Are there still scammers in Bangkok? Our flight from Chiang Mai back to Bangkok, then taxi to the Shangri-La Hotel was seamless. I like it when that happens, it makes up for the times when it doesn't. We were offered an upgrade right away for the Horizon Club and in a weak moment I took it and it has paid off since. Access to the club with incredible view of the city and river, huge breakfast spread each morning and a happy hour with anything you could ever w...

One of the first rules about traveling ought to be, 'always have a back-up plan.' I did all the research the night before as to how we were going to get 60 miles out of town to the elephant conservation center on the way to Lampang. We were to go across the river on the iron bridge and see the Tourism Authority Office. There we could buy a ticket for the local bus headed south. When we got across the bridge there were about four businesses that said Tourist O...

Our 'guide' Kan (sounds like a combination of gun and gone) met us early morning in the lobby of our hotel. I dispelled my preconceived ideas right away that we would sit down and discuss the plans for the day. He already had a plan -- we were going to the top of the mountain. That was fine, I wanted to go there anyway. We hailed a songthaew -- a converted pickup truck with two benches in the back and a metal roof. It's kinda like a bus in that they have r...

23 March 2013 Andy and I left Laguna Beach from LAX on a Thursday afternoon. The flight over was pretty much uneventful. The good news was for the first leg into Seoul, Korea we had an extra seat next to us. It's always nice to have a little extra space during a 14 hour flight. I felt rather tall, and looking around me I noticed that Andy and I were some of the few 'white folks' on the plane. It's always interesting to have that check and reaffirms what a g...