Lynn and Dez

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 guilt and insults in a way that no other people we've encountered so far have even dared try. It's scary. After steadfastly refusing to buy a trinket of some sort, one Canadian girl we met had this ... read more

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 swig of beer. When you're pushing 31, however, it turns out these sorts of activities take a ... deeper toll. But we're getting ahead of ourselves here. I'll explain all that stuff above in a ... read more

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 people, equipped with a swim-up bar and blissfully large pool, and cheap enough that we don't feel bad about any of it. The beach is about a block away (they don't do beach-side resorts here ... read more

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 television are of "Red Shirts" (mostly rural-based supporters of the previous prime minister) clogging streets and prepping molotov cocktails for the extremely well armed police forces opposite them. They've apparently set a few things on fire and the police ... read more

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 hideous amounts of detail you're about to get. An quick introduction is in order. Meet Jagat. He'll figure prominently in a few of our group photos. He's the 24 year old Nepali guide-cum-porter* that we ... read more