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Hanoi is a city of motor cycles. At every turn they are there, you can’t escape it. The fact that we would be home in a week started to sink in and we spent our time wandering the streets, not really seeing, feeling numb thinking that a whole year has gone by. Did I really do all these things? What will it be like to go home again? Have I changed? Am I now this great mature and worldly person I thought I would become after a year in the wildness of the world? Yikes that motorcycle almost ran me over! To take our mind off our approaching departure we took a trip out to Halong Bay for a 3 day cruise through the Fiords. We hopped aboard a Vietnese ‘Junk’ as they call their boats ... read more

This is where all the young travelers come to get their ‘captain-messy-pants’ on. Interestingly, as we drove into town we noticed everyone seemed to have some sort of injury or other; numerous girls with exhaust burns on their legs, several people with their feet bandaged up, one guys in crutches and even a girl with an eye patch. What is with this town? When we arrived dark clouds gathered above us and left me with an ominous feeling. Moments later, Dana realized he left his backpack with all our valuables in the back of our tuk-tuk (camera, computer, our photos backups, passports, money, etc). He noticed right away and sprinted after it, leaving his flip flops behind. Fortunately, he caught up to the driver just as he was taking the ‘prize’ out to show his buddies. ... read more

This is definitely one of the highlights of our trip. 3 days of living in trees and zip-lining through the jungle? Does it get any better? It all begins with a trek up into the limestone mountains in Northern Laos. Once we reached a sufficient height we threw on our harnesses and zipped from tree canopy to tree canopy, whizzing through the trees only to suddenly emerge and fly across deep valleys, viewing the world from the eyes of a condor. These views were breath-taking. Most of the lines, start in the dense jungle, so you can’t see where you are zipping to, so when you suddenly emerge and see that you’re about to zip over a valley to the next peak, it steals your breath away. There are seven tree houses in total, and many ... read more

Phenom Penh. Cambodia’s capital. We came here in order to learn more about the genocide that took place in Cambodia in the 1970s. An estimated 2 million people were massacred. The then communist leader, Pol Pot wanted a country where everyone was equal, which he aimed to achieve by murdering all the ‘intellectuals’ which included scientists, doctors, lawyers, foreigners, etc, and after awhile anyone wearing glasses was not safe. Everyone else was shipped out to the country side to work in the fields leaving the capital completely deserted. Conditions were harsh and many died. Pol Pot was paranoid of a rebellion and anyone who disobeyed him was tortured and then murdered. People were encouraged to spy on their neighbours and no one was allowed any enjoyment in their day to day life. In the end the ... read more

Beach Getaway - We went out to a nearby island, Koh Rung, which was mostly uninhabited except for a small village. We stayed in a little cabana and spent our days in the hammock, swimming and reading. A great place to recover and revive ourselves after several days on the bus and our adventures in the Village.... read more