sin chow! long time no chit chat...
I'd like to say my lack of updates is a direct result of being too busy, but that would be false and unfair to people who depend on blog posts to gauge if I'm still alive (family, god etc.)...yes god reads my blog inbetween business meetings.
A lot of people on the road say that there comes a point, usually after a month or so, that your interest in your own blog starts to wane as you get absorbed by your trip and just can't be bothered with the recollection of already fuzzy memories. I hope I won't casually slip into that bracket and let this board collect virtual dust.
I believe the last post was from Vang Vieng, which is crazy because it's been a good two weeks. One thing about SE Asia is that you can take a wad of money, throw it at someone and make things happen. This is what I did for my vietnam visa, dropping a cool 60$ for same day return, which actually took two days. Money well spent. I caught the bus into the capital of Laos, Vientiene, which is, once again, a quaint but bustling former french colony town. Not a horrible lot to do I'm afraid, with a 11:00 curfew, but I enjoyed some delicious baguettes by the river as I contemplated my next move. Already having my visa, the next question was how did I want to get to Hanoi, Vietnam.
Option 1 - 20 hour bus ride with a 5 hour stop over at the border while we waited for it to open
Option 2 - 1h30min flight with an in flight meal
We're talking a difference of 18$ vs 140$ and which one did you think this frugal independent traveler took? If you guessed the cheaper one you would be wrong, as I marched into a booking agency and asked them to get me on a flight that day at 2:00. Why you ask....still not sure myself...but mostly because I don't think there is enough valium I can safely take to knock me out for a full day, as well the popular moniker for the cheaper option 'The Death Bus'.
Making friends on the plane, we got a taxi to the backpackers circuit to plunker down and recharge, although Hanoi is a massive city, almost on par with bangkok, and I really wish I could make you see the sheer chaos that is these streets. No one really follows traffic lights, if there is any, there are more scooters than humans, somehow, and the number one rule is the bigger vehicle has the right away. Finding out the dorm rooms were full, we hopped over to a hotel for a whopping 8$ a piece with air con, hot shower and HBO! A little slice of heaven.
Day 2 or 3 here, with sleep in my eyes and little ambition I threw another wad of money at the reception desk and said get me to Ha Long bay! For anyone that hasn't heard of it, it's this eerily beautiful bay on the east coast of vietnam that is crawling with tourists, fisherman, birds of prey and deserted islands. Again, being frugal, I sprang for the deluxe tour, which included three incredible meals a day, our own house boat, a multitude of scandalous parties and watersports. Here's a short list of the goings on, and if anyone's in the neighborhood I highly recommend doing this because I had the time of my life!
-Jumping of the boat in the perfect temperature salt water
-Brushing up my wakeboarding skills (bailing incredible hard while attempting a sick 180 bro)
-Skinny dipping with phosphorant algae, although I don't know if actually was that or the moon reflecting of the water (drunk fool)
-Sneaking through underground caves making a gollum voice (preccccccccccious.....)
- Kings cup/Ring of Fire/Beer Slut with some debaucherous results that probably don't fit into the context of this blog.
This tour really depends on the guide and the people you're with and we lucked out on both. really good posse, we all got on well and no one got punched or drowned! Bonus. There's adverts everywhere saying 'Ha Long party guide, do YOU have what it takes' Basically, these guys do 4 or 5 of these tours a month, cruise around the ocean with accomodation, drink and food included and ring the gong when it's time to eat. Sound amazing? I'm sure it is, but the other side is having to smile, get liquored and pretty much repeat the exact same conversations 27 out of 30 days a month. Our tour guide was on his last run, probably for sanity's sake if not to give his liver a break.
Tanned, hungover and with a gaggle of new friends we weasled our way back into Hanoi where I've been living groundhog day for...god knows how many days. Wake up, coffee and a cigarette, internet, have a chat with people outside, try and learn some vietnamese and then up to the roof bar for dinner and two for one beers. It's great, but being stuck in a time loop for anything is a bit shit, so it's almost time to get out of dodge. Luckily my escape is imminent, as that same tour guide and I are buying motorcycles on thursday an working our way down Vietnam easy rider style...I don't think it's enough time to grow a handlebar moustache but I'm trying my very hardest. Hue, Hoi An, couple of random spots, sell the bike in Saigon and on to Cambodia this month...budgeting is out the window, but my pace through these countries is way faster than I planned so Less time = more money spent....yaaa.
I will fight the LIBS (Losing interest in the blog syndrome) as I work my way down, and maybe even get some photos up! Happy 'World No Tobacco day' everyone! Josh out.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
Vang Vieng
Well! It must be time for an update, I must apologize for my lack of authorship this past week as I have been literally lost in a whirlwind of buckets, techno and motorcycles. Sounds fun? It is!
I arrived in Vang Vieng on monday, after a harrowing mini bus ride that claimed the lives of two piglets crossing the street. I asked if anyone knew what Canadian bacon was, which didn't go over very well. We finally arrived 6 hours later, and with heads high and our 'independent backpacker' attitude flaunting walked off into the woods while dogs and bugs chased us. We finally relented and got a taxi, where we are currently sharing sharing a 3 bed room with wonderful air conditioning and and even better view of the limestone cliffs overlooking the river.
First impressions of Vang Vieng...picture the biggest college party you've ever been to, add about 1000 people and not even close. There are people roaming around with no shirts and intoxicated grins stumbling the streets at all hours, while local Laotians return the smiles with a somewhat forced demeanor. This is a place where people bring a couple thousand of there dollars, especially euros and pounds, and party like there life depended on it. It all seems a bit soul-less, but tourism is booming and my god is it a blast.
