Tara and Lindsay

The border between Laos and Cambodia in the south had become an “official” border crossing 2 weeks prior to our crossing. “Official” means that a small bribe on each side (plus the cost of the visa) paved our way into Cambodia without needing to backtrack into Thailand. Ok, saying ‘paved’ is embellishing. We had been warned repeatedly that Cambodia is home to some of the worst highways in the world (right up there with the Congo) and this was confirmed as we entered into the country. Our ancient bus driver bounced over topography that would have deterred most back-bush ATV’ers in Canada, plowing through sand, rocks and easing over small craters pretending to be potholes. Our destination was the riverside city of Kratie, known best for being near the home of the remaining rare Irrawady dolphins. ... read more

Sorry about our lack of communication over the last little while. Tara and I have spent the last 15 days in Laos and absolutely loved it! We would have stayed a lot longer if our visas hadn’t expired which meant we had to head into Cambodia. Laos was a dream country to visit; one of those places that you don’t really believe still exists in the world. Beautiful people, beautiful scenery and wonderful traveling companions made this one of the best experiences we could have ever asked for. I just wanted to let people know that we are still around and the details of our latest adventure will be posted shortly. Meanwhile, I have added some more pictures to our gallery…sabadee! ... read more

With our 15-day visa in Laos quickly coming to an end, we needed to start making choices based on time management. We decided to forgo earlier plans to visit the Plain of Jars, which is Laos’ site of archeological mystery and intrigue, a kind of "Laotion" Stonehenge. As the name reflects, the Jar of Plains is an expanse of fields, filled with variably sized stone jars of unknown origin. The largest one weighs 6 tons and the jars are believed to be around 2000 years old. Research has been challenging due to remnant landmines and other ordenance, which is just recently being cleared. Archeologists from all over have proposed theories to explain the random stone jars but all remain speculation. Local legend, our favorite explanation, claims the jars were made for the fermentation of rice to ... read more

In Thailand, as in many other parts of Southeast Asia, the feet are considered the lowest or the most unholy part of the body. It is extremely rude to point your feet at people, and common practice to remove shoes and sandals when entering into homes, shops and temples. After three months of trekking and traveling and general neglect, our feet were pushing the limits of acceptable in any country - regardless of attitudes toward the sanctity of the foot. As I’ve entailed above my travel worn feet were by themselves enough to get a second look on the streets of Thailand. However, as if the foot gods were laughing at me I’d managed to acquire fresh new blisters in Bangkok and was wearing a small patch of pavement that I’d picked up in an unfortunate ... read more

Our last 2 hours in India were spent working our way through the congested, exhaust filled streets of Mumbai (Bombay), weaving between people, cars and rickshaws. As we moved out of the core of the city we entered the slums which seemed to stretch out in all directions except up; no structure was taller than over 6 feet. Reportedly, 5000 new people arrive to the slums of Mumbai each week, most of them internal refugees driven from their villages by various catastrophes and general poverty. Hundreds of thousands of people live together in shelters pieced together out of reclaimed tarps, rags and plastic in what are the largest slums in Asia. Groups of smiling barefoot children rushed to our cab at every corner, singing and laughing and hoping for rupees, and then latching on and chasing ... read more

We left the fishy fresh air and laid back life of Fort Cochin on Nov.2nd and Tara and Lindsay headed south, Goa bound. Paul stayed behind to explore the spice and tea plantations of South India, planning to head back through Mysore and then meet up with us in Goa. Travel wasn't as simple as it sounds. Due to a combination of Diwali (the Hindu Festival of Lights that marks the victory of good over the evil) and school holidays, all trains were booked solid for days. After spending some time denying this fact and then a little more time trying to charm, bribe and lie our way onto any train heading south, we conceded to the reality that we were taking the bus. Because of the day we had lost trying to book a train ... read more