Dom and Jen

The title of this entry is more than a little misleading. First, we will visit our friends Jean-Christophe, Tinna, and Gilles in the city of Taichung (Taiwan) before taking off from the capital Taipei to go home to Canada. So, we do have a brief visit in one more country before heading home. Second, the Philippinnes is anything but a single stop destination. The tourism industry is the least developed that we've seen, and we have had to make several overnight stops in cities we would never choose to be in. That said, the title stands as this was the last place we had earmarked for touring. But let's take a step back to March 9th... Jen and I left flew out of Hanoi on March 8th. We landed in Hong Kong for a 26 hour ... read more

We arrived in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) on February 8th, and left for Hoi An on the 21st. We toured the city, and met up with my old friend and ex-roommate Jean-Christophe and his father Gilles. JC has been livinf in Taiwan for seven years, and I hadn't seen him since he moved there to teach english. I was delighted to see him, and we had a chance to catch up as we all travelled together to Mui Ne (the beach)and back to Saigon for the Tet (Vietnamese New Year) celebrations. Saigon is quite a city, indeed. Vietnam is a socialist country, but Saigon is a hotbed of free enterprise and capitalism. The pace is frantic, the mood dynamic, and the beef noodle soup (Pho, pronounced kind of like fao) is fantastic. I can't tell ... read more

Step 1: Getting in to the country Cambodia is still tremorous from decades of political instability. The re-building efforts radiate from Phnom Penh, the national capital. It should, therefore, come as no surprise that those areas furthest away from Phnom Penh should be the poorest, least developed, and populated by the most desperate people. That is the euphemistic way of saying that the land border crossing at Poi Pet (check ou the map) is pretty much lawless. We had to bribe our way the the visa issuing authorities. Their opening request was for an extra $10CAN each for a $20US visa. We denied their request, and pointed to the official list of prices on the wall, above the "immigration official's" head. "Old sign," he declared, and re-affirmed that the new price was 1000 Thai Baht ($29US). ... read more

My hope in writing this entry is that it will be found, some day, and that it may prevent even one innocent tourist from coming, naive and unsuspecting, to Chiang Mai. Jen and I arrived at Chiang Mai train station from Bangkok on the Number 51 overnight train. We left Bangkok on Tuesday evening at 22:00, having booked passage on a Second Class Sleeper Car (fan only, no air-con, please). The trip was uneventful, and we rolled in to town at 12:45 well rested. We had spent the previous day running around Bangkok, sightseeing, and meeting up with our man in Thailand, Chandler van der Grift (more about CvdG, later), all after riding the overnight bus from Khao Lak for 12 hours. I know, I know: "quit your whining, and suck it up!" is likely what ... read more

02-Jan-2007, Phuket: I had my first run in with the Thai authorities. As Jen and I returned to our hotel in Kamala (see map) from an afternoon of sunbathing at Kata Noi, we were stopped at a police checkpoint on the outskirts of Patong (the Cancun of Phuket Island, where a fat pasty tourist can get anything he craves). The rather humourless motorcycle police officer with the pearl-handled Glock informed me that it was illegal, in Thailand, to operate a scooter without my driver's liscence on me. Fair enough. Welcome tax: 300 Baht ($9). "Drive to Police Station to pay", he instructed. Jen had to remain as collateral with all the other Farang (Thai word for "much appreciated tourist dollar provider") girlfriends while I drove the scooter the 3 kilometers to the station, without my license. ... read more