The first night we got acquainted with the city, which is about 4 streets long, then made our way down to the bar below for some poisonous buckets. Buckets, by the way, are basically sand pails with a pint of local whiskey and red bull or something of the sort. You can get them for about 2$ and they are the bane of everyone's brain cells in this mental town. There are also the options of 'happy shakes', which simulate shifting vision and ridiculous conversations, but if shakes aren't your bag than order a vegetarian pizza, which my friend quickly realized spares no expense on the 'mushroom' topping. The party doesn't wind down until about 4 or 5am, and I honestly don't know how people do it. I usually pride myself on my partying abilities, but this town has honestly kicked my butt.
The second day we hit the infamous tubing, which was an equal mix of fun and terror. There are swings where you climb 30 feet up a tree and drop yourself in the river. Combine this with free whiskey shots and hundreds of young, retarded revelers and you got yourself a PARTY! I tried to get in on beer pong and the guy somberly looks at me and goes 'just a minute man, some girl just died' Shocked, I looked over the rail and see a girl holding her arm crying from a bump off the swing. I turn around and tell him it's all good, where we jump right into a deadly game of pong. Just a taste of the attitude on this murky, ridiculous river. We didn't actually buy any tubes, because you have to get them back down the river by 6:00, and we barely made it a third of the way by 7...even though my floating skills are top notch, my not getting sucked into bamboo bars with free drinks skills aren't that great.
The second day I am sorely not proud of, but please don't judge me until you've tried to boogie in this town, it takes a lot out of your soul. We woke up around noon, holed up in one of the bars that constantly reruns Friends, and sat there for 7 HOURS. We kept trying to get up but then just moved to purchase another sandwich and coca cola. Yuck. But I do like friends and sandwiches, so not a total loss.
As far as yesterday goes, I was making arrangements to get out of dodge, before I end up working at one of these bars and sleeping all day, yelling at people to come to such and such bar for a such and such drink. There are heaps westerners in that gig, and I salute there tenacity, but the road is long you can party just as easily, if not infinitely more expensively, back home. I rushed a Vietnam visa for 60 bucks, which I wasn't stoked about, but at least I will have it and not have to sit in some consulate twiddling my thumbs for three days. Tomorrow I have a kayaking tour that will take us down to the capital of Laos, Vientiane. and then a cheap (relatively) flight to Hanoi, Vietnam. The kayaking takes two days and takes your through rapids and gives you more SANDWICHES. And I do love rapids and sandwiches. Anything with sandwiches come to think of it.
We also found a little slice of paradise yesterday, after a manic search through the jungle. I rented a bike in the morning hit the road and searched for 3 hours for 'the blue lagoon'. One of the scams is that young kids will buy those stupid little dollar store tickets, stand beside a road that leads nowhere and charge you to go down it with promises of big beers and crystal cool water, which I promise you is all you want in 40 degree jungle heat. So we dropped a good amount of cash getting lost to these little punks, until we finally found this amazing, sparkling clear lagoon. You plunker in off a rope swing (people love rope swings) and float in this refreshing pool of love while little fish nibble at your feet. It was excellent, and made all the better by our owning failing idiocy to get there.
Last night we sat and talked about movies and shows for 3 hours, hit the bar where I broke into a massive dance sweat, excused myself and jumped in the river off the end of the bar. It must have looked very strange but it felt glorious, and I will do what I want in a country where no one has any trepidations. I wish I had a little more insightful world wisdom to instill in this posting, but Vang Vieng is not where you find that. Vietnam early this week, where I have a a couple people to meet and show me around, which is always a blessing in a new spot. I'm not doing too bad with the languages but everytime I get a small grip on one of them, I change countries. 'Hello', 'Thank You' and 'Where the F am I?" are usually my initial go-tos. Ciao Ciao!
I arrived in Vang Vieng on monday, after a harrowing mini bus ride that claimed the lives of two piglets crossing the street. I asked if anyone knew what Canadian bacon was, which didn't go over very well. We finally arrived 6 hours later, and with heads high and our 'independent backpacker' attitude flaunting walked off into the woods while dogs and bugs chased us. We finally relented and got a taxi, where we are currently sharing sharing a 3 bed room with wonderful air conditioning and and even better view of the limestone cliffs overlooking the river.
First impressions of Vang Vieng...picture the biggest college party you've ever been to, add about 1000 people and not even close. There are people roaming around with no shirts and intoxicated grins stumbling the streets at all hours, while local Laotians return the smiles with a somewhat forced demeanor. This is a place where people bring a couple thousand of there dollars, especially euros and pounds, and party like there life depended on it. It all seems a bit soul-less, but tourism is booming and my god is it a blast.
The first night we got acquainted with the city, which is about 4 streets long, then made our way down to the bar below for some poisonous buckets. Buckets, by the way, are basically sand pails with a pint of local whiskey and red bull or something of the sort. You can get them for about 2$ and they are the bane of everyone's brain cells in this mental town. There are also the options of 'happy shakes', which simulate shifting vision and ridiculous conversations, but if shakes aren't your bag than order a vegetarian pizza, which my friend quickly realized spares no expense on the 'mushroom' topping. The party doesn't wind down until about 4 or 5am, and I honestly don't know how people do it. I usually pride myself on my partying abilities, but this town has honestly kicked my butt.
The second day we hit the infamous tubing, which was an equal mix of fun and terror. There are swings where you climb 30 feet up a tree and drop yourself in the river. Combine this with free whiskey shots and hundreds of young, retarded revelers and you got yourself a PARTY! I tried to get in on beer pong and the guy somberly looks at me and goes 'just a minute man, some girl just died' Shocked, I looked over the rail and see a girl holding her arm crying from a bump off the swing. I turn around and tell him it's all good, where we jump right into a deadly game of pong. Just a taste of the attitude on this murky, ridiculous river. We didn't actually buy any tubes, because you have to get them back down the river by 6:00, and we barely made it a third of the way by 7...even though my floating skills are top notch, my not getting sucked into bamboo bars with free drinks skills aren't that great.
