Sixtysomething-year-old newlyweds travelling the world together – Adventure Awaits!
Following six months of travel through Europe earlier this year, we flew to Bangkok, our first destination in Southeast Asia. This was in early October. The heat, strong smells, and gritty, noisy chaos of the city was a shock to the system at first. Over time, we learned that the crowds, pavement kitchens, temples, and … Continue reading Coming full circle in Bangkok
My daughter, Mary, arrived on December 6 to spend time with us in Chiang Mai, Bangkok, and Singapore, before returning to the U.S. just before Christmas. We’re very close and I hadn’t seen her since we left home on April 2 so, of course, there was lots of excitement around her visit. We had made … Continue reading Fun times in Chiang Mai
We flew from Siem Reap to Bangkok and immediately grabbed a taxi for the one hour drive to Ayutthaya, followed by Sukhothai. This circuit of the temples exposed us to temples old and new, plus lots of local culture and history. The ethereally beautiful tree Buddha in Wat Maha That, Ayutthaya Ayutthaya Long before the … Continue reading Touring the Temple Towns, Part II: Ayutthaya and Sukhothai
We opted to book a taxi to take us on the 5 to 6 hour drive from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap. A flight would have taken us just as long door-to-door, would have cost more, and these flights have a reputation for hitting people up for extra luggage charges at the gate. We booked … Continue reading Touring the Temple Towns, Part 1: Siem Reap
Quick warning: this blog post may be disturbing - read at your own discretion. On our last day in Vietnam, I woke up in our Saigon hotel with a familiar scratchiness in my throat signaling that, within the next few hours I was headed for a sore throat and cold. We arrived in Phnom Penh … Continue reading The Killing Fields: A Tough Tour to Take
While in Bangkok, a couple of months ago, John and I toured the Thai Grand Palace, which is the official residence of the Thai king and, although it is no longer where the Thai royalty live, it is still used for many official ceremonies. The Grand Palace is, not surprisingly, one of the top tourist … Continue reading A Palace fit for a Disney King
The Mekong Delta cruise is something that we might not have considered for our itinerary, at least partly due to uneasiness about exposing ourselves to mosquito-borne illness - this is always a concern in Southeast Asia. But it was part of the tour we had arranged and, after doing a little research, John gave it … Continue reading Cruising the Mekong Delta
Before going to Saigon, we had heard some pretty mixed things about it. A couple we had met down the road in Hue had been there for several days and hadn’t liked it at all. So, we were pleasantly surprised to find that it reminded us of Hanoi, which we enjoyed a lot. We had … Continue reading Freewheeling Saigon
While in Hoi An, John and I discovered Grasshopper Tours, a highly-rated bicycle touring company. One of their offerings is a ride to the villages in the Vietnamese countryside. We both signed up but, unfortunately, on the morning we were to go, which was our last day in Hoi An, John wasn’t feeling up to … Continue reading A bike ride through the Vietnam countryside
John and I decided a while back to schedule a tour for our time in Vietnam. We normally just plan our travel on our own, not wanting someone else to determine our schedule for us. The reason we opted for a tour in Vietnam is that we had read that Vietnam can be hard to … Continue reading A day in Hue, then on to Hoi An
