Seven Weeks in Peaceful, (mostly) Buddhist Countries...

In a rather roundabout way (see below), we've decided to spend seven weeks touring Southeast Asia (Oct 24-Dec 13). What you'll find on this site are the details of the trip - both our plans and, with a bit of luck, Updates on where we are and what we've seen.

Highlights of the trip included:

Two weeks in Vietnam, including Hanoi, the northern Hills on the Chinese border, Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), and the Mekong Delta region. A week in Cambodia, visiting the capital, Phnom Penh, and the astonishing Angkor Wat temple complex Bangkok for R&R (upon our initial arrival in Asia, and after return from the Hinterlands of Vietnam and Cambodia.) Northern Thailand, where we visited the kid that Kathy sponsors through Plan International; and visit a Heifer International goat project in a hilltribe village. By the end, we were ready for a vacation from our vacation, and headed down to a little-known island in the Andaman Sea, where we hung out in a beachfront villa for just under a week

How We Came to Plan this Trip:

We had such a wonderful time on our Mediterranean cruise this summer, that even before we returned home we had decided to sign up for a month-long, Athens - Singapore "repositioning" cruise with the same cruise line, then spend a couple weeks in Asia at the end of the cruise. The reservations were made, Kathy did detailed planning for the two dozen exotic ports were were visiting, and then... everything changed on September 11. Our cruise line filed for bankruptcy in late September - even if it hadn't, all the cruises that passed through the middle east were being cancelled.

So we had two round trip tickets to Singapore, seven weeks cleared off our calendar, and no place to go. Figured we might as well spend the whole time someplace safe and warm. Kathy began re-planning the seven weeks around visiting Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia. We've been to Thailand several times, and love it - and there's so much more for us to see. Scott's visited Vietnam on business a couple of times (but only to Hanoi); Kathy's never been there. Neither of us has been to Cambodia. We've planned the trip independently, and are going to have a wonderful time.