The second day I am sorely not proud of, but please don't judge me until you've tried to boogie in this town, it takes a lot out of your soul. We woke up around noon, holed up in one of the bars that constantly reruns Friends, and sat there for 7 HOURS. We kept trying to get up but then just moved to purchase another sandwich and coca cola. Yuck. But I do like friends and sandwiches, so not a total loss.
As far as yesterday goes, I was making arrangements to get out of dodge, before I end up working at one of these bars and sleeping all day, yelling at people to come to such and such bar for a such and such drink. There are heaps westerners in that gig, and I salute there tenacity, but the road is long you can party just as easily, if not infinitely more expensively, back home. I rushed a Vietnam visa for 60 bucks, which I wasn't stoked about, but at least I will have it and not have to sit in some consulate twiddling my thumbs for three days. Tomorrow I have a kayaking tour that will take us down to the capital of Laos, Vientiane. and then a cheap (relatively) flight to Hanoi, Vietnam. The kayaking takes two days and takes your through rapids and gives you more SANDWICHES. And I do love rapids and sandwiches. Anything with sandwiches come to think of it.
We also found a little slice of paradise yesterday, after a manic search through the jungle. I rented a bike in the morning hit the road and searched for 3 hours for 'the blue lagoon'. One of the scams is that young kids will buy those stupid little dollar store tickets, stand beside a road that leads nowhere and charge you to go down it with promises of big beers and crystal cool water, which I promise you is all you want in 40 degree jungle heat. So we dropped a good amount of cash getting lost to these little punks, until we finally found this amazing, sparkling clear lagoon. You plunker in off a rope swing (people love rope swings) and float in this refreshing pool of love while little fish nibble at your feet. It was excellent, and made all the better by our owning failing idiocy to get there.
Last night we sat and talked about movies and shows for 3 hours, hit the bar where I broke into a massive dance sweat, excused myself and jumped in the river off the end of the bar. It must have looked very strange but it felt glorious, and I will do what I want in a country where no one has any trepidations. I wish I had a little more insightful world wisdom to instill in this posting, but Vang Vieng is not where you find that. Vietnam early this week, where I have a a couple people to meet and show me around, which is always a blessing in a new spot. I'm not doing too bad with the languages but everytime I get a small grip on one of them, I change countries. 'Hello', 'Thank You' and 'Where the F am I?" are usually my initial go-tos. Ciao Ciao!
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Jai La Laiii
The title is from how to say 'thank you very much' in Laos, which is korp jai la lai....which always makes me sing 'the boxer' from simon and garfunkle. Anyway...new news?
We stayed in Chiang Rai for two nights, the air conditioning was an absolute blessing, although I've found, and been told, don't do air con too often or you will turn into a spoiled little chilled brat. Fast forward to last night where the oscillating fan (which I've realized are my least favorite things in the world) provides about 1.5 seconds of relief before it dicks off for other ventures and you wake up in a pool of sweat and ridiculous heat induced dreams. I'm not sure why but I have mental half dreams and play-outs in my head in this climate, so last night I woke up very hot and dazed, looked out the blow out-vent-fan thing beside my bed and stuck my pinkie in it. It hurt quite a bit, obviously, so I think I got up said "F this" or something of the sort and woke up in the community movie room, sweaty and with a cut pinkie. And I'm not even on the hallucinogenic malaria pills!
That's a bit off track though. Two nights in Chiang Rai where we did yet another waterfall, which seem to be a central theme on this stomped out SE trail, and a wonderful night market! The bike ride out to the fall was treacherous, not so much a road as a half concrete/dirt path where I got to experience my first and hopefully last bike fall. I had a girl on the back who cursed me as she wiped the gravel out of her cut up leg and I soaked up the sheer joy of the exhaust burn on the back of my calf. The scar will kind of look like a smiley face saying 'hey remember that time?'. Perfect. The waterfall was a beautiful and sweet relief after the harrowing and heated bike ride and (almost) crash free we made it back to Chiang Rai for some amazing and cheap (amazingly cheap) dinner at the night bazaar. at night. duh.
After Chiang Rai we caught the bus up to Chiang Kohn which is where I had to say goodbye to thailand and the 14 days remaining on my visa. The issue is this: if you arrive by air they say WELCOME here's thirty days enjoy your stay! If you arrive by land, and this is only recently, they say well....welcome, kind of, but we think you're probably just doing a visa run, so here's 14 days. So when I come back through Cambodia on the bus, I will have to make the most of my two weeks in southern thailand. Unfortunately my thai is not good enough to ask them if i can just save up the days I gave up crossing into Laos. Nor are my diplomatic skills for that matter.
The laos border town was called Huay Xia, I think, and it was quiet and relaxed but if I ever start a separate blog for things that can't quite make it to this one there would probably be a story in there somewhere. This is when I parted ways from my first wolf pack, which was now down to two, and were forced to meet new friends. I took the two day slow boat, so good luck being a lone misanthrope on that. The stories I heard about the slow boat pretty much fit the bill, where you stock up on good cheer and cheap whiskey the first night, get a wicked snap on, and are so hungover and hot by the second day say 'i would really love off this boat, if for nothing else than a good shower and vomit' All part of it my friends!
Which brings us back to Luang Prabang, the jewel of Laos! <-Possibly read that somewhere
This lovely little french colonial town has a curfew of 11:30, boasts about 50 guesthouses, has one of the nicest waterfalls (there they are again) I've ever seen, and actually isn't that unbearable when the sun goes down. We found a 'secret' waterfall swimming hole today, where we turned a 1 hour adventure into a solid 4 hour soak. I bit the bullet on the first jump of the lychee tree into the water, a good 25 feet, but have lived to tell the tale. My camera, of course, ran out of batteries about halfway up but I still managed to get some awesome snaps of the main waterfall and have made some friends who captured some for the real action. I didn't know what day it was until about half an hour ago, but the computer says it's Saturday. If I'm going to soak any amount of debauchery out of this night before the 11:00 curfew (wtf?) I best get on it. Until next time!
