is cheap and ‘rum punch’ is typical everywhere.
It rained more than normal for DEC during this visit, which was disappointing but we survived EXCEPT for the sand flies. They bit us so badly one day, we were covered in red bumps. You CAN NOT see them but you will feel them. I had to go to pharmacy to get an anti-itch cream the next day. The bites lasted for 5 days until the pain faded. Bring bug spray.
The ‘beaches’ are not really places to sit and relax like they might be in Hawaii. This is why I got a place with a pool and I was so happy I did.
12/16-12/17, 2023 Ferry back to Belize CityHotel Shuttle $25Hotel same as first night $107Shuttle to Airport $20
Arizona Motorcycle Trip fall 2020
Tues. Sept. 22, 2020
We left Juneau with masks and face shields ready for some fun on our motorcycles; however, the highlight of the flight south was that I hit my 1,000,000 (paid) miles Alaska Air. They flight crew was nice and celebrated this milestone with me!
We took a lyft from airport to our cycles, Harry’s needed a new battery and Michelle the owner of storage unit was already on it and picking a new one up for us. She’s an awesome business owner and we appreciate her so much for caring for our ‘babies.’
This was the first time for me on my new motorcycle and it felt good immediately. It is an automatic, which is odd to not have to ‘shift’, but I loved it. Overnighted in friends casita and prepped for the next days outing.
Wed. Sept. 23 Rode 150 miles
On way out of town stopped at GO AZ to have my mirrors looked at and fixed, then we were off! We rode N to Payson and stopped to grab some groceries before heading 30 miles E towards our campsite, at Woods Canyon Lake; Crooks Campsite. It was cooler up on the rim and an enjoyable night camping. Though I was sick (from the heat), Harry took care of me and we climbed into the tent and watched “The Peanut Butter Falcon”, what a great movie.
Thursday, Sept. 24 Rode 170 miles
Up and back on the road, off to Camp Verde, Cottonwood, and Jerome, before going up the mountain outside of Jerome headed to Mingus Mountain campground. We turned onto the road and went about ¼ mile but it was very steep and all gravel, not good for motorcycles. Hence we turned around and went across road to Potato Patch Campground, sadly it was full HOWEVER there was a road next to campground that allowed campers, so we went there instead. There was a toilet but no water and it was free! Camped there for 2 nights. For dinner rode down to Prescott and ate at a brewery, cute little town.
Friday, Sept. 25 Rode 80 miles
Up and going and rode to Sedona to go on a hike. Picked the Devil’s Arch Trail. On a ‘normal’ day it would have been EASY hike, but in the heat of this day and temps near 100, hiking in the beating sun was just too warm for me. We enjoyed the red rocks and the area, but the hike was HOT. Went into town and grabbed late lunch / early dinner, then back to our camp site. On the way realized I was low on gas, so backtracked for gas and suddenly it was dark, no fun getting to site after dark.
Saturday, Sept. 26 Rode 80 miles
Off to try another hike in Sedona, this trail we know and we love, West Folk Trail on the N side of Sedona. They limit the # of cars in the lot, but we only had to wait about 5 minutes to get in. It is an amazing trail, goes about 3.5 miles into the valley, it follows a river and is very wooded, hence it is not that hot even when sun in beating down. At one point I stopped and laid down on the side of the river and harry kept going, I actually fell asleep and enjoyed the rest in the heat of the day! Onward to Flagstaff and into a hotel! Took lyft to dinner and back and enjoyed another brewery meal!
Sunday, Sept. 27 Rode 220 miles
Off to the Grand Canyon, took 40 W and then N to the canyon. We entered the park and we were a bit disappointed that a huge van/suv holding 6-8 people cost $35 to enter, but ONE motorcycle with ONE person cost $30. The two cycles together only have 4 small tires and 2 people but we paid $25 more than the huge SUV that entered. Was a bit disappointing. HOWEVER the ride through the park was not disappointing. We had a great ride, about 50 miles RT inside the park. HOWEVER there was no camping anywhere in or near the park, so we headed back to Flagstaff. Got another night in a hotel and enjoyed dinner at the restaurant across the street from the hotel. It was great, Oregano’s.
