thats IT, thats ALL

I finally got a chance to sort through the thousands of pictures from our trip, and put together a little slide show of some of our favourites. Hope ya'll enjoy.

The Final Countdown

… And it begins. Today as we left Cambodia for Thailand I couldn’t help think of it as the first step of the journey home. We will be spending the rest of the day traveling to Bangkok. Tomorrow will be filled with somehow fitting all our acquired goods in our packs, followed up with the first of two nights to be slept in an airport, oh joy!



I always find it funny how the end of a journey always comes with some reflection. The thoughts of: if I knew what I know now what would I have done differently, the excitement of seeing friends and family back home, and the uneasiness of returning to the ways of home are just a few of the thoughts racing through my head these days. As we approach Bangkok for the last time, I can’t help but think back to the four of us being dropped off on Khao San Road just a few months ago and think of how fast the time and places have flown by. Traveling this region of the world has been a humbling experience to say the least and it will be sad to have this trip come to an end. Although I can’t help but be a little excited to see what the next adventure brings (let’s hope for lots of single track).





Cambodia is amazing and has been one of our highlights for sure. The country is beautiful, and the people are warm and friendly despite the atrocities committed against them in the not so distant past. Not all the history here is disparaging though. Our last stop in Cambodia has been Siem Reap which is home to
the world heritage site of Angkor Wat. Approx. 2000 years ago the angkorian kings erected hundreds magnificent temples through out the country. The most famous of these temples are Angkor Wat and Angkor Throm.





We spent our days pedaling our way around these ancient temples and ruins. The architecture was absolutely amazing. The fact that its still standing today is a testament to that. Not to mention the attention to detail of the km’s of engravings or the 1000’s of stone carvings. The days were hot, the steps were way steep, but it was worth it to experience Angkor’s magnificent historical footprint.





We choose to bike to and around the temples, but the most popular method of seeing the temples is by tuk tuk, little carriages towed by motor bikes, and they meant business! First off I have never seen so many tuk tuks, they are everywhere and the drivers although more pleasant than in some other places we have been are constantly trying to get you to take a ride with them. The tuk tuks did differ slightly though from the others we have seen. In order to differentiate themselves from each other, most of them have pimp’d there rides. We saw many superheroes themed rides, as well as Ferrari, caterpillar (the insect not the company), and a Che Guevara inspired paint jobs. Who wouldn’t want batman to swoop them home safely after a night of parting…



The night markets and street BBQs were also spectacular. I bought more chop sticks and scarves than you can shake a stick at, as well as countless other useful… souvenirs. As for the BBQ, the chicken and beef kabobs have me stoked to get grilling this summer. The chicken breast massacre wasn’t bad either. At one restaurant I ordered the chicken and got 5 breasts along with the veggies and rice (beached as after that one). The most unique though had to be the cobra. My friend Penny once told me that Q’d rattler had been highly recommended in Utah… although if I had had to skin it and clean it, I’m sure we wouldn’t have eaten our snake either… but that’s another story. For those wondering what the meat was like, it had a unique but chickenish flavor and was extremely chewy. Chewy isn’t a quality I would look for in meat, but it worked in this instance. Overall I’d say I liked the snake meat better than the crocodile stake we tried in Sihanoukville. But, if the opportunity ever arises I wouldn’t shy away from either.

Welcome to Cambodia

The last week has seen us on the move. After leaving Hoi An we visited Dailats’ bustling markets, were quizzed by locals in Saigon, learned of Cambodians brutal suffering under the Khmer Rouge in Phnom Penh, and are currently lazing on the beaches surrounding Sihanoukville.



After the relaxed atmosphere in Hoi An we were a little worried that Saigon (Ho Chi Minh city) would be as busy and overwhelming as Hanoi. A full time job of dodging scooters is only so enjoyable. Luckily Saigon, although busy, had a completely unique feel. We spent our few days there strolling around the markets trying on knock off North Face gear and getting our last fill of Vietnamese food. On our last afternoon we were sitting in a park when a large group of locals approached us and started asking questions. It turns out they were university students doing a tourism study for class and working on their English. After a good 2 hours of chatting I can saw we all learned a little something each others respective countries.



