After getting up from another sleeper bus we had arrived in Hoi An. We ended up finding a good hotel by the river which is always a plus. The town itself was really nice. The french colonial influence was very apparent. Most of the buildings used french style architecture. Many of them have seen better days but it still gave the town a really neat vibe. The majority of these buildings were filled with all sorts of shops. It felf very similar to Ubud, Indonesia. If you are in the market for custom shoes or anything made out of silk this should be your destination. Most of the sites to see were not big attractions. There is a Japanese style covered bridge that is neat but did not take a great deal of time to look at.
The two days we spent there were filled with checking out souvenir shops and trying food at this string of market type restaurants. The spring rolls at these stands were some of the best we have had so far. Also Hoi An is known for a special soup called Coa Lau. It was good but the spring rolls far superior. Our last night there we went out to a couple spots and played some pool.The next morning we were off to Hue.
The bus was left at 7:30 which was kind of a let down. It was supposed to only take four hours but it took a little longer and we ended up arriving around 1. The hotel we checked out first had a deal for us for free Internet and TV if we waited till five o'clock to check in. With very little hesitation we dropped our bags off and rented some bicycles. We road to check out the imperial citadel located in the middle of the city. It is under heavy restoration because it had been destroyed during the war. They have redone the citadel itself but the majority of the buildings are still under major construction. It was still pretty impressive though.After checking out the citadel we explored a market and biked around the city. By this time it was a little after 5 and we were able to check into our hotel. The room was sweet and had a computer inside (though it didn't work in the beginning). We chilled out in the room for a little while before getting ready to grab a bit to each. We found a pretty sweet spot on the river to have dinner. We were able to watch all these boats that you can rent in you want take people up and down the river. It would have been a sweet thing if you had big group a people to go with. Afterword we were pretty tired from the bus ride and biking around so we just went back to the room and slept.
Feeling inspired by our great biking performances the previous day we decided on not renting a motorbike to see the other cites and continue on bikes. Our goal for the day was to see a couple of the famous pagoda's and a tombs in the area. The first one we decided to check out was near the market we had looked at yesterday. So theoretically it should have been easy to find. However the map we had only had two roads while the actual intersection had three. This proved to be a little bit of problem and we ended up checking out all three of them before finding the pagoda. When we got their we realized why it was not that famous. It was pretty lame so we turned around and heading to one that was 4 km outside of town. We got there and it was much more impressive then the first one we saw. We walked around and saw the sites before deciding our next move. The map we had was a little sketchy but we figured we would be able to find our way to one of the tombs anyway. At first it was smooth sailing we easily found the bridge we were supposed to and even got to the roads leaving Hue. It was here that the map got a little weak. It just had two roads and symbols for the tombs. We asked for directions a couple of times and got different answers which was not very helpful. After biking a decent ways we found ourselves at a tombs. It was not the famous one we had set out looking for but it seemed to be worth checking out. The tomb was pretty cool and neat to see but nothing special. After walking around for a couple minutes we went to get a water.
It was here that the day took a dramatic turn. We had two options. One to continue to search for the famous tombs and pagodas in the area or head back. After some careful consideration we decided that going back and having a drink would be more beneficial then getting lost looking for tombs on the outskirts of Hue. After hanging out at the hotel for a bit we decided it was time to give the Hue night life another chance. We went to a couple bars and played some pool but there once again was not a whole lot going on. We got some food and headed back to the hotel. The next day was based around catching our night bus to Hanoi. During the day we hung out at the hotel and by the river. Then it was off to hopefully some colder temperature and Hanoi.
-WBM
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Ho Chi Minh and Nha Trang
After a sleepless night and a near wallet/bus disaster I was totally conked out for the duration of the bus ride into Vietnam. Will woke me up at the border and even helped me edit my departure card (I had put the date as 2010 among other mix ups). When it was time to get off the bus in HCMC we made our way to a guesthouse and I passed out while Will took advantage of cable TV we had in our room (have not had TV during this whole trip which for us is a big deal). That night we took a walk and found a great local spot to eat.
The next day was our exploring the city day. We did about 4 hours of walking around and checking out the major tourist attractions and markets which were all very overwhelming. Trying different food has quickly become our favorite pass time in Vietnam so far so we spend a lot of time at different restaurants and street vendors. In my opinion the food here is close to the best yet although I have a hard time saying it is better than Thai. The rest of the afternoon was uneventful but we were fine with this because we actually had plans for the evening which is something new and different. The previous night during our walk we passed a theatre which had large advertisements for Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol." We had missed the times for that night but the following day was the final showing so we decided it was a must do. We didn't have high hopes going into it considering we were in Vietnam but we figured "how bad could it be?" As it turns out it was much worse than my lowest expectations. Let me put it this way...there is no way to put on a successful rendition of "A Christmas Carol" when Tiny Tim is played by a stuffed doll. On top of that all the music was different (we didn't recognize one song) and the cast was so small that cast members would play two characters during one scene (meaning they would have to run off stage during the scene and change a piece of their clothing and then run back out as the "new character"). The most exciting part of the whole production was watching the rats climb all over the set while the play was going on. However despite the blaring flaws of the show we had a good time and it was worth the small amount of money we payed for it.
After the show we went back to the our dinner spot (I call it our dinner spot only because we went there for lunch and dinner everyday because it had the best selection of local dishes for the best price) and then checked out a few other bars before retiring for the night.
Another fairly relaxed day because we had to wait around all day for our 8 PM bus to Nha Trang. We went to the War museum which was less than uplifting and then checked out a few other sites. Our bus ride was short, only about 5 hours. Because our stop in Nha Trang was not the final stop for the bus the bus attendant told us he would tell us when to get off. Naturally he forgot about the foreigners in the back and when we inquired about when we should get off he told us about 15 minutes ago. The bus wasn't about to turn around so we just got off in the middle of nowhere and started the walk back to civilization and guesthouses with all of our stuff. It was just after 1 AM when we started walking and luckily after about 45 minutes we came across a randomly placed hotel that was still a ways outside of the actual town. We were tired and didn't feel like carrying all of our bags anymore so we decided to try and stay there for the night (it was closed and dark). After knocking on the window and waking the sleeping guard we were able to get a room for the night.
In the morning we caught a ride to where we intended to stop the previous night. Nha Trang is a fairly quite fishing town right on the water but has become a popular kitesurfing and windsurfing destination as well. We were temped to partake in the kitesurfing but the cost of renting all of the gear was a bit beyond our budget. So instead we rented a motor bike and cruised along the coast just checking out the scenery which was very impressive. The main attraction of Nha Trang however are its sand dunes. After the heat of mid-afternoon we went to check these out of our motorbike. The first of the dunes, the red dunes, are just over 5km outside of town. Neither Will or I had experienced a sand dune before so we were instantly blown away with what we saw even at the "less impressive" (according to the Lonely Planet) of the two. Because it was getting a bit late and the White dunes were another 30 km away we moved on fairly quickly. We arrived at the White dunes about 30 minutes before sunset and we were both in awe with what we saw. We walked through the dunes for about 15 minutes until we were at a place where all you could see in any direction were large rolling hills of white sand. It was really like nothing we had experienced before and as the sun began to set the scene just kept getting more and more impressive. By the time we left it was just about dark and we were totally covered with sand. The 35km ride back was a bit sketchy because the headlight on our motorbike was broken as was our tail light so we were riding completely in the dark on roads that are a bit unpredictable. Thankfully we made it back safely and we showered before heading out for a nice seafood dinner overlooking the ocean (very romantic). The meal was a sensational end to an even more sensational day and we went to bed feeling very satisfied (especially considering the beers at the restaurant were only 25 cents).
-RBC
The next day was our exploring the city day. We did about 4 hours of walking around and checking out the major tourist attractions and markets which were all very overwhelming. Trying different food has quickly become our favorite pass time in Vietnam so far so we spend a lot of time at different restaurants and street vendors. In my opinion the food here is close to the best yet although I have a hard time saying it is better than Thai. The rest of the afternoon was uneventful but we were fine with this because we actually had plans for the evening which is something new and different. The previous night during our walk we passed a theatre which had large advertisements for Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol." We had missed the times for that night but the following day was the final showing so we decided it was a must do. We didn't have high hopes going into it considering we were in Vietnam but we figured "how bad could it be?" As it turns out it was much worse than my lowest expectations. Let me put it this way...there is no way to put on a successful rendition of "A Christmas Carol" when Tiny Tim is played by a stuffed doll. On top of that all the music was different (we didn't recognize one song) and the cast was so small that cast members would play two characters during one scene (meaning they would have to run off stage during the scene and change a piece of their clothing and then run back out as the "new character"). The most exciting part of the whole production was watching the rats climb all over the set while the play was going on. However despite the blaring flaws of the show we had a good time and it was worth the small amount of money we payed for it.
After the show we went back to the our dinner spot (I call it our dinner spot only because we went there for lunch and dinner everyday because it had the best selection of local dishes for the best price) and then checked out a few other bars before retiring for the night.
Another fairly relaxed day because we had to wait around all day for our 8 PM bus to Nha Trang. We went to the War museum which was less than uplifting and then checked out a few other sites. Our bus ride was short, only about 5 hours. Because our stop in Nha Trang was not the final stop for the bus the bus attendant told us he would tell us when to get off. Naturally he forgot about the foreigners in the back and when we inquired about when we should get off he told us about 15 minutes ago. The bus wasn't about to turn around so we just got off in the middle of nowhere and started the walk back to civilization and guesthouses with all of our stuff. It was just after 1 AM when we started walking and luckily after about 45 minutes we came across a randomly placed hotel that was still a ways outside of the actual town. We were tired and didn't feel like carrying all of our bags anymore so we decided to try and stay there for the night (it was closed and dark). After knocking on the window and waking the sleeping guard we were able to get a room for the night.
In the morning we caught a ride to where we intended to stop the previous night. Nha Trang is a fairly quite fishing town right on the water but has become a popular kitesurfing and windsurfing destination as well. We were temped to partake in the kitesurfing but the cost of renting all of the gear was a bit beyond our budget. So instead we rented a motor bike and cruised along the coast just checking out the scenery which was very impressive. The main attraction of Nha Trang however are its sand dunes. After the heat of mid-afternoon we went to check these out of our motorbike. The first of the dunes, the red dunes, are just over 5km outside of town. Neither Will or I had experienced a sand dune before so we were instantly blown away with what we saw even at the "less impressive" (according to the Lonely Planet) of the two. Because it was getting a bit late and the White dunes were another 30 km away we moved on fairly quickly. We arrived at the White dunes about 30 minutes before sunset and we were both in awe with what we saw. We walked through the dunes for about 15 minutes until we were at a place where all you could see in any direction were large rolling hills of white sand. It was really like nothing we had experienced before and as the sun began to set the scene just kept getting more and more impressive. By the time we left it was just about dark and we were totally covered with sand. The 35km ride back was a bit sketchy because the headlight on our motorbike was broken as was our tail light so we were riding completely in the dark on roads that are a bit unpredictable. Thankfully we made it back safely and we showered before heading out for a nice seafood dinner overlooking the ocean (very romantic). The meal was a sensational end to an even more sensational day and we went to bed feeling very satisfied (especially considering the beers at the restaurant were only 25 cents).
-RBC
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Phnom Penh
Needless to say by the time we had meet back up we were pretty tired. That night consisted of grabbing a bit to eat and then going right to sleep. The next morning we decided to move hostels because our room from the night before did not smell the best. We got to our new guest house in the morning in order to seize the day. We tried to rent a motorbike in order to go and see a documentary on the killing fields. However by the time we would have had the motorbike the 10 am showing had already started.
In the earlier afternoon we decided to walk to S-21 and see the movie at 3. S-21 (security 21) was one of the prisons set up by Pol Pot while the Khmer rouge was in power. Before it was turned into a prison it was a local school. The buildings have been untouched sense Pol Pot was overtaken and several bed frames still remain in the rooms. This made the grounds and rooms (cells) very eerie to see and walk through. Many of the rooms just have faded photographs of the cell and a rusty bed frame. Other rooms had prisoner’s stories and photographs depicting life at the prison. While Rooney and I walked around we had a hard time thinking that this was all taking place during the second half of the 1970's. The whole area seemed like it belonged much further in the past. After walking around the buildings we watched a documentary on the prison. As we had been reading and seeing the treatment and torture of the people occupied the cells was beyond brutal.
We did not really feel up to much after the leaving the museum and just hung out at our hostel. For dinner we decided to treat ourselves (seeming how it was thanksgiving). We looked around and not to surprisingly there were no restaurants offering a typical thanksgiving meal. We settled on a pub type restaurant that had mash potatoes (figured at least get one item). Our meal was really good and a great change up compared to our regular meals. A special thank you to Aunt Laura for providing us funds to take each other out for the meal.
After dinner we were feeling great and decided to see what the night life was like in Phnom Penh. We found our way to a club called the Heart of Darkness.......well just leave it at that. The next morning we were feeling very lively. So lively in fact that we almost didn’t get out of bed to see the killing fields at 4 pm. Commonsense soon kicked in and we got a taxi to the killing fields. The monument and the fields themselves were very intense to see the least. It was one of those things that I don’t think we will forget. After some time we headed back to the hostel. A little bit to our surprise our taxi driver decided that on the way back he was going to do his grocery shopping. So while we were waiting we grabbed some sandwich stuff at the supermarket.
That night we booked our bus ticket to Ho Chi Minh City for the next morning. By the time night rolled around we decided to go out and play some pool with some Cambodians we meet the night before. One thing led to another and Rooney was running around the city looking for his wallet at the time we were supposed to be getting picked up. Luckily the much older and responsible of the two of us got our stuff together and found our way to the bus station (the wallet was found and we made it on our bus with all of our stuff).
-WBM
In the earlier afternoon we decided to walk to S-21 and see the movie at 3. S-21 (security 21) was one of the prisons set up by Pol Pot while the Khmer rouge was in power. Before it was turned into a prison it was a local school. The buildings have been untouched sense Pol Pot was overtaken and several bed frames still remain in the rooms. This made the grounds and rooms (cells) very eerie to see and walk through. Many of the rooms just have faded photographs of the cell and a rusty bed frame. Other rooms had prisoner’s stories and photographs depicting life at the prison. While Rooney and I walked around we had a hard time thinking that this was all taking place during the second half of the 1970's. The whole area seemed like it belonged much further in the past. After walking around the buildings we watched a documentary on the prison. As we had been reading and seeing the treatment and torture of the people occupied the cells was beyond brutal.
We did not really feel up to much after the leaving the museum and just hung out at our hostel. For dinner we decided to treat ourselves (seeming how it was thanksgiving). We looked around and not to surprisingly there were no restaurants offering a typical thanksgiving meal. We settled on a pub type restaurant that had mash potatoes (figured at least get one item). Our meal was really good and a great change up compared to our regular meals. A special thank you to Aunt Laura for providing us funds to take each other out for the meal.
After dinner we were feeling great and decided to see what the night life was like in Phnom Penh. We found our way to a club called the Heart of Darkness.......well just leave it at that. The next morning we were feeling very lively. So lively in fact that we almost didn’t get out of bed to see the killing fields at 4 pm. Commonsense soon kicked in and we got a taxi to the killing fields. The monument and the fields themselves were very intense to see the least. It was one of those things that I don’t think we will forget. After some time we headed back to the hostel. A little bit to our surprise our taxi driver decided that on the way back he was going to do his grocery shopping. So while we were waiting we grabbed some sandwich stuff at the supermarket.
That night we booked our bus ticket to Ho Chi Minh City for the next morning. By the time night rolled around we decided to go out and play some pool with some Cambodians we meet the night before. One thing led to another and Rooney was running around the city looking for his wallet at the time we were supposed to be getting picked up. Luckily the much older and responsible of the two of us got our stuff together and found our way to the bus station (the wallet was found and we made it on our bus with all of our stuff).