Monday, Sept. 28 Rode 210 miles
Up and headed east towards Winslow, AZ, just to say we’d been there! Then headed back south on 87 to Pine and Payson. Doubled backed to our campsite from Wednesday night and enjoyed another evening up on the rim. I felt better this night and was able to go sit on the ledge of the rim and watch the sunset. We ate leftovers for dinner and listened to the elk bugle all night long with an almost full moon in the sky. The Woods Canyon Lake area is stunning and I am sure we will return her again.
Tuesday, Sept. 29 Rode 160 miles
Slow start to the day and decided instead of the ‘normal’ route back to Phoenix let’s go East and then turn back to the west. So we went to Globe, had an amazing lunch at a great Mexican restaurant before heading towards Phoenix. Wow the heat kicked my butt again, once we got to the desert floor. Was a bit longer of a ride in that heat than I had wanted, but we got back to friends safely and felt so good to cool down, shower and enjoy a relaxing evening before heading home!
Total miles ridden 1,176 miles!
Final Thoughts on Vietnam and Cambodia
Overall last thoughts and tips:
- Bring lots of American cash in clean, ‘big headed’ bills that are as new as possible. I used a lot of $1 for tips and they were well received in both countries.
- If you are not a person that enjoys being hot, I’d go in Dec. when it is in the 90’s because it gets hotter other times of the year!
- Flying with in Vietnam and Cambodia was cost effective and much more comfortable than their slow trains or a bus. Funniest thing about flying was how they board. No calling by groups, or rows, nope… just a long line where people act as if the plane will take off without them.
- If you are wanting clothes made for you, do that in Hoi An, seems to be the best place for material and garments.
- Vietnam $1= 23,000 Dong
- Cambodia $1= 4000 Riel
- HOWEVER Cambodia accepts American dollars and most prices are listed in dollars! Much easier to understand.
- Many places that we thought they’d offer tours, they did not, for example the Opera Houses, some of the Catholic Churches, and historical buildings.
- You probably could wait and find lodging upon arrival into cities, but for the most part VRBO and Bookings.com did not let us down. Only one time did we have troubles and that was fixed quickly.
- We got chewed out once by a lady selling books (in Vietnamese mind you) stating, “You never buy from me, You are mean, You need to buy from me.” We had variations of that statement while in markets etc. Just be prepared to walk away. As we were warned, ‘if you touch it for some reason they think you bought it.’
- Vietnamese food is significantly build around noodles, meat and broth, not often a lot of spices and certainly no curry. Once in Cambodia we at Indian food a lot as it was much more available.
- $10 room is just what you would think it would be, $20-25 typically pretty nice and $30> super nice. Usually at that rate breakfast was included. I’d recommend looking at the $25ish room rates.
- Sidewalks are NON existent. They are either full of parked scooters OR scooters use them as another road. Harry got hit on the sidewalk by a scooter (not going that fast but still). It is insane.
- There is certainly a lot to learn about ‘recent’ history while in these countries. Cambodia and the ‘killing fields’ stuck such a cord in my heart and then of course all the history of the Vietnam War while in Vietnam. Surprisingly, they are very open armed to Americans and happy to see us visit.
- Lastly we’d spend more time in smaller communities and less time in bigger cities (HCMC or Phnon Penh), we are just small town folks at heart.
this is how they grill most food on the street. Who needs a grill?
Angkor Temples, and Angkor Wat one of the New 7 Wonders of the World!
Temples of Angkor! “Capital of Temples” is about 4 miles North of Siem Reap. The most famous is Angkor Wat though Bayon and others are fascinating as well. There are over 1000 temples in the 400 acre area all built between 9th and 13th centuries origionally they were Hindu temples. In the 12th century they were transformed into Buddhist temples.
We hired a tuk tuk driver to take us to the temples for $16 for the entire day. First stop, purchase the day pass to get into the area. It was $37 and they take your photo and put it on your day pass. You can get a 2 and 3 day pass as well.