A nice and early 6 am bus was our transport across the Vietnam/Cambodia border. Although the border guards weren't concerned with the details of our visas, one Jenjamin Crook-Hanna made it through without incident. A few more hours on the bus and we arrived in Phnom Penh.

On of the first things we noticed about the city was how much more green space was incorporated into city layout than others in recent memory. Although a picturesque place, it is filled with a dark past. I won't go into great detail but basically between 1975 and 1979 the Khmer Rouge ruling party of Cambodia of the time performed radical ideological changes on it's citizens and killed anyone that opposed (suspected of opposing) the party.



We visited the infamous S-21 prison which housed/tortured many prisoners during it's 4 years of use. This museum was deeply affecting as the khmer rouge kept detailed records on all the prisoners that went through S-21. And a portrait of every prisoner who passed through these walls was on display in room after room. It was a heavy place and seeing the fear, contempt, and suffering in the eyes of those photos is something that will stay with me for a long time. Of the thousands of prisoner housed here none escaped, only one managed to commit suicide, and only 7 survived (who do you think took thousands of pictures).



We also visited the killing fields of cheug ek. It is located 15 km outside of town and is where the prisoners were taking from S-21 to be killed. The mass graves had been exhumed during the early nineties and on display along with information about the atrocities committed was a monument filled with all the skulls of the victims. It hit home especially hard to know that these belonged to victims in the photos at S-21. A sad reminder of what we as a species are truly capable of.



After moving about so much over the last week we headed south and have parked ourselves at the beaches around an area of Cambodia called Sihanoukville. It's crazy hot, with the warmest water yet. Most jelly fish I have ever seen though, and swims, more like quick dips, are rationed until we’re melting with sweat. It's nice to be living that beach life again before we head home. Our time is winding down fast.





Ps - I don't like to preach but with the election fast approaching please take the time to vote! If your not sure who to vote for this link may help.




...who wouldn't take up smoking after seeing this

To the good life in Hoi An

Before leaving Hanoi we took a day trip to see Halong Bay, a famous Vietnamese national park which is known for its thousands of islands and limestone cliffs jetting up out of the ocean . The weather wasn’t ideal but the rain held off and although I don’t think many of the sightseers agreed with me, if it wasn’t going to be blue bird i think fog capped mountain are a close second best… maybe I have spent too much time in the misty mountain of the left coast. It was a long day, 3 hour drive each way, but the sights and the fresh seafood lunch more than made up for it. We got to go through a few caves on the tour, some on land and others that we floated through in small boats. The cave we walked through was huge and much different than the one I ventured in back in Vang Vieng. Although both massive, this cave was lighted with all different colored lights which accented all the rock formations(stalactites stalagmites) on the walls and ceilings of the cave. You could also see where you were going and that made it significantly less scary!



With our limited time in Vietnam we decided that our best way to travel from north to south was to get an open tour bus ticket. These tickets allow you work your way from Hanoi to Ho Chi Min City with multiple stops along the way with as much time as you want at each stop. After many glowing recommendations from other travelers we decided our next stop would be Hoi An.



After a long over night bus ride we arrived in Hoi An and that is where we have hung our caps for the last few days. We had high expectations for the place from all the recommendations and it more than lived up to them. The old quarter of town is located along both sides of a river with restaurants, tailors, and markets lining its banks. Especially beautiful at night when all lit up with colored lamps and lanterns.



The main tourist attraction in town is the tailors. There are literally hundreds of shops everywhere that will whip you up tailored suits, shoes, shirts, or anything else cloth related that you can find a picture of and they will have it sewn up within 24 hours. Marilyn and I both have some ball’n new threads to show off when we get home in a few weeks. Although amazing it gets one thinking at the same time. At one of the shops we had some clothing made, we were talking to the girls who ran the store and they were saying that it is standard in Vietnam to work 13 hour days with two days off a month!? It really puts things into perspective of how fortunate we are to have the luxuries and freedoms that we are afforded by living where we do.



