O'Leary Logic...

The other day I walked into the dining room to find my dad writing on the wall with a pencil. I stopped and with a perplexed look on my face asked, "What are you doing?"

"Writing down the amount of water that was in the rain gauge," he calmly replied.

"You know, we do have this stuff called paper," I chided him thinking once again that my father is losing it.

"Yeah, but I might lose the piece of paper. I am not going to lose this wall."

I stood there, mouth agape, and realized that his logic was indeed sound.

Christmas Dinner

MERRY CHRISTMAS

We just got finished with our annual Christmas dinner. It was a wonderful evening with my mom's side of the family. Her brother Tim and sisters Maura and Rowan came. Tim brought his wife Jeanne, and Rowan brought her husband Bob and their daughter Olivia.


Because I am almost never here in California and Olivia is still really young (3 in Feb.) she does not really remember me and so she was a little scared of me. But we are working on that...


Ceara received a wonderful gift from aunt Maura and of course had to model it for everyone!

A Couple of Photos

Here are two more photos I have taken since I have been here in California.

The first is of sunrise this morning (don't even ask why I was up this early).


The second is my family and I. Dennis (dad), Catie (mom), Ceara (little sister), and some dork in the back.

My Folks' Place

In 1997, the summer between my senior year of high school and freshman year of college, my dad took the job as the executive director of the Djerassi Resident Artists Program. As a result, my family moved from Boise, Idaho to Woodside, California. The Djerassi property is in the hills to the west of the 280 freeway and about halfway between highways 84 and 92, which cross the San Francisco Peninsula from the bay to the coast.

The house, which is on the property and comes with my father's job, is nestled at the base of a large hill with stands of giant redwood trees downslope. There are gaps in the redwood trees that afford incredible views out over the hills, which turn brilliant shades of gold in the early August evenings. Through one of the gaps you can even see the Pacific Ocean. The house is principally constructed from redwood and the back deck includes an especially nice barrel style hot tub that is perfect for a late night or early morning soak.

One of the most amazing things about living in a rural portion of the Bay Area is that the houses are really far apart. The closest house to my parents' is more than a half-mile away. This means that there are still numerous wild animals to be seen including rabbit, raccoon, coyote, fox, bobcat, deer, numerous birds of prey, and even mountain lion. The Djerassi property also has several fire roads and numerous criss-crossing trails which make for excellent hiking.

The one minor catch to the house is that it is a ways from civilization. It takes about 30 minutes to drive the 14 miles of VERY twisty roads to get to the 280 freeway. From there it is at least another 10 minutes to the closest grocery store. This has proven to be a surmountable obstacle with a few minor changes of habit and a bit more planning. It is possible to get to San Francisco in about an hour for day trips to museums, shopping, and restaurants.

Christmas Trees and Christmas Parties

I have been here in California for three days now and it is wonderful. Sleeping till noon. Eating out of an everfull refridgerator. Soaking in the hottub. Spending quality time with family and friends.

The first real activity of my trip came Saturday morning - ok so it may have been Saturday afternoon - when my dad (Dennis) and I went out to get the Christmas tree. Since my parents live out in the boonies where the redwood trees grow like weeds we usually selectively thin the groves each year by one tree. It should be mentioned at this point in the story that for most years my mom (Catie) and little sister (Ceara) have stood on the back deck and supervised my dad and I. This particular year my sister was not back from college yet and it was raining, thus keeping my mom indoors. Unable to find a single tree that we liked, my dad and I focused our efforts on an old trunk of a tree that was growing parallel with the ground and had died out at the end. Growing straight up out of this portion of the tree were four small trunks. They were all rather skinny and none of them had all that many branches...

Before long my mother was standing on the covered portion of the back deck inquiring why there were three trees laid out on the hottub cover. My dad and I enthusiastically explained to her that if we tied the three of them together with bailing wire and duct tape we would have a nice big full tree with plenty of branches to hang all of our ornaments on. At present I am fairly certain that my parents have the only 12 foot tall three trunked Christmas tree in town. Maybe even the state, if not the entire country. Now that it is all decorated it looks fabulous. Hell, Ceara hasn't even noticed its uniqueness yet.

Saturday evening I attended Dan and Emily's (different Emily from Julie's sister) annual Christmas Party. All, well, almost all, of my friends made it and it was really great to get to catch up with all of them. For the most part people are doing the same things that they were the last time I saw them in May, but a few people have changed positions within the companies that they are working for and other have moved on to entirely new things to pursue other interests.

