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...

Full Moon and Moving On

Well, I survived the famous full moon party. Quite well too after all things were considered and several bottles of water were drunk the next day.

The full moon party is located on Hat Rin Nok (Sunrise Beach) at the southeaster corner of Koh Pha Ngan. Hat Rin Nok is a 1.5 km stretch of sand that has a bar, club, or restaurant along every inch of it. Each bar and club had REALLY loud techno musing booming out onto the sand. There are stretches where there are chairs and tables to sit, ususally adjacent to several guys twirling flaming sticks (very cool). There are also large sections where you can simply dance in the sand with hundreds of other revelers. There are numerous booths where you can have glow in the dark paint put on you so that you will glow under all of the black lights that are scatttered across the beach. Unfortunately I did not think that it was safe to take my digital camera so I do not have any pictures.

There are countless food stalls serving pizza that has a light fluffy crust about 2 inches thick. All of this bread proved perfect for soaking up al of the alcohol that was consumed. Speaking of which, the beverage of choice at the party was the Songsam bucket... This is a small plastic bucket that is filled with ice and then a can of coke, a redbull and a 0.375 of Songsam (super cheap Thai wiskey) is added. Add about 10 straws and you are good to go. They cost about $4.

I spent about 12 hours there total and danced for more than 8 hours total. I met up with a lot of people I had seen previously on my trip and had a great time.

All told, the event is quite safe. There is a heavy police presence and as long as you are smart you would not get into any trouble. And yes, there were at least 20,000 people there. If you are ever in Thailand it is definitely an event that must be experienced at least once. Unfortunately, due to the public nature of the web and the fact that small children are reading the blog, detailed stories will have to be related in person... Rest assured, they are just as off the hook as my stories always are when I go traveling.

Today I am moving on again... to another tropical island. Pulau Perhentian Kecil. It located in the gulf of Thailand just south of the Thai-Malaysia border. And, surprise surprise, it is also famous for its scuba diving. I promise, this time I will take pictures and get them up on the blog...

A New Beach

Sorry the pictures have taken so long to get up. Sometimes it is hard to find a fast connection.

I have found my way to the Fanta Bungalows just to the east of the small northshore fishing viliage of Ban Chalok Lam. Chalok Lam has fortunately not been as effected by tourism as many of the other beaches on Koh Phangan and so you can still see the daily local business of haggling over the fish that were caught the previous night down at the base of the pier.

The crowd at the bungalows is a little older, more mature, and more sedate than the crowd on Koh Tao, for which I am quite grafeful. I need a couple days of quite respite. Especially since tomorrow night I am headed to the full moon party.

My bungalow.

This party has been featured on several travel channel shows and is reknowned as one of the best parties on the planet. It originally started about a decade ago as a small celebration, and of course has totally ballooned to enormous proportions. For one night a kilometer and a half stretch of beach plays host to, during peak season (now), up to 30,000 twenty-somethings partying the night away. Half the people I have talked to about said it was one of the worst things they did on their trip. The other half say it was the best thing about their trip.

I am meeting up with several people that I have met in other places on this trip and I will be certain to let you know how it all turns out...

Koh Phangan

I relaized that it has been alomost a week since my last post. I am still alive and well and have moved on to Koh Phangan as of this morning. I have a beachside bungalow for $7 a night overlooking Ao Chalok Lam Bay on the north side of the island. Koh Phangan is about 45 km south of Koh Tao and is famous for its full moon party.

Koh Tao was wonderful. I spent 8 days there and did 17 dives. They were all great in one way or another and I got to see some amazing animals like turltes, sharks, an albino moray eel, a sea snake, and a grouper that was so big it could have swallowed my leg.

I will post some more pictures of my new location tomorrow.

More Beach Time

Hehe... I thought I would post a few more pictures of the beach I am staying on, Chalok Baan Kao. It is on the southern end of the island.

The weather took a turn for the worse today and we got caught out diving in some serious conditions. There were 8 foot swells rolling by the boat and causing the boat to surge up and down. There were about 25 divers strung out on the safety line behind the boat in the driving rain trying to get back onto the boat. It took more than 45 minutes, but we all eventually made it in one piece. It was definitely a new diving experience for me. Still the dive was totally worth it! We saw a school of about 100 4 foot long baraccuda, and a huge school of jacks.

Due to a generous sponsor - my father - I will be renting a digital camera to take pictures on a dive. I am trying to see as many sites as possible before deciding where to take the camera. I will be sure to post pics as soon as I have them!

For all you divers out there, you MUST come to Thailand!

My bungalow (It has a king size bed).

Chalok Baan Kao Beach

Ko Tao

I arrived on Ko Tao the morning of the 9th and I have found heaven. I was picked up at the pier by the Buddha View truck and brought across the island to their resort. The place is idyllic to say the least. The dive center is a huge building that houses the office and all the gear and their is a restaurant right next door. Beach-front bungalows, bars, and restaurants line a small bay of shallow crystal blue water. There is also a place to get Thai massages, another place to relax on giant cushions and watch a movie. There are also a variety of bars from upbeat and loud to super chill and relaxed.