On a positive note, we happened across a wonderful restaurant called Streets. The restaurant itself is used as a training facility to teach culinary skills to street kids and the proceeds are used to fund the program. The organization has restaurants in a few locations throughout Vietnam and also a restaurant in New York city. The food was delicious and workers were friendly and helpful. Here is a link to their website if anyone is interested in finding out more about this great organization.



Streets wasn’t the only great food in town. Local specialties included a dish called “White Rose” which was a shrimp rice paper dumpling, and red snapper BBQ’d in a banana leaf. We have been seeing these “whole” grilled fish all trip but we only recently worked up the nerve to try it. We have been missing out but better late than never. After getting passed the sight of it, the fish tasted amazing!



On our first day in town we awoke to pouring rain. After making it to the canal to score some breakfast in a lull from the rain, it started up more than ever and we realized we would have to embrace the rain. We bought some ponchos and put our Island roots to use. What do you do when you have time to kill and there is stormy weather afoot. Yes, that’s right we went bar hopping. With the local fresh draught beer running about 30 cents a glass we had a great day of sipping and shopping while splashing our way around town in our fool proof rain attire.



Mother nature must have approved of our pub crawl because the last few days have been beautiful. Bikes were rented and the 4 km ride to the beach was leisurely sauntered. The beach was lovely, palm trees lined the white sand, and there wasn’t a rock to been seen. Although we have been spoiled with bath water temperature swims during the previous months and realizing it had to be better than the water Andrew went surfing in last week on the north shore, we didn’t waste any time and jumped in and played in the waves. What a treat to be back in the ocean again. Oh yeah and did I mentioned that there were waves. Not very powerful but they did have long boards for rent. I got in a little soul surfing and caught heaps of fun little wave on a 9 foot wave catching machine.



And what might you ask have solidified my love of Hoi An? While out for a bike ride one afternoon, I heard someone call out to us “would you like a trim?” Upon further inspection the shirtless man happened to be a Barbour and had noticed my lovely beard blowing in the breeze and figured I’d like to cool down. It didn’t take much for me to oblige although my response was “take it all off!” For those of you who don’t know, a few of use called every Barbour shop in town before prom trying to find straight razor shaves back in the day. Although glorious and a true bonding experience when you have a perfect stranger hold a razor blade over your face and neck., I don’t think I could work this into my weekly routine. I can assure you that our friend was a true professional and my face was as smooth as the day I was born.



After finishing my face he moved right on the my ears… it hadn’t been discussed as part of the deal but I figured the man knew what he was doing. He popped on his headlamp, grabbed his tools and went deep, and kept showing me any wax he pull out as if to impress me. If anything I was impressed at how little he pulled out… After the ears he went for the comb and we all laughed and decided it wouldn’t be in anyone’s interest for that to happen to my tangled locks.

Dodging Scooters in Hanoi!

Our last non traveling days in Lao were spent in the little town of Nong Khiaw. It was a great place to relax for a few days and we enjoyed some great local food and wonder around the town.



We knew that the Lao and Thai new year was on the 13th but didn't realize that celebrations started early when we rented bikes that fateful morning... water fights are the preferred mode of celebration and in no time we had been soaked from head to toe! Little children were waiting at ever turn with water guns and buckets and took pride in unleashing everything they had at any passages by, especially at tourists. We even supplied the enemy, cute little children, with some weapons and then got out of there before they could put them to use on us.



After putting in some serious time getting to the Vietnam boarder we crossed through with no troubles and didn't have to pay any bribe (everyone we asked about the over land boarders kept mentioning bribes). We spent 3 long days on buses, boats, tuk tuks, and our asses waiting for said transportation devices.



