oh jeez. I don't have time so this will be very quick.
there was no opera that night...our hotel was apparently oblivious...so we got a nice dinner by the lake instead.
the next day we left for a two day boat trip on a traditional Vietnamese Junk Boat. think Asian pirate ship. it was awesome. we had a great group, kayaked between the beautiful jutting limestone cliffs, ate traditional food, saw floating villages, explored caves in the islands, had a great dinner, did some swimming and got to jump off the top of the boat, played hours of drinking games which led to climbing the mast of the ship (I have NO CLUE who started that one...hehe. =P) and eventually some more...uh...swimming. haha. it was a very memorable night. =D
the next day we visited some more islands and then got lunch and headed back to Hanoi. Marissa and I explored for a bit, got dinner, and then I commandeered a dvd player that was left out in the hallway and we watched a few more episodes of Sex And The City while packing to fly out the next morning. I carefully returned the DVD player before going to bed and got off clean. =D
we flew back to Bangkok, Thailand the next morning and spent the day doing traditional Thai things like getting massages, facials, masks, PadThai, bananna pancakes and wandering the markets. Marissa said her goodbyes around 10pm and left for the airport. so now...for the first time...I'm international. alone. what a neat feeling.
I spent the rest of the night trying to kill the last of my cell phone/international minutes and got to bed pretty late.
The next day was mellow. not much to report. I had booked a tour but cancelled it because I can't shell out $40 for a day on the beach. I'm getting pretty poor pretty fast. eeek.
The next afternoon I flew out of BKK and into Hong Kong. it was quite hectic getting in...but eventually I found a bus, found the main area of the city, found an affordable guesthouse with dorms, figured out the currency, got some shopping in, met my dorm-mates (three cool guys studying in China...two from Australia, one from England) who were on a weekend holiday away. we wandered a bit around downtown Hong Kong and eventually ended up in a pretty cool bar...and we stayed out pretty late. maybe 5:30am? yeah. it was a good night.
fyi: I've sworn off fast food forever. watching them eat McDonalds at 5am reminded me of how gross the fast food culture is. two months and going strong! =D
the next day I explored a bit, saw the sights, got some odd food...no clue what it was, but it was pretty good....met up with my group, we all went out for dinner and then I headed off on my own to see the view of the city at night from 'the peak'. it was amazing and I have lots of great pictures. I got back around midnight and went to bed.
my new roommate and I wandered around looking for breakfast in the morning...it's really odd to have to find a store for food. I'm so used to it being on the sidewalk! I tried some break, but it made me feel a bit sick so I found a bananna and a pineapple shake and ate that. yum. we people watched for a while....or really watched people stare openly at us...and then met back up with the group and took a seried of trains across the border and into China. we caught an overnight train into somewhere and then grabbed a bus to our hotel in Yangshuo. which...lucky me...is an international rock climbing hotspot. thank god for natural limestone cliffs. =D
so...it's 9am and I'm going to take a shower and go climbing. later!
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
and in an instant all my time has dissappeared.
oh jeez. I feel like time is spinning faster and faster every day and there's just no way to slow it down!!!!
so the next day our boat tour people never came and picked us up, so we called and rescheduiled for the next day...which was fine because it was pouring! we decided to go for a spa day and took a taxi to the local spa famous for it's mud baths. we enjoyed our mud, relaxed in some mineral water and then headed back to town for some food and to book our train up the coast to Hoi An. somewhere along the way I lost my amazing (and expensive) Marmot raincoat. ugh. we ended up wandering all day and then getting dressedup and heading to a local bar/hotspot that was hosting a Reggae(sp?) night. we had some drinks, danced a bit, played pool and met some nice guys who took us out for a late dinner. Marissas guy was from Wisconsin and my date for the night was from Barcelona. after our dinner we went out for a few more drinks and eventually called it a late night.
The boat tour actually picked us up the next day, and we were off for a fun day in the sun. good thing we missed it the day before! we stopped at a few different islands, had a nice buffet lunch on the boat, sang, danced, laid on the beach and got to snorkel in the most beautiful coral reef I've ever seen. it was an amazing day! we got back in the evening and mellowed out for a bit before our train that night. we caught our overnight train to De Nang and then (when we got in at 4am) took a half hour taxi ride to Hoi An. sadly, with the holiday, everything was full so we had to take a hard sleeper to the next town up and then backtrack. we got in and discovered that there were no hotels available yet. we found one that seemed nice and waited in the lobby till almost 7:30 for a room. finally we were given a room and we took a nap. eventually we wandered out into the town of a thousand tailors and met with the shopping city that I'm sure people only dream about.
think it, design it, copy it...who cares! just buy it! you can have anything your heart desires made for you in this quaint riverside town. oh, and for CHEAP. I spent my day designing two pairs of sandals, buying the most beautiful silk dress I've ever laid eyes on, designing a coat, buying and then altering another silk dress that I had found into a dressy shirt and eventually designing from scratch my very own pair of high heels to match my new dream dress...and everything is made to fit me perfectly. I chose the fabric, styles, buttons, clasps, trim...everything. I spent less than $60 on it all and am so excited to get home and wear it!!! (especially the dress and heels...now all I need is an excuse to go on a nice date. any takers?)
that night, feeling quite satisfied from our shopping, Marissa and I wandered down to the riverside and found a quaint resteraunt with fantastic food to share a romantic dinner at. afterwards we walked down the cobblestone streets and followed the river for a while...just enjoying the warm peaceful night. what a beautiful town, what amazing people, what an experience!
we walked around the next day collecting our custom made purchases and sampeling local foods. I took a nice walk by the river in the morning and ate my breakfast sitting on the banks and talking with the wonderful locals. Marissa went off on her own for the morning. we finished herding our purchases by 1...just enough time to head back to the hotel and catch our series of busses to Hanoi. it wasa long day of driving in a cramped local bus before we hit Hue and hopped on our sleeper bus for the night. we had bought tickets for a nice comfy bus but they just put us on the crap bus instead...so we were forced into tiny spaces, couldn't lay or sit and huddled like that for hours. it wasn't the best experience. Marissa was feeling quite claustrophobis...so she went to bed early. I entertained two sweedish boys who were laying next to me (literally they lay you shoulder to shoulder with people on these tiny mats on the floor...like 40 other people) with my laptop and the original Indiana Jones series. We all fell asleep somewhere through the seccond movie and I slept restlessly, unintentionally spooning with two very attractive Sweedish boys. thank god for small favors. haha. we finally made it into town around 7am, got a hotel, took a much needed nap, grabbed some really good vietnamese food and explored the city by foot and in a Cyclo (pedal-powered cart taxi).
all I can say is that this place is a beautiful madhouse and even while I'm typing this I can look out the windows of the hotel and see merchants sitting on the sidewalk selling everything from live fish to pigs feet, herbs, vegetables, clothes and even sex. ick. I just watched a woman take a live fish, throw it on the sidewalk, cut it's head off, throw it in a plastic bag and sell it to a man for dinner. yay. I'm getting used to seeing dead animals everywhere...although seeing the brains, organs, feet, eyes and faces for sale still creeps me out a bit. what I think will always bug me is the smell that these markets always have. and it's unavoidable because the merkets are the sidewalks...everywhere. oh well, I'm getting used to it. =D
time to go clean up,get dinner and go to a Vietnamese Opera with my wonderful date Marissa!
so the next day our boat tour people never came and picked us up, so we called and rescheduiled for the next day...which was fine because it was pouring! we decided to go for a spa day and took a taxi to the local spa famous for it's mud baths. we enjoyed our mud, relaxed in some mineral water and then headed back to town for some food and to book our train up the coast to Hoi An. somewhere along the way I lost my amazing (and expensive) Marmot raincoat. ugh. we ended up wandering all day and then getting dressedup and heading to a local bar/hotspot that was hosting a Reggae(sp?) night. we had some drinks, danced a bit, played pool and met some nice guys who took us out for a late dinner. Marissas guy was from Wisconsin and my date for the night was from Barcelona. after our dinner we went out for a few more drinks and eventually called it a late night.