-WBM
Monday, November 30, 2009
Angkor Wat
After the border crossing Rooney and I were on a very comfortable bus heading into Cambodia. It had many empty seats along with a TV playing Micheal Jackson music videos. About 20 minutes or so into the country it was time for us to part ways and I had to get out. Everyone who was traveling to Siem Reap or Phenom Penh had to leave get off the bus. Unfortunately instead of another big bus like we were promised a small van pulled up. To make matters a little worse their was 17 people (the van is supposed to hold 11 or 12). Since we were in the middle of nowhere we did not really have a choice. So they loaded everyone in and I sat on the edge of one seat and some of the outside seat belt buckles.
We were told that it was only going to be an hour or so in the van but I had my doubts. As we started driving away in this van with no ac all i could think about is how Rooney was sitting in the AC big bus comfortably watching TV. It took at little over two hours before the van stopped to let 5 people out. This new space helped out the cause but we still had to travel in the van.
Around 9 pm we stopped again to get some dinner at a local restaurant. We had to wait around an hour and a half for a new bus to take us up to Seim Reap. Fortunately this one was once again an big bus. The bus finally pulled into the station at around 1:30. I tried to get to a cheap guest house but this tuk tuk driver had other plans. He drove me around for an hour taking me to his friends full or expensive guest houses. Finally I told him I had enough and just take me to a cafe or something. This was because it was 2:30 and I was planning on getting up at five to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat. I think he felt bad and ended up taking me to his brothers guest house were i could just stay up and use the Internet for free. There was a couple people up hanging out but they soon went to bed.
Finally it was 5 am and it was time to go. The night before I had arranged a tuk tuk driver to take me around for the day. He came and picked me up and it was off to Angkor Wat. The sunrise was really sweet and I ended up walking around the temple instead of just watching it like a couple hundred people were doing. This turned out to be a huge move because everyone was sitting watching the sunrise and the temple was pretty much empty. By the time the masses were done with breakfast and entering the temple I had seen everything I wanted to see.
Next it was off to a Wat Thom. This had a bunch of temples inside it that were really cool to see. One had giant stone faces on all over that were still intact. Luckily once again there was not many people around and it felt like I was the only one. After a couple of hours of walking around Wat Thom it was time to keep moving. The rest of the morning I stopped at a couple of other temples including the one featured in a Indiana Jones movie. It was really neat and had a ton of trees growing in and on the temples. The trees had destroyed portions of the temple but it made it really unique and cool to look at.
Right around noon the crowds really started to pick up and the heat was in full force. Since I had been looking at temples nonstop for about 7 hours I called it a day. I booked a room in a guest house and after a water it was time for so much needed sleep (I had been up sense 7 am the previous day). I woke up only to grab a bite to eat and then it was back to bed for good.
The next morning was pretty uneventful and I got on a bus around noon to head to the capital and meet up with Rooney. After a 7 or 8 hour bus ride that was supposed to take 5 I arrived in Phenom Penh.
-WBM
We were told that it was only going to be an hour or so in the van but I had my doubts. As we started driving away in this van with no ac all i could think about is how Rooney was sitting in the AC big bus comfortably watching TV. It took at little over two hours before the van stopped to let 5 people out. This new space helped out the cause but we still had to travel in the van.
Around 9 pm we stopped again to get some dinner at a local restaurant. We had to wait around an hour and a half for a new bus to take us up to Seim Reap. Fortunately this one was once again an big bus. The bus finally pulled into the station at around 1:30. I tried to get to a cheap guest house but this tuk tuk driver had other plans. He drove me around for an hour taking me to his friends full or expensive guest houses. Finally I told him I had enough and just take me to a cafe or something. This was because it was 2:30 and I was planning on getting up at five to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat. I think he felt bad and ended up taking me to his brothers guest house were i could just stay up and use the Internet for free. There was a couple people up hanging out but they soon went to bed.
Finally it was 5 am and it was time to go. The night before I had arranged a tuk tuk driver to take me around for the day. He came and picked me up and it was off to Angkor Wat. The sunrise was really sweet and I ended up walking around the temple instead of just watching it like a couple hundred people were doing. This turned out to be a huge move because everyone was sitting watching the sunrise and the temple was pretty much empty. By the time the masses were done with breakfast and entering the temple I had seen everything I wanted to see.
Next it was off to a Wat Thom. This had a bunch of temples inside it that were really cool to see. One had giant stone faces on all over that were still intact. Luckily once again there was not many people around and it felt like I was the only one. After a couple of hours of walking around Wat Thom it was time to keep moving. The rest of the morning I stopped at a couple of other temples including the one featured in a Indiana Jones movie. It was really neat and had a ton of trees growing in and on the temples. The trees had destroyed portions of the temple but it made it really unique and cool to look at.
Right around noon the crowds really started to pick up and the heat was in full force. Since I had been looking at temples nonstop for about 7 hours I called it a day. I booked a room in a guest house and after a water it was time for so much needed sleep (I had been up sense 7 am the previous day). I woke up only to grab a bite to eat and then it was back to bed for good.
The next morning was pretty uneventful and I got on a bus around noon to head to the capital and meet up with Rooney. After a 7 or 8 hour bus ride that was supposed to take 5 I arrived in Phenom Penh.
-WBM
Cambodia....ugh
We woke early and caught our boat taxi to the mainland where we met our motorbike taxis that took us to the bank. For some reason my card wouldn't work but thankfully Will was a nice enough cousin to let me borrow a large sum of money from him so that I didn't have to stay behind and go all the way back to Pakse. Border crossing days are always a total pain and you feel like you are spending lots of money on a whole lot of nothing. The Laos-Cambodia border crossing was no exception especially since we were crossing at an unofficial crossing which means the officers there can charge you random fees and there is nothing you can do about it. For example we got slapped with some random "stamping fee" before even leaving Laos. Then as we crossed into Cambodia we were stopped at a small tent that had a big sign reading "quarantine" where we had our temperatures taken and then had to pay yet another fee. The last random fee came as we purchased our visas which are supposed to be 20 USD. However, we got hit with the "Monday Fee" meaning we had to pay an extra 3 USD because it was a Monday (are you shitting me?) Sounded a bit ridiculous to us and all the others but there isn't much you can do about it.
At this point Will and I headed in separate directions because Will was off to Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat (I had seen this last year on my trip with Ned so I opted to do something different) while I headed to Ban Lung in Northeastern Cambodia. So this blog will be about my adventures getting to and from Ban Lung and Will will give you some info about his trip as well.
Things got off to a bad start right away for me in Cambodia. While waiting for my bus out to Ban Lung I got scammed into buying an overpriced return ticket (as I found out later) from BL to Phnom Penh (where Will and I would be meeting back up in a few days). I was told that there were no direct buses from BL to PP in one day and that I would have to spend a night in another city between the two. This was semi believable considering BL is out in the middle of nowhere. The guy (who I had been playing cards with for the past hour) told me that he could help me out and could arrange for me to make the journey all in one day. I went against my better judgement and bought the ticket from him right then and there and also booked a night at his friends guesthouse in BL because I would be arriving late and didn't want to wander looking for a place to stay.
The bus ride was only about 5 hours long but it was by far the worst I have had on this trip so far. The bus pulled up and I instantly knew it was going to be anything but a comfortable ride. The best way to describe the bus is simply by saying it was a "very,very local bus." Not only were all the seats full but the isle was also full of people sitting on the floor. To make the trip even worse after 10 minutes of driving the pavement ended and the rest of the way was extremely bumpy and dusty roads. The dust was so thick in the air of the bus that I had to tie a t-shirt around my face just to breath. After about 20 minutes my entire body was also covered in a thick layer of the red dust. Needless to say after the 5 hours I was more than ready to get out of the bus and was extremely happy with my decision to book a place to stay ahead of time. I was met by a guy with a "Mr. Rooney" sign and he took me right to the guest house which was very nice (one of the old Governors houses). That night I didn't do a much - just got some dinner and chatted with some other travelers staying there then called it a night.
I woke up the next morning and had a plan. I went to BL because it is known for its beautiful waterfalls and an impressive crater lake. I decided not to take a guided tour but to rent a motorbike instead and do it myself (which the Lonely Planet specifically warns not to do because they said it was very easy to get lost and see nothing). But I went for it anyways because it was about half the price and it is always more fun to do things like this on your own. I rented a motorbike from some guy rather than from a company because he was at my guesthouse and it was cheaper (but the bike was a piece). I got a basic map that had the sights I wanted to see on it and headed off towards the first waterfall. Naturally I ended up getting extremely lost because the map was awful. So for about an hour or so I road around trying to find this waterfall and kept stopping to ask people where it was but this was a joke because no one speaks English and I speak zero Khmer. To make things even more difficult all the roads were thick gravel which made driving very slow. At one point I was coming down a big hill and tried to stop to ask some guy where I was and as I did so the bike totally went out from under me and I went flying down the gravel hill for a good distance before coming to a stop (Mom I was totally okay and was wearing my helmet like a good boy). The bike received some damage but nothing too bad considering it was already fairly beat up.
After this tough start the rest of the afternoon went fairly well. I ended up getting my directions figured out and made it to all 3 major waterfalls and the crater lake. I spent the late afternoon swimming at the lake and just relaxing there. I headed back to my guesthouse around 5 because that is when I needed to have the motorbike back by. Of course as soon as I pulled up the guy noticed that I had crashed his bike. He was very nice about it and didn't make me pay hardly anything for the damage. What he did request however was that I take him out for a drink that night at a bar as payment because he wanted a chance to practice his English. I thought this sounded like a great idea and was happy to do this as a "sorry for messing up your bike" rather than having to pay an arm and a leg to have it fixed (as most places make you do). So later that night he returned and picked me up and we headed into town (which is not much of a town at all) for a drink. What I didn't realize when I agreed to this deal was that the idea of a bar in this town is nothing like the my idea of what a bar is. The first place we pulled up to was dark and had florescent lights blaring and also had about 15 skimpily dressed girls standing outside. I immediately asked him if we could find another place where we could just hang out and have a drink and he agreed and we were off to the next place. Our second stop was almost identical to the first except there were about twice as many girls awaiting our arrival. Again I tried explaining my idea of a bar to him and he seemed to get it this time. When we arrived at our third stop I realized that all the bars in this town were the same and that they all came with a large flock of "working women" as I will call them. Feeling obligated to come through on our agreement (after all I did crash his motorbike and this was the payment) I said the place looked fine and agreed to go in with him. As it turned out there was no bar at this place at all but instead it was made up of individual rooms with big couches and karaoke systems. We were escorted into such a room and about 15 girls followed us in. I was so embarrassed and awkward I could hardly look up at them as he selected which ones he wanted to stay and join us for the evening. Once he had made his selection the others left and the karaoke began. After about 10 minutes the girl who was seated next to me got the point that I wasn't interested in the whole situation so she left (not too happy). So for the next hour and fifty minutes I sat there with this guy and his girl listening to really loud and bad Cambodian karaoke songs. Let's just say that when our time was up I practically ran out of the place (but of course I had to pay and the total was a bit more than the drink I was expected to buy this guy). A bit scarred I returned to my guesthouse and went to sleep very ready to leave BL the next morning on my early bus to PP.
But the adventures continued the next morning. As I was leaving the guesthouse I discovered that ONE of my sandals had been taken (you have to leave your shoes and sandals at the entrance) so I was left with only my left sandal. Pissed, I found a right sandal that fit me and took that and then headed for my bus. This is where the real fun began. When I handed them my ticket (which remember I had payed almost twice the actual price for) they told me that it was not a real ticket rendering it useless. This was the straw that broke the camels back and I started to get a bit heated with the bus guy which is something I never do. After many phone calls and me refusing to believe that the bus was full as they were saying it was I finally was able to convince them to let me on and to give me an actual ticket free of charge. Stressed but relieved I took my seat on the bus and spent the next 12 hours calming down in the hot, dusty, cramped, and uncomfortable local bus that brought me all the way to Phnom Penh. As I said..not the best start to Cambodia.
-RBC
At this point Will and I headed in separate directions because Will was off to Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat (I had seen this last year on my trip with Ned so I opted to do something different) while I headed to Ban Lung in Northeastern Cambodia. So this blog will be about my adventures getting to and from Ban Lung and Will will give you some info about his trip as well.
Things got off to a bad start right away for me in Cambodia. While waiting for my bus out to Ban Lung I got scammed into buying an overpriced return ticket (as I found out later) from BL to Phnom Penh (where Will and I would be meeting back up in a few days). I was told that there were no direct buses from BL to PP in one day and that I would have to spend a night in another city between the two. This was semi believable considering BL is out in the middle of nowhere. The guy (who I had been playing cards with for the past hour) told me that he could help me out and could arrange for me to make the journey all in one day. I went against my better judgement and bought the ticket from him right then and there and also booked a night at his friends guesthouse in BL because I would be arriving late and didn't want to wander looking for a place to stay.
The bus ride was only about 5 hours long but it was by far the worst I have had on this trip so far. The bus pulled up and I instantly knew it was going to be anything but a comfortable ride. The best way to describe the bus is simply by saying it was a "very,very local bus." Not only were all the seats full but the isle was also full of people sitting on the floor. To make the trip even worse after 10 minutes of driving the pavement ended and the rest of the way was extremely bumpy and dusty roads. The dust was so thick in the air of the bus that I had to tie a t-shirt around my face just to breath. After about 20 minutes my entire body was also covered in a thick layer of the red dust. Needless to say after the 5 hours I was more than ready to get out of the bus and was extremely happy with my decision to book a place to stay ahead of time. I was met by a guy with a "Mr. Rooney" sign and he took me right to the guest house which was very nice (one of the old Governors houses). That night I didn't do a much - just got some dinner and chatted with some other travelers staying there then called it a night.
I woke up the next morning and had a plan. I went to BL because it is known for its beautiful waterfalls and an impressive crater lake. I decided not to take a guided tour but to rent a motorbike instead and do it myself (which the Lonely Planet specifically warns not to do because they said it was very easy to get lost and see nothing). But I went for it anyways because it was about half the price and it is always more fun to do things like this on your own. I rented a motorbike from some guy rather than from a company because he was at my guesthouse and it was cheaper (but the bike was a piece). I got a basic map that had the sights I wanted to see on it and headed off towards the first waterfall. Naturally I ended up getting extremely lost because the map was awful. So for about an hour or so I road around trying to find this waterfall and kept stopping to ask people where it was but this was a joke because no one speaks English and I speak zero Khmer. To make things even more difficult all the roads were thick gravel which made driving very slow. At one point I was coming down a big hill and tried to stop to ask some guy where I was and as I did so the bike totally went out from under me and I went flying down the gravel hill for a good distance before coming to a stop (Mom I was totally okay and was wearing my helmet like a good boy). The bike received some damage but nothing too bad considering it was already fairly beat up.
After this tough start the rest of the afternoon went fairly well. I ended up getting my directions figured out and made it to all 3 major waterfalls and the crater lake. I spent the late afternoon swimming at the lake and just relaxing there. I headed back to my guesthouse around 5 because that is when I needed to have the motorbike back by. Of course as soon as I pulled up the guy noticed that I had crashed his bike. He was very nice about it and didn't make me pay hardly anything for the damage. What he did request however was that I take him out for a drink that night at a bar as payment because he wanted a chance to practice his English. I thought this sounded like a great idea and was happy to do this as a "sorry for messing up your bike" rather than having to pay an arm and a leg to have it fixed (as most places make you do). So later that night he returned and picked me up and we headed into town (which is not much of a town at all) for a drink. What I didn't realize when I agreed to this deal was that the idea of a bar in this town is nothing like the my idea of what a bar is. The first place we pulled up to was dark and had florescent lights blaring and also had about 15 skimpily dressed girls standing outside. I immediately asked him if we could find another place where we could just hang out and have a drink and he agreed and we were off to the next place. Our second stop was almost identical to the first except there were about twice as many girls awaiting our arrival. Again I tried explaining my idea of a bar to him and he seemed to get it this time. When we arrived at our third stop I realized that all the bars in this town were the same and that they all came with a large flock of "working women" as I will call them. Feeling obligated to come through on our agreement (after all I did crash his motorbike and this was the payment) I said the place looked fine and agreed to go in with him. As it turned out there was no bar at this place at all but instead it was made up of individual rooms with big couches and karaoke systems. We were escorted into such a room and about 15 girls followed us in. I was so embarrassed and awkward I could hardly look up at them as he selected which ones he wanted to stay and join us for the evening. Once he had made his selection the others left and the karaoke began. After about 10 minutes the girl who was seated next to me got the point that I wasn't interested in the whole situation so she left (not too happy). So for the next hour and fifty minutes I sat there with this guy and his girl listening to really loud and bad Cambodian karaoke songs. Let's just say that when our time was up I practically ran out of the place (but of course I had to pay and the total was a bit more than the drink I was expected to buy this guy). A bit scarred I returned to my guesthouse and went to sleep very ready to leave BL the next morning on my early bus to PP.
