Here are some pictures of our Carnival Cruise Elation that we took over the labor day weekend of 2009 - September 3, 2009 to September 7, 2009. This is our pre-trip before we head back to Asia for our fourth time. This time we include India & Vietnam in addition to Laos & Thailand... Our itinerary will be: December 22nd, 2009 from San Diego, CA to Varanasi, India (via Bangkok) December 24th, 2009, Arrive in Varanasi, India December 25th, 2009, Varanasi, India December 26th, 2009, Varanasi, India to New Delhi, India December 27th, 2009, New Delhi, India December 28th, 2009, New [View Full Entry]

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Hi all, Today is our last day here in Asia. This marks the end of our vacation as we board our plane for San Diego later this afternoon. We are sad that our vacation is ending, but we are ready to go back home. This morning we slept in. We had been getting up early the past few days and it felt good to sleep in for once. We had our final breakfast here at our hotel (Mellinium Hilton). After publish our final blog, we will pack our stuff and leave for airport around 2:00 pm. I will see everyone back [View Full Entry]

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Hi all, We woke up early this morning (6:00 am) to go on our Aryuthaya tour. Ayuthaya is a 2 hour bus ride outside of Bangkok and was an ancient capital of Thailand A couple from Oahu was on our tour and we enjoyed talking with them. They are heading next to Luang Prabang and so Steven gave them information on where to stay and things to do. It was nice to meet people from US and it was great to talk to them. Anyway, the tour was nice but both of us were very tired from our late night out [View Full Entry]

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Hi all, We are now in Bangkok. Yesterday (on our last day in Luang Prabang), we woke up at 5:30 am in the morning to give alms to the monks. This has become a tradition of ours as we try to do it every time we are in Luang Prabang. The wats are so much a part of what makes Luang Prabang special and giving alms is a bit of their traditions. After giving alms, we went to a small bamboo bridge that Anthony Bourdin walked accross during his show on Laos. We then walked around the morning market and then [View Full Entry]

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Here are last night and today's pictures.... [View Full Entry]

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Today was our first full day in Luang Prabang Laos. I got up and walked around the morning market while Steven visited with his family. We all then went to see the Kuang Si waterfalls and had a picnic along a river on some property owned by Steven's cousin. The waterfalls were very scenic with cascading pools of blue water flowing downstream. We then headed back to the hotel were just long enough to get ready for a BBQ with Steven's family and friends at a friends house. Should be fun! [View Full Entry]

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We woke up very early this morning in Kuala Lumpur to catch a flight to Vientiane. We visited Steven's family in Vientiane, then catch another flight from Vientiane to Luang Prabang where we will be staying for 3 nights. Steven has a few relatives here so we will be hanging out them, but mostly we will be relaxing before we head back to Bangkok and then home... Here are some of today's pictures... [View Full Entry]

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Here is our blog from yesterday.... Today we had our final breakfast at our Bali Niksoma hotel and left for the airport on our way back to Kuala Lumpur. We arrive at Kuala Lumpur airport in the evening and despite plans to take the train into town, exhaustion and rainy weather kept us at the hotel. The hotel - the Kuala Lumpur Hilton is very nice. We suspect it is mostly used by business travelers as it is much more expense account friendly than average traveler friendly. (In other words, it is a bit pricey.) Nonetheless, the rooms are great and [View Full Entry]

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We wanted to post this blog last night, but the travel blog server was down... Here is the blog from yesterday.... Today was our last full day in Bali. Steven endulged in a Balinese massage and lounged by the pool most of the day while I went for a walk around town. We then had dinner at our hotel as it was putting on a sunday buffet with a Balinese dance show. What a pleasant way to end our stay here. After diner, we watched the final fith set of men single Australian Open final. Tomorrow we are heading back up [View Full Entry]

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Our second full day in Bali started with breakfast at the hotel and then off to our all-day tour of the Ubud area as well as Ulu Watu. Ubud is the arts & crafts area of Bali about and hour and a half from the beaches of Kuta & Legian. Along the way we stopped off at a few shops where Steven bought a wood carving of Bali dancers. We then visited one of the famed terraced rice fields before heading to central Ubud for lunch. After lunch we visited the central market where Steven bought another wood carving and then [View Full Entry]

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