Thailand

We are in Thailand now on a small island called Koh Phayam. We shot down south from Bangkok last week to the island of Ko Chang. From there we lucked out and jumped on a live-aboard dive charter to the Similan Islands. The dive trip lasted 5 days and during which time we were lucky enough to dive 16 times!! For those of you with dive certifications - definitely consider doing this trip. It was one of the best things that either of us have ever done, hands down. The sea life was unreal and we cruised in some of the most beautiful islands. At night we were able to sleep under the stars and we even did a night dive.
There is tons more to describe about the amazing dive trip, but the internet on this island is super expensive and slow.....
We will be here in Ko Phayam until the 24th and then back to Bangkok. Our bunglaw on the beach is another place that some of you would really enjoy. Every evening is a "family dinner" with dishes of tasty local thai treats. Following dinner is a night of live music and singing..... perfect!
Ok, we'll see everyone very soon i'm sure. We'll write briefly from Bangkok with flight details, etc for those interested.

~ Also - we have a bunch of underwater pics from the trip. We will post a few when we get to Bangkok so be sure to check back on the 24/25th.

Heather & Zay

Laos

We have been in Laos for the past week. After flying in to Luang Prabang, we had a few days there to look around. It is a really nice city on the Mekong River with a great climate at this time of year. As usual we explored on foot and spent a good deal of time sipping fruit shakes in the riverside restaurants.

From Luang Prabang we bused to Vang Vieng, a smaller town on the Nam Sung River surrounded by limestone hills and caves. It has become a travel destination centred on adventure activities. Some of our highlights included: renting a motorbike and touring around the back roads and rice paddies and tubing 5 km down the river. The tubing is madness as the river is lined with bamboo hut bars and the 2 hour journey takes much longer than one would think. The bars have trapeze-style rope swings and ziplines, which is not a good mix for intoxicated travellers.... pretty scary.

Another highlight of our time in Vang Vieng was a day long kayak and caving trip. It was just the two of us with a guide and we kayaked 15 kilometers down the river and visited two caves. The caves were very impressive and small entrance holes lead to caves that stretch for kilometers. We were able to learn alot about Laos from our guide and in turn taught him some new English words.

Now we are in the capital of Laos called Vientiane. We arrived yesterday and have not yet discovered any real charm to the city. We were lucky to find a place to sleep last night as all of the rooms filled up quickly. We have a night-bus lined up for later today that will take us across the Thai border and down to Bangkok. From there we plan to hit the beach and stay there for the remainder of our time away. The daily moving around is taking its course and we are both ready for a real vacation now :)

For those of you who have been to Laos we are sorry to say that it is no longer the place that it was a few years ago. From backpacker stories, five years ago Laos was considered "off the beaten path" and was quiet adventurous. There are probably many destinations within this country that are still remote and less travelled, but our experience was not exactly what we were expecting. The hordes of travellers has resulted in a boom of tourist infrastructure and none of it seems to be dialed-in yet. The tourist buses and tour packages are mainly commission driven and are consistantly hours late. The guesthouses have blown up all over the place and so have their prices.... This is not meant to discourage anyone from touring this country, but just be aware that things have definitely changed.

We talk to you all in few days from down south.

Heather & Zay

Angkor and Cambodia

After leaving Hoi An, we spent some time in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). We had heard rumours of the scooter traffic and the perils of crossing streets, and it definitely lived up to what we expected. Taking the first step into the hundreds of oncoming motos was always the "step of faith'' but everything after that was fine. We'd grab hands, each take a direction to look and then slowly shuffle across the lanes of traffic while they manuvered around us. The drivers are like a flock of birds and they seem to all read each other very well. We did witness one scooter collision in Hue and a few knock-overs, but it is not a lot of damage considering the scene!

In Ho Chi Minh city we spent some time at the War Museum, which opened our eyes to various accounts of the war history. We both found it very heart wrenching and educational.... some amazing pictures! From Ho Chi Minh we headed in to Cambodia by bus. We spent a short time in Phnom Penh before leaving for Siem Reap. After the War Museum in Vietnam, we decided to pass on some of Cambodia's tragic sites. They have had a crazy history with the Khmer Rouge and just learning about it and seeing how happy the people are in the aftermath is inspiring...

Our last few days have been spent exploring the temples of Angkor. The expanse of Angkor is much larger than we both expected; it goes on for kilometers with temples all around the city.

We hired a tuk tuk driver who drove us to a good portion of the temples (about 25) which barely scratched the surface. It would be easy to spend weeks appreciating the ancient architecture and art. The temples are a split between Buddhism and Hinduim depending on the dominant religion during their construction. The intricacy of the carvings blew us away time after time. We've got PLENTY of pics for those who are interested :)

Today we fly to Luang Prabang in Lao. You may have noticed the change in our travel style from dirt cheap buses (generally slow) buses in South America to one hour flights here in SEA. We have realized that with our limited time frame it is the only way to see all that we are hoping to see. To get an idea:

Siem Reap > Luang Prabang by bus and boat = 4 days

Seim Reap > Luang Prabang by air = 1.5 hours

We've heard great things about Lao and we are both super excited to get there. We'll update in a few days.

Heather & Zay