It's 6:24am Vancouver time and we've been up since 4:30. This will not be our most coherent blog entry ever. It will, however, be our last. Back in Van ... sigh. Such an overwhelming mix of emotions. Relief, regret (over having to end our travels), excitement (we both have A LOT on our plates now that we're home), dread (we both have A LOT on our plates now that we're home ... hey, wait ...), and so on. It's wonderful to be back in Vancouver where almost everything is safe, clean, and set-priced. I don't want to have to bargain again [View Full Entry]

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So our unabashed love for Cambodians was tempered slightly by the tourism-overdrive touts of Siem Reap and Sihanoukville for whom the word "no" actually means "no, but if you grab my foot, yell at me, guilt trip me, and pester me for twenty minutes I might then say yes". Whilst attempting to relax on smooth white sandy beaches caressed by crystal clear turquoise water the constant, aggressive, and shockingly emotionally manipulative sales pitches you get for something as mundane as a hastily made friendship bracelet can be ... overwhelming. The Cambodians know how to get at your soul with gu [View Full Entry]

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So we've learned a valuable lesson about long-term backpacking on this trip: Leave something BIG for the end. It's been just a hair over four and a half months that we've been away and we've only got about three weeks left. Lynn and I decided to shave about 4 days from our trip so that she could make a little side trip home to Ontario before having to get back to work. As fate would have it, just as we decide this, my mom also let it be known that a family trip to Montreal is in the works so that [View Full Entry]

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Sometimes, we feel old. Or rather, not so much old as "not as young". It becomes more and more apparent when we sustain injuries (like from landing in water from great heights at odd angles or perhaps from over-indulging in alcohol) and then try to recover quickly. When you're nineteen, for instance, and you launch yourself off of a forty foot platform to swing gracefully over a river, releasing high in the air to come crashing down into a fast flowing river while totally drunk you could probably recover from that with a mere shake of the head and another long [View Full Entry]

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It's good to be proper traveling again. Vietnam sees us back in a more tradional exotic-cheap-backpacker situation that is a welcome change from both the relaxing bliss of Bali and the ho-hum feelings we got from Singapore. We were a little on guard because alot of the travelers we'd met who'd been through Vietnam spoke of how much the touts hassle you and how they'd been taken for rides (or robbed or whatever). It all started to sound like India Jr. and we were bracing for the worst. Much to our delight, we discovered that the reputation of Vietnam as a [View Full Entry]

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Bali. Oh gosh, what to say ...? Well, I suppose it seems fair to say we've basically stopped being backpackers for the last ten days. Barely fifteen minutes from the airport, we settled into the beach-surf-party hub of this tiny Indonesian island and haven't really moved since. We have a swim-up bar, people! ... There was nothing we could do! Anyway, Kuta (the name of the beachy area we're at), has been the perfect and perfectly timed break on our five and a half month adventure. We found the perfect hotel that's off the manic main alleys, clean, filled with lovely [View Full Entry]

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More than a little unexpected, we ended spending over a week in Ko Lanta with Laura and Thale (her daughter of almost two). We watched kids movies (Bambi is still quality viewing), cooked lovely dinners, and lounged around beaches and swimming pools as much as possible as a bizarro four person and one dog pseudo family unit. Not the kind of thing you anticipate doing while backpacking through Asia, but man it was nice. Turning off "backpacker mode" and reminding ourselves what it's like to cook, clean, and shop for groceries was refreshing. You'd think going out for every meal is [View Full Entry]

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How's this for a warm welcome ...? We were finally getting out of Kathmandu and making a break for Bangkok, Thailand, en route to some Thai beaches. Kathmandu's whole we-got-power-for-4-hours-a-day thing was getting real old. Sitting in the airport restaurant having a nice breakfast to burn the last of our rupees and what comes on the tele behind us? The BBC news. Thailand has broken out into mass anti government protests ... centered mainly in Bangkok. The Thai government has declared a state of emergency in Bangkok and it's surrounding provinces. Oh goodie. The images on the te [View Full Entry]

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Kathmandu. It's got one of those super exotic sounding names like Titikaka (tee hee!) or Kuala Lumpur that just screams adventure. It's also one of those places that has the most mixed reaction from foreigners that Lynn or I have ever encountered. Some people absolutely love the place, hailing it's wondrous sights and barely contained chaos, while others see it as a barely functioning cesspool that is losing what little Nepali culture it has left to a ravenous tourism industry. We're kind of in the middle. Frankly, if you've been to India (just prior as the case normally is with most [View Full Entry]

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There were many titles we could have gone with for this week's blog entry. "Joom joom Jagat", "Good Power, 24 hour!", and "Holy Cow Those Are REALLY Big Mountains" just to name a few. We decided on this one because we think it hits the heart of our experience in the Annapurna Sanctuary. Explanation below. First though, a warning: this will be long. If you're at work and this is your coffee break, tilt your screen away from your colleagues and bosses so that it looks like you're still working. Otherwise, settle in, grab a drink, and be patient with the [View Full Entry]

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