There is no better way for Canadians who are missing snow than to celebrate the Christmas season by careening headfirst down sand dunes on thin sheets of linoleum.

It was almost like tobogganing - minus the cold feet, plus having to shower off a bazillion sand particles afterward. The sand was even white taking us one step closer to having a white Christmas.

We had a brilliant time doing this and playing other sandy games with Amie's parents and friends, Ryan and Becky, in Mui Ne, Vietnam.

Mom and Dad put us all up at a gorgeous beach resort and we spent a few days catching some rays, adventuring to old temples and villages, exploring red canyons, and of course, frolicking in the sand.

This will definitely go down in history as one of the best Christmas seasons yet.

-Amie

If you can't be surrounded by family on Christmas, you better be surrounded by amazing friends. Thankfully, that's exactly how it worked for us this year. Friends, Ryan and Becky joined us from Thailand and we and our friends here in Phnom Penh all piled into Dan and Amanda's house after a Christmas Eve service. We stuffed ourselves with Christmas delicacies, exchanged gifts, and completed a perfect Christmas by camping out on the balcony.

On Christmas Day, in fierce pursuit of our love for Ultimate Frisbee, we jumped on a bus and drove and ferried across international borders in time to play in the Saigon Hat on Dec. 26 and 27th. We are that dedicated. The trek was worth it - Ryan and Becky and Steve and I got more than our fill of disc over the weekend. And Amie's parents even got a sneak peak of the insanity, stopping in on Sunday morning to watch their very first Frisbee game.

Speaking of Amie's parents...though we weren't with family for Christmas, it was amazing to have family visit during the holidays! Mom and Dad met us in Saigon and we headed to Mui Ne for a few days. Chantelle met us all in Phnom Penh for New Years. We loved showing the family our favourite spots, including Kep on Cambodia's coast and adventuring on bicycles in search of Khmer Rouge relics (both fascinating and creepy all at the same time). We loved the company and felt deeply loved. It was an amazing Christmas and New Years indeed.

-Amie

bangkok may be my favourite city in the whole world. it is electric. there is an addictive energy to it that keeps me coming back for more. maybe it's the fluid connections between old and new, east and west. maybe it's the street food and delectable curries all at a ridiculously low price. or, maybe i love it so much because it was such a coming of age city for me. it was my first port of call in asia. and i travelled there all by my lonesome for a journalism internship 5 years ago. it was in Bangkok that i knew in my gut that i would never work for the mainstream press. it's where i knew that i wanted to be a voice for the voiceless and to pursue justice with writing and pictures and stories.

so of course i'm ecstatic that my sister has chosen to live there for another few months! this time around, we tried to see how much blonde mischief we could disturb and what we could do for free in this steller city!

amie

There are a few things synonymous with Cambodia. Temple ruins. Motorbikes. And Corruption. With a five day long weekend stretching before us, and new-found knowledge that we can take our motorbike as cargo under the bus, we got our fill of all three last week when we hit the road for Siem Reap in search of remote, untouched Angkorian temples. It was a stellar vacation – the unforeseen challenges and (3 hour) detours along the way (like bamboo bridges and sandy cattle tracks) just added to our Indiana Jones experience.

-Amie

As for the corruption part, we definitely helped to play our part in the grand scheme. Sometimes it's the only way to get things done! The main temple at Koh Ker for example has been unclimbable for some time since the collapse of a main access ladder. But you can't just visit an ancient pyramid and not climb to the top! With a little flash of cash, an unofficial young guide materializes to escort you up the ruins while security officials turn a temporary blind eye.

-steve-

There are hundreds of ways to end the sentence 'Only in Cambodia.....'. So how about this one? Only in Cambodia can you get approval from an active construction site to temporarily set up a climbing wall.

There were three activities after completion of the site. The first was to climb up the wall similar to an indoor climbing gym except you're outside and climbing up 30 meters (so not really the same at all). The second was to weave through the construction crew (actively working) and take a view from the roof of the tower. The third was to rappel down the side of the building without catching your knee on a rusty nail.

