The Final Blog

**Well I started this blog immediately when I got back home to the States...but in an effort to reconnect with friends, figure out jobs, figure out where I would live, and basically adjust to the non-backpacker lifestyle I sort of put this to the side.. And while I could go on for pages and pages about my reflections of my travels, I decided to wrap up the blog and finally close this awesome chapter of my life, as continually dwelling on what was and comparing that with what is can drive a person mad. As the quote goes, "Don't be sad it's over, be happy that it happened". That being said, here's the FINAL BLOGGGGGGG:

Shit. Back home again. I knew the time would come when I’de be done traveling and have to go back to the States and live in “the real world” again, but back in early January when I left, March sounded so far away. Actually, I left LA Dec. 27^th for a family reunion in the Bahamas, was back in LA for 3 days, then scrambled together all my clothes and documents and was off to Vietnam. I left when it was Christmas, and now I’m back and its March Madness and St. Patty’s day. I think in total I was gone somewhere around 60-70 days? When I first planned this trip I was a little nervous…graduating a semester early to go traveling.. and going by myself for most of the time.. hmmmm, will it be worth it? The answer: FUCK YES. I’m sure everyone back home has had good experiences, but I truly had a once in a lifetime experience, and I feel like a renewed person, with a much more open mind. I think I have changed since traveling, not in any drastic way, but definitely changed and for the better. I don’t think I take things as seriously anymore, I am much more friendly and social, and I am not as self conscious or vain anymore (thank God!), I have a lot more self-confidence, I don’t have as much anxiety about the future, and I feel like I can handle any challenge that is presented. I guess that’s what happens when traveling alone for a while and getting lost in foreign countries. And to be honest, it is fun to be thrown in challenging situations and to be able to work your way out of it. Some of my favorite memories from the trip occurred during times of stress, frustration, and/or danger. Losing my credit card and having absolutely zero cash in a third world country (Vietnam) where they barely speak English turned out to be a highlight of my trip! It was 105 degrees outside and I was walking around this village with my heavy backpacks sweating my ass off, and started freaking out. No one wanted to buy my travel books or shitty clothes off me, and when I finally made a sale, the MOST I got out of the guy was $3 for a Diesel jacket.. I was thinking to myself, “Im fucked.. im absolutely fucked..$3 for a really nice jacket....Im going to sleep on the beach and get attacked by dogs in the night or die from dehydration..” Its like, my whole life I’ve been used to having money, or a credit card, or even friends who would spare me some money and I’de pay them back. But I was alone and the locals don’t even have enough money to feed there own family, let alone some ‘rich’ American bloke from orange county. But you know what, at one point I set my stuff down and put my feet in the ocean and realized something.. I didn’t need any money, I wasn’t going to die, and no one was trying to hurt me! It was a complete change in attitude, and I went from pissed off and scared to happy and laughing. I said fuck it there’s no point in frenetically running around town trying to find food and a place to stay, and went bodysurfing for hours in the South China sea. It was pure bliss to be honest.

Fortunately, I did end up finding a very very nice and loving family who took me in, fed me dinner, and let me sleep on a bed outside of their guesthouse. And in the end, they didn’t even want my $3…its really truly amazing to find people like that in this world, even in “big bad dangerous Communist Vietnam” .. which again is just a stereotype that is false..

Speaking of misconceptions and pandemonium, you shoulda seen the look on my doctors face when I showed him the map of where I was traveling in Asia when I went to get shots before leaving. He started slapping his hand on his forehead and saying “ohhhh shit… shit, shit shit..you’re screwed man. You see all this red on the map? Yea, well that means malaria, typhoid, dengue fever, and all types of diseases.. Do you realize what the hell you are getting yourself into?” It was comical to be honest, he was looking stuff up on the internet and calling other doctors..He would come into the room I was sitting in, look at me, shake his head as if he was astonished by my ignorance and apathy and walk out without even saying a word. It was pretty classic. I’de say in the beginning of my trip, I was a lot like my doctor. I worried about walking barefoot and was careful about what I was eating, who I would talk to, who was going to try to rob me, etc. etc…but that deteriorates from the true experience of backpacking through southeast asia! As time went on, I went swimming in rivers, oceans, waterfalls, went hiking to tribal villages, saw pythons, spiders as big as your whole hand..uhh ate wild frogs that we caught in a creek…hopped on the back of motorcycles of random people, went to our tour guides hut & visited his village… drove my own motorcycle, met two german guys and slept in their car with them for a week…got bit by a tiger, bit by a leech, cut by coral, punched in the face… anyways, the list goes on, but the point im trying to make is that it was all about the experience and having an open mind. I could have tried to stay on the safe side and done things the “proper” way..like only buying bus tickets to get around rather than hitching rides, paying for nice hotels, and only touring with American approved travel companies, but I am so glad I took chances, trusted random people, stayed out later than expected but still woke up early everyday, and really let myself overcome my own inhibitions and insecurities. I guess that was something I really learned on this trip. We Americans have this mentality that everything and everyone is out to get us..either rip us off, steal our stuff, or kill us! While that might be true, in the end we are all going to be goners anyways so who cares! Take a chance, even if shit hits the fan, it makes for a good story :)

Anyways, I have also become a lot more appreciative of my own great country, USA! Coming home and hearing American accents, smelling that funny looking green money, and seeing American flags flying proudly on nearly every building really made me happy. After all, I'm an American, and I can't change that. A lot of people love to talk shit on the Americans and talk about the war in the Middle East, our dangerous cities, our loudness and arrogance, and our horrific eating habits. I heard a lot of different opinions from a lot of different people, but at the end of it all, nearly everyone I engaged with said "you know what, you're actually not that bad of a guy.. You've changed my view about the Americans", which I thought was pretty cool.

