Refractory Road

We spent several days in Battambang. It is a pleasant city, that is small enough to be called a town, yet big enough to have a wide selection of accommodations and places to eat. It is an easy town to get into and through, and the people are nice – as has been the case throughout our travels in Cambodia. […]

There is a vineyard near Battambang, the Prasat Banan Winery. It is located south of Battambang, around kilometer marker 10 on Route 155, which is the road that travels along the west bank of the Stung Sangker River. We had a sampler of four of their products: a rose wine, a brandy, a non-alcoholic grape juice, and a non-alcoholic ginger […]

Crossing Into Cambodia We entered Cambodia by land at the Trapaeng Kriel border crossing with Laos. It was a fairly painless, although lengthy, process. From our hotel on the island of Don Khon in Laos, we purchased bus tickets through to Kratie, Cambodia. From all the signs we saw, it looks like through tickets can be purchased just about everywhere […]

Getting from Champasak to Don Khon involved a van ride to catch a boat at Champasak, a boat ride across the Mekong to catch a bus at Ban Muang, a two-hour bus ride south to catch a boat at Ban Nakasang, and from there a boat ride to Don Det and Don Khon. During all this, it was evident that […]

Border Crossing Crossing the Thai-Laos border, from Ubon Ratchathani to Pakse, was a simple affair. The same bus took us the entire distance, letting us off at Chang Mek to depart Thailand at the Thai immigration office, and waiting on the Laos side while we walked to the Laotian immigration office and got our new visas. From there, we were […]

We had become fatigued with Laos, so we planned to take a break by transiting from Vientiane through northeastern Thailand, before reentering Laos to the south. This would give us the break, give us access to better transportation to southern Laos, and give us the opportunity to see some of Isan, Thailand. The plan involved a quick transit through Isan […]

Journey to Vang Vieng Getting to Vang Vieng from Phonsavan proved to be more of a novel than the intended short story; although it started with the promise of being our best minibus ride ever. At 8:30am, our minibus started rolling out of Phonsavan. It was a clean, new twelve-passenger van; with comfortable seats and a driver that actually drove […]

Vieng Thong Getting to Vieng Thong was a pain in the ass – literally. It took a taxi to the bus station, a one-and-a-half hour wait at the bus station, four-and-a-half hours actual driving time, and a one hour lunch stop to get there from Nong Khiaw. That’s over seven hours of sitting on your ass, much of it bouncing […]

The trip from Luang Prabang to Nong Khiaw started with a van that picked us up from our hotel, already loaded to the gills with other Western tourists and their baggage (mostly backpackers like us). The driver placed our packs on an already over-loaded roof, which should have buckled under the strain, and lightly tied them to other packs in […]

Most Americans have not experienced a squat toilet. When I ran into one for the first time, I have to say that I was a bit afraid. But, being an infantryman in the Marine Corps, I knew a bit about squatting in the middle of the bush to answer nature’s call – so I adapted. I seem to recall reading […]

Into Laos Our crossing into Laos started with a forty-minute pickup-bus ride from the hotel to Chiang Khong, where we had the driver drop us at an ATM for a fill-up on Thai baht (which was maybe not a great idea; see the comments on Laotian currency in the description for that category by clicking here).  Jen also grabbed some […]

One observation from trying to learn enough Thai and Laotian to get around… The first thing that people usually learn to say in a new place is the niceties; the equivalents of “hello,” “goodbye,” “excuse me,” “thank you,” and the like.  Based upon the last weeks in Thailand and Laos, I think this is the wrong approach. Locals aren’t that […]

Pai Pai is a tourist town. In particular, there is an area near the river that is crazy-touristy with hotels and guesthouses and massage joints and tattoo joints and motorbike rental shops and tour companies and restaurants that cater to Westerners. It isn’t a big area, and it isn’t all of Pai, but they have squeezed a lot into a […]

The center is located some 33 kilometers outside of Lampang, on the highway to Chiang Mai. We got there by taking a bus from the Lampang Bus station, which cost us 60 baht.  We got back to Lampang by waiting at a bus stop of sorts outside the Center, on the side of the highway. Eventually, a bus came to […]

We both got a two-hour, full-body, traditional Thai massage at this place. That means that we were wearing provided clothing, no oils were applied, and we got our asses kicked by girls who threw their full weight behind their elbows. It cost 350 baht for each of us. Jen thought it was a pretty good massage, and she has more […]

