Mike and Meghan s Incredible Adventure

After two months of travelling through the poverty stricken countries of Southeast Asia, we arrived back in the modern world. We flew into Sydney, Australia on an absolutely beautiful and sunny day. We were lucky enough to have a few friends from home who were living in Sydney (Mike's friend Harry and Meghan's friend Laura) and they were gracious enough to let us move in for a few days. We also met up with one of Mike's best friends from home, Matt, who decided to join in on our journey and travel with us for the remainder of our trip. We all met up in spunky Bondi Beach, where both Harry and Laura live and began enjoying our coastal surroundings. Bondi Beach is the infamous party town just outside Sydney that becomes the home to most ... read more

After an incredible month in the communist country of Vietnam, we were happy to be boarding a plane to Thailand. The moment we arrived in Bangkok, our new traveling hub, we booked an overnight train ticket to Chaing Mai. Having a few hours to spare, we indulged ourselves in some of the finest kai satay (two orders of chicken skewers with peanut sauce- so good) and some spicy chicken curry. It was great to get a little spice and flavor back into our lives. Vietnamese cuisine was good, but it just lacked the flavor and spices that Thai food bursts with. We were definitely happy to be back in Thailand. After our overnight train we arrived in the mountainous region of Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai is the third largest city in Thailand and the largest in ... read more

After a grueling seven hour bus ride on a non-airconditioned bus and in the heat of the day, we arrived in the jeweled city of Dalat, located in the central highlands of Vietnam. Dalat is a lovely city positioned in the heart of a mountainous region and is home to a plethora of waterfalls, evergreen forests and flower fields. We were enchanted from the moment we entered this "city of eternal spring." Due to the fact that the day we arrived was the Vietnamese Independence Day, the city was popping and we had a difficult time finding a hotel (especially one whose prices weren't ridiculously inflated). Hundreds of Vietnamese tourists were relaxing and roaming through the streets, taking advantage of the long holiday weekend. In the midst of the holiday chaos, we managed to find a ... read more

A little history on Cambodia so our entry makes some sense. As mentioned in our previous blog, Cambodia was ruled by the Khmer Regime, which in its early days was a successful empire, spreading into Thailand and Laos. In the 1500's, the Thai invaded Angkor and the latter years would be considered Cambodia's Dark Ages. Soon after, the capital was moved to Phnom Penh, where several rivers connected and new trading channels were opened. In the 1800's, the French established a protectorate and ruled for 90 years. In 1953, sly Cambodian leader Sihanouk was able to assist his country in gaining independence. Not much later, Sihanouk granted the Northern Vietnamese army passage through Cambodia in order to flank the Southern Vietnamese. The Southern Vietnamese' allies, USA, quickly started mass bombings and infesting the land with mines. ... read more

After an amazing experience in the Okavango Delta, we made our way into the Caprivi Strip. Originally, Namibia had no access to the Zambezi River, which was a major trade route. When the British still had control of Botswana, they were able to negotiate for a plot of land near the river, which today is called the Caprivi Strip. The Caprivi Strip is a long strip of land surrounded by water (from the Kavango River to the Zambezi River) and ends at the four corners of Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia. That night, we stayed at Martin's Drift, which was in Katima Mulilo on the Zambezi River. The next afternoon, we were picked up in a larger safari 4x4 and headed off into Chobe National Park. Chobe, which is located in Botswana, had much different terrain ... read more