Jodi and Dan Asian Trip of a Lifetime

How many movies can you watch during a 28 hour travel day? Jodi writing......... Dan and I arrived home late Saturday night. We arrived at Pearson airport, much to our embarassment, sporting flips flops and shorts (well only Dan was foolish enough to wear shorts). The truth is you are not really keen to pack warm November wear in mid July...so there we were. It was really cold. Our first stop inside the domestic terminal was Tim Hortons. Dan was actually able to stomach two large coffees while waiting for our flight to Ottawa. It did help with the cold. Thankfully my parents met us at the Ottawa airport with shoes, socks and sweaters... and pizza - Dan's favourite picked up in Almonte on the way to the airport. The owner of the local pizza shop ... read more

Our hospital tour of Northern Thailand continues.... October 10: We have been in Chiang Rai for several days now and I am ashamed to say that I dont have many pictures to show for them. We seem to have caught some strange bug - perhaps while crossing swollen rivers filled with runoff (read: waste) waist deep? Today, we finally got ourselves to the hospital for some blood testing. We are really getting into the groove of visiting hospitals in Northern Thailand! Our blood tests confirmed that we did not have any dengue (there has been an outbreak) and the doctor told us we must have a virus and sent us home with vitamins. Actually the technical diagnosis was "post viral syndrome" which I think is an English translation of "there is nothing wrong with you - ... read more

So nice to have the trains running again After an eventful flight from Singapore to Bangkok on September 26 (I always classify having to adjust your flight path due to lightning as eventful - lightning is not beautiful at 30,000 ft!), we arrived in Bangkok. After spending the night, Dan and I made our way to the train station to buy 2nd class sleeper tickets for the 13 hour ride to Chiang Mai. We love Chiang Mai! We were feeling quite disappointed at having to rush back to Thailand after realizing we could not even afford one more night in Singapore ($200 CDN for a hostel----what?), and Bangkok is hardly a homecoming. However, Chiang Mai is different. The city has over 300 temples, many of them inside an old walled portion of the city. The city ... read more

The Lonely Planet describes Taman Negara National Park as "a buzzing, leech infested mass of primary forest" and though we avoided leeches due to the dry weather, the forest is definitely buzzing! The park is virgin primary rainforest which is over 130 million years old and in the more remote parts of the park are Malay tigers, Asian elephants, and Sun bears. We stayed in a nice hostel here called "The Yellow House" which had dorm beds in an AIR CONDITIONED room for only 10RM (just over $3). We were pleased to find resident geckos in our room as this always means less mozzies, though they make some very strange noises at night. We arrived in the park via a 3 hour boat ride from Kuala Tembelling. The boat ride was stunning as the Sungai Tembelling ... read more

Kuala Lumpur....I needed this! So, now that we have arrived in Kuala Lumpur, I can definitely tell you that this is the cleanest city thus far. The people in Malaysia are very friendly, apparently forthcoming, and helpful. Jodi and I have needed a little rest and relaxation in a nice room so we have stayed the last couple of nights in a place called the Swiss Inn. It has a comfy bed, our own bathroom with cable TV, air con, the works. Needless to say we have watched three movies in our room, slept in till 9 (which is late when you are travelling), and have eaten our fair share of the buffet breakfast, which is included in our room. Jodi is very impressed with the mall bathrooms, that are worth the 20 cents admission charge. ... read more