We stayed in Chiang Rai for two nights, the air conditioning was an absolute blessing, although I've found, and been told, don't do air con too often or you will turn into a spoiled little chilled brat. Fast forward to last night where the oscillating fan (which I've realized are my least favorite things in the world) provides about 1.5 seconds of relief before it dicks off for other ventures and you wake up in a pool of sweat and ridiculous heat induced dreams. I'm not sure why but I have mental half dreams and play-outs in my head in this climate, so last night I woke up very hot and dazed, looked out the blow out-vent-fan thing beside my bed and stuck my pinkie in it. It hurt quite a bit, obviously, so I think I got up said "F this" or something of the sort and woke up in the community movie room, sweaty and with a cut pinkie. And I'm not even on the hallucinogenic malaria pills!
That's a bit off track though. Two nights in Chiang Rai where we did yet another waterfall, which seem to be a central theme on this stomped out SE trail, and a wonderful night market! The bike ride out to the fall was treacherous, not so much a road as a half concrete/dirt path where I got to experience my first and hopefully last bike fall. I had a girl on the back who cursed me as she wiped the gravel out of her cut up leg and I soaked up the sheer joy of the exhaust burn on the back of my calf. The scar will kind of look like a smiley face saying 'hey remember that time?'. Perfect. The waterfall was a beautiful and sweet relief after the harrowing and heated bike ride and (almost) crash free we made it back to Chiang Rai for some amazing and cheap (amazingly cheap) dinner at the night bazaar. at night. duh.
After Chiang Rai we caught the bus up to Chiang Kohn which is where I had to say goodbye to thailand and the 14 days remaining on my visa. The issue is this: if you arrive by air they say WELCOME here's thirty days enjoy your stay! If you arrive by land, and this is only recently, they say well....welcome, kind of, but we think you're probably just doing a visa run, so here's 14 days. So when I come back through Cambodia on the bus, I will have to make the most of my two weeks in southern thailand. Unfortunately my thai is not good enough to ask them if i can just save up the days I gave up crossing into Laos. Nor are my diplomatic skills for that matter.
The laos border town was called Huay Xia, I think, and it was quiet and relaxed but if I ever start a separate blog for things that can't quite make it to this one there would probably be a story in there somewhere. This is when I parted ways from my first wolf pack, which was now down to two, and were forced to meet new friends. I took the two day slow boat, so good luck being a lone misanthrope on that. The stories I heard about the slow boat pretty much fit the bill, where you stock up on good cheer and cheap whiskey the first night, get a wicked snap on, and are so hungover and hot by the second day say 'i would really love off this boat, if for nothing else than a good shower and vomit' All part of it my friends!
Which brings us back to Luang Prabang, the jewel of Laos! <-Possibly read that somewhere
This lovely little french colonial town has a curfew of 11:30, boasts about 50 guesthouses, has one of the nicest waterfalls (there they are again) I've ever seen, and actually isn't that unbearable when the sun goes down. We found a 'secret' waterfall swimming hole today, where we turned a 1 hour adventure into a solid 4 hour soak. I bit the bullet on the first jump of the lychee tree into the water, a good 25 feet, but have lived to tell the tale. My camera, of course, ran out of batteries about halfway up but I still managed to get some awesome snaps of the main waterfall and have made some friends who captured some for the real action. I didn't know what day it was until about half an hour ago, but the computer says it's Saturday. If I'm going to soak any amount of debauchery out of this night before the 11:00 curfew (wtf?) I best get on it. Until next time!
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Mornnnnning!
35 degrees, birds, construction work, peeling arms, need some shampoo....
Another gorgeous day in thailand, although thank the dear meteorological gods that there is some cloud cover today. When you're sitting in Canada going SUN, HEAT, TROPICS it's easy to think that's all you will want all the time, but I'm telling you right now it debilitating. I'm currently in Chiang Rai after an amazing 5 day stint in Pai.
Pai is a small little...village?...in NW thailand and every backpacking, long short/short pant, dread lock wearing hippie seems to find himself in. I think I mentioned last post of my accommodations, little outdoor bamboo bungalows, and although they were quaint and natural I also had to share them with a multitude of creatures. There was a gecko about the size of my forearm who lived on the roof and although blogs aren't a very good way to represent sounds here was my 3am wake-up call. WEEEH OHHH WEEEEH OHHH. The party was rounded off with mosquitos, roosters, dogs and BED BUGS. Obviously I could not see the bed bugs but they could certainly see me, and I was the proud owner of a string of red dots down my arm. Yum. All told though it was a brilliant experience, especially on the third night when the power in the whole town went out and I had a massive, eerily beautiful sky full of stars to swing in the hammock and count. I got to 47.
Pai also consisted of my current travelling crew! Within the second day I had made friends with and excellent posse varying in nationalities, and we spent most of our waking hours motorcycling to various attractions and drinking the dreaded buckets (pint of whiskey with and equally potent bottle of thai red bull) Pictures will be following...sometime?, but a few of the best activi-dandes included butting heads with elephants, breaking my ass on a waterfall 'slide' and watching fire dancing the last night while getting giddy by the pool. PS if you find yourself in Pai go hang out at the pool. The food, drink and friends are bar none.