Along our journey we saw a lot of cute puppies, Porno wall tiles I'm a guest room bathroom (decided against that guest house for obvious reasons), and a river side truck/scooter washing party. We were eating lunch on a balcony ogled looking the boarder when we see a guy drive his truck straight into the river. Next thing you know he's stripped down to his undies and is using a bowl to splash water all over his vehicle. A while later our attention was perked up by the sounds of a scooter engine wearing at full blast from the same direction. Now his buddy had his scooter in the action and was spraying water everywhere where while the truck guy was floating downs stream while trying the get his spare tire clean. It was a sight to be seen and kept us entertained while we had lunch. Got to give to give the man credit for using the resources he had on hand though.



Our first stop in Vietnam has been the city of Hanoi and as Dan warned "the traffic is fucking insane" wasn't an under statement! Scooters, cars, and trucks fly by from all directions keeping pedestrians on there toes. The sidewalks are unusable because they are clogged with parked scooters. As there are no complete gaps in traffic the recommended method of crossing the road is to walk slowly across so that traffic can avoid hitting you. Which surprisingly they don't even while refusing to slow down.



There is no shortage of things to do in Hanoi and we have kept busy taking in the sights. Spent an evening walking around the lake taking in all the monuments. We also found a poster shop selling old communist propaganda posters from the war.



We took in a water puppet show at the theatre, which was developed centuries ago by northern Vietnamese rice farmers who would use flooded rice fields as their stages. Then we stumbled across the best ice cream shop. They have tons of sweet combos and flavones and even a sushi ice-cream platter.



We ran into ran into some friends we met from our cooking class and enjoyed some beers at these awesome street stands. The vendors have little stands on the side walks and tiny plastic chairs litter the surrounding sidewalk and street were you can site with a hundred others and drink 13 cent draft beers. Not hooo bad of a way to spend an evening trading travel stories.

Lao Lao circus!

After leaving Luang Prabang we went south the Vang Vieng, which is a major tourist destination in Laos for mostly the wrong reasons… although one of the most fun stops it’s definitely hard to see the benefits of tourism that exists only because our own countries would never allow it. The draw is tubing 4 km down the river in old tractor tubes, but its the booze, drugs, and music make it just one big crazy party. Picture the pool crawl but with unlimited exhibition rides minus the safety standards(someone supposedly died a few weeks ago on one of the slides). Locals were waiting at the starting bridge handing out shots, and with bars lining both sides of the river every 40 ft or so for the majority of the journey. It’s not hard to see how things can go wrong if you’re not careful. Every bar has rope swings, zip lines, slides, and all sorts of other fun ways off cooling off while waiting for your next drink. Can’t say we have any pictures or videos as I figured getting drunk and tubing all day would be the end of my camera, but I can assure you that the rope swings were intense and I don’t think I have ever bruised my ass before from so many elevated water landings.



Although the town was a zoo, its location was picturesque with the sun setting everyday behind the lime stone cliffs lining the far side of the river. After our day of tubing we decided to rent bicycles to explore the surrounding country side. Only a few minutes from the town you were immersed back into a rural Lao country side with beautiful scenery and plenty of caves and swimming holes to explore.





Marilyn and I attempted to venture into a cave but “the fear” got the better of us and we only made it a few meters into the darkness. Although I did go into a missive cave with some other friends we had met the day before tubing and it was scary but fun. We ended up going for about 20 minutes into an enormous caver before deciding to turn back, couldn’t even venture a guess as to how far back it went.





Another day we hiked up one of the surrounding mountains and were treated with spectacular views of the surrounding country side and surrounding mountains. They didn’t mess around when they cut the trail up the mountain, it went straight up the side and was definitely a good work out, especially in the heat. “the guide book says it takes 30 minutes to the summit, well we’ll take 5 minutes off that…” that quote came to mind after talking to another tourist who had climbed the route, bonus points for anyone who can name what movie that is from.



We are heading north now making our way to the boarder to enter Vietnam. We arrived in Nong Khiaw today and are staying in a little bungalow over looking the river. A change of pace from Vang Vieng to say the least.



