March 16 - Yangon. Took to the streets early excited to explore more and this time take some pictures. Found a great little market near our guest house. Spent the morning exploring the city streets and taking a few photos. Then had lunch with a Burmese lady who we meet on the street while looking up directions in the Lonely Planet guide book. She helped us with some questions about the culture and language. Later, headed to the China town area and continued to explore until sun set.

So far the people and atmosphere have been great. I'm really enjoying walking the city streets. The poverty is obvious and much like I saw in Cuba. Much more interesting life here then the other parts of Asia I've visited so far.

Grandma's Thai Cooking sent me a link to pictures from the cooking class in Chang Mai. Here is the link:
http://www.grandmasthairecipes.com/gallery/march/2009_03_09/index.htm

March 15 - Bangkok -> Yangon, Union of Myanmar (Burma). Took a plane at 7am. Arrived 8am with little to no sleep from the day before. Got hustled in the Bangkok airport. I had dangerous levels of shampoo and scissors that couldn't cut paper let alone hold up a plane. They didn't take well to my arguments. So no more showering or nose hair trimming for the rest of the trip.

Found a great little guest house off a ways from the tourists called Mother Land Inn (2). Walked the city streets for a long time. Refrained from taking pictures just to get a good feel for the city and get over the change in cultures. First impressions? Stay away from Indians trying to rip you off. Try not to smell the raw sewage if you can. Is this Havana?

March 14 - Chang Mai -> Bangkok. It is what it is. A long day on a bus 4pm-2am.

March 13 - San Kamphaeng -> Mae Takrai National Park. Found the park and headed to the visitors center. Walked around the lake near the park entrance. Some guy followed us around for too long. Not sure what he wanted. Probably to get paid to guide us around the park. He was still drunk from the night before and didn't look like the type of person you want following you in the woods. Eventually he got hint that he wasn't welcome. Next we rode over some mountain passes. The views were poor due to the smoke from the burning forest. It seemed like the Thai's burn the whole forest every year. Found a small village tucked back in the woods and walked up a long flight of stairs to a Wat. Then headed for Chang Mai stopping in a sleepy little town for lunch.

March 12. Samoeng -> San Kamphaeng. Headed off in the morning for the hot springs in San Kamphaeng. Eventually found Melodie's first hot springs. Fun to visit but nothing compared to Old Faith full. While gassing up a very nice Thai showed us how to get to a home stay in San Kamphaeng. Got dinner at a local market and had a drink with some of the local drunks.

March 11 - Chang Mai and around. Rented a motto and checked out of the guest house. Got on the road headed to Wat Phra That/ Doi Suthep. Long up hill twisting winding road. Fun to ride but with two people on a 125cc bike that has seen better days it was slow going. After the Wat we headed to a village in the mountains. Mostly just a tribe shopping complex. Headed farther up the road to another smaller village. The park was closed to camping so the plans of sleeping in the park didn't work out. Instead we headed to Samoeng. Found a great little road side market to eat dinner and arrived in the dark at the guest house.

March 10 - Got some web links for anyone concerned about travel in Burma (Myanmar). Please believe me when I write that it is a very safe country. The best resource I've found with the most accurate and reasonable information is Wiki travel.

http://wikitravel.org/en/Myanmar

Give it a try, its right on. Also I'm more convinced that Internet will not be a problem for most my time in Burma.

March 9 - Cooking Lessons. Spent the day learning how to make my favorite Thai dishes. Great class and very knowledgeable instruction. Check out the pictures on flickr.

March 8- Chang Mai. Signed up for a cooking class on the 9th with Grandma's Kitchen. Rented a bicycle and headed south with my compass. Explored the southern reaches of the city before heading back for the night bazaar. And they mean bazaar. Craziest night market I have yet to see. Miles of street vendors and people packed in like sardines. Craziness. Great street food!

March 7 - Chang Mai. After a sleepless night on the bus I arrived in Chang Mai. A much smaller city than Bangkok yet more touristy as a whole. Full of trekking groups headed to the north of Thailand. People looking for a cheap message and of course the masses of Thai and foreign tourists looking for some cheap goods at the night market. Spent the morning looking for a good guesthouse and found a great one. Then got oriented with the down town city streets. Its a relatively small downtown surrounded by a moat. Spent some time looking into Thai cooking courses and motor bike rentals. At dusk headed to the "local's" market for a street food snack and some exploring.

