Epic Adventures in Southeast Asia

Our journey northward from Bangkok got off to an auspicious start when we learned from our son Jake and his wife Isa on Valentine’s Day that they are expecting our first grandchild in August!    They were even able to send a package to our hotel in Thailand with a memento of the event (a feat in and of itself).    Certainly the most memorable highlight we’ll have on this trip! Having now departed Thailand for Vietnam, I can return to the topic that, out of an abundance of caution, I had avoided delving into during my previous post - reports of scandals in the Thai royal family that would make eyes roll even in Buckingham Palace (well, maybe not this past week….).    And for those of you who may think I was being overly cautious (not a trait I am often accused of), bear in mind that since 2020 nearly 300 people have been charged with insulting the monarchy, with some individuals receiving 50-year prison sentences for social media posts deemed insulting to th...

I decided to post about our first 10 days in Thailand so as to avoid you all having to slog through a tome at the end of our 3 weeks here (instead you’ll get to slog through 2 half-tomes!). Our first stop in Thailand was a beach resort in Khao Lak, about a 1-1/2 hour drive north of Phuket, which we chose due to its proximity to the best diving spots around the Similan and Surin Islands in the Andaman Sea on the western coast of Thailand.  I was unaware that Khao Lak is also sadly famous because it was the hardest hit part of Thailand in the devastating 2004 tsunami, with over 4,000 confirmed deaths and the destruction of nearly 80% of the buildings in the immediate coastal area.  Some of you may have seen the movie The Impossible, starring Tom Holland and Naomi Watts, which was set in Khao Lak, and which recounted the true and harrowing tale of one family caught in the tsunami, or may remember the account of the supermodel Petra Nemcova who lost her boyfriend in the tsunami an...

  Last Saturday we boarded a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu, the capital of the Malaysian state of Sabah on the island of Borneo.     This was our 2nd trip to Borneo (the first was a volunteering stint at an orangutan sanctuary in Indonesian Borneo in 2023) - an amazing destination for those interested in real wilderness and unusual wildlife [As some of you know, I am not a fan of AI - I think it will lead to the end of society as we know it, if not humanity altogether; that being said, in the time we have left on the planet, I guess it can be kinda fun].  Caption suggestions for the photo above are welcomed!  The more likely to go viral, the better.  It’ll be definitely be on my sign at the next No Kings Rally I attend in Boston…. Much of the wildlife here can only be found on Borneo, the 3rd largest island on the planet after Greenland (not part of the US yet as far as I know, though I have been trying NOT to follow the news while I’m away) and...