The boat tour actually picked us up the next day, and we were off for a fun day in the sun. good thing we missed it the day before! we stopped at a few different islands, had a nice buffet lunch on the boat, sang, danced, laid on the beach and got to snorkel in the most beautiful coral reef I've ever seen. it was an amazing day! we got back in the evening and mellowed out for a bit before our train that night. we caught our overnight train to De Nang and then (when we got in at 4am) took a half hour taxi ride to Hoi An. sadly, with the holiday, everything was full so we had to take a hard sleeper to the next town up and then backtrack. we got in and discovered that there were no hotels available yet. we found one that seemed nice and waited in the lobby till almost 7:30 for a room. finally we were given a room and we took a nap. eventually we wandered out into the town of a thousand tailors and met with the shopping city that I'm sure people only dream about.
think it, design it, copy it...who cares! just buy it! you can have anything your heart desires made for you in this quaint riverside town. oh, and for CHEAP. I spent my day designing two pairs of sandals, buying the most beautiful silk dress I've ever laid eyes on, designing a coat, buying and then altering another silk dress that I had found into a dressy shirt and eventually designing from scratch my very own pair of high heels to match my new dream dress...and everything is made to fit me perfectly. I chose the fabric, styles, buttons, clasps, trim...everything. I spent less than $60 on it all and am so excited to get home and wear it!!! (especially the dress and heels...now all I need is an excuse to go on a nice date. any takers?)
that night, feeling quite satisfied from our shopping, Marissa and I wandered down to the riverside and found a quaint resteraunt with fantastic food to share a romantic dinner at. afterwards we walked down the cobblestone streets and followed the river for a while...just enjoying the warm peaceful night. what a beautiful town, what amazing people, what an experience!
we walked around the next day collecting our custom made purchases and sampeling local foods. I took a nice walk by the river in the morning and ate my breakfast sitting on the banks and talking with the wonderful locals. Marissa went off on her own for the morning. we finished herding our purchases by 1...just enough time to head back to the hotel and catch our series of busses to Hanoi. it wasa long day of driving in a cramped local bus before we hit Hue and hopped on our sleeper bus for the night. we had bought tickets for a nice comfy bus but they just put us on the crap bus instead...so we were forced into tiny spaces, couldn't lay or sit and huddled like that for hours. it wasn't the best experience. Marissa was feeling quite claustrophobis...so she went to bed early. I entertained two sweedish boys who were laying next to me (literally they lay you shoulder to shoulder with people on these tiny mats on the floor...like 40 other people) with my laptop and the original Indiana Jones series. We all fell asleep somewhere through the seccond movie and I slept restlessly, unintentionally spooning with two very attractive Sweedish boys. thank god for small favors. haha. we finally made it into town around 7am, got a hotel, took a much needed nap, grabbed some really good vietnamese food and explored the city by foot and in a Cyclo (pedal-powered cart taxi).
all I can say is that this place is a beautiful madhouse and even while I'm typing this I can look out the windows of the hotel and see merchants sitting on the sidewalk selling everything from live fish to pigs feet, herbs, vegetables, clothes and even sex. ick. I just watched a woman take a live fish, throw it on the sidewalk, cut it's head off, throw it in a plastic bag and sell it to a man for dinner. yay. I'm getting used to seeing dead animals everywhere...although seeing the brains, organs, feet, eyes and faces for sale still creeps me out a bit. what I think will always bug me is the smell that these markets always have. and it's unavoidable because the merkets are the sidewalks...everywhere. oh well, I'm getting used to it. =D
time to go clean up,get dinner and go to a Vietnamese Opera with my wonderful date Marissa!
Friday, May 1, 2009
April showers and May flowers.
happy May! this is the last month of my amazing journey and I'm already loving it.
I can't believe I've been gone for two full months already. how time flies. and yet...every day seems like a week. my life has been so jampacked with fun activities, cool people, amazing sights and awesome adventures that I've hardly had time to breathe...let alone sleep! I got 8 hours of sleep for the first time in almost a month last night and it felt amazing!
I'm currently sitting in some odd hotel on the oceanside city of Nha Trang, Vietnam. yes...I'm in Vietnam! I love it here already and can tell that the next 9 days are going to be amazing.
so...I don't know where I left off, but I'm going to say what I can remember in my limited internet time.
our last day in Cambodia was really busy. we took a bus from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh in the early am, checked out the Killing fields and S-21 prison, got some lunch, talked and read up on some Cambodian history...particularly pertaining to the genocide, and then wandered a bit at night. I feel like I've already written this. hmmm. yeah...so we had a nice dinner and then I scooted off to an internet cafe/international call cafe via motorbike (it took forever to find one open at midnight!) and made an impromptu phone call to Brian at work. he seemed pleasently surprised. =D we talked for about 20 minutes and then I called it a night. my driver took me back to my hotel and I passed out in our tiny little room beside the Phnom Penh river.
we left pretty early the next day to hit up Vietnam. 8 hours later we were in Hoh Chi Minh City and scouting out hotels. we finally found one that seemed quite nice (thanks Lonely Planet!!!) and rented a room for a whopping $18 a night. it's a bit pricy in Saigon. seriously. at least breakfast and dinners were free and tea/coffee was available free at any point of the day. we always missed breakfast, but we got two decent ramen noodle dinners in and a few cold tea breaks.
while in the city for two days we managed to hit up some sweet markets, visit the War Remnants Meuseam (oh boy was that intense...both Marissa and I were brought to tears. I was a bit ashamed to admit I was an American upon leaving the Meuseam.), get some yummy Vietnamese food, eat loads of fresh fruit, ride a million different motorbikes, chat eachother up for HOURS (I feel like we're finally in the swing of things and getting along better now than ever before. it's a bit of a relief because I feel like we were butting heads for a little while there. I'm still excited to get some alone-traveling in, but I'll be enjoying her company for her last few days with me.), watch a million episodes of Sex And The City (I bought all 7 seasos for us$6...oh yeah! haha. we rented a DVD player and had a mellow girls night of all American R&R. Ritz crackers, Oreos, Coke and NYC style entertainment. if we could have added pizza we might have ignored the time difference and thought we were home!) and fall in love with Vietnamese hospitality.
Saigon is a beautiful bustling city that is always full of excitement and energy. with motorbikes zipping around everywhere, everyone honking a cautious 'hey, just letting you know I'm right here' and pedestriand truly having the right of way it seems more chaotic than anything else. but, step into trafic and watch the sea of vehicles part like the red sea and reach the other side as safely as if there hadn't been 1.6 thousand people flying past either side of you. it truly is an experience that everyone needs to have for themselves at some point. I've never seen such organized chaos in my entire life. there aren't street lights, only a portion of the intersections are roundabouts, and everyone has the right of way...simultaneously. you can drive on either side of the road (although technically the right side is the corrent side) and if the road gets busy...don't fret! there's always the sidewalk available.
I only really thought about it today, while taking the notorious motorbike to the train station, that accidents can easily happen. I was on the back of the bike trying to maintain balance with my pack perched atop my back. it's getting a bit heavy as it's now laiden with two months worth of souvineers...ugh, and it's absolute dead weight at all times...especially on a motorbike. at one point a zippy little bike cut us off and in doing so he grazed my left leg a bit. it wasn't until that monent that I really thought about how bad it could potentially be to get into a motorbike accident in such heavy traffic. especially with the bag on...I would never be able to bail off the bike with that huge pack on...which seems odd to me because I'm so used to being able to hop off to prevent myself from getting stuck between the bikes. I felt a bit exposed and it got me thinking...how safe is safe really?
we take for granted that we have cars back home, but this is obviously a lifestyle that is maintainable, and there don't seem to be an obsene amount of accidents daily. I'll continue to use the bikes as they are the fastest, cheapest and most efficient method of getting around in these busy cities even though they are a bit dangerous. and fun. =D
it has been quite rainy here lately...it rains at least once a day here, but everything is starting to get greener and soon I'll be in China for the most beautiful time of the year...to see the flowers blooming everywhere! I'm very excited.
okay...to finish this off and walk back across town to my hotel and go to bed. I'm sure Marissa is already dreaming by now. haha. I'm always out way past her bedtime. she marvels at how I'm usually awake before her as well. I guess everyone needs different levels of sleep, and currently my requirement is next to nothing. hers runs at around 6-8 hours for maximum happiness the next day.
today we left Saigon around noon and boarded our train to the infamous Vietnamese coast. we patiently waited our 7 long hours until finally we had arrived. we hired a few eager motos (leaving an ever greater hord of dissappointed drivers behind) and headed into the hotel area of our new home away from home...Nha Trang...beach city extrodinare. we sterted hotel hunting and realized that everywhere seemed to be booked because it's a national Vietnamese holiday. gee...great. haha. I decided that we needed to lose the packs and look a bit less desperate. we headed into a travel agency and asked very politely if they could watch our bags while we found a hotel and that we're looking to do a tour the next day. they seemed happy to help (and maybe make some money off us) and we kept shpooing for our glass slipper hotel (...or to be honest any slipper!). we found a hotel that kindly offered us a mat and pillow in the hallway for free with a hot shower in the morning if we couldn't find anywhere to stay. we thanked them and continued on. (I really would have stayed but I think Marissa was keen on a bed. ahh...to have a free place to stay!) oh well...eventually we found a run down overpriced hotel that I haggled down the room rates to an unworthy $15 a night. we took the room out of desperation and groaned a bit at the current holiday that was taking all the overnight train tickets (we hadn't wanted to waste a day traveling), jacking up the hotel prices, taking all the stupid hotel rooms and as we would later find out...really really jacking up the tour prices. oh well. we can't have it all. we settled in a bit, headed out to book our tour, Marissa gave in and bought a personal pizza, we sat on the beach and talked for a while and now here I am. Marissa opted for the shower/sleep sort of night and I decided to take a different path and wander the city looking for internet. after much wandering I found another hotel boasting internet. I happily sat down and started typing this incredibly long blog. and now you're completely up to date.
okay...I need to head out and get some sleep. we have a full day island hopping tour tomorrow that leaves at like 8am or something silly. I hope everyone has a wonderful day (as it's hardly noon there) and I really hope to hear from everyone soon. it makes my day to get all your emails and comments. keep up the good work. <3
I'm going away now
but I'm not giving up
I'm miles and miles away
but I'm not giving up
I can't believe I've been gone for two full months already. how time flies. and yet...every day seems like a week. my life has been so jampacked with fun activities, cool people, amazing sights and awesome adventures that I've hardly had time to breathe...let alone sleep! I got 8 hours of sleep for the first time in almost a month last night and it felt amazing!
