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A Swing Through the South
We spent the last week of this trip to Myanmar on the peninsula south of Yangon, bordered by the Andaman Sea on the east and Thailand on the west. The capitol of the area, and Myanmar’s fourth largest city, is Mawlamyine. It is the southernmost place in Myanmar we visited. Coincidently, in addition to Katha,… — read more
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The Boat to Mandalay
I read an account recently of a boat trip similar to the one we took from Katha to Mandalay. It was described as “not to be missed…and not to be repeated.” That is exactly how I feel about it. I had visions of a leisurely multi-day trip down the Ayerwaddy River past scenic countryside and… — read more
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The Orwell Connection
With this most recent leg of the trip in Myanmar, I feel like we are finally getting off the beaten path a bit. Feels good. The train trip north, out of Mandalay, was adventurous mainly in its uncertainly. We were scheduled to leave at 4:30 a.m., and had gotten up at 3:00 to be at… — read more
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Meandering Around Myanmar
I’ve noted before that being in Myanmar is like stepping back in time. We were last here three years ago and we wondered how much would be changed now that the country has “opened up.” (It wasn’t exactly closed before, in spite of the prevailing narrative.) The short answer is: not much. Yangon still has… — read more
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Lost and Found
We have spent the past two weeks in a couple of towns in rural northern Thailand. I wrote about Pai last time so I won’t repeat myself, but [here]is the link. I will say one thing though. A town full of fellow travelers has its pros and cons. Tourism distorts a place. But one of… — read more
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Bangkok and Beyond
When we arrived in Bangkok a couple of weeks ago our bodies believed it was past bedtime, and the calendar told us it was getting close to winter. But local time was just past noon. And the climate… aside for the rare air-conditioned respite, I don’t think we’ve stopped sweating since. Temperatures are in the… — read more
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A Foot Out the Door
We’ve got our bags packed, we’ve got bus tickets, plane tickets, and reservations for the first few nights in Bangkok. If all goes according to plan, a couple weeks from now we’ll be on the first leg of a four-month trip, first to Southeast Asia, then to Guatemala. (When I say that we are packed,… — read more
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Road Trip to the Oregon Country Fair
Here’s something from the sorta travel related department– I did a road trip in the new (to us) Delica down to the Oregon Country Fair, near Eugene (unfortunately Faye had to stay home and work). It was a test of the vehicle (ran fine) and the camper modification I did to it (needs some fine… — read more
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Not With a Bang, But a Whimper
A couple of weeks before the end of our trip–we’re home now–my laptop died. No screeching, or scratching, or warning of any kind. It just died in its sleep. I’ll admit to being more attached to my laptop than most, so I felt like I had lost a good friend. (Is it a Mac thing?)… — read more
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San Cristóbal de las Casas
After two and half weeks of indolence at the beach we were about as rested and ready to move on as we were likely to get. So we put our traveling clothes back on and got an overnight bus into Mexico’s southern mountains, to the town of San Cristóbal de las Casas, in the state… — read more