Traveling with the Stanfords 2025

Friday the 18th saw us up at 5:30am for the quick 20 minute flight to Mandalay.  Our driver Mr Toa met us at the airport and we drove an hour to our hotel. There was a bit of a problem at the hotel where we found out they didn't have our reservation, and apparently there weren't any rooms available.  We weren't that keen on the hotel and were getting ready to roll the dice and try somewhere else when magically a room appeared.  The hotel wasn't great, but we were too tired to try anywhere else so took it for just the two nights. After lunch we explored some temples, one of which included the worlds largest book.  Basically three Buddhist books engraved on large marble stones and put inside a small marble shelter, quite impressive.  Mandalay wasn't as busy and crowed as Yangon, but still a bit overwhelming.   On Saturday we set off to explore some areas outside of the city, and had a fabulous day.  The weather was great, and provided so...

On Sunday January 13 th we flew from Siem Reap, Cambodia to Yangon, Myanmar via Bangkok. We had to change airlines and planes in Bangkok to get to Yangon. When we got to Yangon we were standing at the baggage claim watching all the bags roll out. Out came our small blue bag but no large blue bag. We stood there for awhile hoping that suddenly the bag would show up, but no such luck. So all of the sudden we had one of our first potential crisis. The problem was we were only going to be in Yangon for two days and if we did not get the bag we would have to completely alter our plans or maybe even have to blow off the Myanmar part of the trip. So we frantically tried to impress upon the baggage supervisor how important it was to get our bag. Trying to get that point across with a pretty big language barrier was nerve wracking. To make matters worse Sara was pretty sick at this point, on antibiotics and definitely not feeling worth a damn. We went into the city and checked ...

We flew from Hanoi, Viet Nam to Siem Reap, Cambodia on Wednesday 9 th January.  Our tuk-tuk driver, Savuai met us at the airport and took us to the hotel after a quick stop at the ATM, which provided cash in crisp US dollars.   The next day we got up before dawn to start exploring Angkor Wat, which is a huge ancient complex with many stone temples.  Sara had a high fever and a hacking cough and felt like Patient Zero in a medical epidemic!  However determined not to miss anything we spent the day exploring several temple complexes. The temples are made of huge pieces of stone and there are many intricate carvings in the stone.   I have no idea how they moved all the stone around to construct the temples.  Many of the temples have been restored; however, a few of the lesser visited ones are being taken over by the jungle and have the iconic tree roots growing over the stone. Angkor Wat is a huge tourist destination so there are big ...

Adventures in Viet Nam We flew from Laung Prabang, Laos to Hanoi, Viet Nam on January 3rd. The good news is that John did not have any flashbacks from his 1969 experience. The bad news is that it was cold, grey, and overcast the whole time we were there. We visited the city of Hanoi, went north a stone’s throw from the Chinese border, and east of Hanoi to Ha Long Bay. When we got to Hanoi we checked in to our hotel, Hanoi Elegance Diamond and they upgraded us to an Executive room which was really nice and well worth the extra $20.  As soon as we settled in we decided we should do a little walking tour of the “Old Quarter” which is where our hotel was located. The roads and streets of Hanoi are extremely busy with all kinds of street vendors and there are thousands of motor scooters darting around on the roads. Their roads are complete “jungle rules”, it is every man or woman for themselves. Crossing a road is an adventure in itself. It was kind of funny because you woul...

Chanting Monks in Laos On January 1st we flew to Luang Prabang in Laos. We again stayed in the old part of town, nestled in the corner between the Mekong and Nam Kang rivers. The town is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and is known for its many Buddhist temples and monasteries. Every morning the local monks walk the streets collecting alms, which provides their food for the day. We got up before dawn both days to view the alms tradition and to wander the streets before it got busy. The Mekong river is very peaceful that early in the morning. One afternoon we joined the monks for their evening chant, which was a special experience and very relaxing. We recorded their chants, as we sat on the floor behind them. It was interesting talking to one of the monks, who has plans to join a monastery in the capital city and go to University to be an accountant. We are really glad we visited Luang Prabang, which was highly recommended by our friend Larry Henderson. Apparently the town is si...

New Years Eve - Elephants and Lanterns We flew to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand on Dec 30th.  It was a bit quieter than Bangkok, but not much since everyone had traveled to the town for New Years Eve.  We stayed in the center of town, which is full of of small alleys and streets with plenty of guest houses and cafes.  That evening we wandered around town through the night market full of vendors selling everything imaginable to buy or eat.  We of course stopped in to view a few Wat's, one in particular was very ornate, and we stopped to listen to the monks performing their evening prayer chant.  The temple was full of hanging prayer flags put up by people to wish for good luck in the coming year.  Sara hung one and asked for best wishes for humanity, the earth and all the animals.  (So you are all covered for 2013). The next day (Dec 31st) we visited an elephant rescue park.  It was...

Happy New Year, Welcome to 2013! We have had a very hectic first week in Thailand.  We left early Christmas Day, and 14 hours later landed in Tokyo. Thankfully we used miles and were traveling in Business class. After a 4 hour stop we flew to Hong Kong and fell into bed exhausted after 24 hours of travel. The next day (Dec 27)  we flew to Bangkok and arrived in the late afternoon at Sala Arun, our hotel in a perfect location.  Walking distance to the main temples, and on the river opposite Wat Arun - The Temple of Dawn.  It was dark by this point but we rushed out, excited to start our  exploring.  We stopped to take some night photos of Wat Pho, lit beautifully, with a full moon.  Unfortunately, John in a daze of travel exhaustion had a "trip and fall" and did a face plant onto the side walk with his camera and tripod crashing to the ground.  Fortunately John and the camera equipment were ok, but we both thought the trip cou...