Backpacking through Southeast Asia

Goodbye

2009-07-12T10:06:00.007+07:00

I packed up my backpack for the last time this morning, a ritual I have repeated every few days for the last ten weeks. It's bursting at the seams by now. Realizing this morning that I would not have to stuff all that crap in there ever again brought a mixed feeling of relief and nostalgia. I fly back to Bangkok this morning and from there switch over to a suitcase to make room for some things I've bought along the way. I fly back home on Tuesday.

While I'm mildly tempted to write some kind of grandiose valedictory post about the trip, words really can't do it justice and I've certainly expended more than enough here already, so suffice it to say it's been pretty epic.

Thanks for reading

:)

James

Cooking Class

2009-07-10T16:46:00.002+07:00

Yum

In Chiang Mai

2009-07-09T14:32:00.003+07:00

Took the night train in from Bangkok last night. I think I'm just going to take it easy here in Chiang Mai. Trekking into the Northern Thailand hills is a very popular activity around here but I think I'm going to take it easy and skip out on that. Tomorrow I take a Thai cooking class on a farm outside the city, then on Saturday I think I will take a massage class, and then before I know it I'll be home...

Election Day

2009-07-08T07:39:00.002+07:00

As an astute observer of politics, it's exciting for me to be here on Election Day. Indonesians go to the polls today in the second presidential election since the fall of Suharto's military regime. The campaign has been civil and peaceful, a welcome development for the world's third-largest democracy.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is widely expected to trounce his opponents and be re-elected to a second term. Everyone I have spoken to here plans to support Susilo, with one gentleman I spoke to yesterday predicting that Susilo would win 90% of the vote in his village in Lombok. The people I have spoken with describe Susilo as a smart and capable leader, and CNN this morning tells me that the economy is doing well and Indonesians are happy to see him combating corruption.

Of course there's really only so much you can understand as a visitor but it is fascinating to me to see this nonetheless. They seem genuinely excited to have the opportunity to vote and participate in a peaceful election and it's quite remarkable to see.

Kuta Lombok wrap-up

2009-07-07T20:41:00.010+07:00

Lombok is the next island over from Bali. I spent the last few days in Kuta, a beach village on Lombok's southern shore. There's not many visitors here besides some die-hard surfers. It's probably about as far off the beaten path as I've managed to get during this trip, and it was great.

They've been saying that Lombok is the next Bali for years now but there's never really been more than trickle of tourists here. Apparently they are constructing a new airport that would be Indonesia's largest, set to open in 2012 (of course this being Indonesia it's anyone's guess when, or if, it will ever be finished). I can't help but imagine how different everything will be once that airport opens, which makes me especially glad that I was able to visit now.

On Sunday we rode out to watch a surf competition for young surfers under 16. The only way to get there was to take a motorbike and so I checked out a motor scooter and rode for the first time. It was awesome - the scenery was stunning with rolling green hills and volcanic cliffs jutting out over the lush blue sea. We had to dodge chickens, cattle, goats, and even some children on the road. I could not have picked a worse possible road to ride a scooter for the first time, though, as much of the steep road was unpaved and full of big rocks and even the paved sections were riddled with potholes. I managed to break a piece of plastic shielding off the bike, but the parking attendants (paid them 50 cents to watch the bikes) patched it up nicely. I met a guy who bloodied up his toe pretty badly on that ride, so I was lucky. Trying new things is fun. I'm thinking of getting a motor scooter now. Don't laugh, I'm serious.

We also tried to go out and surf on Monday but there were no waves. Truly tragic, actually, that I came out to one of the world's best dive areas and the weather was not in my favor.

I was walking along the beach and a small group of Indonesian girls invited me to join them at the top of a big rock and being curious as to how the hell they managed to climb up this big rock, I did. Then the girls (9-12 years old) proceeded to speak with me in stunningly good English for 10 minutes or so about America and Barack Obama and all that good stuff. The girls had even give themselves English names - Lucy, Linda, and Claudia. When I remarked, skeptically, that "your name is not Lucy..." the girls energetically retorted "it's my business name!" Then when I was sufficiently buttered up, they ambushed me and tried to sell me their bracelets. I kinda knew this would happen, so I can't really complain. At that point a bunch of other kids appeared out of nowhere and climbed up this rock so I was surrounded by like 10 kids trying to sell me bracelets....so finally I bought a few bracelets...

Lombok is very rural...

View of Gunung Agung, the highest volcano in Bali, from the Lombok Strait

Leaving Indonesia to fly to Bangkok tomorrow and then night train to Chiang Mai. I've loved every minute of Indonesia and I'm pretty sure I want to come back here and spend more time exploring the country. With 17,000 islands and 200 million people, there's a lot to see...

[I have only a week left in my trip and I'm beginning to find blogging a bit laborious so updates from here on out may be brief if I post them at all, sorry...]

I have found my paradise

2009-07-05T08:41:00.001+07:00

I got to Kuta (Lombok) yesterday and it's amazing. A secluded
white-sand beach dotted with little more than a few inns and some
shops. It's totally relaxed - and quiet - here. Met up with a good
group yesterday - 2 English girls and a Danish guy - in the van ride
over and we went out to the only bar in town last night and had a good
time.

Kuta has some of the world's best surfing and there's a big surf
competition at the next beach over so we're gonna roll over there
after I shower and eat.

Kuta's a good place. I'm likin it.

Chillin on the Beach

2009-07-03T09:18:00.003+07:00

Gili Trawangan is alright but a few too many tourists here for me. It's supposed to be this little unspoiled beautiful white-sand island but of course once the word got out everyone mobbed it and now there's a bunch of resorts and so it's a bit ruined.

The nice thing about traveling for an extended period of time is the flexibility to change your plans. So I've decided tomorrow morning I'm going to hop over to Kuta, Lombok, which is supposed to have some amazing beaches and scenery but be quieter and friendlier than Gili Trawangan.

Also I've been in a bit of a mentally-winding-down mode for a little while now that I know my trip is coming to an end but I don't think that's a good idea, seeing as how I still have 11 days (which is longer than most regular vacations!). So I also changed my plan next week - instead of lounging in Bangkok for 5 days (which I've already done), I'm going to take the night train up to Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand and explore a bit. It'll get me back in backpacking mode a little bit and by the time I'm done with that my trip will actually be over...

Yesterday's sunset. Amazing.

There are little geckoes everywhere. Sometimes big geckoes. This guy was crawling around my wall last night. But the geckoes are good because they eat the mosquitoes.

Gili Trawangan

2009-07-02T19:54:00.002+07:00

Arrived at Gili Trawangan, off the coast of Lombok, this morning. It's a small little island, about 2km from end-to-end, and very nice, with white sand beaches and blue-green waters. I rode around the island on a bicycle today and stopped to watch a gorgeous sunset.

Tomorrow I'm going to snorkel and relax a bit.

Ever since I've come to Bali, it feels like I've left the backpacker trail and ended up in the middle of a resort. It's actually not all that great - instead of being around other interesting young people, it's a bunch of fat old Aussies and trashy party-seekers from Europe and Australia. Not exactly my crowd. And things are more expensive too. Oh well, I'm still enjoying the scenery.

I'm looking forward to going home though.

Update

2009-07-01T19:52:00.002+07:00

Not too much new to add here. In Padangbai, in Bali. Went on a great dive yesterday to the Liberty Wreck, a WWII shipwreck. It was great - the wreck was awesome, totally encrusted in coral and brimming with schools of fish.

Tomorrow I'm off to the Gili Islands, some small remote islands off the coast of Lombok (the next big island to the East). Will do some snorkeling and mainly just relax.

It's hard to believe my trip is slowly coming to an end. Already I'm starting to sort out some of the many things I will be doing upon my return...

More later

Volcano Monkey Mountain

2009-06-28T13:39:00.002+07:00

Woke up before 2 AM this morning to hike to the top of Gulung Batur, an active volcano, to watch the sunrise. It was pretty spectacular.

Almost as if on cue, as soon as the sun rose, a pack of monkeys came to greet us. Yes, more monkeys.After the sunrise, we walked around the crater of the volcano. All around there were vents of steam, some large, some smaller.

Back to the beach tomorrow.

Ubud Day 1 - Monkeys and More

2009-06-26T21:54:00.007+07:00

I arrived in Ubud this morning. Ubud is Bali's cultural center, and though just an hour down the road from noisy Kuta, it feels a world removed. It is serene and spiritual here.

After settling in, I went to the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary, just a short walk down the road from my homestay/guesthouse. There are a few temples here and like a gazillion monkeys. I tried to feed some of them bananas, which was fun. But then some of them got rowdy and chased after me and my bananas so I threw the bananas at the monkeys and ran. It was fun.

Later in the evening I watched the Kecak and Fire Dance. The owner of my guesthouse was performing tonight, so I went and watched his group. It is prominently featured in the movie Baraka, which you must see if you havent already. The coolest thing about the kecak is the chanting, but this computer is not cooperating with me in uploading my videos so you should google/youtube it and see for yourself.

I had mentioned briefly before the little flower boat incense things that are outside every doorstep here in Bali, one of those little touches that makes it feel so unique and magical. Well I stumbled upon a little boy making them today:
Everywhere I have traveled, there is great excitement and affection for President Obama, which reassures me that slowly but surely our standing in the world is being rebuilt. In my conversations, I often use it as a springboard to talk about America's diversity and how Obama's election signals the rise of a new generation - my generation - that is ever more multicultural and cosmopolitan. Maybe I overplay it a bit but I feel like it's my duty to share this with foreigners after the dark Bush era. In Indonesia, they are definitely more excited about Obama than anywhere else I've been - everybody here knows that he grew up in Jakarta and understands Indonesia and they have great affection for him. I found this painting in an art shop walking down the street today:

Alright that's it for now. I'm touring some temples around Ubud tomorrow and then at 2:00 AM I'm going to hike up to the top of Mt. Batur for the sunrise. Should be awesome.

