Early this afternoon we arrived in Siem Reap from Kompong Cham ( a smaller sized town in central Cambodia where we spent the night after crossing the border from Laos). We had a relaxing stay in the 4000 Islands. One of the days Adam and I rented some bicycles to explore the Island. I think we lasted about an hour and half before we called it quits because we had actually sweat all the water in our bodies and were beginning to sweat visible salt grains. Our average bedtime in the 4000 islands was 9 pm because we got up at 6:30/7 everyday with the locals to enjoy the cooler part of the day. Adam tried some culinary delights in the 4000 Islands, including Amok (fish meatloaf cooked with coconut milk inside a banana leaf) and ... read more

Just a quick post before we head off to the 4000 Islands in Southern Laos tomorrow. We arrived in Pakse early this morning after our 10 hour night bus ride. Adam and I were on a quadruple top bunk with 2 other girls from Quebec (basically Adam on a king size bed with three ladies). He didn't seem to mind, but I think the Quebec girls were largely unimpressed. They blared Laos music videos on the tv until 10 pm and started up again at about 6 am. I don't think there is a more annoying sound than Laos music videos. We spent some of the day catching up on some sleep we missed out on during our bus ride. In the afternoon we visited a waterfall just outside of the city. At the waterfall, Adam ... read more

Today we took a mini bus to Vang Vieng, a small town in the middle of Laos that has been completely developed around backpackers. At all the restaurants there are TVs set up that are either playing Friends, Family Guy, or the Simpsons. After being away from North American from popculture for so long this is almost like a re-culture shock to our own culture. Because this is more of a touristy town, the internet is ridiculously expensive to use. There are three things I made a note to write about over the last day, so here they are: 1. Yesterday after we returned our bicycles in Luang Prabang we headed back to the hostel to relax. Adam wanted to have a nap, and similar to when I was a child, I layed there for a ... read more

Here it goes... the abridged version of the last 72 hours: Last time I wrote we had arrived at our hostel in Chiang Mai and were excited for our big boat trip to Laos. As Adam kindly reminded me at dinner tonight, a week from now, we will look back on this experience entirely differently. Having said that, I thought I would post my raw "evening after feelings" here on the blog. A two day boat trip to Laos is code for two days in hell. Don't get me wrong, there were some definite positives to the whole experience: met a lovely Irish girl and an English couple who we stuck out the trip with, got ahead on my new book, saw some of the most amazing scenery I have ever seen, and developed some serious ... read more

Greetings from Asia! I arrived in Bangkok last night after 17 hours of travelling. I can't complain however because Emirates is definitely the way to travel. The onboard service was so good I barely slept. They handout menus for everyone with the choice of appetizers, meals, and desserts, as well as hot towelets for your face on numberous occassions. A huge step up from Air Canada/West Jet. They have also totally mastered creating an amazing user experience with regards to the personal "entertainment system" they call ICE (information, communication, and entertainment). If you click on the information section, you can learn all about the aircraft, where exactly you are on the flight path, and even see a live camera feed from the front of the plane. Clicking on communication allows you to send emails, text messages, ... read more