Well, as I finally finish wrapping up this blog on June 3rd of 2010, I realize that I have now been home for the same amount of time I was away..which is mind blowing as my time traveling FLEW by and my time at home has seemed like an eternity. Honestly my trip feels like it could have been years ago. And what actually motivated me to finally finish and post this blog is that I'm currently looking at the possibility of another trip in July, as my "real" job starts August 2nd and I have two months to kill (work all June, travel all July?). Anyways, I am truly grateful for all of the experiences, friends, and memories made over the course of my trip, and while I have officially adjusted back to the real world, I can't wait to do something similar again in the next couple of years. Next up on the agenda: Europe (without the family this time), Central/South America, and Africa. And for anyone thinking about traveling alone, going to Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and/or Australia, feel free to contact me and I'de love to talk about it further! With this I'm out, Cheers!

I only chose a couple photos to include in this blog, but checkout all my photos by clicking these links:

Pictures from Vietnam Click Here

Pictures from Cambodia & Bangkok Thailand Click Here

Pictures from Northern Thailand & the Islands of Thailand Click Here

Pictures from the Northern Part of Australia Click Here

Pictures from the Middle Part of Australia Click Here

Pictures from the Southern Part of Australia Click Here

Australia mate

Ok so I am trying to cover 3 weeks worth of backpacking in Australia in a condensed fashion...I'll try to just cover the highlights, and I have bolded the sentances that really sum up the place if you want to skim through the blog. I could go more in depth about each place and make the read more interesting but its too long!

First things first, Australia is REALLY really expensive. I mean I knew it would be more than southeast asia, but I am getting absolutely killed financially..its more expensive than the US! That being said, Im still having an awesome time and will probably change my flight home to extend my stay. I'll just go chronologically about what I've been up to and organize it by destination:

Brisbane: Flew into Brisbane, and that was my first few steps in Australia. Met a really cool Dutch guy named Neils, and we met up with two local Brisbanites and went to the drinking/bars district and watched a rugby game on TV and got real drunk with the locals, which was really fun. The name of the bar was Caxtons, and the next night we went to Tinbilly's and Down Under Bar. Also, I went to the top of a mountain near Brisbane called Mt. Cootha, and got some really sweet views of downtown Brisbane. Finally, went swimming in "the lagoon", which is a fake beach on the edge of the river in Brisbane. From my experiences in Brisbane, its a great place to live and grow up, but it's definitely not the big, loud, party central like other parts of Oz. A good time, but I was ready to move on.

Australia Zoo: I took the train about 2 hrs north of Brisbane, and went to the famous "Australia Zoo" which is also "Steve Irwin's Zoo". It was pretty cool, and I got to pet Koala's and Kangaroo's, and also see Casaberries (<--the big big birds that can't fly), Dingoes (<-like wild dogs), Wallabies, gigantic tortoises, tons of snakes/lizards, and even white children and white elderly people...it sounds funny, but throughout my month long travel in southeast asia I think I probably only saw 3 white children and maybe a few couples of old people. Makes sense though, as SE Asia was all 18-30 yr old backpackers and the locals...which I loved. Anyways, the Zoo is only about 4km from the train station (maybe 3 miles?), so in order to make the afternoon train back to Brisbane & the airport I decided to walk it... I had my big backpack with all my stuff, my little backpack, it was easily 100 degrees with a strong sun beaming on me, and I was walking on the side of a freeway in the mud and grass. I was so sweaty and was really worried about passing out. I stuck my thumb out and tried to hitch a ride to the train stop but this highway was not busy at all...I eventually walked into a police station and cooled off in the A/C, and thankfully I was only another football field or so away from the station. That was shitty, but overall the zoo was really cool and unique as I cannot see a lot of those animals anywhere else in the world.

Whitsunday Islands: From Brisbane I flew up to Airlie Beach, which is the port town all the boats use as a dock for the Whitsunday Islands. Definitely a highlight of my trip thus far. I did a 4 day, 3 night trip sleeping on a 50+ foot catamaran with ~30 backpackers. We sailed through the cluster of islands known as Whitsundays, and stopped at Whitehaven Beach, which is always in the top 10 most beautiful beaches in the world! In addition, we sailed up 4 hrs to the 'outer' great barrier reef, and I did 5 dives, including the most epic night dive of my life. To summarize briefly, the day dives were really cool and saw tons of turtles, sharks (6-10 feet), colorful fish, and did some really good cave diving. During one cave, all I could see was the red line on the person's fin in front of me and then poof, pitch black. Couldn't even see my own hand in front of my face. It was actually kinda scary, but I just kept kicking and eventually saw the light at the end of the tunnel. Then the night dive, we jumped in a fast current and dropped down to 20 meters (Like 60 feet?) and all you can see is wherever you point your flashlight. We immediately saw 5 sharks, sleeping turtles, tons of other sleeping fish, and other glowing creatures.

