Week 4: Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng

Its somewhat fitting that as my first month abroad comes to a close, an "era" of my journey also does. I have been traveling the past two weeks with fellow banana pancake journeyers, but today I begin the next leg of my journey by myself. With that, I bid farewell and hope to meet again to Greg, Carly, Chris, Meesha and Katie from the UK, Manon from the Netherlands and Roman from journey. I'm sure in time our travels will again bring some of us together.

The slow boat journey from Huay Xai brought me to the thriving town of Luang Prabang. With a sprawling night market, multiple waterfalls, bowling alley, caves and rivers, there was plenty to do here. On the second day, SIXTEEN of us travelers rented two tuk-tuks and went out to Muang Si waterfall. With majestic swimming areas and hills to trek, the was the place to be during the beautiful Laos day. With such a big group, it is was to lose people and split up. Lara, Roman and I climbed to the top of the waterfall, while the others seemed to get lost in the jungle. After our hour trek up and down we were rewarded with a beautiful swimming pool made naturally by the waterfall, which included a splendid rope swing. I wish I could have gone back, I'll just have to again in the future. That night we also made it out to the bowling alley, which as always, was good fun. We also went to the local buffet BBQ, where we were able to pick out and cook our own Laos meal, mine was just edible, good experience nonetheless.

After a lazy day spent recuperating we made our way down to Vang Vieng to spend a couple days along the river tubing. Famous for drunken deaths and destruction, the tubing along the Ham Son river was as safe as you decided to make it. With bars lining the Riverside with people throwing you ropes to pull you in for a drink, I can see how so many people lose their lives to the river... we played it smart and made it in safe in sound, just in time to get our deposits on then tubes back.

I woke up the next day, Wednesday, November 6, with inflammation surrounding a cut in my finger. As well, my wrist and arm were swollen and itching like crazy. After taking a couple of antihystamines, I waited for about an hour to see if it would improve, it got worse and spread. I had heard horror stories about infections on the river, so I went to the local hospital and within 2 minutes of arriving at the ER, I received a prescription for antibiotics to treat infection. Luckily I wasn't stubborn and within an hour of taking the antibiotics I saw a great amount of improvement. The visit and medicine only cost $15, a small price to pay for my good health.

In an hour I will depart Vang Vieng for Siem Reap, Cambodia. I'm looking forward to the monster of all temples that is Angkor Wat. The excitement will power me through this 40 hour bus journey.

Week 3: Chiang Mai, Pai, Jungle Trek

Week three of my trip went by with a blur. I suffered through my first real scam of the trip. I booked a three day jungle trek for cheap through Kunt Travel right by my hostel, the living place. He offered me the trek for cheap as long as I also booked a zip line tour the next day, at which I would have t allow the company to use pictures they take of me in their brochure. What's too good to be true, just may be. My trek was 1500 baht instead of 1850 baht, and my zip line tour was 500 baht instead of 1750 baht. That's a deep discount, right?! Well the catch was I actually spent the entire first half of the day being a zipline model, and it was 4 hours of preparing and shooting with 3 other people. One other traveler and two locals. Obviously had I realized what the deal was, I never would have gone, and I definitely would not of paid for it, I should have been paid. In the end, I asked the owner of the zip line company for my 500 baht back, explaining the situation, he gladly compensated me. He also let us cruise around the zip lines for three hours. So in essence I paid nothing for that experience and only had to suffer through a couple hours of photos.... well worth it.

The trek the following day was excellent as well. We hiked through the jungle for 2 days; sleeping at a local village, bathing in a waterfall, eating fresh bamboo soup, freshly harvested chicken, riding elephants, swimming in a river and bamboo rafting. Hiking through the rainforest reminded me of home for sure, but all the other activities made it well worth it. Still, don't book through Kunt Travel if you ever find yourself booking tours in Chiang Mai.

I next traveled to Pai with two travelers from the UK. We spent two solid days riding scooters around this mountainous town. Its a trekking dream, Pai is. Rather then paying to see all the things we saw, waterfalls, canyons, memorials, temples, waterfalls, rivers, hot springs, we rented the scooters for $6 a day including zero liability insurance. It was great, and I was sad to leave Pai. I stayed in an excellent 8 bed dorm right in the heart of town called Ville de Pai at a grand cost of $2.66 per night.

