During breakfast at the Trang Hotel, we met with Anne (one of the travelers returning from the Southern Tour the week before). We picked her brain for insight on what to expect on the good the bad and the ugly of the Southern trip. She mentioned the same Itinerary change as Pongsing had pointed out the day earlier. To be specific, they removed the two night stay on the raft house in the national forest and replaced them with a two night stay in bungalows. I recall, that the raft house adventure in the national forest was actually a strong [View Full Entry]

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The main mode of group transportation in the mainland is the pickup truck cab conversion, which is basically a pickup truck with two benches welded to the bed with a cap bolted over top. I have few weaknesses, one of which is tolerating this type of transportation. Last time I rode in one of these vehicles was on our honeymoon in Tahiti. The words "green" and "projectile" best describe my side effects when traveling by such means. For the purposes of my narration I'll refer to the vehicle as the pukpuk (close cousin of the tuktuk) On seeing the pukpuk arrive [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in ChaingMai at (according to Ken (our guide) surprisingly early) 7:00 AM. Groggy from the train ride everyone opted to check into the hotel early so that we could get some rest. The Hotel was an absolute hoot. Pictures are worth a 1000 words. Think Sean Connery -James Bond hotel room. Plastic enameled everything, console buttons built into the furniture.....4 decades old, but very clean and comfortable. Glad to be able to call this place home base for the next two days. After our power nap, went off to see the old Temple, this structure has an incredibly storied [View Full Entry]

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We started touring Bangkok early morning with the group. The Itinerary was to see the Grand Palace, the Jade Buddha, the Reclining Buddha and have lunch at the floating market before heading to the train station. Grand Palace Ahh yes, the opulence of monarchies well spent. The grounds built upon the original China Town rivals Buckingham palace. The possessions of the royal family on display go on and on. Pictures do better than words. Beautiful Jade Buddha They must love their Buddha’s, cause this one is essentially priceless. It is made entirely of pure unadulterated jade stone [View Full Entry]

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We wake up to temperatures equal to that of the evening before (except with the sun). Bangkok is truly a city of contrast. We do our best navigating the streets and intersections, dodging TuckTucks and Mercedes SUVs alike. In the middle of the chaos we stumble upon pockets of serenity within temple grounds dwarfed by the booming metropolis. In the early evening we met with our group. It a nice mix of Canadians, Aussis and Americans. Most of the group is in their mid to late twenties with one retiree, we're told we push the average up, but I respectfully ignore [View Full Entry]

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The photo of the white mountain range is actually the US Canada border between Alaska and Yukon. If you look carefully you should be able to make out the US minute men valiantly defending the US homeland from job pillaging Inuits. The photo was taken with a 6 mega pixel camera from 36000 ft, so if you can't see them, get your eyes checked. At about 8h 45min since our departure from a very wintery Chicago O'Hare, with no distractions, I've had an opportunity to do a fair bit of thinking, and I believe I've come up with a peace solution [View Full Entry]

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We welcome all our loyal subscribers to our second glob trotting adventure. South east Asia, mainly Thailand, has been a destination Aless has been anxious to visit for as long as I’ve know her. I suspect that if she had originally known my true motive for insisting we visit Peru two years ago, Machu Pichu would have remained a figment of my imagination. One of the most difficult issues about flying from North America to Asia is that you need to start so early in the morning. Most flights leave either from Chicago or LA (the two main departure points) leave [View Full Entry]

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Day of waiting for our late evening flight. Sometime during the last 3 days we were supposed take a trip down to Punta Hermosa (1 hour south of Lima) so I could learn to surf in the 5 meter waves, but sloth and fatigue got the better of us. The perpetually depressing layer of winter fog that hangs three feet above your head all day, doesn't really provide much incentive to do much of anything. Perhaps for the better, knowing me I probably would have cracked my head into the nose of a great white shark or something. On a [View Full Entry]

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Awake at 10:00 AM, finally a decent hour. Today is Plaza del Mayor and Museum day!! We grab a ride to Lima Central to explore the inner city, seems quite nice, the central plaza was grand with the fantastic looming architectures of the Placio Municipal and Catedral de Lima. The statue of Fransisco Pizzaro (Spanish Conquistador and Inca Inhalator) which once stood in the square was apparently removed in 2003, its current location is unknown. On strong recommendation we visited the Convent of San Fransisco, this magnificent structure contained a multitude of fantastic sights, from the [View Full Entry]

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After a wonderful nights rest at Wary Naywa Hotel in Puno, we woke up at 5:00 AM ... again, to catch a collectivo over to Juliaca (Puno suburb) for the airport. The drive was ok, except for the fact the person beside me felt the need to open her window... we froze for the entire 45 minute trip. When we arrived at the airport we heard rumors of a bombing in London from some people who had caught the morning news before they left their hotel room. The TV in the airport seemed to running a re-run of yesterday evening [View Full Entry]

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