Michael Jackson

2009-06-26T09:33:00.001+07:00

So sad about his death. He is truly a world star. Over breakfast with CNN on everyone was gripped by the news, and saddened.

Surfing in Magical Bali

2009-06-25T22:14:00.005+07:00

Had a great surf lesson today and was riding waves pretty quickly. It's not as hard as I thought it'd be - which is not to say I'm any good but I can get up and ride the wave at least. I'm leaving Kuta tomorrow but will probably dabble a little more with the surfboard when I come back here in 2 weeks. It is really tiring though! It certainly requires a lot of strength and stamina. Now I know why all those surfer boys have such nice bodies...

I'm loving Bali. Over dinner tonight I was chatting with Marina, one of the young girls who works at the reasturant/food stall. She is from Jakarta and came to Bali on a whim two weeks ago to do something new. We had a nice conversation for about an hour or so and I told her many things about America. Her English was great and it turns out that she's a college graduate (business major) who quit her boring office job in search of something new. I can relate to that. I think one of the great joys of independent travel is the many conversations you have with various people. Traveling alone, and being an Asian American, is something of a confusing oddity to the locals and tends to invite the countless interesting conversations I've had along the way. It's these conversations that enrich the trip, making it more an immersive cultural experience rather than a mere vacation. Last night I was talking over kreteks (Indonesian clove cigarette) with the guy working the front desk at the inn I'm staying at. That smell brought back memories - I haven't had a kretek since college! He kept trying to sell me one of the many prostitutes his boss has, and did seem notably less talkative once I signaled I wasn't particularly interested...

I have a pretty unreal itinerary here in Bali. Tomorrow I'm going to Ubud for the Sacred Monkey Forest and Kecak Fire Dance and then touring some of the ancient Hindu temples. Then hiking a volcano to watch the sunrise over lava flows, scuba diving a shipwreck encrusted in coral and packed with schools of fish, and then chillin out on the Gili Islands...

But then the trip winds down and I will be sad to go. I saved the best for last. Can't be sad yet though!

alright im off. goodnight folks.

Kuta Beach

2009-06-25T09:39:00.003+07:00

Made it to Kuta yesterday, the beach hub resort of Bali. Think Santa Monica full of foreigners in Indonesia but everything is about 10 times cheaper and more charming, with little Hindu flower incense sacrifice things outside every doorstep. It is overly commercial though, with more McDonald's than I can count, Starbucks, Hard Rock Cafe, etc. It's a little much for my taste, actually, so I'll probably leave for quieter more splendid places in Bali tomorrow but not before I take my surf lesson today (Kuta being a world-famous surf mecca). I've always thought it quite a tragedy that as a native Southern Californian I never learned to surf. I'm not sure one can really learn to surf in two hours but I'll give it a try. I'm a quick learner, though that's tempered by the fact that I'm physically clumsy.

Bali is nice. It is refreshing to be back in a humid sticky vibrant interesting place again after my detour into modernity (boring) in Malaysia and Singapore. And of course, it is most refreshing to be paying dirt-cheap prices again for everything (though that seems to have the effect of making me buy more things...). Bali seems to be the cheapest of all the places I've visited, even at marked-up tourist prices here in Kuta. But the people are fun and nice and it has none of the roughness of other poorer places I've been to. Even after just a day, I can see the magical appeal of this place, and that's before I've gone on to see the cultural wonders, natural beauty, and amazing diving on offer elsewhere in the island.

After seven weeks on the go, I think it's a sign of how much I've adapted that, upon landing in Bali, I found the touts refreshingly familiar and haggling for cheap things a fun exercise, rather than a tortured hassle. Yesterday when I was checking out some fake Ray-Bans from a vendor we broke into a laughing fit haggling with each other, all in good fun (I didn't buy them and I told him I was just looking but that apparently only made him bargain harder).

I have more pictures but they seem to load slowly so I'll try again later.

In Bali

2009-06-24T14:01:00.000+07:00

More later

Singapore

2009-06-23T15:38:00.009+07:00

Hello from Singapore. That's me at the base of the Singapore skyline by the merlion (half-lion, half-fish mermaid) that is Singapore's mascot. My hair is a little out of control, but I got a haircut at the mall last night so that's taken care of now.

Singapore is a rich gleaming futuristic clean little orderly metropolis and while I was skeptical of how I would feel about what some have described as its sterility, I must say that I am quite enjoying myself here. Singapore is probably the cleanest nicest little place on Earth.

There's really not much to do in Singapore besides eating and shopping, but there's enough amazingly delicious cheap food and shopping malls seemingly on every street to keep you occupied with that for quite a while. [Above, one of Singapore's many malls]
Singaporeans love their food and they have a rich tradition of street food just like the rest of Asia but having actual street vendors would ruin the orderly clean streets that the government has worked so hard to create. The solution has been to corral all the food vendors into hawker centers, which are basically food courts spread all over the city. But to call them food courts in the way that we might understand them would be a gross understatement. Each hawker center has over 50 or 60 different vendors selling all kinds of delicious food. I've been eating way too much here, but it's so delicious... [Above, a hawker center near the central business district. I was there right after the lunchtime rush but there were still a few business people hanging around, eating their food]

Today for lunch I went to Chinatown and at the hawker center, had duck rice, shanghai soup dumplings, and almond paste for lunch. I also chatted in Chinese with some of the vendor ladies for a good hour or so, including this nice Taiwanese-Singaporean woman below who runs one of the drink stalls.

Cutting up little pieces of fruit for shaved ice desserts. She was fun to talk to.

Shanghai Soup Dumplings

Hand-made noodles

Chopping up duck

Singapore is an interesting social experiment. It is, like Malaysia (with which it shares a common history), a multiethnic society but one in which the sense of Singaporean nationhood is strong. The government is notorious for being overbearing (with strict rules and fines for minor infractions and the highest per capita death penalty rate in the world!). Signs of Singapore's continuing experiment in social engineering abound everywhere. On the MRT (subway), which is probably the nicest mass transit system I've ever ridden on, they play a corny video about what to do if you see a suspected terrorist . It is so over-the-top cheesy that I burst out laughing but it seems to be common fare here. Some more pictorial examples of this "social guidance" below:

Not sure what kind of animal this is supposed to be, but as part of the "Singapore kindness movement" it is reminding you to apologize...

Amazingly, Singapore does seem to be actually litter-free...

These corny pictures are posted on the subway doors to remind you to let others out first...

Off to the Night Safari at the zoo tonight and then tomorrow flying to Bali. My 2 weeks in Bali are to be the captone of my trip and I plan to spend them learning to surf, diving some more, chilling out on the beach, and exploring Bali's magical culture.

In Singapore

2009-06-21T20:07:00.000+07:00

More later

Malaysia Recap

2009-06-21T00:55:00.005+07:00

[This post is a little long to make up for lack of posting this week.]

It's my last night in Malaysia. I'm off to Singapore tomorrow. I haven't posted much recently so I have a lot of little updates and thoughts pent up. I've been on the road for over 7 weeks now (out of a 10 week trip) and I can definitely sense the change in how I behave and perceive my environment. I remember on the first week of my trip I met a Canadian girl who was finishing a long trip (I think 8 months or something, don't really remember) and when I told her it was my first week she said, somewhat condescendingly, "oh you must still be taking pictures of everything!" I remember being annoyed at the time but it's true - I now take far fewer pictures than I did before, usually only bringing my camera along if I know I'm going somewhere noteworthy and even then I don't take as many shots as I used to. I try to still take enough, though, as I know a lot of you enjoy seeing the pictures and it's really the only way to see what the heck it is I'm talking about in these posts.

I've become increasingly alarmed at the fact that my trip is slowly coming to an end. I still have three and a half weeks left but I'm more than two-thirds done! I'm really not ready to leave yet so that makes me sad. Now that I've been here for a while, I've become much more sensitive to the myriad differences between vacationers who come for one or two weeks and travelers who are here for an extended period of time. At Taman Negara for part of my time there I was on a package tour with some older Europeans on vacation and I was amused (if slightly annnoyed) at how they took so many pictures, were easily tired, carried big old suitcases, and were so pampered and needed everything laid out for them by the tour guide. It's interesting to me the perspective I've gained as a seasoned backpacker (if I do say so myself).

I've changed too as the trip has gone on. I've definitely slowed my pace down a bit and I confess that in Malaysia I have spent a lot more time kind of vegging out and have begun to indulge my cravings for reminders of home. Just this week I've watched two movies at the theater (State of Play and Drag me to Hell, both very good) and tonight I had Carl's Jr at the mall. For my East Coast readers who may be unfamiliar with Carl's Jr, it's pretty awesome as far as fast food goes. I ate a lot of Carl's Jr growing up (in fact I've even met Carl Karcher! he is a conservative prick though) and I've missed it being in DC so I was stoked when I saw a Carl's at the mall tonight. I ordered my usual, a Western Bacon Cheeseburger meal with crisscut fries. Upon receiving my meal, I noticed that there was no bacon in my cheeseburger. The Western Bacon Cheeseburger. I brought my burger up to the counter to point this out and the clerk very casually and dismissively explained that they were out of bacon so they had substituted an extra slice of cheese instead. There are so many things wrong with this - first, adding an extra slice of cheese simply makes the problem worse. I certainly do not like, nor do I think most cheeseburger consumers would enjoy, two slices of (unmelted) cheese with one meat patty. A one to one meat:cheese ratio is a pretty basic rule of burger construction. Second, despite knowing that there was no bacon when I ordered my meal, they didn't bother telling me (and of course they didn't bother asking me if I wanted another slice of cheese to make up for said lack of bacon). I was not at all angry, though; rather, I was quite amused that I had once again stumbled into one of these strange and ultimately quite memorable cultural experiences. One can only imagine how absurd this would be if it happened in the US but happening here it was just funny. They had a suggestion card (just like in the US) that I was tempted to fill out but I was running late for my movie and I had the nagging suspicion that it wouldn't get the attention it required anyway...

