Around the time I was born, American troops pulled out of Vietnam. After loosing a war that was never officially a war, our military came home heavy-hearted with images in their mind's eye that are too treacherous for many of them to talk about even today. The Vietnamese were left to fix their broken hearts, broken families, and broken country. "They're gonna hate us" was our thought as we prepared to enter Vietnam. Visions of waiters spitting in our pho, taxi drivers taking us the "long way" to our destination, and getting the evil eye from strangers on the street [View Full Entry]

---

---

After over nine months of being on the road, two fatherly arms wrapped around me in a familiar embrace. We had spent two days in Bangkok, hopped on a bus and then a ferry to finally get us to the island of Koh Samui off the east coast of Thailand, where my dad and his girlfriend, Rebecca, were waiting to welcome us to their adopted country. The two live half of their lives wallowing in the wonders of Thailand, and now I could finally see for myself this place I had heard so much about. It was thrillingly wonderful to be [View Full Entry]

---

---

Well folks, for reasons you will read below, we have no photos to go with this piece but thanks to some of our fellow bloggers (who are much more talented with the camera anyhow) you can still see this amazing city for yourselves. Click here for great Varanasi photos and then... Click here for more great shots! After leaving Kaza and realizing that the experience had changed our lives forever, we digested our two months in India as we h [View Full Entry]

---

---

I thought we were going to a staff meeting. Griff and I had been volunteering at a school in Manali- a town in northern India laying at the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains. When the Assistant Principal asked Griff and I to join her for a meeting that Tuesday night, we accepted and expected to see the inner-workings of an Indian school staff meeting. We met in a small apartment near the school and were offered the standard welcoming gift of Chai Tea. We then went into the bedroom and waited around for we-didn’t-know-what. Our first clue that this was not [View Full Entry]

---

---

"Super- Deluxe". This is the label that they have slapped onto our hotel room in Manali, India. Call it being spoiled, call it being American, but the term "Super Deluxe" conjured up in my mind something wonderful, something spacious, something unforgettable. Okay, one out of three aint bad- this place is at least unforgettable. A black pin-legged spider ran across my arm last night right before I had reached sleep. Spiders are my worst fear as I have had many close-to-death encounters with the creatures. I'm not sure if this spider posed a threat to my health, but it most certainly [View Full Entry]

---

---

It is the one place we'd be traveling that I had been to before. I was twenty years old, fresh out of teen-hood and ready to see the land of spice and color that I knew so little about. Everything in the country was new and exotic and different to me. The green of the rice fields was the lushest I had ever seen. The monsoons that swept across the fields and villages was thrilling. The clothing and food and music was all so exciting. I was transfixed and inspired by my exposure to such an exotic place. Recalling my [View Full Entry]

---

---

Istanbul, the capitol of Turkey. A city unique in that it straddles two continents; Asia and Europe. We arrived in Istanbul on a bus that entered a bus station big enough to be a city on its own. Our bus went through tunnels, garages, wound around corners and then lurched to a halt. How were we going to find our way out of the bus station, much less to our apartment? We immediately started asking people questions about how to get to the flat on the other side of this gigantic city. In Turkish form, everyone we asked met our [View Full Entry]

---

---

Well, here they are- the answers to the questions that you might have about our travels! I actually wrote out the answers but Griff and I went over each one together so they are from the mouth and heart of both of us. And now, the answers to your questions… Hi Mandy and Griff, My question is: Are your travels causing you to be more thankful for the comforts and conveniences of American life or to become uncomfortable with the relative lavishness we enjoy (and in many cases, take for granted) in the U.S. of A.? What are your thoughts on [View Full Entry]

---

---

What We Know About Muslims What would you say if I had told you that we would be traveling to a country with a 95% Muslim population? The borders of this country are shared by Iran, Iraq, Syria, Georgia, and Azerbyjon. Would you have been nervous? Scared? Afraid that we would be victims of terrorism? Would you have advised us against going? The truth of the matter is that before coming into Turkey, I was unaware that so much of its population claimed to be Muslims. I have seen Muslim people before in some of my previous travels to India [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hello to those who are actually READING thıs stuff! I love that though we have been away for a half of a year, people stıll care about what has been heppenıng ın our lıves. I am sorta behınd on postıng the blogs - ı have them wrıtten just not entered ınto the computer yet. It has been more dıffıcult than expected to fınd cheap ınternet cafes ın Europe so I am sorry for the delay. I hope to get everythıng at least entered ınto the computer by next week. BUT... I know that some of you have been followı [View Full Entry]

---

---