Phnom Penh I did something I dreaded today - I visited the Killing Fields and S-21, the high school turned torture centre under the Pol Pot regime between 1975 and 1978. Of course I had tears running down my face as I walked through the site and listened to the Audio Guide telling survivor stories (very few) and describing the horrors that occurred there. The Memorials honoured the 2 - 3 million Cambodians murdered by the Khmer Rouge - approximately 1 in 4 pe...

VIETNAM! On a whirlwind tour through Vietnam - visiting places that begin with an "H"! - Hanoi, Halong Bay, Hue, Hoi An and Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). Every city has been so different, and the country is so different from anywhere else I've been, with strong Chinese and French influences - its definitely not Thailand with its Chinese style temples and baguettes everywhere! My friend Cari and I just finished an 10 day Classic Vietnam tour with G Adventures. ...

STREET EATS BBQ chicken, fishballs on sticks, sticky rice in plastic takeaway bags, fresh cut mangoes, papaya, and watermelon, momos, fried cashews, corn on the cob or in a cup with sugar, butter and evaporated milk, pad thai, banana pancakes, iced coffee, Thai style tea, springrolls and soup - you name it and you can get it - for cheap - from a street vendor in Thailand! It appears to me that Thais are snackers - munching throughout the day on takeaway food a...

MY ADDICTION News Flash. I continue to be a willing victim to my massage addiction. I've had Ayurvedic and Thai massages by both sighted and blind masseurs, reflexology foot massages, a facial massage involving frozen cucumbers, Tok Sen (using a wooden mallet and stick to tap along the body's energy lines), and oil massages. Many of them. All wonderful. All leave me wanting MORE. There have only been 2 duds. My worst was at the sidewalk massage stalls set ...

BIG LOVE Meet my new friend Poojon. He's 8 years old and weighs 1500 kg! He's a growing boy - he eats about 300 lbs of rice, bananas, grass, molasses every day! I met Poojon, an Asian elephant, in Chiang Mai He lives with 34 other adopted and elephants born at Patara Elephant Farm/Sanctuary. Patara is owned by a Thai couple and the goal is care and sustainability of the loval elephant population. The elephants have a good life on the farm- no logging du...