Haad Yao is an amazing beach with the most spectacular views of sunsets I have ever seen. We spent 7 days relaxing on the beach and in the pool, got a chance to update our blogs, and most importantly recover. Our bungalow had a nice view of the beach and the ocean, the food was quite nice and on one of our days there we signed up for a day trip to the Ang Thong Marine Park which is breathtaking! “Ang Thong Marine Park is a group of over 40 tropical islands that are protected as a nature reserve.” (Ko Phangan Info issue 20). We started off the day by jetting off to the islands in the distance, barely visible from Ko Phangan, arriving at one of the smaller islands for some amazing snorkelling, again up ... read more

Our flight from Vientiene in Laos arrived around 11pm and we were immediately reminded of why we left. The combination of extreme humidity and the strength of the protestors’ annoyingness is too much to handle at the moment. Catching a taxi from the airport the driver did not look pleased that he had to take us to Khao San Road, right next door to the protestors’ camp out. In the weeks since we had left for the north the campaign of the red shirts had grown into the tens of thousands and they had began to block off more and more city streets. Not only that but as the local police apparently couldn’t handle the strength of numbers of the red shirts, the local government had disbanded the military, which are now standing at just about ... read more

The bus ride from Chiang Mai wasn’t too bad; Air-con bus, fit about 10 people. The bus was an hour late which worried us all a bit, we wound up leaving our guest house at 11am with two breaks (half an hour and 15 minutes), arriving in the tiny town of Chiang Khong at about 4:30. We were pleasantly surprised by the accommodations set up for us, usually when booking some sort of package tour like the one we were one the accommodations are sub-par at best. The grounds to the guest house were all lush and leafy green with wooden dorm style rooms which were simple yet comfortable. There was also a pool but it resembled more of a frog pond then a leisure pool. Chiang Khongs’ main road is about 1km long in either ... read more

Trat feels like it has two parts of the city; the busy main drag with its tall buildings and busy road way, and the quiet old-time feeling side streets. This city reminds me of both Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City) and Laos (Luang Prabang or Vang Vieng), a surprisingly pleasant mix with a sort of comfortable feel. Trat seems a city unknown to most travelers, using the nearby ferry terminal at Leam Ngop as a jumping point to Ko Chang and the surrounding islands without giving much of a second thought to the beauty hidden behind the forest. The people seem more relaxed, not so quick to hustle you into their store like what you would experience in Bangkok or Chiang Mai, we haven’t heard one “hello, you come look, try one, you buy”. Our first ... read more

Today is day 1 of the Olympics for us in Vancouver. I missed the torch relay which was disappointing (I got the times confused, it came by our place when I was at work yesterday). Scott however, working downtown in the middle of it all, got to see the torch for the second time in his life (first time it went right by his house in Norway, Lilli hammer 1994). Lucky guy gets to see it twice. So because Scott is downtown, I am going to go for a wander, hopefully see some of the amazing things that are going on in downtown Vancouver today, and go for lunch with him. Yes yes I'll be bringing the camera. Other then that we have 24 days left on the calendar until we leave. Went to Mountain Equipment ... read more