http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/the_Georges/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from the_Georges en-us Sat, 26 Dec 2009 12:04:52 +0000 Sat, 26 Dec 2009 12:04:52 +0000 Another day waking up at the crack of dawnhellipwhich suits us just fine since we canrsquot seem to shake this jetlag anyway. Itrsquos asleep by 9 PM and up by 6 AM for us virtually every morning so far. Wersquod say wersquore turning into our parents but they are actually waking up later than us on this tripWe scarfed down breakfast just in time to meet our arranged transport to H http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Halong-Bay/blog-221434.html We started the day off with another delectable and offensively large buffet at the Metropole. David was thrilled that they had dim sum herehellipand ate about 50 plates of it before we all headed out to explore the great city of Hanoi armed only with a map and a sense of adventure.We walked around Hoan Kiem Lake basically the lifeblood of the cityhellipthink Central Park in Hanoihelli http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-220922.html Our longinthemaking plans to finally see elephants came true today. We woke up at an ungodly hour on our last day here in Luang Prabang to meet the driver who would be bringing us out to the Elephant Rescue Center. It was about a 40minute ldquoholdontoyourvomitbagrdquo drive outside the city.This rescue camp cares for 6 adult females ranging in age from 24 to 37. The elephants all s http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-220909.html We awoke on our third day in Laos to embark on our journey with Ta our guide who came highly recommended from one of Billyrsquos fellow Fodorites the Fodorrsquos message board users that are nearly as obsessed with traveling Southeast Asia as he.Ta picked us up at around 830 at our hotel and we got about 10 minutes through town before we had to check to see if our laundry was ready. It w http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-220877.html Note this blog entry covers both yesterday and today.Glad to reports that we're happy and healthy and enjoying the hell out of ourselves. We really love this part of the world and come to think of it we may never leave. That said we've spent the past two days exploring the wonders of Luang Prabang. The first day was truly a lazy day spent further exploring the nooks and crannies of this sle http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-220084.html Good Morning Bangkok We woke up after a glorious nightrsquos rest in probably the most comfortable bed known to mankind and prepped for our departure back to Suvarnabhumi Bangkok Airport to meet Davidrsquos folks. Theyrsquove been making the rounds in Southeast Asia Bangkok Chiang Mai and Siem Reap for the last 2 weeks and wersquore finally meeting up with them to begin our amazin http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-219194.html It's so nice to finally be back in the City of Angels and I mean the REAL City of Angels not the hellhole we call home...not much has changed here in Bangkok. Thank God for thatLet's back up for a sec we had a hell of a flight from Taipei to Bangkokwhich was relatively uneventful until about an hour in when the plane decided to take a good couple hundred foot plunge out of nowhere. We ki http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-218909.html Well we made it 34 of the way to Bangkok And honestly we're not much worse off for the wear.This trip seemed a heck of a lot easier and shorter than last years. Guess we can just chalk it up to being old pros now... Flight was relatively uneventful and even despite Billy's lastminute attempts to get us upgradedwe were denied The lady behind the counter had to keep 'checking' in a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Taipei/CKS-International-Airport/blog-218585.html Let your love flow outward through the universeTo its height its depth its broad extentA limitless love without hatred or enmity.Then as you stand or walkSit or lie downAs long as you are awakeStrive for this with a onepointed mindYour life will bring heaven to earth.Sutta NipataSo it's been a whole year since we've not only left word with you all on our old dear travel blog here but http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/blog-217857.html Wow. A giant greatbig awefilled WOW What a day wersquove had. We can only post a few of our pictures from today as our time is limited but wanted to fill you all in on.We woke just after dawn in our dreamy bungalow on the sea and headed out for an ENORMOUS breakfast. Wersquore talking eggs pancakes rice noodles all the mango you can eat pastries cereal. Now as you know we sh http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Phi-Phi/blog-105502.html Up again predawn this is getting to be habit We headed out to Chiang Mai Airport at about 530 AM AGAIN with the 530 wakeups to catch our flight to Bangkok and then on to Phuket pronounced lsquoPooKetrsquo not another way like some of you cheeky monkeys may think to catch our boat to Phi Phi Island prounounced lsquoPee Peersquo and yes now you CAN get your minds out of the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Phi-Phi/blog-105501.html Itrsquos hard to sleep here The sun rose early and the brilliant sunshine coursed throughout the resort bathing it in beautiful morning light.We headed down to breakfast and chatted briefly with a newlyarrived couple from Atlanta the woman was nonetoofriendly before Scott and Anup joined us to say goodbye and we headed off with Poon to the city.On the way in Poon brought us to see the H http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Chiang-Mai/blog-105496.html Since we spent all day yesterday relaxing which David could barely handle given his propensity for wanting to go go go today was the day to push ourselves again and explore as much as possible of Chiang Mai given how little time wersquore here. We had decided with Poon our driver that we would start the morning in the Hang Dong shopping district searching for furniture finds then head http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Chiang-Mai/blog-104918.html How it is possible that Billy had his best nightrsquos sleep yet on a cramped train compartment is beyond both of us. We both woke up today at 7 AM thanks to the good graces of our two best friends Lunesta and Ambien with the early morning light seeping through the window of our humble little train carriage. Somehow overnight we had lost the 2nd class sleeper car behind us so our view fr http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Chiang-Mai/blog-104537.html So sad to leave the beautiful country of Cambodia and its truly wonderful peoplehellipWe woke up very early this morning and headed to Siem Reap airport to catch our flight back to Bangkok and eventually on to Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand.We found ourselves back at the airport in Bangkok without a solid plan so we decided with the few hours we had to kill to treat ourselves after 3 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-104535.html First of all we wanted to thank everyone for following us on this great adventure and for leaving so many touching and funny comments for us. As internet connectivity is spotty at best and we have such precious little time itrsquos pretty difficult to get back to each and every one of you. So to all of our friends and family we just wanted to thank you for keeping in touch with us via http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Siem-Reap/blog-104533.html No matter what wersquod been told NOTHING could prepare us for our adventure today The temples of the ancient Khmer kingdom which were built sometime in the late 12th century by King Jayavarman VII are absolute marvels. We spent a completely exhausting day today just scratching the surface of the hundreds of temples here. Apparently Jayavarman was a busy dudehellipbuilding temple upon t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Siem-Reap/blog-103815.html Up at the buttcrack of dawn again and off to Suvarnabhumi pronounced ldquoSoowannapoomrdquo Airport in Bangkok to catch our flight to Siem Reap pronounced ldquoSeeem Reeipprdquo home of Angkor Wathellipor to those of you from our hometownhellipwhere they shot Tomb Raider gagmdashI canrsquot believe I just wrote that. Must say that Suvarnabhumi is quite a sitehellipi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Siem-Reap/blog-103813.html Still unsure if we are in LA New York or Bangkok and keep waking up every hour on the hour from 230 to 630 AM. Knowing we had to make it to the Grand Palace early to avoid the tourist crowds we ate a quick breakfast at OBI then sauntered out into the blisteringly oppressive heat and walked the 25 minutes or so to the Grand Palace. Wersquore talking hot folkshelliplike stuck inside a card http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-103101.html Our flight from Taipei to Bangkok was excellent. We flew on the most modern plane either of us had been on. Yes even more Indian food for David Each seat had its own interactive TV movie radio and gaming station and we each got our fill of American culture not to mention some funky Asian game shows. To get from Taipei to Bangkok we flew over Vietnam southern Laos and then across Tha http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-102981.html