http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Stacy and Helaine/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Stacy and Helaine en-us Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:45:53 BST Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:45:53 BST ChinaA Chinese IntroductionThe plane taxi to our gate at the Beijing terminal was a pitchperfect 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/blog-296423.html THAILANDOur 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 Ma http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/blog-289201.html CAMBODIAHelaine 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 ldquogreat lakerdquo 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. L http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/blog-287874.html VietnamI 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/blog-280278.html LAOSIt doesnrsquot 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 tuktuk 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 twowheeled traffic mopeds bicycles motorcycles one of the firs http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/blog-274122.html BHUTANAn old woman sits on the tin roof of her spare mudbrick house spinning a handheld prayer wheel. As each clockwise turn sends hundreds of prayers scattering towards the snowclad peaks I think about how much competition they face. It is difficult to scan any pinedraped hillside that isnrsquot bisected by a cluster of vertical white prayer flags. Itrsquos almost impossible to cross http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Bhutan/blog-269535.html 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 wi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/blog-265194.html Asia Trip 2008 Mapping our RouteBelow is a link to our route for the trip http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-261607.html