Alan Irwin’s Blog

PHONESAVANH There isn’t a cheap flight. There isn’t a flight, period. Back on the bus. Seven hours. We can do this. We’re first to be picked up by a new-ish minivan and score the choicest seats. We’re psyched. Okay, well, we’re not psyched but we’re not in a state of total dread. For six hours, [...]

ROAD: TRIP We’re well past our first hour of the road trip to the north, if you don’t count the 90 minutes of trolling guest houses for other riders, van driver negotiations, and passenger swapping at the northern bus terminal. The minivans appear to be relatively new Hyundais and Toyotas – except for ours – [...]

LUANG PRABANG FOR YOUR BUCK Forty minutes after leaving Vientiane, we touched down at dinky Xieng Khouang airport and waited around with all the other passengers while two guys – probably flunkies from US Airways – appeared to be sorting the bags one by one on the tarmac. Luang Prabang is small, but this seemed [...]

(Click on photos to see them at full size. Click on veggie, sausage and temple photos to see albums with additional photos.) Thailand is a country of many man-made, as well as natural, wonders. Not that they compare with the magnificent Grand Palace, but the sheer number of fake identity cards available is in itself [...]

Sawadee y’all, Twenty-something years ago we tested our blooming relationship with a month-long trip to Thailand. Having both matriculated, we find ourselves here once more, this time on our way to Laos and testing only the limits of how much we can eat in day. So let’s just cut to the (culinary) chase, shall we? [...]