So with those general what's-been-going-on-with-me updates out of the way, I'll try to recap the past week and then finish off with some broader thoughts on Malaysia in general.

Today I got back from Taman Negara rainforest, which was a lot of fun. I did some jungle hikes, a night walk, walked along a canopy bridge suspended above the trees, and explored a dark cave full of bats, which was definitely the highlight. I also met some cool Britons at the hostel, so that made for some good times too. It's hard to get beer at the park because most everyone is Muslim and this being a small place instead of the big city most shops don't carry beer. We ended up finding some Dutch, who had trekked out an hour to buy cases of beer to bring back, and bummed/bought half a case off of them. Good times. I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking on this one:

Bat in the cave. There were hundreds just flying around so I kept snapping pictures and lucked out getting this great shot.

There were lots of bats in that cave. They would just fly around almost hitting me in the head.

Me in the cave. Don't be fooled by how bright this looks; that's only due to the camera flash. It was pitch-black and we had to use flashlights to crawl around. It was also narrow at times and the rocks were slippery with bat shit. Yum.

Me and friendly Chinese girl from Penang.

Cruisin on the river in the jungle.

There were lots of bugs around. Really big bugs.

Jungle Trekking.

Canopy Walk

----------------

I have been quite impressed by Malaysia. It differs quite a bit from the other countries that I've visited so far. For one, it's a Muslim country, so it's quite common to see women wearing the hijab and stumble upon mosques while walking around. I think the most important and visible difference is that Malaysia is a multi-racial nation, with a majority of Malays but a sizable population of Chinese and Indians. This is a consequence of the fact that Malaysia is a constructed political entity, with disparate groups lumped together by the British (most of the Indians arrived in Malaysia as migrant workers when both India and Malaysia were colonies) and united by the struggle for independence in the 1940s and 50s.

It appears to be quite racially harmonious to the outsider and at the national museum (which was quite good) there was a spirited if somewhat cheesy video about how Malaysia is a peaceful and harmonious multi-racial society. It is impossible for a visitor in my position to really scratch much beneath the surface but I do remember meeting a Malay in Vietnam who told me about how many people are bitter at the (legally codified) preferential treatment Malays receive from the government and also talked to some expats when I went out to the bars last week who noted that different groups hang out in different places and tend not to mix (there are Chinese bars, Malay bars, etc.)

The currency here is the Malaysian Ringgit (RM). For lack of better words, money seems more real here because things are priced in numbers that seem rational to the Western visitor. A cheap filling meal on the street costs anywhere between 4 and 8 RM. A movie ticket costs 12 RM. A ride on the monorail or rapid rail train costs 1.60-2.00 RM. A long-distance bus ride costs 30-35 RM. My hostel room costs 35 RM. You get my drift - at face value, these numbers make sense and are comparable to pricing in dollars, euros, or pounds. The exchange rate is 3.5 RM to $1 so everything is still a great deal and I am paying about what I was paying in dollar terms in Thailand. But in Thailand the exchange rate was 35 baht to the dollar, so numbers would become absurdly high. In Vietnam it was even worse, with the exchange rate at 17,700 dong to the dollar (I would have to withdraw 1 million dong at a time from the ATM). What happens when you are dealing with numbers like that on a daily basis is that the money begins to seem like "monopoly money" as the backpackers say. Seeing things priced in "normal" numbers has the effect of making me feel like I am in a much more modern and developed country.

I've read that the Malaysian government has the goal of making all of Malaysia a fully developed country by 2020 but KL is already there, without a doubt. KL is completely different from all of the other major Southeast Asian cities I've been to so far (Bangkok, Phnom Penh, Saigon, Hanoi), mainly because it is so modern, clean and efficient. It reminds me more of Hong Kong than anything else (the obvious common factor being that both cities were designed and initially built by the British) Instead of crazy traffic jams and motorbikes everywhere, people here drive cars in an orderly manner, staying in their lanes, rarely honking (what a relief), and generally following the traffic rules. The city is crisscrossed by several rapid rail (elevated/subway) lines and a monorail line which are smooth, quick, and efficient. The lines converge in a gleaming new train station. There are tons of shopping malls ranging from family-oriented entertainment centers to upscale boutique malls, complete with every major American and western brand (from McDonalds and Krispy Kreme to Coach, Armani, Burberry, Zegna, and Prada, they have it all) and several movie theaters (with Terminator: Salvation currently playing on IMAX for only 9 RM!) And even though I am staying in the backpacker area of town, there are comparatively few of the hawkers and vendors that you normally see set up catering specifically to tourists at the other backpacker hubs in Southeast Asia. For the most part, the locals just go on with their daily lives, totally used to the presence of foreigners everywhere and not staring or trying to sell them things like everywhere else I've been.

If anything, some might complain that it's a little sterile. I met an expat last week at a bar who remarked that it's almost like living in Britain and that he misses the character and flavor that accompanied living in Thailand. And indeed I've found that there is little in the way of "charm" in this city in the exotic sense but it is still mind-blowing to see such a fully developed multi-ethnic gleaming developed city after everywhere else I've been. I guess I just wasn't quite expecting it. In fact, KL is like what I expected Singapore to be like (they say that KL is what Singapore used to be like before it became the "tomorrowland of Asia"). I'll see for myself.

Goodbye Malaysia.

If you got this far, thanks for reading!

KL Pictures; Off to the Rainforest

2009-06-15T23:43:00.009+07:00

I'm off to Taman Negara National Park tomorrow morning for 4 days in the rainforest. Not sure if I'll have internet or not (one would think no, being in the rainforest and all, but I've been surprised by how ubiquitous the internet seems to be so I won't say no for certain).

I have lots of thoughts about Kuala Lumpur (or KL, in the same way that LA is just LA). It's a very dynamic, modern city and feels very different than anywhere else I've been on the trip so far. I will save these reflections for a later post, though, and just leave you with some pictures for now.

At the very bottom of the picture is me, at the base of the Petronas Towers (formerly the world's tallest buildings)

They have a huge mall inside that has a Toys-R-Us with a model of the Petronas Towers made of Legos

In KL the backpacker hub is in Chinatown so I have had some very delicious Chinese food. Above is roast pork and chicken with chicken rice. The chicken rice is basically rice cooked in chicken stock, which is amazingly yummy.

Brief update from Kuala Lumpur

2009-06-15T18:38:00.003+07:00

Just checking in to make sure you all know I'm alive. I've been exploring KL a bit these past few days and it's pretty interesting. It has this ultra-modern kinda thing going.

One of my favorite parts of traveling is seeing how ordinary people live and the eccentric differences of modern life. I like to go to the mall here, even though I rarely buy anything (besides food) and I hate going to the mall in the US. You see all sorts of interesting things.

Right now I'm writing from an internet cafe inside the Berjaya Times Square Mall, which is this gi-normous 10-story mall with a theme park and roller coaster inside and an IMAX screen, among other things. They also have McDonald's, Wendy's, Baskin Robbins, Borders, several Starbucks, and Krispy Kreme. They even have Auntie Anne's pretzels and along with the usual flavors like Cinnamon Sugar they have seaweed flavor. See it's these little things that I enjoy stumbling upon.

Anyway I'm gonna go explore some more but I'll try to post more later. Haven't done much actual sightseeing yet but I plan to do that tomorrow and to write a longer post about my observations on Malaysia, which is refreshingly very different from the other countries I've visited so far (multi-racial, clean, uber-modern or at least modernizing).

Penang Pictures

2009-06-13T09:01:00.005+07:00

Spent yesterday wandering around Penang and eating. Penang was the first British settlement in Malaysia and has a rich mix of Chinese, Indian, and Malay people with lots of delicious food.

Just got to Kuala Lumpur, where I'm off to eat and hit the town.

Amazing sunset off of Penang Hill

Fresh buttery garlic naan with curry-like dipping sauce (2 RM or $0.60)

View of Old Georgetown from the 60th floor of the KOMTAR Tower

Me in front of Sunset at Penang Hill

Claypot Chicken Rice. Yum. (3-5 RM, can't remember - that's $1-$1.50)

In Penang

2009-06-12T13:00:00.001+07:00

I had a decent trip over here from Thailand. I expected to be bored as hell, drying up my iPod battery and getting sick of my book but I found some interesting people to talk to along the way so that really helped to pass the time. I met a girl from LA who was on her way back to the US after 9 weeks in Thailand and Laos and we wandered around Chumphon (the town the train station is in) for a few hours before parting ways. There was an interesting Thai man who talked to both of us at the train station about Our Creator and the afterlife and the meaning of life. Deep stuff. Slept well on the train and then, after being woken up to clear immigration at the Malaysia border, I found the company of a young Pakistani journalist who was all too eager to chat with me. He especially enjoyed listening to American music on my iPod. He kept listening to Cher for some reason and was rockin out...

Some thoughts on Malaysia after my first 24 hours here:
Malaysia is a very interesting place. In addition to the Malays, Chinese and Indians and have been settling here for hundreds of years, so there is a great mixture of people and food and different languages. Penang is known as the food capital of Malaysia so I am mainly here to eat. One can only eat so much, though, so I am trying to explore as much as I can before leaving, probably tomorrow, for Kuala Lumpur.

Will post pics later

On the Road Again

2009-06-10T10:50:00.004+07:00

I'm leaving Koh Tao in a few hours for a 24-hour journey to Malaysia. 3-hour boat, followed by 5-hour "layover" at the train station, followed by 15-16 hour night train ride. Also the trains typically run hours late, so the trip will probably be longer...

Anyway, I realized that I've just passed the halfway point of my trip - entering the 5th week of my 10 week trip, and it has gone by fast! Too fast, maybe. I've actually spent more time here in Koh Tao than in any other single place so far on my trip so I'm itching to get back on the road again.

Koh Tao has been great - I've really enjoyed scuba diving and just relaxing on the island but there is something a little bizarre to me about the place. Up until about 10 or 15 years ago, this island was little more than a remote fishing outpost. Then as word got out about the amazing coral just off the coast and the island's natural beauty, the place exploded on to the scene and is today the largest center of diving instruction in Southeast Asia and a firm fixture on the backpacker trail. It remains the quietest of the three famous Gulf of Thailand islands (Koh Samui is the most commercialized, with hotels and 5-star resorts, Koh Phan Ngan is something of a backpacker party paradise, while Koh Tao remains relatively laid-back, with most people here to dive and chill out). Yet it is still a place that to my eye is overrun by visitors. There are certainly more foreigners than there are Thais here and this kind of experience (vacation vs. travel) begins to feel a little tiring after a while. The foreigners I've encountered in Koh Tao, unlike in Vietnam and Cambodia, seem to be more interested in partying and more abusive of the locals (I feel terrible for the poor clerks at 7-11 who deal with drunken English partyers all night) and less polite, engaging, and interested (or interesting for that matter) than the foreigners I encountered before. So I'm definitely eager to get back to real traveling off the backpacker trail a little bit, exploring new places, mingling with locals, and navigating my way around.

A note on the English language - It is ubiquitous, maybe too much so. As an English speaker I've never had any real trouble communicating so far on the trip, and it will be even easier as I move on to Malaysia and Singapore where English is an official language and universally spoken. It's actually been a little too easy, for my taste, and I feel like I've learned nothing of the local languages because I haven't needed to. English is also how you communicate with other travelers, be they Swiss, Spanish, French, or Japanese. I feel a little guilty about that - they defer to the rest of us by speaking English while I know little of their languages - but when I have shared this concern with them they brush it aside, noting that when they come to travel they end up speaking English the whole way to communicate anyway so for them they are already used to it.

Ok off to travel for a long while now. Will be reading, listening to my iPod, staring out the window, and sleeping a lot. 24 hours of travel. fun.

I'm a Diver Now!

2009-06-09T19:44:00.005+07:00

Today I was certified as an Advanced Open Water Diver. I really like scuba diving. I've always had a thing for water - ever since I almost drowned in 1st grade and my parents put me in swim class and then on the swim team, I've felt very comfortable in the water. Being underwater - isolated from noise and consciously controlling every breath - is a good way to clear your head. I've met tons of folks here who are on diving vacations - here in Koh Tao for several weeks and then off to Indonesia or elsewhere, just to dive. I can see the appeal - I've logged 10 dives in the last 5 days!

Anyway, enjoy these pictures from today's dive for now. Have a long travel day to Malaysia starting tomorrow afternoon but will try to post a more comprehensive update before then.

Full Moon Party Recap

2009-06-08T21:30:00.003+07:00

Still a little tired so this post will not be as comprehensive as I might've hoped but oh well. Went to the Full Moon Party last night. It was pretty crazy. Basically a whole beach full of drunken partygoers with glow sticks and body paint (I had glow sticks and body paint on too - it was fun) dancing to blaring music, carts selling buckets of liquor and crappy food all up and down the beach for 1km, people juggling fire, jumping through fire hoops, trippin balls on E lying in the ocean, passed out drunkies, etc. I didn't bring my camera (didn't want to get it stolen or lost) so no pictures, but if you want to get a sense of it do some googling and you'll find plenty.

Don't get me wrong - it was an awesome scene so I guess I would say it was a "good party" but really I was more impressed by the drunken debauchery. I didn't drink much at all - just a beer - my primary goal was to people-watch. And boy did I see some crazy stuff.

One staple of the Full Moon Party is the fire tossers, who juggle flaming torches for the crowd's amusement. Well as the night went on, the flaming torches were shelved and the flaming limbo bar brought out. Then after that, it progressed to the flaming hoop. The drunkies kept jumping through the hoop of fire and while many of them managed to impressively clear the hoop, many others of them failed and got caught and got burned. At one point two guys tried to jump into the hoop at the same time from opposite sides and crashed into each other and caught on the fire ring spending sparks everywhere. I watched it with a mix of curiousity and horror like a trainwreck - you can't really peel your eyes away from something like that. One guy in my taxi (actually pickup truck with ten people stuffed in the back) coming home had a big burn mark and exposed flesh (for lack of better words) from getting caught on the fire hoop.

By 3 or so in the morning, there were tons of people just passed out lying on the beach contorted in various positions. I saw one guy sitting on a step slumped over with vomit (or poo, couldnt tell) on himself. I ducked into a massage parlor for an hour for a very pleasant foot massage, and by the time I came out around 4 the streets were filling with sloppy belligerent drunks, so that was my cue to bail out of there and take the boat back to Koh Tao.

It was pretty ridiculous, actually, but I'm glad to have gone just to have seen/experienced it.

More diving tomorrow.

Party Boat

2009-06-07T11:18:00.000+07:00

Aroud 5:30 pm today I'm taking the boat over to Koh Phan Ngan for the
monthly Full Moon Party. Think massive beach rave with tens of
thousands of people dancing and getting trashed on the beach until
well after sunrise with all sorts of craziness. Dont worry I plan to
take it easy and just gawk at the festivities. Boat comes back at 8 AM
tomorrow...

Did 3 more dives yesterday - I think I'm finally getting the hang of
it. Finished with a night dive, which was really cool. Saw tons of
stingrays and fish and slugs and barracusa and other marine life I
was put in a bit of a trance floating around 60 feet under water in
total darkness save for a few flashlights. It was awesome.

On Tuesday I finish up my dive course with a trip to Sail Rock, which
is considered one of the best sites around here. Finish on a high note.

Then off to Malaysia...

Not leaving anytime soon

2009-06-05T19:53:00.004+07:00

After finishing my scuba course, I feel like I've only gotten a taste of it and so I've decided to stay on Koh Tao to take the Advanced course, with a break in between to go to the Full Moon Party on Koh Phan Ngan. Not really in any rush to leave the islands, seeing as how it's all perfect here and all...

No underwater pictures yet but I'm planning on taking a photography dive as part of my advanced course so you'll have some to see after that.

Diving, Beaches, etc.

2009-06-04T12:09:00.004+07:00

Hello from Koh Tao, where I've just finished day 2 of scuba lessons. I don't feel very verbose today, so I'll mainly leave you with some pictures of the scene here. Scuba has been great - I've taken to the water quite easily and am pretty comfortable swimming already. I'm a little hooked, to be honest, and am mulling taking the advanced course, which would give me another 5 dives here.

Less talk, more pictures:

My home for the past few days

People hanging out on beach

My dinner, on the beach. (Pork with Basil, $3)

Blue skies...coconut trees...beach...

Scuba day 1

2009-06-03T22:37:00.000+07:00

Course is going well. Went in the water today for basic training.
Diving again tomorrow and the next day. More later.

Rough life (pt 2)

2009-06-02T20:38:00.000+07:00

Sitting on a cushion on the beach right now (the waves are practically
hitting my feet) by candlelight with a cold beer waiting for my fresh
barbecued fish.

Paradise. Not sure if I'll ever go home at this rate.

It's a rough life

2009-06-02T19:50:00.001+07:00

I have to do homework for my scuba class but I was so tired from the
long travel day that I fell asleep on the hammock outside my bungalow.
Woe is me!

Hello from Paradise

2009-06-02T14:01:00.002+07:00

Arrived in Koh Tao this morning. It's amazing. Scuba lessons start in 2 hours. More later.

Goodbye Vietnam, Hello Beach

2009-06-01T18:09:00.001+07:00

Flew into Bangkok this morning. About to hop on a train then ferry to Koh Tao for diving and chillin on the beach. More later.

Sapa

2009-05-30T18:30:00.000+07:00

I think it's fair to say that my trip to Sapa has been the highlight of my trip so far. The scenery was absolutely amazing, our dinner and evening at the homestay a local family will be a night to remember forever - and perhaps most importantly, I had awesome company with a great group of fellow travelers.

Sapa is a hill town in the far northwest of Vietnam with stunning natural beauty. All around us were green hills and mountains shrouded in a layer of fog. The hills have been painstakingly carved with rice terraces, with an intricate irrigation system to flood the terraces and bring water down the fields. Over the course of two days, we hiked about 10 miles through some very muddy but always gorgeous terrain.

Sapa is home to a diverse group of hill tribes, including the Black Hmong. The Hmong are very poor and look to the influx of tourists to their home as a way to help their livelihoods. From the moment we arrived in Sapa and on our hike, we were accompanied by a group of enterprising Hmong women eager to chat us up and help us along the trail. The trails were sometimes very steep and usually very muddy and slippery but the Hmong women, this being their home, seemed to deftly crawl over the trails in flip-flops even while carrying large baskets on their backs. We were not so skilled, and so we ended up taking advantage of their help. What they asked in return - quite persistently we learned - was that we buy some of their wares. I bought a little bracelet and a woven case for my passport.

As we trekked through rice fields, we walked through rice farms and local villages and were treated to a glimpse of local life. The Hmong are very poor and we encountered more than a few children walking around with no underwear. (Our host sang a song about this later that night)

After about 7 miles of hiking on the first day, we checked into our homestay, with Mr. Chin in the Bac Ho Village. Mr. Chin was quite the host. He didn't speak a word of English but was quite amused to host us. During dinner, he brought out a few bottles of "happy water" (distilled rice liquor) and fed us rounds and rounds of shots all night. Of course it would've been rude to refuse, so we demurred, and I think we were 10+ deep by the time it was all over. It was a great night - things got more and more fun as the night went on. I had great travel companions - a group of English and two Canadians - and we all had a fun time.
After we were all a little tipsy, our tour guide proposed first a toast to Vietnam, then to Canada, then to the UK, and then to the US - each of which was followed by a drunken rendition of the national anthem performed by the respective nationals ("Vietnam song! Canada song! England song! USA song!"). Of course I represented our country quite well - and a good time was had by all.

I think you will enjoy our host's performance of Vietnam's national anthem ("Vietnam! Ho Chi Minh! Vietnam! Ho Chi Minh!"). See video below.

All in all, an awesome last few days here as my time in Vietnam comes to a close. On Monday I fly back to Thailand where I plan to chill out on the beach and dive with the fishies.

Halong Bay Recap

2009-05-26T23:18:00.010+07:00

I visited Halong Bay the past three days and it was great. Ha Long Bay is this amazing collection of thousands of stone cliffs that dramatically jut out of the ocean. I got to kayak and trek through the jungly terrain on Cat Ba Island but the best part was floating on my back in the ocean watching the sun set over the cliffs. Totally relaxing.

I'll let the pictures do most of the talking on this one:

I was the first in our group to hike to the top of this rickety rusty outpost on top of the mountain (a bunch of other guys climbed halfway up and then freaked out and came back down). It was a great view but I didn't stay long because I was afraid for my safety so no pictures from the top. Sorry.

The hike up was a bit muddy...

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Tomorrow night I'm off to Sapa, a mountain town in the far northwest of the country. Again, internet access will be spotty so may not post for a few days.

Scenes from Hanoi

2009-05-23T21:22:00.011+07:00

Lunch: Grilled beef with rice noodles. Yum. The lady kept showing me how to eat it (dip the noodles in the special beef sauce). ($1.25)

Lots of women walk around with yokes on their shoulders carrying items for sale.

Me on the bridge overlooking the lake in the middle of Hanoi.

Fruit cup (highly recommended by a friend who's been to Hanoi - and definitely delicious)

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Hanoi is a very pleasant place - charming and not overwhelming like Saigon. My only gripe so far is that the streets change names every block or so, which makes navigating difficult.

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Going to Halong Bay tomorrow for the next three days - may not have internet so it might be a while before I update again.

Hanoi

2009-05-23T06:40:00.002+07:00

Made it in safely. Took the night train that got me in around 4:30 AM. Even at that early hour in the darkness, the swarming moto-taxi drivers are bright and chipper as always so this groggy slightly hungover boy (had lots of beer with the Englishman in my compartment - helped me sleep) was greeted off the train with "moto! moto!" "you need taxi?" etc. Ah, the joys of travel.

I came to the guesthouse at 5:30 in the morning and was glad to see it was open so I could get in and take a shower and put my things down. It was barely open though - the dude was sleeping on the floor and I woke him up. When I tried to pay he just yelled "later! later" and went back to sleep.

Took a shower, had pho for breakfast and going to catch some zzzzs now.

More later.

Wow

2009-05-21T20:56:00.007+07:00

I visited the Phong Nha cave today. It was really cool! See pictures:

We took a little boat inside the caves and then were able to actually get out and walk around inside them a bit. The Phong Nha cave system is one of the largest in the world and the part that is accessible to the public is only the tip of the iceberg. I was floored by how cool it was and after screwing with my camera settings a little bit was able to get a lot of decent pictures.

One of the interesting things about Phong Nha is that it hasn't yet become a popular destination for Western visitors so it was off the beaten path a bit. There were plenty of other visitors - but pretty much all Vietnamese save for one Australian guy.

I was chatting with one of the Vietnamese guys in my group and at lunch he told me that he hates the communists and wishes they could have freedom and choice like in America. Interesting.

I spent more time in that bumpy van today (7.5 hours total, there and back) but the hour and a half at the caves was totally worth it.

[Yes the artificial colored lighting is a little Disney-cheesy but kind of cool too]

Hue

2009-05-20T20:21:00.004+07:00

I made it safely to Hue this morning and so far it's a pleasant place. I honestly don't have much to say so just enjoy these 2 pictures for now (you can be the judge of my new haircut).

Tomorrow I'm off to visit the Phong Nha cave, which I'm really excited about and I'm sure I'll have plenty of pictures to share after that.

[Someone commented that I look unhappy in my picture - that's because the guy who was using my camera touched the lens and looked like he was about to drop the camera so I just wanted him to take the damn picture and give me my camera back!]

I like the beach

2009-05-19T19:54:00.006+07:00

I spent today in Hoi An, which is something of a tourist trap-Disneyland ancient Vietnam experience. I had given myself a day and a half to explore the town but I had basically seen everything and was bored to tears within two hours.

Luckily, there is a great beach about 4 km from the town, so I rented a bicycle from my guesthouse and rode down there. As I rode over, I thought about how ridiculously charming this was - riding this rusty bicycle to the beach in this quaint little ancient town, passing by grazing oxen along the way. The kind of thing that my more sarcastic side would laugh at but it was great.

The beach was awesome! I waded in the ocean a bit, sprawled out on one of those reclining chairs and finished The Sun Also Rises (I am trying to read on this trip as I don't do that enough so I am glad to have already finished one book), napped, and listened to music. I must have spent four hours on that beach. It was great. I was so relaxed. I have a lot of beach time planned later in the trip so just today was enough for now.

I don't have much else to say about Hoi An except that it's this quaint little town, full of tourists and shops selling things to tourists. I think it's great for middle-aged ladies, but for me, not so much. I'm on to the next place tomorrow morning, but here are some pictures:

Also there are little doggies everywhere. Some of them are really cute!

Hoi An

2009-05-19T09:47:00.001+07:00

Got into Hoi An last night and am staying at a very quaint little guesthouse. Actually this whole town is really quaint. It's a World Heritage site, basically a preserved Vietnamese port town from the 17th century and as you can imagine its main industry now is tourism. Going to go wander around now.

Saigon Recap

2009-05-18T12:14:00.007+07:00

I'm flying out of Saigon this evening to see the rest of Vietnam so I thought I'd post a brief recap before I go. I'm really settling into this extended-vacation mentality now - it's very nice and relaxing.

In Saigon I visited the Reunification Palace, the former seat of the South Vietnam government, and the War Remnants Museum, an extended exposition of American savagery towards the Vietnamese during the War as told from the perspective of the Hanoi government. Both were only mildly interesting but obligatory while I was here. It's interesting to see the war described from their point of view and yet with Vietnam now a market economy and open to the world, the museum and the whole discussion of the war seem a bit dated and even irrelevant.

I also took a day trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels built by the Viet Cong and the Cao Dai Temple, the seat of a relatively newt Vietnamese religion that combines elements of Confucianism, Taoism, and Islam. It is a very strange religion indeed, even claiming Victor Hugo as one its saints. Bizarre.

At the temple, we wandered around a bit and then stayed to watch their ceremonial chanting at noon:

The Cu Chi Tunnels were a large network of tunnels built during the French occupation and expanded during the American war (as they call it here). The tunnels extended several kilometers and housed thousands of Viet Cong guerilla soldiers and their families. It allowed them to pop out of the ground, quickly attack, and disappear. We got to go into one of those tunnels, and they were really small and dark! Some of the girls freaked out and turned around and ran out the way they came in as soon as it started getting dark. I was amused.

During the tunnel tour, I met an American girl from Chicago, a 20-something accountant with KPMG on assignment in Saigon for a few months. Again, the reminders of change in this country are everywhere.

This picture of the tunnels is lit only because of the flash from my camera - when we were walking through it was pretty much pitch-black. They're also extremely small and narrow - I had to hunch over and crouch through the whole way and I'm really short (then again so are the Vietnamese, but taller folks might have a lot more trouble moving through around here).
One thing that I should mention again about this city is how fast it is developing. I've been to a trendy little cafe/bakery a few times to use their wi-fi and it is as comfortable and nice as any in the West and a good place to glimpse the changes occurring all around here. The Vietnamese have a strong cafe culture here - in the rural Mekong Delta these cafes simply consisted of a few stools, lounge chairs, and tables set out on a sparse patio and while there are many like that here in Saigon, there are also quite a few much trendier, upscale coffeehouses that cater to young upwardly mobile Vitenamese and Westerners. They have free wi-fi, friendly English-speaking staff who smile and greet you upon entering (just like at any store at the mall in the US - trust me, that's not comon at all here so it caught me a little off-guard the first few times), and a nice vibe and great setting like any nice coffeeshop in the West. The prices ($2 for a cup of coffee, compared to $0.50 or less elsewhere) are also much like in the West. At these coffeeshops you can get a glimpse of the pace of change in Saigon - you see young Vietnamese tapping away on their laptops and iPhones and today the gentleman next to me was filling out paperwork for his Schengen visa, apparently on his way to spending some time in the EU. The clerk this morning conversed with me a bit - first in English, then in Chinese - she decided she doesn't like studying English so she is studying Chinese at a language school to prepare for a career in business. Her Chinese was probably better than mine...

Saigon is the economic engine of the country - there is construction everywhere and it is hard not to appreciate the dizzying pace of change. It is fascinating to contemplate what this city will look like in ten or twenty years.

Still, I'm ready to move on and see a quieter, more splendid side of Vietnam as I go on to explore some of the historical towns and the natural beauty of the North.

My breakfast today was a chicken (or pork? not sure) noodle soup, pretty typical here:
Price: 10,000 dong (~60 cents)

Saigon Update

2009-05-16T20:01:00.005+07:00

Not much new to report, but making sure to post so those loved ones out there know I'm still alive and well. I've been wandering around Saigon a bit exploring and checking out the obligatory tourist sites yesterday and today. Nice but nothing too noteworthy, except that I got a haircut. Fairly decent, I must say. Ended up costing me about $6, which was more than they quoted but I wasn't in a position to argue. They kept trying to push me to get a massage and then seemed really annoyed when I declined. Oh well.

Saigon is remarkably clean, efficient, and orderly for a "developing" country. One of the bext examples is the crazy road traffic, which seems to just work. I took a video of some typical Saigon traffic - note how everything keeps moving, people constantly look like they're about to hit each other, but no one ever does:

The consequence of all these motorbikes is that the air quality is pretty poor. I woke up this morning with a bit of a sore throat and panicked that I might be sick, but then after getting up and feeling fine otherwise (even took my temperature) I began to realize that it's just from breathing all this crap in the air...

Tomorrow I'm doing the tour thing again, to the Cu Chi tunnels (used by the Viet Cong) and then some temple. Monday I fly to Da Nang ($38, was cheaper than the train) and then from there to visit Hoi An and Hue. I'm trying to plan a visit to Phong Nha Cave after that but it seems difficult to find information online - I'm a little wary of just showing up and trying to find my way over though I'll probably end up doing that. Then up to Hanoi and then Sapa and finally Ha Long Bay before heading back to Thailand. I've been in Southeast Asia for only 11 days or so now (out of a 70 day trip) but it feels like it's been longer!

The Streets are alive in Saigon

2009-05-15T20:09:00.009+07:00

Saigon is a great city. I explored a bit on foot today and am falling in love with this place. The city is vibrant and full of character. The streets are full of motorbikes that seem to engage in a grand dance with pedestrians and cars, with near misses everywhere but few collisions. I've learned to brave the traffic by doing just as they say in the guidebook - walk slowly and deliberately across the street and the bikes will just swerve around you. It's pretty neat.

This evening as I walked back to Pham Ngu Lao, the backpackers' area where I am staying, I passed through the park and was delighted to see so many people out and about. There were teenagers everywhere playing hackysack and badminton and tennis. There were tons of folks just walking around, hanging out, exercising and doing all sorts of things.

But by far, the coolest thing was the jazzercise in the park! There was a group of 20-30 people, men and women of all ages (toddlers to seniors), dancing and doing aerobics to this great upbeat dance music in a little chalet on the park. I ended up staying and watching for over an hour - some people left and others joined the group but the dancing kept going! I spoke with a local briefly and he informed me that they do this every day. As I was leaving the park, I noticed that there were little jazzercise groupings everywhere!

It was really cool. See video (sorry, lighting is terrible):

Food

2009-05-15T16:45:00.005+07:00

The best food in Asia is always the street food. I just had the best meal I've had so far in Vietnam - a hearty noodle soup I found on the street. At this particular spot, the seating consisted of a small stool placed on the pavement. No frills. Just yummy noodle soup. This one had chicken, macaroni-like, noodles, and a delicious broth with chili. Also some chunks of blood. A Vietnamese gentleman chatted with me a bit and I asked him what the red-brown squares were and he said "blued" - I did not understand so I asked again and finally he spelled it out "b-l-o-o-d." But the blood was tasty. It didn't really have any taste, just a nice soft texture. And the price was right: $0.90

At a very trendy little coffeehouse right now. More on Saigon later. It really is quite a lovely city.

Mekong Delta Recap

2009-05-14T20:28:00.007+07:00

I spent the last three days touring the Mekong Delta. It was quite pleasant. I arrived in Saigon (the maps may say Ho Chi Minh City but everyone still calls it Saigon) about an hour and a half ago and am still getting my bearings here. I'm pretty exhausted so I will probably wait until tomorrow to begin wandering and exploring. In Vietnam, I have the luxury of time, as I am not scheduled to leave the country until June 1 so I can move at a relaxed pace.

I think that on this blog, as in real-life, I sometimes talk too much. Many of you have expressed interest in seeing more pictures of my trip, so to cover the last few days I'll include some pictures. Suffice to say it was quite pleasant. It was quiet and relaxed, which was a nice change of pace after my first week in bustling Bangkok and then dusty Cambodia. The highlight of this stretch was probably cruising down the Mekong talking politics with the businesswoman from Singapore and the Naval officer from England! The best part of traveling is definitely meeting other people.

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A note on fellow travelers: I am wondering - Where are the Americans? In my travels so far I have met a Russian, a Japanese, a Dutchman, some Singaporeans, some Brits, some French, some Aussies, some New Zealanders, some Spanish, and lots of Canadians. But no Americans! I've overheard some people chatting with American accents but haven't interacted with any yet. Though the last few people that I thought were Americans that I talked to ended up being Canadians. The Englishman and I were discussing this and we hypothesized that maybe it is because Americans have so much to see domestically that they don't venture out as much. Regardless, it would be nice to see a few more Americans joining the global community of backpackers.

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A note on prices - some of you have commented that you are interested in knowing what kind of prices I am paying for various things as it may be helpful in planning future travels. So for the last few days:

3-day tour through Mekong Delta, including tour guides and sightseeing, transportation from Phnom Penh to Saigon, 2 nights' accommodations (1 night hotel, 1 night homestay), 2 breakfasts, 1 lunch and 1 dinner: $49

Room in Saigon for tonight (fan and TV): $6

My dinner tonight (pho): $1.50 + $0.50 for iced tea

One hour of internet at the internet cafe: $0.35
(edit: found another internet cafe that is cheaper, around $0.25/hr)

Meeting random people from around the world: Priceless

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My hair is getting a little out of control so I think will get a haircut while I am here in Saigon. I'm a little apprehensive about this....

So this is what traveling is all about!

2009-05-12T21:43:00.005+07:00

I had the most interesting day, the kind of day that you never expect and could only experience on a trip like this. After a six-hour trip into Vietnam, I checked into my floating hotel at Chau Doc on the Mekong River and wandered into town to explore. Unlike everywhere else I have been so far, Chau Doc is not a typical stop on the tourist trail and there were no foreigners anywhere to be found. So it was just me, wandering around, soaking in the local flavor.

I found a store that sold English-language books and wandered in to take a look. After speaking with the owner a bit, I found a Vietnamese phrasebook for about $2. Of course it is a photocopied copyright violation but beggars can't be choosers so I bought it. As I will be in Vietnam for 19 days, I figured it might come in handy. The owner of this bookstore also teaches an English class and he invited me to go and guest-teach! It was such an interesting experience meeting his students (12-18) - they had never even met an American before. I conversed with them (fitfully but in good fun) for about an hour and a half and then the teacher helped me get back to my hotel. I think it's one of those experiences I'll never forget, and hopefully equally memorable for the students.

[Some of you may be wondering why I blog so much (shouldn't I be out doing things?) but rest assured I am out and about having a good time - it's just that Internet is so ubiquitous (even on my floating hotel in the Mekong Delta) that it's easy to have updates. Tomorrow I have a full day of tour activities starting at 7 AM so I'm off for now. ]

Mekong Delta

2009-05-12T14:26:00.001+07:00

Had a pleasant ride down the Mekong this morning; just got in and going to explore Chau Doc a bit. Nothing new to report, so maybe will post later.

Phnom Penh

2009-05-11T19:28:00.015+07:00

I took an organized city tour of Phnom Penh today. Our morning started on a somber note, first visiting the Killing Fields, a complex of mass graves outside Phnom Penh where thousands were killed by the Khmer Rouge. Over the course of the Khmer Rouge's reign of terror, around 2 million people died, and the country is still recovering from this reign of terror and the ensuing civil war. It gives me new respect for the hardworking and generally friendly people of Cambodia and puts my earlier complaints about the city in perspective. One other thing to keep in mind about Phnom Penh is that it is a city that has been through hell - in the 1970s the population of the city first swelled as refugees flowed in from the countryside to avoid American bombing and then emptied out as the Pol Pot regime expelled everyone from the city, leaving it a virtual ghost town, and decimated the population, including killing all the educated elite. Today Phnom Penh is rising from those ashes, and while still a bit rough, is peaceful, stable, and growing.

As we walked around the Killing Fields, some of the paths had exposed bones coming out of the ground. Pretty gruesome. The image of skulls above comes from a display at the center of the Killing Fields that stacks some of the skulls that were collected from around the site. One of the more haunting moments came as I tried to photograph them - my camera has facial recognition software that automatically detects and focuses on faces when taking shots of people and as I put my camera up to take pictures of the skulls, the facial recognition activated around the skulls. It reminded me of the obvious but something that's easy to forget in the moment - that these each of these skulls once belonged to someone who was painfully tortured and killed at the hands of a genocidal regime.

I must say I didn't know much about the Khmer Rouge before coming here and read up a bit before my trip. It is a history that is both alarming and gripping.

We then went to the Genocide Museum, a former high school that had been transformed into the main detention center for political prisoners. The prisoners here were intellectuals and professors, former government officials, dissidents within the Pol Pot regime, their relatives and children, and a whole host of others. Here are the famous images that, along with the skulls above, capture the essence of the Cambodian genocide for most outsiders:

There were signs all around the monument advising us not to smile, as this is a very serious and somber subject. Stripped of its context though, the sign is a bit amusing:

Waterboarding has been discussed widely in the U.S. and it is perhaps unfortunate that it has become something of a late-night punchline, with few stopping to discuss or contemplate the seriousness of the act. It was in fact a signature torture technique of the Pol Pot regime and that was on display here at the Genocide Museum. The 1st image is one of many artistic renderings in the site depicting waterboarding and the 2nd is of a large pot that was routinely filled with filthy water and then used to waterboard political prisoners.
Later in the tour we visited the National Museum, Royal Palace, and Silver Pagoda. These were quite a contrast to the morning's tour of carnage and remind the visitor that the Khmer (Cambodian) civilization has a deep and rich heritage despite its recent troubled past.

I was joined on this tour (organized by our guesthouse) by two absolutely wonderful women from Spain - Aroa and Sonia. After our tour ended we chatted a bit over drinks and dinner, enjoying much lively conversation and sharing some travel tips. They were even so kind as to provide me with their map of Saigon and some extra mosquito repellent!

It's definitely true that one of the most rewarding parts of traveling is meeting other interesting travelers and I hope to continue that going forward.

Sonia, Aroa and I at the Silver Pagoda:

Yesterday I went to the mall here in Phnom Penh to buy some pants to cover my legs from the vicious mosquitoes (seen in the picture above). I felt a little guilty as most of the people at the mall did not have a great grasp of English (unlike those in any commercial context in Thailand) and were visibly frustrated as I failed to communicate effectively with them. Still, they were poised, polite and ever friendly and those that could speak English were helpful and humble in a way that I did not experience in Thailand.

One final, offbeat observation: At the mall, many (though to be fair, not most or even a majority of) people displayed a bit of anxiety at the tops and bottoms of escalators, apprehensively stepping on to them very deliberately, as if they might fall. I was first clued in to this quirk as I tried to get on an escalator and a crowd formed and backed up as a small group of Cambodian girls was scared to get on and just kind of stood at the bottom in fear. Some of them giggled and shrieked as they jumped on and some others backed out and took the stairs. Some adults also displayed some anxiety and stepped on to the escalators awkwardly as well. There are, as you can imagine, not many escalators around here...

Tomorrow I'm crossing into Vietnam and I'll be taking an organized boat tour of the Mekong Delta for the next three days. I'm not sure if I'll have decent Internet access or time to blog so you may not hear from me for a few days. Don't worry, I'm not dead (hopefully).

Feeling Better

2009-05-11T07:34:00.006+07:00

Ok I realize my last post was a bit dour, and I admit I was a bit defeated after the six-hour bus ride and very hungry and tired. I went around Phnom Penh a little bit yesterday - it's not so bad. Also I finally got my first full night of quality sleep since I've been here (I've started wearing earplugs every night, which is a great idea with all the roaring honking motos and thin walls here) so I feel much refreshed now.

Taking a city tour of Phnom Penh today and will post a bigger update soon.

Cambodia

2009-05-10T14:32:00.002+07:00

I just got into Phnom Penh within the last hour. I must say I'm not too thrilled about Cambodia. The main reason it's on my itinerary at all is because I had to cross it to get to Vietnam and Angkor is one of those can't-miss sites. As soon as our bus pulled up to the guesthouse in Phnom Penh, a crowd of motorbike and tuk-tuk drivers crowded around the entrance. I had to push my way through them just to get off the bus. They wait outside the guesthouse and just now I was followed by one of them the whole length of the 20 feet between my guesthouse and the internet cafe.

I understand that I need to keep perspective on this and realize that these folks are just trying to make a living. Both with the touts and the child beggars, it's clear both how poor ordinary Cambodians are compared to the way we live at home and how hard they try to make an honest living. Still, as a travelever, constantly being hassled begins to wear on you. And I've only been here less than a week! I've found that I actually avoid doing things I want to do (taking a tuk-tuk somewhere in the city, for example) because I'm so annoyed by the hassle of being accosted. I'm growing pretty wary of this already, but recognize I need to toughen up as I continue my trip as Vietnam is known to have similarly aggressive touts.

My trip is planned so that I will do the "hard" part first (overland through Cambodia and Vietnam, lots of buses and trains, visiting tourist sites) and the "fun" part (relaxing on beaches in Bali, scuba diving off the coast of Thai Islands, trekking through Malaysian rainforest, etc.) second as a reward and because it's easier. So I have that to look forward to.

The bus trip here from Siem Reap was a bit of an experience. I paid for the cheaper bus ($5) and me and a Japanese guy were the only foreigners on board. I sat next to a young girl who was carrying her sister on her lap most of the way. At our pit stops, most of the men walked straight to the back of the market to pee on the wall or the trees so I followed suit only to see afterwards that they passed by some urinals on the way over to do that. I was very confused. The road between Siem Reap and Phnom Penh is 2-lanes and mostly paved but shared with a scattering of motorobikes, cars, and cattle. Every now and then, the bus would brake suddenly and everyone would rubberneck to see what was going on before we proceeded onward. At one of the stops I met a nice Irish couple. They had clearly been traveling for a little while already, as they seemed to take this journey in stride, so I chatted them up for a bit. Turns out they've already been here for 5 weeks, though Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Laos and are traveling for a total of 6 months - to Vietnam then up through China and Mongolia across the trans-Siberian railroad and finally finishing in Italy! What an adventure! We had a great chat and I'm learning that I need to just not be shy about breaking the ice and chatting up fellow travelers, as most are quite nice and if I don't I'll be quite lonely for the rest of this trip.

I think I'm going to try to explore Phnom Penh a little bit today (if I can work up the courage to leave the 50-foot radius of the guesthouse and internet cafe) and then do a tour of the Killing Fields tomorrow. Then on Tuesday I plan to enter Vietnam through the Mekong Delta and will be spending almost three weeks there. As much as that sounds like a lot of time, I have a pretty ambitious plan to see lots of the country from the far South all the way to the far North so I probably won't have much "free" time, which is fine. When I was talking to the Irish couple, they noted how for them so far, it's been a lot of work just traveling and constantly going from place to place. I woke up before 7 this morning to get on the bus here, so I understand what they mean.

Still, it is amazing to be traveling, soaking in the richness of new cultures and places.

My legs are officially being devoured by the mosquitoes. I am increasingly concerned about contracting dengue fever (there is no vaccine - the only preventative measure is taking steps to avoid mosquito bites) so maybe I will go to the market to get pants and long sleeved shirts. I was a little baffled as to why all locals wear such hot clothes in this weather but now I understand...

Angkor and Siam Reap

2009-05-09T17:46:00.009+07:00

I've been in Cambodia for just over 24 hours now and it's safe to say here I've finally had my introduction to the congested, rough, dusty, hot Southeast Asia that I had imagined before coming here. More on that later, but first - I spent my day touring the temples at Angkor and was astounded by the sheer size and brilliance of the complex.

At the risk of being too dry, I should explain the significance of Angkor for those who are unfamiliar. About a millenium ago, Angkor served as the capital of the powerful Khmer Empire. Over the course of centuries, successive rulers built and expanded massive temple complexes with extremely intricate detail, creating one of the great wonders of the world. Angkor was forgotten for centuries until it was "rediscovered" by French colonists the in 19th century.

Today Angkor is by far Cambodia's most popular tourist attraction and provides an interesting glimpse into the history of the country. Walking around Angkor one is constantly reminded both of the glory and power of the nation's past and the destitute poverty and despair that marks its present - and the enormous impact (and economic importance) of tourism in Cambodia today.

The first thing that struck me about Angkor was its sheer size - it is a sprawling city unto itself with dozens of different temple sites, which at different points in its history served as temples, administrative centers, and even universities. Today most of the stone structures remain in varying conditions , and some have dramatically blended with the jungle landscape.

Throughout Angkor, at every stop, there are vendors selling food and beverages. As in Siam Reap (the nearby town at which visitors to Angkor stay), the vendors are aggressive and unrelenting but I was unprepared at Angkor for the abundance of children who would follow me and try to sell me trinkets or postcards. Some of them would throw quite a fit if ignored ("you don't buy something then you don't like me!") and it is heartbreaking to see that kind of poverty so widespread. Later in the day for some of the children, instead of buying their trinkets, I would pay them to allow me the privilege of taking their picture, one of which is below (leaving aside the ethics of that kind of behavior for now...):

Siam Reap is an interesting town. It is full of visitors from around the world who are just here to see Angkor. It has developed surprisingly good amenities to serve travellers (the Internet cafe I'm using right now, for $0.75/hr, has a speedy computer with a reliable fast connection). The restaurants here are great - I've actually been spending a little more on food than when I was in Thailand but for delicious food in restaurant settings rather than the mainly street food I had been eating in Bangkok. And by a little more I mean I am getting great restaurant meals for $4 each!

Traffic is crazy. Earlier this afternoon I saw a car almost hit and kill a girl on a motorbike - she was thrown off her bike, which flipped onto its side and traffic stopped for only a moment as the car simply veered around her and drove away. The girl was clearly shaken as she got up but no one stopped or approached her to see if she was ok. Finally a westerner on a bike (white guy) pulled up and helped her over to the side of the road. The incident itself was jarring but what disturbed me most was the nonchalance of the other motorists. Many of the bystanders stared but nothing more. I know that on my trip I will have to take a few motorbike taxis (already have once) and today's incident definitely will encourage me to seek alternatives (taxis, tuk-tuks) when available and to keep my wits about me.

