Walk through the streets of Luang Prabang and you will hear "tuk-tuk waterfall" about 100 times before reaching your destination. Well, we wanted to see the waterfall, but not by tuk-tuk. So, we rented some bikes (some poorly made Chinese beach cruisers with no gears) and set off for a 35km Tour-de-France loop up into the mountains towards Kuang Si waterfall. Our book described the ride as "gently undulating through rice paddies." Well, it was more like "straight uphill through limestone peaks" with a few downhills that seriously tested our poor bikes braking capacities. The ride was beautiful, though more than challenging in the 90 degree heat (that Megan even made it to the end was a miracle). The waterfall was well worth the trip, with a series of smaller falls with great swimming pools, and ... read more

We finished up Bangkok with a visit to some of the "must sees": Chatuchak weekend market (which had everything and everything you could ever imagine), the Wat of the Emerald Buddha and the Grand Palace, Pat Pong road, and some river cruising. Sunday night we left on our first overnight train ride (14 hours) to the north of Thailand, Chiang Mai. We got two beds in a sleeper car, and a very bumpy noisy night's sleep. The views were incredible and our neighbor was a Preston Burke, from Grey's Anatomy, look alike. Chiang Mai is a much quainter town than Bangkok, though still decent sized and very much on the tourist trail. The old part of the city is surrounded by a moat and we have a chill guesthouse down a narrow soi (lane). Everything is ... read more

Hi Everyone! We thought we'd post an entry before we leave to make sure everyone can find it and can follow us along on our journey! We leave in just under a week to spend three to six months travelling through SE Asia. We have no set plans, except that we are flying into Bangkok, Thailand. We hope to see Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Phillipines (and maybe more if we have time and money!). We'll try to post a blog every week or two with pictures so we can keep in touch with everyone and let you know where we are. We'll miss everyone! Love, Matt and Megan... read more