To take a sentimental side step for a minute, I'd like to comment on meeting people on the road. For four days you party, converse, assist, get assisted by and generally just get on with these people then one morning comes and you say 'adios', more than likely never seeing them again. If I hadn't been sitting on the exact Internet seat, at an exact time I would not have met the person introduced me to the group and my time this past week, and currently for that matter, would be completely different. You meet, you greet, you party, and you part but every soul you meet on this sweltering track plays a small role in your trip, and I'd like to thank and fore-thank (word?) everyone who I will be experiencing these next couple of months with.
Before I left for this trip my heart was divided in that I'm not getting any younger, haven't finished school, have no applicable skills other than being a professional smart ass and am slowly going to watch my friends slip into RL (real life) The cure for this angst, or at least a salve to relieve the symptoms is being here where the median age is no median age at all. Nineteen, twenty eight, forty, sixty-five! All walks of life throw down their pack and tell you their story, and realizing that the whole world isn't figuring it out while you sit in the dust and stew over a career choice is relieving. That's not say that everyone should pack their shit into a 40L backpack and hit the road while stopping showering, but it works for me. It's been almost two weeks and to hear other points of view from all over the world and age span is heartening. Go pick cherries in australia, clean up after the tigers in san fransico, teach english in eastern europe, go get a degree in reflexology (all real things!)...the bathroom stall was covered in graffiti the other night but one line stood out the most. Don't let life happen to you, make your life happen.
Anyways, Chiang Rai is a sleepy little town but I have one more night here before crossing in Lao. The room is air conditioned, the food is cheap and a motorcycle costs 3$ a day. Next post will be from Lao, which is "Like thailand 20 years ago"<----literally said to me about 12 times. Ciao Ciao.
Another gorgeous day in thailand, although thank the dear meteorological gods that there is some cloud cover today. When you're sitting in Canada going SUN, HEAT, TROPICS it's easy to think that's all you will want all the time, but I'm telling you right now it debilitating. I'm currently in Chiang Rai after an amazing 5 day stint in Pai.
Pai is a small little...village?...in NW thailand and every backpacking, long short/short pant, dread lock wearing hippie seems to find himself in. I think I mentioned last post of my accommodations, little outdoor bamboo bungalows, and although they were quaint and natural I also had to share them with a multitude of creatures. There was a gecko about the size of my forearm who lived on the roof and although blogs aren't a very good way to represent sounds here was my 3am wake-up call. WEEEH OHHH WEEEEH OHHH. The party was rounded off with mosquitos, roosters, dogs and BED BUGS. Obviously I could not see the bed bugs but they could certainly see me, and I was the proud owner of a string of red dots down my arm. Yum. All told though it was a brilliant experience, especially on the third night when the power in the whole town went out and I had a massive, eerily beautiful sky full of stars to swing in the hammock and count. I got to 47.
Pai also consisted of my current travelling crew! Within the second day I had made friends with and excellent posse varying in nationalities, and we spent most of our waking hours motorcycling to various attractions and drinking the dreaded buckets (pint of whiskey with and equally potent bottle of thai red bull) Pictures will be following...sometime?, but a few of the best activi-dandes included butting heads with elephants, breaking my ass on a waterfall 'slide' and watching fire dancing the last night while getting giddy by the pool. PS if you find yourself in Pai go hang out at the pool. The food, drink and friends are bar none.
To take a sentimental side step for a minute, I'd like to comment on meeting people on the road. For four days you party, converse, assist, get assisted by and generally just get on with these people then one morning comes and you say 'adios', more than likely never seeing them again. If I hadn't been sitting on the exact Internet seat, at an exact time I would not have met the person introduced me to the group and my time this past week, and currently for that matter, would be completely different. You meet, you greet, you party, and you part but every soul you meet on this sweltering track plays a small role in your trip, and I'd like to thank and fore-thank (word?) everyone who I will be experiencing these next couple of months with.
Before I left for this trip my heart was divided in that I'm not getting any younger, haven't finished school, have no applicable skills other than being a professional smart ass and am slowly going to watch my friends slip into RL (real life) The cure for this angst, or at least a salve to relieve the symptoms is being here where the median age is no median age at all. Nineteen, twenty eight, forty, sixty-five! All walks of life throw down their pack and tell you their story, and realizing that the whole world isn't figuring it out while you sit in the dust and stew over a career choice is relieving. That's not say that everyone should pack their shit into a 40L backpack and hit the road while stopping showering, but it works for me. It's been almost two weeks and to hear other points of view from all over the world and age span is heartening. Go pick cherries in australia, clean up after the tigers in san fransico, teach english in eastern europe, go get a degree in reflexology (all real things!)...the bathroom stall was covered in graffiti the other night but one line stood out the most. Don't let life happen to you, make your life happen.
Anyways, Chiang Rai is a sleepy little town but I have one more night here before crossing in Lao. The room is air conditioned, the food is cheap and a motorcycle costs 3$ a day. Next post will be from Lao, which is "Like thailand 20 years ago"<----literally said to me about 12 times. Ciao Ciao.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Chiang Mai & Pai
So this marks week one in Thailand, let's see if I can recollect the past couple of days. The big one would be this:
If anyone has a death wish, I strongly recommend getting on a scooter for the first time and hitting rush hour in a busy foreign city. Two broken fingers, one dislocated shoulder and some MAD road rash and here I am............
Psych OUT!
I did not crash fortunately but was forced to go around the same route about 4 times because I was too nervous to take the exit off of it. The lady asked me if I had ever used a motorbike or scooter, and with a big smile I said 'no way!' She just shook her head and said 'mai ben rai' (no worries) and I was on my way. Now there seems to be a certain method to the madness of thai streets, but I believe its only innately part of you if your thai. There are people weaving, dodging ducking, honking, passing, circumventing, eschewing and whatever else you can think of. My goal for the day was to get this temple on top of the mountain, and I eventually got there but not until about 3 hours of street searching. I believe my internal compass is either broken or non-existent. I'm that guy that needs to turn the map upside down to figure out if it's a left or right hand turn, how's that for not looking like a full on tourist.