I'm currently sitting in some odd hotel on the oceanside city of Nha Trang, Vietnam. yes...I'm in Vietnam! I love it here already and can tell that the next 9 days are going to be amazing.
so...I don't know where I left off, but I'm going to say what I can remember in my limited internet time.
our last day in Cambodia was really busy. we took a bus from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh in the early am, checked out the Killing fields and S-21 prison, got some lunch, talked and read up on some Cambodian history...particularly pertaining to the genocide, and then wandered a bit at night. I feel like I've already written this. hmmm. yeah...so we had a nice dinner and then I scooted off to an internet cafe/international call cafe via motorbike (it took forever to find one open at midnight!) and made an impromptu phone call to Brian at work. he seemed pleasently surprised. =D we talked for about 20 minutes and then I called it a night. my driver took me back to my hotel and I passed out in our tiny little room beside the Phnom Penh river.
we left pretty early the next day to hit up Vietnam. 8 hours later we were in Hoh Chi Minh City and scouting out hotels. we finally found one that seemed quite nice (thanks Lonely Planet!!!) and rented a room for a whopping $18 a night. it's a bit pricy in Saigon. seriously. at least breakfast and dinners were free and tea/coffee was available free at any point of the day. we always missed breakfast, but we got two decent ramen noodle dinners in and a few cold tea breaks.
while in the city for two days we managed to hit up some sweet markets, visit the War Remnants Meuseam (oh boy was that intense...both Marissa and I were brought to tears. I was a bit ashamed to admit I was an American upon leaving the Meuseam.), get some yummy Vietnamese food, eat loads of fresh fruit, ride a million different motorbikes, chat eachother up for HOURS (I feel like we're finally in the swing of things and getting along better now than ever before. it's a bit of a relief because I feel like we were butting heads for a little while there. I'm still excited to get some alone-traveling in, but I'll be enjoying her company for her last few days with me.), watch a million episodes of Sex And The City (I bought all 7 seasos for us$6...oh yeah! haha. we rented a DVD player and had a mellow girls night of all American R&R. Ritz crackers, Oreos, Coke and NYC style entertainment. if we could have added pizza we might have ignored the time difference and thought we were home!) and fall in love with Vietnamese hospitality.
Saigon is a beautiful bustling city that is always full of excitement and energy. with motorbikes zipping around everywhere, everyone honking a cautious 'hey, just letting you know I'm right here' and pedestriand truly having the right of way it seems more chaotic than anything else. but, step into trafic and watch the sea of vehicles part like the red sea and reach the other side as safely as if there hadn't been 1.6 thousand people flying past either side of you. it truly is an experience that everyone needs to have for themselves at some point. I've never seen such organized chaos in my entire life. there aren't street lights, only a portion of the intersections are roundabouts, and everyone has the right of way...simultaneously. you can drive on either side of the road (although technically the right side is the corrent side) and if the road gets busy...don't fret! there's always the sidewalk available.
I only really thought about it today, while taking the notorious motorbike to the train station, that accidents can easily happen. I was on the back of the bike trying to maintain balance with my pack perched atop my back. it's getting a bit heavy as it's now laiden with two months worth of souvineers...ugh, and it's absolute dead weight at all times...especially on a motorbike. at one point a zippy little bike cut us off and in doing so he grazed my left leg a bit. it wasn't until that monent that I really thought about how bad it could potentially be to get into a motorbike accident in such heavy traffic. especially with the bag on...I would never be able to bail off the bike with that huge pack on...which seems odd to me because I'm so used to being able to hop off to prevent myself from getting stuck between the bikes. I felt a bit exposed and it got me thinking...how safe is safe really?
we take for granted that we have cars back home, but this is obviously a lifestyle that is maintainable, and there don't seem to be an obsene amount of accidents daily. I'll continue to use the bikes as they are the fastest, cheapest and most efficient method of getting around in these busy cities even though they are a bit dangerous. and fun. =D
it has been quite rainy here lately...it rains at least once a day here, but everything is starting to get greener and soon I'll be in China for the most beautiful time of the year...to see the flowers blooming everywhere! I'm very excited.
okay...to finish this off and walk back across town to my hotel and go to bed. I'm sure Marissa is already dreaming by now. haha. I'm always out way past her bedtime. she marvels at how I'm usually awake before her as well. I guess everyone needs different levels of sleep, and currently my requirement is next to nothing. hers runs at around 6-8 hours for maximum happiness the next day.
today we left Saigon around noon and boarded our train to the infamous Vietnamese coast. we patiently waited our 7 long hours until finally we had arrived. we hired a few eager motos (leaving an ever greater hord of dissappointed drivers behind) and headed into the hotel area of our new home away from home...Nha Trang...beach city extrodinare. we sterted hotel hunting and realized that everywhere seemed to be booked because it's a national Vietnamese holiday. gee...great. haha. I decided that we needed to lose the packs and look a bit less desperate. we headed into a travel agency and asked very politely if they could watch our bags while we found a hotel and that we're looking to do a tour the next day. they seemed happy to help (and maybe make some money off us) and we kept shpooing for our glass slipper hotel (...or to be honest any slipper!). we found a hotel that kindly offered us a mat and pillow in the hallway for free with a hot shower in the morning if we couldn't find anywhere to stay. we thanked them and continued on. (I really would have stayed but I think Marissa was keen on a bed. ahh...to have a free place to stay!) oh well...eventually we found a run down overpriced hotel that I haggled down the room rates to an unworthy $15 a night. we took the room out of desperation and groaned a bit at the current holiday that was taking all the overnight train tickets (we hadn't wanted to waste a day traveling), jacking up the hotel prices, taking all the stupid hotel rooms and as we would later find out...really really jacking up the tour prices. oh well. we can't have it all. we settled in a bit, headed out to book our tour, Marissa gave in and bought a personal pizza, we sat on the beach and talked for a while and now here I am. Marissa opted for the shower/sleep sort of night and I decided to take a different path and wander the city looking for internet. after much wandering I found another hotel boasting internet. I happily sat down and started typing this incredibly long blog. and now you're completely up to date.
okay...I need to head out and get some sleep. we have a full day island hopping tour tomorrow that leaves at like 8am or something silly. I hope everyone has a wonderful day (as it's hardly noon there) and I really hope to hear from everyone soon. it makes my day to get all your emails and comments. keep up the good work. <3
I'm going away now
but I'm not giving up
I'm miles and miles away
but I'm not giving up
Saturday, April 25, 2009
just breathe it all in...
hey!
I'm back in Bangkok just in time for the state of emergency to be lifted...which is a relief.
yesterday was the last day of our tour and even though it's a bit sad to say goodbye I'm looking forward to exploring Cambodia and Vietnam and then venturing off on my own for Hong Kong and China.
so...yeah. we took the overnight train from ChaingMai to Bangkok and arrived pretty early in the morning. We took cabs to our hotel and were lucky enough to be let into the rooms early to take a bit of a nap. I got a few hours of rest while Marissa read a bit and then we cleaned up and went out to explore the city a bit. we took a cab to the weekend market (or the JJ Market to locals), did some amazing shopping, got some food and then headed back to the hotel to get dressed up a bit for our last group dinner. we all headed out to a very nice restaurant on the river and our tour guide ordered maybe a dozen different dishes for us all to try and share. it was quite nice.
afterward we wasted a bit of time and then a few of us headed into the red light district of Bangkok for a bit of adventure. besides the fact that everyone in the whole frickin city tries to con, scam and trick you it was a good experience. you just need to be wary here and very firm about what you want and don't take no for an answer.
we saw some interesting stuff that I really don't feel like writing down and eventually the British ladies and I decided that we'd had enough so we took a cab to Kosan rd and hit up a nightclub.
we drank, we danced and then they disappeared. I hung out with a group of lovely Irish folks and made it back to my hotel by about 5:30 am.
