We're Back...

We can't possibly describe all the amazing experiences from our three-week Southeast Asia tour (we wish we'd had three months to spend there!), so here's our Top 10:

10. Eating street food in Laos.

The banana pancakes were our favorite - sort of like banana-filled crepes, slathered in butter, sweetened with sugar and chocolate. We planned our nights around finding banana pancakes on the street (sad, but true).

9. Having a martini atop Dome Tower in Bangkok.

We enjoyed drinks in the swanky rooftop bar, savoring the city views and sampling the upscale nightlife. Hey, we could get used to this lifestyle!

8. Riding a cyclo in Hanoi.

A cyclo is a three-wheeled bicycle with seats up front, which means you're facing out to the Hanoi traffic, which means you're watching cars and people and motorcycles zoom inches from your face, which means you're terrified. Still, we had to try it.

7. Watching the sunset in Phuket.

The Andaman Sea is simply one of the most beautiful bodies of water we've ever seen, and the sunsets are just spectacular. After long hours of lazing around the beach, drinking tropical cocktails and sunning ourselves, it was the perfect way to cap the day.

6. Touring the Grand Palace.

This is Bangkok's true gem, for good reason. The sprawling compound is filled with exquisitely detailed buildings - walls garnished in gold and colored glass, gold-leaf murals that stretch forever. It's simply too difficult to capture how stunning the palace is, but imagine the most richly decorated, overdone, Donald Trump mansion you can think of, and then multiply it by ten.

5. Crossing a Hanoi street.

This is, without a doubt, the scariest thing we've ever done. There are no stop signs or traffic lights - or laws for that matter - when it comes to Hanoi streets. Motorcycles, cars, pedestrians and cyclos jockey for position, zooming every which way, and no one ever slows down. To cross the street, you just step off the curb and hope for the best. We managed to survive, although Leigh was clipped once or twice by a passing motorcycle. In this picture, you can just see my head amid the speeding traffic.

4. Seeing wild monkeys.

Yes, wild monkeys! They congregate around the tourist hot-spots in Angkor, Cambodia, to beg for fruit. The entire Angkor temple complex is surrounded by dense jungle, and these monkeys were a reminder of it. Some might quibble with ranking wild monkeys No. 4, but hey, when's the last time you saw a monkey that wasn't wearing a bellman's cap?

3. Exploring Ta Phrom.

While we're on the subject of Angkor, exploring the ruins of Ta Phrom lived up to the hype. I mean, they filmed Tomb Raider here, for crying out loud - it's that cool. Massive trees grow straight out of the stone, swallowing up the walls of this thousand-year-old temple complex. We took way, way too many pictures of these ruins, but we were digging the Lara Croft vibe.

2. Cruising Ha Long Bay.

Once you break free of the hundreds of other junks in the bay, Ha Long Bay is a serene and awesome experience. Rock outcroppings emerge from the water, hundreds upon hundreds of little islands as far as the eye can see. We sailed in and out of them, swam for a bit, kayaked around and then watched the sun set through the mist.

And the No. 1 experience in Southeast Asia was....

1. Observing Buddhist monks collect alms in Luang Prabang.

To be totally honest, Leigh didn't make it up for this one (they collect alms at dawn), so he missed the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see hundreds of saffron-covered Buddhist monks lining the streets to receive offerings of sticky rice, candies and flowers. But truly, this No. 1 designation isn't just about the alms (although it was very cool to see) - it's about the whole town. Luang Prabang was hands-down our favorite part of the trip. It's a sleepy, mist-covered village in the Laotian mountains, filled with warm and friendly people, steeped in Buddhist culture and lore (and thankfully, the city seems to have forgiven America for bombing the hell out of it during the Vietnam War). We didn't want to leave this place - it's rare to be such an outsider and yet feel so welcome. We caught the Luang Prabang bug, plain and simple.