We can’t believe another year has passed. And, yes, we are still in Asia. To celebrate 2010, we’ve put together a video retrospective covering our travels to Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand. Stay tuned for more TnT adventures to come in 2011!

Many visitors come to our site and focus on the blog postings – which we highly appreciate. However, those who only click into the blog may not realize that more than 60% of our traffic is actually people exploring our photography. So if you have not had a look yet, take a peek at our Pictorials Page.

American Homeland Security has now blocked incoming airmail packages over 500 grams (1 pound). Post offices here in Thailand report the new 500 gram policy began December 8, 2010 and will supposedly continue until February 7, 2011, although it remains uncertain whether the new policy will actually end on that date.

American travelers abroad take note, this effectively makes it impossible to send any gifts or souvenirs by airmail to the United States until the policy is reversed. You can, however, still send packages by surface mail, which from here in Thailand would take about 2-3 months.

Merry Christmas to all our friends around the world. We hope everyone is having a great holiday season. It’s a freezing 31 C (88 F) today, so it was a bit difficult getting out of the pool this morning.

Bizarrely, a man carrying a large bag entered our apartment building yesterday and stole the shoes sitting in front of everyone’s apartment doors. (You don’t wear shoes into your apartment in Thailand.) Little Cindy Lou Who downstairs saw him running away from the scene!!! Either Santa Claus got really confused or there’s a Grinch in Thailand. Luckily, he didn’t seem to want our skanky, ripped-up flip-flops. 😉

Traveling through Cambodia earlier this year, we ended up with so much video footage that we never got around to assembling it into a movie. It’s been bugging me ever since. But after our trip to Angkor Wat with Tony’s mom Freda, I saw my chance and finally sat down to put it all together. Well, here it is:

Thank you Freda, Michaela, Stephan, Beverly, Lisa and Garrett for joining us here and making our adventures in Cambodia such a great experience. Speaking of Lisa and Garrett, they will be back with us soon for more adventures in Thailand, so stay tuned.

So was the Cambodian border saga worth it? Absolutely. Mom has fallen in love with Angkor Wat as you can see in the gallery above. And although we were in Cambodia just ten months ago, we just can’t get enough of this spectacular world wonder.

Cambodia is an extraordinary country – but let’s be honest, crossing its borders makes you want to strangle people.

For years, corrupt Cambodian border guards and customs agents have hassled visitors to their country demanding bribes for everything from entry stamps to bird flu health forms. Sometimes, requests for bribes are aggressive and threatening. More frequently, requests are tongue in cheek pleas which appear more like jokes. Either way it’s annoying.

For this reason, we were quite happy to see that the Cambodian government’s latest attempts to crack down on corrupt border guards at the Poipet crossing had been reasonably successful. Of course, the guards still demanded a bribe before issuing our on-arrival visas, but when we said no they didn’t fight it. (Hey, that’s some kind of progress, isn’t it?) Sadly, most of the foreigners crossing the border still nervously paid bribes, some stupidly not even realizing they had done so. Oh well.

But our enthusiasm at the government’s modest reforms was relatively short-lived. It turns out Continue…

For visitors to Bangkok who are looking for something a little different, a visit to Chinatown and Little India just might be the thing. We recently took my mom on a walking tour of  the two neighborhoods to show her another side of Bangkok.

We started in Chinatown’s crowded markets taking in the sites, sounds, and smells which give the neighborhood such an incredible vibe. The tight backstreets are full of Buddha kitsch, crackling street grills, two dollar disco-era wigs, gold stores, pomelo and pomegranate stands, Hello Kitty paraphernalia, herbalists, discount feather boas, cheap plastic crap, incense stands, hula-dancing Santa Clauses, dried shark fins, red paper lanterns, and whatever the Chinese mind Continue…

When Thomas, mom and I stopped for a quick latte at MBK’s ground-floor Mister Donut, we had no idea what we were in for. Fifteen minutes after ordering, we started bitching to ourselves about how slow the service was. After all, we were the only customers in the shop.

When the waitress set down our beautiful cups of coffee art, we suddenly realized she had spent the last fifteen minutes swirling designs into our lattes. Damn, that’s a lot of work for a fast-food latte!!!

Bangkok is surprisingly Christmasy considering we are in a Buddhist country. The downtown shopping district is decked out in wonderfully flashy Christmas kitsch. Every evening, we stroll along the elevated walkway between the two super malls Siam Paragon and Central World Plaza to check out the decorations. As Christmas approaches, the holiday displays seem to be Continue…