I am staying at one end of the beach in a small bungalow that is slightly up a hillside. I have an incredible view to say the least. I took the photograph to the right from by balcony at sunset last night. There are large windows that swing open so that the air can blow through the place. There are also screens on the windows to keep the mosquitos out. The balcony has a couple nice chairs and wooden bench for just relaxing.

There is a great vibe to the bay, as it is completely full of tan, attractive 20-somethings in bikinis and board shorts. The guys who run the dive center joking call the place temptation island. Everyone is here to dive and so that is the most common topic of conversation. How many dives do you have? Where have you been diving before? You live in Hawaii! That must be great. Are you going diving tomorrow morning or afternoon?

My typical day involves getting up around 6:30 in the morning and shuffling my way down to the dive center's restaurant for a mango shake and banana pancake for breakfast. I then head out for a two tank boat dive around 7:45 and get back to the beach around 12:30. Fill out dive logs over lunch, and then usually take a nice long nap in a hammock under some trees near my bungalow. Once the suns rays are not so intense I head down to the beach for a swim or to play a little frisbee with other people who are hanging out. Finish with the beach, take a shower, and head down for the evening. There is a large bar-b-que buffet each night where you can get a mountain of great food for about $3. You get your plate and head to the bar where you eat and enjoy your first beer of the day. You then hangout with cool people and drink for a few hours before turning in around midnight.

In sum, this place is so nice I might never be coming home.

I have also met up with Julie Meierding, Emily's little sister, fresh off of her serious adventures in the Philippines. She joined me here on Ko Tao yesterday and we went diving together today.


This was before she ate a giant bowl of super spicy green curry. I promised to be nice and not show the after photo...

On The Move

Over the course of the 5 days I spent in Siem Reap I met around 20 travelers who arrived at the guesthouse I was staying in with horror stories of the road from the Thai border to Siem Reap. Stories included massive rain, giant mud filled pot holes that trucks fell into and got stuck up to their axles, traffic jams lasting three days, and even having to hike in the rain with their bags for 2 hours to get past the traffic jams. With all of this in mind I dropped a bunch of money to fly from Siem Reap to Bangkok. That is just a little more of an adventure than I am looking for on this trip.

So now I am sitting in an internet cafe on Khao San Road. I am only going to be in Bangkok for six hours because I made travel arrangements to get from Bangkok to Ko Tao with a scuba diving resort. I leave tonight at 7:15 on the express train to Chumphon where I will catch a boat out to the island. All told, in about 24 hours I am going to have made it from Siem Reap to Ko Tao.

Cambodia was nice, not as nice as Vietnam mind you, but I still enjoyed it. Especially Angkor. Speaking of which, here are more pictures for you.

Angkor Wat at sunset.

Bayon face early morning.

Ta Som gateway.

East Mebon

Monkey!

Just for fun... The current movie showing in Siem Reap.

And on a more serious note... Hopefully this is evidence of Cambodia moving in a more peaceful direction...

More Angkor Pics!

By popular demand... Here you are.

Asparas, or celestial dancers, at Angkor Wat.

One of the faces on the Bayon.

A hallway at the top of the Phimeanakas pyramid.

Thommanon

Ta Phrom

Ta Phrom

Terrace of the Leper King

Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat, the most famous of the temples in the area, was built by Suryavarman II out of laterite and sandstone. The temple was consecrated around 1150 AD to the Hindu god Vishnu. The guidebook says that scholars think that it took more than 30 years to complete.

The impressiveness of Angkor Wat is undeniable as soon as you climb off of the motorbike and

the start of the first causeway. The 5 massive corn-cob shaped towers at the center are more than 2 km away and you are fist faced by a 400 meter long, 45 m wide causeway across a moat. At the far end of the causeway is a massive gopura, or entry gate. This gate is part of the 4th enclosing wall which is 1500 m on each side. (Enclosing walls are numbered from the center out.) Passing through the gate the ceiling soars above you to a height of more than 15 meters. Archaeology geeks notice that the Khmer people had not figured out the arch yet, so the width of the entry way is wide enough for your average sized car, but not much more. It is scary to think about how big of things they would have built if they had known about arches.

Darkness gives way to light as you exit the gatehouse and you are again faced with another raised causeway stretching from the fourth to the third enclosing wall. A large library and a reflecting pool are on each side of the causeway as you continue your trek.

The main towers of Angkor continue to grow taller with each step that you take down the causeway. The heavily worn stones are made of sandstone and measure approximately 1.2 m by 0.7 m. Along the edge of each causeway a seven headed naga forms the railing. Tourists, unfortunately, are everywhere. At the eastern end of the causeway you climb up 2 meters worth of stairs and cross the Terrace of Honor and reach the third enclosing wall.

The third enclosing wall is one of the most decorated parts of the entire Angkor complex. Along each side of the 3rd wall there are two massive panels, each depicting various scenes from Hindu Mythology. Each panel is about 2 meters tall and stretches for around 100 m. All of the carving is done with bas relief technique and clearly required and incredible time and energy expenditure. The detail is incredible to say the least.

