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Friday, March 16, 2012

Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Hawaii

Final days in Thailand...

Koh Chang Island sunset
Shopped till dropped at MBK mall in Bangkok (including Cass's cute new glasses :)
Thanks to Gera's friends Lana and Ian for meeting up with us at some of Bangkok's finest hang outs.  

Sporting the new suit on our way up to the Skybar to celebrate the end of our time in SE Asia.


Hong Kong



Space is a premium in the ultra urban Hong Kong, this is our entire room :)


Symphony of lights played to music every night at 8pm

Hawaii... back in the US!


Thanks so much to the family for meeting us for an amazing week on "the big island"
The view from the house was unbelievable... thanks again Johnny, great pick
... the pool and hot tub were not bad either :)

black sand beach in waipio valley





volcanoes national park
Snorkeling and whale watching trip was so fun!
baby humpback whale
Cheers!  Off to the mainland...

Monday, February 27, 2012

Southern Laos, Cambodia and back to Thailand

Losing the will for long travel days we've spent the past two weeks with a slower pace through southern Laos, Cambodia and Thailand and much of that time on islands and beaches. 


Our first stop was Don Det river island in Southern Laos on the Mekong






Mmm noodle soup... delicious and cheap
17 is not the most people we've packed into a mini-van on this trip (in Tanzania we had a matatu ride with 23 other lucky people) but with baggage it was pretty tight crossing into Cambodia.
Kratie, Cambodia


endangered Irrawaddy river dolphins in the Mekong River
The geckos here are really cool looking and huge at about a foot long.


Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital city


After reading some Cambodian history to prepare ourselves we visited the Tuol Sleng Museum- a former high school that was turned into a security prison and torture facility during the mid to late 70s under the Khmer Rouge communist regime.  After a chaotic WWII and bombings during the Vietnam war, the Khmer Rouge era claimed approx 2 million lives. 20,000 people were held at Tuol Sleng prior to being executed...











... needless to say the Cambodian people have dealt with a tremendous amount of war, violence and loss in relatively recent history.  The museum is a difficult place to visit as it holds back very little, if any, of the details of what went on here.  We are amazed at the strength of the Cambodian people and are thankful for their kindness to us during our visit.  


Royal Palace


National Museum
Moving out of the city we stopped for two nights on the coast in Sihanoukville and then moved to more remote beaches Koh Thmei island
















After short stays in Chi Phat village and Koh Kong on our way to the Thai border, we're now on Koh Chang island in southeast Thailand... We plan to enjoy the island for a week before heading back to Bangkok.