Once I got on this road to the temple the only word that kept coming to my head was freedom. That bad-ass little honda topped out at about 60 clicks, but my god was I loving life. You just climbed higher and higher with the sun in your face (more on this in a second), the wind in your hair and the world getting smaller beneath you. I finally got to use the panorama feature on my camera, and I hope you will get to see it when I finally get some pictures up. Anyways, just because you're flying along and quite comfortably cool on the bike, does not mean that your arms aren't getting viciously burned. When I finally came back to the guesthouse and crashed down I had to adjust the AC to accommodate for how much I was heating up the room. Either way, the temple was beautiful but infested with tourists and gift shops the to the nines, so I bailed pretty quickly. I'm not opposed to tourists, obviously being one, but when suddenly the whole point of coming to this beautiful wat on a mountain is to buy a 4 mini buddha statue and smoothie...PEACE.
A little farther down the road there was a tribal village. Again the front was surrounded with toursit shops and the like, but when you got far back enough you came to this wide open space made of thatched little houses and giant swimming...pit I guess you would call it. No electricity or facebook, just little village with a swimming pit and a bunch of fun loving kids. Excellent!
At the bottom of the hill stood the famous Chiang Mai zoo. I was hot and sweaty and completely wiped out but I went in anyways. You've all been to a zoo so let me just list the animals and you can see the snaps later. Hippo, flamingo, panda (Ling Ping!), koala, ostrich, giraffe, elephant, tiger, panther, lion and a myriad of fish and birds. Top animal would have been the white bengal tiger, what a beautiful cat!
That night I went and got ripped off, again, for a pair of shorts, 600 bhat if that means anything to anybody. I met an english guy that said if I got taken one more time, he would personally send me back to Canada. So i must remain vigilant. There was a cool little bar right down the street from the guesthouse where I made friends with a score of different people, but found myself still there at 2am. What I quickly came to realize is that there is tourist nightlife, then thai nightlife. I'm riding shotgun, on the bike, with this lovely thai girl named Fon and we hit a giant club with fantastic music and drinks. There was little to no other white people there and as I was standing in the center with a big dumb grin on my face, this little fellow I met asked 'Jooos, how you doin?' I said 'the best' and I meant it.
I'm now in a little town called Pai in NE Thailand. Everyone seems to love wearing those things that are too long to be shorts and too short to be pants. Might have to pick me up a pair. The bus ride up was...wait for it...SHIT! Didn't see that coming did you? Picture the worst school bus you've ever been on, rip out the AC, turn the floor into wooden planks and make the seats smaller and that was the lap of luxury I was riding in. It's about 110km from Chiang mai to pai and it took us 4 hours 20 minutes to get here. But the keyword is 'here' and this place is fantastic. Bars, internet cafes, guesthouses, motorbikes... it's the stereotypical backpacking haunt. I somehow ended up a few kilometers out of town at lovely place called Mountain View. I'm sleeping in a wonderful bamboo hut with a hammock overlooking the town and a full rack of books, torch lit walkway and super friendly people. I feel like I'm on survivor only I can stay as long as I want.
Wow this was a long one, if you're still with me, thanks for reading, Bye bye!
So this marks week one in Thailand, let's see if I can recollect the past couple of days. The big one would be this:
If anyone has a death wish, I strongly recommend getting on a scooter for the first time and hitting rush hour in a busy foreign city. Two broken fingers, one dislocated shoulder and some MAD road rash and here I am............
Psych OUT!
I did not crash fortunately but was forced to go around the same route about 4 times because I was too nervous to take the exit off of it. The lady asked me if I had ever used a motorbike or scooter, and with a big smile I said 'no way!' She just shook her head and said 'mai ben rai' (no worries) and I was on my way. Now there seems to be a certain method to the madness of thai streets, but I believe its only innately part of you if your thai. There are people weaving, dodging ducking, honking, passing, circumventing, eschewing and whatever else you can think of. My goal for the day was to get this temple on top of the mountain, and I eventually got there but not until about 3 hours of street searching. I believe my internal compass is either broken or non-existent. I'm that guy that needs to turn the map upside down to figure out if it's a left or right hand turn, how's that for not looking like a full on tourist.
Once I got on this road to the temple the only word that kept coming to my head was freedom. That bad-ass little honda topped out at about 60 clicks, but my god was I loving life. You just climbed higher and higher with the sun in your face (more on this in a second), the wind in your hair and the world getting smaller beneath you. I finally got to use the panorama feature on my camera, and I hope you will get to see it when I finally get some pictures up. Anyways, just because you're flying along and quite comfortably cool on the bike, does not mean that your arms aren't getting viciously burned. When I finally came back to the guesthouse and crashed down I had to adjust the AC to accommodate for how much I was heating up the room. Either way, the temple was beautiful but infested with tourists and gift shops the to the nines, so I bailed pretty quickly. I'm not opposed to tourists, obviously being one, but when suddenly the whole point of coming to this beautiful wat on a mountain is to buy a 4 mini buddha statue and smoothie...PEACE.
A little farther down the road there was a tribal village. Again the front was surrounded with toursit shops and the like, but when you got far back enough you came to this wide open space made of thatched little houses and giant swimming...pit I guess you would call it. No electricity or facebook, just little village with a swimming pit and a bunch of fun loving kids. Excellent!
At the bottom of the hill stood the famous Chiang Mai zoo. I was hot and sweaty and completely wiped out but I went in anyways. You've all been to a zoo so let me just list the animals and you can see the snaps later. Hippo, flamingo, panda (Ling Ping!), koala, ostrich, giraffe, elephant, tiger, panther, lion and a myriad of fish and birds. Top animal would have been the white bengal tiger, what a beautiful cat!