Fraser Island: I spent 3 days, 2 nights with a group of 5 people offroading on this sand island in a 4 wheel drive jeep. We saw beautiful lakes, dingoes, sea turtles, and then at night had a great campfire.

Surfers Paradise/Gold Coast: Surfer's was really cool because it reminded me of back home. The water was so so nice and warm, and the waves were perfect. I body surfed surfers paradise, then a break called Burleigh Heads, and then at night went on the famous "Backpackers Big Night Out Pub Crawl"... And yes, it was a "big night out" indeed. The next day I went down with my two german friends and an aussie guy to checkout the Quicksilver Pro Surf competition at Snapper's Rock and saw Bruce Irons and a ton of other famous professionals. Finally, at night we drove (the two germans have a car.. and actually, I travelled with them and slept in their car for a solid week!).. anyways, we drove to a cave at night that has a waterfall inside it and also tons of worms that glow during the night. That was absolutely gorgeous and beautiful.

Byron Bay: This place reminds me of San Clemente with an added dash of hippy-ness. It's small, but the surf was barrelling and the party scene at night is happening. Developers would love to turn this into a surfer's paradise (with skyrise hotels and such) but Byron is a small town with strong local roots. I met a Scottish guy with a surfboard, and he let me surf this break at Byron Bay called "The Wreck".. It's called the wreck because there's a ship wreck and the mast and other parts of the ship are rusted and jutting out of the water. The waves were easily 6 foot and barrelling, and the current was really really strong. I kept getting pushed up towards the ship wreck, and the waves were actually really big, so I caught one wave then went in and relaxed on the beach.

Waterfall Way: Did a drive on the "waterfall way" and hiked to the Dangar Falls, which was really beautiful. Unfortunately I hiked in sandals and got bit by a LEACH in between my toes! I didnt notice until like 2 hrs later when we were in the car and the german dudes couldnt stop laughing. We burned it out and there was a lot of blood... in fact, my toe did not stop bleeding for 3 days! The leaches have an anticoagulant that makes it so your blood doesnt clot...my socks were bloody and it was miserable!

Sydney: Ok Sydney is easily one of my favourite cities in the world! It was big and bustling, it was very young with an awesome night life, it has famous sites, its different neighborhoods are cool, and Manly & Bondi beach are only 15 minutes away! I did all the touristy stuff in Sydney (opera house, harbour bridge, sky tower, Manly Beach, Bondi beach, Kings Cross nightlife, etc.) and also met a lot of cool people at the hostel who were from all over the world but are living and working in Sydney. I really had a perfect time here, up until last night.... I was with a couple of friends walking on the sidewalk at like 1030pm headed to a bar, and all of a sudden some middle eastern or italian or some guido asshole sucker punched me in the left eye. I didn't look at him, say anything or do a thing to piss him off... He was just drunk or probably pissed off over some girl or rugby game and then wham..wacked me in the face. I was really stunned but pissed off, and wanted to kick his ass, however he was much bigger and with 3 other guys. I turned around and they started jumping up and down and really wanted to fight me for no reason.. We walked away and bought a bag of peas to put on my eye, and thankfully there was no blood and only minimal swelling.

And now I'm way way down under in Melbourne!

Links to Australia Pictures: (copy and paste link into a new tab):

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2152833&id=10808601&l=78b563aa80

AND

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2154018&id=10808601&l=a53662c54e

...

Ending Thailand and off to Australia

Blogging is fun and all but mannnn can it be a big task looking at a blank screen and trying to remember all the highlights.. I'll try to remember but to be honest, the latter half of thailand was a lot of swimming in gorgeous beaches, which was absolutely amazing however it may not be the most interesting to read about... Just a heads up. Anyways, I believe I left off talking about the half moon party. Probably the best party I've ever been to in my life! We started pregaming at the "Coral Bungalows" which was literally right on the sand in Koh Phangan. Oh also I should mention that the word "Koh" means island in thailand, so keep that in mind. Anyways, the drink of choice in koh phangan are "buckets", which is a sand bucket filled up with about half a 5th of vodka, add coca cola and lime and poof you have a 'bucket'. They are meant to be shared between 5 people or so, but it was just me and Nick to start off so we handled two buckets and were ready to rumble in the jungle. Everyone was in the bar at our bungalow/hostel/resort place and painted each other up with glow in the dark body paint. Then you hop in the back of pick up trucks and follow the caravan of other trucks with drunken 16-30 yr old glowing bodies in the back. We rode for a good 30 minutes along the coast then took a side road leading towards the middle of the island. We got out and instantly we're so stoked.. Everywhere you look was lit up either by DJ lighting or glowing bodies. There was a stage set up, guys twirling fire, tons of smoke and lights, and a FAT bumping bass. We started at around 1130 at night and ended up leaving around 5am... It was SO SO SO rad, I am going to upload photos and a video to facebook right after this.