Of course as is true with every town or village or city you love, one must move on. After three days in Pai I headed of for Chiang Khong via the miserable 3 hour mini van to Chiang Mai. Miserable only because not girls next to me got sick, one spewed in a bag, the other onto her neighbor..... not me, the other neighbor. But it was disgusting and took all my mental power to not get sick along with them. Caught the Green Bus to Chiang Khong and arrived just in time to have dinner in tuck in for bed. All in all, 9.5 hours on the bus for the day.

The next morning my group, now four travelers, crossed the river into Laos. Most disorganized border ever. Everywhere in Thailand was organized, with English signs at all major points of interest for the tourists. Nothing here. You just grab three sheets to fill out, hand em to a guy, who hands them to an official, then wait for your name to be called... easy enough, but there is no direction and one must really know what they're doing to get it done quickly.

I'm now sitting in Pak Beng at the dirtiest guest house ever, listening to the gardener hack up a lung, while I write this. Pak Being is the necessary stop along the river from Huay Xai to Luang Prabang. I took the slow boat yesterday along the majestic Mekong. The slow boat is definitely a rite of passage for Laos travelers, but having to sit in the back near the engine is a new extreme. It is loud, a relic, and nearly flooded the boat with is cooling system as it overheated while the mechanic took a smoke break.

Nonetheless I'm still enjoying this lifestyle, and it is time to board the slow boat for another 9 hour journey along the Mekong, which flows faster then the Columbia by the way. Cheers.

Day 14: Sukothai Historical Park

I completed an entire post, but it didn't save for some reason, so this one may be a tad short.

Today I visited Sukothai Historical Park. Amazing amazing ruins. As a kid I was a huge Indiana Jones fan. Climbing through these ruins made me feel as close to Indy as I've felt haha. The 13th century shrines and temples were incredibly well preserved given the length is of time sense. I could just imagine walking around the same stretch when these buildings were in their prime. It would have been a site to see for sure.

Tomorrow it is off to Chiang Mai for me. I'll probably explore it for three days. Maybe take a cooking class, go to an elephant park maybe. Then I'll likely head up to Pai. My visa expires in two weeks, so I have loads of time here in Northern Thailand.

52 hours spent on boats, buses, minivans and trains

After the last 2+ days I've been through, I can officially declare myself a professional sleeper. I can sleep on a hard floor, sitting upright between two people, sprawled across three seats on a boat, on a noisy non-air conditioned bus, on an unforgiving plastic train bench and finally on my full sized guesthouse bed two minutes after I checked in.

Originally the previous three days were going to be filled with the full moon party on Koh Phangan, and I would just now be departing the island for where I am now, but the stars did not align for that. I left Krabi on Thursday, arriving at 8 pm that night after the party had begun. My boat was supposed to arrive to Koh Phangan at 5 pm, but the boat wasn't working so we had to wait close to 2 hours for a new boat, after already having my bus pick me up an hour late. Nonetheless I made it to Koh Phangan, just in time to be dropped off in an isolated part of beach in the dark. Having never been there before I booked the first hostel I could find, 500 baht per night in a 30 bed dorm. MISTAKE.

I had a grand old time watching the fire shows and sipping beer, but when I arrived back at the hostel at 2 AM, n one was back yet. I knew I was in for a long night. A fight broke out. Constant yelling, blood on the floor, broken things. When I woke up the next morning I explained to the manager how horrendous everything was that night. He gave me half my funds back and I booked a ticket off the island back to Bangkok straight away.

Arriving in Bangkok the next morning I had no intention to stay long so I booked the train north, or so I thought...

The train actually headed west to Kanchanaburi, which is a place I wanted to visit later in my trip. After a thirteen hour ride out to Erawan Falls and back, I found myself again, at square one. A little more composed I bought a ticket North to Phitsanulok which connected me to Sukhothai, my destination.

After my long journey I will relax today, catch up on rest, update my blog, research the history of this place before I head to the ruins tomorrow. Despite the mishaps I am still loving it!

Railey Lagoon

I am starting to catch back up to my blog...

Today I have been relaxing in the confines of my air conditioned hostel reading and catching up on pictures. I've also been looking for an app that will allow me to splice my 250 photos of the amazing sunset into a video. If anyone has suggestions for that, please let me know.

