Greetings...

...from our 5th country in 4 weeks...Cambodia.

We've been moving fast over the past few weeks and thought it was about time to check in.  Things are great...we're seeing and doing so much, and enjoying every minute of it!  We spent a total of two weeks in Thailand before heading to Cambodia.  After leaving Raylai Beach, we headed north to Bangkok for a few days - it was interesting and kept us moving.  We spent many hours walking through markets and "window shopping" - what we buy, we have to carry in our packs!  After a few days we were ready to move on, Bangkok can be very exhausting with it's pushy tuk-tuk drivers and potential scam artists! 

Next we headed north to Chiang Mai...we tried to take an overnight train but were turned back to Bangkok due to flooding and ended up spending nearly an entire day traveling by bus (a very uncomfortable bus too!).  We fell in love with Chiang Mai instantly, with it's quiet old city and pleasant weather.  Our first day was spent wondering the many temples and markets.  Day two we headed out into the country for a day of elephant training!  And our final day was spent learning the art of Thai cooking.  It was a fantastic place to end our time in Thailand!

In order to leave Thailand before our visa ran out, and spend the most time in Chiang Mai, we opted to take a bus that would take us directly to our next destination - Siem Reap, Cambodia - rather than stopping in Bangkok again for a few days.  Unfortunatley, this meant that we were on buses in transit for over 24 hours.  We finally arrived here last night and spent our first day exploring the famous Ankor Wat. 

I know I'll have much more to say later about everything we're doing...for now I hope this helps to give a little glimpse into what we're doing. (they're kind of out of order due to slow loading...)

Elephant Training

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Ankor Wat

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Ankor Wat

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Ankor Wat

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Thai Cooking Class

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Thai Food we made!

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Monk Chat

Chiang Mai, Thailand

We're planning to stick around Siem Reap for a few more days before heading on to Phnom Penh and on to Vietnam before heading home.  See you in a few weeks! 

Until next time...

Quick update!

We're in Bangkok(Thailand) now and have free wifi at the hotel, so I thought I'd take a minute to update you all.

We've been here a total of 24 hours, having arrived in the morning on an overnight train from the south. We had hoped to be heading further north this evening, but due to flooding, the trains weren't running yesterday or today... We'll check back today about possibly going tomorrow, but if not, we may have to take a bus, or change our plans. The train offers a sleeper, which is much nicer on an overnight trip than a bus seat - or a regular train seat as we found out a few days ago. Traveling overnight, we don't want to lose sleep then lose a whole day of seeing things because we're catching up.

For those following the weather, it looks like we're out of the path of Typhoon Megi, but we'll keep you updated if our travel plans change. Our prayers are with those in the path of the storm - the damage we've seen from previous storms is devastating and can take years to rebuild.

Until next time...

A few photos from our travels.

Singapore.

Bali, Indonesia

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia



Railay, Thailand



In Transit.

Today is Day 16.  We're in Railay, Thailand where we've been relaxing on the beach and sea kayaking.  Unfortunately, it's monsoon season, so our time outside has been limited by the torrential rain storms.  But we can't complain, we have a nice little bungalow, set in away from the beach where we've been able to relax and read in our hammock on our porch.  We've decided to stay an extra few days as it's so beautiful and peaceful here. 

Before coming to Thailand, we spent a few days in Kuala Lumpur.  Here, our dislike of cities was reiterated, after a few days we were ready to move on.  Kuala Lumpur, the capitol of Malaysia, is a nice city, but much smaller than we had expected (using only our Lonely Planet Guide as a reference).  The Petronas Towers were beautiful, and we saw some amazing Mosques.  Overall, it's a beautiful city and offers much in the way of food and shopping.  The recently built MRT system is quite efficient and clean, so travel around the city was easy. 

Our departure from KL to Thailand was by train.  We took an overnight train leaving KL at 9:30pm and each had a sleeping berth.  Luckily we were able to sleep much of the night and awoke in time for the border crossing where we had to get off the train with all our things and go through customs and immigration - no sweat!  Unfortunately, the trip did not end there and we had to wait an hour while all passengers did this process before loading up the train again and making the final 3 hour trip to Hat Yai.  There we took a minibus to Krabi (another 4 hours or so) and finally a 15 minute longtail boat to Railay, where we've been for the past 4-5 days (can't quite remember what day it is or the day of the week!).

We've deviated a bit from our original plan a bit and are playing it by ear from here.  We are loving Thailand and don't want to leave until we've seen all we want to see.  We'll keep you posted along the way as to where we're going and where we've been!  Until then...