Ultimate Adventure 2008, unfolded

I decided! You get it all at once. Brace yourself, it's a little long. More pictures are on my previous entry.

MAGICAL KINGDOM LEG - I won't say much about our flights out to Asia, except that Princess and I were stranded in LA for 36 hours. We went to Disneyland and saw Kung Fu Panda. (Fitting, yes?)

CITY LEG – Bangkok. We got the cheapest massage ever (and continued to do so about every other day) and explored one of the most popular night markets, Kao San Road. We spontaneously decided to get weaves in our hair from one of the street vendors. They said it'd take 2-3 hours. It took 6. I had blond and purple hair. Princess had brownish blond and pink. Aw yeah. That was our one night in Bangkok.

We only ended up getting about an hour and a half the next day to see the Grand Palace (a golden and sparkly assault on the eyes) and the largest reclining Buddha statue in the world. It is seriously big.

BEACH LEG – Phuket (Poo-ket). We filled our time with SCUBA diving (not even certified!), snorkeling and a hike on Phi Phi Island, and plenty of chilling out. We also had a very non-American zoo experience, with pictures with tigers and pythons, and a dude putting his head in a croc's mouth.

BOHEMIAN LEG – Chiang Mai. I'm a big fan. We spent the first two days on a crazy trek adventure outside of the city that included hiking about 18K over some mountains and through some rice paddies and under a waterfall, sleeping in a bamboo hut under mosquito nets, taking a ride on an elephant, and going down a river on a bamboo raft.

We found a local massage therapist who gave us a crash course in arm and back massage. Princess also found a Buddhist university and we got to help the monks practice their English. It was fascinating. 

HISTORICAL LEG – Cambodia. We saw Angkor Wat and WOW!! I usually get bored pretty fast with historical landmarks, but we were having a great time exploring! Is it Hindu? Is it Buddhist? Yes! We spent two days there – one on foot, another on bikes.

We also visited a monastery that had been built where the killing fields had been from the days of Pol Pot. Princess and I realized that most of the people we saw had probably been here for it all - even our tuk tuk driver friend. So we asked him. He was there, and he told us all about it. It was very sobering.

BOATING LEG – Vietnam. My strongest memory of Hanoi is of the scooters. I've been to a few countries and seen some pretty insane driving. But Hanoi is in a league all of its own. It is the most organized chaos on the road I have ever seen.

We took a day trip to see Ha Long Bay, which is in the standing to become one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. There are about 1900 small rock-cliff islands in this bay. It really is breathtaking. We were with a tour group, but we did get a chance to jump into a kayak and explore on our own around a few caves.

Princess and I had an unintentional extra day in Hanoi. (I won't go into the details of “why.” Suffice it to say, Delta left us high and dry, for the second time. Bad Delta!) BUT it gave us a chance to enjoy the lakes. Hanoi is full of them, and each one is surrounded by a beautiful park. We spent a few hours just coasting in a paddleboat on one of the lakes. It was the picture of contentment.

Some random tidbits I noticed:
*People drive on the left side of the road in Thailand, but not in Cambodia or Vietnam. Also, cars don't have heating - only air conditioning. 

*American music is prevalent, but they're a little behind. I heard The Cranberries' "Zombie" five times.

*It's offensive in Thailand to let the soles of your feet show.

*It took six men to get my Cambodian visa - one for each step of the process. There's efficiency for you.

*More often than not in Cambodia the price is listed in dollars instead riel (Cambodian $), which is weird.
*I really love Cambodian curry, even more than Thai, which I did not expect.
*Crossing the street took us at least five minutes everywhere we went in Vietnam, regardless of the size of the street.

After all is said and done, I couldn’t have made that trip at this point in life with anyone but Princess. She handled all the stress and unexpected changes like a champ, and she made the most of every moment. Everyone says that now we should apply for Amazing Race. We think they’re right, and we're already working on it.