March 6 - Bangkok. A day of Internet. Trying to get as many pictures posted as possible!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevenpassmore/collections/

March 5 - Bangkok. Finally got the Burma visa. Extremely nice to have my passport back in my possession. Had lunch with an American who teaches SAT training courses in Bangkok. He is headed to Burma for a month long meditation retreat. Something I'm considering doing for a week. Bought bus tickets to Chang Mai in the north of Thailand to pass sometime until the flight to Burma. Waited for the bus for an hour until they informed us the bus broke down. Got a free night in a guest house and another day in Bangkok.

March 4 - Bangkok. Explored the city and when to a night market.

March 3 - Bangkok. Got paper work into the Burma visa office. It took 4 hours and the line was almost out the door. No problems other than having to fill out a work history. Something only Americans have to do for a visa, not sure why. Booked a flight to Burma leaving on the 15th of March @ 7am. Learned that no internet is allow in the country. So its going to be next to impossible to keep in touch with family and friends during the 4 week stay.

March 2 - Bangkok. Headed to the Burma,"Union of Myanmar" as recognized by the UN, embassy to obtain visas. Took the local ferry and sky train. Turns out Monday is a holiday and no visas are issued until Tuesday. Got info on the needed documents. Passport copies, photo's, 810 baht and 3 days. Took a bus to China town and walked the markets. Did some more research on the political climate and other travel issues in Burma. Long story short is its painfully safe to travel in Burma. The only problems stem from being forced to give the government money. Which is a problem if your into human rights since Burma is known for neglecting them. Once your in the heart of the country you can spend you dollars on the people who need the money. To get there you have to purchase a visa from the government and they force you to fly into the country (no land travel from borders). The reason for this isn't safety due to border drug trade and terrorists. Its because the Burma government makes a large amount of money from your flight.

March 1 - Cambodia - Thailand. Long day of bus travel. Chris from Sihanoukville ended up being on the bus. No problems with the border crossing or visa. Trouble finding a cheap room on arrival in Bangkok. Walked the madness that is Kosan Market, "Charlie Foxtrot".

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevenpassmore/collections/

PICTURES ARE UP! I'm still working on getting all of them up. They are just a sample of the best ones. None have been corrected in Photoshop or anything. That will have to wait for a few months.

Someday I might get photo albums on my blog if I can figure that one out...

Working on Flickr account for the rest of the night so that some day soon you can view pictures!

Feb 28. Phnom Penh. Walked the city streets. Took pictures and tried to explore the local neighborhoods in a similar fashion to when I was in Cuba. I found that Phnom Penh has much of the same feel. Unlike Bangkok or the cities of Laos. Had some conversations with locals and continued my Khmer language lessons. Pondered why so many women wear pajamas all day here? In the evening got a bus ticket to Bangkok. Hung out with some French guys and got to use the few French words Melodie had been teaching me. Eat some really good Indian food with them and gave them the opportunity to practice a little English.

Feb 27. Phnom Phen, Cambodia. Took the bus to Phnom Phen. Looked for Melodie's bag which was left on the bus. Got it back. Including the camera and wallet inside. Minus $20's. I forgot to mention they use US dollars and Riel in Cambodia. Riel is just used as change for large us bills. Got a much needed shirt at the market. Mine flew away on a speed boat ride. A smart wool gift to the ocean gods. Got a stomach bug which put me to bed early.

Feb 26. Bought ticket back to Phnom Penh. Spent the day of the beach. Played with some local kids. Tic Tac Toe and then, lets pull Steve's leg hair. Melodie chased them off. Went to Dolphin Bar with folks from Montreal. Ended up being the only native English speaker.

Feb 25 - Missed my flight to NYC JFK. Wrote the parents and work trying to defend my decision. Did laundry. Started making plans for visiting new country and more of Thailand. Bought some groceries instead of eating out...

Feb 24. Made plans to head back to the main land and get a bus ticket to Bangkok for my flight back to reality. Before leaving I met Armin from Toronto Canada. Had a conversation about life and love. He went to Cambodia to sponsor several children through school. We talk about what it means to travel and how best to do it. Made plans to met up back in North America. Got my first serious thoughts of staying over seas. On the boat back went for another snorkel. Got a huge $3 tuna BBQ dinner. Met Jon Paul who has been traveling for 4 years on his "Y2k" programmer savings.