In the 15th century the Angkor empire collapsed. There are a variety of reasons sited for this but most historians believe that very intense monsoon rains followed by a drought lead to the collapse. After this the temples were overtaken by Mother Nature and the jungle took over the buildings. The growth of the jungle, earthquakes as well as wars all took their toll on the area until the late 1800’s.
In the early 1900’s the French ruled that region and established a commission to restore the area. However, not much happened until the early 1960’s and it was a little too late as Cambodia was headed into a civil war in the 1970’s. Regardless France, Germany and India all supported the renovation and upkeep of the temples.
In 1992 the area became a UNESCO World Heritage site. At that time there were not many visitors. From the early 1990’s until today the number of visitors has risen from a few thousand to over 500,000 by the early 2000’s and most recently over 2 million visitors last year. If you can get there before even more visitors take over the area, visit now! 
We did not feel the urgency to do the sunrise or the sunset visit. Many people do and from everyone we talked to that did the early morning visit, they all said it was NOT worth it. We were picked up at 8 a.m., immediately went to get our tickets and finally to the temples. We spent about 6 hours touring the different temples (saw 7 all together).
Bring water, bring camera’s and back up batteries and dress appropriately. Cover you shoulders and your knees. It was hot for me, but you must be respectful. We were disheartened by folks that did not follow those rules.
Landing in Cambodia
12/22
My best birthday present was leaving HCMC and arriving in Seim Reap Cambodia. This is where I was meant to spend some quality time. Our tuk tuk driver was there to get us at the airport. But first we had to get our Cambodian Visa’s. You DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT need to have a photo for this visa. We simply paid $30/per person and had it in about 5 minutes.
Our driver was so sweet he took us a bit out of the way so we could get a picture of the sunset, which was beautiful. Then he got us to our hotel which was just a sweet place. Old teak wood everywhere, a pool and the nicest people!
When we asked about getting a driver to take us to Ankgor Wat the next day, he said, how about your tuk tuk driver? We were thrilled. For $16 we hired him to take us for the entire day!
Onward that evening we walked into town (1/2 mile ish) to what is now called Pub Street. This street is 1000% geared towards tourists. We did NOT want to spend much time there, so we ventured 1-2 streets off of that street and enjoyed a fabulous Indian dinner. Then walked through the night market. All and all a nice relaxing, enjoyable day in a beautiful area.
Biggest AH HA about Cambodia~ they take American money. If your bill is $12.50 and you give them a $20, you will receive $7 American dollars back and the ‘change’ will be a few hundred of their bills, NO coins. Basically it is interchangeable. Interesting indeed.
Float down the MeKong
12/21
Opted for a day trip to float down the MeKong, it was sort of a flop of a trip but what did we expect for $16/pp.
First stop was to visit Vinh Trang Pagoda with 3 distinct Buddha’s. Happy Buddha who one would pray to for their future, Standing Buddha that one would pray to about the present and lastly Sleeping or Lying Buddha that you pray to for those that are no longer here with us. 
Though it is advertised as a cruise it is boat ride at best! We got in a wooden open aired boat and went across the Tien River to the Qui (Tortoise island ). On the way we passed Dragon, Phoenix and Unicorn islands. Once off the boat we walked through a village, ate local fruit, listened to some local song, tasted local chocolate and honey and eventually made it to lunch.
3. Gia Long Palace now the HCMC Museum. This is an overlooked museum by a lot of visitors (or so it seemed). Unlike the Independence Palace or the War Remnants Museum the foot traffic here is less. It actually is quite informative and covers a lot of the history of Saigon and how it’s growth to what is now a modern city. The ground have a lot of greenery and some war remnants, such as fighter planes, anti aircraft gun, canons etc. There is a special charge for wedding parties to enter and indeed there was one in there during our time, we guess is it a great place for photos! 
IF on your visit you want to get some clothing made this is the town to do that in. We did not, but our new friends did and they loved the craftsmanship!
timistravels 