[[ran out of time while updating a few days ago so finishing now.]]
the next day we slept in a bit and then moved to our original hostel for a night before departing for Cambodia. we spent the day enjoying Thai food, did a bit of shopping, spent some much needed time on the internet, booked a bus to Siem Reap, Cambodia and a flight back to Bangkok from Hanoi, Vietnam. it was, overall, a very busy day. we also managed to walk right by this cute Indian restaurant somewhere in the city. we decided to stop and eat dinner there and it was such a great experience. we sat on the upstairs deck, but the tables were low to the ground with large square pillows to sit on. the food was fantastic, everyone had hookahs, the music and setting were incredibly mellow and the place had a great atmosphere. our table had jenga and we just played, talked, ate and enjoyed our beautiful view of Thai temples from our Indian porch oasis. I would go back in a heartbeat.
that night while we were trying to sleep in sticky 90 degree heat all we could hear was rioting. we would hear megaphoned "ka koe kahsdfgy smhefwr" or something ridiculous in Thai and then a huge "YEAH!!!" or the Thai version of it at least. it was ridiculously loud even though it was practically across the city and it kept us up until the wee hours of the hot morning.
so the next day we stumbled out of bed early to catch our bus to Siem Reap...home to Angkor Wat and lots of other amazing temple ruins. we crossed the border safely and made it into town at a reasonable hour. we went to a temple on a small mountain to watch the sunset and instead enjoyed watching lightning roll in from the distance. it really was beautiful...seeing the lightning flash behind these amazing ruins. it felt a bit surreal and really intense. I loved it. what a great first Angkor Wat experience! afterwards Marissa went out to dinner and I stayed in the hotel room reading my deformed Cambodian Lonely Planet book because I wasn't feeling very well. I bought it from a street boy thinking $2 was a great deal and later realized that every other page wasn't cut apart...so here I am reading this stupid book and cutting the pages apart as I'm reading it. yay. haha. lesson learned. it was in plastic wrap for a reason! Marissa surprised me and brought me back some really good soup and rice that helped settle my stomach a bit. I'm really tired of being so sick. this needs to go away but I feel like it's just getting worse! I finally got to bed at around 1am.
I then woke up at 4am to shower and catch my very own tuk tuk to watch the sun rise over the temples of Angkor Wat. it was beautiful. words can't explain it so I won't even try. I then explored the most amazing ruins I've ever seen in my life...weather in person or pictures. I realize that this is only the 8th wonder of the world but it should be in the top 7. I was literally laughing out loud for the first hour or so because I was so happy. I was exploring the most beautiful temple ruins that look like they were built only a couple hundred years ago as opposed to thousands. everything was perfect, I was alone in the temples for most of the morning and I was so happy I could pop. Marissa had opted for biking the temples...which made it more athletic but cut down the number of temples she could see to less than four in a day. I was VERY happy I had hired a tuk tuk for the day. he took me everywhere...including the temple where Tomb Raider was filmed. I ended up running into Marissa at the actual Angkor Wat temple and we hung out for an hour and had lunch together...and then it was off again to see more temples. I stayed long enough to see the sun set over a large and deserted temple and then caught a long and sleepy ride back to the hotel where i met up with Marissa, showered and we went out for a great dinner in town. after that it was sleep and nothing could have been better after 14 hours of temple exploring in the hot hot heat. this was easily one of the best days of my trip so far if not the best. it could even be in the running for one of the best days of my life. I think everyone should go and spend at least three days. one is just not even close to enough.
this morning we got up early and caught our 6:30 bus to Phnom Penh. we arrived around 1:30 and quickly checked into a hotel, got some yummy lunch ( I had a calzone, OJ and chocolate ice cream...very western and very missed foods!) and grabbed a tuk tuk to see the killing fields and s-21...both historical genocide sited from the struggles just two decades prior. it was pretty depressing and not very informative. I feel like they're really trying to cover up the worst parts of the whole situation by just leaving out the information. luckily I bought the book, and it's very informative...even though it's looking a bit worse for wear now that it's all cut up.
we then came back to the hotel, got cleaned up and went out to a REALLY nice dinner in a fancy restaurant. we had the whole place to ourselves and it felt more like a boutique restaurant in Vegas or NYC than a high class restaurant in Cambodia. it was amazing! we ordered sushi (mine was veggie...naturally.), smoothies and I got a well deserved salad. it's been a while since I've had lettuce that hasn't been stir fried! we just chatted and enjoyed the atmosphere.
so now I'm here, hanging out on the internet...we catch a bus to Vietnam tomorrow morning so I'm pretty excited! I wish we had more time here, but I'm really glad that I got to see Angkor Wat and that I get to have this experience in the first place! it's so amazing being here!!!!!!!
I'll update again soon. internet is WIDELY available so far.
<3
I've been remembering this poem from when I was a child. I thought I would share it because it always makes me happy. enjoy.
listen to mustn'ts, child, listen to the don'ts.
listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts.
listen to the never haves, then listen close to me.
anything can happen, child, Anything can be.
I just want everyone to rember that anything really is possible. just dream it and let it come true. <3
we must never forget it.
I'm back in Bangkok just in time for the state of emergency to be lifted...which is a relief.
yesterday was the last day of our tour and even though it's a bit sad to say goodbye I'm looking forward to exploring Cambodia and Vietnam and then venturing off on my own for Hong Kong and China.
so...yeah. we took the overnight train from ChaingMai to Bangkok and arrived pretty early in the morning. We took cabs to our hotel and were lucky enough to be let into the rooms early to take a bit of a nap. I got a few hours of rest while Marissa read a bit and then we cleaned up and went out to explore the city a bit. we took a cab to the weekend market (or the JJ Market to locals), did some amazing shopping, got some food and then headed back to the hotel to get dressed up a bit for our last group dinner. we all headed out to a very nice restaurant on the river and our tour guide ordered maybe a dozen different dishes for us all to try and share. it was quite nice.
afterward we wasted a bit of time and then a few of us headed into the red light district of Bangkok for a bit of adventure. besides the fact that everyone in the whole frickin city tries to con, scam and trick you it was a good experience. you just need to be wary here and very firm about what you want and don't take no for an answer.
we saw some interesting stuff that I really don't feel like writing down and eventually the British ladies and I decided that we'd had enough so we took a cab to Kosan rd and hit up a nightclub.
we drank, we danced and then they disappeared. I hung out with a group of lovely Irish folks and made it back to my hotel by about 5:30 am.
[[ran out of time while updating a few days ago so finishing now.]]
the next day we slept in a bit and then moved to our original hostel for a night before departing for Cambodia. we spent the day enjoying Thai food, did a bit of shopping, spent some much needed time on the internet, booked a bus to Siem Reap, Cambodia and a flight back to Bangkok from Hanoi, Vietnam. it was, overall, a very busy day. we also managed to walk right by this cute Indian restaurant somewhere in the city. we decided to stop and eat dinner there and it was such a great experience. we sat on the upstairs deck, but the tables were low to the ground with large square pillows to sit on. the food was fantastic, everyone had hookahs, the music and setting were incredibly mellow and the place had a great atmosphere. our table had jenga and we just played, talked, ate and enjoyed our beautiful view of Thai temples from our Indian porch oasis. I would go back in a heartbeat.
that night while we were trying to sleep in sticky 90 degree heat all we could hear was rioting. we would hear megaphoned "ka koe kahsdfgy smhefwr" or something ridiculous in Thai and then a huge "YEAH!!!" or the Thai version of it at least. it was ridiculously loud even though it was practically across the city and it kept us up until the wee hours of the hot morning.
so the next day we stumbled out of bed early to catch our bus to Siem Reap...home to Angkor Wat and lots of other amazing temple ruins. we crossed the border safely and made it into town at a reasonable hour. we went to a temple on a small mountain to watch the sunset and instead enjoyed watching lightning roll in from the distance. it really was beautiful...seeing the lightning flash behind these amazing ruins. it felt a bit surreal and really intense. I loved it. what a great first Angkor Wat experience! afterwards Marissa went out to dinner and I stayed in the hotel room reading my deformed Cambodian Lonely Planet book because I wasn't feeling very well. I bought it from a street boy thinking $2 was a great deal and later realized that every other page wasn't cut apart...so here I am reading this stupid book and cutting the pages apart as I'm reading it. yay. haha. lesson learned. it was in plastic wrap for a reason! Marissa surprised me and brought me back some really good soup and rice that helped settle my stomach a bit. I'm really tired of being so sick. this needs to go away but I feel like it's just getting worse! I finally got to bed at around 1am.