Anyways, after Koh Phangan & the half moon party, we headed north to the next island, Koh Tao - which is very popular for scuba diving. Although it was a bit pricey, I bit the bullet and went scuba diving on Koh Tao while Nick floated at the top and snorkelled. It was an afternoon dive, and unfortunately the really good dive spots were inaccessible as the wind and waves made it unsafe. However, we went to a different spot and saw pretty coral, a massive school of yellowtail that were swimming all around my body (I actually got a bit disoriented and scared.. shhh) and tons of other fish (needle fish, parrot fish, etc etc.). The next morning the dive company was going to do a shark dive, and I was really amped but then realized we had a flight later that day, and you cant dive & fly on the same day.. bummer. We took another boat back to Koh Samui, and thankfully made our flight. The airport on Koh Samui is hilarious as well, there are no terminals or McDonalds and all that.. its just a landing strip and you wait under a hut for your plane. Our plane was a propeller plane as well...which was a little nerve racking but we made it from the East Coast islands to the other side of Thailand: Phuket (on the west side).

From Phuket we took a ferry to Koh Phi Phi, which is quote "the most beautiful beach in the world"... I would agree. The small village on the island has shops and hotels and such, but the alleys are really small and only for walking. No cars on the whole island, that was a nice change as all the rest of asia is so noisy. Anyways, the beach was absolutely amazing. The water is 80 degrees, only about 3 feet deep for a solid half a mile out, the sand is white, and these huge limestone rocks covered in jungle plants (vines and stuff) cover the rocks. ALSO, its a huge destination for scandinavians, and the beach was filled with beautiful, tan, blonde, topless swedish women, mainly my age as well. Nick and I were in heaven. I never wanted to leave, but after two solid days of being unable to talk due to the beauty of the nature and swedish women, nick and I ferried back to Phuket. I'm really not joking either, we barely said a word to each other during the day except for words like "wow", "look at that chick", and "man this is paradise".

Anyways, we heard that Phuket was really dirty and just another typical sex tourist destination, but we were surprised at the amount of normal tourists and the beaches were actually very pretty. Not even sure if I have talked about the whole sex tourism in Thailand yet, but basically any bar in any city has loads of prostitutes soliciting themselves. You can do anything in thailand. Oh and theres a ton of older white guys who come to thailand for 3 weeks vacation/work and have a thai "wife". Basically the guy will pay for the thai woman to travel with him and food and stuff, and the wife just needs to put out at his request. Its pretty disgusting, and nick and I witnessed a guy tell his thai "wife" to get off the train a minute before it left. She looked really sad and we were pretty shocked. It's definitely a shock to see, but we got used to it and I gaurantee the industry will stay as permanant in thailand.

Ah so Phuket. The beach was fun and at night the nightlife was probably the craziest we have witnessed yet. The district called Patong has a long street where there are likely 110 + bars. They have these big centers too that would be like the size of a Clothing Store in a Mall and its just packed with tons of different bars. It was our last night in Thailand so we stayed up late and had a really fun time. Next day Nick left for Melbourne, Australia where he is studying abroad until June. I also flew out to Brisbane, Australia which is where I currently am. Although Australia is going to be fun, its going to be a totally different experience from Southeast Asia. I basically feel like Im back in America, and its really really nice to be able to drink water from the shower and sink again! Also, its probably 80-85 degrees, but it is such a relief as thailand was easily 100 - 115 during the day and night.

Looking forward to exploring the East Coast of Australia! Also pictures will be posted very very soon.

Pictures from Thailand:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2151916&id=10808601&l=f043f54b85

Cheers!

Trekking, Tiger bites, & islands of Thailand

5 days goes by and a lot happens when traveling in Thailand...plus I am going to a half moon party in the jungle in Koh Phangan island in about 35 minutes, so I'll try to make this blog short-ish.. try.

After Bangkok Nick and I rode a sleeper train up to Chiang Mai, which was a nice change from the heat, smog, and corruption in Bangkok. Chiang Mai is a city up in Northern Thailand, and a base for people to venture out into the jungle and visit hill tribes. We immediately got off the train at 7am and left for a 3 day, 2 night camping/hiking trip up in the jungle with a guide and 7 tourists, all of which were 20 or 21 yrs old. It was a LOT of hiking, and a lot of sweating, but at night we drank off our aches and eventually had this great idea of eating real animals straight from the jungle. So our guide took us at like midnight to some creek, and we all caught frogs and then barbeque'd and ate them! I would have never eaten random frogs from a jungle, let alone frogs in a restaurant..but when in Rome do as the Romans... haha. We slept in a bamboo hut, and it was actually really cold at night. The next day, we hiked a ton more, and walked through the Karen Village where we saw the local school, how they live, how they cook, etc. etc. Nick and I kinda already did the village thing in Cambodia (and me with the Vietnamese family when I slept outside back in Vietnam). More hiking..more sweating..BUT a lot of cool views, creeks, birds, and even a baby cobra snake along the way. Around 4pm we made it to an awesome waterfall, and we spent the night next to the waterfall and a bonfire we made. THAT was well worth the hike. On the last day of trekking, we rode elephants and went down a river on a bamboo raft! After that we went back to Chiang Mai, and went to a Muy Thai fight where we watched kids, women, and full grown men all fight! I placed bets with the locals and in the end lost 80 baht (~$3 USD) but had a really fun time.