We also conducted our traditional white elephant (yankee swap) gift exchange game where everyone brings a wrapped gift and they are opened one at a time in a randomly determined order. Gifts are stolen from each other according to the rules and eventually everyone goes home with a gift. Some pleased. Some not so pleased. This year I really wanted the nerf dart guns, but I wound up with the new release of Office Space on DVD. I think that I came out ahead seeing as how all I brought was a gift pack of Hawaiiana touristy stuff.

Christmas in California

I am headed back to my parents house in Woodside, California for Christmas this Friday the 16th. I have managed to get three weeks off from my very generous boss at work. For those of you who are reading this who are not already familiar with where my parents live, Woodside is on the San Francisco Peninsula about half-way between the San Francisco and San Jose. My parents live up in the hills to the west of the 280 freeway.

I am very excited to be heading back to California. I haven't been there since May 2005 and looking forward to to seeing all of my extended family and my friends from college. I will be attending Dan and Emily's annual Christmas party, spending time with Emily (Julie's older sister), as well as traveling to southern California with my little sister to assist in her architecture batchelor's thesis research. While I am in SoCal I am going to get to see more friends from college and Linda and Ian's new daughter, Lindsay.

Another highlight of the trip is going to be my Mom's big opening in San Francisco on the 7th of January. She primarily does collage and she has a whole bunch of pieces that are going to be displayed in a gallery. My family is very excited and we are going out to support her.

As usual I have stocked up on chocolate covered macadamia nuts for everyone. I hope that this will be enough...


Since I am traveling, look for more posts in the coming month...

Random Pictures

Here are a few more pictures of random things from my trip. I hope you enjoy them.

The south entrance to Preah Khan Temple at Angkor, Cambodia.

A REALLY big centipede!

Monks heading home for the day on the river taxi in Bangkok.

A giant jar full of snakes in a restaurant on Cat Bah Island, Vietnam.

Motorbike parking in the Old Quarter of Hanoi, Vietnam.

Street Food

One of the reasons that SE Asia is so cheap is that it is literally possible to eat for $2 per day. This is accomplished by eating at street stalls, carts, bicycles, and even baskets. Entire restaurants were carried around by old women in two baskets suspended from the ends of a bamboo pole.

A restaurant on the back of a bicycle in Cholon, the Chinese section of Ho Chi Minh City.

While I did eat at street stalls in all four of the countries (Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and Malaysia) I went to, I can really only compare the first three since I was only in Malaysia for three days and only ate at one street stall.

Vietnam, by far, had the best street food. The was an infinite variety and it changed from city to city. Each region and town had its own specialties. Dishes ranged from fried pancakes with shrimp and pork in them in Hoi An to cold noodle soups in the vegetable markets of Hanoi. In Ho Chi Minh City, which experienced heavy American influence during the war, it was possible to get a Vietnamese style sandwich. There are also a variety of mysterious things wrapped in banana leaves which have been steamed. I have no idea what most of them were, and most of them didn't taste all that good anyway.

Thailand, unlike Vietnam, has numerous curries which can be selected and poured over rice. There is also the ever present pad-thai and spring rolls. Thai bar-b-que is also very common and cheap as well. In southern Thailand fried chicken is also very common, particularly at railroad stations where you have just enough time to hop off the train, buy something, and jump back on before the train leaves again.

Cambodia is an interesting blend of Thai and Vietnamese. There are the curries, but there are also lighter dished more typical of Vietnam.

In all three countries smoothie stands have become very common in response to tourists. There are a variety of fruits from the normal apple and banana to more exotic things like dragon fruit. Fruit, ice (some places even have "safe" ice), and condensed milk are blended thoroughly. The smoothly is then put into a plastic bag which is sealed shut with a straw sticking out of it using a rubber band. This bag is then put into another plastic bag that has ice in it and handles so that you can carry your beverage. It really is a genius system and an excellent mid-day snack for about $0.20.

On of the most important things to know about eating street food is how to pick where to eat. They all appear similar at first, but a closer inspection is a must before deciding where to eat.

1. Are locals eating there? The locals know the best places to eat, just like you do when you are at home.
2. How clean is the place? Remember that cleanliness is a relative concept, so don't expect Martha Stewart's kitchen, but just check to see that there aren't flies all over the food.
3. Is there active food preparation going on? Don't eat at places at 4 in the afternoon where it looks like the food was originally cooked at 9 in the morning.
4. If there are only tourists at the stall, do not eat there.
5. If there is not a sign with a price, negotiate the price first. Expect to pay a little more than the locals, but do not get completely ripped off.
6. Take it easy with the chili sauce. It is a lot stronger than you think it will be.
   
