Once done hiking Horton's Plains and touring the tea estates around the beautiful valley town of Nurawa Elija, Adam's Peak was still on the to-do list, so we boarded that train again a couple of days later for the tiny town of Dalhousie, the starting point of the trek. We arrived at the White House, our pre-selected guest house, where the vibe was so chill we felt immediately that we had stepped into a time warp and were back in the sixties again, camping out at a music festival somewhere, complete with a complimentary group of local musicians playing djembe drums and singing for hours while young western girls did yoga and danced in the garden. The only thing missing was the long hair and tye dyes. The rooms were rustic indeed, setting the record for ... read more

After a week of walking beautiful beaches and trading our prairie winter anemic look in for a healthy bronze glow, we felt rested and ready to move on to another theme in this country: discovering its abundant wildlife. So we said goodbye to the lovely Sri Lankan family who ran our guest house, all of whom came out to see us off, and made our way to the town of Tissaharamaya and Yala National Park, Sri Lanka's largest wildlife sanctuary. Once we were set up at our guest house in Tissa we hired a tuk tuk driver to tour the town and its areas of interest. He drove us by a two thousand year old Buddhist stuppa; around Tissa's four lovely lily pad decorated lakes; stopped to check out a huge gathering of large bats hanging ... read more

After being in transit for twenty seven hours, it was a nice surprise to find that the hotel we had booked, while being in the heart of old Bangkok with its very lively night scene, also provided quiet refuge so that we could spend the first few days of our trip recouping from jet lag and getting used to the warm, humid, plus 27 degree temperature - a welcome change, after our Sask / Arctic send off. The first thing we did when we got to our hotel room was had a beer on our deck and enjoyed listening to the live music from the street below, before closing the door to indulge in a long inviting rest in a real bed. Highly appreciated after being condensed in airplane seats, trying vainly to sleep, for so ... read more

After reviewing our last report upon leaving Asia, I realized we made a huge oversight in the information we presented on Cambodia. lt is said that the Kmer Rouge culture of Cambodia exhibits both the highs and lows of humanity. ln our last report we spoke of our trips to the Killing Fields and Toll Sloth, the High School-Turned-Torture-Chamber for five years in Phom Pehn, the capital city, during the Kmer Rouge reign of terror during the 70s. That was definely a glimpse into humanity at its worst. However,it is very misleading not to mention the temples of Angkor Wat when discussing the Cambodian / Kmer Rouge culture, because in visiting these temples one is given equally concrete evidence of humanity at its highest.I had no idea the ancient Kmer Rouge civilization was so advanced in ... read more

We have been having an absolutely wonderful time. Thailand is certainly beautiful - the beaches in the south are second to none, and the north where we are now, although completely different, has its own charm. We spent four hours this morning on a winding road heading to this funky little village high in the mountains. Scooters abound here, and Stan is out at this moment practising with his new wheels. We shall be here for a couple of days before heading back to Chiang Mai and then off to Laos by boat on Tuesday. Everything so far has been excellent - Singapore was squeaky clean and very expensive, great place to visit, wonderful people, very high standard of living - however, just a lttle too perfect - makes you wonder. . . and the most ... read more