But the adventures continued the next morning. As I was leaving the guesthouse I discovered that ONE of my sandals had been taken (you have to leave your shoes and sandals at the entrance) so I was left with only my left sandal. Pissed, I found a right sandal that fit me and took that and then headed for my bus. This is where the real fun began. When I handed them my ticket (which remember I had payed almost twice the actual price for) they told me that it was not a real ticket rendering it useless. This was the straw that broke the camels back and I started to get a bit heated with the bus guy which is something I never do. After many phone calls and me refusing to believe that the bus was full as they were saying it was I finally was able to convince them to let me on and to give me an actual ticket free of charge. Stressed but relieved I took my seat on the bus and spent the next 12 hours calming down in the hot, dusty, cramped, and uncomfortable local bus that brought me all the way to Phnom Penh. As I said..not the best start to Cambodia.
-RBC
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Last day in Laos
Our boat left at 7 AM and it took just over an hour to get to Don Det. We had an agenda when we arrived and first thing was to figure out our transportation to Cambodia for the following day. While investigating this we both realized that we had close to no money left in our wallets and it was then that we remembered reading that there are no ATMs in the area. The closest one is back in Pakse which is a 4 hour bus ride away in the opposite direction from where we want to go. Clearly we did not think this one through before making the rushed decision to not stay (or at least use the ATM) in Pakse. So now we were in a bit of a jam. We had enough money to pay for our housing that night and to eat 2 more meals but that was it. We went to one of the travel places and began trying to figure out what our best option was and after 30 mins it seemed like there was no good option. The last thing we wanted to do was pay a bunch of money (that we didn't have) to backtrack to Pakse simply for an ATM. After more conversation with some other locals we discovered that there was a bank on the mainland only 15 minutes north of where we were. However it was Sunday meaning the bank was closed. The bus to Cambodia was to leave at 9 AM the next morning and we were able to convince the travel man to take us early to go to the bank so we could try and get money to pay for the ticket. He agreed and bumped the price of our ticket up a bit but nothing compared to the cost of having to go all the way back to Pakse.
With that speed bump temporarily taken care of we decided to seize the day. Again we rented bikes and set out to explore the island. Don Det is much smaller that Don Khong and it also is connected to another island (Don Kong) by an old railway bridge so there was a lot for us to check out. The roads however are not roads at all but rather dirt paths that are extremely rocky and bumpy which made the going slow and our butts even more sore than they already were from the previous day of biking. On our way to our first destination (Southeast Asia's largest waterfall..by volume) I hit a rock and my front tire went flat. Major bummer but I was able to walk to a place that could fix it using some crazy fire patch technique I had never seen before. After that we were back on our way and the rest of the afternoon went fairly smoothly. After seeing the waterfall we tried circumnavigate Don Kong but ended up getting lost and very confused because we were without a map. It worked out though and we got to see some old French port which overlooked Cambodia and also met up with another lost and confused biker, Joe from England. Together we were able to find our way back but in total we had been on our bikes for over 5 hours so when we finally got back we were spent and very sore (there has been limited physical activity up to this point during our trip). The rest of the night was standard - food and drinks over the river then off to bed.
-RBC
With that speed bump temporarily taken care of we decided to seize the day. Again we rented bikes and set out to explore the island. Don Det is much smaller that Don Khong and it also is connected to another island (Don Kong) by an old railway bridge so there was a lot for us to check out. The roads however are not roads at all but rather dirt paths that are extremely rocky and bumpy which made the going slow and our butts even more sore than they already were from the previous day of biking. On our way to our first destination (Southeast Asia's largest waterfall..by volume) I hit a rock and my front tire went flat. Major bummer but I was able to walk to a place that could fix it using some crazy fire patch technique I had never seen before. After that we were back on our way and the rest of the afternoon went fairly smoothly. After seeing the waterfall we tried circumnavigate Don Kong but ended up getting lost and very confused because we were without a map. It worked out though and we got to see some old French port which overlooked Cambodia and also met up with another lost and confused biker, Joe from England. Together we were able to find our way back but in total we had been on our bikes for over 5 hours so when we finally got back we were spent and very sore (there has been limited physical activity up to this point during our trip). The rest of the night was standard - food and drinks over the river then off to bed.
-RBC
4000 Islands
So our original plan was to go from Vientiane to Pakse and spend a day or two there as Will mentioned. We got the overnight bus which actually was a sleeper bus where we had our own beds! This sounds great at first but then picture Will and me sharing a bunk that is designed to fit the small body frames of Asian people for 12 hours. Not so comfortable. The beds were about a foot too short and we were practically laying on top of each other. Despite the fact that we got no sleep I think I would take that set up over the regular bus seat any day. When we arrived in Pakse we decided we didn't want to stay after all. I'm not sure how/why/when this decision was made but as soon as we stepped off the bus we walked to the counter and bought another ticket to continue our journey to the 4,000 Islands (another 4 hours south). When we finally arrived there we were tired and hungry so we quickly found a guest house on the island of Don Khong (the largest of all the islands) and rested briefly. Our next move was to rent bicycles and tour around the island for the afternoon. We were originally planning on going around the entire island but after about 7 minutes of peddling on uncomfortable bikes in the afternoon heat we decided the short loop would be more than enough. It still took us just over an hour and despite the heat and our sore butts it was a very scenic bike ride. When we returned to our guest house we had little motivation to do anything so we decided to do nothing. We went to a restaurant overlooking the river and ate/read/played backgammon for a few hours. We attempted to go for another hour bike ride after our relaxation session to see the sunset but only made it about 20 minutes before returning to the comfort of our guesthouse. The rest of the night was very uneventful...more food, more reading, more games then off to bed. Oh we did book a ferry boat (when I say ferry I mean little wooden canoe with a engine that looks like it could sink at any moment) to Don Det which is another island a bit farther south of our current location.
-RBC
-RBC
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
From Loung Probang to Vientiane
After returning to Loung Probang we decided it was time to make our way south and check out the tubing scene at Vang Vieng. We ran into the wolf pack and they were headed in the same direction so we booked seats on the van they already hired.
The next morning we grabbed some sandwiches for the road and for breakfast. The van was supposed to pick us up at our friends guest house around eight thirty. Due to a series of delays including a van switch we ended not getting on the road in till 11 or so. The van we thought we were going to be in mysteriously got switched to a much more uncomfortable one which was a bit of a let down. However the ride was saved by the scenery along the way. The road was a series of switchbacks that took us through a couple mountain passes. We asked the driver if we could stop in to take a picture of a series of mountains that looked more like stalagmites then mountains but he quickly said no.
On arrival we got dropped off at a cheep guest house that was a couple blocks from the river. The group decided to keep looking and ended up hitting the jackpot (well sort of). We found a two rooms that each fit four people that had a private balcony overlooking the river and the mountains (private because the other two rooms were not being used).
In the morning we went to get some breakfast and search for the famous (or so we thought) family guy bar. Turns out 90 percent of the bars/restaurants our either family guy or friends bars. So we found the closest one and ate some breakfast. Seeing that there was probably not a whole lot going on other then the tubing scene up the river Rooney and I booked our bus ticket for Vientiane for the next afternoon. It had been raining all morning and was still kind of gray out be we were able to rally the troops to go and check out what was going on up the river.
We got there around 3 and much to our surprise the party was in full swing. People were having small dance parties on the docks of these bars and were covered in paint. It almost looked like little full moon parties on all the docks. There was also zip lines at a couple of the bars. It was very entertaining watching people hold on to long and consequently get launched into the water. After some careful consideration we decided not to rent tubes to float down the river and instead just walk from bar to bar and if need be swim across. This was due to the price of the tube along with the deposit you had to lay down (I guess tubes get lost and stolen on all the time).
At the second bar we stopped at featured one of the zip lines. Watching people struggle with the idea of letting go seemed to be even funnier up close. However after we were there for a little while it seemed appropriate to show people how to properly use a zip line (for there own safety of course). So once again Rooney and I sacrificed our time in order to help out our fellow party goers and climbed up the tower. We of course let go at the proper time and had to of looked much more graceful and in control then the hooligans we had watched earlier. When the zip lining lesson was over and everyone new how it should be done safely and responsibly we moved on down the river.
Our next stop had a mud volleyball court that was heavily aided by the rain from the morning. So naturally we decided to get a little game of three on three going. However it turned out that walking was going to be the biggest issue. The court was flooded and had hidden holes all over that seemed to be about 2 feet deep. After a couple of minuets of failed rally attempts the frustration was taken out by everyone getting tackled into the mud. Afterwords we went for a swim in the river to wash off. We dried off and hung around for a little bit it in till it was dark and time to head back to town. The rest of the night was a more low key compared to the zip lining and after hanging out with the wolf pack we went to sleep.
The next morning everyone woke up a little soar not to surprisingly. Members of the group woke up with shoulders that ached. We decided that it had to be from getting tackled in the mud and had nothing to due with our zip lining technique. Later that day it was off to Vientiane.
Still a little tired from the day before we had an early night. The next couple days were taken up by doing a bunch of site seeing around the city. The highlight was the Buddha park about 25 kilometers outside the city. It was a collection of Buddhist, Hindu, and other religious sculptures from around the area. Walking around the different statues and sculpture was really fun and it felt oddly familiar for some reason. Later we realized the reason it seemed so familiar was the reason all the sculptures were in the park in the first place. It had to have been an ancient winterlude stone carving contest. This was obviously the reason all these carvings were in the same place and with that mystery solved we ate some lunch by the river.
Our nights were filled with just eating and hanging out at local food stands by the river. After a couple days we booked our ticket south to Pakse.
-WBM
The next morning we grabbed some sandwiches for the road and for breakfast. The van was supposed to pick us up at our friends guest house around eight thirty. Due to a series of delays including a van switch we ended not getting on the road in till 11 or so. The van we thought we were going to be in mysteriously got switched to a much more uncomfortable one which was a bit of a let down. However the ride was saved by the scenery along the way. The road was a series of switchbacks that took us through a couple mountain passes. We asked the driver if we could stop in to take a picture of a series of mountains that looked more like stalagmites then mountains but he quickly said no.
On arrival we got dropped off at a cheep guest house that was a couple blocks from the river. The group decided to keep looking and ended up hitting the jackpot (well sort of). We found a two rooms that each fit four people that had a private balcony overlooking the river and the mountains (private because the other two rooms were not being used).
In the morning we went to get some breakfast and search for the famous (or so we thought) family guy bar. Turns out 90 percent of the bars/restaurants our either family guy or friends bars. So we found the closest one and ate some breakfast. Seeing that there was probably not a whole lot going on other then the tubing scene up the river Rooney and I booked our bus ticket for Vientiane for the next afternoon. It had been raining all morning and was still kind of gray out be we were able to rally the troops to go and check out what was going on up the river.
We got there around 3 and much to our surprise the party was in full swing. People were having small dance parties on the docks of these bars and were covered in paint. It almost looked like little full moon parties on all the docks. There was also zip lines at a couple of the bars. It was very entertaining watching people hold on to long and consequently get launched into the water. After some careful consideration we decided not to rent tubes to float down the river and instead just walk from bar to bar and if need be swim across. This was due to the price of the tube along with the deposit you had to lay down (I guess tubes get lost and stolen on all the time).
At the second bar we stopped at featured one of the zip lines. Watching people struggle with the idea of letting go seemed to be even funnier up close. However after we were there for a little while it seemed appropriate to show people how to properly use a zip line (for there own safety of course). So once again Rooney and I sacrificed our time in order to help out our fellow party goers and climbed up the tower. We of course let go at the proper time and had to of looked much more graceful and in control then the hooligans we had watched earlier. When the zip lining lesson was over and everyone new how it should be done safely and responsibly we moved on down the river.
Our next stop had a mud volleyball court that was heavily aided by the rain from the morning. So naturally we decided to get a little game of three on three going. However it turned out that walking was going to be the biggest issue. The court was flooded and had hidden holes all over that seemed to be about 2 feet deep. After a couple of minuets of failed rally attempts the frustration was taken out by everyone getting tackled into the mud. Afterwords we went for a swim in the river to wash off. We dried off and hung around for a little bit it in till it was dark and time to head back to town. The rest of the night was a more low key compared to the zip lining and after hanging out with the wolf pack we went to sleep.
The next morning everyone woke up a little soar not to surprisingly. Members of the group woke up with shoulders that ached. We decided that it had to be from getting tackled in the mud and had nothing to due with our zip lining technique. Later that day it was off to Vientiane.
Still a little tired from the day before we had an early night. The next couple days were taken up by doing a bunch of site seeing around the city. The highlight was the Buddha park about 25 kilometers outside the city. It was a collection of Buddhist, Hindu, and other religious sculptures from around the area. Walking around the different statues and sculpture was really fun and it felt oddly familiar for some reason. Later we realized the reason it seemed so familiar was the reason all the sculptures were in the park in the first place. It had to have been an ancient winterlude stone carving contest. This was obviously the reason all these carvings were in the same place and with that mystery solved we ate some lunch by the river.
Our nights were filled with just eating and hanging out at local food stands by the river. After a couple days we booked our ticket south to Pakse.
-WBM
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Playing catch up...again
Clearly it has been more than a while since our last blog so this is going to be just a very quick update about the past month or so. After leaving Indonesia we flew into BKK. I was extremely happy to be back in Thailand even though I'm not the biggest fan of BKK. We were planning on staying there just for a day or two but ended up being there for just under a week. We meet up with some of my friends (both Thai and American) and did a bit of site seeing but nothing worth mentioning. One night we were at a bar listening to some live music (a Thai guy playing guitar and a foreigner on the harmonica) and when they finished we approached the foreign guy and asked him if he would be willing to meet us the following day for a harmonica lesson (Will brought a harmonica with the intention of learning to play but left the "learn to play" book at home so we have made little progress). He was more than happy to accept so the next day we took a taxi outside of the city to his house which was an adventure in itself but I'm not going to go into that. The guys name was Charlie (or Charlie McScallywag as he called himself) and he was originally from AUS but has been living in Thailand for the past 20 years teaching art. This man was one of the most intense hippies I have ever met and after 22 years in VT that is saying something. Our lesson was not a lesson at all but rather a free love harmonica jam session. Charlie McScallywag did not believe that music could be taught...it simply had to be felt. After playing around with the harmonicas for a bit we entered into deep talks about love and life (Will and I did very little talking and a whole lot of listening and nodding). We did get a free dinner out of this visit though and his Thai wife was quite a good cook so it made the experience almost worth while.
After BKK we headed to the floating markets which are just a few hours north of BKK. We spent the night there and saw the markets early in the morning. We hired a little boat to take us through the hundreds of boats and canoes stuffed with items for sale. We purchased our breakfast from some old lady selling noodles and ate them as we floated through the rest of the market.
Next we were off to Kachanaburi which was a few hours to the west if I can remember properly. We were there for 2 nights and while there we visited many different sites including a Burmese War museum as well as the Bridge over the River Kwai. A brief but very informative stay.
Ayutthaya was our next stop and again it was a site seeing city. Ayutthaya has a large historical park with many stunning temples so we rented bikes and checked as many of those out as we could in the one afternoon we had. Biking during midday in this part of the world is a bit exhausting so after 4 hours we were beat. Will and I separated that afternoon because he wanted to check out Sukhotthai, which is the ancient capital, while I headed straight to Chiang Mai (I had been to Sukhotthai 2 times previously and didn't feel like doing it a third time). Will got off at the wrong bus stop about 2 hours short of his intended destination. He was so lost without me but it ended working out fine because he got off at a cool city so he got to check that out.