7. Take pepto-bismol. It can't hurt.

Finally, here are a few photos of some of the places I ate on my trip...

Bar-b-qued pork (I think) wrapped into a spring roll on a side walk in Hoi An.

Cao Lao, the fried pancake things in the font, at a food stall in the market in Hoi An.

Mystery drinks in the Ben Thanh Market in Ho Chi Minh City.

A soup stall in Bangkok.

Fried crickets, meal worms, and other unidentifiable bugs... (Bangkok).

Speaking of bugs...

Here are those spiders that didn't taste so great (Phnom Penh).

Silk

Hoi An in Vietnam is famous for its tailors as well as the architecture which was a result of the large Chinese trading guilds in the 18th and 19th centuries. Because there are dozens of tailors, shop[s often try to find a gimmick to get you into their shop. One of the best I found was a place that produced its own silk and had all the steps laid out so that you could see the entire process from start to finish.

The process starts with silk worms. The silk worms are placed in large flat baskets with chopped up mulberry leaves. The worms stay in the basket for about 19 days eating and they grow to about 2 inches long and are as thick as sharpie marker.


After they worms have reached full size they are placed onto a frame full of mulberry branches and the worms spin a silk cocoon and go to sleep to turn into moths. They stay on the branches for about 4-5 days.


After the 4-5 days the cocoons are divided into two groups. The first group is put into cages and allowed to fully mature into moths. These moths eventually lay eggs, which serve as the next generation of worms to continue the process. The other group of cocoons are taken into another room to collect the silk.


15 of the cocoons are placed into water that is kept at exactly 82 degrees. Small threads of silk are removed from each cocoon. These 15 threads are combined into a single thread and this thread is wound up around a large spool. This is the hardest part of the process and the women who do it are very skilled. They have to turn the machine at just the right rate to get the 15 threads to form a single thread and to insure that the thread cools enough by the time it gets wound onto the spool so that the threads do not stick together. The 15 cocoons can make a single thread more than 500 m long.


Eventually the threads of silk are taken to another room and put on a loom and turned into silk fabric. It can then be dyed and made into just about anything you can think of.

Color

I took these photographs one morning while Mark and I were wandering around Hanoi's Old Town north of Hoan Kiem Lake.

Same, Same... But Different

As a traveler from the United States there are quite a few familiar things in SE Asia. You can find McDonalds, Burger King, and especially 7-11 in Thailand. I even saw a couple KFCs in Ho Chi Minh City.

There are also numerous consumer products that can be found here at home and also in SE Asia. Coca Cola, the globally ubiquitous beverage is the first that comes to mind, but there are other as well. Some that are not totally expected. It is also interesting to see very familiar packaging in a completely different set characters. Take this Gatorade bottle for instance. On one side you have a sight that is the same as any in any 7-11 in the United States.


However, if you turn the bottle around you will find the exact same label design, but something is a little different.

More Diving Pics!

Parrotfish

Elkhorn coral

Angelfish

Yours truly

Banisters

For some reason, throughout time the people living in Vietnam have clearly never been happy with the idea of simply having a simple rounded banister to accompany a flight of stairs. They are much more keen on complex, intricately carved, stylized dragons. They vary from the bulbously cartoonish to the fiercely theatrical. Sometimes they are partially painted as well.

The Citadel in Hue

Tuc Duc's Tomb outside Hue

Long Son Pagoda in Nha Trang

The Giant Seated Buddha in Nha Trang

Pagoda at the Marble Mountains

The Cambodians also seem to be opposed to bland undecorated banisters. But unlike the Vietnamese dragons, the Cambodians greatly favor the mythological seven-headed Naga.

Wat Phnom, Phnom Penh

Royal Palace, Phnom Penh

Passport

Four countries, three entries into Thailand, and two giant visa stickers (Vietnam & Cambodia) later I have filled 5 full pages of my passport with stamps. And while I still have three years left on this passport, it is getting very full. If I am fortunate enough to get to go on another large trip in the next couple years I am going to have to get additional pages attached.




Oh yeah, I have also realized another thing that I learned on my trip. I really like not having to do my own laundry or dishes. ; )

Reflections...

The following are simply in the order that I thought of them and should be taken with varying degrees of seriousness.

