February 17, 2010 – Day 419 – Huaxy Xai, Laos

Up at 6:45AM. No breakfast. Tuk tuk to bus station, bus to Chiang Khong. No lunch. Crossed border on foot and boat ferried us across the gentle shallow river. Two minutes later, we bought our Laos visas for US$35 each and were zipping out of immigration. Uphill 20 seconds walking and we are officially “in town.” Welcome to Huaxy Xai, Laos side of the border with Chiang Khong (Thailand).

Crossing the Mekong into Laos

Thailand, sweet bastion of sanity in a world of chaos. We came to Thailand after a very trying 3 months in India. We were sick and tired of traveling and needed a place that would reinvigorate our lust for wonderment. Thailand was this and more. We strolled some of the most beautiful beaches in the world, dove with sharks, stuffed ourselves on glorious Asian cuisine, explored endless market stalls, and were visited by a comrade from the west.

We have very little to say about Thailand that is negative; if anything, it is subject to its own beauty. Everywhere is flooded with tourists and not just regular tourists but loads of loud, drunken, and culturally rude tourists. We are not just talking about Khao San road either. The economy is now largely funded by the tourist trade but is the slow prostitution of a people and culture destroying the very thing that has drawn people to the beautiful land for thousands of years? We are already looking forward to returning to Thailand and implore others to visit as well; we just ask that you be mindful of yourself and your actions.

(Click here to see the Thailand Photo Gallery)

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February 15-16, 2010 – Day 417-418 – Chiang Mai, Thailand

Spent a couple days getting things together for going to Laos and…amazingly, getting started (but not too much!!) on a few preparations for going home. Yikes! Anyway, we are really ready to move on from Thailand. Laos looks like it will be pretty fantastic and we’re excited to get there! Heading there tomorrow morning. Hurray for another very long travel day across the Lao border.

El Dorado makes the best mexican food in Chang Mai

February 13-14, 2010 – Day 415-416 – Chiang Mai, Thailand

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Happy Lunar New Year!

As with most holidays on the road, it can be pretty tough to have a proper celebration. For Valentine’s Day, we splurged on chocolate covered almonds from the 711 down the street and a couple cans of Fanta. Romance at it’s finest!

Soap flower in the market

February 12, 2010 – Day 414 – Chiang Mai, Thailand

Mama pajama rolled outta bed and went down to the station…Well, actually we both did and hopped on a bus to Chiang Mai. It was 10 hours and the closer we got to our destination the more the landscape began to resemble the Appalachians in our motherland. Well after dark we got an overpriced tuk tuk to Loi Kohn, the street where loads of guest houses are (and all the foreigners to match) to find a place to lay our weary bums for the night. Convenient as it is, Loi Kohn is Chiang Mai’s version of Khao San Road in Bangkok. Anyway it will do for now and there is certainly no shortage of good places to eat. Glad to be off a bus for a while!!

Eating waffles like a starving Belgian

February 10-11, 2010 – Day 412-413 – Bangkok, Thailand

Spent two glorious days lounging in beautiful Bangkok. We enjoyed some of Cambodia but really were not crazy over it. We wanted a couple of days to rest before taking another very long bus north to Chiang Mai. We restocked some supplies we could not get in Cambodia, ate some great cheap food (hurray for baht! paying with dollars in Cambodia was a real budget killer), and did a lot of walking around to stretch our legs. We never would have imagined how much sitting traveling the world really requires!

Saben getting a hair cut

February 9, 2010 – Day 411 – Bangkok, Thailand

“Get ready to feel like an asshole.” We looked at each other and got out of the tuk tuk and onto the idling bus pulled alongside the road. Waiting. For us. Against our usual protocol, we had booked a bus ticket all the way from Phnom Penh back to Bangkok thinking it was a bit cheaper than all the separate tickets.

Traffic in Phnom Pehn

January 28-29, 2010 – Day 399-400 – Koh Tao to Bangkok to Siem Reap, Cambodia

Well, as promised, it was two very long, very tiring travel days right in a row. It was a bummer to leave the lovely Koh Tao but we have an itching to return for sure. The first day we didn’t get to Bangkok til 8:30PM and were pretty well spent. Dinner and bed was the end of that story.

Leaving the islands

January 26-27, 2010 – Day 397-398 – Koh Tao, Thailand

Spent two days diving, swimming, and lying in the sun. Guess it’s not too exciting to tell, but nice to enjoy! Tomorrow we head back to Bangkok to get ready to go to Cambodia the day after. Hurray for travel days…

Us!

January 25, 2010 – Day 395 – Koh Tao, Thailand

You know the saying, You win some, you lose some? Today was one of those days where we lost.

Moments before the blood bath

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