That night I went and got ripped off, again, for a pair of shorts, 600 bhat if that means anything to anybody. I met an english guy that said if I got taken one more time, he would personally send me back to Canada. So i must remain vigilant. There was a cool little bar right down the street from the guesthouse where I made friends with a score of different people, but found myself still there at 2am. What I quickly came to realize is that there is tourist nightlife, then thai nightlife. I'm riding shotgun, on the bike, with this lovely thai girl named Fon and we hit a giant club with fantastic music and drinks. There was little to no other white people there and as I was standing in the center with a big dumb grin on my face, this little fellow I met asked 'Jooos, how you doin?' I said 'the best' and I meant it.
I'm now in a little town called Pai in NE Thailand. Everyone seems to love wearing those things that are too long to be shorts and too short to be pants. Might have to pick me up a pair. The bus ride up was...wait for it...SHIT! Didn't see that coming did you? Picture the worst school bus you've ever been on, rip out the AC, turn the floor into wooden planks and make the seats smaller and that was the lap of luxury I was riding in. It's about 110km from Chiang mai to pai and it took us 4 hours 20 minutes to get here. But the keyword is 'here' and this place is fantastic. Bars, internet cafes, guesthouses, motorbikes... it's the stereotypical backpacking haunt. I somehow ended up a few kilometers out of town at lovely place called Mountain View. I'm sleeping in a wonderful bamboo hut with a hammock overlooking the town and a full rack of books, torch lit walkway and super friendly people. I feel like I'm on survivor only I can stay as long as I want.
Wow this was a long one, if you're still with me, thanks for reading, Bye bye!
Monday, May 3, 2010
Buenos Dias Mes Amigos.
If the first two nights in Bangkok were screech, than the last two nights would have been a 300$ of crys-tal. I hooked up with my Lake Louise amigo Lindsay over the weekend, and what a fantastic set-up! Apart from being an excellent host and catching up on the good old days, we lounged by the pool all day incurring a rather rank sun-burn, which is fine because it would be the first time this ol' white epidermis has seen any real sun since last august.
Lindsay teaches at a place called International School Bangkok, north of the city, and the basis is this: Well-to-do amabassdors, business men and the like need somewhere for their kids to get their learn on, so this is that place. Wide encompassing, three gymnasiums, banana trees, a COY POND for god sakes... just a taste of how these children get educated. If the kids have it good, then the teachers certainley get to reap the benefits of this scholastic situation too. Lindsay has a beautiful apartment with a little deck, AC, internet, spare bedroom...basically everything you couldn't get for under 1000$/month back home.
I do have to congratulate Lindsay an myself for our tenacity as our whole day lasted from 12:00pm to about 4:00 am...no naps. After the inital lounging was over, things got serious with some maritime beer pong (apparently there are different, far worse, ways to play). Her friends Stef and Lindsay (another one, i know right...try and follow) played with us and after three rounds of some embarassing defeats, we enjoyed a smorgasboard of eats, and lo behold, found myself back on Khao San Rd...<---that could be a song remember that. I won't go into heavy details as my mother recentely informed me that each blog post is 90% about getting drunk, but just know that it consisted of sheesha, tons of live music, 120% proof whiskey on the street corner, and something like 4 individual loud and electric clubs. There was a massive passout on the cab ride back to Lindsay's, which led to a brilliant sleep in a clean, air conditioned room. It's the little things I'm beginning to realize.
Sunday found ourselves in what looked like an Ipod mall, all white and streamlined...which as a side note I found very contrasting to the blind panhandler sitting amongst hundred of poor thais right outside...where I got my first thai foot massage. She kept rolling my short legs up to get a better crush on my legs, although I wasn't wearing any underwear so things got MAD awkward with me and my 70 year old thai masseuse. Unfortuanetly this is when I had to part ways with my two lovely teacher hosts, and catch the bus up north.
Chiang Mai is like the thailand I had pictured in my head. Small little streets with motorcycles ripping back and forth, hostels everywhere, surrounded by a jungle and some sort of monkey tour in each direction. I wrote in my journal about half an hour ago that I was slightly lonely on the road, but I think it's mostly just a lacking a sense of direction. It's tough when there's not a bro on your side to say 'You want to do this, Ya let's do this' I have to think completely for myself, if you can believe it, and combined with the sunbrn, my brain is running hot. Writing all this rubbish down helps alot, I feel like it's still a way to be at home, even in the middle of lovely, sticky jungle city. One love, josh out
Lindsay teaches at a place called International School Bangkok, north of the city, and the basis is this: Well-to-do amabassdors, business men and the like need somewhere for their kids to get their learn on, so this is that place. Wide encompassing, three gymnasiums, banana trees, a COY POND for god sakes... just a taste of how these children get educated. If the kids have it good, then the teachers certainley get to reap the benefits of this scholastic situation too. Lindsay has a beautiful apartment with a little deck, AC, internet, spare bedroom...basically everything you couldn't get for under 1000$/month back home.
I do have to congratulate Lindsay an myself for our tenacity as our whole day lasted from 12:00pm to about 4:00 am...no naps. After the inital lounging was over, things got serious with some maritime beer pong (apparently there are different, far worse, ways to play). Her friends Stef and Lindsay (another one, i know right...try and follow) played with us and after three rounds of some embarassing defeats, we enjoyed a smorgasboard of eats, and lo behold, found myself back on Khao San Rd...<---that could be a song remember that. I won't go into heavy details as my mother recentely informed me that each blog post is 90% about getting drunk, but just know that it consisted of sheesha, tons of live music, 120% proof whiskey on the street corner, and something like 4 individual loud and electric clubs. There was a massive passout on the cab ride back to Lindsay's, which led to a brilliant sleep in a clean, air conditioned room. It's the little things I'm beginning to realize.