Feb 23. Upgraded to a bungalow. Went snorkeling off the beach. Relaxed @ the bar. Eat coconuts in the sun. Learned about the recent sale of the island to the Chinese.

Feb 22. Sihanoukville, Cambodia. left the main land for Bamboo Island (Koh Ru?). Got to snorkle off the boat for a half hour and swan dive of the bow. Quit little island with only two basic bungollow operations. Ended up getting a dorm bed on the sun set side of the island. Unbeleivable amount of trash on the beaches. I hear its nothing compared to India but that didn't make it any better.

Feb 21. Siem Reap to Sihanoukville. Left early with a mid day stop in Phnom Penh. Went to the Central Market for some lunch and a new swim suit purchase. Met Hugue, a French Canadian, on the bus. Him and Melodie eat spiders that the vendors had at a bus stop. I didn't and I'm ok with that, no regrets at all. Got rooms in Sihanoukville.

Feb 20. Siem Reap. Ended up missing all the buses to Sihanoukville. Decided to wander some locals markets then search for a hotel swimming pool for a mid day cool off. Scheduled a morning bus and moved to a guest house farther off the beaten path.

Feb 19. Angkor Ruins. 4 of us crammed into the Tuc Tuc for the sunrise. It turned out to be cloudy so the rise was weak. I took more pictures of the people all crowded around then the ruins. Spent the rest of the day exploring the most amazing wonder I've ever seen. Mid day we took a break from the heat and had a great conversation with our driver. He had plenty to say about Cambodia and its history. The most shocking info was that Cambodia sold the use of Angkor to South Korea. So the 20 dollar entrance fee and anything you spend inside ends up in S. Korea. This was sad for me because Cambodia needs the money. The only bright side is that its a World Heritage Site so the poor restorations have stopped in favor of more professional means. Went to view sun set from a ruin on top of a large hill. Sun set was just as spectacular as sun rise. The crowds were fun to photograph. Ran into Melodie from Vang Vieng and Don Det on the Pub street in Siem Reap. Decided to head to Sihanoukville next.

Feb 18. Siem Reap, Cambodia. Caught an early bus to Siem Reap home of the Angkor ruins. When I arrived I ran into some South African girls I had met in Phnom Penh. We agreed to meet up for drink and discuss splitting a Tuc Tuc for the next days ride around the ruins. At their guest house I ran into Tom who I hung out with at 4,000 islands (Don Det, Lao). Got a few drinks and heard about every ones travels. Off to bed early so I can get up for the 5am ride to sun rise @ the ruins.

Feb 17. Phnom Penh. Rented a moto bike and driver. Stopped first at Toul Sleng Genocide Museum (S-21). Caught the 10am video about S-21 and the killing fields. Very power full experience and somber start to the day. I split my shorts during the bus ride yesterday so I stopped at the Russian market and got some new digs. Next up the National museum. Forgot to pay the entrance fee but I didn't feel bad. Not worth my time. The Palace turned out to be closed until 1pm so I got some lunch and checked out the Mekong river side. Checked out the Palace after it opened up. The highlight was a replica of Angkor Wat and a gold and diamond encrusted Buddha. Happy pizza.

Feb 16 - Laos to Cambodia. Left Pakse today for a marathon bus ride to Cambodia. Almost missed the bus and earned a morning jog up and down 4 flights of stairs. A mini bus took me too the Laos border. Which closed a few years ago when Laos stopped offering visas on arrival from Cambodia. Here we got stamped for exit and changed mini bus to a over capacity mini van. Plus an unofficial stamp fee. Next stop the new Cambodian border crossing. Here we change mini's again then pay for our visas and extra unofficial stamp fees and charges. The rest of the ride to Strung Treng I had a little Laos guy sitting on my lap due to the cramped bus. We shared fish chips. Got on a bigger bus with even less seats for everyone in Strung Treng. Found Bjorn from my trek in Luang Prabang sitting on the bus. We regretfully shared a seat. He's about 6'5" so between me and him we didn't even get close to fitting in the tiny seats. It would have been ok if leg room existed in the isle. Unfortunately a group of drunk English guys were passed out there. Finally the trip ended at Bueng Kak lake in Phnom Penh. Got a cheap room some dinner and passed out.