And of course... I have the WORST luck and horrible horrible karma..some something bad/crazy always has to happen.. Nick and I wanted to go to "Tiger Kingdom" to pet and hold all sizes of tigers. So we went, and we paid to pet the baby tigers (4 months old... but still probably 150 lbs.).. When we walked in the cage, the two babies were play fighting, and then the guide seperated them and told us to go ahead and start petting and taking pictures. One tiger was laying down, so I squatted next to him and started petting it.. And then, the other tiger came right up behind me and BIT ME in the back! I was wearing a tank top and he got me right on the shoulder blade area! I didnt know what the hell had happened, it just felt like a stick scratched me or something. We laughed and were like "shit I dont think THAT was supposed to happen.." but then like 10 minutes later it started to sting and we looked at the bite and it was swollen and bleeding! The guide took me inside and they cleaned up the blood and were like "Oh its not that bad" and it really wasn't, yet the workers were all calling each other and coming up and looking at the bite! This one guy spoke really good english, and he said I was the FIRST tourist to be bitten in a full year! It was kind of funny, because the workers were trying to be so calm about it but every time they looked at the bite they put their hands to their mouth and speak real fast Thai and say "Oh my Buddha" .. which is also funny as we say "Oh my God". So I got taken to the hospital to get a tetnus shot, and fortunately the Tiger Kingdom zoo place payed the bill. Also an interesting experience being in a Thai hospital...although not as bad as i imagined. One of the nurses was flambouyantly gay wearing lip stick and all that.. and of course HE was the one chosen to take care of me and wipe off blood and give me a shot and gauze me up and talk to me and just be as gay as possible.. I bet he requested to help me: the white dude which the asians love so much. I have absolutely nothing against gay people, but it was just the icing on the cake.

Anyways, after being bitten by a Tiger in Thailand and going to the hospital, we still managed to make our flight and our now far down south in a GORGEOUS island called Koh Phangan. This island is notorious for parties, and they celebrate every full mooon, half moon, quarter moon, black moon, etc. etc. So tonight is the half moon party, so we are drinking, everyone wears glow in the dark body paint, and its in the middle of the jungle and there's a line up of DJ's and light shows. Its basically a rave in the jungle.. it's 10:30pm at the moment and it lasts till 10am tmrw morning. Should be epic! With that, I'm out.

Pictures to come soon. Cheers.

Cambodia & Bangkok, Thailand

Well I finally met up with my old roomate Nick in Siem Riep, and immediately we started having a great time. We spent a full day touring Angkor Wat (<-the 7th wonder of the world), Angkor Thom, and Ta Throm and hired a tour guide & tuk-tuk to drive us around all day. It was awesome, but its like 105 degrees and by the end we were so sick of ruins and just wanted to go to a pool or something.. Also, our tour guide, Chun, told us he would take us to the floating villages and then take us to his own house in a village and introduce us to his family and get drunk, etc. the next day if we wanted. Soooo we said what the hell and decided to do it...and man was it epic.

Started off by hopping on the back of him and his friends motorcycles, and we rode for about an hour through a ton of villages, and ended up at the edge of a lake. Hopped on a boat and saw floating houses, which was really cool and ill have to upload pictures, but then the real fun began when we went back to Chun's house. Met his family, then went to his friends house where we sat in hammocks and watched the family cook us lunch. They had chickens and pigs just running around the backyard, and they just grabbed a chicken, slit its neck open, drained the blood, plucked its feathers, and then chopped up EVERY part of the bird and put it in a bowl and cooked it... When we were eating the chicken we found the balls, the brain, the beak, the feet, etc. etc. and our guide Chun would just crunch right through every part.. We were trying to be culturally respectful and all that but as soon as Chun started eating & crunching through the beak Nick and I lost it and could not stop laughing.. Also they were serving us "Black Panther" beer which is 8.4% alcohol volume per can (American beer is what like 3-4% ?) so we just got absolutely tanked. And then they brought out rice wine which tasted like straight vodka and they were all getting sloshed with us...We learned how to count in Cambodian and they gave us Cambodian names and then shit started getting weird. They lifted up my shirt and told me they loved my chest hair and then grabbed my nose and told me they wanted it, and pointed to our white skin and told us they wanted to skin us, etc. etc. It was all in good fun and we were all having a drunken good time, but at the same time we were wondering how we would get back into town (our tour guide & friend were falling over drunk) and made sure we had our wallets close by. We ended up just trusting them, as they told us they drink 8am to 8pm and are always drunk and great drunk drivers... We really had no other option so we hopped on and although it was really stupid and dangerous, riding on the back of a motorcycle drunk through the villages of Cambodia with no helmet and feeling all the wind and smelling the countryside was absolutely amazing. My face hurt after as I smiled and laughed for a straight hour on the way back into town. I couldn't have been happier. We have a ton of funny pictures but you have to go to the villages and have the true experience to really appreciate it.

After another fun night out at "pub street" in siem riep, cambodia, we woke up and took a 7 hr bus to Bangkok, which is where we are now. At the border, we saw families hopping from Cambodia into Thailand, but they do it right where the border crossing is! At least in the California-Mexico border the mexicans go far away into the desert. It was sad actually to see the crying babies and kids crawling through this hole in a fence in the dirt. Anyways, Bangkok is a big, modern city, and we are staying on Khao San Road which is a backpacker ghetto. The street is packed all day and all night with people and theres cheap shops and bars and its such a good time! Bangkok is everything I expected..loud, dirty, fun, HOT (like we get sick from the heat every day) and a good time but ready to get out. However we hate the damn tuk-tuk drivers... They all have tricked out tuk-tuks (3 wheeled motorcycles) with loud mufflers and they speed and drive like maniacs.. I get carsick and we are scared for our lives every single time we take one. Its the weirdest thing though, they will drive you around all day showing us the famous temples and stuff for a really cheap price (like $1), but we have to get off in suit shops (like a place to buy a man's suit) and pretend to be interested in buying a suit or tie like once every hour.. At first we just went with the flow, but by the time we had walked into the sixth suit shop we were just laughing and so confused. We told the driver a million times we weren't gonna buy a suit, but he insisted we went inside and humored the employees. We finally found out from a brazilian chick that the suit shops will give the tuk-tuk driver money for gas if he brings westerners there...even if they dont buy anything. We must have gone into 8 shops within a 4 hr period... I never want to see a suit again.. Ahhh Bangkok, its such a interesting place.

Oh and another thing, we went to the actual Thai government agency for travel and tourism to book a 3 day trip up north in the Thai jungle and to get there we will be taking an overnight train. However, the lady told us the train was fully booked, so she had to call the Mafia! She told us the Mafia buys every single seat on the train, then resells it for a higher price! We could not believe it, the government relies on and works with the mafia to get things done and its no big deal at all.. She was like "yep, everyone here is corrupt.. Kind of like Mexico". Man that was a big reality check. So we did get our ticket, and we paid the mafia price. So tmrw night we take an overnight train up north to Chiang Mai where we will then leave on a tour group for a 3 day, 2 night trip through the jungle. We are going white water rafting, riding elephants, visiting more villages, sleeping in bungalows, and hiking to waterfalls. We're pretty excited, but pissed off we got overcharged (due to mafia train prices and legit government trips as opposed to these dodgy street guys selling trips with their jenky companies.) Anyways, Thailand has been great so far (although much more expensive than Vietnam & Cambodia..) and we are looking forward to our jungle adventure..then from there its all beaches then Australia!

Photos of Cambodia & Thailand so far:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2150739&id=10808601&l=8029e1804b

Photos from Vietnam:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2150325&id=10808601&l=78dce1b109

Cheers!

The $3 diesel jacket & bye to Vietnam

Well shit really hit the fan.. As I mentioned, I only had $80 to last me 5 days or something like that. Nha Trang is a beach/party city, and i met these aussies and immediately started drinking. We drank all day and bodysurfed the waves of the Indochina sea, then at night we went to Why Not bar and somehow wound up in a penthouse suite of some Danish couple where they had great views of the city and a lot of Danish people were there as well. The clubs here are hilarious, because the sign on the DJ booth says "We play every song".. and then you look behind the booth and yes, they DO play any and every song because they hook a laptop up to the sound system and play songs from YouTube! We could not stop laughing! The next day in Nha trang we did a snorkel and boat trip, which also included a lot more drinking, and then we went back to Why Not bar again the next night..

SO, that is where I start having problems.. I took a bus from Nha Trang to Mu Nei, an isolated village, and on the way the bus stopped to get lunch, and when the time came to pay the bill i realized i only had about $3 USD and the bill came out to $5.. so i put down what i had and bailed when the server wasnt looking and went back into the hot bus and hid until we left..sat in the damn bus sweating my ass off for a good 40 minutes. Once i arrived in Mu Nei, which was an easy 105 degrees and 100% humidity, I figured I would go to a western union wire transfer and get $.. this place is a village and there is no western union, and the closest city (13 miles away) had one but it was closed as it was sunday!

So I sold Falco's Diesel jacket (he was just gonna leave it so i decided i would bring it in case i would run out of cash and needed to sell something... oh and he left me in nha trang so im all alone at this point in the story..). I figure this Diesel jacket costs, ohhh,. $200? So i tried to sell it to a motorbike guy for $60..as this place is damn hot every day of the year and the only people who use/have a jacket are the motobike guys. (its january and 105!) He laughed, and the best offer I got was a whopping $3.. Sorry Falco, but I sold your jacket for $3 to a motorbike dude in Mu Nei.. I went to a ton of cheap motels, but no one would give me squat for $3. Except this one place called Nhat Thi. For $3 they gave me a bed...Outside...Right next to where the grandparents of the family sleep.. Shit. It was the best they had, so I said yes. It was about 3pm, so i jumped in the ocean for a while and then came back and they were cooking dinner about 7pm. This one french guy was cooking for the family, and his deal is that he teaches the family english and cooks and in return they give him a place to stay and immerse him in the vietnamese culture. Thankfully, he invited me to eat for free with them..again i had no cash and no card so was just not gonna eat.

I end up meeting the whole family (9 of them in total, including a 6 month old, 5 yr old, 10 yr old, four mid-30 yr olds, and the grandparents.. plus the french guy who is 56 and really hippy-ish). I played soccer with the 10 yr old and helped set the table and clean up and helped teach english as well. They introduced me to "their" dogs..which were actually 4 street dogs that always hang by their place. It turned out to be a really cool situation, and later in the night we all drank beer and they brought out like 6 hot crabs and dried squid to eat. I woke up a million times from barking dogs, snoring grandparents, honking motorbikes, mosquitos biting me, and the roosters at sunrise cock-a-doodle-doo-ing. In the end they didnt even want the $3, and even offered me money. I couldn't accept it though, as they make on average $3-7 a day. I went to the beach and swam more, and watched all the kite surfers, then caught a bus at 1pm which i had already paid for back in Hanoi. What started out as a really crap situation ended up being one of the highlights of my trip thus far. Its really cool to see random people help you out when things go wrong, especially considering the fact that im an American and Im sure the grandparents remember the Vietnam war very vividly. Mu Nei is in southern vietnam and very close to lots of battle sites.

Anyways, arrived via bus in Saigon and found a western union and got money! Did a day trip to all the major sites in Saigon, and then today I went to the Cu Chi tunnels, which include 200km of underground tunnels where the vietcong lived, and were hidden from U.S. troops. Parts of the tunnel goes within a football field of a US base! It was pretty cool, and really interesting to hear the tour guide talk about how everything changed overnight in 1995 when they opened vietnam up to westerners and trading, etc. Prior to '95, the vietnamese would get coupons and go to a place and be given food for the month based on how many family members you have. Their was no currency, and no ATMs. Today, Saigon is a big bustling city. There's skyscrapers and bright lights and designer shops (Gucci, Prada, etc.) however their is still cheap street vendors selling food and all the usual things found in vietnamese towns. To be honest i think i like Hanoi more..? Saigon is just really modern and not as big as a culture shock as Hanoi was. Oh and last night was cool as well. Met a british guy and we got drinks at a bar at a district with a lot of nightlife. We were sitting on the outside patio and could totally picture U.S. soldiers doing the same back during the war.

Tomorrow I take a 12 hr bus ride to Siem Riep, Cambodia (i leave at 7am, arrive at 9pm.. blah) and then the next day I meet up with Nick. Vietnam has been quite a trip, and to be honest I'm not ready to leave.. I have just been having such awesome and interesting experiences on a daily basis, and meeting so many great people. I hope the rest of my trip continues with the way its been going so far (minus the whole lost credit card and no money part hah).

Tam biet (goodbye) Vietnam, and hello Cambodia!

Heading South!

First of all I am always so busy that its hard to update this thing! But ya, so from Hanoi, I took an overnight bus with beds down to Hue, which is central vietnam. The bus left at 6pm from Hanoi and arrived in Hue at 9am the next day... rough night of sleep, but I was with my German friend Falco, who is absolutely hilarious. This guy is a cook, and he owns his own business where he drives one of those roach coach trucks and caters during movie shoots all around Germany. However, he would never eat his own food, and he eats out for every single meal! He is here in Vietnam for 5 weeks, and the main reason he came was for this one island (Phu Quac) in south Vietnam.

Anyways, Hue was like the IndoChina capital back in the day, and there is a huge citadel closed in with big walls... Then within that citadel is another citadel, called the Imperial Palace, which is where the king ruled from. I took a day tour set up by the hostel, where we learned about the history of the city, saw the citadel, saw the imperial palace, went to some famous pagoda and saw monks singing and praying, and then took a ride on a giant dragon boat through the river in Hue. Also, I met these two nice british girls my age from London, and they told me they hired a guide and were gonna ride motorcycles from Hue to Hoi An. Me and my german friend Falco had already planned on doing that, but now we could tag along with the british girls AND have a guide so we wont get lost! A win-win if you ask me! a 6 hour motorcycle along the vietnamese coast and then up into the mountains for $27 with Falco, Mr. T, and the brits...sounds outstanding to me.

So then on Tuesday, our motorcycles arrived at the Hostel, however it was pouring rain... But we all said screw it we'll go anyways, as we had already paid. "Mr. T" was the name of our guide, and he was this skinny chain smoking vietnamese dude who also seemed like he was always drunk. But really was useful to make sure we didnt get lost. So me, Falco, the two british girls, and Mr. T rode motorcycles along the Vietnam coast for 3.5 hrs from Hue to Danang through the POURING rain, but man was it fucking awesome. We saw goats and cows and HUGE oxen crossing the road. We passed through tons of villages and all the little kids would wave and stuff. Feeling the rain on my face and hauling ass on a motorcycle along the ocean of Vietnam..can't top that. Then after stopping in Danang, the rain cleared up and we headed into the Marble mountains, which was really green and misty, and the air was really fresh. We stopped at an american bunker from the vietnam war, and I took pictures while this vietnamese lady kept trying to get me to marry her... "You from America? Look America Bunker! You not marred! Me no marry. You marry me? You my friend. You handsome. You my friend" hahaha it was funny but kinda sad too. Anyways, from the tops of the mountains we motorcycled another 3.5 hrs down into Hoi An, which reminds me of a small french town on a river. The big thing to do in Hoi An is get a tailored suit where you can pick the threading, the buttons, etc. etc. all for like $80-130. I dont have space in my bag though to do that. Thought about getting one and shipping it back home (which a lot of backpackers do), but I ran into some financial trouble:

Today, I went to the ATM, took out 1,500,000 dongs, which is like $80, and then walked away and left my card in the machine. I realized this like an hour later, and have spent the last 2-3 hours calling my bank and parents. All's figured out, and I have $80 which is going to last me the next 8 days... Then on the 28th (8 days from now) I'll meet up with my old roomate Nick and he'll bring me my Dad's credit card. In Vietnam you can definitely live off $80 in 8 days...but my problem is I'm travelling rather than living in one city, so for the bus between Saigon and Cambodia i'll likely not have the money.

