My GAP trip officially begins today with the first meeting at 6pm in the hotel. We'll do introductions and paperwork and then head out to dinner. I do have a roommate, but I have not met her yet. When I checked back into the hotel last night, they put me in a double so I wouldn't have to move today. Our tour leader's name is Trisha and I recently heard from Catherine, my China-Tibet-Nepal leader that she's not traveling in Asia for the next month so I won't see her again. I'm looking forward to meeting the group! I slept in a bit today and then headed out to see more of Bangkok. I first walked to Wat Skaret, the Golden Mount. After a long climb to the top (which isn't really very long at only ... read more

Hello! I am just back from an excellent two day trip to the Kanchanburi area of Thailand. I had a great guide named Rachet and it was just me on the trip so I could ask all the questions I wanted. Our first stop was at the Phra Pathom Chedi, the second largest pagoda in Thailand. It is 120 feet high and currently undergoing a major restoration so it's entirely encased in scaffolding. We then went to the JEATH (Japan, England, Australia and America, Thailand, and Holland) War Museum which documents a bit about the history of the Thai-Burma Railway, better known as the Death Railway. The railway was built by Allied POWs and Asian laborers under the Japanese in 1942 and 1943. Over 12,800 Allied POWs and approximately 90,000 Asian laborers died during its construction. ... read more

I'm off to Royal Chitwan National Park in the morning for three days! It should be a great way to end a fantastic trip! 'll be back in Kathmandu on Friday afternoon, 15 Nov 2008, and I leave the next morning for home. I'm not sure if I'll have internet access again for not, but no worries - I'm fine! Fingers crossed for rhino and tiger sitings in the park!... read more

This morning we did a mountain flight to get a look at Mt. Everest from Nepal - fantastic!!!... read more

We had a free day today so Mo and I slept in and had a leisurely breakfast. We went back to Bokhar Square, did some shopping and explored the area further. We walked for quite a while and finally stopped for tea and lunch. After lunch we went to the China Post bank to chnage some of our 100 yuan notes from the ATM to smaller bills. The security guard kept trying to get us to go to the actual post office and we had a hard time explaining why we were in line. He finally gave up. It was very crowded and we were in the slowest possible line. Finally, we were next when the woman behind us just pushed her way to the teller window. Mo said "excuse me - we were next", but ... read more