I then woke up at 4am to shower and catch my very own tuk tuk to watch the sun rise over the temples of Angkor Wat. it was beautiful. words can't explain it so I won't even try. I then explored the most amazing ruins I've ever seen in my life...weather in person or pictures. I realize that this is only the 8th wonder of the world but it should be in the top 7. I was literally laughing out loud for the first hour or so because I was so happy. I was exploring the most beautiful temple ruins that look like they were built only a couple hundred years ago as opposed to thousands. everything was perfect, I was alone in the temples for most of the morning and I was so happy I could pop. Marissa had opted for biking the temples...which made it more athletic but cut down the number of temples she could see to less than four in a day. I was VERY happy I had hired a tuk tuk for the day. he took me everywhere...including the temple where Tomb Raider was filmed. I ended up running into Marissa at the actual Angkor Wat temple and we hung out for an hour and had lunch together...and then it was off again to see more temples. I stayed long enough to see the sun set over a large and deserted temple and then caught a long and sleepy ride back to the hotel where i met up with Marissa, showered and we went out for a great dinner in town. after that it was sleep and nothing could have been better after 14 hours of temple exploring in the hot hot heat. this was easily one of the best days of my trip so far if not the best. it could even be in the running for one of the best days of my life. I think everyone should go and spend at least three days. one is just not even close to enough.
this morning we got up early and caught our 6:30 bus to Phnom Penh. we arrived around 1:30 and quickly checked into a hotel, got some yummy lunch ( I had a calzone, OJ and chocolate ice cream...very western and very missed foods!) and grabbed a tuk tuk to see the killing fields and s-21...both historical genocide sited from the struggles just two decades prior. it was pretty depressing and not very informative. I feel like they're really trying to cover up the worst parts of the whole situation by just leaving out the information. luckily I bought the book, and it's very informative...even though it's looking a bit worse for wear now that it's all cut up.
we then came back to the hotel, got cleaned up and went out to a REALLY nice dinner in a fancy restaurant. we had the whole place to ourselves and it felt more like a boutique restaurant in Vegas or NYC than a high class restaurant in Cambodia. it was amazing! we ordered sushi (mine was veggie...naturally.), smoothies and I got a well deserved salad. it's been a while since I've had lettuce that hasn't been stir fried! we just chatted and enjoyed the atmosphere.
so now I'm here, hanging out on the internet...we catch a bus to Vietnam tomorrow morning so I'm pretty excited! I wish we had more time here, but I'm really glad that I got to see Angkor Wat and that I get to have this experience in the first place! it's so amazing being here!!!!!!!
I'll update again soon. internet is WIDELY available so far.
<3
I've been remembering this poem from when I was a child. I thought I would share it because it always makes me happy. enjoy.
listen to mustn'ts, child, listen to the don'ts.
listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts.
listen to the never haves, then listen close to me.
anything can happen, child, Anything can be.
I just want everyone to rember that anything really is possible. just dream it and let it come true. <3
we must never forget it.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
I don't have a destination, just a neverending journey...
hello world. I'm back in the 'available internet' section of Thailand and even on my own laptop! it's pretty nice...actually my computer is overheating so I think I'm going to save this and swap out for 'available expensive internet' as opposed to ruining my laptop. sigh.
okay, so it's quite warm here. I'm guessing somewhere near a hundred. woohoo. I'm getting used to it, but it doesn't make me feel any less gross and sticky. especially with the humidity consistently around 90%.
update time.
so we left for our 'hilltribe trek' a few minutes after my last post. we hopped onto a truck, stopped in a small market along the way for water and snacks, took a quick dip in a beautiful 50m tall waterfall and eventually made it to our 'begin hiking here' destination. we had a nice 3 hour trek up and down some pretty good hills before we reached our first village. it was starting to get dark, but Marissa and I still decided to take a short walk and explore the primitive village/tribe. it was really nice and peaceful. we sat and watched some children playing and having fun [which is universal...you can go anywhere and watch children play and laugh. it makes me feel so connected to these people who I guess aren't really all that different from me.] we then had to fin our way back in the pitch black, finally managed to do so, and I was feeling very deep and decided that I needed to write a journal entry. all I could find was a crumpled yellow piece of paperish wrapper, so I just used that. I won't put the whole thing in here, but there are a few parts that I think might be nice to share:
"I know it sounds a bit silly, but I feel so in tune with the world right now. it's funny how sitting under the stars and breathing warm mountain air can clear someone's head. I feel like a completely new person. or maybe I just feel more like myself without all the pressure from the outside world leaning on me. whatever it is I feel more free than I've ever felt in my life. I love this beautiful world.
I'm so tempted to just go somewhere and move into a small village in the hills. I want to finally feel a real sense of community and unity. I want to hide away from modern life and take time to love the things that we overlook as a first world society. god...just thinking about it makes my heart flutter. I'm growing incresingly tired of 'social responsibilities' and trying to please other people. I just want to live by my heart and always do what makes me happy. just do what feels right. it seems a bit sad that someone might hear me say this and think that I'm just a silly young adult figuring out my bounderies. what if there are no boundaries? what if 'when I grow up' what I really want to do is something out of the ordinary? is that really so bad? I wish that at this moment I could share all the peace, love, understanding and hope that fills my heart with the rest of the world. I wish I could make people understand what it feels like to be where I am right now. and not physically...but mentally and emotionally. I feel so incredibly alive. I feel completely okay with who I am and where I am in life right now...and it's not just because I'm traveling or have this opportunity. it's because I'm opening my mind and my heart to all these beautiful things. I can guarantee that I could be just as happy and connected anywhere in New York as I am here and now. it just makes it so much more special to actually be here and to understand that this is now and it won't last forever. and thats what makes it so beautiful.
I feel so old and still...I feel so young.
I'm the oldest I've ever been before, and yet I'm as young as I'm ever going to be again.
I'm ever evolving, ever aging and ever learning...what a beautiful thing."
after I wrote that I wandered out and joined the group for dinner. I didn't finish my soup because the chicken was still bloody but I finished the rest of my food because I was starving. afterwards we all lit paper lanterns and let them flost up into the sky. it was really pretty. we all sat around for a bit and looked at the stars, made up new constalations, and eventually made our way into our primitive room and fell asleep under our bug nets and on our cotton mats on the floor.
I woke up early the next morning to a feeling that wasn't so great. I spent most of my time in the bathroom throwing up, managed to rinse off in the 'shower' which was a bucket full of water that you dumped on yourself with a scoop to rinse off. the room was more of a cubby and everyone could look in and see you showering...which a few of the locals were doing. yay. I tried to lay down for a little while longer (we were leaving to do more trekking at 9) but couldn't fall back asleep. I tried to choke down breakfast, but it kept coming back up. I had the most incredible pain in my stomach...it felt like I was all torn up inside. I didn't know what to do. the pain got unbearable every 10-30 minutes and I couldn't even breathe then. it was the worst case of food poisoning I've ever had. I had three options...pay to go to the hospital MILES and MILES away, have a motorbike bring me to our next village or tough it out and hike the 5 hours to our next destination. I hiked. I can honestly say I think it was one of the worst experiences of my life. I shouldn't have been hiking, but by the last hour I started to feel a bit better. I ate a few crackers and enjoyed the scenery for our last few minutes. we got to a tiny village where we were to eat lunch, and I ate an entire bowl of the thai equivelent of ramen noodles. after that I started to feel better...which was fortuanate, because the next 22km of our trip was by elephant. I took the neck of the elephant and Marissa got the seat on the elephants back...she didn't seem too psyched to be on the neck...and we slowly bumped along through the jungles of Thailand. it was a really cool experience and it was beautiful, I'm sure that if I had been feeling better I would have enjoyed it much more...but that's life. we did a bit more hiking afterwards and eventually ended up at our next overnight hilltribe village. I took a bit of a nap, rinsed myself off in the river running through the village, went for a stroll through the village with the group and ate a little bit of dinner. after dinner we all sat in a circle and played word games, painted eachother with charcoal, everyone but me had a few drinks and we went to bed on cotton mats and wood floors again.
I felt quite a bit better the next morning, ate some breakfast and packed my bag for our all day bamboo river rafting trip. we all wandered down to the water, tested out the boats...had to add some more bamboo to one that was sinking...and eventually headed downriver with bamboo poles in hand to push. we all took turns rowing and enjoying the scenery, we went through some pretty fast rapids, our boat broke and needed to be repaired at one point and quite a few hours later we made it to our meetup spot. we had some late lunch and hopped in the vans for our 2 hour drive back to ChaingMai. the night was mellow and everyone did their own thing and went to bed (yes, real beds!) pretty early.
the next day a bunch of us woke up early and went to take a Thai cooking class. we made curries, soup, sticky rice with mango and padthai. it was all amazing and I have the recipies...so I'll make some for people when I get home! Marissa and I wandered off and got a pretty painful traditional Thai massage, wandered around the markets a bit and met back up with the group. our guide brought us to a seafood buffet, but since I'm allergic I was out of luck. another couple and an english guy (Rob) didn't feel like having seafood so we all wandered down the road a ways and found a thai resteraunt. we ate, got dessert in a market and took a tuktuk back to the hotel. Rob and I talked till pretty late into the night and then I went to bed.
we left early the next day by local bus for Tha Ton. we went to a local Long Neck Keren village (women have metal around their necks to make them longer...I have pictures) and to a few temples and got to see some very large buddahs. we had just enough time to eat dinner before the power went out, so we all sat around by candlelight talking and then went to bed at a reasonable hour.
left early again the next morning by long tail boat for our 96km journey into ChaingRai. we had two boats for 14 people, and the water was so shallow that we kept getting stuck in the sand and had to get out and push the boat to freedom. it was fun, but tiring. four and a half hours later we arrived in ChaingRai, got some lunch and took a bus to the Golden Triangle. we took a smaller boat across the river into Laos for the day, came back and went to the Opium museam in Thailand and took the bus back to ChaingRai for the Night Baazar and diner. we stayed at the market pretty late, got back and had some wine and eventually went to bed.
this morning we woke up very early to catch a bus back to ChaingMai. first we decided to have breakfast at the hotel restaurant. bad move. the staff had no clue what they were doing and another girl from the group and I ended up helping out in the kitchen to get things done in time to catch the bus. everyone said I was the best waitress that they've had all trip...sadly I didn't get any tips. haha. we barely made it to the bus in time but made it to ChaingMai nevertheless.
so...here I am. hot, tired and to be honest my stomach is still a bit messed up. we have one more full day of the tour and then Marissa and I head off on our own again to explore a bit. this time we head south and east towards Cambodia and eventually into Vietnam. I'm very excited. then it's goodbye to Marissa and hello to Hong Kong and China! I still have half my trip left! haha.
so...I'm going to get some food and take a shower. we're just killing time right now before we catch our overnight train to Bangkok later on tonight.
