We flew to Siem Reap & had no problems checking into a nice cheap hotel with hot water showers since we had to do without for our last bit in Laos. We made our plans for touring Angkor Wat & started at 5 AM the next morning. We headed to Phnom Bakheng in our tuk-tuk to see the sunrise. It was nice & peaceful, cool air, very few tourists and beautiful colors on the stone as the sun rose like a big pink-orange globe in the sky. We ate our packed breakfast as we took in the view and snapped a [View Full Entry]

---

---

We started in Luang Prabang & spent some time exploring the many Wats in the small city. As we went from Wat to Wat, we noticed that many of the monks were busy building bamboo paper mache boats. We asked several people what was going on & got many different answers. Eventually we found out that they were getting ready for the End of the Rains Festival. There was going to be a huge alms giving ceremony (monks walk along the streets lined with locals & receive food offerings) one morning, followed by a big parade of the bamboo boats all [View Full Entry]

---

---

We arrived in Bangkok to find out that our flight to Ko Samui was delayed, so we didn't actually arrive until 11 PM. Since we didn't have a hotel reservation we arrived at the place we wanted to stay to discover that they didn't have 24 hr front desk service & there was no way to check in. Luckily, our taxi driver suggested another place that had security guards who let us into a room for the night. We awoke the next day to beautiful blue skies & amazingly clear blue green waters. Our beach time was off to a good [View Full Entry]

---

---

We arrived in Nepal after spending a night laid over in Bangkok. We spent a couple of days in Kathmandu to get ourselves organized for a trek to the Annapurna Base Camp. We got info about what we would need, rented/bought our supplies, got our trekking permit & a plane ticket to Pokhara (closest town to the start of the Annapurna Sanctuary treks). Kathmandu is very crowded & polluted. We didn't actually spend any time sight seeing, just took the time we needed to set up for our trek & then went on our way. We both liked Pokhara a lot [View Full Entry]

---

---

After leaving Fenghuang, we rode another overnight train, but this time we got a soft sleeper for the first time. A little extra money got us a private compartment with only 2 other people (well, actually 3, one little girl shared a bed with her mom) and air conditioning. A much quieter & more comfortable ride. We arrived at our destination at 4:30 AM & had to catch a bus to take us to Guilin. We got there around 7:30 AM & found a hotel before heading out to look for another travel agency to help us book our last bit [View Full Entry]

---

---

Oh boy this is going to be a long one. We haven't placed an entry since leaving Beijing & since then we've headed south & west through China visiting Taiyuan/Pingyao, Xi'an, the Yangtze River (Yichang to Chongqing), Chengdu, Lhasa (Tibet) & Wulingyuan/Fenghuang. OK since we can't write about everything we've experienced, we'll give you the highlights of the things we loved most. Pingyao was a nice little city & had many historical sites to visit, our favorite being the Qiao ancestral home. It has many rooms to show what life was like for a wealthy capitalist in the Qing Dynasty in [View Full Entry]

---

---

We arrived in Beijing after a grueling day of travel. Well, for Ashley it was more like 2 days of travelling. She had a 7 hour flight to Dubai, a 3 hour layover, another 8 hour flight to Beijing & then she had to wait for Laura for 3 hours at the airport because Laura's flight was delayed 6 hours from Korea! Luckily we both landed safe & sound & were happy to be heading to the hotel. Once we arrived, we were welcomed by a familiar face from the Bay Area. Che is here on business & has been very [View Full Entry]

---

---

So with Laura off in Korea I spent 2 1/2 weeks exploring England on my own. I started in Ambleside, in the Lake District, where I finally got several days of sunshine!!! I hadn't had much since leaving the U.S . & it was a VERY welcome change. I went on several amazing hikes - all with idyllic views - I didn't really know what the travel book meant by idyllic scenery until I saw this area. The hills, mountains, lakes & waterfalls seem beautifully landscaped even though they aren't. My favorite was a hike which took me back down through [View Full Entry]

---

---

Once we left Torridon, we headed to the Isle of Skye. We stayed at a nice hotel that was perfectly located for trails along the Cuillin Mountains. The trail we chose was nice in the sense that it had views of many of the peaks in the Cuillin range and it wasn't too strenuous. There were some boggy patches & a couple of streams we had to manuver our way across, but it really wasn't as bad as the one we were on in Torridon the day before. It's actually kinda fun trying to figure out which rocks to jump [View Full Entry]

---

---

We ferried over from Belfast (Ireland) to Straener (sp???, Scotland) and then bussed it over to Edinburgh. We decided to spend a few days actually exploring a city since most of the cities we've been in thus far have been for rest, internet, laundry, etc. We did the touristy thing by visiting the most visited castle, Edinburgh Castle. So many people! It was nice to get some historical background to this country, but of course we enjoyed our hikes in the park more than the big tourist trap. We loved Arthur's Seat, the highest point in Holyrood Park which starts [View Full Entry]

---

---