Hoi An, Vietnam is known for its fabrics and tailors. LIterally hundreds of tailors line the streets of this extremely small and heavily-touristed town. The last time I visited Hoi An I had seven shirts made. These turned out to be some of my favorite shirts and I wore them so frequently that they [...]

Lao international busses are not customer service oriented, they are focused on transporting as many passengers and cargo in one trip as possible. My second time riding the bus from Laos to Vietnam proved to be *slightly* more pleasant than my first (with Preston in 2005). At 6:30 AM in Phonsavan, Laos, thirty-five [...]

Thanks to Lisa’s hard work, we’ve finally updated our map section to show our route through Asia. This might help anyone who cares to make sense of where we’ve been and how we got there. It might be useful to anyone planning a similar trip as well.

Recently have decided to modify our trip plans. Instead of going all the way through Russia and Europe, we’re going to spend a month and a half in China/Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. We decided that the whole trip was too long to complete without rushing through places worth visiting. Also, we [...]

While wandering around in Luang Prabang, admiring the Frech colonial architecture, we wandered into Ock Pop Tok–one of the many shops in town which offers local tapestries and weaving.  They have some of the most beautiful pashmina scarves I’ve ever seen and they are completely made of silk with distinct patterns. I immediately signed [...]

There are few options when traveling from Northern Thailand into Laos. When the road is functioning and the weather good, a bumpy mini-bus is feasible, but most opt for a boat trip down the Mekong.
It really isn’t very far to Luang Prabang and two types of boats make the journey. Death-defying speedboats fly [...]

Today we ventured out to take a cooking class at May Kaidee–a local Vegetarian restaurant in the northern city of Chang Mai, Thailand. It all started yesterday when we stumbled upon the restaurant in one of our seemingly-endless searches for good food. Looking at the menu, we decided to order their special–green pumpkin [...]

We have been taking lots of photos on this trip. I’ve got my trusty Canon Digital Rebel XT which has been with me on many trips, and we bought a cheap point and shoot off of a friend in Singapore. Normally, I bring along my portable-photo-dumping-device, a clunky but effective enclosure for a [...]

Stepping off the tourist bus in any of the tourist-laden towns in Thailand is like covering your arm in syrup and entering a bees nest. The tourist agencies flock to farangs (foreigners) that have just stepped off the bus or boat offering to sell reservations, transport, and tours for the next leg of [...]

  We haven’t written in a few weeks, but we’re still here.. in fact we’re in what might be our favorite country thus far! Taking trains through Singapore and Malaysia (stories for future posts) we arrived in Southern Thailand. Three days in Ko Phi Phi Don (where the 2000 film “The Beach” was shot) allowed [...]