On this trip I have learned that:

• Vietnamese people can sleep anywhere.
• there is a reason Thailand was never a European colony: they have their shit together.
• deep fried spiders do not taste good.
• spending 13 hours a day looking at temples will break even the most work-seeking motorbike driver, even if you buy him breakfast, lunch, water, and sodas.
• the listing of a hotel or restaurant in a Lonely Planet does not guarantee that the place will lose the charm it had before being included in the guidebook.
• the best beach is not always the most deserted.
• I still don't like going out to dinner by myself.
• buses in SE Asia WILL take longer than the time quoted by a travel agent.
• it is IMPOSSIBLE to rent a car without a driver in Vietnam.
• sometimes it is worth the money to fly instead of taking the bus, even if it is 14 times more expensive.
• very few Americans are traveling right now. (In two months I met less than 20, no bull shit.)
• I am now increasing the average age of backpackers.
• while I have shared portions of my journey with many different people, I really wish that I could have shared the entire journey with just one person.
• western governments are excessively cautious with their travel warnings.
• I will travel with Mark Nilski of Portsmouth, England any time, any where, for any reason. All he has to do is say: "Let's go".
• if any event or phenomenon occurs with the exact same end result three times, it is a fact.
• as a tourist scuba diver the best your air consumption needs to be is to stay at 26 m for 45 minutes.
• 20 year-old windging British birds get very old very fast.
• the coldest place in SE Asia is a Thai airconditioned train car.
• I really do have good luck.
• if the archaeology thing doesn't work out I am going to return to SE Asia and become a scuba diving professional.
• when making travel arrangements, ALWAYS leave time for something to go wrong.
• the best restaurants in SE Asia are the ones with only locals in them.
• if you discover a good thing, tell everybody.
• if you discover a great thing, tell nobody.
• I am rediculously tall, evidenced by:

1. the tiny chairs and tables at Vietnamese street food stalls.
2. the countless doorways that I hit my head on.
3. the stunned woman in the barber shop on Koh Pha Ngan when I stood up after getting my hair cut.
4. the height of tarps stung up as rain protection in street markets.
5. the fact that silk sleep sacks are not even made long enough for me.
6. the length of sleeping bunks on Thai and Vietnamese trains.
7. me being able to see over the heads of ALL of the locals.
8. the fact that I could not find slacks that fit me at the Bankok Weeked Market.
   

• growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional.
• if you come to SE Asia in the summer and are not doing any serious trekking, do not bring real shoes. You won't wear them and they will just take up space in your bag. Bring sport sandals like Tevas or Chacos.
• in the gulf of Thailand, sunrises are prettier than sunsets.
• I love a soft west-coast Aussie accent. ; )
• whoever invented Pepto-Bismol deserves a Nobel prize.
• malarone is infinitely better than larium.
• a headphone splitter is a great way to meet people.
• every time I go diving, I love it more and more.
• I have spent so much time on boats this trip that I think that I might actually be starting to get over the whole sea-sickness thing.
• there is still nothing like spending two months away from home to get my head screwed on straight.
• the hardest thing about travel is meeting incredible people that you get on extremely well with, but knowing that they live on the other side of the planet from you.
• the #1 budget killer is alcohol.
• always learn hello and thank you in the local language.
• if there is a guy in your train compartment with a .44 revolver and belt full of bullets, share your food with him.
• I wish that when people are at home they were as open to meeting other people and making new friends as they are when they are traveling.
• more about making good decisions.
• Asia would be a lot more interesting and fun if you could pick a lock.
• I need to learn how to ride a motorcycle.
• the weekend market in Bangkok is THE best place for shopping that I have ever been to.
• I need to go live abroad for at least 9 months.
• I am ready to be in a relationship.
• in SE Asia you spend a lot of money on water in two months.
• I can still get by on only 4 to 5 hours of sleep. I just can't go as many days in a row at that rate as I used to be able to.
• Colgate has a lock on the SE Asian toothpaste market.
• Jack Johnson has replaced Bob Marley as the most heard artist in SE Asia.
• if a find a woman attractive, all interest is lost when I see that she smokes.
• no matter how much travel experience I have, my mother will always worry about me.
• I would much rather run through an airport to catch my next flight than sit out a six hour layover.
• the United States is a very self centered country when it comes to the news in the world.
• you need to carry about a dozen passport photos for a trip to SE Asia.
• I am a bit too cynical.
• dawn from 35,000 feet is still a wondrous sight.
  

Last Day

It has come down to my last day here in SE Asia. I have a few last minute things to pick up like patches of the flags of the countries that I have visited. I am also going to be heading down to Wat Phra Kaew and the Royal Palace, which I did not make it to in either of my two previous short stints here in Bangkok.