We spent the remainder of our visa (about another 2 weeks) in Chiang Mai. We didn't really do a ton but we had a blast. This is the city I stayed in during my semester abroad last year so I had many friends who I was happy to see again. We did a bit of site seeing but not too much because the days are so hot that we can't motivate ourselves to go out and do things. Sitting in a shaded bar is much more appealing than going around in the head sweating our butts off. One of our big activities was camping at Doi Inthanon National Park. Doi Inthanon is the highest mountain in Thailand and it is a major holiday destination for Thais who like camping. We went with some of my friends and we were a group of 10 total. The camping isn't really roughing it but it was a great time regardless. Despite being in CM for just over 2 weeks there isn't a lot to report because we were just relaxing and hanging out with friends.
Our next move was into Laos where we are currently. We took a bus to the north of Thailand and crossed into Laos and then took a two day slow boat ride down the Mekong river to Luang Prabang (I had done this trip last year as well with Ned). Day 1 on the boat is about 7 hours before stopping in some riverside village that exists only because this boat stops there daily with a bunch of foreigners. The generaters shut off at 10 PM so there isn't much to do there but sleep. Will and I payed a dollar for our "room" which was not a room by any means. We spend the night outside on the balcony of some peoples home on a mattress they had set up to make some extra cash. Needless to say we didn't sleep a ton that night but that was okay because we had to be up early to get back on the boat anyways. The 2nd day was about 8 hours and we arrived in Luang Prabang just before 5 PM. We spent the night but left early the next morning to head back up north to a place called Muang Noi Neu (or something like that) which was amazing. It is totally in the middle of nowhere and we had to take a bus then another boat to get there. It is this tiny village built into the jungle covered mountains and is an amazing place for trekking. We spent two nights there (our bungalow cost us 80 cents each and was located looking out over the river) and did a one day trek through rice fields to a waterfall. It was a totally last minute and random decision to go there but it ended up being a trip highlight to this point. Today we arrived back in Luang Prabang but we are off to Vieng Vien tomorrow.
So that was a very, very brief catch up but now we are at least up to speed. Hopefully we will be a bit better about staying on top of this blog in the future.
-RBC
After BKK we headed to the floating markets which are just a few hours north of BKK. We spent the night there and saw the markets early in the morning. We hired a little boat to take us through the hundreds of boats and canoes stuffed with items for sale. We purchased our breakfast from some old lady selling noodles and ate them as we floated through the rest of the market.
Next we were off to Kachanaburi which was a few hours to the west if I can remember properly. We were there for 2 nights and while there we visited many different sites including a Burmese War museum as well as the Bridge over the River Kwai. A brief but very informative stay.
Ayutthaya was our next stop and again it was a site seeing city. Ayutthaya has a large historical park with many stunning temples so we rented bikes and checked as many of those out as we could in the one afternoon we had. Biking during midday in this part of the world is a bit exhausting so after 4 hours we were beat. Will and I separated that afternoon because he wanted to check out Sukhotthai, which is the ancient capital, while I headed straight to Chiang Mai (I had been to Sukhotthai 2 times previously and didn't feel like doing it a third time). Will got off at the wrong bus stop about 2 hours short of his intended destination. He was so lost without me but it ended working out fine because he got off at a cool city so he got to check that out.
We spent the remainder of our visa (about another 2 weeks) in Chiang Mai. We didn't really do a ton but we had a blast. This is the city I stayed in during my semester abroad last year so I had many friends who I was happy to see again. We did a bit of site seeing but not too much because the days are so hot that we can't motivate ourselves to go out and do things. Sitting in a shaded bar is much more appealing than going around in the head sweating our butts off. One of our big activities was camping at Doi Inthanon National Park. Doi Inthanon is the highest mountain in Thailand and it is a major holiday destination for Thais who like camping. We went with some of my friends and we were a group of 10 total. The camping isn't really roughing it but it was a great time regardless. Despite being in CM for just over 2 weeks there isn't a lot to report because we were just relaxing and hanging out with friends.
Our next move was into Laos where we are currently. We took a bus to the north of Thailand and crossed into Laos and then took a two day slow boat ride down the Mekong river to Luang Prabang (I had done this trip last year as well with Ned). Day 1 on the boat is about 7 hours before stopping in some riverside village that exists only because this boat stops there daily with a bunch of foreigners. The generaters shut off at 10 PM so there isn't much to do there but sleep. Will and I payed a dollar for our "room" which was not a room by any means. We spend the night outside on the balcony of some peoples home on a mattress they had set up to make some extra cash. Needless to say we didn't sleep a ton that night but that was okay because we had to be up early to get back on the boat anyways. The 2nd day was about 8 hours and we arrived in Luang Prabang just before 5 PM. We spent the night but left early the next morning to head back up north to a place called Muang Noi Neu (or something like that) which was amazing. It is totally in the middle of nowhere and we had to take a bus then another boat to get there. It is this tiny village built into the jungle covered mountains and is an amazing place for trekking. We spent two nights there (our bungalow cost us 80 cents each and was located looking out over the river) and did a one day trek through rice fields to a waterfall. It was a totally last minute and random decision to go there but it ended up being a trip highlight to this point. Today we arrived back in Luang Prabang but we are off to Vieng Vien tomorrow.
So that was a very, very brief catch up but now we are at least up to speed. Hopefully we will be a bit better about staying on top of this blog in the future.
-RBC
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Last days in Indonesia
Our last stop in Indonesia is Jogjakarta (or Yogyakarta..same). The bus from Ubud to Jogja left from the Denpasar station at 2 PM and it was a 16 hr overnight bus which we have become fans of because it means no paying for housing that night. The ride went by relatively quickly although it is always difficult for me to sleep on buses (Will on the other hand can sleep anywhere at anytime which always makes me mad). We arrived in Jogja around 8 AM and then took motorbike taxis (interesting with our big bags on) to the backpacker area we would be staying. We found a decent place that was only 3 USD a night for each of us. We were pretty tired and didnt feel like doing a whole lot so we rested a bit before checking the area out. We also met up with some friends that we had made in Jakarta who were in Jogja for the weekend. They took us around which was nice because we got to see some interesting things we wouldn't have otherwise. That night we all got dinner together then went out for a bit but we were all pretty tired so the night didn't materialize into much.
The next day we got up and headed to the hospital because Will had broken out in a weird rash (starting the previous day). His legs, feet and arms were covered in big red bumps and the itching was driving him crazy. I told him to suck it up but he insisted that we go to the hospital. They told him that it was either a bug allergy or a food allergy. We are assuming he got it during the bus ride because it started just after that but we really dont have any clue. Being the annoying cousin I am I kept trying to convince the doctor that in my medical opinion amputation was the only logical solution but she seemed to think otherwise. They gave him so pills and already it is looking much better (no need to worry aunt Lynn). The rest of that day we checked out some sights before heading back to our hotel and packing up to head out for our next destination which was Borobudur (a big temple). We had hear that seeing it for sunrise was the thing to do so we decided to sleep in a place that was closer to it that night so we could roll out of bed and be there (it was about an hour bus ride from our current location).
So now we are all caught up. We woke up at 5:30 AM this morning and went to the temple for sunrise. However, they dont let you enter the grounds until 6 AM which means the sun has already risen for the most part. It was still worth being there early because there were very few people whereas it is a mob scene in the afternoon. After walking around for an hour or so (and yes Mom and aunt Lynn we took pictures) we headed back to our hotel for our free breakfast. We are now about to head back to the main city area of Jogja for our last night before flying out of the Jogja airport tomorrow at 7:30 AM. We are flying to Singapore then from there to Bangkok.
I should also mention that something strange has happened to both of us. During our travels we have developed a new habit that has been foreign to both of us until this point: reading. For some strange reason, unknown to either of us, we now enjoy (dare i say) this whole reading thing that we have heard so much about. In the past week we have both finished 2 books which is something i never thought i would say. Due to 22 years of total disregard and avoidance of this reading business we both are clueless when it comes to good books. Therefore we would be appreciative and willing to accept any suggestions that you may have. Thank you.
-RBC
The next day we got up and headed to the hospital because Will had broken out in a weird rash (starting the previous day). His legs, feet and arms were covered in big red bumps and the itching was driving him crazy. I told him to suck it up but he insisted that we go to the hospital. They told him that it was either a bug allergy or a food allergy. We are assuming he got it during the bus ride because it started just after that but we really dont have any clue. Being the annoying cousin I am I kept trying to convince the doctor that in my medical opinion amputation was the only logical solution but she seemed to think otherwise. They gave him so pills and already it is looking much better (no need to worry aunt Lynn). The rest of that day we checked out some sights before heading back to our hotel and packing up to head out for our next destination which was Borobudur (a big temple). We had hear that seeing it for sunrise was the thing to do so we decided to sleep in a place that was closer to it that night so we could roll out of bed and be there (it was about an hour bus ride from our current location).
So now we are all caught up. We woke up at 5:30 AM this morning and went to the temple for sunrise. However, they dont let you enter the grounds until 6 AM which means the sun has already risen for the most part. It was still worth being there early because there were very few people whereas it is a mob scene in the afternoon. After walking around for an hour or so (and yes Mom and aunt Lynn we took pictures) we headed back to our hotel for our free breakfast. We are now about to head back to the main city area of Jogja for our last night before flying out of the Jogja airport tomorrow at 7:30 AM. We are flying to Singapore then from there to Bangkok.
I should also mention that something strange has happened to both of us. During our travels we have developed a new habit that has been foreign to both of us until this point: reading. For some strange reason, unknown to either of us, we now enjoy (dare i say) this whole reading thing that we have heard so much about. In the past week we have both finished 2 books which is something i never thought i would say. Due to 22 years of total disregard and avoidance of this reading business we both are clueless when it comes to good books. Therefore we would be appreciative and willing to accept any suggestions that you may have. Thank you.
-RBC
Rinjani Day 3 & the Gili Islands
**For some reason the ordering of these blogs got messed up so this should entry should be read before the one about our stop in Ubud. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Not much to report about the last day. We woke up for breakfast at 7 AM and we were all extremely sore so the thought of walking 4 hours downhill was not appealing. You would think that downhill would be easier but at that point our legs were so shot (due to the fact that they remain relatively inactive most of the time) that going down was very taxing on the legs and knees. It took us just under 4 hours to hike all the way out and get to where a truck was waiting to take us back to civilization. We grabbed lunch at the restaurant/hotel where our big bags were and took advantage of the hot sun to dry our clothes that were still wet from the day 1 rain. As part of the tour package that we bought we got transportation to our next destination which was the Gili Islands. Absolutely beautiful spot (we stayed on Gili Trawangan) and we were very ready to once again relax on a beach and let our bodies recover. We didn't do anything on the day we arrived or on the following day...we decided these were our well deserved recovery days. Merrill and Tom went diving on the first day while Jesus, Will and I made sure that we participated in no active activities and simply relaxed all day long. The following morning was a sad one because it marked the end of the wolf pack. Tom, Merril and Jesus had booked their flight to BKK from Java a few days earlier than Will and me so they had to get up early that morning and head out. We will most likely cross paths again in mainland SEA but we all have different ideas of where we want to go and how long we want to spend in each place so it makes sense to separate. It had been a good run but for now the wolf pack has been reduced to two (arguably the strongest and most dominant members remain..). Will and I decided to stay one more night because we wanted to do some snorkeling around the 3 islands. We did a 5 hour snorkel tour for 7 USD which was well worth it (in my opinion...Will may tell you otherwise because he "isn't a big snorkeler"). It was also nice because it gave us a chance to check out the other two islands: Meno and Air. That night we took a ride in a horse drawn buggy (very romantic) to the opposite side of the island so that we could watch the sunset (even more romantic). It was a beautiful sunset and a perfect way to finish our stay in Lombok and the Gili Islands.
Not much to report about the last day. We woke up for breakfast at 7 AM and we were all extremely sore so the thought of walking 4 hours downhill was not appealing. You would think that downhill would be easier but at that point our legs were so shot (due to the fact that they remain relatively inactive most of the time) that going down was very taxing on the legs and knees. It took us just under 4 hours to hike all the way out and get to where a truck was waiting to take us back to civilization. We grabbed lunch at the restaurant/hotel where our big bags were and took advantage of the hot sun to dry our clothes that were still wet from the day 1 rain. As part of the tour package that we bought we got transportation to our next destination which was the Gili Islands. Absolutely beautiful spot (we stayed on Gili Trawangan) and we were very ready to once again relax on a beach and let our bodies recover. We didn't do anything on the day we arrived or on the following day...we decided these were our well deserved recovery days. Merrill and Tom went diving on the first day while Jesus, Will and I made sure that we participated in no active activities and simply relaxed all day long. The following morning was a sad one because it marked the end of the wolf pack. Tom, Merril and Jesus had booked their flight to BKK from Java a few days earlier than Will and me so they had to get up early that morning and head out. We will most likely cross paths again in mainland SEA but we all have different ideas of where we want to go and how long we want to spend in each place so it makes sense to separate. It had been a good run but for now the wolf pack has been reduced to two (arguably the strongest and most dominant members remain..). Will and I decided to stay one more night because we wanted to do some snorkeling around the 3 islands. We did a 5 hour snorkel tour for 7 USD which was well worth it (in my opinion...Will may tell you otherwise because he "isn't a big snorkeler"). It was also nice because it gave us a chance to check out the other two islands: Meno and Air. That night we took a ride in a horse drawn buggy (very romantic) to the opposite side of the island so that we could watch the sunset (even more romantic). It was a beautiful sunset and a perfect way to finish our stay in Lombok and the Gili Islands.
Stop at Ubud
**Read "Rinjani Day 3 and Gili Islands" first. Order mix up.
After a quick lunch we headed to the dock were the ferry was. It was a bit behind schedule because there was a traffic jam of ferry's. The dock had room for two boats and there were four or five either trying to get in or out. Sort of a mess. It took over an hour or so for the boats to get sorted out.
Once we got on the boat we found a booth which was good news because the ride was going to be about 5 hours or so. We got settled in it was time to due some reading and play catch up on our journals. This only lasted so long and found ourselves playing a couple games of backgammon. Before we new it we had a crowd of people watching us. There was probably 15 people all huddled around the table watching the action. When we stopped playing the crowd went back to there seats. I guess watching Rooney and I read was not quite as exciting.
The ferry ride seemed to go pretty fast which was good news. We landed and then had to take a hour or so long bus ride to our next destination (Ubud). We arrived at night and had a little trouble finding a place to stay. Finally we found a cheap place that included a free breakfast. After grabbing a bite to eat at this restaurant down the street we went to bed.
The next morning it was time to explore. The town was really sweet. Most of the buildings were made to look like temples. It was a great place to search for souvenirs and things like that. The markets and shops all had things that we had not seen up till this point. After kind of getting a feel for the town we figured we should check out the surrounding area. We consulted the Lonely Planet and decided to check out the "elephant cave" which was only a couple of kilometers away. We rented a motorbike and we on our way. Unfortunately the map in the Lonely Planet did not show that half of the streets were one way or closed. Due to this we attempted to find our own way to the cave. It turned out well all things considered. We got a little lost at first but were able to see some sweet countryside outside the town. We finally asked for directions and to our surprise were pretty close.
The cave itself was not very cool. It was not shaped like an elephant or appear to have any elephant markings on the entrance way. The area around the cave was a little better and featured a couple of temples and a river. By the time we were done walking around we had gotten pretty hungry and decided to head back.
After another meal at the restaurant down the street from our hostel we decided we should figure out how to get to our next stop. We decided to book a 16 bus from a near by town all the way to Yogyakarta. With the bus leaving the next day we went back to the hostel and just kind of chilled and read before going to sleep. The next morning we got a taxi to the bus station and got ready for the overnight bus.
- WBM
After a quick lunch we headed to the dock were the ferry was. It was a bit behind schedule because there was a traffic jam of ferry's. The dock had room for two boats and there were four or five either trying to get in or out. Sort of a mess. It took over an hour or so for the boats to get sorted out.
