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From India we went to Dubai. There is a lot of buzz about Dubai these days. I've seen TV shows about Dubai that range from 60 minutes to Modern Marvels on the Discovery channel. I was interested to see it. The first thing that struck me about Dubai is what an insane place it is. Like Las Vegas, Dubai has built itself smack dab in the desert with no regard whatsoever for the environment. It is a place with more money than brains. They are building everything you can think of in Dubai, and then some. Everywhere you look there are construction cranes. They have golf courses, fountains everywhere, man made islands in the shape of a palm tree (the national symbol) and even their own ski slope. It is just over the top. They even ... read more

So with the jet a few pounds lighter (due to my 10 lb weight loss), we flew into Cambodia to see Angkor Wat. I still didn't feel great but was MUCH better than I had been the last few days. Wat is just another word for temple and there are many, many wats all over southeast asia. When I was here just a few months ago I got tired of seeing them as they are all pretty much the same. Like churches in the US. This one however, was pretty impressive. It felt good to be back home, so to speak. My two months of travel through the area had left me with a deep fondness for the people, the food and the overall culture here. I was happy to see the dingy little shops on ... read more

So from Machu Pichu the trip continued to Easter Island, actually a part of Chile. Nobody wanted this island for quite a while until Chile finally said they would take it in an effort to shore up their naval capacity. The statues had been known for quite a while when a Dutch explorer discovered the island and its 100 or so, starving, weary, survivors. The collapse of the society of Easter Island is quite a story. The short version is that around 1000 AD or so, people of Polynesian descent landed on the island (they were apparently extraordinary sailors) and found an island with fertile soil and thick forests. They soon set up shop and some 400 to 500 years after landing on the island, had built up a population of 25,000 or so. These Easter ... read more

Hola! Sorry for the delay in the update. Life in Buenos Aires seems to move a bit quicker and I have no idea where the time has gone. I arrived here 2 days after X-mas with the intent to learn spanish a bit better. I also had a real craving to see Buenos Aires as I had heard so many good things about the city from fellow travelers. There were a few things that struck me when I first arrived in Buenos Aires (BA). I couldn't help but notice how different this place was compared to where I had just been. The people here may very well be the exact opposite of people in Southeast Asia. After all, they are halfway around the world from each other AND on different sides of the equator. All it ... read more

From Chiang Khong in Thailand I got a boat to Laos down the Mekong River. This was a really good way to see the country side and the Mekong river valley, as well as make some new friends. The trip was to be 2 days on a boat not designed for comfort. I was going to say that the benches that you sit on were like church pews but that would be an insult to church pews. They did tell us to get pillows (which they were selling) before we got on the boat, as 2 days on a bench is not for the faint of heart or the skinny behind. I should start from the beginning here. I had bought a ticket from a travel agency in Chiang Khong that included a ferry to the ... read more