Notes from the 'Nog

January 2010 ...set off for a five day trek. The van left Luang Prabang, winding higher and higher into the hills. We got out in a Khmu vi...

January, 2010 ...about 100 of us are herded onto different boats. Our group is led to a small vessel that is little more than a roofed cano...

I mourn those who lost their lives that day. And I mourn those who were killed in their memory. America, I hope you get over your national ...

January 1-6, 2010 ...our first act of the new year is to catch a bus bound for Sam Neua. Far to the north on the Vietnam border, Sam Neua ...

December 30-31, 2009 ...caught a minibus bound for Phonsavan . An overcrowded vehicle pulled away to reveal another one with ample sp...

December 27-29, 2009 ...awoke to the sound of pre-dawn roosters. One of them had a crow so bad that it kept Miki and I in bed, giggl...

December 24-26, 2009 ...this being Xmas eve, Miki and I had dinner at the Cote d'Azur French restaurant, culminating in a strol...

December 23-24, 2009 ...started the day in Sabadee Cafe, with a coffee that was the best I'd had since starting the trip. The poste...

December 23, 2009 ...We tuk-tuk to the Immigration post, get processed, then board a bus that crosses the Friendship Bridge. On the Lao s...

I'm a huge fan of irony. I've never demonstrated irony so perfectly as on that April afternoon in 2009 when I sat for an hour in f...

December, 2009 ...slept poorly, with a bad stomach. Awoke at 4:40, vomited at 6, on a bus by 7. A long day of praying that my bowels wo...

December 2009 ...Bustling, noisy, expensive city. People less friendly than in Siam Reap, but then again, they've had a harder history...

December 2009 ...The distended belly of a child playing with friends. Another boy slides naked down the rough wooden steps of his home. Ye...

December 2009 ...Bayon smirking faces hiding secrets they won't reveal... ...monotonal hum of cicadas creates a supernatural, otherworld...

December 2009 ...out of Bangkok, early Sunday morning. A driver's ed course on the outskirts of town, a simple layout of tires and con...

December 2009 ...Our Thai friends Dew and Pom drove us north. When they pick us up, Dew is not allowed to enter the house that we're r...