Once we got on the boat we found a booth which was good news because the ride was going to be about 5 hours or so. We got settled in it was time to due some reading and play catch up on our journals. This only lasted so long and found ourselves playing a couple games of backgammon. Before we new it we had a crowd of people watching us. There was probably 15 people all huddled around the table watching the action. When we stopped playing the crowd went back to there seats. I guess watching Rooney and I read was not quite as exciting.
The ferry ride seemed to go pretty fast which was good news. We landed and then had to take a hour or so long bus ride to our next destination (Ubud). We arrived at night and had a little trouble finding a place to stay. Finally we found a cheap place that included a free breakfast. After grabbing a bite to eat at this restaurant down the street we went to bed.
The next morning it was time to explore. The town was really sweet. Most of the buildings were made to look like temples. It was a great place to search for souvenirs and things like that. The markets and shops all had things that we had not seen up till this point. After kind of getting a feel for the town we figured we should check out the surrounding area. We consulted the Lonely Planet and decided to check out the "elephant cave" which was only a couple of kilometers away. We rented a motorbike and we on our way. Unfortunately the map in the Lonely Planet did not show that half of the streets were one way or closed. Due to this we attempted to find our own way to the cave. It turned out well all things considered. We got a little lost at first but were able to see some sweet countryside outside the town. We finally asked for directions and to our surprise were pretty close.
The cave itself was not very cool. It was not shaped like an elephant or appear to have any elephant markings on the entrance way. The area around the cave was a little better and featured a couple of temples and a river. By the time we were done walking around we had gotten pretty hungry and decided to head back.
After another meal at the restaurant down the street from our hostel we decided we should figure out how to get to our next stop. We decided to book a 16 bus from a near by town all the way to Yogyakarta. With the bus leaving the next day we went back to the hostel and just kind of chilled and read before going to sleep. The next morning we got a taxi to the bus station and got ready for the overnight bus.
- WBM
To The Top
After a pretty poor night of sleep we got up to the sound of our guide making a fire at 3 or 330. Out of our group of nine only the five Americans were going to try and get to the top. First things first we got a cup of hot tea and attempted for the second time to dry our shoes and socks by the fire. We were not able to get them dry but hot and wet was a lot better then cold and wet at 4 in the morning. After eating a couple of crackers and another cup of tea we started the climb. It was around 415 which was a little later then we had hoped but nothing we could do about it now.
The first portion of the hike was a steep uphill climb with a good amount of switchbacks. It was fairly difficult because it was dark and we had just gotten up. It took us about 45 mins or so to get to the top of the ridge. At this point we were able to see the active part of the volcano. It was unbelievable. The lava glowed bright red as it lit up the smoke it was producing as well as the mountain side it was sliding down. To make the scene even better the full moon was lighting up what the lava did not. We took a little break at this point to admire everything and listen to the volcano.
It was now time to start the climb across the ridge and eventually the top. At this point the trail became mostly gravel. It made climbing much more difficult. It felt like every time you took three steps forward you would take two back. It made the hike not only physically tasking but also mentally. Over the last section of the climb or group broke up a little bit. Not everyone in our group made it to the top for the sunrise but we all did make it. Rooney and Tom were the first to make it and got there just as the sun was coming up over the clouds. I arrived as the sun was rising over the clouds. To celebrate getting to the top we grabbed the PB and J sandwiches that I had in my bag and dug in. There are few PB and J's that have tasted that good. Sitting on top of the mountain eating the sandwiches was pretty ideal. It was a incredible sight looking out over the clouds with the sun lighting up the mountains all around us. We were able to see the gili islands which would be our next stop as well as bali which was neat. You could also see the lake on the volcano which we would be stopping at later in the day.
By mornings end there were seven people at the top of the mountain. The five of us and two other hikers from another group. It was sweet knowing that out of about 25 or so people who made the previous days hike we were five out of the seven who made it to the top. After some pictures and a video or two we headed back down. Going down the gravel was much more enjoyable then going up. There was so much gravel that it was almost like skiing down the mountain.
When we arrived at our tents breakfast was already going which was great. As people were packing up a group of monkeys arrived at the camp site. They soon were everywhere. The porters and guides attempted to scare them off but the lure of trash was to much.
The other members of our group decided due to their wet clothes and sleeping bags they were going to call it a trip. They all went down to the base of the mountain instead of staying for the second night.
With our decreased numbers we started hiking to the lake. The hike started off with a serious down hill climb. After about two hours we arrived at the lake. Once again it was well worth the pain of the hike. Water was perfectly flat. It would have been sweet for some water skiing but not a great place to launch the boat. We took a long break at the lake and made our war to the volcanic hot springs which were near by. These were kind of a let down however. We are all really tired and new we had to go for another 2 or so hour hike after lunch. Also the hot springs while did feel nice were not the cleanest water we have ever been in. After about 30 minutes or so hunger took over and we headed back for lunch. Lunch was good once again and made everyone really bummed out about the hike to our next camp site. When it was time to go putting our shoes back on was a real chore. We had to hike back up to the rim and then maybe climb down to a camp site (time permitting). By the time we got to the top of the ridge Rooney, Tom and I had gotten a little ahead of Jesus, Merrill and Sam (our guide). The porters who we were with decided that we had enough time and wanted to set up camp down the mountain a little ways. What he did not tell us was he planned on running down. Since we did not have the guide with us our only option was to follow the porter. He literately ran down the mountain in flip flops and his bamboo stick. It was really impressive though my legs wished he had just decided on walking.
All in all it was about 11 hours of hiking. We decided this was more impressive when thinking some days we are not even awake for 11 hours. Needless to say we were all really tired and glad that the sleeping bags had dried out finally. We ate dinner in the tents and before long we were all asleep. A long but very rewarding day in the books.
The first portion of the hike was a steep uphill climb with a good amount of switchbacks. It was fairly difficult because it was dark and we had just gotten up. It took us about 45 mins or so to get to the top of the ridge. At this point we were able to see the active part of the volcano. It was unbelievable. The lava glowed bright red as it lit up the smoke it was producing as well as the mountain side it was sliding down. To make the scene even better the full moon was lighting up what the lava did not. We took a little break at this point to admire everything and listen to the volcano.
It was now time to start the climb across the ridge and eventually the top. At this point the trail became mostly gravel. It made climbing much more difficult. It felt like every time you took three steps forward you would take two back. It made the hike not only physically tasking but also mentally. Over the last section of the climb or group broke up a little bit. Not everyone in our group made it to the top for the sunrise but we all did make it. Rooney and Tom were the first to make it and got there just as the sun was coming up over the clouds. I arrived as the sun was rising over the clouds. To celebrate getting to the top we grabbed the PB and J sandwiches that I had in my bag and dug in. There are few PB and J's that have tasted that good. Sitting on top of the mountain eating the sandwiches was pretty ideal. It was a incredible sight looking out over the clouds with the sun lighting up the mountains all around us. We were able to see the gili islands which would be our next stop as well as bali which was neat. You could also see the lake on the volcano which we would be stopping at later in the day.
By mornings end there were seven people at the top of the mountain. The five of us and two other hikers from another group. It was sweet knowing that out of about 25 or so people who made the previous days hike we were five out of the seven who made it to the top. After some pictures and a video or two we headed back down. Going down the gravel was much more enjoyable then going up. There was so much gravel that it was almost like skiing down the mountain.
When we arrived at our tents breakfast was already going which was great. As people were packing up a group of monkeys arrived at the camp site. They soon were everywhere. The porters and guides attempted to scare them off but the lure of trash was to much.
The other members of our group decided due to their wet clothes and sleeping bags they were going to call it a trip. They all went down to the base of the mountain instead of staying for the second night.
With our decreased numbers we started hiking to the lake. The hike started off with a serious down hill climb. After about two hours we arrived at the lake. Once again it was well worth the pain of the hike. Water was perfectly flat. It would have been sweet for some water skiing but not a great place to launch the boat. We took a long break at the lake and made our war to the volcanic hot springs which were near by. These were kind of a let down however. We are all really tired and new we had to go for another 2 or so hour hike after lunch. Also the hot springs while did feel nice were not the cleanest water we have ever been in. After about 30 minutes or so hunger took over and we headed back for lunch. Lunch was good once again and made everyone really bummed out about the hike to our next camp site. When it was time to go putting our shoes back on was a real chore. We had to hike back up to the rim and then maybe climb down to a camp site (time permitting). By the time we got to the top of the ridge Rooney, Tom and I had gotten a little ahead of Jesus, Merrill and Sam (our guide). The porters who we were with decided that we had enough time and wanted to set up camp down the mountain a little ways. What he did not tell us was he planned on running down. Since we did not have the guide with us our only option was to follow the porter. He literately ran down the mountain in flip flops and his bamboo stick. It was really impressive though my legs wished he had just decided on walking.
All in all it was about 11 hours of hiking. We decided this was more impressive when thinking some days we are not even awake for 11 hours. Needless to say we were all really tired and glad that the sleeping bags had dried out finally. We ate dinner in the tents and before long we were all asleep. A long but very rewarding day in the books.
Mt. Rinjani - Day 1
Sorry for the delay in the updates. We have been on the move and also in areas where internet is expensive so we try to limit our time by holding off on the blog.
We had been feeling a bit worthless and lazy considering we have been moving from beach to beach and not really doing anything active or productive with our lives. We decided it was time to change that (which doesn't usually happen for us) so we headed off to Lombok which is where Mt Rinjani is located. For those of you who are unaware (as I was until we got there) Rinjani is Indonesia's 2nd highest active volcano (its last eruption was in April of this year) and stands at about 3726 m high. It is currently still "burping" out lava but not in deadly amounts...obviously. We spent one night in Lombok in an area called Sangigi which is a nice beach town and is fairly cheap. The next day we rented motor bikes and toured around the island for a while because we didnt have to leave for the mountain until 5 pm. We got lost a few times but ended up in some cool areas with beautiful views so it was well worth it. At 5 we hoped in a van and took a 2 hour drive to another hostel that was closer to the base of Rinjani and is where we would be leaving from at 6 am the following morning. We had signed up to do the 3 day 2 night trek (rather than the 2 day 1 night) because it allowed us to trek to the rim on day one, summit on day 2 and also go down to the crater lake and then spend one more night on the rim before heading back. We woke up early on day 1 because we were told that we had about 7 or 8 hours of hiking before we reached camp for the night. The beginning of the hike was in the open through fields which was nice because we had great views but bad because we were getting owned by the sun. Our group consisted of the 5 of us plus two Irish girls and a young couple from England. We hiked for a few hours before stopping for lunch (we have about 4-5 porters with us who are amazing because they carry all of our stuff and do it all in flip flops. they also dont use backpacks but instead use bamboo poles with big baskets on either end). The second half of the hike is where things started to get a bit interesting. We were hiking through the clouds at this point and about an hour after lunch the rain started. It was also a bit cold at this point and the wind was blowing fairly hard which made things even colder. At this point the group was fairly spread out and Will and I were in the front following the porters because our guide (Sam) was waiting behind for the others who were moving a bit slower. The last 1 or 2 of the hike was brutal. We were completely soaked through (wearing just shorts and a T-shirt) and the rain was only getting harder and the wind continued to make things colder as we climbed. When we finally reached the rim where we would be spending the night we found some of our porters there huddled together under a single poncho. They were shivering uncontrollably and looked like they were not used to getting caught in rain storms during the hike. Finally they pulled out a tarp and we all huddled under it to wait for the others to reach the rim. We literally sat under this tarp for the next 2 hours because the rain would not let up. As more people came they would join us under the tarp and we would all huddle together and try to use body heat to warm ourselves up. Most of us were totally unprepared so most didnt even have raincoats or any warm clothes to put on. It was a total mess and we knew then that it was going to be a miserable night with no sleep. The worst part about this whole thing is that all of our gear was also drenched including the tents and sleeping bags. There was no natural shelter to use to get out of the rain and no dry wood to start a fire. We couldnt do anything but try to laugh it off and pretend like we were not all miserable. Finally the rain stopped and we remained under the tarp while the porters started setting up tents and trying to get a fire going for dinner. After 30 mins or so they had the tents set up so we stripped out of our wet clothes and jumped into our wet tent practically naked (of course it was Will, Jesus and I in one tent which made things interesting). Because the sleeping bags were soaked we just sat there on the bare rock which was extremely cold and uncomfortable. We put some of our dry clothes on (only Will and I had fully dry clothes because we have dry bags that we hiked with. The others had all of their extra clothes soaked in their bags) and then waited tried to warm up by using each others body heat. There was a massive game of Rock Paper Scissors as soon as we got into the tent to determine who would be in the middle because we all wanted the middle position for warmth reasons. Jesus ended up winning so he had the middle with Will and me on his sides. I am almost ashamed to say it but for the next 2 hours we sat in the tent waiting for dinner and spooned in an attempt to warm up. It was a bit awkward at first spooning in a tent with 3 guys but the heat that it generated made it very worth it. Those 2 hours spent waiting for dinner were some of the most uncomfortable and painfully cold hours of my life (I know that sounds dramatic but it is true). Finally the porters called us out for dinner and we were all pumped to get out of the tent and go eat a hot meal by the small cooking fire they had made. After eating the drying out process began and we all crowded around the fire and tried to dry various clothing items. Most of us focused on shoes/sock and sleeping bags but the fire was so small that it did not work too well. In the end, as anticipated we went into our tents and curled up in our wet sleeping bags and attempted to fall asleep (which never happened). Thankfully we had to get up at 3:00 am to start the hike to the summit the next morning. Before people retired to their tents many had already decided to drop out on the summit hike. They were all complaining about how cold they were and how they had no dry clothes so they couldn't do it in the morning. I am proud to report that our group of 5 never wavered and we all went into our tents planning to hike in the morning. From our trekking group we were the only ones who did not back out that night (both the Irish girls as well as the English couple wussed out). The plan for the morning was to wake up around 3 and have tea and a snake before heading out around 3:30 for the peak. They said it would take about 3-4 hours to summit so we would be back for breakfast at the camp by 8:30.