I also went and picked up my linen suit today. It fits perfectly. I just need to find an occasion to wear it now. I had the guy in the store take a photo of me.

I went out to the giant weekend market here in Bangkok yesterday and I can now say that I have taken care of ALL of my x-mas shopping for this year. Hehe, I love travel. I also think that everyone is going to be very pleased with what they are going to receive this year.

It has ben a long trip and I have had so many wonderful expereinces as I have gone along. I am extremely grateful to all of the people I have met and have shared their time with me. These include (in roughly chronological order):

Caroline, Mark, Max & Michael, the rest of the Hanoi Backpackers Hostel staff, Sarah, Martha, Iris, Niamh, Lucy, Don, Joanne, Andrew, the Rainbow Divers Team, Chris & Liz, Manuel, Rebecca, Kim, the French connection (Ulysses, Shushu, and Clement), the Buddha View Dive Team and Bar Crew, the Coral Sky Divers Team (esp. Sue), and Hanna.

Thanks to all of you who have been reading the blog while I have been traveling and I really appreciate all the feedback that you have given me along the way.

While it is the end of my trip it will not be the end of this blog. There are countless photos and short annecdotes that I want to share with you. So, please continue to check the blog regularly. There will be new updates once I am back in Honolulu and in front of my own computer.

Pulau Perhentian Kecil

I departed Koh Phagnan in Thailand at 5 pm on August 22 by ferry. Three hours later I reached the Thai mainland and went by bus for another two hours to Surat Thani. I waied there for about 4 hours until I caught the 2:15 in the morning (on the 23rd) train to Sungai Kolok, which is the eastern Thai border town with Malaysia. I walked across the border, hopped in a cab with a few other travellers, and made my way to Kuala Besut. There we immediately caught a boat to Long Beach on Palau Perhentian Kecil.

Long Beach is is a beautiful strip of white sand that stretches for about 2 km and it is lined with guesthouses, restaurants, dive shops, and even a couple of bars (Malaysia is a Muslim country). Accomadation on the island is VERY expensive and i have seen back yard tool sheds in better condition than the shack i ended up staying for $10 per night. I found one for $7, but it had bats living on the ceiling.

Following the recommendation that I had received from several dive shops elsewhere in southeast asia and other travellers I met I decided to go diving with Spice Divers, the oldest dive shop on the island. This proved to be a bad decision in the long run as i will now explain...

I did two dives my first full day on the island (24th) and was done diving around 2:00 in the afternoon. The two dive masters who do the fun dives - malay locals - then proceeded to start drinking - heavily - with three of the customers. They were playing some drinking game with dice in a cup. They were working through a big bottle of gin in a hurry. Another guy came by the shop who I had not seen before and I aksed him if he worked there. He said yes, and I asked who was leading the night dive later that night that I was supposed to be going on. He said that it was the two guys who were drinking really heavily. I promptly paid my bill and left their shop. So, if you ever make it to Pulau Perhentian Kecil, do NOT go diving with Spice Divers. Go with Coral Sky Divers. They were the shop that I switched to. Diving with them was excellent as you can see below.

I departed Kecil at 8:00 am yesterday, retraced my steps to Sungai Kolok and my middle name held out like never before. I needed to get a train ticket from Sungai Kolok to Bangkok - a 1260 km journey that takes 24 hours. I did not have a ticket in advance. Now, on a Thai train there are several classes of accomadation. First class with a private compartment, air-con sleepers, fan sleepers, and second class, which just has seats. When I got to the train station (with 45 minutes till the only train of the day departed) I was standing behind two 20 year old british girls who discovered that their were no more beds available. They bought seats for the journey and left the train station to get some food. I stepped up to the window and asked about beds. The guy behind the counter said that there were no beds available. I looked at him. Studied him. Pulled out a 500 baht note ($12) and asked if there were any beds. He said to come back in 30 minutes, but did not take the bill. 30 minutes later I came back and low-and-behold the computer now said that there was a lower bunk in a air-con sleeper. I paid for the ticket and included the 500 baht bribe. So, with 15 minutes to spare, I managed to get a bed for the extremely long journey. I saw the two girls on the train and they figured out on their own that I had a bad and were shocked and asked how I had gotten one. I just smiled and winked at them...

I am once again back in Bangkok and am about to start my usual end of trip power shopping. Tomorrow I am headed out to Chatuchak, the weekend market with 15,000 stalls that sees over 200,000 people a day. I think that, like Morocco, I am once again going to have to buy another bag to get it all home...