Crab with garlic and pepper

When we arrived on the small island of Koh Mak we were already hungry from the long but beautiful ride by “slow boat” from Koh Chang. After checking into our resort, Monkey Island, we asked the receptionist for a recommendation for local seafood. He said he knew of a restaurant that was open and after one phone call they were on their way to pick us up from the resort!

After about 20 minutes we were picked up by a middle aged Thai woman in a taxi which on these islands is always a covered pickup truck with 2 benches to sit on in the back. She drove us to the restaurant and the ride turned out to be a freebie (to and from the resort). Not only that, but after bringing us to the restaurant the driver then put on a smock and went back to cooking for the other customers already seated at the restaurant.
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The Pool at the Coral Resort, Kaibe Beach

We stayed a total of seven nights on the island of Koh Chang and four of those were at a very nice resort, the Coral Resort, located at the northern end of Kaibe Beach. This is not a huge resort or even a fancy resort like the ones a bit further North at Klong Prao Beach. But this resort had what we needed and more.

We opted for a private cabin with air-conditioning which ran us 2,000 Thai Baht ($53) a night. Identical cabins with a sea view were 2,500 but from our cabin the sea was still visible between the neighboring “sea-view cabins”. Walking about 20 meters brought us to the edge of the sea for an unobstructed view.
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Pancake & Dewey

A few days ago, while riding around Koh Chang, Kevin and I stopped to ask for directions and discovered a charming little cafe called “Lanna’s Cafe”. It is located at the southern tip of Kai Be beach, right before the road becomes steep and winding leading to Lonely Beach. The place is run by a Thai-Japanese couple who offer organic Arabic coffee grown in the North of Thailand. All the coffees and teas served can be bought in beautifully designed packages. Due to some inexplicable health streak we’re on, we opted for organic tea instead of coffee and it was excellent!

The cafe is a very cute spot for chillin’ in the afternoon. We stayed for drinks and a chat with Uta (one of the owners) about life in Koh Chang. Uta and her husband also have a cute kitty named Pancake (I suspect he got that nickname since his daily regiment consists of 22hrs laying flat on his belly, 2 hrs for eating). Pancake happens to look a lot like Dewey, the hero of a book I got as a gift from a friend for this trip. I just had to take a picture of the two of them!

I just returned from a fabulous weekend in Singapore. I enjoyed every little street, dish, neighborhood, park, drink and mall (yes, I admit it).

I arrived late in the evening and went straight to my hostel “Hangout @Mt. Emily” which was perfect. The hostel is located in Little India at a top of a hill, right by a beautiful park. It has a great vibe and a gorgeous rooftop deck with beautiful view of the city. It has been a long time since I last stayed at a youth hostel but I was glad to see nothing has changed, not even the browser version on the public computers.
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The latest film directed by Clint Eastwood stars Eastwood himself as a disgruntled Korean War veteran, Walt Kowalski, whose next door neighbors are a family of Hmong immigrants. I haven’t seen the film yet but after reading the NY Times movie review of Gran Torino and seeing the initial 8.3 rating on IMDB I’m really looking forward to seeing what looks to be another great and interesting film by Clint Eastwood!

One of Laos’s treasures which for the moment seems to be off the beaten path for large masses of tourists is Si Phan Don near the country’s southern border with Cambodia. We made the journey to Si Phan Don from Luang Prabang in the North by flying to Vientiane in the evening, staying overnight and flying from there to Pakse early the next morning. We then continued by bus to the main island of Don Khong. Our next destination was Siem Reap, Cambodia and, since I personally dislike backtracking while traveling, we wanted to find a way to cross the border and continue on by land or by river without taking the bus back to Pakse for the direct flight to Siem Reap.

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We arrived in Luang Prabang on Friday morning and did not have a hotel reservation. At the airport, we met a fellow traveler, Laura, who mentioned she was going to a guesthouse that may have another room available. We decided to share a tuk tuk to the city (about 4km away) and see if we could stay at that same place. After a short drive, we got into town and realized that Laura’s guesthouse did not have any available rooms but the guesthouse next door-Levady had a room. We quickly snatched that room and started our adventure.

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What? That’s it, we’re here already? Are you sure this plane isn’t continuing all the way to Hanoi? Do I really need to exit the plane now? Let’s just say, that’s how difficult it was to leave the luxurious world of Business Class on a 13.5 hour flight from New York to Tokyo. That was simply the most amazing flight I’ve ever taken!
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