-RBC
We had been feeling a bit worthless and lazy considering we have been moving from beach to beach and not really doing anything active or productive with our lives. We decided it was time to change that (which doesn't usually happen for us) so we headed off to Lombok which is where Mt Rinjani is located. For those of you who are unaware (as I was until we got there) Rinjani is Indonesia's 2nd highest active volcano (its last eruption was in April of this year) and stands at about 3726 m high. It is currently still "burping" out lava but not in deadly amounts...obviously. We spent one night in Lombok in an area called Sangigi which is a nice beach town and is fairly cheap. The next day we rented motor bikes and toured around the island for a while because we didnt have to leave for the mountain until 5 pm. We got lost a few times but ended up in some cool areas with beautiful views so it was well worth it. At 5 we hoped in a van and took a 2 hour drive to another hostel that was closer to the base of Rinjani and is where we would be leaving from at 6 am the following morning. We had signed up to do the 3 day 2 night trek (rather than the 2 day 1 night) because it allowed us to trek to the rim on day one, summit on day 2 and also go down to the crater lake and then spend one more night on the rim before heading back. We woke up early on day 1 because we were told that we had about 7 or 8 hours of hiking before we reached camp for the night. The beginning of the hike was in the open through fields which was nice because we had great views but bad because we were getting owned by the sun. Our group consisted of the 5 of us plus two Irish girls and a young couple from England. We hiked for a few hours before stopping for lunch (we have about 4-5 porters with us who are amazing because they carry all of our stuff and do it all in flip flops. they also dont use backpacks but instead use bamboo poles with big baskets on either end). The second half of the hike is where things started to get a bit interesting. We were hiking through the clouds at this point and about an hour after lunch the rain started. It was also a bit cold at this point and the wind was blowing fairly hard which made things even colder. At this point the group was fairly spread out and Will and I were in the front following the porters because our guide (Sam) was waiting behind for the others who were moving a bit slower. The last 1 or 2 of the hike was brutal. We were completely soaked through (wearing just shorts and a T-shirt) and the rain was only getting harder and the wind continued to make things colder as we climbed. When we finally reached the rim where we would be spending the night we found some of our porters there huddled together under a single poncho. They were shivering uncontrollably and looked like they were not used to getting caught in rain storms during the hike. Finally they pulled out a tarp and we all huddled under it to wait for the others to reach the rim. We literally sat under this tarp for the next 2 hours because the rain would not let up. As more people came they would join us under the tarp and we would all huddle together and try to use body heat to warm ourselves up. Most of us were totally unprepared so most didnt even have raincoats or any warm clothes to put on. It was a total mess and we knew then that it was going to be a miserable night with no sleep. The worst part about this whole thing is that all of our gear was also drenched including the tents and sleeping bags. There was no natural shelter to use to get out of the rain and no dry wood to start a fire. We couldnt do anything but try to laugh it off and pretend like we were not all miserable. Finally the rain stopped and we remained under the tarp while the porters started setting up tents and trying to get a fire going for dinner. After 30 mins or so they had the tents set up so we stripped out of our wet clothes and jumped into our wet tent practically naked (of course it was Will, Jesus and I in one tent which made things interesting). Because the sleeping bags were soaked we just sat there on the bare rock which was extremely cold and uncomfortable. We put some of our dry clothes on (only Will and I had fully dry clothes because we have dry bags that we hiked with. The others had all of their extra clothes soaked in their bags) and then waited tried to warm up by using each others body heat. There was a massive game of Rock Paper Scissors as soon as we got into the tent to determine who would be in the middle because we all wanted the middle position for warmth reasons. Jesus ended up winning so he had the middle with Will and me on his sides. I am almost ashamed to say it but for the next 2 hours we sat in the tent waiting for dinner and spooned in an attempt to warm up. It was a bit awkward at first spooning in a tent with 3 guys but the heat that it generated made it very worth it. Those 2 hours spent waiting for dinner were some of the most uncomfortable and painfully cold hours of my life (I know that sounds dramatic but it is true). Finally the porters called us out for dinner and we were all pumped to get out of the tent and go eat a hot meal by the small cooking fire they had made. After eating the drying out process began and we all crowded around the fire and tried to dry various clothing items. Most of us focused on shoes/sock and sleeping bags but the fire was so small that it did not work too well. In the end, as anticipated we went into our tents and curled up in our wet sleeping bags and attempted to fall asleep (which never happened). Thankfully we had to get up at 3:00 am to start the hike to the summit the next morning. Before people retired to their tents many had already decided to drop out on the summit hike. They were all complaining about how cold they were and how they had no dry clothes so they couldn't do it in the morning. I am proud to report that our group of 5 never wavered and we all went into our tents planning to hike in the morning. From our trekking group we were the only ones who did not back out that night (both the Irish girls as well as the English couple wussed out). The plan for the morning was to wake up around 3 and have tea and a snake before heading out around 3:30 for the peak. They said it would take about 3-4 hours to summit so we would be back for breakfast at the camp by 8:30.
-RBC
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Bros, Beaches, and Balinese Dancers
After a fairly painless wake up Rooney and I decided to go check the beach while others hit up the Internet. While walking to and when we got to the beach our suspicions were confirmed. We had officially entered bro town. There was countless large white sunglasses with neon color shorts. It seemed to be against the law to not say bro in a sentence and wear a shirt. With this atmosphere we assumed there was going to be some big time surfing.
When we got to the beach many people seemed to fit the part. The waves however were not the biggest. It was a let down watching a couple of guys sit on top of medium to small waves. It got very old fast and we left to find the others.
Later that evening we decided to celebrate Merrills birthday when the clock struck twelve. We had a couple drinks over a very late dinner and then went out. We stopped by a couple of different clubs and bars. One of the bars had some live music that let members of the crowd guest sing. Non of us ended up singing but there was as guy who did a very good Bob Marley impression which got a better response then the hired band.
The next morning was a little ruff. We once again were able to rally and get on our bus by nine am. The driver seemed nice and we were on our way. The first stop on our "tour" was at a Balinese dance performance. We were all kind of tired and found ourselves paying the 8 dollar entrance fee without really thinking about it. This proved to be a HUGE mistake. I was under the impression that going to see Gone With the Wind was the biggest waste of money but that was before this. The music was the best part but not nearly good enough to save the dancing. It was unbelievably boring and we could not get over the fact we just spent more money on the ticket (to see the last half of the show because we arrived late) then we did on the van and driver for the day. The dancers were unbelievably weak. I looked around in shock thinking of how many people were sitting and watching. Luckily it did not last as long as Gone With the Wind. After what became a ten a ten minute nap for members of the group we headed back to the van a little annoyed.
We got back in the van and hoped that the next stop would be better. This was helped out by the fact we decided as a group that we just wanted to get to the Besakih Temple and skip the rest of the stops. It took about 2 and half hours to get there. We got off and were told we needed to purchase sarong's in order to get into the temple. We figured you would be able to borrow them for free at the temple but we had no idea where it was in comparison to where we had been dropped off. With no help from people around us we just rented some. The temple itself was pretty cool though we were not allowed into parts with out a guide.
After we got back from our day of cultural experiences it was time to take a nap. It probably would have been a nights sleep but we got up to go out for a birthday dinner. We went to a restaurant called Havana Club. Seems how we were used to eating at bargain restaurants and street shops the menu had tons of things that looked incredible. However there was only one item that said it was for the very hungry. Naturally once one of the guys decided on the giant kabob it was all over. Their mine as well have only been one item on the menu. When the waiter came it was four giant kabobs and the birthday girls steak. The food came out on platters instead of plates. The menu was not joking when they warned it was only for the hungry. The kabob included five types of meat and more types of vegetables. It also came with a side of coleslaw and potatoes. The meal posed a sizable threat (especially because members of the group were not particularly hungry). Without hesitation we all dove in. Soon the fight was over. There were four clean plates instead of four kabobs. While everyone one was victorious the birthday desert that was purchased earlier that day would have to wait.
After the dinner we all went back to get some rest and get ready to move on to the next island.
-WBM
When we got to the beach many people seemed to fit the part. The waves however were not the biggest. It was a let down watching a couple of guys sit on top of medium to small waves. It got very old fast and we left to find the others.
Later that evening we decided to celebrate Merrills birthday when the clock struck twelve. We had a couple drinks over a very late dinner and then went out. We stopped by a couple of different clubs and bars. One of the bars had some live music that let members of the crowd guest sing. Non of us ended up singing but there was as guy who did a very good Bob Marley impression which got a better response then the hired band.
The next morning was a little ruff. We once again were able to rally and get on our bus by nine am. The driver seemed nice and we were on our way. The first stop on our "tour" was at a Balinese dance performance. We were all kind of tired and found ourselves paying the 8 dollar entrance fee without really thinking about it. This proved to be a HUGE mistake. I was under the impression that going to see Gone With the Wind was the biggest waste of money but that was before this. The music was the best part but not nearly good enough to save the dancing. It was unbelievably boring and we could not get over the fact we just spent more money on the ticket (to see the last half of the show because we arrived late) then we did on the van and driver for the day. The dancers were unbelievably weak. I looked around in shock thinking of how many people were sitting and watching. Luckily it did not last as long as Gone With the Wind. After what became a ten a ten minute nap for members of the group we headed back to the van a little annoyed.
We got back in the van and hoped that the next stop would be better. This was helped out by the fact we decided as a group that we just wanted to get to the Besakih Temple and skip the rest of the stops. It took about 2 and half hours to get there. We got off and were told we needed to purchase sarong's in order to get into the temple. We figured you would be able to borrow them for free at the temple but we had no idea where it was in comparison to where we had been dropped off. With no help from people around us we just rented some. The temple itself was pretty cool though we were not allowed into parts with out a guide.
After we got back from our day of cultural experiences it was time to take a nap. It probably would have been a nights sleep but we got up to go out for a birthday dinner. We went to a restaurant called Havana Club. Seems how we were used to eating at bargain restaurants and street shops the menu had tons of things that looked incredible. However there was only one item that said it was for the very hungry. Naturally once one of the guys decided on the giant kabob it was all over. Their mine as well have only been one item on the menu. When the waiter came it was four giant kabobs and the birthday girls steak. The food came out on platters instead of plates. The menu was not joking when they warned it was only for the hungry. The kabob included five types of meat and more types of vegetables. It also came with a side of coleslaw and potatoes. The meal posed a sizable threat (especially because members of the group were not particularly hungry). Without hesitation we all dove in. Soon the fight was over. There were four clean plates instead of four kabobs. While everyone one was victorious the birthday desert that was purchased earlier that day would have to wait.
After the dinner we all went back to get some rest and get ready to move on to the next island.
-WBM
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Jakarta - a real cultural experience
Our first official day in Jakarta was quite uneventful. We were all a bit tired from our travels and our last few nights in Bintan so we spent more of the day sleeping and eating in an attempt to recharge our battery. As it turned out we needed our batteries to be more charged than we had anticipated because what we did the next 2 days involved little to know sleep. If you look up Jakarta in the Lonely Planet you will find that it is described as having the best night/club scene in all of Asia. Although it also talks a bit about some touristy things to do (which we did one afternoon) most of the description is about how clubbing in Jakarta is a must. We have trusted our LP thus far and we were not about to give up on it with that advice.
The day after we arrived we got up late, got a bit to eat (we found a place where you could get all you can eat rice for 40 cents so we all felt extremely sick after stuffing ourselves) and then went and checked out some sites around the city. We didn't last too long with this because it was unbearably hot out but we gave it the old college try. That night after it had cooled down a bit (meaning it was still unbearably hot) we headed to a park we had passed on walk earlier that day where there were little soccer fields and basketball courts. We quickly found ourselves involved in a basketball game and once that was finished we moved on to soccer. Whenever we join into games it is always a scene and we end up getting quite an audience because the locals think it is funny to watch a bunch of tall, lanky foreigners run around. By the time we finished up at the park it was close to 8 PM so we headed back to our hotel, cleaned up a bit and then went for food before getting the night officially started.
We did actually get to the club until around 1 AM. The clubs in Jakarta are open from Thursday till Sunday...literally they stay open for 4 straight days and they are filled the entire time. When we got there we were blown away and it was like nothing we were expecting. I thought places like that only existed in the movies but apparently not. Also we somehow got into the VIP entrance (meaning we got rushed right in and didn't have to pay) because Jesus met some rich Chinese man outside before entering that told us to come with him and that he would take care of us..not a bad start to the night. It is hard to describe the scene inside of this place but basically it was dark, smoky, loud, and extremely crowded. We danced our way straight through the night and into the morning. When we finally left it was 8:30 AM. Walking out of the place was a strange experience in itself because being in there we had totally lost track of time and when we came out the day was well underway and people were going about there business. What we couldn't believe was how many people were still in the club when we left and also how many people were just arriving. Who goes clubbing at 8:30 AM?? We were all in a bit of a daze but very happy with the night (and morning) we had just had. For some reason when we got back to the hotel I still couldn't fall asleep so I did some exploring around the local market area and some of the others went off to get food. Needless to say that day was fairly uneventful considering we ended up sleeping from about noon (I couldn't sleep until after 2) until around 7 PM. Now, after a night like that it would be expected that we would have a very laid back and relaxing night and this is what the majority of the group wanted to do. However, Will and I somehow got our second wind and after some major convincing we found ourselves right back on the dance floor of the same club that very night. Again we arrived around 1:30 AM and we didn't leave until just about 7:30 AM.
So as you can see we really did a lot of cultural exploration during our time in Jakarta...
After spending one more night in Jakarta (no round 3) we left the next day for Bali and that is where we are currently. We got in this afternoon around 3 (we found a cheap flight and decided to jump on that rather than do 2 day overland/ferry route) and crashed once we found our hotel. From the little we have seen on Bali so far it seems to be a party town with a lot of surfer bros which is just about the last thing all of us want to experience right now. We plan to hit the beach tomorrow (perhaps try our luck at surfing) and just spend a relaxing day trying to recharge our depleted batteries. That is all for now....goodnight.
-RBC
The day after we arrived we got up late, got a bit to eat (we found a place where you could get all you can eat rice for 40 cents so we all felt extremely sick after stuffing ourselves) and then went and checked out some sites around the city. We didn't last too long with this because it was unbearably hot out but we gave it the old college try. That night after it had cooled down a bit (meaning it was still unbearably hot) we headed to a park we had passed on walk earlier that day where there were little soccer fields and basketball courts. We quickly found ourselves involved in a basketball game and once that was finished we moved on to soccer. Whenever we join into games it is always a scene and we end up getting quite an audience because the locals think it is funny to watch a bunch of tall, lanky foreigners run around. By the time we finished up at the park it was close to 8 PM so we headed back to our hotel, cleaned up a bit and then went for food before getting the night officially started.
We did actually get to the club until around 1 AM. The clubs in Jakarta are open from Thursday till Sunday...literally they stay open for 4 straight days and they are filled the entire time. When we got there we were blown away and it was like nothing we were expecting. I thought places like that only existed in the movies but apparently not. Also we somehow got into the VIP entrance (meaning we got rushed right in and didn't have to pay) because Jesus met some rich Chinese man outside before entering that told us to come with him and that he would take care of us..not a bad start to the night. It is hard to describe the scene inside of this place but basically it was dark, smoky, loud, and extremely crowded. We danced our way straight through the night and into the morning. When we finally left it was 8:30 AM. Walking out of the place was a strange experience in itself because being in there we had totally lost track of time and when we came out the day was well underway and people were going about there business. What we couldn't believe was how many people were still in the club when we left and also how many people were just arriving. Who goes clubbing at 8:30 AM?? We were all in a bit of a daze but very happy with the night (and morning) we had just had. For some reason when we got back to the hotel I still couldn't fall asleep so I did some exploring around the local market area and some of the others went off to get food. Needless to say that day was fairly uneventful considering we ended up sleeping from about noon (I couldn't sleep until after 2) until around 7 PM. Now, after a night like that it would be expected that we would have a very laid back and relaxing night and this is what the majority of the group wanted to do. However, Will and I somehow got our second wind and after some major convincing we found ourselves right back on the dance floor of the same club that very night. Again we arrived around 1:30 AM and we didn't leave until just about 7:30 AM.
So as you can see we really did a lot of cultural exploration during our time in Jakarta...
After spending one more night in Jakarta (no round 3) we left the next day for Bali and that is where we are currently. We got in this afternoon around 3 (we found a cheap flight and decided to jump on that rather than do 2 day overland/ferry route) and crashed once we found our hotel. From the little we have seen on Bali so far it seems to be a party town with a lot of surfer bros which is just about the last thing all of us want to experience right now. We plan to hit the beach tomorrow (perhaps try our luck at surfing) and just spend a relaxing day trying to recharge our depleted batteries. That is all for now....goodnight.
-RBC
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
The rest of Bintan and the start of Jakarta
So our original plan was to spend a night or two at the most in Bintan. However, after meeting our new friends we decided to extend our stay indefinitely. Each day they would ask us when we were leaving and our response was always "not sure...but probably tomorrow." That went on for 6 nights 7 days (which is the longest we have stayed in a single spot yet). It was just so nice to have a local connection and they were so good too us and really showed us a good time. One our second or third day there they came to our hotel and got us up early (9am) and told us they were bringing us to some beach. We piled 10 of us into one of their cars (free ride is always a beautiful thing) and headed off. They first took us to some run down park type place where we went out a small lake in paddle boats and crashed into each other for a while. We then continued on in the direction of the beach (it was about a 45 min drive...and they were blasting American love songs the whole way so naturally we belted them out). The beach they took us to was amazing. Totally secluded, white sand and crystal clear water. We couldn't believe our eyes when we arrived and we were able to drive the car right up to the beach where there were a few wooden bungalows to hang out under. We spent most of the afternoon there playing frisbee, soccer, and walking through the shallow water looking for random sea creatures (which we found plenty of). That night we went and watched their basketball game (Jesus and Tom played with them...Will and I decided to be lazy and watch) then they took us out on the town. The rest of our time spent in Bintan was just about the same...lots of basketball, pool, and just hanging around with our local crew. It was so nice and relaxing that we couldn't resist extending our stay repeatedly. By the time we were ready to go we realized we couldn't due to Ramadan coming to a close which means every shop (including tourist shops) were closed so we couldn't book a ferry or even a flight. We finally ended up finding a place that told us about a ferry leaving the next day (ferries only leave for Jakarta twice a week which further complicated the whole process) but we would have to arrive at the pier at 6 AM meaning we would have to leave our hotel at 5 AM. With this information we did what any intelligent traveller would do to prepare for the 28 hour ferry ride...we went out with our friends and didn't go back to the hotel until it was time to catch our taxi. We said goodbye to our Indo companions and were off to catch our ferry.
