bangkok floods

the worst floods thailand has seen in 50 years are at their peak and the amount of water that's covering bangkok and its suburbs is astounding. these photos are unbelievable. we're an hour south of the city on dry land, but the city will likely be inundated for a long time to come. 

if you want to donate, i believe the thai red cross is accepting online donations. if anyone else has recommendations for other organizations that use funds wisely and are reputable, please leave a comment.

vietnam to laos to thailand

photo extravaganza! i'm slapping this together in haste since we have to catch a bus to chiang mai in a few minutes but if US magazine has taught us anything, it's that people really just want photos with captions anyway. am i wrong?

 we took a boat and went rock climbing on this island in halong bay in the north of vietnam. the name of the island escapes me now but the beach is called tiger beach. holy smokes.

 i am endlessly obsessed with the sea shells. those stripes!

never in my life have i been as sweaty as i was when this picture was taken. i had to take a rest on this ledge and marvel at the new levels of stink i'd achieved.

 waiting for the bus on cat ba island. we then spent the next 36 hours on buses to get from vietnam to laos.

 fortunately we had a stop in hanoi where bia hoi (translates to "fresh beer") helped ease the pain of the journey. a glass of it is 4,000 dong, or about 20 cents and everyone sits on teeny tiny stools streetside to drink. they even sometimes bring you ice cubes to put in it. i've been saying it for years: ice in (already watery) beer is a beautiful thing.

 we made it to laos. vang vieng was our first stop.

in search of a waterfall/swimming hole, we trudged through rice paddies and found some very rickety bridges but no swimming. 

 redemption! awesome waterfalls complete with a rope swing near luang prabang.

 our buddies from singapore. we all went climbing then took our sore arms to the local bowling alley (bowling in laos? who knew?!) for some good fun.

we left laos on a slow boat up the mekong river. it took 2 days on a boat that looks like this one. what you can't see are the seats, which were actual car seats, ripped out of the vehicle and bolted to wooden planks on the floor of the boat. it was incredible.

i love that someone thought "y'know, let's not enclose the giant deafening diesel engine on this boat or prevent anyone from losing an arm in its wildly spinning gears, but some curtains would really liven the place up."

we're off to more adventures with lax safety standards and beautiful views in chiang mai. more pictures coming soon.

halfway through; lessons learned

we celebrated the halfway mark of the trip two days ago. four weeks down, four to go. fortunately, our 36-hour journey from cat ba island in vietnam to vang vieng, laos gave us lots of time to reflect on some things. the first lesson: no matter who wins or loses in fashion (i brought home a landslide victory in the "accuracy" poncho category, for the record), most important is that no one really gives a crap about voting on your travel blog. i respect that, people.

the second lesson: just because 12-year-old girls ride motorbikes in asia while talking on their cell phones, doesn't mean those little machines are easy to drive. we rented a scooter on cat ba island and i got pretty pumped to be driving it, so i hopped a curb to park on the sidewalk, and although i thought i had a good hold on the brakes, i managed to crash directly into a cafe. a total disaster at 1 mph! luckily no one was hurt, no damage done, and the cafe owner hardly batted an eye.

someone take that thing away from her.

the third lesson: bugs grow to terrifying proportions in warm climates. this isn't really news to anyone, but still. it doesn't cease to be freaky. this spider was in our room in cambodia. i put the soda can there for scale, took the picture and ran. i think i heard him crack it open on our way out. we also saw a praying mantis in vietnam that was as long as my entire hand and craned its neck to focus its creepy bug eyes on us and watch us walk by. and huge tarantulas for sale by street food vendors in cambodia. yikes.

the fourth lesson: nothing on this green earth is cuter than a baby duck. we turned our motorbike right around when we passed them to get a closer look. face it, you are powerless against this little yellow tractor beam.

fifth lesson: pictures take forever to upload. i'm losing my patience, so until we have a better internet connection, i leave you with the duckling. enjoy!

america's next top poncho (vote here!) (vote now!)

someone once said that in fashion, either you're in or you're out. and ponchos are unfortunately in because it's been raining steadily since we arrived here in hoi an, vietnam several days ago. so just before we got a serious case of stir-crazyness indoors, we decided a contest was in order and hit the streets for our very own international photo shoot. in true haute couture style we chose inspirational themes for each photo, and then improvised our poses in the moments before the picture was taken. 

this isn't just for fun, people. this is for glory. and a lifetime supply of maybelline lip gloss. take a look at each of the photos and cast your vote below. in case you can't tell, josey is wearing the orange poncho and i'm in yellow. results coming soon! (pending the inevitable recount) here goes:

"dawn on the mekong"

 

"flowing white rose"

"entire family on moped"

"close up"

  

please submit your most honest opinions here: