Just a quick blog blerb on the current situation....
When we were playing in the pool back in vietnam we created these moves called 'porpoise dives'. It's basically where you put your hands at your sides and flap your body like a dolphin jumping from the ocean, and normally it works very well....except for tonight. It's 8:15 in the morning and I just got back to the hostel from the hospital....funny how they sound so alike jaja?
As i was attempting a porpoise dive in the wee morning hours, without realizing how shallow this pool was, amid the claps and cheers of my peers I jettisoned through the water just like my dolphin counterparts....quickly I realized, through an enormous smash of my head on the pool bottom, the water wasn't going to accommodate any of what I was trying to do and as a little blood filled the water i knew I was screwed. At first I touched my head and a got a fingertip of blood and thought 'no worries' but the surrounding crowd reminded me head injuries are not to be taken lightly. So off to the hospital we go where I get my FIRST STITCHES EVER! Two to the head, antiseptic, three tetanus shots (this is cambodia after all) and they send me on my way. All I can say is thank god for spell checker at the moment because my typing is a mess. Doctor said everything will be fine, just take some anti-inflammatories, chill out, and no more porpoise dives for a bit. Injuries are a dime a dozen on this route, and my medical worries are only equal to my whiny email to the travel insurance company asking them to fit the suture bill. Just thought I'd do quick 'medical check up' before I sleep off this nasty sew up. Also...there is a heinous bandage on my head at the moment, but every time I pull at it feels like the stitches will come out...is this a permanent fixture all you medical professionals? Ciao Ciao
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Same Same, but more cambodian...
Greetings Earthlings!
It's been a solid 10 days since the last post, I think there may be alot to report but I will let my fingers dance across the keyboard and see what happens.
For a real kick, I should look if this keyboard can right in the Khmer language, which is what they speak in Cambodia. I was tres happy about the progress of my broken, half english vietnamese but once again I have switched countries and had to say bye bye to the 6 or 7 stock phrases I depended on daily. With vietnamese I thought it would be a real hole in one seeing as how they use our letters, but I was very mistaken. Try pronouncing the word 'Nguyen' and see if anyone knows what your talking about. Now that I'm back to a 'swirly letter country' you can look at a shop sign and have zero idea what it actually sells, which is no bother because travelling is basically about not knowing where you are or what you're doing. Not Americans though, they need a GPS, pop up map, 5 lonely planets and extra rations and water purification tablets in case they head down the wrong street for 3 minutes.
Back to the task at hand, I will look back at Vietnam with a bucket full of mixed emotions. I believe the last post commented on the bane of my existence named 'Laura', the motorcycle I purchased back in Hanoi. If you're wondering where the name came from, it's was christianed by the guy I bought it off. Basically the chap was macking this girl named Laura in Saigon for a good chunk of the night, until it came to make out hour and she told him to piss off. The next morning he painted her name on the motorbike figuring some Laura owed him a good ride.
He was a fellow Canadian and in all my naivety, I gladly handed over 300$ thinking 'shucks!..that's great for this cool bike!' Through the high definition window that is hindsight, it was retarded to a)buy that brand of motorcycle b)not buy it from a proper shop c)believe I could make it down and entire country 'sur la moto' only spending 300 buck-a-roos. The dirty ol girl guzzled the gas, broke down every day, stank of petrol to the high heavens and basically told me to get bent every morning I tried to start her up. There were multiple times when my kick-start would just hang there like a flaccid....something...so I had to get my mates to push me to about 5 kms/h so I could pump it into second gear and rip off that way, looking like a gigantic wank while little vietnamese people blew by me on their scooters. All in all it was a little over a 500$ investment in my patience and sanity...but although I bitch about it now I will look back on our top gear tour with the fondest of memories, and have some excellent stories/advice to share with the people of the world. (seriously, if you want to motorbike vietnam drop me a line and I will give you the expansive list of do's and don'ts,as well as try an relate what this amazing country looks like while you drive through it)
There were points when you just sucked in your breath and said 'oh my god, everything was worth it for this one moment of beauty'. When we were coming down from Hue, a city in central vietnam, we went around a corner that to my right had gigantic mountains covered in jungle, then to my left the Pacific ocean stretching farther than I can even think about. Moments like those, my blood and petrol soaked socks, gas stained clothes and sweaty helmet bore no issue.
I stretched my vietnam visa to the very last day, as Nick and myself went a spree trying to sell of these albatross bikes in Saigon. Luckily, Nick pawned his off for a cool 200$, therefore being able to eat and have a beer, although I was only able to sell mine for scraps for 75$. Turns out the serial numbers didn't match the registration which depreciates it by about one million percent.
So on the bus yesterday, we excitedly roll into Cambodia, meet some friends we were chasing down vietnam for 3 WEEKS! (okay meet you in 2 days...bike broken...k meet you in 4 days...k you're in a different country...bike broken) and have a wee night out. Today we went to the S-21 war museum, which after months of partying and reveling is quite a sobering experience. I wish I could explain more about the Khmer Rouge situation but I'm not that well versed in it and wouldn't like to make any errors. Just know that there was some hideous shit that went on in this country, as you will see when I put up some pictures. 'Killing fields' tomorrow, couple palace visits and we're off to Angkor Wat tomorrow night! Luckily I picked up a new camera, found one with hot, dusty old temples setting...so perfect.
A friend I met in thailand is actually teaching english at an orphanage here, and he says it's really great. I am interested but time is money, which I'm running out of the latter. Unfortunately the money hungry motorbike threw the budget for a little loop, so I may have to scratch some things of the itinerary and head straight to Bali. Tough life right? The people, the weather, the food and yes even the motorcycle have been something out of a dream and I wouldn't trade it for anything...well maybe 300$ and a McDonalds big xtra with cheese, but that's it.
Thanks for reading.
Josh
It's been a solid 10 days since the last post, I think there may be alot to report but I will let my fingers dance across the keyboard and see what happens.
For a real kick, I should look if this keyboard can right in the Khmer language, which is what they speak in Cambodia. I was tres happy about the progress of my broken, half english vietnamese but once again I have switched countries and had to say bye bye to the 6 or 7 stock phrases I depended on daily. With vietnamese I thought it would be a real hole in one seeing as how they use our letters, but I was very mistaken. Try pronouncing the word 'Nguyen' and see if anyone knows what your talking about. Now that I'm back to a 'swirly letter country' you can look at a shop sign and have zero idea what it actually sells, which is no bother because travelling is basically about not knowing where you are or what you're doing. Not Americans though, they need a GPS, pop up map, 5 lonely planets and extra rations and water purification tablets in case they head down the wrong street for 3 minutes.
Back to the task at hand, I will look back at Vietnam with a bucket full of mixed emotions. I believe the last post commented on the bane of my existence named 'Laura', the motorcycle I purchased back in Hanoi. If you're wondering where the name came from, it's was christianed by the guy I bought it off. Basically the chap was macking this girl named Laura in Saigon for a good chunk of the night, until it came to make out hour and she told him to piss off. The next morning he painted her name on the motorbike figuring some Laura owed him a good ride.
He was a fellow Canadian and in all my naivety, I gladly handed over 300$ thinking 'shucks!..that's great for this cool bike!' Through the high definition window that is hindsight, it was retarded to a)buy that brand of motorcycle b)not buy it from a proper shop c)believe I could make it down and entire country 'sur la moto' only spending 300 buck-a-roos. The dirty ol girl guzzled the gas, broke down every day, stank of petrol to the high heavens and basically told me to get bent every morning I tried to start her up. There were multiple times when my kick-start would just hang there like a flaccid....something...so I had to get my mates to push me to about 5 kms/h so I could pump it into second gear and rip off that way, looking like a gigantic wank while little vietnamese people blew by me on their scooters. All in all it was a little over a 500$ investment in my patience and sanity...but although I bitch about it now I will look back on our top gear tour with the fondest of memories, and have some excellent stories/advice to share with the people of the world. (seriously, if you want to motorbike vietnam drop me a line and I will give you the expansive list of do's and don'ts,as well as try an relate what this amazing country looks like while you drive through it)
There were points when you just sucked in your breath and said 'oh my god, everything was worth it for this one moment of beauty'. When we were coming down from Hue, a city in central vietnam, we went around a corner that to my right had gigantic mountains covered in jungle, then to my left the Pacific ocean stretching farther than I can even think about. Moments like those, my blood and petrol soaked socks, gas stained clothes and sweaty helmet bore no issue.
I stretched my vietnam visa to the very last day, as Nick and myself went a spree trying to sell of these albatross bikes in Saigon. Luckily, Nick pawned his off for a cool 200$, therefore being able to eat and have a beer, although I was only able to sell mine for scraps for 75$. Turns out the serial numbers didn't match the registration which depreciates it by about one million percent.
So on the bus yesterday, we excitedly roll into Cambodia, meet some friends we were chasing down vietnam for 3 WEEKS! (okay meet you in 2 days...bike broken...k meet you in 4 days...k you're in a different country...bike broken) and have a wee night out. Today we went to the S-21 war museum, which after months of partying and reveling is quite a sobering experience. I wish I could explain more about the Khmer Rouge situation but I'm not that well versed in it and wouldn't like to make any errors. Just know that there was some hideous shit that went on in this country, as you will see when I put up some pictures. 'Killing fields' tomorrow, couple palace visits and we're off to Angkor Wat tomorrow night! Luckily I picked up a new camera, found one with hot, dusty old temples setting...so perfect.
A friend I met in thailand is actually teaching english at an orphanage here, and he says it's really great. I am interested but time is money, which I'm running out of the latter. Unfortunately the money hungry motorbike threw the budget for a little loop, so I may have to scratch some things of the itinerary and head straight to Bali. Tough life right? The people, the weather, the food and yes even the motorcycle have been something out of a dream and I wouldn't trade it for anything...well maybe 300$ and a McDonalds big xtra with cheese, but that's it.
Thanks for reading.
Josh
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Down vietnam on a shoe string.....of patience
The past couple weeks have been a myriad of contradictions.
Ultimate highs and bottomless lows, healthy brown glow to peeling skin off in pieces, the freedom of the open road and the never ending slew of mechanic stop offs, having 'millions' in local currency to losing it all to pickpocketing...
In traveling, as well as life, it would be naive to assume that every day is going to be a peach. As soon as you get off the well beaten track and try and do things on your own, that's exactly what you are, on your own. My sanity would have literally been left in among the banana trees up north if not for my traveling mates, as we've all had each others back since we left Hanoi. The last post commented on day one and tribulations experienced in that short time span. Take that theme and multiply it by by the past two weeks and you basically have our motorcycling adventure. It's not to say that it's been all bad, but if you had one of those funny little law scales and balanced the pros and cons the con side would be severely faltered. I could bitch about it for a few paragraphs but in short it went like this.
Day 1-2 -> Break down, spend two days at mechanic
Day 3-4 -> Make it to a hole in the wall town called Yen Cat, where two out of four bikes break down again. Also my bag fell off the back of the bike and smashed my camera
Day 5 -> Eventually make it to a 'big' town (60,000 ppl) where we say 'F THIS' and put the bikes and ourselves on a train for 35$. Train takes 12 hours. Very good seafood pizza.
Day 6-11 -> Arrive in Hue. Absolutely relish the fact we are back in a big city, where the option to eat something other than rice or noodles is open to us. Party our butts of, talk to pretty girls, watch HBO and do a few rides around the city (which is absolutely beautiful! Like, omg, there are giant lotus flowers like floating in the surrounding inlets, and those inlets lead to like the ocean where you can like, totes watch the sun dip down behind this gorge illuminated bridge, while like the impending storm comes in from the west with freakin craze lightning and thunder OMG!!)...also got robbed for about 15$ during this time. Was thumbing for some money from my wallet, and some little wanker comes up grabs a handful and makes off. If you're reading this little vietnamese fellow, really lame move brother.
Day 12 -> After a 800,000 dong (40$US) motorbike overhaul we are back in working condition,
and with heads high, helmets on, freshly showered we set of. We get about 4km out of town when one of the previous shit bikes, waitttttttt for it......BREAKS DOWN AGAIN!
So another night spent in Hue where I meet a fantastic bunch of vietamese dudes and we drink beers, talk about there families and Canada and all sorts of rubbish and what a great time....until I realize my wallet is no longer in my pocket. (Insert sad face) Luckily the wallet was found a few feet away under a little bike taxi thing...with about 70$ missing. At first I looked at it like 'goddamn vietnam', but that's the wrong attitude. There are thousands of people here looking to squeeze an extra buck out of you, legally or illegally, but on the other side of the coin there are multitudes of people who will, and have, help you without a blink of an eye. People are just people, no matter where you are on the globe.
One motorbike got sent back to Hanoi for scraps, so I was driving double yesterday with one of the boys on the back...a solid 200 pounds, but the scenery here made up for way more than the fact I was shifting gears like my life depended on it....which it did. Now that my bike is back in complete working order (thank you Hue mechanic) I'm optomistic about the rest of the drive down, but word to the wise...don't buy an old shitty bike just because it looks cool or that's what people do, because thus far we've basically been doing a tour of the mechanics in Vietnam, instead of actual vietnam. Pick yourself up a cute little honda wave, put on your pink helmet and hit the road, because I'm sure you'll make it more than 100kms without a break down, once a day, every day. The bike total is now up to about 420$ with purcahse, gas and repairs but you can't put a price on adventure. Well, you can, but I literally can't think about it, because it makes me want to vomit.
So at the moment, we are getting a squad of scooters to tour around Hoi An, perhaps get a nice shirt made and go have a margarita, if we can find the beach....(that gigantic body of water with sand on it). I do love vietnam very much, and when my trip is over I'm going to put some serious consideration into teaching english in Hanoi. Peaccccce Out!
Ultimate highs and bottomless lows, healthy brown glow to peeling skin off in pieces, the freedom of the open road and the never ending slew of mechanic stop offs, having 'millions' in local currency to losing it all to pickpocketing...
In traveling, as well as life, it would be naive to assume that every day is going to be a peach. As soon as you get off the well beaten track and try and do things on your own, that's exactly what you are, on your own. My sanity would have literally been left in among the banana trees up north if not for my traveling mates, as we've all had each others back since we left Hanoi. The last post commented on day one and tribulations experienced in that short time span. Take that theme and multiply it by by the past two weeks and you basically have our motorcycling adventure. It's not to say that it's been all bad, but if you had one of those funny little law scales and balanced the pros and cons the con side would be severely faltered. I could bitch about it for a few paragraphs but in short it went like this.
Day 1-2 -> Break down, spend two days at mechanic
Day 3-4 -> Make it to a hole in the wall town called Yen Cat, where two out of four bikes break down again. Also my bag fell off the back of the bike and smashed my camera
Day 5 -> Eventually make it to a 'big' town (60,000 ppl) where we say 'F THIS' and put the bikes and ourselves on a train for 35$. Train takes 12 hours. Very good seafood pizza.
Day 6-11 -> Arrive in Hue. Absolutely relish the fact we are back in a big city, where the option to eat something other than rice or noodles is open to us. Party our butts of, talk to pretty girls, watch HBO and do a few rides around the city (which is absolutely beautiful! Like, omg, there are giant lotus flowers like floating in the surrounding inlets, and those inlets lead to like the ocean where you can like, totes watch the sun dip down behind this gorge illuminated bridge, while like the impending storm comes in from the west with freakin craze lightning and thunder OMG!!)...also got robbed for about 15$ during this time. Was thumbing for some money from my wallet, and some little wanker comes up grabs a handful and makes off. If you're reading this little vietnamese fellow, really lame move brother.
Day 12 -> After a 800,000 dong (40$US) motorbike overhaul we are back in working condition,
and with heads high, helmets on, freshly showered we set of. We get about 4km out of town when one of the previous shit bikes, waitttttttt for it......BREAKS DOWN AGAIN!
So another night spent in Hue where I meet a fantastic bunch of vietamese dudes and we drink beers, talk about there families and Canada and all sorts of rubbish and what a great time....until I realize my wallet is no longer in my pocket. (Insert sad face) Luckily the wallet was found a few feet away under a little bike taxi thing...with about 70$ missing. At first I looked at it like 'goddamn vietnam', but that's the wrong attitude. There are thousands of people here looking to squeeze an extra buck out of you, legally or illegally, but on the other side of the coin there are multitudes of people who will, and have, help you without a blink of an eye. People are just people, no matter where you are on the globe.
One motorbike got sent back to Hanoi for scraps, so I was driving double yesterday with one of the boys on the back...a solid 200 pounds, but the scenery here made up for way more than the fact I was shifting gears like my life depended on it....which it did. Now that my bike is back in complete working order (thank you Hue mechanic) I'm optomistic about the rest of the drive down, but word to the wise...don't buy an old shitty bike just because it looks cool or that's what people do, because thus far we've basically been doing a tour of the mechanics in Vietnam, instead of actual vietnam. Pick yourself up a cute little honda wave, put on your pink helmet and hit the road, because I'm sure you'll make it more than 100kms without a break down, once a day, every day. The bike total is now up to about 420$ with purcahse, gas and repairs but you can't put a price on adventure. Well, you can, but I literally can't think about it, because it makes me want to vomit.
So at the moment, we are getting a squad of scooters to tour around Hoi An, perhaps get a nice shirt made and go have a margarita, if we can find the beach....(that gigantic body of water with sand on it). I do love vietnam very much, and when my trip is over I'm going to put some serious consideration into teaching english in Hanoi. Peaccccce Out!
Monday, June 7, 2010
From Groundhog Day to Grounded
Goooooooood Morning Vietnam!
Bonjour everyone, time for a bit catch up!
I'm just reading over my last post and giving my head a shake for the time I said I was going to leave, and the time I actually did leave. After Halong Bay, salty and sunny and partied out, I planned to buy a motorcycle and hit the road. Two days turned into almost two weeks because I got lost in a flurry rooftop barbecues, 50 cent beers and the good vibe that is Hanoi city.
I highly reccomend Hanoi backpacker hostel because, even though the rooms are a whopping 6 bucks, the energy and party on that street is just stellar. I will admit it is not 'real' vietnam, which I am currently in, typing on a keyboard that spits out vietnamese, but it offers up the same party with new faces each night. People of all walks of life gather on the rooftop bar, kick back with happy hour beers and burgers and make multitudes of friends. I'd say the first 3 nights would have been plenty but then I had a birthday coming up so why not stay a couple more nights? Then I gained some travelling partners, so why not stay a couple more? Then I had to buy a motorycle, so a little bit more time wouldn't hurt....No worries! People eventually came up and asked 'Hey, how much for the water?' and I would say 'Oh sorry I know I blend into the wallpaper perfectly, but I don't actually work here' So you can see the excellent trap that I had fallen into....Groundhog Day, only I'm Bill Murray from Canada, eh, with a much higher capacity for late nights and cheap rum. It would have been much easier to leave if it was the same hum drum every night, but new faces equals new conversations and adventures! A special thanks to Chau (and Leah and Martha!) for showing me around and hanging out, you are an excellent scooter driver and host!
The day finally came when we left the backpacker district (FINALLY!), and as we sat in a row getting some photos, aviators on, looking cool as a can of baked beans, I think one out of four bikes would start up. Tres embarassing oui? I actually had to go the ghetto route of getting a push down the hill then kicking it into gear, like some Kazikstani moto taxi rolling into town to buy oats. My mates are Nick, Ben and Spencer and they are a solid travelling crew because I'm beginning to realize patience is a virtue when you plan on biking the whole of vietnam on a 12 year old, 300$ motorcycle. No one has lost there cool yet, even though we have travelled only 120 km in almost two days. We've been to the mechanic four times today and he is an absolute gem ...for all you people that break down in Mai Chau go see the dude across from the market/football field, a regular miracle worker.
It is now pissing rain, getting dark and there is some intense lightning happening over the surrounding mountains...so I'm going to go out on a limb and say we are NOT going anywhere tonight. C'est La vie mes amis. Even when things don't go as planned, you find yourself eating shaved beef soup and drinking beer with your buddies, playing with little vietnamese kids, or doing quick language lessons with the locals. Life is good. Until next time.
Bonjour everyone, time for a bit catch up!
I'm just reading over my last post and giving my head a shake for the time I said I was going to leave, and the time I actually did leave. After Halong Bay, salty and sunny and partied out, I planned to buy a motorcycle and hit the road. Two days turned into almost two weeks because I got lost in a flurry rooftop barbecues, 50 cent beers and the good vibe that is Hanoi city.
I highly reccomend Hanoi backpacker hostel because, even though the rooms are a whopping 6 bucks, the energy and party on that street is just stellar. I will admit it is not 'real' vietnam, which I am currently in, typing on a keyboard that spits out vietnamese, but it offers up the same party with new faces each night. People of all walks of life gather on the rooftop bar, kick back with happy hour beers and burgers and make multitudes of friends. I'd say the first 3 nights would have been plenty but then I had a birthday coming up so why not stay a couple more nights? Then I gained some travelling partners, so why not stay a couple more? Then I had to buy a motorycle, so a little bit more time wouldn't hurt....No worries! People eventually came up and asked 'Hey, how much for the water?' and I would say 'Oh sorry I know I blend into the wallpaper perfectly, but I don't actually work here' So you can see the excellent trap that I had fallen into....Groundhog Day, only I'm Bill Murray from Canada, eh, with a much higher capacity for late nights and cheap rum. It would have been much easier to leave if it was the same hum drum every night, but new faces equals new conversations and adventures! A special thanks to Chau (and Leah and Martha!) for showing me around and hanging out, you are an excellent scooter driver and host!
The day finally came when we left the backpacker district (FINALLY!), and as we sat in a row getting some photos, aviators on, looking cool as a can of baked beans, I think one out of four bikes would start up. Tres embarassing oui? I actually had to go the ghetto route of getting a push down the hill then kicking it into gear, like some Kazikstani moto taxi rolling into town to buy oats. My mates are Nick, Ben and Spencer and they are a solid travelling crew because I'm beginning to realize patience is a virtue when you plan on biking the whole of vietnam on a 12 year old, 300$ motorcycle. No one has lost there cool yet, even though we have travelled only 120 km in almost two days. We've been to the mechanic four times today and he is an absolute gem ...for all you people that break down in Mai Chau go see the dude across from the market/football field, a regular miracle worker.
It is now pissing rain, getting dark and there is some intense lightning happening over the surrounding mountains...so I'm going to go out on a limb and say we are NOT going anywhere tonight. C'est La vie mes amis. Even when things don't go as planned, you find yourself eating shaved beef soup and drinking beer with your buddies, playing with little vietnamese kids, or doing quick language lessons with the locals. Life is good. Until next time.
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