I have arrived back in Calgary after 207 days of living out of a backpack and the first thing I did was empty everything out and spread it all over the floor, which felt quite satisfying at the time! Tammy and Hawley are keeping the dream alive and are somewhere in Switzerland as I write this. It is nice to be home but the reality of it is slowly sinking in, getting stuck in Calgary traffic, updating my resume, daytime television.....all things I didn't miss that's for sure but all in all I am glad to be back to see [View Full Entry]

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Since our last entry we have covered a lot of ground, from the French Riviera to the Cinque Terre, the Eiffel tower and the beaches of Normandy, here is a quick recap: French Riviera, FR - Cannes, Nice and Monacco in 4 days. Some nice beaches and fancy clothes, apparently the economic crisis does not exist here! Cinque Terre, IT - The "five villages" along the Italian Riviera provide one of the best walks around. We did 2 days of hiking in and around the towns, as well as a lot of sampling the amazing food and wine from the region. [View Full Entry]

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Due to the keyboard in France being quite different then what I am used to, I will not be writing much! Here are our highlights from the last few weeks: Seville, Spain - biggest Catholic Church in the world, famous bullfighting ring, and a Flamenco dancer with the body of an NFL linebacker! Lagos, Portugal - Nice beaches and lots of partiers, pour hour (a meal and all you can drink within an hour) for less than 10 Euros! Day trip to Sagres for some surfing in cold water! Lisbon, Portugal - Skinny alleys that turned into night time drinking spots, [View Full Entry]

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¿Que Pasa?! We made it to Europe in one piece after a string of 8 hour flights and a 6 hour layover in the Doha airport! So far we have had a great start in Spain, enjoying all of the amazing architecture, food and Football(soccer). We flew into Madrid where we did a Tapas tour, and tried to get used to the meal schedule. In Spain the main meal of the day is Lunch, which is typically eaten around 2-4pm. This means that business hours usually are like a split shift, 10 in the morning until 1pm, then lunch break for [View Full Entry]

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We are coming to an end of our time in Asia, as of May 10th we fly to Spain for our European tour. The end of our time in Thailand was a little sketchy because I got really sick, apparently with Dengue Fever. This is something I would not recommend! I spent most of our time in Phuket lying in bed, which thankfully was at a nice hotel, where we had all the amenities for about $30/night. I didn't feel too bad about this because the only thing Phuket seemed to have to offer was another nice beach and rampant sex [View Full Entry]

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We have spent the last couple of weeks touring southern Thailand and its many beaches islands and party's on offer here. Among other things we have attended a full moon party on Koh Phagnan, gotten our open water PADI scuba diving certification on Koh Tao, and enjoyed lots of time on the beaches and in the water. We are now on Koh Phi Phi off the West Coast and from here head to Phuket, out final destination in Thailand. Joe and Hawley [View Full Entry]

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After several weeks in foreign land it was nice to arrive in Thailand and see some Western comforts. We took advantage of these in Chiang Mai as well as some activities that are popular in the area. We started off with another cooking class, this time learning the basics and staples of Thai cuisine such as Curries, Hot and Sour soup (Tom Yum) and of course Pad Thai. Even the "mild" dishes seem to leave one teary eyed and stinging, but the flavors are great! After a day of cooking it was time for some extreme activity, so got up at [View Full Entry]

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Heading north from Cambodia we landed in Vientiane, the capital city of Laos. It is a sleepy city with lots of temples and old French architecture to enjoy, so we spent a day biking around and taking it all in. Although Laos is a very poor nation (average income is 200-400US$ per year), the people seem very pleasant and happy. Maybe that is because they have some of the best beer (Laobeer) and whiskey (Lao Lao) around?! Either way it was nice to have a more laid back atmosphere without as many tourists and yappy salesmen about. From Vientiene we went [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Phnom Penh via bus from Saigon, and aside from the heat everything went smoothly. When we got there in the late afternoon the temperature seemed to be still going up! Our trip to Cambodia was defined by 2 things, the Khmer Rouge and Ancient Angkor. Phnom Penh was the central sight for one of the most violent and horrific social experiments in human history. It was a group of radicals (Khmer Rouge) attempt to make a "perfect society." This involved eradicating anyone that lived in cities, had an education, or had differing political or economic views from them. [View Full Entry]

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A verse that is well known by backpackers and locals alike around these parts! If you need to find something or somewhere, you can always find someone offering the "same same." But usually you soon find out it is actually same same....but different! Things are never what you expect here, and you can't assume anything. That being said Hawley and I had almost entirely avoided getting badly ripped off in Vietnam until we reached Ho Chi Minh City, but I will get to that in a minute. One we finally got out of Ninh Binh we headed south across the DMZ [View Full Entry]

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