-steve-

One of the best things about living in Asia is the no-frills budget airlines (and we mean BUDGET, like you pay for everything but your seat - extra baggage, drinks, etc. We're surprised they don't charge you to use the bathroom), like Air Asia.

We had a few days off over Pchum Benh, so we flew for $30 each to Bangkok, then jumped on a night train to Chiang Mai, Thailand to visit great friends Ryan & Becky Koop over the holiday.

It was a blast. It always changes one's traveling experience when you know people in a place - it is just a million times better.

After a couple of days in the city, trolling the night market, playing ultimate with the Chiang Mai crew, and eating copious amounts of amazing Thai food, we took to the hills. This is the summary of our very fun (and wonderfully chilled) time on Thailand's highest peak, Doi Inthanon.

Some travelers have heard about the Cambodian bamboo train but few have experienced it. The Cambodian railroad is due for serious repair. The service has degraded to a once per day freight service chugging along at 20-30km per hour. Entrepreneurial Khmer families have opened their own (illegal) services on sections of the track and built contraptions out of old rail cars and wood to shuttle local people back and forth between certain points on the track.

As Amie and I were moto-exploring one afternoon, we stumbled across one such service and decided to bring some friends back and make an adventure of it. We got up early one Saturday morning and rode out to the start of the bamboo train, negotiated our passage to Phnom Baset, strapped our motos onto the platform and off we went. This particular bamboo train was powered by an old engine, set in motion by a rubber belt stretching from the engine to the wheel axle. The conductor's tools included a grooved stick for controlling the tension of the belt as well as a battle club shaped braking device.

As we zoomed along at 20km/h, the nature of our unscheduled journey resulted in others not respecting our control of the tracks. For example, a cow slept peacefully in between the tracks at a certain point in our journey. The conductor's assistant was quick to leap off the train, shoo the animal, and rejoin the group while the train was still in motion (don't want to stall the engine). Intersecting dirt roads caused some tension. The train had to come to a crawl while traffic paused to let it through. Trucks parked near the tracks or temporary markets across the tracks are other obstacles to overcome on the bamboo train.

After reaching an intersection with a road towards Phnom Baset, we reclaimed our motorbikes and explored the various temples in the area. One in particular had an amateur film crew making a television program set to air later in the month. Let me emphasis the 'amateur' part. The crew and actors consisted of 4 people - a charismatic director, a hand-held camera man, some other helper, and an actor dressed in pink with a power amulet around his neck. This character had somehow transported to the future (our present) and basically the film involves him having a set of shocking futuristic experiences. As we sat to have a snack and watch, the director asked if he could use our motorbikes as props. At this point the script must have been re-written to include these futuristic devices, sure to scare the time-traveler.

Near a different temple, a makeshift carnival style balloon dart toss was set up to entertain temple guests. Prizes consisted of various Chinese made plastic housewares - much more practical than stuffed animals. The ride home through the small dirt paths was scenic and peaceful. The recent rains presented some challenges but we were lucky to avoid getting our motorbikes stuck. On our way into the city, we found a new suburb construction project. It was abandoned so we did some drag racing down the main streets of the future complex.

-steve-

Steve and Daniel happen to have been born just two weeks apart. In honor of both turning the big 2-8, we hosted a joint birthday party exactly halfway between both of their real birthdays.

The ticket to get in? A Bad-English T-shirt (these are a dime a dozen in Phnom Penh, available at every market and on street corners.)

We spent the evening celebrating Steve and Daniel and the great shirts we'd all managed to snag for the occasion. No birthday celebrated in Asia is complete without homemade toaster oven cake and an "Intellectual Birthday Candle". It lives up to its name as candles burst out of the centre of a lotus flower (breaking every fire code regulation) while singing "Happy Birthday".