The boat that we were one was huge...definitely the largest boat I have been on. We bought the cheapest tickets so we were in the hull of the ship with hundreds of people and there were large wooden platforms for people to lay down on. We left port at about 9 AM and Will and I decided not to sleep at all because we wanted to sleep that night so we forced ourselves to stay up by continuing our backgammon world tour out on the deck of the boat. The trip was actually very easy and comfortable (it's nice to be able to get up and walk around) and because it was such a large boat you could hardly feel any rocking from the waves. The low point of the trip came at around 8 PM when one of the ladies sitting across from us (literally 3 ft away) came back stumbling drunk (actually she was being carried by two others because she couldn't stand on her own). After laying down for about 1 minute she starting groaning loudly and then started to cry hysterically. Her friends were helping her but there wasn't much to be done. She began vomiting all over herself and the surrounding area (we are talking projectile vomit) and it smelled very much like the brandy she had been drinking for the past few hours. The weird part was no one tried to bring her to the bathroom (literally 10 steps away) or get her a trash can (literally 7 steps away). They just let her go. That was our cue to head to the upper deck to enjoy the night air. We spent about an hour or 2 out there hoping that things would be all cleaned up by the time we went back which they thankfully were. We slept well that night despite being on straight wood with no blankets or pillow (although Will did have his luxury item pillow that he brought which I was very envious of at that point). We arrived in Jakarta today at about 2 PM. We haven't seen much of the city as of yet but I'm sure there will be more to report in the upcoming days.
-RBC
The boat that we were one was huge...definitely the largest boat I have been on. We bought the cheapest tickets so we were in the hull of the ship with hundreds of people and there were large wooden platforms for people to lay down on. We left port at about 9 AM and Will and I decided not to sleep at all because we wanted to sleep that night so we forced ourselves to stay up by continuing our backgammon world tour out on the deck of the boat. The trip was actually very easy and comfortable (it's nice to be able to get up and walk around) and because it was such a large boat you could hardly feel any rocking from the waves. The low point of the trip came at around 8 PM when one of the ladies sitting across from us (literally 3 ft away) came back stumbling drunk (actually she was being carried by two others because she couldn't stand on her own). After laying down for about 1 minute she starting groaning loudly and then started to cry hysterically. Her friends were helping her but there wasn't much to be done. She began vomiting all over herself and the surrounding area (we are talking projectile vomit) and it smelled very much like the brandy she had been drinking for the past few hours. The weird part was no one tried to bring her to the bathroom (literally 10 steps away) or get her a trash can (literally 7 steps away). They just let her go. That was our cue to head to the upper deck to enjoy the night air. We spent about an hour or 2 out there hoping that things would be all cleaned up by the time we went back which they thankfully were. We slept well that night despite being on straight wood with no blankets or pillow (although Will did have his luxury item pillow that he brought which I was very envious of at that point). We arrived in Jakarta today at about 2 PM. We haven't seen much of the city as of yet but I'm sure there will be more to report in the upcoming days.
-RBC
Monday, September 21, 2009
Arrival in Bintan
We arrived in Bintan by ferry and started to look for a place to stay. This proved to be a little harder then anticipated due to the fact that this local man named Adam insisted on showing us places to stay. His suggestions ended up being less then desirable and we made our way to a hotel called Lesmina. Much to our surprise after we unpacked Adam was still waiting for us at the reception. It was not in till after dinner we were able to separate ourselves and walk around the town by ourselves for the first time. As we were walking around at night we saw some lights in the distance. They looked to be lights for some sort of court. As we approached we found out that it was a concrete basketball court. When we walked into the "stadium" there was already a game going on. Naturally we sat down to watch.
When the game ended we decided to join in on the action. We went down to the far end of the court and joined a shoot around. After a couple of minutes Tom, Rooney, Jesus, and I were challenged to a game of four on four. We accepted and made our way down to the opposite end. We felt very confident due to our considerable height advantage (Team America all being over 6 feet and team Indonesia all being around five six or so).
Team Indonesia started with the ball and after a short possession through up an air ball. We got the rebound and gave the ball to Tom at the top of the key. Right as Tom was going to pass the ball in the lights on the court turned off. It was not meant to be (At least not that night). We were told that we could resume the game the next day. The local kids gave us two different starting times for the game, 6 am or 8 pm. We took a team vote and somehow decided that the 8 pm start would better suit our teams needs. We left the court a little disappointed due to the lights turning off but excited for tomorrows game. It was now time to search for some cold water (though we did not actually get to play we still broke a sweat due to the heat). It turned out that cold water was a hard thing to find. The only place that we could find cold water happened to be in a local pool hall.
We decided that it would be rude if we just bought some water and didn't play. It shortly became apparent that Merrill was by far the best female in the pool hall ( she may have been the only one). After a couple of games we decided to go back to the hotel.
As the group was preparing for bed we gave the 6 am basketball another thought. Jesus decided it might be worth it. Surprisingly he convinced us that it was a good idea. The plan was to wake up around 5 thirty and meet our new friends at 6 to play.
However when the alarm went off in our room it was quickly turned off. It is unclear who turned it off at five thirty but the next thing we knew it was 10:30. To make matters worse it had started to rain. Undeterred we put on our raincoats and ventured outside. We figured it would be a good idea to look into getting a basketball for the afternoon. The first shop was selling them four around 14 us dollars which we deemed a little expensive. That was in till the next shop over told us that they were 80 dollars. Needless to say we decided that it was a better option to see if we could just borrow one. The rain had started to let up so we made our way over to the court to get used to it and warm up.
When we arrived there were already kids shooting around. We joined in. Soon after we were once again challenged by a group of local kids. This time the lights going out would not be an issue. Our confidence was still high even though rain is the great equalizer and Rooney and I did not have shoes on. As we had hoped and predicted the height advantage more then made up for the rain and bare feet. Our foursome was victorious. We played 2 or three games and then split up our team to get some five on five games going. These were much competitive. However playing with no shoes took its toll and Rooney and I sat out a couple of games towards the end of the afternoon.
Instead of playing more that night we decided to go shower then meet up with the kids we played basketball with for dinner. It was unbelievable helpful to have people who speak Indonesian at our table when it came to ordering food. We placed our fate in their hands and just told them to order us things that they liked. Our faith payed off big time as we got a variety of noodles, rice and soups. Which included squid, oysters, shrimp, chicken, and pork.
After dinner our friends took us to their local pool hall. They did not tell us however how good they were. While we had the upper hand on the basketball court we defiantly did not have the upper hand on the pool table. A couple of them in particular were unbelievable. We played for a couple of hours and I lost a game in which i had bet 20 push ups. While I was the first to loose a game with push ups on the line the next couple days would show I defiantly would not be the last.
- WBM
When the game ended we decided to join in on the action. We went down to the far end of the court and joined a shoot around. After a couple of minutes Tom, Rooney, Jesus, and I were challenged to a game of four on four. We accepted and made our way down to the opposite end. We felt very confident due to our considerable height advantage (Team America all being over 6 feet and team Indonesia all being around five six or so).
Team Indonesia started with the ball and after a short possession through up an air ball. We got the rebound and gave the ball to Tom at the top of the key. Right as Tom was going to pass the ball in the lights on the court turned off. It was not meant to be (At least not that night). We were told that we could resume the game the next day. The local kids gave us two different starting times for the game, 6 am or 8 pm. We took a team vote and somehow decided that the 8 pm start would better suit our teams needs. We left the court a little disappointed due to the lights turning off but excited for tomorrows game. It was now time to search for some cold water (though we did not actually get to play we still broke a sweat due to the heat). It turned out that cold water was a hard thing to find. The only place that we could find cold water happened to be in a local pool hall.
We decided that it would be rude if we just bought some water and didn't play. It shortly became apparent that Merrill was by far the best female in the pool hall ( she may have been the only one). After a couple of games we decided to go back to the hotel.
As the group was preparing for bed we gave the 6 am basketball another thought. Jesus decided it might be worth it. Surprisingly he convinced us that it was a good idea. The plan was to wake up around 5 thirty and meet our new friends at 6 to play.
However when the alarm went off in our room it was quickly turned off. It is unclear who turned it off at five thirty but the next thing we knew it was 10:30. To make matters worse it had started to rain. Undeterred we put on our raincoats and ventured outside. We figured it would be a good idea to look into getting a basketball for the afternoon. The first shop was selling them four around 14 us dollars which we deemed a little expensive. That was in till the next shop over told us that they were 80 dollars. Needless to say we decided that it was a better option to see if we could just borrow one. The rain had started to let up so we made our way over to the court to get used to it and warm up.
When we arrived there were already kids shooting around. We joined in. Soon after we were once again challenged by a group of local kids. This time the lights going out would not be an issue. Our confidence was still high even though rain is the great equalizer and Rooney and I did not have shoes on. As we had hoped and predicted the height advantage more then made up for the rain and bare feet. Our foursome was victorious. We played 2 or three games and then split up our team to get some five on five games going. These were much competitive. However playing with no shoes took its toll and Rooney and I sat out a couple of games towards the end of the afternoon.
Instead of playing more that night we decided to go shower then meet up with the kids we played basketball with for dinner. It was unbelievable helpful to have people who speak Indonesian at our table when it came to ordering food. We placed our fate in their hands and just told them to order us things that they liked. Our faith payed off big time as we got a variety of noodles, rice and soups. Which included squid, oysters, shrimp, chicken, and pork.
After dinner our friends took us to their local pool hall. They did not tell us however how good they were. While we had the upper hand on the basketball court we defiantly did not have the upper hand on the pool table. A couple of them in particular were unbelievable. We played for a couple of hours and I lost a game in which i had bet 20 push ups. While I was the first to loose a game with push ups on the line the next couple days would show I defiantly would not be the last.
- WBM
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Playing catch up
This entry is going to be a major summary of the past week or so because we are tired of trying to catch up. I am simply going to hit some of the highlights so that we can start blogging about current events rather than trying to think back to what we did 2 weeks ago. So here it goes.
We spent about 3 or 4 days in KL and we all really enjoyed the city. The first few days we did some touring around and just checked out the major attractions of the city...which wasnt much but it was cool to just walk around and explore. The highlight of our time there came on one of the last days. We decided to try and walk to the national mosque but had no idea where it was. After only a few minutes of walking we found ourselves a bit turned around. As we were standing there looking through our lonely planet book trying to get back on track a foreign dude approached us and said that we looked a bit confused and offered some assistance. He was a Canadian who had been living in KL for the past 14 years. We told him where we wanted to go and he started to explain where we should head before giving up and offering us a ride in his car. We were a bit surprised but very quick to jump on that opportunity. We all piled into his car and were off. We still are a bit confused about David Mill (the dude) and what exactly he does but he told us that he "saves confused tourists all the time" and that he worked for himself so he could afford to take an extra long lunch break. He gave us his business card and all it had on it was his name and then the saying "do or don't do...there is no try." Weird but a free ride around the city so we were happy. Not only did he bring us right to where we wanted to go but he also took us to a few other sites before dropping us off at the national mosque. He knew a frightening amount about KL which was great because we basically got a free tour of the city in an AC car. When we finally parted ways with David Mills we couldnt enter the mosque because it was during prayer time so we went and checked out some orchid garden that had no orchids in it. It was so hot and we were all wearing jeans and shoes because you need pants to enter the mosques. We found some museum that was blasting AC and we waited there until the prayer time was over so we could enter the mosque. As we were walking to go into the mosque we were stopped by a Muslim woman who invited us to come break the fast with them at another mosque that night. She said it was one of the few times that they let no muslims in to witness them praying and invite them in to eat together during the Ramadan period. This sounded like opportunity to good to pass up so we agreed to join and she told us to meet her there around 6:30 because they started the process of breaking the fast at 7. When we got there we were amazed by the size and beauty of the mosque - it was much more impressive than the national mosque. We were the only foreigners there so it was a bit awkward at first because we felt very out of place. Luckily we ran into the lady who invited us and she took us right in. Merrill had to fully cover herself but the boys were ok to enter in our jeans. It is hard to even describe the scene there...thousands of Muslims gathered together for prayer and there we were with no clue of what was going on. They gave us a quick tour of the mosque and explained the basics of the religion to us. When it was time for them to start praying we had to go upstairs to observe because we were not allowed to be in the main hall during payer time. It was a very cool experience seeing that many people all perfectly lined together praying...definitely like nothing we had seen before. After a brief prayer session they all gathered in the dining area and we joined them on the floor for the breaking of the fast meal. We felt a bit guilty eating their food considering we had been eating all day long and were almost too full to eat while they had not eaten all day long. After eating they went back for more prayer (they prayed for about 5 hours total with breaks every so often in between). We ended up being there for about 5 hours and didnt leave until almost 11:30 at night. By that time our heads were about ready to explode because we had been told so much about Islam that we couldn't hear another word. They kept talking and talking to us and we were exhausted and wanted to leave but felt guilty because they had been so kind to us all night long. Overall it was an amazing experience and one we all felt very fortunate to have had but we were happy to head home and sleep.
Our next stop was Singapore which I'm not going to talk a lot about because we didn't do a ton there. It is a very modern city which meant it was expensive to do most anything so our days consisted of a lot of walking around. We walked into a lot of really nice hotels and buildings and got kicked out of most of them because we weren't "dressed properly." We knew it was going to be an expensive city so before leaving Malaysia Will and I stalked up no PB&J material so that we wouldn't have to buy expensive meals. Huge move and in the 3 days were were in Singapore I only spent about 5 USD on food there. We were a bit sick of PB&Js by the time we left though.
Ok almost caught up to speed. Next we headed off to Indonesia which is where we are now. It was only about a 50 min ferry ride to the island that we wanted to visit first which is called Bintan. We are in Bintan now and we are having a total blast because this place is not a tourist destination so we are literally the only foreigners here. We literally get stared at where ever we go but it is nice to be in a place that has not been taken over by tourism. There is a lot to tell about our stay here so far but that if for another entry. Sorry to breeze over so may days but now we are a bit more caught up so we should be able to stay on top of this blog a bit better.
ps. Will and I have posted a poll on the family website so check it out and cast your vote.
-RBC
We spent about 3 or 4 days in KL and we all really enjoyed the city. The first few days we did some touring around and just checked out the major attractions of the city...which wasnt much but it was cool to just walk around and explore. The highlight of our time there came on one of the last days. We decided to try and walk to the national mosque but had no idea where it was. After only a few minutes of walking we found ourselves a bit turned around. As we were standing there looking through our lonely planet book trying to get back on track a foreign dude approached us and said that we looked a bit confused and offered some assistance. He was a Canadian who had been living in KL for the past 14 years. We told him where we wanted to go and he started to explain where we should head before giving up and offering us a ride in his car. We were a bit surprised but very quick to jump on that opportunity. We all piled into his car and were off. We still are a bit confused about David Mill (the dude) and what exactly he does but he told us that he "saves confused tourists all the time" and that he worked for himself so he could afford to take an extra long lunch break. He gave us his business card and all it had on it was his name and then the saying "do or don't do...there is no try." Weird but a free ride around the city so we were happy. Not only did he bring us right to where we wanted to go but he also took us to a few other sites before dropping us off at the national mosque. He knew a frightening amount about KL which was great because we basically got a free tour of the city in an AC car. When we finally parted ways with David Mills we couldnt enter the mosque because it was during prayer time so we went and checked out some orchid garden that had no orchids in it. It was so hot and we were all wearing jeans and shoes because you need pants to enter the mosques. We found some museum that was blasting AC and we waited there until the prayer time was over so we could enter the mosque. As we were walking to go into the mosque we were stopped by a Muslim woman who invited us to come break the fast with them at another mosque that night. She said it was one of the few times that they let no muslims in to witness them praying and invite them in to eat together during the Ramadan period. This sounded like opportunity to good to pass up so we agreed to join and she told us to meet her there around 6:30 because they started the process of breaking the fast at 7. When we got there we were amazed by the size and beauty of the mosque - it was much more impressive than the national mosque. We were the only foreigners there so it was a bit awkward at first because we felt very out of place. Luckily we ran into the lady who invited us and she took us right in. Merrill had to fully cover herself but the boys were ok to enter in our jeans. It is hard to even describe the scene there...thousands of Muslims gathered together for prayer and there we were with no clue of what was going on. They gave us a quick tour of the mosque and explained the basics of the religion to us. When it was time for them to start praying we had to go upstairs to observe because we were not allowed to be in the main hall during payer time. It was a very cool experience seeing that many people all perfectly lined together praying...definitely like nothing we had seen before. After a brief prayer session they all gathered in the dining area and we joined them on the floor for the breaking of the fast meal. We felt a bit guilty eating their food considering we had been eating all day long and were almost too full to eat while they had not eaten all day long. After eating they went back for more prayer (they prayed for about 5 hours total with breaks every so often in between). We ended up being there for about 5 hours and didnt leave until almost 11:30 at night. By that time our heads were about ready to explode because we had been told so much about Islam that we couldn't hear another word. They kept talking and talking to us and we were exhausted and wanted to leave but felt guilty because they had been so kind to us all night long. Overall it was an amazing experience and one we all felt very fortunate to have had but we were happy to head home and sleep.
