Today we used our newly acquired bus passes to bring us to the Tropical Fruit Farm, located high in the mountains about 35 kms outside of Georgetown. Once we arrived there, we were struck by how much cooler the air was at that elevation. As a bonus, a constant breeze kept us even more comfortable. Entrance to the farm was 40 Ringgits, about $14.00 each and included a guided tour of the farm and an all you can eat sampler of the exotic fruits grown there. Befo...

After leaving our Chiang Mai home at 6:45 AM on Sunday, a 2 hour layover in Kuala Lumpur, a short hop to Penang and a 45 minute bus ride to Georgetown, we finally arrived at our hotel at around 6:30. The first thing we noticed when we got off the plae was the humidity. Even though the temperature was a little lower than Chiang Mai, the 90% humidity made it feel like 45C. Our hotel is only about 300 meters from the bus station, so we walked it with our Farpoint...

It's hard to believe, but our four month stay in Chiang Mai has come to an end! We're both very sad to be leaving, but the time is right for us to move on. We had been told that in March the farmers around the city set fire to their fields, burning the remnants of their last crop in preparation for a new planting. As a result, the air quality in Chiang Mai (not very good at the best of times) deteriorates significantly. Yesterday morning, we awoke to the smell of...

Lately we've been hearing a lot on the news and in social media that the winter back home and most of eastern North America has once again been frigid, snowy and generally brutal. Fortunately for us, the weather here has been as good as it can possibly be and, although the temperatures have consistently been in the high 20's or better, the local flora and fauna have recently announced the arrival of spring. In recognition of the changing season, from February 6...

Chinese New Year is tomorrow and Chiang Mai began the celebrations early by blocking off traffic from some of the streets in Chinatown. In place of traffic, there was the equivalent of a night market set up in the middle of the day, complete with row after row of street food vendors selling everything from good old reliable Pad Thai to a few things that were far less appealing, at least to my vegan palate.There were no lineups at the stand shown in the attac...