WELCOME TO FARNSNIENTE

Today dawns bright but still very cloudy. It seems we may not get any blue skies while in Lan Ha Bay. We have a quick cup of coffee and head

After the excitement of yesterday, we are a bit tentative about eating, or really doing anything this morning. I feel better, but not totall

In Bali they talk about having Bali Belly. In Thailand tourists strive to avoid the dreaded Thailand Tummy. In Cambodia you definitely don’t

We have our normal wake, coffee, and breakfast, but is also packing. We’ve been aboard The Lotus Navigator for seven nights, so our stuff is

Today is the first of the month, so we again say “Rabbit, Rabbit” first thing, for good luck. Per the calendars (that we’re seeing in the lo

Until now, when we’ve wanted to go ashore, we walked some gang-plank and we were there. Not so here in Vietnam. We’ll be using Sampans. The

On many ships one occasionally gets an ‘At sea day’, when you have zero ports of call. Today, for us, will be an ‘At sea’ day, but we’re on

After lunch, yesterday, we took a bus ride to the central market. This is a huge, octopus-shaped building with stalls everywhere. The progra

Today there is no post, effectively. The main part of today’s program is a visit to one of the killing fields and the associated genocide

Today is our first full day on the ship and our first excursions. When we wake up we find we’re docked, but just to a grassy bank. There’s a

Today we change location and mode of transportation, all in one. We’ll end our day on a ship motoring down (up?) the Mekong River. We do our

Today, on our todo list, is nothing. It’s a ‘down day’, but we’re thinking it will lift us up. We try to plan these from time to time to rec

We wake at 4am. It’s pitch black and will be for another two and a half hours. At 4:30 our guide Noy (as in "We’re a-Noy-ed to be awake at t

The call for “lights out/electricity off for 24 hours” went out at 6 am yesterday morning. It ended at 6am today. As if on cue, the birds

By law (in theory) today’s blog post should be short and boring. In the past, the government turned off electricity, phone, and internet ser

[Gentle reader, apologies in advance for the length of this entry.] Happy Spring Equinox! Today we have to be at the beach by 5:45 for a qui

It’s a bit of a funny ‘good bye’ at our hotel. They’re thanking us for coming and wishing us safe travels. Our answer is “See you soon… we’l

[Holy Cannoli, is our trip almost over? OK, no, but we did depart from Austin on February 25th and we’re approaching the 20th of March. We’v

On a prior day our guide Rina asked how much we’re able to say in Indonesian. Not much. She tried to teach us a few words. This morning, on

My how time flies! It’s already Saint Patrick’s Day and it seems like only yesterday it was Talk Like A Pirate Day. So far on our Asia trip