Monks, monks, monks. What can I say, WE LOVE MONKS! We've seen monks walking down the street, monks on a bike, monks in the back of a truck, and monks riding motorcycles. There have been monks with umbrellas, monks crossing bridges, monks climbing trees, and even monks pushing eachother in a wheel barrel. Call us crazy, but every monk sighting is exciting. It's like seeing an endangered species for the first time, except there certainly is no shortage of monks in...

Although we have traveled now through many different countries and cultures, one thing always remains constant; we are continously put in strange and new situations. Some are good, some bad, but undoubtebly all experiences add character to a trip. Our travels in Laos are no exception to this rule. Happily though, our friends Lindsay and Bob from California made the long trip out to see us and shared in a few new experiences with us In only 3 weeks here in Laos, ...

In a world that is ever changing and rapidly developing, we sometimes feel that tribes and indigenous people are a thing of the past. And Vietnam is no exception. It is a country that is seeking development and modernization fast. To date, it has nearly fifty minority or indigenous tribes left. We had the pleasure of learning and interacting with three of these groups this week in Northern Vietnam. Overall, we've found Vietnamese people to be a bit more reserved ...

I am sitting in what could best be described as a chaise-lounge with a seat belt, Vietnamese karaoke and variety shows blare over the loud speaker, and the whole bus is illuminated with a faint blue glow from LED lights on the ceiling. We have just started the 11 hour bus trip from the beach town of Nha Trang to Hoi An, which is almost in the dead center of Vietnam. If the scene seems a little odd, it is, but oddity has become the norm throughout our travels. Wha...

Not all travel days are happy days. And today was among the hardest. It was the kind of day that sends your head spinning and a leaves you with a nauseous, sinking feeling in your belly. Today we learned about and saw evidence of one of the greatest human atrocities not only in recent history, but perhaps all time. We had read stories and a synopsis in our guidebook so I should have been prepared, but now in retrospect, I had absolutely no idea what was in store ...