It's important to find good drivers too. Today at Angkor I paid a tuk-tuk driver $15 to stick around with me all day, driving me to and from Angkor and around the (very large) site from temple to temple. He was friendly and I picked him because he was not one of the aggressive ones trying to get my attention and he looked nice. At the border crossing into Cambodia, I was approached by some touts who smelled like booze (and it was only 10 in the morning). Sasha, the Russian I met there, warned me that one time he got taken for a ride by a drunk motorbike taxi driver who was swerving and speeding and that it scared the shit out of him. So I'm gonna try to be careful.

So now I realize that Bangkok was definitely a walk in the park compared to some of the other places I'll go on the trip. This is the fun part!

Also there are geckos everywhere inside the buildings just crawling around the walls. A little weird but kind of cool.

I finally found the row of street food in this town. Just had a delicious $1 dinner of fried noodles and vegetables. Yum. Tomorrow I leave for Phnom Penh, where the adventure continues...

Ok now the adventure begins

2009-05-08T21:11:00.004+07:00

Bangkok was a bit of a holiday and now the real adventure of backpacking has begun. The excitement of independent travel, meeting new people, being in foreign exotic and occassionally uncomfortable places...

This morning I awoke at 4:30 AM to take the bus to Cambodia. My trip was far less stressful than it could have been, thanks to meeting a few fellow travelers along the way. At the town before the Cambodian border, I met Sasha, a Russian on a visa run who had been back and forth several times before and helped me navigate my way through. After crossing into Cambodia, I found some Americans, including Jared, who graciously helped me to take their tour van, which they had just gotten off of as they returned to Thailand, for a pleasant, smooth and quick journey to Siam Reap. $15 for a 3/hr ride in an air-conditioned van all to myself.

In Siam Reap, the the real backpacking adventure has begun. Excruciatingly hot temperatures and beating sun, aggressive touts everywhere, and a community of fellow travelers to share advice and befriend. When I checked into my guesthouse (fan room, $4/night), I met Fritz, a Dutchman here on a 5-week trip through Southeast Asia. Fritz and I went into town and eventually met some Australians (Lincoln, Harry, and Rebecah) and had a great dinner and evening of drinks. After 3 days in relatively plush Bangkok, the real joy of independent travel has begun as I find myself in more interesting places meeting interesting people from around the world...

Tomorrow I go to Angkor to visit the ancient temples there. I am really tired so this post is not as detailed as I would've liked but I hope to post something more comprehensive soon.

Observations

2009-05-07T15:19:00.007+07:00

Sunglasses - Very few Thais wear sunglasses. The long-term health effects aside, I find this odd given how brightly the sun shines all the time. This morning I was out walking with my shades on and one of the touts (who are everywhere and seem to have a much better sense at figuring out I am a foreigner) approached me and said "Hey man. What's up? You from USA, not Asia I can tell. Welcome to Thailand." Yes I was wearing a t-shirt and shorts but it seems to have been the shades that was my giveaway.

Being Asian in Asia - It's a little weird. Most Thais will try talking to me in Thai and I have no choice but to give a dumb smile in return. Obviously I have no idea what they are saying so I just smile and nod until I startle them by speaking in English. Being a little more discreet does provide the benefit of sparing me a little bit of harassment, though the vendors and touts are much better at picking up on the fact that I'm a foreigner, and they tend to start speaking to me in English right away. Especially the shady men at night who keep trying to show me porn and invite me to hang out with the ladies. No thanks!

Shorts - Despite the heat, the majority of men here wear pants, and usually jeans at that. I don't understand why this is the case, given that right now it's about 90 degrees and extremely humid (heat index is over 100).

Enough men wear shorts though that I feel like I can get away with wearing mine. It does make me a bit more conspicuous though (see above). Oh well.

Mosquitoes - The drawback of wearing shorts is that my legs are exposed and the mosquitoes seem to find them tasty. I have applied DEET with some frequency, but clearly not enough. Hydrocortisone anti-itch cream is my new best friend.

While urban areas in Southeast Asia are malaria-free (supposedly), Dengue Fever remains a risk, especially in cities. Obviously the actual risk is extremely low, but I find it oddly comforting to have something to be anxious about.

Writing - In the absence of travel companions, I find writing to be therapeutic. I am keeping a travel journal for myself in addition to this blog and it is nice to be able to express my thoughts on paper.

Shopping - I went to the mall today to get a daybag. The malls here are insane. There are actually like seven malls all next to each other connected by skybridges. These aren't like mini-malls or anything either - each one has at least five or more floors, food courts, and restaurants inside along with lots and lots of vendors.

Anyway the bag is actually more like a murse. Please don't laugh. It is to be used for the duration of my trip only and suits my purposes quite well. It cost me 200 baht ($5.50) and as I tried to haggle and the lady was having none of it I started to feel a little ridiculous, seeing as how this very useful bag was cheaper than the crappy food I used to eat for lunch in the cafeteria at work.

Money - Given the paramaters I've established for myself, I've been spending a little too much money so far. I'm chalking this up to purchasing travel essentials right now (murse, extra clothes, etc) and plan to rein in the expenses going forward.

Liquidity is important. My bank took a little longer than I had planned to process one of my deposits this morning and I freaked out a bit that I was going to run out of cash but by noon today the issue had been resolved.

Food - I had made a comment earlier about getting thinner on this trip but if I continue eating at the rate I am now, that may not happen. I had a Thai donut today at the mall, which is like an American donut except I had to use a fork to eat it (that's what everyone else was doing and I didn't want to seem like a barbarian, shoving the donut in my mouth).

Time - In the absence of any obligations whatsoever and operating without any structure, my perspective on time has changed quite a bit. I pay much less attention to the clock and am guided more by the natural rhythm of daylight and nightfall. It's all natural, man.

Jet Lag - My body is still a little out of sync but I think I'm adjusting.

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Tomorrow morning I plan on waking up early to catch a bus to Cambodia. I've read lots about this journey and it seems like it has the potential to be a little dicey. I'll let you know how it goes.

Postcard

2009-05-07T00:35:00.002+07:00

IMG_0126, originally uploaded by jamesjchang.

Chilis

2009-05-07T00:33:00.002+07:00

IMG_0116, originally uploaded by jamesjchang.

In a back alley, farther away from the bustle of the markets, I stumbled upon this scene.

Flowers

2009-05-07T00:32:00.003+07:00

IMG_0117, originally uploaded by jamesjchang.

Another picture (this guy was next to the chilis). There is so much color everywhere, just another facet of this vibrant city.

Lunch (2)

2009-05-07T00:27:00.003+07:00

IMG_0128, originally uploaded by jamesjchang.

Rice Noodles and Duck with Broth. Price: 40 baht (about $1)

It looked better before I stirred it up but I was hungry and ate some of it before I remembered I should take a picture.

I promise I will (soon) stop taking pictures of every meal to post on my blog, but the novelty of delicious cheap food everywhere hasn't quite worn off yet...

Lunch

2009-05-07T00:23:00.003+07:00

IMG_0111, originally uploaded by jamesjchang.

Chicken Curry and Rice. Price: 25 baht (about 75 cents)

Bustling Bangkok

2009-05-06T23:15:00.006+07:00

I arrived yesterday in Bangkok to begin my trip through Southeast Asia. I'll be in the region for the next ten weeks, with plans to visit six countries and relax and have a good time. Along the way, I'm going to blog the trip for friends and family at home and anyone out there who might be interested in reading. I've never done anything like this (either the trip or blog) so this should be fun...

I've been here for just about 36 hours now and am already getting used to being sweaty all the time! Bangkok is an assault on the senses - hot, loud, and smelly - but the most striking impression I have is how alive the city is. Bangkok is teeming with life. I've been to Thailand once before (on a package tour with family) so this is not entirely new to me but it is an amazing experience nonetheless.

Bangkok is also a city of striking contrasts - this morning I took the subway over to the old city/Chinatown area to just wander around a bit and get a sense of the city. The subway is only about five or so years old and is clean, efficient and modern. The computer-controlled train hums along, barely making any noise at all and I was crowded in with Thais on the way to work in Silom, the city's finance and business center. After I got to my destination I wandered over to Yaowarat Road, the core of the city's Chinatown district. Here was the Bangkok that I had always imagined - narrow alleyways filled with vendors hawking all sorts of different goods and flavorful, sometimes pungent, aromas of fresh-cooked Thai food filling the air. I've posted some of the photos from my morning meanderings for your benefit.

One of the main reasons I decided on Southeast Asia for my trip is because of how affordable (cheap) it is. The Thais love their food - they tend to eat small meals throughout the day rather than three square meals a day like in the West, so they are always eating. There are vendors on the street everywhere selling all different kinds of food. So far most of my meals have been under $2 each and delicious. See some of my food posts for more on this.

Tomorrow I plan to wander a little more and then on Friday I head to Cambodia to visit the temples at Angkor Wat. For now, I'm still adjusting to this whole travelling on my own doing whatever I want whenever I want thing. So far, it's pretty cool.

Ready to Go

2009-05-04T00:26:00.001+07:00

IMG_0083, originally uploaded by jamesjchang.

I read somewhere you should take a before and after shot because the trip makes you look different. I'm anticipating that when I'm done I will be darker from all the sun and thinner (maybe even emaciated) from all the walking.