We see these things every where and I get such a kick out of them, just trotting along on my mechanical horse…



I guess we’ll never know what the Lao have against the French horn.

Loving Lao!

We spent two days floating down the Mekong river from the Lao/Thai boarder town of Huay Xai To Luang Prabang. Northern Laos has proven to be absolutely beautiful, as has the town of Luang Prabang. Although a long few days, the boat ride was great. As we had read, if you prepare for 2 long slow days of sitting, watching, and reading you’ll be fine. The weather was nice but much cooler in the north. Pants and sweaters were needed in order to stay warm.



During the boat ride, we met a family from Montreal who have been on the road for 7 months. A mother and father with there 3 children aged 5 -10. There plan is to spend a year traveling around the world. So far they have spend time in Africa, India, and the Middle East. At one point during the trip workers from the boat were boiling water on an open stove a few feet of the children (not to mention the rest of us)… but me and the mother got talking about safety standards and how much of a cultural thing it is. The mother was saying that while they were in India with a particularly aggressive driver, she was trying to get the kids to put there seat belts on. The kids all responded “but mommy, were in India, no one wears seatbelts here!” We were both laughing about how interesting her parenting job will when they back to Canada in few months.



The biggest challenge in Laos so far has been figuring out the currency (kip) as they will generally accept kip, baht, and dollars. Converting between 3 very different money systems is hard on the head to say the least ( $1 ~ 30 BT ~ 8000 kip). Although, it is pretty sweet taking a million dollars out at the ATM.



The top three reasons why Luang Prabang wins are as follows: all the cats we have seen so far still have full tails, they drive on the “right” side of the road, and there is no road side hassling from the street venders! The town is also filled with tons of cool little restaurants, bars, and cafes. We rented bikes and toured around the city. Now that we’re down from the mountains, the days have been scorchers and we found a flyer for a pool/bar in the basket of one of our bikes so that’s where we headed.



The pool was great, with ice cold water and plenty of decks for lounging. Plus they had hammocks and you may or may not know that I have a great affection for hammocks. Not mention the sweet murals and home water slide! The water slide was formed with concrete then lined with tiles to be slippery… it wasn’t that slippery but they get points for ingenuity. All in all a great afternoon of pool side lounging!



The next afternoons bike adventure led us to sketchy market where the piles upon piles of raw meat, flies, and the stench of death left us wanting more… so we hopped back on the bikes and pedaled until we found a bamboo bridge and a swimming hole. Being another hot afternoon we ventured over and took a dip. While across the river we noticed a sign for a bar and decided to grab a drink. And what an interesting drink that turned out to be.



First we followed the path through the neatest garden tunnel, which led to the bar. The place itself was built into a hill and started at the top and stretched out into the tree canopy. It was nice and peaceful and we enjoyed some beers, jenga, battle ships, and Lao fondue. You may assume Lao fondue would be similar to fondue at home as we did and be completely wrong as we were.



The waiter first brought a plate of thinly shaved chicken, basket full of fresh veggies, and a kettle. That’s when we knew we were in for something different. After a few puzzled glances exchanged between Marilyn and I he reappeared with a bucket of coals, a strange looking grill, and some helpful pointers on what we should do. The grill was raised in the center and had a trough all around the bottom (see picture below). First we poured broth around the trough, as it turned out we were making soup! Then we put some pork far at the top of the grill melt so the chicken wouldn’t stick as we cooked it on the grill. Once all the chicken was cooked we started to add the vegetables, garlic, chilies, and eggs. Let that fester for few minutes and then enjoyed a most flavorful and delicious soup!



Our evenings in this idyllic little town have been spent bar hoping along the river side restaurants and browsing around the night market. This market unlike the one mentioned above is filled with beautiful woven clothing, teas, and all sorts of crafty odds and ends. Our bags are once again becoming heavier…



Lastly, we ventured to one of the local attractions today, the Kuang Si water fall which lies about 30 km away from the town. We split a tuk tuk with some other friendly tourist and spent the afternoon enjoying the views and playing in the pools.