Sam's Take: Thailand is a little different than what we've come to know in the last two months of our travels. There's a beautifully paved four lane highway called the "Super Highway" which links up Bangkok with the rest of the country. Cars actually out number motos and bikes here. It seems like the Thai people are much better off than most of their neighbors and most likely it has to do with booming tourism. You'd be hardpressed to find anything that is off the tourist beat or anything that, according the countless expats, wasn't "like sooooo much better like twenty years ago, man!" We met one guy, who actually lived in Fairfax and started the Dragon acupuncture clinic on Bolinas road (I can't remember if it was acupuncture or something similar, but Mom or Dad, ... read more

After reaching double digit dive status in Sipadan with 14 dives under our belts, Sam and I headed to Mulu National Park in the Malaysian side of Borneo. It was another long travel day with by far the worst overnight bus I have ever been on and 9 hours in a freezing over-airconditioned airport. But in the end we both agreed it was all worth it. Mulu National Park has (arguably) the largest caves in the world. If you have ever seen the Caves episode of Planet Earth then you have seen where we were (and if you haven't seen it, then go rent it because it is awesome!) Within an hour or so of arrival we had already seen enough crazy jungle bugs to make my skin crawl. The first night in our homestay we ... read more

Borneo has proven to be just as exotic as it sounds. We have spent the last week seeing floating markets, diamond and gold mines, and a jungle full of orangutans, proboscis monkeys and gibbons. It has been a wild ride. We started in Banjarmasin, a city that relies heavily on the river system for all aspects of life. I was laying low trying to recover from some stomach problems when the Sams found a guide, Tyla waiting for them at our hotel. "I have been waiting long time for you here" ..."Oh...um. Sorry?" Apparently Tyla had heard tourists had arrived and was waiting to see if he could take us around the city. We recognized his name and told him he was mentioned in Lonely Planet as the best guide in the city. He laughed and ... read more

Sam's take on Papua If you want to get married Dani country you have to have the pigs to do it. Usually a wife costs around 4-6 pigs depending on the size of the pigs and the quality of the woman. Now, 4-6 pigs isn't cheap, but the good news is if your lucky enough to have acquired many pigs, you can buy many wives! If you're a woman, uh...well, you can't really buy a husband. It just doesn't work that way. This might sound like a loveless sort of affair, and we pondered about the relationships between husband and wife over in the grass hut villages and could only decide that life was way too different to make a comparison. But on the third day of our trek a short interaction with a passing group ... read more

We just finally were able to get decent internet...so 2 entries today :) The Banda Islands (spice islands) were everything we hoped for and more! After an epic boat ride here we were latched onto by several different hotel/homestay hawkers “mister mister you stay here? You want hotel? Good price.” Overwhelmed we went with the one that looked the nicest. Best decision ever. Our room is on the second floor with a patio looking out across the channel to a perfect little volcano - Gunung Api. It is a wonderful place to eat our breakfast and dinner every day and the price can’t be beat: $12.50 for an upstairs room and SamF is in a room downstairs for $7 a night. Originally we were only going to stay here for 3 days and take the same ... read more