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July 7th 2008
China A Chinese Introduction The plane taxi to our gate at the Beijing terminal was a pitch-perfect introduction. Helaine and I were en route from Bangkok and were originally scheduled to stay overnight in Hong Kong and fly to Beijing the next morning, where we would meet up with Anne and McCall for our trip through China. We instead hopped an earlier flight in Hong Kong and planned to just find a hotel near the Beijing airport when we arrived. Our flight arrived around 11:00 p.m. and we were hoping to make it to the hotel by midnight for a decent night's rest before starting our tour the following morning. Those hopes were quickly dashed as the bewildering plane taxi to the gate began. The taxi, along myriad runways in multiple directions, took nearly 40 minutes, ... read more
June 19th 2008
THAILAND Our Asia trip has carried us through Thailand several times, and we are now here spending a week on the island of Samui before we head to Japan. Outside of our numerous passes through the Bangkok airport, we made our first Thai outing after parting with my Mom and Phyllis in Vietnam about a month ago. We visited northern Thailand, where we spent a few days at the Four Seasons - Chiang Mai for our one year anniversary before departing on an overland trip to Mae Hong Son in the northwestern corner of the country. The Four Seasons was incredible; in retrospect we could have used a few more days there, as the trip north proved to be a mixed bag. The scenery was beautiful, but I think we were both feeling a little exhausted ... read more
June 16th 2008
CAMBODIA Helaine and I spent 5 days in Siem Reap exploring the Khmer ruins of Angkor and taking a boat trip through the floating villages on the “great lake” of Cambodia - the Tonle Sap. We both wished we had allotted more time to explore other parts of the country. I want to return and take the overland trip or the boat trip on the Tonle Sap river between Siem Riep and Phnom Penh. Like most other tourists, we came to see the world-famous ruins of the former Khmer empire, but also to catch a glimpse of life thirty years after the reign of the Khmer Rouge. In Vietnam we were shocked at how quickly the memory of its turbulent past seemed to have receded in the face of booming tourism and an expanding economy. Cambodia ... read more
May 26th 2008
Vietnam I spent most of my 32nd birthday aboard a longboat in the Mekong Delta with Helaine, Mom and Phyllis. We have been traveling through Vietnam for almost three weeks. Our trip began in the Red River Delta of northern Vietnam and winds up here in the Mekong Delta as it threads its way to the South China Sea. We spent our first week based out of Hanoi, staying near the vibrant Old Quarter in the heart of the city. From there we took the overnight train to the mountainous region of Sapa to see several of the hill tribe villages, including the H’Mong and Dao people. We also took an overnight boat trip to through the famed seascape of Halong Bay. In central Vietnam we visited China Beach and the marble mountains of Danang, then ... read more
May 8th 2008
LAOS It doesn’t take long to settle into the languid lifestyle of Luang Prubang. The contrast with the bustling streets of Bangkok was stark as we boarded our large tuk-tuk and headed through the lush streets towards our hotel along the Mekong River. I immediately loved this town. There was of course a steady stream of two-wheeled traffic - mopeds, bicycles, motorcycles - one of the first scenes that struck me en route from the airport was a line of 6 or 7 women aboard mopeds, each carrying a bright pink parasol as a shield from the mid-afternoon sun. Like many other women in Asia, they carry umbrellas and wear masks (and sometimes long gloves) to maintain the revered light complexion. Meanwhile, we stream into tanning beds to acquire a darker one. But Luang Prubang isn’t ... read more
April 24th 2008
BHUTAN An old woman sits on the tin roof of her spare mud-brick house spinning a hand-held prayer wheel. As each clockwise turn sends hundreds of prayers scattering towards the snow-clad peaks, I think about how much competition they face. It is difficult to scan any pine-draped hillside that isn’t bisected by a cluster of vertical white prayer flags. It’s almost impossible to cross one of the many narrow bridges without brushing against the strings of colorful, tattered prayer flags fluttering in the wind. Mountain-top monasteries and river side dzongs with rows upon rows of prayer wheels for the faithful to spin on their circumambulations. Every minute thousands of prayers sprint towards the high passes of this remote Himalayan kingdom. But luckily there are ample mountains to receive them. This is Bhutan, a tiny, devoutly Buddhist ... read more
April 11th 2008
Helaine and I are a couple of weeks into our 4 month trip through Asia. It has been pretty incredible so far. I saw Everest for the first time a few days ago as we were flying out of Bhutan, and we spent this morning boating down the Mekong River in Luang Prubang, Laos. I haven't had as much time for the blog as I thought thus far, but I wanted to drop in a couple of excerpts from my journal with a few photos. BANGKOK 4/12/08 Our first Asian greeting involved a bungee cord. Helaine and I arrived in Bangkok around midnight on Wednesday, April 9th. We were exhausted from the long flight, including a 5 hour stopover in Seoul, Korea. Our sole goal was to get to the hotel as soon as possible. When ... read more
March 31st 2008
Asia Trip 2008 (Mapping our Route) Below is a link to our route for the trip: ... read more
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