We have just returned from our longest, hardest and most rewarding trek of our journey in the Mustang region of Nepal. While we anticipated the difficult physical effort associated with the trek we were not prepared for the other challenges that came our way during this time.
Nepal is the 10th country on our expedition and one that is significant to us. Over ten years after we first planned to visit here, we finally made it to Nepal and our next trek.
One of the great pleasures of traveling is the food. During our time in Asia we have eaten a variety of food in the countries we have visited.
Laos is a land of rivers. As we continue our travels in Laos we took a three-day river journey down two major rivers in the country: the Nam Ou and Mekong.
We are spending more time in Laos than any other country during our five weeks in Southeast Asia. This is a remote area and by taking it slow we are hoping for “off the beaten path” cultural experiences. What we found was amazing!
While in Southeast Asia we have been traveling primarily by train. In fact, we have covered over 1,700 miles by rail since leaving Singapore. Thai trains are great for covering large distances in a relatively painless way.
Our visit to Thailand happened to coincide with the Songkran Thai New Year’s festival. However, the real attraction is the city of Ayutthaya itself.
We didn’t expect our first Asian train trip, from Singapore to Butterworth, Malaysia, to be an all night affair. The train was scheduled to arrive at 9:20pm, just in time for a good night’s sleep at our hotel. But things didn’t quite work out that way.
On our last stop on our ocean voyage between Sydney, Australia and Singapore we visited the island of Ko Samui in Thailand.
Yesterday we spent a day in Indonesia visiting the island of Bali. During our short time there we were exposed to a combination of its culture and nature.
Our time in Australia is coming to an end. After traveling through four states on planes, trains, buses and ferries, we are now in the northern section of this vast country, just smaller than the continental United States. The highlight of our time here was a visit to the Great Barrier Reef.
It has been two days since we have completed the Overland Track, our first trek of our journey.
We chose this hike because it is located in one of the most pristine natural areas on earth.