I miss everyone and I'll try to stay in touch!
<3
I'm updating some pictures on my facebook right now. check 'em out and leave comments! =D
okay, so it's quite warm here. I'm guessing somewhere near a hundred. woohoo. I'm getting used to it, but it doesn't make me feel any less gross and sticky. especially with the humidity consistently around 90%.
update time.
so we left for our 'hilltribe trek' a few minutes after my last post. we hopped onto a truck, stopped in a small market along the way for water and snacks, took a quick dip in a beautiful 50m tall waterfall and eventually made it to our 'begin hiking here' destination. we had a nice 3 hour trek up and down some pretty good hills before we reached our first village. it was starting to get dark, but Marissa and I still decided to take a short walk and explore the primitive village/tribe. it was really nice and peaceful. we sat and watched some children playing and having fun [which is universal...you can go anywhere and watch children play and laugh. it makes me feel so connected to these people who I guess aren't really all that different from me.] we then had to fin our way back in the pitch black, finally managed to do so, and I was feeling very deep and decided that I needed to write a journal entry. all I could find was a crumpled yellow piece of paperish wrapper, so I just used that. I won't put the whole thing in here, but there are a few parts that I think might be nice to share:
"I know it sounds a bit silly, but I feel so in tune with the world right now. it's funny how sitting under the stars and breathing warm mountain air can clear someone's head. I feel like a completely new person. or maybe I just feel more like myself without all the pressure from the outside world leaning on me. whatever it is I feel more free than I've ever felt in my life. I love this beautiful world.
I'm so tempted to just go somewhere and move into a small village in the hills. I want to finally feel a real sense of community and unity. I want to hide away from modern life and take time to love the things that we overlook as a first world society. god...just thinking about it makes my heart flutter. I'm growing incresingly tired of 'social responsibilities' and trying to please other people. I just want to live by my heart and always do what makes me happy. just do what feels right. it seems a bit sad that someone might hear me say this and think that I'm just a silly young adult figuring out my bounderies. what if there are no boundaries? what if 'when I grow up' what I really want to do is something out of the ordinary? is that really so bad? I wish that at this moment I could share all the peace, love, understanding and hope that fills my heart with the rest of the world. I wish I could make people understand what it feels like to be where I am right now. and not physically...but mentally and emotionally. I feel so incredibly alive. I feel completely okay with who I am and where I am in life right now...and it's not just because I'm traveling or have this opportunity. it's because I'm opening my mind and my heart to all these beautiful things. I can guarantee that I could be just as happy and connected anywhere in New York as I am here and now. it just makes it so much more special to actually be here and to understand that this is now and it won't last forever. and thats what makes it so beautiful.
I feel so old and still...I feel so young.
I'm the oldest I've ever been before, and yet I'm as young as I'm ever going to be again.
I'm ever evolving, ever aging and ever learning...what a beautiful thing."
after I wrote that I wandered out and joined the group for dinner. I didn't finish my soup because the chicken was still bloody but I finished the rest of my food because I was starving. afterwards we all lit paper lanterns and let them flost up into the sky. it was really pretty. we all sat around for a bit and looked at the stars, made up new constalations, and eventually made our way into our primitive room and fell asleep under our bug nets and on our cotton mats on the floor.
I woke up early the next morning to a feeling that wasn't so great. I spent most of my time in the bathroom throwing up, managed to rinse off in the 'shower' which was a bucket full of water that you dumped on yourself with a scoop to rinse off. the room was more of a cubby and everyone could look in and see you showering...which a few of the locals were doing. yay. I tried to lay down for a little while longer (we were leaving to do more trekking at 9) but couldn't fall back asleep. I tried to choke down breakfast, but it kept coming back up. I had the most incredible pain in my stomach...it felt like I was all torn up inside. I didn't know what to do. the pain got unbearable every 10-30 minutes and I couldn't even breathe then. it was the worst case of food poisoning I've ever had. I had three options...pay to go to the hospital MILES and MILES away, have a motorbike bring me to our next village or tough it out and hike the 5 hours to our next destination. I hiked. I can honestly say I think it was one of the worst experiences of my life. I shouldn't have been hiking, but by the last hour I started to feel a bit better. I ate a few crackers and enjoyed the scenery for our last few minutes. we got to a tiny village where we were to eat lunch, and I ate an entire bowl of the thai equivelent of ramen noodles. after that I started to feel better...which was fortuanate, because the next 22km of our trip was by elephant. I took the neck of the elephant and Marissa got the seat on the elephants back...she didn't seem too psyched to be on the neck...and we slowly bumped along through the jungles of Thailand. it was a really cool experience and it was beautiful, I'm sure that if I had been feeling better I would have enjoyed it much more...but that's life. we did a bit more hiking afterwards and eventually ended up at our next overnight hilltribe village. I took a bit of a nap, rinsed myself off in the river running through the village, went for a stroll through the village with the group and ate a little bit of dinner. after dinner we all sat in a circle and played word games, painted eachother with charcoal, everyone but me had a few drinks and we went to bed on cotton mats and wood floors again.
I felt quite a bit better the next morning, ate some breakfast and packed my bag for our all day bamboo river rafting trip. we all wandered down to the water, tested out the boats...had to add some more bamboo to one that was sinking...and eventually headed downriver with bamboo poles in hand to push. we all took turns rowing and enjoying the scenery, we went through some pretty fast rapids, our boat broke and needed to be repaired at one point and quite a few hours later we made it to our meetup spot. we had some late lunch and hopped in the vans for our 2 hour drive back to ChaingMai. the night was mellow and everyone did their own thing and went to bed (yes, real beds!) pretty early.
the next day a bunch of us woke up early and went to take a Thai cooking class. we made curries, soup, sticky rice with mango and padthai. it was all amazing and I have the recipies...so I'll make some for people when I get home! Marissa and I wandered off and got a pretty painful traditional Thai massage, wandered around the markets a bit and met back up with the group. our guide brought us to a seafood buffet, but since I'm allergic I was out of luck. another couple and an english guy (Rob) didn't feel like having seafood so we all wandered down the road a ways and found a thai resteraunt. we ate, got dessert in a market and took a tuktuk back to the hotel. Rob and I talked till pretty late into the night and then I went to bed.
we left early the next day by local bus for Tha Ton. we went to a local Long Neck Keren village (women have metal around their necks to make them longer...I have pictures) and to a few temples and got to see some very large buddahs. we had just enough time to eat dinner before the power went out, so we all sat around by candlelight talking and then went to bed at a reasonable hour.
left early again the next morning by long tail boat for our 96km journey into ChaingRai. we had two boats for 14 people, and the water was so shallow that we kept getting stuck in the sand and had to get out and push the boat to freedom. it was fun, but tiring. four and a half hours later we arrived in ChaingRai, got some lunch and took a bus to the Golden Triangle. we took a smaller boat across the river into Laos for the day, came back and went to the Opium museam in Thailand and took the bus back to ChaingRai for the Night Baazar and diner. we stayed at the market pretty late, got back and had some wine and eventually went to bed.
this morning we woke up very early to catch a bus back to ChaingMai. first we decided to have breakfast at the hotel restaurant. bad move. the staff had no clue what they were doing and another girl from the group and I ended up helping out in the kitchen to get things done in time to catch the bus. everyone said I was the best waitress that they've had all trip...sadly I didn't get any tips. haha. we barely made it to the bus in time but made it to ChaingMai nevertheless.
so...here I am. hot, tired and to be honest my stomach is still a bit messed up. we have one more full day of the tour and then Marissa and I head off on our own again to explore a bit. this time we head south and east towards Cambodia and eventually into Vietnam. I'm very excited. then it's goodbye to Marissa and hello to Hong Kong and China! I still have half my trip left! haha.
so...I'm going to get some food and take a shower. we're just killing time right now before we catch our overnight train to Bangkok later on tonight.
I miss everyone and I'll try to stay in touch!
<3
I'm updating some pictures on my facebook right now. check 'em out and leave comments! =D
Thursday, April 16, 2009
ชอบ ความมีชีวิตชีวา
"love life"
okay...super quick update. I have to leave for my 3 day hilltribe trek in like 15 minutes.
