brironman

Hello from tokyo. It's been a few days now since the earthquake and the situation here seems to be constantly deteriorating. The first day after the quake, everything seemed like it was back to normal. Now nearly a week has past and the city seems to be shutting itself down slowly, bit by bit. Looming over everything is the threat of the nuclear power plants which are spewing out radiation a short distance to the north of here. There are currently rolling blackouts throughout the area to conserve energy. Trains are sporadic at best and quite often simply stop running for hours at a time. I am still going to work, but my commute has become the hardest part of the day. The food and supplies situation is getting pretty bad as well. A few days ... read more

A thousand apologies for neglecting the travel blog as of late. I thought I'd write a quick one on the eve of my impromptu trip to Canada for the first time in over four years. Japan is quite difficult to get a visa for and I ran out of time on my un-extendable visitor visa. Therefore, I've gotta get the H outta here before it runs out on the 20th. I'll be in Canada for roughly 2 weeks before returning to Japan and finalizing all that bureaucratic nonsense to get a visa over there. Yumi can't come unfortunately as it is such a last minute trip and she is already working. I just double checked the last blog entry I made all the way back in August and I left off after we(Yumi, Nairb and Brian) ... read more

This blog has been brought to you by the letter H Hello Again. This is going to be the last blog about South East Asia. We've been in Japan for almost a week now and I haven't had a chance to catch up until now. Before I get to the end of Vietnam, let me fill you in on how I suddenly have way too much time to catch up with blogging now. We've just arrived in Hiroshima today and it is the last weekend for school holidays in Japan and every hotel, guesthouse and hostel is completely full. The only thing we can do is spend the night in a totally bizzarre internet cafe. It is 24 hours and we all have a private cubicle with a computer and a bed. There are free movies, ... read more

I think I already mentioned in the last blog update how unrepresentative Siem Reap and Angkor were off Cambodia as a whole. The majority of the tourist dollar in the country is spent right here and it really shows. I had heard great things about taking a boat from Siem Reap to Battambang. It meant a slight backtrack geographically, but we were both sick of buses and wanted to mix up the mode of transport a bit. The boat journey really was spectacular as well. The inside of the boat was cramped, but we had the nice option of sitting on the roof in the sun and stretching out our legs. From 10km south of Siem Reap we boarded the small vessel on the Tonle Sap River. The first hour was slow going as we snaked ... read more

Starting the trip, Laos was the country I knew the least about. Every other country on our itinerary I had some conceptions of what it would be like before I set foot in the country. Laos was the only place that was a blank slate in my mind. Of course we've only been here 7 days now, and we're crossing back to Thailand tomorrow, but mostly everything here has been really good. I'm in the capital at the moment, which is really unlike any capital I've been to. It is the largest city in the country and yet it is still so rural. The tallest building I've seen is probably our hotel, only 4 stories tall. It is right on the Mekong river and we can see into Thailand from the riverside. After the 26 hour ... read more