When you look one in the eyes for the first time, it happens. In the wild; in their home… It’s like looking into the eyes of a friend, or some long lost relative that is elated to make your acquaintance. A sense of connection bridges the gap of species difference, and millennia of evolution and biodiversity are summed up in one moment, by one feeling. And one look deep into a mother’s eyes tells you an instant story of hardship, happiness, and life. This mother’s name is Jackie. She is a person of the forest. “Orangutan” in Malay means “pers [View Full Entry]

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If New York is the “melting pot” of the west, then Malaysia must be the “stir fry-wok” of the east, dishing out a smorgasbord of people, tastes, sights, and sounds that are anything but monotonous. A refreshing blend of ethnicities churn together inside a giant smoothie of culture to create one delicious gulp of travel in this benevolent land. The dominant faith is Muslim, guiding the souls of Indians, Chinese, Malay, and others through life in the funnel tip of Southeast Asia. Inexplicably awesome is not seeing a predominant ethnicity, as was much the case in previous [View Full Entry]

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The shimmering rays of the setting sun are chased away by massive black clouds, like a thousand angry soldiers. The day turns to night in an instant, and the clouds break. Brilliant white lightning bolts streak across the sky. Your instinct tells you to go indoors and hide, but the phenomenon is too beautiful not to bear witness. Throw in the fact that its hot, it’s the tropics, and a little rain is all you need to cool down after a long day in the sun; so you stay outside and let the fresh downfall cleanse the skin. At least that’s [View Full Entry]

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The exhalation of fresh air that was traditional Laos soon gave way to the inhalation of another new world, light years ahead. Just steps over the border into Thailand, we were greeted with the warm luminous glow of 7/11 signs and other amenities that represent modern civilization. As wonderful as Laos was in its primitivism, it was great to be able to stroll inside those glass doors and see familiar brand names gracing the labels of those mass produced provisions we call snacks. Oh thank heaven for 7/11. After two days of traveling by slow boat up the Mekong River, [View Full Entry]

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Laos has always been one of the far away lands shrouded in a veil of mystery. Not much is ever said about the place. Other than it was the target of the American bombing campaign known as "the secret war," in which more ordinance was dropped on this sleepy country than in the entire second world war- an average of one B52 bomb load every eight minutes, 24 hours a day, for NINE years straight between 1964 and 1973. Absolutely mind boggling. I bet you didn't know that Laos is the most bombed country in the world. Even more mind boggling [View Full Entry]

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A king fell in love with a girl. Her name was May. He asked for her hand in marriage. Every animal throughout the land was invited to the wedding. The ceremony lasted seven days and seven nights. When it was over, all the animals turned into stone... Or so the story goes... The story about the origins of the rock formations inside the Heavenly Palace Cave at Halong Bay may be fantasy but the real world beauty is undeniable. * * * * The twelve hour sleeper bus ride from Nha Trang to Hoi An was not all that bad of [View Full Entry]

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When is the last time you honked the horn in your car? A week ago? A month? Here in Vietnam, you cannot go one minute on the road without hearing a cacophony of earsplitting horns. The roads are an amazing spectacle of transportation chaos. Motorbikes outnumber cars twenty to one. There seem to be millions of them. They fly through the streets at breakneck speeds at mere inches from each other, unscathed by lack of stoplights. Hence the honking. It’s a defensive driving mechanism to combat the utterly insane amount of vehicles sharing the two lane roads that run like [View Full Entry]

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Killing time in the Killing Fields The capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, has a way of growing on you. All of the high speed hustle and bustle of Bangkok, minus the high rise buildings, plus a higher ratio of motorbikes to cars. It’s not a beautiful place, but it’s a place of intense emotional feeling. From stunning Buddhist temples to depressing monuments to genocide, one morning tuk-tuk ride took us on an excursion into the deepest chasms of human nature. Our driver, Lee, had arranged to pick us up at 8:00 a.m., so we would have enough time too see some [View Full Entry]

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Sorry people but its been a frantic couple weeks of relaxing on the beach, getting cheap massages, and crossing international borders. I know its been over two weeks, but we've been busy bronzing and exploring tropical islands via motorbike, taking six hour bus rides etc... Right now, we're in Cambodia, in the beach town of Sihanoukville, so I'll give you a stripped down play by play of how we got to this point. We finished up New Zealand with two days in Auckland on the North Island. Meg's birthday happen to land on our full day there, so I surprised her [View Full Entry]

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CLICK HERE to Watch our Bungy Videos on YouTube !!!! Queesntown, New Zealand. The mecca for all that is reckless abandon. Looking in between your feet through a metal grate at a raging aqua colored river, carving a rocky canyon 100 meters below. Strapped in to a harness equipped with carabiners and tie downs as your only lifeline. Legs convulsing uncontrollably. Heart beating through your chest. Two "certified" operators joke around and nudge you nearly off the suicide drop. This is all part of the game. This is Queenstown. Wel [View Full Entry]

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