I'm all packed and ready to go early so I figured I'd hop on here and tell whats been happening.
so the last time I updated I was about to go to the night market. well, we went and got some really good food, walked around a bit, shopped a bit and then walked back. mellow night overall.
the next day we got up early and headed to a really famous 7 tier waterfall nearby. you have to hike to each tier, so Marissa and I hiked all the way up to the top before hiking back down to tier 5 and swimming for a bit. I did some super slippery mossy bouldering problems and almost broke myself...but I pulled it off clean and was really happy with it. we hiked back down and got some lunch after a bit.
then we took a truck taxi to the Tiger Temple where we got to play with the tiger cubs, take pictures with all kinds of tigers, I got to walk a tiger for a second and we got to watch them wrestle and play. it was great even though our guide is an idiot (really...he's terrible) and forgot to mention that we can't wear shorts, tank tops, bright clothing or have thinks hanging off us...like big earrings or jewelry. we all had to buy new clothes and were pretty peeved.
after that we went back to the hotel for a bit and then I went to dinner with two lovely english girls and a cool english boy. a simple trip to a restaurant turned into a binge eating expedition after the food was so absolutely mind blowing. we each got two entrees, shared a bunch of snacks and had two desserts each as well. there were drinks mixed up in-between and I've never been so full in my life! it was great though.
afterwards I went with one of the english girld for my first Thai massage. we both got foot massages and they were to die for. I can't even explain what an hour massage can do for you. I can't wait to get a full bosy massage!!!!!! and to think it's only $3 or $4 for an hour. oh man. soooooo good. when it was dome we were so relaxed that we just went to bed. and for good reason. it was after 11 and we had a super long day.
the next day we got up early and took a series of local busses into another city...can't think of the name at the moment...where we wandered around and explored old temple ruins for the day. we got to see baby elephants playing in the water and big elephants being used as taxi's. it was neat. we stopped by a HUGE buddah temple and then went to our day use hotel to clean up and then head to our overnight sleeper train. the train was almost an hour late...naturally...but we all made it on and got our cool folding beds. haha. it was sure an experiance. everyone but my three englush friends and I had a LOT to drink and found themselves falling all over the bumpy train. we...being the youngest of the group...thought it was a bit ironic that a whole group of adults could act so silly when we were actimg so mature. haha. we all just talked and laughed the night away, and at the end I gave Tristan a surprise call and fell peacefully asleep.
for about half an hour. haha. it was a REALLY bumpy train.
oh, by the way...I can receive texts but can't send them for some reason. don't be sad when I don't reply! haha.
so...we made it ChaingMai safely and three hours late, checked into the hotel and relaxed for a little while. I stayed back with my two female english friends while the rest of the group learned how umbrellas and silver were made. we took a tuk tuk into town and wandered the old city instead...taking in the buildings, food, markets and temples. it was amazing. we caught a ride to a local shopping area and ended up finding the neatest and cheapest boutique where we all got a few things. I'm a few items of clothing heavier and a bit more broke...but it's all in the name of travel so I'll survive. =D
we went back, went for a swim at the hotel and met with the group and our trekking guide that night. afterwards we all walked down to the night market/ChaingMai Baazar and hung out there for the night. I opted to try eating some bugs...so I've now tried crickets, grasshoppers and silkworms. the hoppers were okay but the worms were disgusting! I got some cool presents at the market and then we all wandered into a gas station for water (for the trek) and then went back to the hotel and packed.
so...I leave in less than 5 minutes. I need to run. I'll be hiking, staying in villages, riding elephants, bamboo river rafting and eating local food for the next three days. I'm super excited!
I miss everyone and can't wait to come back here and tell you all about my upcoming adventure!
<3
okay...super quick update. I have to leave for my 3 day hilltribe trek in like 15 minutes.
I'm all packed and ready to go early so I figured I'd hop on here and tell whats been happening.
so the last time I updated I was about to go to the night market. well, we went and got some really good food, walked around a bit, shopped a bit and then walked back. mellow night overall.
the next day we got up early and headed to a really famous 7 tier waterfall nearby. you have to hike to each tier, so Marissa and I hiked all the way up to the top before hiking back down to tier 5 and swimming for a bit. I did some super slippery mossy bouldering problems and almost broke myself...but I pulled it off clean and was really happy with it. we hiked back down and got some lunch after a bit.
then we took a truck taxi to the Tiger Temple where we got to play with the tiger cubs, take pictures with all kinds of tigers, I got to walk a tiger for a second and we got to watch them wrestle and play. it was great even though our guide is an idiot (really...he's terrible) and forgot to mention that we can't wear shorts, tank tops, bright clothing or have thinks hanging off us...like big earrings or jewelry. we all had to buy new clothes and were pretty peeved.
after that we went back to the hotel for a bit and then I went to dinner with two lovely english girls and a cool english boy. a simple trip to a restaurant turned into a binge eating expedition after the food was so absolutely mind blowing. we each got two entrees, shared a bunch of snacks and had two desserts each as well. there were drinks mixed up in-between and I've never been so full in my life! it was great though.
afterwards I went with one of the english girld for my first Thai massage. we both got foot massages and they were to die for. I can't even explain what an hour massage can do for you. I can't wait to get a full bosy massage!!!!!! and to think it's only $3 or $4 for an hour. oh man. soooooo good. when it was dome we were so relaxed that we just went to bed. and for good reason. it was after 11 and we had a super long day.
the next day we got up early and took a series of local busses into another city...can't think of the name at the moment...where we wandered around and explored old temple ruins for the day. we got to see baby elephants playing in the water and big elephants being used as taxi's. it was neat. we stopped by a HUGE buddah temple and then went to our day use hotel to clean up and then head to our overnight sleeper train. the train was almost an hour late...naturally...but we all made it on and got our cool folding beds. haha. it was sure an experiance. everyone but my three englush friends and I had a LOT to drink and found themselves falling all over the bumpy train. we...being the youngest of the group...thought it was a bit ironic that a whole group of adults could act so silly when we were actimg so mature. haha. we all just talked and laughed the night away, and at the end I gave Tristan a surprise call and fell peacefully asleep.
for about half an hour. haha. it was a REALLY bumpy train.
oh, by the way...I can receive texts but can't send them for some reason. don't be sad when I don't reply! haha.
so...we made it ChaingMai safely and three hours late, checked into the hotel and relaxed for a little while. I stayed back with my two female english friends while the rest of the group learned how umbrellas and silver were made. we took a tuk tuk into town and wandered the old city instead...taking in the buildings, food, markets and temples. it was amazing. we caught a ride to a local shopping area and ended up finding the neatest and cheapest boutique where we all got a few things. I'm a few items of clothing heavier and a bit more broke...but it's all in the name of travel so I'll survive. =D
we went back, went for a swim at the hotel and met with the group and our trekking guide that night. afterwards we all walked down to the night market/ChaingMai Baazar and hung out there for the night. I opted to try eating some bugs...so I've now tried crickets, grasshoppers and silkworms. the hoppers were okay but the worms were disgusting! I got some cool presents at the market and then we all wandered into a gas station for water (for the trek) and then went back to the hotel and packed.
so...I leave in less than 5 minutes. I need to run. I'll be hiking, staying in villages, riding elephants, bamboo river rafting and eating local food for the next three days. I'm super excited!
I miss everyone and can't wait to come back here and tell you all about my upcoming adventure!
<3
Monday, April 13, 2009
from water guns to machine guns.
well...the last few days have been pretty interesting.
Saturday night marked the beginning of the celebration of the Thai New Year. Marissa and I met up with a friend of a friend who moved to Thailand from Amsterdam, NY maybe a year ago and we all went out to a Thai bar. We were the only white people in the bar and no one spoke English...it was a really cool experience! we danced all night and finally got back to our hostel around 2 or 3am. I had some water dumped down my back, but had no clue what I was in for the next day. On our cab ride to and from the club we got caught up in a few protests...buses were blocking the roads, fires were burning, people were rioting and everyone was wearing red. We managed to get out without any problems...it was just a bit exciting.
so we woke up late Sunday morning and got a slow start. eventually Marissa headed out to get some fruit for breakfast and came running back a minute later drenched and fruitless. upon reflection we realized that the words "water festival" were thrown around a bit and that it must have been that day. we threw on some clothes that could get wet and headed out into the great wet unknown. as soon as we stepped outside we got hit by squirt guns, hoses, buckets of water and smeared with some type of clay. quickly accepting our fate we headed to get some food, an ample amount of water and some serious fun. we played for what seemed like hours...dumping water down peoples backs, getting smeared with all different colored clays, dancing, getting sprayed, squirted and kissed on the forehead occasionally. it was amazing! streets were literally just packed with people having the biggest water fight I've ever seen. thousands of people were laughing, playing and getting very very very wet.
After maybe two hours Marissa was at her water limit so I walked her back to the hostel and then headed back into the mess on my own. I bought a few more bottles of ICE COLD water (the best ammo on a hot humid day) and continued the fun. I have some great pictures to back up this amazing story. what a great time to be in Bangkok!!!
