DoSomethingThatScaresYou

We arrived in Hanoi from Hoi An headed to Hanoi Backpackers Hostel. This place was recommended to me by several people so we decided to stay there. They were located in downtown Hanoi, old quarter I think. There were motor bikes all around and endless alleys to explore. After we checked into the hostel and booked a Halong Bay party tour, we wandered the streets. Unfortunately my tummy got the best of me and we ended up in a pizza restaurant eating average pizza. Later that night we ended up finding the local food area with people eating mystery kabobs..maybe next time. A few more random alley ways later we came across a spa that had cheap body massages. We went in and decided to go for it. We both got a lavender full body massage. ... read more

Brad and I ventured to Cambodia shortly after his arrival. We booked a bus through a travel agent on Soi 11. The ride ended up being around 9 to 11 hours by the time it was all said and done with stops, border crossings and getting transport on the other side (even though we were told we'd have a 4 person car waiting for us) into Sieam Reap. Surprisingly I slept the whole time on the bus. The border was a little hectic but we managed to make it through without falling victim to the exchange money scam or any others for that matter. We had a guy guiding us through the whole time and we ended up hopping on his bus for 100 baht on the other end of the border crossing. We didn't really ... read more

I made it through 10 days of noble silence at my Vipassana Mediation course. It was pretty intense. I found it very challenging but worth it. I don't want to describe too much as I don't want to project any of my experiences on someone who has not yet gone through the course. All I have to say is it was worth it. The facilities were clean, the food was very good and the meditation practice itself if awesome. I was able to sit still and focus while in the center, now I have to take that diligence into the real world. I also met some amazing new friends from all around the world. We shared a cab back to Khao San Road after Vipassana was over, had some laughs and ate a wonderful dinner together. ... read more

We love Pai seems to be the theme in this small hippy town. We took a mini bus from Chiang Mai 3 hours to Pai. I was very luck to get to sit in the front since I get car sick. I was also very lucky to have a driver that was slow on the turns, so it never became a problem. When we arrived we walked around looking for a place to stay and ended up at Riverside. They are very nice AC rooms, 3 people 600 B. not too bad split between us. It's definitely a place where walking around will get you the best deal. The first night we spent just getting acclimated to the area. Everything is in walking distance which is nice. This place has a really chill vibe. For some ... read more

This morning we woke up and went to Wat Doi Suthep. It took a while to get up there, we had to wait for a lot of people to show up at the Tuk Tuk station before someone was willing to take us up there. Once there we wandered around for an hour hitting bells around the temple. Inside the temple there was a lot of Buddha statues and I got blessed by a monk. It was pretty cool. After the temple a group of us at the hostel went to Tiger Kingdom. We got to pet baby and big tigers. It was INSANE! It was a bit scary with the big tiger since we weren't around to go towards the front of the Tiger just the back. The next day we headed out early for ... read more