I have approximately 3 minutes to write this so I apologize for the rushed nature. Our last days in Chiang Mai were uneventful since we spent the better part of 2 weeks there and had nothing at all left to do. So I'll move on. Flew down (wow it feels nice to be flying again after countless long bus rides) to Krabi and spent a night there before moving over to the honeymoon destination of Rai Lay (pronounced "Riley") beach. The area is known for it's rock-climbing and not being one to let a good opportunity pass I signed up for [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hey folks, Sorry for not posting in a while, truthfully it's been a slow week and a half, with notable events only happening on the back end of it. It's kinda funny, until now each destination only a got a few days - I think Hoi An's previous record of four days has been shattered here in Chiang Mai. This is nice though - without the itinerary feeling overly hectic we've actually managed to pack a lot in. Upon arrival in Chiang Mai we met up with a couple of Adrienne's friends from Queen's who are on essentially a whirlwind version [View Full Entry]

---

---

I apologize for the first version, I was rushed and didn't even have time to read it before publishing. Here's a slightly better version. "The Vietnamese plant the rice, the Cambodians watch it grow, and the Laotians listen to it grow." Hello friends, Last time I posted, the limits of my infinite(ish) patience were being flirted with. After two organized trips in Northern Vietnam that were filled with aggressive entrepreneurialism and laced with a little deception, I was needing some time to relax, chill out. I honestly think that's what Laos is for. Pinched between two ambitious and [View Full Entry]

---

---

It was an Irish traveler we met in Saigon who put it best, "To travel in the North, you need a good sense of humour." What he meant by that statement is that you need to be able to take a step back from your heated argument with the pushy guest-house manager or ignore that the deluxe tour you were promised is nowhere to be found, and simply laugh at the situation. And we did, for a while - but like any joke it starts to wear thin after hearing it for the thirtieth time. That isn't to say that [View Full Entry]

---

---

Let's work backwards. Right now I'm in Hoi An, a small historic town about halfway between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. It's the type of town that is quaint, if you look past the big hotels and boisterous organized tour groups. In an hour's time Adrienne and I are off to have dinner with an Israeli pair we met up with here, but first met on the bus from Phnom Penh to Saigon. We met up with them again because as we're learning there are about 45 backpackers in South East Asia, of which we've met at least 30. The [View Full Entry]

---

---

I suppose that based on my previous entry, these posts could have been titled "Going Beyond the Red Tape...", but it really wasn't so terrible. In fact, despite the blemishes on its record, Cambodia has been my favourite stop so far. The reason for that is pretty simple: despite a remarkably bloody history, the average Cambodian may actually be the nicest person you'll ever meet. When I say "remarkably bloody history", I mean centuries of Thais invading from the East and Vietnamese invading from the West. I mean, that for the first time in the history of civilization, the only thing [View Full Entry]

---

---

Our visit to Cambodia was about as varied as its mixed history which ranges from the splendour of the ancient Khmer civiliation to the tragedy of the more recent Khmer Rouge. I'm of two minds about what to think overall. Without a doubt, however, the true beauty of this place came through in the unconventional parts of the trip. But where's the humour in that? I'll get to that later. First, the negatives. The Bangkok - Siem Reap Bus Scam We had been warned about this a number of times. The scam is as follows: you buy your bus ticket in [View Full Entry]

---

---

So Philippines is really history now, but I vowed to put in some closing thoughts on it before it sinks too deep into my noggin. For the record, I'm currently in Siem Reap, Cambodia, exploring the ruins of Angkor. If you don't know what that is, look it up. It's truly something to behold. Getting here was an adventure in itself, but I'll write about that later. Also for later is our two nights spent in Bangkok since our flight out was delayed. But without further ado, some closing thoughts on the Philippines and the long-awaited Cebu Pacific Debacle. 1. Good [View Full Entry]

---

---

Ok, so where I left off I was still in Boracay. I'm actually long past that and relaxing in Cebu City now, but I don't mind reaching back into my memory and re-visiting Boracay and later Moalboal. On the first day in Boracay, like I said, I had gone and checked out one of the kiteboarding schools. The one I chose was www.freestyle-boracay.com. They were cool, after explaining my winter spent kiting on the snow, the owner, a Filipino named Ken agreed to let me rent without a lesson. So the next morning, right around noon I went back and got [View Full Entry]

---

---

We had decided to spend an extra day in Manila just because we loved our hostel so much, could use the extra time to plan our multi-leg trek to Boracay and still had yet to see the sights of Manila since we lived in a gated outskirt. So we woke up early on Wednesday with ambitious plans of seeing the city centre. In particular there was a park with monuments and all that. Since we had had enough of scamming taxi drivers, (one guy demanded a 50 peso tip!), we decided to take jeepneys downtown. It was 11am and rush hour [View Full Entry]

---

---