Rudyard Kipling described Myanmar as "Quite unlike any land you know about," and I'd say that definition withstands any I could come up with. Geographically, Myanmar mostly neighbors India to it's west, and Thailand to the east. Laos, China and Bangladesh also share Mynmar's border. Myanmar was known as Burma when it was a British colony, and reclaimed the name Myanmar in 1991. It is a very poor land with a totalitarian government and a strong Buddhist presence. Due to extreme government oppression, many countries, including the United States, endorse a travel boycott against Myanmar. I tend to believe this traps the people in their situation, whereas tourism can reveal truth and reality to both natives and tourists. It can generate change and out powers any governments ability to create tolerance, understanding and democracy. Nonetheless, I ... read more

Hi all, Well, this is it...the final chapter of my first (and hopefully not last) visit to Vietnam. As it goes now, I am emailing from a Kiosk in Narita, Japan killing time on my eight hour layover. I left Vietnam at around midnight on December 30th and will be arriving in LAX at 7:30 AM on December 30th. The last two day in Vietnam were, once again, unique and special. On December 28th, Chris and I had huge plans that, due to circumstance, shrunk a bit, but were still stellar. We started the morning with a visit to see the body of Ho Chi Minh...communist leader and one-time president of Vietnam who died in 1969. In Northern Vietnam, Uncle Ho is a national hero, and his face is seen all over the place as well ... read more

HEEELLLLLOOOOO!!!! It is Christmas here in Vietnam as we are 15 hours ahead of California time. the last two days in Vietnam have been some of the most amazing in my life. We took a night train to central Vietnam to a place called Hue (pronounced Hway.) In Hue, we rented motorbikes and cruised around the countryside to visit the tombs of the emporers and some pagodas (buddhist temples). I must admit, it took me a couple minutes to get the motorbikes down...did you know you have to shift gears?!? In those minutes I managed to crash into a few parked motorbikes. No pain, no gain, right? Fortunately, the Vietnamese have a great sense of humor (and accepted 100,000 dong ...which is a little more than $6...for minor damages). Once I got into the open road ... read more

(AUTHOR'S NOTE): I decided to post my past travel journals with a few related pics. They are an interesting, if amusing read. The first set is from my trip to Vietnam in Christmas of 2005. I sent them as emails to my mom and other friends and family. (Please forgive grammar/punctuation errors) Hi there!! I am emailing you from my second night in Hanoi...if you count the travel night as the first. My traveling day was not so bad. Twenty-three hours may sound like a long time to travel, but I slept most the time. During the 11 hours to Japan, I was awake about two of them...enough to eat on the plane and play a few rounds of yahtzee. On my six hour layover in Japan, I ate more food...Miso soup cuz I missed ... read more