It has been so fantastic to get back to my fan base here in Japan. After all these years, I'm still considered a star. For those of you that weren't aware of one of my earlier careers, in my late teens I played a Samurai soldier (# 1287 of 11550) in the epic Japanese movie "Heaven and Earth". Haruki Kadokawa (famous Japanese director) and I collaborated on this piece and the Japanese people have not forgotten me. At every corner, and on every train plat...

Our short stopover in Hong Kong (during Chinese New Year) was action-packed. We were spoiled rotten and taken out for absolutely fabulous Dim Sum on two occasions and shown around town. What better way to experience a city! Our hotel room was tiny and we now know how battery chickens must feel - but spotless and central. We joined the crowds at the annual New Year fair checking out all the latest "year of the ox" accessories and sampling from street ven...

That's a wrap for SE Asia. We fly out of Bangkok this afternoon en route to HongKong. It's been a fairly short but great visit in Thailand. After our final day in Laos which involved a Tuk Tuk, bus, Tuk tuk, Boat, Tuk Tuk and then one more bus ride for good measure we bid farewell to the murderous transportation woes of Laos. Thailand still has some gritty old buses that are fun to ride in, but it's way better and faster than what we were accustomed to. First st...

Sabaidee Everyone. Unless things go drastically wrong, we'll be leaving Laos tomorrow for northern Thailand. You haven't heard from us much for the past 10 days as we've had our butts firmly planted on various buses and mini-buses throughout Laos. It has been travel, travel, travel. I'll be the first to admit that land transportation in Laos takes WAY longer than I'd expected. We started off with back to back 10 hour days. First from Vietnam, through 2 communis...

Somewhat belated but Merry Christmas and a Happy 2009. We spent Christmas day lounging in beach chairs, playing Yatzee, sipping Bia Saigon (our preferred brand of beer) and to ensure full relaxation Jason also got a massage. Admittedly a more unusual Christmas day but we made it work. - In Malaysia we had the daily calls to prayer, on Phu Quoc Island they seemed to have the daily call to news at 5.30am! News blared over loudspeakers for about an hour - communist ...