Also, I bought a hop on hop off bus pass for the entire country of Vietnam, however the bus tonight from Hoi An to Nha Trang (a big beach party town) was completely full...So I have to ride on the back of "Mr. Dung's" personal motorbike up to Danang, and then from there ill catch a night train to Nha Trang. In vietnam, the way to get around is hop on some random guys motorcycle and he will negotiate a price. So it would be like if I had a motorcycle and hungout in LA and offered people rides at whatever rate I wanted. Pretty nuts, but so far everything has worked out and I havent been robbed or anything haha

Easy come, easy go in Vietnam, but its still rainy and overcast so Im ready to head south to the beaches. I want to upload photos, but Facebook is blocked in Vietnam...again, Communism! Apparentally there is this way to get around the block, but its kinda nice being on my own and detached from the real world back home :) more to come soon

Good Morning Vietnam!

Vietnam, wow what a trip this place is. I've been having SUCH a fun time so far! The first day I landed in Hanoi and did a walking tour of the city, which is absolutely nuts. Sidewalks are packed with all the stuff people are trying to sell, and there are whole streets that focus on some random item to sell .. There's a street for tin boxes, street for fruits, for street toys, street for firewood, for street mailboxes, etc.. etc. it's really cool actually. Also, getting around is insane. There's no rules to the road, ride motorcycles on the wrong side, they all speed, ride on Sidewalks, etc. Crossing the street you feel like you will die. I paid like $ 1 and hopped on the back of a motorcycle and the guy drove me around to all the big sites for like 30-40 minutes, it was hilarious.

Ya so on the second and third day I went to Halong Bay, which was really really sick. I slept in this huge Chinese boat for the night and played drinking games till 4am with all the Aussies and Brits and Irish, which is the big three types of people traveling here. Jumped off the top of the boat into the bay, went kayaking, etc. etc. I really need to upload pictures, but even then it wont do it justice. Oh and this guy was hilarious Spanish guy was on the trip to Halong Bay as well, where there's like 1970 islands, and he was like "i want to spend a day and night on some secluded island" .. so the captain of our boat flagged down another boat and he paid $ 5 and off he went to some island with monkeys and stuff. I really wanted to go with him but im pressed for time and would rather head south where its warmer.. Also ill be seeing tons of monkeys and more beautiful islands in thailand.

Last night I went out in Hanoi, and whats crazy is that the city has a curfew of midnight .. Communism! But we were at this bar called "Hair of the Dog" which was so so packed with westerners. At midnight they just closed the front gate of the bar, and we partied on till like 3ish. Apparentally if we were to get caught all you have to do is give the police some cigerrettes and they will leave you alone. Spent today seeing the tourist sites really hungover..So im looking forward to my overnight bus down to Hue..Hopefully i can get some sleep.

Anyways, I really really need to upload photos asap. Im loving vietnam, loving all the people im meeting, and I absolutely love the freedom of traveling alone and not having a set day by day plan. Pretty sure im gonna rent a motorcycle in Hue , and ride along the vietnam coast to Hoi An, which is like 2.5 hrs away from Hue. Also I can ride to a ton of vietnam war battle sites.

Pictures to come soon!

Good Morning from Taiwan

Still en route to Vietnam, but had to fly to Tapei, Taiwan first, then from there to Kaohsiung (south Taiwan) and now I am catching a flight to Hanoi, Vietnam.

On the flight from Los Angeles to Tapei (14 hrs..with HORRIBLE turbulence..luckily I was watching movies and drinking free beer so didnt mind too much), I sat next to this funny guy Dennis who had just graduated from Cal Lutheran with his masters degree in Business. He was born and raised in Taipei, so we talked for a while about Asia and the whole Chinese-Taiwanese political issues. He tells me the asian women absolutely love white guys, which I actually have noticed :) Also, they handed out slippers on the plane flight over, and Dennis told me it was because all the blood rushes to your feet and so your feet swell and won't fit in your shoes... That definitely freaked me out, so I made sure to stand up and walk around on the plane as much as possible. At one point I layed upside down in my seat because my legs started cramping and I was worried about blood clots.. These asians really don't care what you do, no shame or embarressment. One guy on the plane two seats away started singing in Chinese really loud for like 40 minutes.. nobody cared or even seemed to notice!

Anyways, after landing in Taipei I had to fly to Kaohsiung (south Taiwan), however when I went to get my transfer ticket in Taipei they told me I was a day late! Apparentally my dad forgot to account for the one day time change when booking my flights.. I had six Taiwanese ladies (all very young..probably my age) all huddled around a computer talking fast to each other..and then giggling and looking up at me. Not sure what was said, but I got a ticket and made my flight. Same issue happened when checking into my hotel in Kaohsiung, and when checking into my morning flight from Kaohsiung to Hanoi..and Im sure I'll have the same issue when trying to check into my Hostel in Hanoi, Vietnam.. They all look at me and laugh and circle the date on my paperwork.. "Yesterday..No today"

Well I am boarding my flight to Hanoi in about 20 minutes. So far so good, but jetlagged and ready to settle into a hostel and meet some english speaking people. I'm sure I'll have more interesting stories once I get into Vietnam..

Three Days till departure

Well, I leave LAX and fly to Vietnam in 3 days. Wanted to test out this blog thingy!