Ok…I am going to divulge the name of the town we found in Mae Hong Son Province…the one that we were thinking to keep secret so as to prevent tourists from Germany and Iowa showing up and turning it into another tourist fuck story. The name of the place is Mae La Noi. It’s about thirty kilometers north of Mae […]

We are equipped with a Lonely Planet phrase book. It’s nicely sized for small cargo pockets. It’s also dangerous. Let’s take the case of the Thai words “mai” and “mai.” They are two entirely different words, depending on your inflection. Raise the inflection as you speak, and it means “no.” Lower it as you speak, and you are saying “new.” […]

Ants. Cockroaches. Flies. Bees. Wasps. Spiders. Mosquitoes. Things you don’t know what they are. It’s got ’em all. Mosquito netting is an essential piece of equipment, even inside an air conditioned place.

The bus ride from Mae Sot to Tha Song Yang started at 09:30am and ended two and a half hours later, having taken us through eighty-five kilometers of mostly rural farmlands. There are two categories of bus we have traveled on so far. The first is what most Americans would think of as a bus. You know…the Greyhound sort of […]

To get to Mae Sot from Sukhothai, we took a bus to Tak (the capitol of Tak Province), and from there grabbed a ride on a minivan making runs to Mae Sot. We left Sukhothai at 8:40am, and got to Mae Sot at noon. The bus from Tak had a blue theme – blue bus; blue seats; blue curtains. Our […]

The China Airlines flight out of LAX was about thirty minutes late in departure, but the pilot made up the difference en route to our layover in Taipei. Before our departure, I had raved to Jen about China Airlines — how on a previous trip the planes had been spotless, each seat had its own entertainment system, the cabin crew […]

Well, we are in New Sukhothai. Got here two days ago after taking a taxi from the Bangkok airport to the Bangkok train station; a train from Bangkok to Lopburi for the night; a train from Lopburi to Phitsanulok; and finally a bus from Phitsanulok to New Sukhothai. The first 48 hours were planes, trains, and automobiles; with only about […]

We are at LAX to snag a midnight flight to Bangkok. OK…it’s a 0115 flight to Bangkok, but midnight sounds better, doesn’t it? Line to check in was about an hour and a half long. Ouch! Jen had two vodka and tonics. She’s drunk. She is torturing me with dried seaweed that her sister-in-law gave us. Now waiting to board. […]

We are now at the San Francisco airport catching a flight to Orange County to see Jen’s brother. Tomorrow night we catch a flight to Bangkok. Both of us are whooped after freezing our asses off in San Francisco and getting only three hours sleep last night. The day packs look better than us right now, so they get the […]

We are at the Honolulu airport and headed to San Francisco to drop the dogs at their temporary homes. First stop in the global journey. After months of planning and preparation, we are finally on our way.

We drove south through Maui’s Upcountry area, along Highway 37 through Kula, Pulehu, Keokea, and Ulupalakua.  Highway 37 eventually becomes Highway 31, and it was just past this point that we stopped and turned around, after taking in the view of La Perouse Bay, Molokini Crater, and the island of Kahoolawe. Upcountry Maui is a beautiful place; characterized by pastures, […]

Today, Jen and I headed up to Haleakala Crater. The road is heavily switchbacked as it climbs to the 10,300 foot summit.  We ascended through nice pasturelands, through a cloud layer at 5,000 feet, and into bare ground at the summit.  Here, it was clear and sunny, somewhat windy, and very chilly (Jen had on three layers, including the hood […]

Today, we drove to Hana. From where we are saying, the Huelo Point Lookout, it is 34 miles. This translates to about an hour and a half of sheer driving. Throw in stops for photos and such, and it translates into three or more hours. The road to Hana is not as daunting as it was when I first drove […]

We drove from Kaanapali along the northwest coast of Maui today.  This is the route from Kaanapali north and then east on Highways 30 and 340; through the towns of Kapalua, Honokahua, and Kahakuloa; eventually reaching Kahului. The views are pretty good. We saw a fair number of humpback whale pods from the various scenic pullouts. We drove the whole […]

We went to DT Fleming beach park. Obviously solid boogie boarding here (wish we had brought the boards). Also went to Black Rock in front of the Sheraton on Kaanapali Beach. The waves were a bit big today, but this is a staple for snorkeling and shallow diving (been diving here a couple times in past years).