After circling the outside of the third wall you continue inward and up through more, less decorated galleries, until you reach the courtyard between the second and the 1st enclosing walls. From here you are faced with a set of steps that rise about 15 meters and a 70 degree angle from horizontal. Each step has been worn VERY smooth and is no more than 6-8 inches wide. Going up isn't too bad, but coming down is really nerve racking because there is usually an older japanese tourists a little ways above you and you just know that if they slip and fall you are going to get really hurt, probably break something, and the rest of your vacation will be shot.

The view from the top is wonderful and it is sort of incredible to realize how far you walked and how high up you have climbed.

I am sorry that I have not posted more yet, but the place in Siem Reap with the fastest internet connection does not have computers with CD drives and the internet cafe's that do have CD drives have the slowest connections... Joseph Heller would love it.

Angkor Part I

WOW!!! The place is AMAZING! I spen the whole day looking at temples and I am in heaven. My motorbike driver is in hell. I tried to explain to him that I was an archaeologist and that I was going to want to stop at everything and that I was going to spend a ton of time at everything, but I don't think he really understood. Whatever though. I am the one paying and if he does not complain over the course of the whole thing I am going to give him a fat tip at the end.

The Angkor complex is built between about 800 and 1250 AD by a series of kings who each built a state temple as well a numerous adjoining buildings. Needless to say over the source of 400 years a lot of stuff was built. There are temples spread over about 300 square km.

Today I went and saw: Angkor Wat, Phnom Bakheng, Ankor Tom, the Bayon, Baphuon, Phimeanaka, Terrace of Elephants, Terrace of the Leper King, Chau Say Thevoda, Thammanom, Ta Keo, and Ta Prohm. I was out in the complex from about 8:00 am till 6:30 pm.


I am including a couple of photos here to tease you all a little, but I promise I will put a ton of them in a couple of days.

Angkor Wat (The most famous one.)

Bayon (The one with over 200 faces.)

Ta Phrohm (They filmed parts of Tomb Raider here.)

It is a really good thing that I bought the one week pass because I think that I am going to be here a while. I took over 250 photos today!

Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh, the capitol of Cambodia has had a long and tumultuous history since the decline of the Khmer Empire around 1400 AD. The difficulties culminated in the late 1970s with the rise of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. With their rise to power with the US evacuation of SE Asia the Khmer Rouge inflicted atrocities that only compare to Nazi Germany during WWII and the Rawandan Massacre from the mid 1990s. The Khmer Rouge COMPLETELY emptied the city of Phnom Pehn, marched everyone into the country side and forced them into reeducation and labor camps. Anyone who could speak another language, had an education, or even, in some cases, glasses were killed. Monks, previous government officials, and eventually as the paranoia increased, their own ranks were also executed. The torture lasted for 3 years, 8 months, and 20 days.

These atrocities are documented in two places in Phnom Penh. One is the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum (S-21), where it is thought more than 20,000 people passed through on their way to their deaths. Even children were tortured and killed. Originally a school, as a present day museum, Toul Sleng shows the horrors of what life was like for the prisoners as well as approximately 2500 portrait photographs of people who died there. On the top floor there is a new exhibit which shows pictures of an individual as well as a short biography.



After people were interrogated and processed they were transported to Choeung Ek, located about 15km outside the city. Here, 86 mass burial pits have been excavated and 8985 bodies recovered. 43 more mass graves remain untouched. It is estimated that 17,000 people may have been buried there in total. Bones are still visible on the surface of the ground as you make your way between the excavated pits.

A massive memorial has been built at the site. There are shelves inside it that extend from the floor to about 15 m in height. Each shelf is full of skulls that have been organized by sex and age.


This is just for this one portion of the country. There are museums and mass graves spread across all of Cambodia.

The only thing more incredible than the atrocities that occurred in this country is the ability of the people to move on, forgive, and rebound in a proactive manner. There is very little public support for any sort of war crimes trials so as to not reopen old wounds. In the 25+ years since Cambodia was relieved by the neighboring Vietnamese there has a been a resurgence of growth and relative prosperity.

The capitol is now completely inhabbited - although not all the streets are paved - and many of the cities once glorious buildings have been restored such as the Royal Palace, Silver Pagoda, and National Museum. Miraculously, the national museum still houses some of the finest statues from Angkor Wat and the other temple complexes north of Siem Reap.




Yesterday, I also had the treat of encountering a bunch of tuk-tuk drivers. Now, for those of you who have been to SE Asia and know that running into tuk-tuk drivers is usually a bad thing, this was a totally different experience. They completely ignored me as they played a game on sidewalk that used the natural grid system. They had a chunk of brick and a chunk of quartz rock and were playing what I determined to be connect 5. Get five squares in a row in any direction with your color and you win. Having figured it out I challenged one of the Tuk-tuk drivers to a game. Which I lost. I proceeded to lose the next. And the next. But I beat him the fourth time around after I figured out the strategy. I played with three different guys for a total of about 45 minutes. And yes, when I left they did ask if I wanted a tuk-tuk.

Knowing that it was only about three blocks to my hotel I offered to play the guy for it. If he won I would pay him for a ride back to my hotel. If I won, he had to give me a ride for free. I ended up getting - grudgingly - a free ride back to the hotel!