Yes, here is an update - written in real time, not written in long-term retrospect, as I intend to do when we return from our travels. We are currently in Luang Prabang in Laos, a tranquil respite (and hour-long flight) from Hanoi and the rest of Vietnam. Sarah and I found Viet Nam to be by far the most stressful place that we have traveled as of yet, but we have escaped...And to quite an stunning, yet relaxed place. There's something about that Mekong. You will see pictures and hear more details later. Many Vietnamese just try to find ways to [View Full Entry]

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While I would love to provide you with a chock-full of information regarding the Philippines and the intricacies of travel within - this would take me much too long. Besides, Sarah will have probably entertained you with the full itinerary (and if you are not reading her e-mails, please let her know at swoolgar-at-gmail-dot-com. The full details will come when we return from the whole thing, but here's a short take. Positives: *The country is gorgeous - ancient rice terraces, caves, underground rivers, coral reefs, small volcanic islands, crystal clear waters, blue skies. *Outside of [View Full Entry]

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So, here we are in Manila, after about three weeks in Thailand. I almost have a feeling that I don't need to really write anything about Thailand, since every farang (non-Thai person, usually Caucasian) in the world seemed to be there while we were - except in Phitsanulok. One thing I noticed is that the country's many towns often influence the names of Thai restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area. Phitsanulok is a town half-way between farang centers Bangkok (farther South) and Chiang Mai (farther north). Sarah and I had wanted to see the thirteenth century ruins at Sukhothai, but [View Full Entry]

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So, as you very well know, I've fallen behind on my blogging. Thankfully, we have pictures, and I have a pretty good memory for details on the trip, so I'm thinking those two things, combined with random notes in notebooks, will enable Sarah and I to put together a fairly compelling blog once we return. In the meantime, I figured I would update you on the current and the future. Currently, we are in Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand, where it feels like Brits outnumber Thais, at least in the touristy areas where we're relegated to staying if we [View Full Entry]

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We arrived at Retiro bus station in Buenos Aires after a comfy four hour ride in our first "salon cama" bus, complete with wide, plush leather seats and a direct-to-video Dolph Lundgren movie on the tv. Upon our arrival, we took our first subway ride since Rio a month earlier to the Hotel Sportsman, where we had made a reservation the night before for 5 nights with a "baño privado." Upon our arrival, we learned that there was some sort of an error and that a Korean tour group had taken our room for the next two nights. We could get [View Full Entry]

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As we crossed the Rio Paraguay, we became paranoid that our bus would not stop at Paraguayan customs for us to obtain an exit stamp, as we never had a clue if anybody in Paraguay actually listened to anything we said. Then after a bunch of stops, and many questions of how much more time it would take to arrive until we actually arrived at the joint customs area for both countries. Obtaining our exit stamp was fairly quick in simple, but obtaining our entry stamp was a bit more annoying, as we needed to hand over our passports to the [View Full Entry]

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The Paraguayan consul in Foz De Iguazu informed us that we could obtain visas to visit Paraguay in Posadas, Argentina, so we hopped on the bus and went. We stayed at the Hotel Colon, whose owner, Monica, helped us out on the morning of Thursday, December 27th by taking us to the consulate, where we found out we would need three additional passport photos, and several copies of our passport. Thankfully, Monica took us to a place right next door where we could get everything - except of course for American cash - which the Paraguayan government needed as a fee [View Full Entry]

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So, I am writing this roughly three weeks after I previously blogged, and roughly a month after we actually did the thing I´m blogging about. We are currently in Puerto Natales, Chile, about to start our 4 day trek into the Torres Del Paine National Park - home of the famous ¨W,¨which should be a trail full of Europeans (and of course, beautiful scenery). But I left you off in Foz De Iguazu, Brazil, over 2000 miles away, where we ventured over to one of the largest dams in the world, the Itaipu Dam, and then to the Brazilian side of [View Full Entry]

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So, we hopped on a bus from Bonito to Jardim, where we could transfer to a bus to go to Ponta Pura, at the border of Brazil. In Jardim, we lunched and went to an internet cafe. As the bus terminal was a good 2km from the town, we needed to catch a taxi back to the station. And all we could get were MotoTaxis - essentially taxis where you ride behind the driver actually on the motorcycle (and not on a cab connected to the cycle, as in Iquitos). The idea of this scared Sarah, but she hopped on and [View Full Entry]

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So we spent the night in the hotel in anticipation of a 9AM bus to Bonito the next morning. The laundromat didn´t open at 8 as planned, but we still were able to get the laundry, and we also caught a bus at 11AM with a very efficient bus company, Cruzero Do Sul - we arrived in Bonito exactly when we were supposed to. And Carlos, the driver of the Hostel picked us up as soon as we arrived. But the hostel turned out to be three blocks from the main road, not three blocks from the town as Israel, the [View Full Entry]

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