Yesterday I witnessed my first monkey attack... it appeared as though the monkey was alcoholic (see photo), and the poor bloke who got surrounded by the monkeys was carrying a beer. Add the two together, wa la, the Railey Beach resort monkeys are as alcoholic as they come in the monkey realm.

I also climbed to the top of the viewpoint yesterday. After a 15 minute jaunt up the hillside I was rewarded with the view you will see below! Quite spectular really. Following, I ventured deeper into the muddy jungle to the lagoon. Not sure it was worth it as it was an incredibly muddy and difficult climb down and back up. I had to do something active besides lounge on the beach all day and drink mai tais.

Lazy day today. I sadly had to leave my island paradise back to the mainland (Ton Sai beach is not an island just an isolated beach). Tomorrow, to koh phangan it is. My English friends from Ton Sai have told me beds may be hard to find for cheap this close the full moon party, but I will try no less and hope for the best.

My travel routes have been quite lucky. I have been the last person to catch the long tail boat both trips, thus being spared waiting 3 hours like the first guy to arrive wait. The boat drivers always wait for 10 passengers. How lucky I've been...

Ton Sai Beach = PARADISE

I don't know where to start this one. Yesterday I made my way to Ton Sai Beach from Krabi. After breakfast I went down to the pier, at 1015, to wait for a long tail boat to take me to Railey Beach, a 30 minute boat ride away. The method of hailing a boat to this place is easy from Krabi, sit on the pier and wait for ten people to show up. Then a boat driver walks up and says, let's go. I was very fortunate, as I only waited 10 minutes, this first guy to show had been waiting since 7 AM. Of course you could hire the boat for 1500 baht and leave straight away, but that is not the way of life down here for most of the travelers.

Upon arriving I walked from East Railey to West Railey, then found my way to north end of the beach. I could see Ton Sai on the other side of outcropping rocks, but how to get there I thought. I'd read to find a trail cutting over the 300 meter jungle-laden hill. I searched for 15 minutes with no luck. So, I braved the crashing water and scampered my way across the rocks for my new found paradise.

I heard rumors of 100 baht ($3.30) bungalows on the beach, with a porch you could step into the water from at high tide. Those rumors proved too good to be true in mid-October. I was stopped by a British couple as I was huffing and puffing from my his through the jungle and they pointed me in the direction of the jungle hut, 100 baht per night for a bungalow, just a 2 minute walk from the beach. Easily best accommodations for the rate ever!

The characters you meet here are equally as incredible. Italy, as some call him, is this 40 something year old dude with dreads who twirls numchuck like objects with fire burning from one end. He came to Ton Sai 7 years ago and supposedly has never left really. Mexi is this local who buys all the girls drinks and sets up a ton of slack lines for the beach visitors. Everyone is awesome. Its a big climbing hotspot. I wish I had learned back home.

I am only here until Thursday, upon when I'll head back to Krabi to catch a bus to Koh Phangan for the Full Moon Party. I have some time maybe at the end of the trip, I might come back, but I won't turn into Italy.

Another cool thing I did yesterday was time lapse the sunset from a viewpoint with the sunset. Going to try to put it on Facebook within the week. But I am starting to ask people what day it is. Time has become relative.

Today I am going to chill, slack line and free climb. Tomorrow I will rent a kayak for the day and explore the cliff edges!

Bangkok to Krabi

This morning I arrived in Krabi after a seemingly a long bus journey from Bangkok. Think Seattle to San Francisco in a car long but without the luxury of AC, music, and instead of having space between you and your obnoxious sibling in the backseat, your crammed in between two smelly travelers. I over exaggerated just a tad, I had a window seat in a row of five, but it did stink terribly. Regardless, for the trip down I have been rewarded with marvelous beaches and the 3rd ranked hostel in all of Asia. As well, I have finally overcome my severe jet lag, replaced with slight dehydration, but no complaints here.

Tomorrow I'm taking an all day snorkeling trip. We are going to hit three different spots around the Krabi province. All for the grand total of $12 US, and it includes lunch!

After tomorrow I don't now what I'll do. Koh Phi Phi is tempting, but the ferry ticket is expensive. I think I'll head over to Railey Beach for a night to postpone any serious decision making.

Now that I am out of Bangkok, I have been enjoying myself quite a bit. Being near deep blue clear water as opposed to sewage canals can't hurt one bit.

