One of the things I appreciate about Laos - and much of SE Asia - is the amount of freedom, and responsibility you are granted. You personally appraise the situation, and based on that, and perhaps advice from other travellers, you 'do', or 'do not.' There isn't always this looming figure in the background making sure that you don't overextend youself-we have been given the wherewithal and innate inability to make sound rational choices. At least that is what seems natural; personally, I am still working on the 'rational' choices thing. But there's time and probably more journeys to work on [View Full Entry]

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I had left an entry incomplete in a previous submssion and will try to make things right. I have included pictures of Luang Prabang as well as pictures from Hanoi, and Halong Bay in this entry. Ok, here we go.......I got a ride via tuk-tuk to the airport in Luang Prabang and off to Hanoi. On the plane I met a fellow traveler (Pamela) who was from Germany-many, many more Europeans traveling than Americans. She was 25 and had been traveling solo, too. At the Hanoi Airport Tourist Information desk following our confession that we did not have a place rearranged [View Full Entry]

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We left the Gibbon reserve no worse for the wear and out on the paved road we parted company: them back to Huay Xai, and I on my way in a bus to a one night stopover - Luang Namtha (pronounced Nam-tah). I find that there is something about the actual process of 'traveling' - air travel excluded - which invigorates and revitalizes me. Passing the small villages, and being privileged to observe people as they live their lives - eating together as a group, harvesting rice and tending to their gardens, school children dressed in uniforms laughing as they walk [View Full Entry]

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I believe I left off just prior to taking a twelve hour bus ride back to Chiang Mai from Khon Kaen, after confusing Chiang Khong - where I actually needed to be - with Khon Kaen - literally hundreds of miles off course. I was fortunate in that I had a short wait to catch the next bus from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai, and an even shorter wait to catch the final bus to Chiang Khong after which I could take a boat to cross the river from Chiang Khong, Thailand to Huay Xai (prounounced 'Way Sigh), Laos-whew! I [View Full Entry]

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Do you think Khon Kaen sounds/looks a bit like Chiang Khon? Well I did! I got on a bus in Chiang Mai at 8:00 pm and ended up a little more than twelve hours later in Khon Kaen-only literally hundreds of miles from my intended destination. Let me back up a bit. I arrived in Chiang Mai late Thursday after a twelve hour train ride (I think twelve hours is the magic number here). I met a Brit and a Singaporean on the way and we talked and planned together. After arrival we grabbed a ride into the city to try [View Full Entry]

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Whew! I was pretty busy my first day in Thailand. To wit:--after a leisurely breakfast overlooking the Chao Praya river (I am still working on the photo upload part) in downtown Bangkok Thursday, I walked (one of the smells I was referring to when I last wrote was the smell of raw sewage-not as bad as it used to be some years ago-but memorable) to the train station to buy my ticket for the trip to Chiang Mai. The trip is a twelve hour affair and cost around $20.00 I was a man with a mission-I needed to get myself a [View Full Entry]

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My brother Howard picked me up and drove me to the airport-I remember how cold it was-I could see the vapor from my breath as I got into his car. At the airport I thanked a stranger for letting me know I had dropped my boarding pass --. As I am going through the check-in process I experience a kind of euphoria and I attribute it to getting ready to 'escape' this hectic life (which isn't really apparent until you visit another culture where life is... slowed down). To add to that there is a transformation I undergo which coincides with [View Full Entry]

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I am beyond counting down the days before I leave on my trip. It is no longer six, or five, or one month-it is three days! My last day of work was yesterday and I couldn't wait to get out of there (no offense to my co-workers). I requested this time off nearly a full year ago and I tried to pick a time that would make the smallest impact on staffing (and be the least intrusive) and-be located somewhere where the weather was agreeable-our winter would be their summer. I have already gathered any necessary VISAs, gathered some of the [View Full Entry]

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