Well, this it. We fly home tomorrow. In the last 6 days, we have been to Beijing, Tianammen Square, the Great Wall of China, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Lamma Island (no Llama's) and now today, slightly (no, totally) beat up, tired and back in Bangkok. Lot's of travelling and we've covered a lot of distance. The past week has been great, literally, starting in Beijing as we visited the Forbidden City and took a tour that took us on a 3 hour hike up a mountain to an unrestored section of the Great Wall of China. We then walked up and down [View Full Entry]

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It's been exactly one week since we left the cozy confines of Hong Kong and crossed into mainland China at Shendzhen. Under the stern gaze of the Chinese Police we nervously handed our passports and tourist visas to the immigration officer. At this point, we had no idea what to expect... As we made our way through the Shendzhen train station we knew we needed to catch another train...most probably to Guangzhou, a major centre a couple hours inland where we could probably catch a train to anywhere in China....this is when we encountered our first problem...All English language and signage [View Full Entry]

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Hello again, This is the continuation of our epic journey in China. The last leg of our journey before reaching Fenghuang was a one-hour bus ride. It was during this jaunt that our luck really improved. We loaded onto an already packed bus and were ready to pull out of the station when a young lady signalled that she wanted to get on. I squeezed over to make some room, smiled, and gestured for her to sit down. She got on the bus and off we went. Sitting shoulder to shoulder, she and I began to chat. It was a relief [View Full Entry]

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It was only a week ago when Shannon and I were having coffee in Chiang Mai, wondering how we were going to spend the rest of our trip. We had seen plenty of Thailand and were ready to move on....the only question was, "Where?"....I had been mentioning China to Shannon since early on in our trip but it just didn't seem to be a necessary extra cost at the time....but as our 3 months of travelling became only 1 month left, we wanted to do something memorable.... So, here we are in Hong Kong for the first leg of our journey. [View Full Entry]

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Hi friends and family, This blog is devoted entirely to our trip to the Elephant Nature Nature Park. There are a number of Elephant Parks in Thailand, but the one we went to was unique. Most elephant parks use elephants for shows, but the Elephant Nature Park is a sanctuary for abused, injured and malnourished elephants. The animals in this park have been bought or even kidnapped and are now free to live out the remainder of their lives in the natural and tranquil setting you can see in the photos. Since being in Thailand, we've learned a lot about elephants [View Full Entry]

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Merry Christmas! Hopefully the holiday season has found you all safe, happy and with family. Shannon and I are fast approaching our Christmas in Thailand with very few plans, other than to call our family members. And funnily enough, that seems ok with us, as much as we miss everybody and what we are missing back home. The past 6 days have as always, been fun. With Shannon usually waking up before me, excitedly sitting on the edge of the bed with her shoes on, watching me as I stagger out of bed. Shannon is always ready, with shoes on, to [View Full Entry]

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On Saturday, Shannon and I had a great day heading up the mountain to Wat Doi Suthep, a monastery that was built back in the 16th century. I won't pretend to understand what it's all about but I know it was spectacular. Perched 17 km up a mountain overlooking Chiang Mai City, I can only imagine the effort it took to build a massive temple near the top of a mountain. Apparently, they used Elephants to do much of the work. The bus ride up the mountain was a rollercoaster-back and forth, twisting and turning....it left us slightly queasy. After we [View Full Entry]

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Hello friends and family. I've finished the meditation retreat and am happy to be reunited with Greg. It was good that we each had the opportunity to follow our own interests for a bit. It's true when "They" say, "absence makes the heart grow fonder". The meditation retreat was momentous for me and has really added value to my travels. I spent 11 days at the monastery and 10 were spent in silence. The buddhists believe that if they deprive themselves of creature comforts it helps them to overcome greed and distraction so they can focus on meditation and ultimately reach [View Full Entry]

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Greetings from Northern Thailand...Chiang Mai to be precise. A beautiful city full of life, color and culture...quite a contrast to Bangkok yesterday, Bangkok is just...full. Shannon is back safe and sound from her meditation retreat and is very happy. She has some stories to tell but I will leave that to her. I emerged from my 12 days of seclusion (from Shannon) happy as well. Travelling alone is quite the rollercoaster to be honest, some days were great other days I just wanted to hide, especially in Patong, where every suit shop, massage parlour, gift store, beer bar is yelling at [View Full Entry]

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Ahhhh. Phuket. Turquoise Sea, White Sandy Beaches, Perfect weather and 9 kazillion people pushing you out the way to get there....What a freakin' GONG show......But alas, first, an update on where we've been....Shannon and I spent 6 nights in Ko Lanta, a beautiful Island South of Krabi, it was a very calm and peaceful stay, we met great people, both travellers and staff at the resort. We found a place we loved and never moved for 6 days....we never blogged because we had nothing interesting to say...for the first 5 days our lives consisted of waking up late, eating an early [View Full Entry]

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