We've been doing a lot of traveling lately. Where should I begin? Over the past couple of days we've hit Ayuthaya, (the old "capital" of Siam), Kanchanaburi (Home of the Bridge over the River Kwai), Erawan Falls, and a gorgeous dam/lake where we slept on sleeper rafts. Before we left Chiang Mai, we went out for a Thai Massage ($15 for 2 hours) and it was a hoot! It was worth every penny..but I really had to put my giggle muzzle on! When we finally arrived in Ayuthaya, we spent a lot of time learning about the historical sites...lots of beautiful [View Full Entry]

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Just got home from our 3 day trek through the jungle!! You'll just have to see the pictures to describe the trip, but it was none other than a difficult, hot, humid, wet.... exciting, fascinating, gorgeous, and an incredible time. It's this kind of travel.. visiting and seeing parts of the world that are nowhere near anything one would ever see near home... that are nearly unreal. Compared to some of the other trekking I've done, it was a fairly easy hike (of course, uphill is always difficult no matter how high or how long it is)... we stopped along the [View Full Entry]

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Greetings from Thailand! My 24 hour trip landed me in Bangkok Sat. eve! I started off Sun. morning by walking to the Grand Palace and a famous temple called Wat Phra Kaeo (a.k.a. Temple of the Emerald Buddah). Luckily, I escaped the touts outside the hotel/tourist area who were trying to convince me to go somewhere else instead! Anyway, the Palace and the Temple were awesome. Seeing these places made me excited to be in Thailand. On the other hand… it was soooooooo hot and humid in Bangkok! I generally fancy myself a “Texan with war-weather-skin” but this place is som [View Full Entry]

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WOW! Hong Kong is totally amazing! I could see myself returning here one day! First things first, we headed out to ride the famous Star Ferry to get across the harbor to Hong Kong Island. We didn't have much time so we walked around a bit and then met up with the others for dinner. Afterward, we walked down to the harbor to watch the "light show" a.k.a. the "Symphony of Lights".. which was awesome. The Hong Kong skyline is nothing other than incredible. I could have slept outside just to keep staring at it. We hopped back on the ferry [View Full Entry]

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Yangshuo was much anticipated and well worth the travel. We flew to Guilin and then took a bus to Yangshuo. There were so many options and activities for us to do... hot air ballooning, mountain biking, hiking, bamboo river rafting, kayaking, caving, etc. I wanted to do it all. We started off with a little walk into town which was again...very picturesque with so much to see. We rented some bikes and headed over to Moon Hill, where we hiked to the top. Some ladies who were trying to make a buck walked us all the way to the top, all [View Full Entry]

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I guess it was something that I ate, but I woke up and did NOT think I was going to be able to make it on the 27km trek...which was a major blow since it was basically one of the main reasons I chose this trip. My stomach was aching something awful and right up until the moment the bus left, I decided I wasn't going to go. Then, I convinced myself to pull it together and make it a go....after all, life only happens once. The first few hours of the hike were a difficult ascent, which made me extremely [View Full Entry]

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Well, we made to Lijiang which was just as gorgeous as Dali. Cute little town (it's a World Heritage Site) with lots of eye candy. The town square was lined with shops, stores, crafts, restaurants, cafe's and bars. There were little streams of water going through with lots of greenery and cobblestone pedestrian streets, making it a very relaxing spot. The streets were difficult to manage because they winded up, down, and all around, but we managed to get the hang of it. We stayed at a quaint little hotel that had a beautiful courtyard with lots of rocking chairs and [View Full Entry]

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Hey there- So, I can't seem to travel on my own without a hospital visit in there somewhere. I had this growing rash on my arm and paid $1.15 for a medical consultation at the local hospital on Sunday. A 4-min. bloodtest later I was told I was only having an allergic reaction to "something" I may have eaten. Either way, I got some medicine and the rash is definitely better! Otherwise, I've been at the Shaolin Temple (home of Kungfu) where I did lots of things in addition to a one-hour lesson which proved to be...difficult! It was definitely a [View Full Entry]

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Well, I've made it almost a week and I haven't caught any infectious diseases this time here in China! It took me a full 24 hours to get to Beijing and when I got to the airport (largest terminal in the world- pretty awesome) I found my way to the taxi line and gave the driver the address to the hotel. We got out on a tollway and about 1/4 of a mile past the toll booth, the driver started talking loudly in Chinese--I don't know if he was speaking to me or not :)-- but then he pulled over to [View Full Entry]

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Bonjour! We just got to France about 2 hours ago! I can't believe time is flying...only two more days! We spent the last two days in Florence doing some sightseeing and lots of shopping. (All of you back home should be expecting gifts!) This morning we got up early and visited Pisa and the leaning tower. Of course we spent more than 20 minutes posing with the tower and then got to visit the baptistry. The acoustics inside were so incredible...a lady came in and gave us a presentation by singing. We were all stunned in amazement. We got back on [View Full Entry]

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