We ended up washing up a bit...I was covered head to toe in colored clay...and taking a cab to our hotel to start our Thailand GAP tour. On the way over we got caught up in another protest, but the cab driver diverted us down a few back streets and got us out of the way. when we were almost at the hotel we got turned away again...this time by HUGE tanks and machine gun laden Thai military. once again everything was fine and we made it to the hotel safely. at 6 we met our group, went over the itinerary, got briefed on the state of the country and city, and eventually had dinner. that night Bangkok was declared as being in a state of emergency.
based on the things people have told me and what I've learned by doing some research I think Thailand has been in need of some emergency action for a while, and I sincerely hope that some change can happen for these amazing people. I really can't believe the issues that this corrupt government has been masking and forcing these people to deal with for so many years. I'm glad that they're standing up for what they believe in.
so...to continue on with the story...
that night Marissa and I had dinner at the hotel and then caught a cab back to the heart of the water fight for some nighttime fun. we bought some water guns, a few bottles of water and joined the festivities. it really felt like being in first grade again...guys were shooting girls and girls were shooting guys. Marissa and I made a pact to only shoot cute guys...which worked out well. haha. I ended up getting in a few one on one water fights with some guys and I really felt like I was in elementary school. pick on the boy or girl you have a crush on and hope for the best. haha. it was a ton of fun though. I drank a few beers, met a bunch of cool people and ended up having the time of my life. things started winding down and I ended up sitting with a few Irish guys and having a beer. Marissa had met a special friend..teehee...so I let her be. eventually the guys wanted to go to a club down the street and I agreed to go...even though I was sopping wet. as it turns out almost everyone inside was pretty wet so I was in style. I left Marissa with her new friend but she said they would come later on. I danced a bit but got a bit peeved when a waitress pushed me out of her way, causing me to knock over a beer bottle, that in turn fell, broke and went into my legs and feet. I spend almost an hour in the back room of the club with an improv Thai nurse picking out glass splinters from my legs and the tops and bottoms of my feet. we couldn't get it all and I still feel sharp pieces every now and then when I'm walking. yay. we literally soaked my feet in iodine because it was all they had and I hobbled back out onto the dance floor to find Marissa and mystery European guy having a good time. I told Marissa what had happened and that I'd be waiting outside. after a while she broke away and met me outside. I hailed a Tuk Tuk, set a price and relaxed for our ride back to the hotel. we got back around 4am and just crashed. what a night.
the next morning was this morning...
I slept through my alarm and woke up to Marissa rolling out of bed. apparently she missed her alarm as well. crap. we were set to leave at 8am and it was half seven. ahh! Marissa took a shower and then I hopped in...I ended up picking more glass out of my feet which took till 7:54. I scrambled out of the shower, threw everything back in my bag, grabbed the room key and high-tailed it downstairs. I was 3 minutes late but it was all good. we all piled into a hired van and headed off to the bus station. we took a bus from Bangkok to somewhere outside where we are staying...Kanchanaburi...and then we all hopped into the back of a few trucks and got a ride to our hotel. we checked into our cool new hotel and then walked to a few local historical sites, including the River Kwai Bridge. it was really cool, because the train still runes over the bridge and actually came while we were on it. there a a few platforms to the side of the single track to stand while the train passes by. it was a really cool experience! afterwards we all checked out the market, grabbed a soda (which they dump into little plastic shopping bags with ice and a straw because soda comes in a glass bottle and glass isn't allowed on the streets.) and hopped into the back of another truck for a ride back to the hotel. I ran some small errands and that's pretty much it for now.
we're about to go check out the night market, grab some food and maybe watch a movie on my laptop a bit later.
check this out:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7996653.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7996312.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7996288.stm
what a crazy past few days.
<3
Saturday night marked the beginning of the celebration of the Thai New Year. Marissa and I met up with a friend of a friend who moved to Thailand from Amsterdam, NY maybe a year ago and we all went out to a Thai bar. We were the only white people in the bar and no one spoke English...it was a really cool experience! we danced all night and finally got back to our hostel around 2 or 3am. I had some water dumped down my back, but had no clue what I was in for the next day. On our cab ride to and from the club we got caught up in a few protests...buses were blocking the roads, fires were burning, people were rioting and everyone was wearing red. We managed to get out without any problems...it was just a bit exciting.
so we woke up late Sunday morning and got a slow start. eventually Marissa headed out to get some fruit for breakfast and came running back a minute later drenched and fruitless. upon reflection we realized that the words "water festival" were thrown around a bit and that it must have been that day. we threw on some clothes that could get wet and headed out into the great wet unknown. as soon as we stepped outside we got hit by squirt guns, hoses, buckets of water and smeared with some type of clay. quickly accepting our fate we headed to get some food, an ample amount of water and some serious fun. we played for what seemed like hours...dumping water down peoples backs, getting smeared with all different colored clays, dancing, getting sprayed, squirted and kissed on the forehead occasionally. it was amazing! streets were literally just packed with people having the biggest water fight I've ever seen. thousands of people were laughing, playing and getting very very very wet.
After maybe two hours Marissa was at her water limit so I walked her back to the hostel and then headed back into the mess on my own. I bought a few more bottles of ICE COLD water (the best ammo on a hot humid day) and continued the fun. I have some great pictures to back up this amazing story. what a great time to be in Bangkok!!!
We ended up washing up a bit...I was covered head to toe in colored clay...and taking a cab to our hotel to start our Thailand GAP tour. On the way over we got caught up in another protest, but the cab driver diverted us down a few back streets and got us out of the way. when we were almost at the hotel we got turned away again...this time by HUGE tanks and machine gun laden Thai military. once again everything was fine and we made it to the hotel safely. at 6 we met our group, went over the itinerary, got briefed on the state of the country and city, and eventually had dinner. that night Bangkok was declared as being in a state of emergency.
based on the things people have told me and what I've learned by doing some research I think Thailand has been in need of some emergency action for a while, and I sincerely hope that some change can happen for these amazing people. I really can't believe the issues that this corrupt government has been masking and forcing these people to deal with for so many years. I'm glad that they're standing up for what they believe in.
so...to continue on with the story...
that night Marissa and I had dinner at the hotel and then caught a cab back to the heart of the water fight for some nighttime fun. we bought some water guns, a few bottles of water and joined the festivities. it really felt like being in first grade again...guys were shooting girls and girls were shooting guys. Marissa and I made a pact to only shoot cute guys...which worked out well. haha. I ended up getting in a few one on one water fights with some guys and I really felt like I was in elementary school. pick on the boy or girl you have a crush on and hope for the best. haha. it was a ton of fun though. I drank a few beers, met a bunch of cool people and ended up having the time of my life. things started winding down and I ended up sitting with a few Irish guys and having a beer. Marissa had met a special friend..teehee...so I let her be. eventually the guys wanted to go to a club down the street and I agreed to go...even though I was sopping wet. as it turns out almost everyone inside was pretty wet so I was in style. I left Marissa with her new friend but she said they would come later on. I danced a bit but got a bit peeved when a waitress pushed me out of her way, causing me to knock over a beer bottle, that in turn fell, broke and went into my legs and feet. I spend almost an hour in the back room of the club with an improv Thai nurse picking out glass splinters from my legs and the tops and bottoms of my feet. we couldn't get it all and I still feel sharp pieces every now and then when I'm walking. yay. we literally soaked my feet in iodine because it was all they had and I hobbled back out onto the dance floor to find Marissa and mystery European guy having a good time. I told Marissa what had happened and that I'd be waiting outside. after a while she broke away and met me outside. I hailed a Tuk Tuk, set a price and relaxed for our ride back to the hotel. we got back around 4am and just crashed. what a night.
the next morning was this morning...
I slept through my alarm and woke up to Marissa rolling out of bed. apparently she missed her alarm as well. crap. we were set to leave at 8am and it was half seven. ahh! Marissa took a shower and then I hopped in...I ended up picking more glass out of my feet which took till 7:54. I scrambled out of the shower, threw everything back in my bag, grabbed the room key and high-tailed it downstairs. I was 3 minutes late but it was all good. we all piled into a hired van and headed off to the bus station. we took a bus from Bangkok to somewhere outside where we are staying...Kanchanaburi...and then we all hopped into the back of a few trucks and got a ride to our hotel. we checked into our cool new hotel and then walked to a few local historical sites, including the River Kwai Bridge. it was really cool, because the train still runes over the bridge and actually came while we were on it. there a a few platforms to the side of the single track to stand while the train passes by. it was a really cool experience! afterwards we all checked out the market, grabbed a soda (which they dump into little plastic shopping bags with ice and a straw because soda comes in a glass bottle and glass isn't allowed on the streets.) and hopped into the back of another truck for a ride back to the hotel. I ran some small errands and that's pretty much it for now.
we're about to go check out the night market, grab some food and maybe watch a movie on my laptop a bit later.
check this out:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7996653.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7996312.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7996288.stm
what a crazy past few days.
<3
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