We visited Indonesia (Bali) after leaving Cambodia back in November but it is just now in December while we are in NZ, that we are having an opportunity to sit down and do some writing. Indonesia was not part of our original travel plans. We were thinking of visiting Malaysia instead, but we were sold on the idea of visiting Indonesia by our friend Marine Thomas. We also need it some down time to recharged batteries after touring South East Asia and the cost of traveling in Bali sounded very attractive to us at this point of the trip. We … Continue reading Bali, a taste of Indonesia

We flew from Bangkok to Siem Reap on a morning that was hot in both cities. It is now summer in SEA and it is getting very hot. Arriving in Siem Reap from BK was a refreshing experience. Cambodia is simple, basic, hot, humid, dusty and flavorfull, an oasis in comparison to the urban picture of BK. We were welcomed at the airport by our soon to be official driver for the trip in Siem Reap. The traditional Tuk-Tuk in SR differs from many other versions we have experienced in Asia. Here the TT is a motorcycle pulling a wood … Continue reading Cambodia

We had a great time in Thailand from north to south a beautiful country. It is much more developed than expected and the tourism industry has explored without much structure or legislation so it is a little crazy. We took a good amount of time to catchup with some reading so we are behind with the written entry of this post. Hopefully we can get to do it soon. In the mean time here are the pictures After 22 days of traveling through Thailand, we can say that we have a very good idea about what is going on in … Continue reading Thailand! The vacation within the vacation

It is hard to see and experience the beautifull places and cultures that this world has to offer while current society encounters so many challenges in other places. We felt for all the people in the Middle East that have lost everything, including their lives, to the nonsensical religious war and for all the casualties in Africa and now in other countries from the Ebola outbreak that seems to be far from controlled or contained. It seems that the more time we have to see new things while we are traveling, the more time we also have to learn and … Continue reading The Buddhist experience Lao

If you were around during the 70’s or 80’s you got to see a very ugly face of Vietnam. The war was not pretty or fair and the following Hollywood blockbusters and TV shows did not help to change the perception of Vietnam in the western part of the world. We are happy to report that Vietnam is one of the most amazing countries we have visited so far. The misguided perception that you may have from the past requires a serious update. Despite the communist party being in power and the social limitations that come with that, Vietnam has … Continue reading War is history in this beautiful country

After a not uncommon delayed flight from Shanghai that included a long wait on the tarmark we arrived in HK. The coolest thing about that arrival was that we had very good friends waithing for us in our rented apartment in HK. Carter and Debbie Sherwood flew from Stamford, CT to have their vacation in HK and show us around their second beloved city. So far they have been the only friends delivering on their promises to come out to explore the world with us. We were very happy and thankfull to have them around in HK. Debbie got us … Continue reading Fun HK!

After a 6 hour high speed train ride we got to Henry’s favorite city in China, Shanghai. What a place! This is the poster child for China this days when it comes to modern cities. It has only taken 70 years to build this humongous organized, modern, functional and clean metropolis. We could not wait to wander around to discover everyting that it has to offer. Unfortunately, pollution remains a painfull reality to deal with while we travel in China. We were hoping for an improvement in this in Shanghai but there was none. The amount of manufacturing, construction, cars … Continue reading The pearl of China

We made it to the train! Oh boy, we had to run that night. Never again! We were in Xi’an to visit the word know Terracotta Soldier Army Museum and see what else this city had to offer. We arrived around 8am and we started walking to our hotel. It was located 15 minutes walking from the main train station in the city but we could not find it. So we ended up having some coffee in Startbucks (they are everywhere you need them) hoping to use the internet to find the now mysterious hotel. Oh, internet in China is … Continue reading The beginnings of China

We started our trip in China in the capital, Beijing. Henry had the opportunity to visit China a few years back so he was familiar with some of the Chinese ways and places. Our overall plan was to visit Beijing, Xi’an, Shanghai and Hong Kong, let’s see how the plan unfolds. China is a huge country to explore so it is hard to aspired to see much of it in one month, but we tried to get to some key places so we could grasped some of it’s ancient history and it’s current fast paced evolving economy and society. After … Continue reading The busy Forbidden City

Why Korea? Our decision to see some of Korea was based on pure location convinence and a little of curiosity. Convinenance, because we were in Japan and our next stop was China. So it was an easy to stop by to take a look. Curiosity, because when we made the decision we realized that we did not know much at all about Korea. However, very quickly after our arrival we realized that we have a lot in common with this small but surprising country and their people. Back in the US before we started this global journey we used to … Continue reading There is not a South Korea, just Korea!