Sunday found ourselves in what looked like an Ipod mall, all white and streamlined...which as a side note I found very contrasting to the blind panhandler sitting amongst hundred of poor thais right outside...where I got my first thai foot massage. She kept rolling my short legs up to get a better crush on my legs, although I wasn't wearing any underwear so things got MAD awkward with me and my 70 year old thai masseuse. Unfortuanetly this is when I had to part ways with my two lovely teacher hosts, and catch the bus up north.
Chiang Mai is like the thailand I had pictured in my head. Small little streets with motorcycles ripping back and forth, hostels everywhere, surrounded by a jungle and some sort of monkey tour in each direction. I wrote in my journal about half an hour ago that I was slightly lonely on the road, but I think it's mostly just a lacking a sense of direction. It's tough when there's not a bro on your side to say 'You want to do this, Ya let's do this' I have to think completely for myself, if you can believe it, and combined with the sunbrn, my brain is running hot. Writing all this rubbish down helps alot, I feel like it's still a way to be at home, even in the middle of lovely, sticky jungle city. One love, josh out
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Bangkok
Sweet Lord much to catch up on!
Let's try point form:
-The flight to alaska was long, but it had nothing on the 10 1/2 hr one to taiwan. Since my Ipod/their TV was busted it was a lot of restless sleep and Lonely Planet scanning. The only good thing I'd say was the surreal beauty of the sun coming up on the american side as we outran it over the Pacific, and it doused the whole cloud ceiling in this soft pinkish glow. Lovely.
-Connected in Taiwan and unfortunately didn't have time check out it's scene, but from the sky it looks very oriental and nice. Another time perhaps.
-Got into Bangkok around noon, and after getting heavily ripped off for a taxi (30$ vs 5$) I plunkered down in the backpacker scene in Khao San rd. It's a sweaty bustling mess but my god is it fun. Everyone is selling something, there's music blaring from every corner, you can buy your giant bottle of 1$ beer and carouse the vendors for hours! If you don't melt that is, which I started to.
- I met a lovely girl from Denmark in a little restaurant off to the side and after making friends she showed me the hostel which I'm now staying in. A little more walking led us to more bottles of beer and more friends. It's almost impossible to not pop a squat and instantly have new bros, it's the best! I enjoyed my first street meal, with a deep fried scorpion as an appetizer, and proceeded to wipe my eyes with the hot pepper sitting on top the rice bed. So, in tears, I split ways with my new friends and started to walk back to the hostel. You'd think that would be the end of it but I ran into an American I chatted with in the airport, so we sat down for some 'Wodkee Reebul' (vodka red bull) and made more pals at the table next to us. Clearly the next step were some thai massages, which I enjoyed thoroughly even though I was later informed my lovely masseuse was indeed a dude. And I said 'go hard' or something to that effect.
-At this point I was viciously drunk so had to part ways. I spent the next 3 hours wandering the streets unable to find this hole in the wall hostel, asking 'yoo tee nai, yoo tee nai?' and pointing at my little room keytag. The thing about thais, i think, is they never like to say I don't know, so it's always just 'uhhh you go down, turn left then, uhh just walk a little bit' I finally found it just by happen chance and was so happy...Until I woke up sweating buckets, extreme headache and out of water. To avoid dealing with life I slept from 5:00am to 11:00 pm today, but keep in mind I'm 12:00 hours behind as well. Or that's my excuse anyways. Anyways it's 1:00am now, time for a beer and a new friend. Much love!
Let's try point form:
-The flight to alaska was long, but it had nothing on the 10 1/2 hr one to taiwan. Since my Ipod/their TV was busted it was a lot of restless sleep and Lonely Planet scanning. The only good thing I'd say was the surreal beauty of the sun coming up on the american side as we outran it over the Pacific, and it doused the whole cloud ceiling in this soft pinkish glow. Lovely.
-Connected in Taiwan and unfortunately didn't have time check out it's scene, but from the sky it looks very oriental and nice. Another time perhaps.
-Got into Bangkok around noon, and after getting heavily ripped off for a taxi (30$ vs 5$) I plunkered down in the backpacker scene in Khao San rd. It's a sweaty bustling mess but my god is it fun. Everyone is selling something, there's music blaring from every corner, you can buy your giant bottle of 1$ beer and carouse the vendors for hours! If you don't melt that is, which I started to.
- I met a lovely girl from Denmark in a little restaurant off to the side and after making friends she showed me the hostel which I'm now staying in. A little more walking led us to more bottles of beer and more friends. It's almost impossible to not pop a squat and instantly have new bros, it's the best! I enjoyed my first street meal, with a deep fried scorpion as an appetizer, and proceeded to wipe my eyes with the hot pepper sitting on top the rice bed. So, in tears, I split ways with my new friends and started to walk back to the hostel. You'd think that would be the end of it but I ran into an American I chatted with in the airport, so we sat down for some 'Wodkee Reebul' (vodka red bull) and made more pals at the table next to us. Clearly the next step were some thai massages, which I enjoyed thoroughly even though I was later informed my lovely masseuse was indeed a dude. And I said 'go hard' or something to that effect.
-At this point I was viciously drunk so had to part ways. I spent the next 3 hours wandering the streets unable to find this hole in the wall hostel, asking 'yoo tee nai, yoo tee nai?' and pointing at my little room keytag. The thing about thais, i think, is they never like to say I don't know, so it's always just 'uhhh you go down, turn left then, uhh just walk a little bit' I finally found it just by happen chance and was so happy...Until I woke up sweating buckets, extreme headache and out of water. To avoid dealing with life I slept from 5:00am to 11:00 pm today, but keep in mind I'm 12:00 hours behind as well. Or that's my excuse anyways. Anyways it's 1:00am now, time for a beer and a new friend. Much love!
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