We've arrived in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand after a short one hour flight north from Bangkok. While we haven't explored yet, it's clear that this is a far smaller and slower place than Bangkok and I can already feel my pulse falling. I think I'm going to like this town. Our hotel is described as a boutique hotel. That word, boutique, has become so commonplace that I'm not sure what it means anymore but I know that I like this place a lot more than the modern tower that was our hotel in Bangkok. This place, the Ping Nakara, is fairly new but built in an old colonial style. Three floors and just 19 rooms. Dinner tonight was in a tiny restaurant by the pool. Nice food, washed down by a couple of local Chang ... read more

Today is a national holiday in Thailand to celebrate the Queen's birthday and Mother's Day broadly as she is considered mother of the country. There are banners, portraits and flowers everywhere. And, conveniently, people dont go to work so the infamous traffic isn't too bad. We took the sky train and river ferry to the Wat Pho temple, famous for its giant golden reclining Budha. While we've seen a few temples already during the trip, this one really does rate highly on the fancy-meter. The colors (or colours for the Brits) are spectacular and the buildings are very ornate. Their reclining Budha might appear to be a lazy bloke having a rest, but no! In fact this symbolizes the ultimate state of nirvana only achieved immediately before death. Live and learn, eh?! The weather today was ... read more

We leave here today, Saturday, for Bangkok where we hope to meet up with our old friend Simon D. We have some time this morning to wander more, but I thought I'd add a couple more thoughts before we head to the airport. First, I haven't mentioned value. This place is very cheap for us westerners. Our hotel (The Hanoi Moment 2, which is great) is about $40/night for a big two room suite. Good meals cost $5-$10/person, and a beer is a buck! Ben bought a Barcelona soccer shirt last night in the night market for $6. I suspect that the Nike logos may not be entirely legit, but it's a nice shirt all the same. Entry fee to most tourist sites is $1-2/person. OK, so this isn't a luxurious place by any stretch of ... read more

Our visit has coincided perfectly with the arrival of the tropical storm. We tried not to let the weather spoil our fun but the constant rain was tough to ignore and as a result we haven't done so much today. Our hotel is tiny but the room is very nice and the staff are extremely friendly and helpful. We're in the old quarter which means the roads are narrow and dodging the motorbikes is challenging. The facts that there are literally millions of motorbikes, nobody follows any obvious rules of the road and the sidewalk/pavements are moped parks makes walking with kids a little nerve wracking! We visited the Hoa Lo prison where John McCain, among many others, was held. A very grim place used as a prison long before the US-Vietnam war. The French influence ... read more

After a ton of walking yesterday we tried to take it easier today. Weather here has been very hot and humid, and forecasts this morning threatened thunder storms but we got lucky and stayed dry. (Music quiz....name the band behind recent hit, Get Lucky, and tell me their nationality. No googling!) First stop this morning was the Lama Budhist Temple. This visit was a definite hit with all of us. Amazing architecture and statues, lots of happy budhists, and far smaller crowds than we saw yesterday. The worlds largest Budha carved from a single tree stood there at 86 feet. Sand is thinking about converting to Budhism. From there we went to the Drum and Bell Towers. Used to broadcast the time using, surprisingly enough, drums and bells. The steep stairs up the Drum Tower were ... read more