I applied for my Myanmar visa in Bangkok. This is a fairly straightforward procedure, and visa-seekers can pick up and fill in the requisite two-sided form while standing in line. Easy, right? Not when your pen runs out of ink less than halfway through the form. I’ve been carrying three ballpoint pens with me since […]
Ja, another motorbike loop, although likely the last one for this trip. I keep doing these because, at this point in working my way through Southeast Asia, I’m losing interest in visiting sights, be they natural wonders, museums, historical structures. I’m sure the caves and waterfalls of Thailand are worthy, but after seeing so many […]
And by Dream, I mean an eggplant purple, kickstart only, unknown vintage Honda that had a gas gauge that only sorta worked and a key that, I was warned, could be removed from the ignition while running. It was on lanyard that I kept looped around the side mirror to prevent it from being lost. […]
Just as I’m starting to get the hang of one country here, my visa is up, and it’s time to move onto the next. I arrived in Thailand a few days ago, via an overnight bus from Luang Prabang. It was a 17 hour ride to Chiang Rai, which surprisingly, wasn’t all that bad. Each […]
Laos is kicking the gastrointestinal tract of more travelers than in Vietnam and Cambodia combined. I seem to meet more people here who are recovering from bouts of illness, “felt funny last night”, or has a travel partner who “isn’t feeling well.” It all means one thing…tummy trouble. Either diarrhea, vomiting, or the double whammy […]
I did another scooter loop, this one based from Thakhek. It’s about 500 kilometers, most of which winds through limestone karst formations, tiny towns, and past many caves. I completed it in three days, proceeding clockwise, but in retrospect, and had I done more research before setting out, I would have taken four days. I […]
I spent five days riding around the Bolaven Plateau on a Honda Wave 100. I was a little discouraged after arriving at the first overnight stop, Tad Lo, and finding it chock-a-block with guesthouses, tourists, and scooters, but it appears that most people only take in the small loop. I was riding the longer big […]
One of my favorite Dr. Seuss books is The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. Each time Batholomew removes his hat, another appears in its place, eventually becoming bigger, fancier, Dr. Seuss-ier, culminating in the befeathered, bejeweled five-hundredth hat. At least, that’s how I remember it, I haven’t actually read it in, oh, a long time. […]
Traveling involves constantly dealing with three key logistics: where to stay, how to get there, what to eat. Eating healthy on the road can be challenging for any number of reasons. I try to maintain some sort of teetering balance by eating fresh fruits and veggies when I can, but even that’s a challenge, also […]
There are caves near Battambang at Phnom Sampeau that are famous for two things. The first is that they are one of the Khmer Rouge killing sites. On a less sad, less grisly note, one cave is currently home to what must be millions of bats, who venture out every evening en masse in search […]
Cheese Skipping 
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