Our next stop was Singapore which I'm not going to talk a lot about because we didn't do a ton there. It is a very modern city which meant it was expensive to do most anything so our days consisted of a lot of walking around. We walked into a lot of really nice hotels and buildings and got kicked out of most of them because we weren't "dressed properly." We knew it was going to be an expensive city so before leaving Malaysia Will and I stalked up no PB&J material so that we wouldn't have to buy expensive meals. Huge move and in the 3 days were were in Singapore I only spent about 5 USD on food there. We were a bit sick of PB&Js by the time we left though.
Ok almost caught up to speed. Next we headed off to Indonesia which is where we are now. It was only about a 50 min ferry ride to the island that we wanted to visit first which is called Bintan. We are in Bintan now and we are having a total blast because this place is not a tourist destination so we are literally the only foreigners here. We literally get stared at where ever we go but it is nice to be in a place that has not been taken over by tourism. There is a lot to tell about our stay here so far but that if for another entry. Sorry to breeze over so may days but now we are a bit more caught up so we should be able to stay on top of this blog a bit better.
ps. Will and I have posted a poll on the family website so check it out and cast your vote.
-RBC
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Food
I don't even know where to being when it comes to the food. We have been trying an array of different dishes from a variety of restaurants. Our favorite places to eat however are street vendors because they are by far the cheapest and often end up being the most delicious. We typically have no clue what we are ordering...we simply point and say "ill have that and that." Most of the time this works out well but there have been some instances when the mystery meat is anything but delicious. Thailand is all rice or noodles but there are so many different varieties that it is impossible to get tired of the food there. Malaysia and Singapore have been amazing for the Indian food and I believe Indonesia will be more of the same. I am happy to report that we have been lucky when it comes to stomach issues or travelers diarrhea...knock on wood.
-RBC
-RBC
Malaysia Bound
Our initial plan was to head out the day after the party because island living can get a bit pricey even in Thailand. However, we were in no condition to get our act together so we ended up spending another day there. In fact, we ended up spending 2 more nights because of some situations that came up with scheduling ferries. There is no need to go into much detail about those days because they were very laid back and not a lot was done. The major event was saying goodbye to our Brazilian and French friends who had become honorary members of our pack. They will certainly be missed but I'm sure we will meet plenty of more people along the way.
We finally got our act together and got off the island and began the long journey to Malaysia. At this point it was only Will, Jesus and me because Tom and Merrill had to go to the mainland the previous day to get X-rays done on Tom's twisted ankle (ended up fine). The trip to Malaysia was about a 48 hour adventure combining many different forms of transportation. We finally arrived in Kuala Lumpur at about 4:30 AM and we realized we had no clue where we should go or what area we wanted to stay in. Wondering around KL at that hour with all of our bags trying to find a cheap place to stay in China town was a very interesting experience to say the least. We finally found a place that was cheap and not crawling with cockroaches and rats (which many of the places we looked at were). However, I'm pretty sure it doubled as a brothel considering you could rent rooms by the hour and we saw many "couples" doing just that. Exhausted from our two days of travel we decided to get some sleep before getting up and trying to reconnect with
Tom and Merrill who would be arriving the same day.
-RBC
We finally got our act together and got off the island and began the long journey to Malaysia. At this point it was only Will, Jesus and me because Tom and Merrill had to go to the mainland the previous day to get X-rays done on Tom's twisted ankle (ended up fine). The trip to Malaysia was about a 48 hour adventure combining many different forms of transportation. We finally arrived in Kuala Lumpur at about 4:30 AM and we realized we had no clue where we should go or what area we wanted to stay in. Wondering around KL at that hour with all of our bags trying to find a cheap place to stay in China town was a very interesting experience to say the least. We finally found a place that was cheap and not crawling with cockroaches and rats (which many of the places we looked at were). However, I'm pretty sure it doubled as a brothel considering you could rent rooms by the hour and we saw many "couples" doing just that. Exhausted from our two days of travel we decided to get some sleep before getting up and trying to reconnect with
Tom and Merrill who would be arriving the same day.
-RBC
Monday, September 14, 2009
The Full Moon Party
The title of this blog would suggest that it would cover our actions and adventures at the Full Moon Party. However we have decided that our words would not do the party and the experience justice. It was beyond words.......you should go experience it yourself on Oct 4th. In addition, what happens at a Full Moon Party stays at a Full Moon Party...
- WBM and RBC
- WBM and RBC
Friday, September 11, 2009
Further South
Before we got on the overnight ferry to make our way to Koh Pengan we were approached a man selling his hostel. After a little bit of contemplating we decided the free taxi ride and not having to worry about a place to stay would be a good thing. (we would find out later it was on the very top of the island and the full moon party was at the bottom, HUGE problem)
A little tired and a little soar we arrived at Koh Pengan. Rooney had a pole in the middle of his sleeping area and consequently was a little more tired then the rest of the Wolf Pack. (At this point was Rooney, Jesus, Tom, Merrill, Jerome, Hafa and I). Due to Rooney's lack of sleep and the fact his bed was next to them we also meet two more Brazilians. (Paola and Dennis)
The free taxi was pretty easy to find and we piled in the pack of the truck. The route up to our new abode would have been very enjoyable but we were still half asleep. We quickly checked in and found our room. The nap was cut short due to the fact it was unbelievably hot. So we quickly moved to the pool. Rooney, Jerome, Hafa, Paola, and I played some cards. We are taught a Finnish card game by a Frenchman. It was fun but we did not finish because of swimming breaks.
After some careful thought we decided that we should only stay at this place for one night because it was two far from the Full moon party beach. So we did the most logical thing, rent a fleet of motorbikes. With are newly acquired fleet we took to the streets. The only issue became that with two of us on one it they were unable to make it up the large hills. Since Rooney was driving I had to walk up two hills on the way to the beach. When we arrived to the beach to check it out they were moving towers of speakers in. It was at this point the we became really pumped. Now that it was dark and inconvenient we decided to look for a new hostel. We went up and down but found a surprisingly close place to stay. It was on another beach and had a room with AC. After booking it was back to top of the island in the dark. This made the fact that we were two heavy to make it up the hills less of an ego hit.
After a couple of drinks by the pool we headed off to bed and hoped that the room would not be as hot as the morning.
-WBM
A little tired and a little soar we arrived at Koh Pengan. Rooney had a pole in the middle of his sleeping area and consequently was a little more tired then the rest of the Wolf Pack. (At this point was Rooney, Jesus, Tom, Merrill, Jerome, Hafa and I). Due to Rooney's lack of sleep and the fact his bed was next to them we also meet two more Brazilians. (Paola and Dennis)
The free taxi was pretty easy to find and we piled in the pack of the truck. The route up to our new abode would have been very enjoyable but we were still half asleep. We quickly checked in and found our room. The nap was cut short due to the fact it was unbelievably hot. So we quickly moved to the pool. Rooney, Jerome, Hafa, Paola, and I played some cards. We are taught a Finnish card game by a Frenchman. It was fun but we did not finish because of swimming breaks.
After some careful thought we decided that we should only stay at this place for one night because it was two far from the Full moon party beach. So we did the most logical thing, rent a fleet of motorbikes. With are newly acquired fleet we took to the streets. The only issue became that with two of us on one it they were unable to make it up the large hills. Since Rooney was driving I had to walk up two hills on the way to the beach. When we arrived to the beach to check it out they were moving towers of speakers in. It was at this point the we became really pumped. Now that it was dark and inconvenient we decided to look for a new hostel. We went up and down but found a surprisingly close place to stay. It was on another beach and had a room with AC. After booking it was back to top of the island in the dark. This made the fact that we were two heavy to make it up the hills less of an ego hit.
After a couple of drinks by the pool we headed off to bed and hoped that the room would not be as hot as the morning.
-WBM
Heading South
So to continue from where Will left off...our next move was to head south to meet up with the two other members of our wolf pack (if you have seen the hangover you will get this reference), Tom and Merrill who had been in the south for about a week already. After getting Jesus we spent the day in BKK (we were planning on leaving right away but there were no buses leaving until that night because they only do overnight buses to where we were headed). We dropped our bags off at the travel agents office and did a bit of exploring before giving up due to the heat and pure laziness. Because we had a 12 hour bus ahead of us we decided it would be good to have a few cocktails in us to make the sleeping a bit easier. This turned out to work like a charm and I speak for all of us when saying we were awake for about 12 mins of the 12 hrs. It also helped that we snuck our way into the first class section below where we could fully layout.
We arrived in Krabi and meet up with Tom and Merrill at their guest house. Krabi is a total hole and we only spent one night there so I'm not even going to go into that. The one thing i will mention is that Will bought a watch/bottle opener/compass which can clip onto a belt loop and he was/still is convinced it is the best thing ever. I on the other hand think it is a joke so now we have an ongoing battle over this stupid thing and i refuse to use it for anything but telling time (i have come up with some very creative ways to open my bottles out of stubbornness so not to give him the pleasure of using his beloved device. The next morning we boarded a series of buses and boats in the direction of Koh Phi Phi which is a beautiful island where Neddy and i spent some time during our travels last year. We found a place to stay and then hit the beach for some fun in the sun. This place really is heaven on earth and we were happy to be there after a long few days of travel. We ended up starting a soccer game on the beach and by the end it had turned into a full 11 v 11 game which involved people from over 9 countries. From this not only did we get intense sun burns and chaffing but also a new friend and travel companion from France, Jarome. He will be frequently mentioned from now on I'm sure because he provided us with a great deal of entertainment during his week or so with us (he was very stereotypical French).
The next few days are a bit of a blur because the island days just seem to all run together. We did a lot of beaching, eating, drinking and some exploring. We did manage to motivate ourselves to get out to Maya Bay which has its claim to fame for being the beach from the movie "The Beach." We also added another member to our wolf pack, Hafa who is from Brazil. Great guy and he also spent the next week or so traveling with us. Beyond that there is not a whole lot to report from the 3-4 days we spent on Phi Phi...we basically did a good amount of nothing which should not come as a surprise to any of you reading this. Our only true motivation to get off the island was the fact that there was a full moon party that we needed to get to on another island.
-RBC
We arrived in Krabi and meet up with Tom and Merrill at their guest house. Krabi is a total hole and we only spent one night there so I'm not even going to go into that. The one thing i will mention is that Will bought a watch/bottle opener/compass which can clip onto a belt loop and he was/still is convinced it is the best thing ever. I on the other hand think it is a joke so now we have an ongoing battle over this stupid thing and i refuse to use it for anything but telling time (i have come up with some very creative ways to open my bottles out of stubbornness so not to give him the pleasure of using his beloved device. The next morning we boarded a series of buses and boats in the direction of Koh Phi Phi which is a beautiful island where Neddy and i spent some time during our travels last year. We found a place to stay and then hit the beach for some fun in the sun. This place really is heaven on earth and we were happy to be there after a long few days of travel. We ended up starting a soccer game on the beach and by the end it had turned into a full 11 v 11 game which involved people from over 9 countries. From this not only did we get intense sun burns and chaffing but also a new friend and travel companion from France, Jarome. He will be frequently mentioned from now on I'm sure because he provided us with a great deal of entertainment during his week or so with us (he was very stereotypical French).
The next few days are a bit of a blur because the island days just seem to all run together. We did a lot of beaching, eating, drinking and some exploring. We did manage to motivate ourselves to get out to Maya Bay which has its claim to fame for being the beach from the movie "The Beach." We also added another member to our wolf pack, Hafa who is from Brazil. Great guy and he also spent the next week or so traveling with us. Beyond that there is not a whole lot to report from the 3-4 days we spent on Phi Phi...we basically did a good amount of nothing which should not come as a surprise to any of you reading this. Our only true motivation to get off the island was the fact that there was a full moon party that we needed to get to on another island.
-RBC
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Long Time Over Due
After enjoying the air condition and a couple games of backgammon (Will is winning the world tour) we decided to take on the heat again. This time our destination was Wat Po. On the way to Wat Po we crossed a football field sized market. While crossing we saw a man attempt to steal two hats. He was faster then two of the employees at the stand (one of which was wielding a large bambo rod.) The robber was tripped up for a second by another vendor but escaped that as well. Right before he was in the clear the street caused him to slow down. Unfortunatly for him this allowed the two men originally chasing him to catch up. They decided it was necessary to litterlyl kick him while he was down. After a the robber was beaten up they dragged him to the side of the street.
The rest of the trip to see Wat Po was consumed with the events we had just seen. Wat Po is where the largest reclining Buddha in the world rests. It is 15 meters high and around 47 meters long. The Buddha was impressive to say the least. The grounds around him were also impressive. They were filled with more buddhas and temples.
On the walk back from the temple Rooney and I were hit up by our first scam. The worst part was we new it was happening and could do nothing. As we were walking back a old women through a handful of corn infront of us. This caused around a hundred pigoens to colapse on our position. We were trapped. The old women then proceeded to hand us open bags of corn. Our initital refusals were meet with another women giving us more corn. The fight was over before it even began. Both women dumped corn into our hands forcing us to spread it around. They claimed it was free do to a "buddha day". However seconds later we apperantly owed them 120 baht a peice. We gave them a 100 and left.
The next morning it was time to see if we could meet up with Rooney's freind, Jesus. With minimal ways of contacting him and no respose to the email we seend we headed to the bus station. To our suprise we were just waiting in one of the hallways and in he came.
From Bangkok we took an overnight bus to Krabi to meet up with Tom and Merrill. From Krabi we planned on going south to a couple of Islands. Not quite caught up yet but hopefully the next instalement will not take so long to post.
The rest of the trip to see Wat Po was consumed with the events we had just seen. Wat Po is where the largest reclining Buddha in the world rests. It is 15 meters high and around 47 meters long. The Buddha was impressive to say the least. The grounds around him were also impressive. They were filled with more buddhas and temples.
On the walk back from the temple Rooney and I were hit up by our first scam. The worst part was we new it was happening and could do nothing. As we were walking back a old women through a handful of corn infront of us. This caused around a hundred pigoens to colapse on our position. We were trapped. The old women then proceeded to hand us open bags of corn. Our initital refusals were meet with another women giving us more corn. The fight was over before it even began. Both women dumped corn into our hands forcing us to spread it around. They claimed it was free do to a "buddha day". However seconds later we apperantly owed them 120 baht a peice. We gave them a 100 and left.
The next morning it was time to see if we could meet up with Rooney's freind, Jesus. With minimal ways of contacting him and no respose to the email we seend we headed to the bus station. To our suprise we were just waiting in one of the hallways and in he came.
From Bangkok we took an overnight bus to Krabi to meet up with Tom and Merrill. From Krabi we planned on going south to a couple of Islands. Not quite caught up yet but hopefully the next instalement will not take so long to post.
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