I also was going to mention the parade I witnessed today. Well I actually dont know what it was. At first is thought gunshots, but a closer look showed two kids whirling a carrying device with Buddha on it around in circles while firecrackers lit from it for about 30 seconds, quite scary to be a part of I imagine.

day 2: Buddhas and Temples

The respect paid to the Buddha is something of legend. Shoes off the temples. No pointing your toes directly at the Buddha. Stay quiet inside the temple.

Today I was fortunate ough to go to the Grand Palace and Wat Pho. The GP was extraordinaly expensive coming in at 500 baht. However, it houses the Emerald Buddha. The Emerald Buddha is not the biggest or most extravagantly decorated of the Buddhas I saw today, but its perfectly carved shape out of Jade, adorned with garments made of gold was spectacular. On top of that, the king himself changes the wear of the Buddha with the change of each season, sacred.

I'm still too stubborn to negotiate with tuk tuk drivers for rides, so I walked every today, probably 8-10 miles in all. I slept through dinnertime and instead went for cart food, pad thai w/ chicken and egg, plus a beer for 90 baht ($3).

Tomorrow im going to the Dusit Zoo in North Bangkok. Until then.

BTW, struggling to load photos on here

Day one in the books

The first day was interesting to say the least. culture shock is in full bloom. I didn't write down the address of my hostel, only the name, so it took a grand 2 hours to find once I got to khao San road.

food is just a little bit more expensive then I had thought. I walked around for about 30 minutes before settling on a place to eat. yellow curry with chicken (my favorite) for 110 baht. 1 us dollar equals 30ish baht with the exchange fees so about 4$ for something that would be about 7-8$ in the US. (I also got a beer for 70 baht, a Heineken) I am hesitant to indulge myself with food cart meals, but today I will challenge myself with the idea

my day started with sleeping in the airport for 5 hours. I then took the train into banglamphu, the main tourist hub. from the train I was driven around in a 'tuk-tuk' for 2 hours. a tuk tuk is basically a trike with a seat in the back. my tuk tuk driver was helpful in getting me a cellphone from the mall. 495 baht for a cheap cheap text and call only phone. it costs 1 baht per minute to call back to the united states. incredibly cheap. but I made the mistake in letting him take me to a travel agency. they overcharged me for my bus ride to krabi on Friday, 1100 baht instead of the competive rate of 700-800. I guess you live and learn and a ten dollar mistake is nothing for what I learned from it. anyways, two hours of tuk tuk riding with Mao cost 340 baht, think of what a two hour taxi in Seattle would cost.

I also think most of these tuk tuk drivers only know a couple phrases, 'where are you going my friend, I take you'. I've learned rather quickly to not even give a response. Ignoring feels more natural every time I pass by a local, sad but true.

I'll also have to get used to 9 other people coming into the room at night. Eventually I'll sleep better once I up with Thai time.

Today i am going to go to the grand palace complex. time to explore some 18th century temples. Its a day for your exploration in my family, my sister just arrived in Texas and will be arriving to her new home of San Antonio tonight! Trust me, we didn't plan both leaving home within 24 hours of the other. 

Heading out tomorrow for San Francisco. I will be sailing with Manfred Schmeidl and crew (Alison, Kerry and Brennan) in the Melges 24 World Championship, as well as Big Boat Series, aboard the boat Brio 620. I am also pretty pumped about Oracle Team USA's resurgence in the America's Cup. I figured it would be long over by now, but tomorrow they will sail Race 17!!!! Tomorrow, the Brio team will be out on the water practicing during what could be a historic victory by Team ETNZ, or the continual dominance of Oracle. I am hoping for the latter to occur if that wasn't obvious.

With the first leg of my "early retirement" starting tomorrow, I figured I would post a photo of all the things I am packing for my SEA adventure. I am sure the pile will have last minute additions and subtractions by the time I go from SFO in two weeks, but this is what I am starting with. Nothing special. 

Over and out. 

Just a real quick note to get started... I am traveling throughout South East Asia for 2.5 months starting Oct 6th. I am using this blog mainly as a way to let family know where I am at and what not. It's my intention to update it fairly frequently, but I am not sure how much access I will have over there.

Anyhow, feel free to read. If no one ends up reading it, I'll post anyway as a record of my trip.

Later!