myretroperspective

Ko Phi Phi Island Dear Thailand, I'm already missing your white sandy beaches, cheap delicious food and friendly people. Hopefully it won't be long until we're back again.   Until then I'll be making green curry weekly.  Dear Home, after two amazing weeks of traveling, you felt good to come back to. Even though both of us paused when we came through the door because we couldn't quite figure out where we were. The affects of city hopping for two weeks. Dear Hubs, I'm so glad I have such an amazing traveling partner. Another adventure this summer? Dear Persuasion, you were used well on the trip by hubs as we sat on the beach looking out at the moored sailboats. Maybe his dream of sailing around Asia will come true after all. Dear Stomach Bug, you're finally done and over! As nice as it was to get you as a welcome home gift I'm going to say I don't miss you one bit. Oh and thanks dad for packing our bags full of antibiotics before leaving the states! ...

The circuit Thailand - Cambodia - Vietnam - Laos has become a classic for all travelers wishing to explore this wonderful part of the world that is the South-East. In general, this circuit is to visit the capitals of these countries (Bangkok, Phnom Penh, Vientiane and Hanoi), to stop one or two beaches in Thailand to attend full moon parties and take a ride on the backs of elephant in Chiang Mai before returning to Singapore. Nothing wrong with that, on the contrary, all the backpackers who had the chance to live these experiences will tell you they had a great time! That said, we wanted to share with you other places and amazing things to do and see in South East Asia, such as watching the sun rise over Angkor Wat. Deserted beaches and wild millenary monuments, good places to go out and have fun or beautiful places where diving underwater ... Here's our guide staff the best of South East Asia! Very useful also find our articles on 10 things to do in Bangkok , Where to party in Tha...

**Note: If you found this post looking for info about going out in Shenyang you might find my friend's recommendations more helpful here:  http://takingtheroadlesstraveledby.blogspot.com/2013/07/nightlife-bars-in-shenyang.html Most of our staycation was spent playing board games at friends' homes, eating meals with others in the consulate community, or watching movies (friends hosted an all-day Lord of the Rings marathon and R & I have made it through a couple of seasons of Mad Men over the break). Saturday night started off like many other evenings. We met up with friends in our lobby and headed over to the sichuan restaurant a few blocks away. After dinner though someone threw out the idea of heading to one of Shenyang's "International Night Clubs", and for whatever reason we all decided it was the best idea on the table. Most of you reading know R is definitely not a night-club person, and I'm only slightly more of a night-club person than he is. I thin...

Us and a two month old sleepy tiger at the Tiger Kingdom in Chiang Mai, Thailand And all in one piece surprisingly.  Especially seeing as how we just spent the last two weeks traveling around a new country, being swatted at by tigers (ok, ok, they were only 4 months old but those claws are still sharp!), riding bareback through the jungle on elephants, rock climbing free style above the ocean, and oh, deciding it was a good idea to take a guy with a motorbike as a form of a taxi (not our brightest moment. I've never been so scared in my life). But aside from all of the adventures we had on our little get away, what I loved most was just that. Getting away. Unplugging, shutting down and getting back to the basics in a beautiful country with my favorite travel companion. With that being said, being away from technology for just over two weeks can sure take a toll on your inbox! So please be patient as I try to catch up on all of your sweet emails and comments. I have some amazing pos...

After the great day on the swamp on Friday, I worked the next two days in the VC.  Business has picked up as predicted, so at least there aren’t hours and hours of no visitors. When I drove to work on Sunday, I noticed one of the pine trees about to explode with pollen.  Luckily I’m not allergic to this pollen, as it has been coating everything for a couple of weeks. I found each end of the branches to be very geometric with the round spread of needles, and the bouquet of catkins in the middle. The centers kind of reminded me of those ‘snakes’ you light with a match.  Remember those?  As a kid I loved the smell of the sulphur when you lit one of those little black pellets that grew before your very eyes.  This looked like a whole box got lit at once to me.                                 ...

Just a little something to cure your wanderlust for the week. Ko Tao, Thailand Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living. – Miriam Beard

After our rescue of the turtle and lunch, we were back in the boats to head for the Big Water area on Friday.  The boat I was in brought up the rear for this portion of the journey.  That meant that most of the wildlife encountered was gone by the time our third boat drove by.    We had to settle for enjoying the cypress scenery along the way.  I found the warped reflections from the wake of our boat interesting though. This great egret was perched far enough away that it wasn’t bothered by our passage.  I liked the swirling branches of the big tree.  Of course, there were quite a few alligators out sunning themselves.  They really don’t move if they’re on the shore, but gators closer to the water trail roll off and swim away at a boats approach.  I lost count of how many we saw.                   We all had a good chuckle at the exuberance of...