Hey folks,
With my trip coming to an end, and my return to Vancouver being imminent, I thought I would compose a few lists, highlights of sorts from the past nine months, split into different categories. Hopefully they can serve as a guide/aide to you in the future should you visit any of the same places as me!
Top Adventure Activities:
1. Bungee Jumping in Phuket, Thailand
2. Scuba Diving in Perhentian Kecil, Malaysia
3. Deep Water Soloing (Rock-Climbing) in Koh Yao Noi, Thailand
4. Rock-Climbing (@ Railay Beach) in Krabi, Thailand
5. Zip-Lining With Flight Of The Gibbon in Chiang Mai, Thailand
6. Tubing/Rope Swings, Slides & Zip-Lines in Vang Vieng, Laos
7. ATV Expedition in Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Top Cultural Experiences
1. Teaching English in Ashdod, Israel
2. Funeral Of Oldest Woman in Vientiane, Laos
3. Muay Thai Boxing in Chiang Mai, Thailand
4. Visit To COPE Landmine Museum in Vientiane, Laos
5. My Cousin Shira's Wedding in Tel-Aviv, Israel
6. Children's Orphanage Dance Recital in Siem Reap, Cambodia
7. Biking Along Highway On Yom Kippur in Herzliya, Israel
Top Beautiful Vistas/Landscapes
1. Sunrise View From Masada in Ein Gedi, Israel
2. Maya Bay in Koh Phi Phi, Thailand
3. Tea Plantations in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
4. Karst Mountain Backdrop in Vang Vieng, Laos
5. Mount Yoash View Of Four Countries in Eilat, Israel
6. Long Beach Panorama in Perhentian Kecil, Malaysia
7. View From Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Top Temples
1. Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia
2. Kek Lok Si in Penang, Malaysia
3. Bayon in Siem Reap, Cambodia
4. Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai, Thailand
5. Ta Prohm in Siem Reap, Cambodia
6. Ta Som in Siem Reap, Cambodia
7. Banteay Srey in Siem Reap, Cambodia
Top Strange Foods To Try
1. Cow Tongue in Israel
2. Corn Ice Cream in Malaysia
3. Raw Water Buffalo in Thailand
4. Deep Fried A-Ping Tarantula in Cambodia
5. Ox Tripe in Cambodia
Top Strange Foods To Avoid
1. Durian in All Of SEA
2. Bee Larvae in Laos
3. Salted Crickets in Thailand
4. Fish Eye Curry in Malaysia
5. Boiled Pig Intestines in Malaysia
Top Places To Party/Have A Good Time
1. Nam Song River (Tubing) in Vang Vieng, Laos
2. Boat Cruise in Eilat, Israel
3. Full Moon Party in Koh Phangan, Thailand
4. Tuesday Nights @ Pigal in Ashdod, Israel
5. 10 Baht Shot Stand in Kanchanaburi, Thailand
6. Pub Street in Siem Reap, Cambodia
7. Bowling Alley in Vientiane, Laos
Ciao for now,
Max
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Angkor What?! Temples Galore!
Hey folks,
So I arrived in Siem Reap on Wednesday and took the recommendation of a friend for a place to stay, the Siem Reap Hostel, a great backpacker joint with air-conditioned dorms, an indoor pool, good food, cheap drinks, a DVD player with a ton of movies, massages, a pool table and foosball... pretty much all the amenities you could hope for. A friend of the woman who owned my hostel in Phnom Penh picked me up in a tuk-tuk from the bus station and told me he would be my driver for the entirety of my stay for whatever I wanted to do and that I could decide a price at the end. Very trusting of him but I'm guessing he's happy to have the work. After all, Siem Reap is a city where tuk-tuk drivers are a dime a dozen!
I spent an hour settling in and then my driver picked me up and took me to Angkor Wat to see the sunset. After purchasing a ticket for three days, we headed in and I got my first far-off glimpse of the magnificent, ancient temples, very impressive even from a distance in their stature! We drove further down the road past Angkor Wat and I climbed a hill to see the sunset from Bakheng Temple, one of the highest viewpoints for the popular activity. There were at least a hundred people at the top and it was scorching hot but I got a good spot on the edge and enjoyed the sun going down over a vast landscape of foliage, fields, and flowing rivers. When I returned to the hostel, I got talking with a couple of guys at the bar and we headed out together to check out Pub Street, the popular place for people my age to go out for a good time and plenty of drink specials. After a night of margaritas, dancing and very loud music, I contentedly headed home to sleep in.
The next day, I took a break day to relax at the hostel and recuperate, tired from a late night and from all the transit from the past few weeks. But at night, I headed down the road to the local orphanage for a dance recital performance, food, and refreshments. The orphanage was quite sad, as the size of it and the living conditions for the children are quite poor. However, the kids seemed so incredibly happy and they put on a hell of a show, with a mixture of traditional dances and hip-hop mixed in. Once again, I have to mention that Cambodia kids are some of the most friendly youngsters I have ever met and they invited all the audience on stage at the end for a communal dance. It was a great cultural experience and I'm really glad I got the chance to do something different!
On day three, I had my first full day of temple exploration. I got up at the ungodly hour of 430AM and headed to Angkor Wat to watch the sunrise. It was very busy there despite how early it was but I managed to get a good spot again and took in the first rays of sunshine while snapping some great photos. Afterwards, I hired a guide who took me through the epic Angkor Wat Temple for an hour and a half, explaining who the carvings represented on the walls, figures like Vishnu and Krishna, and also giving cool facts about how they constructed the temple itself. It took 37 years, 30000 people and 5000 elephants to put together the massive stone temple but it shows. Its size and beauty is really unparalleled compared to any other temples I have seen and it is intricate in its wall carvings as well. Next I headed to two other main temples that were also very impressive, Bayon and Ta Prohm. Bayon is a very old-looking temple that has something in the neighbourhood of 50 huge stone carvings of faces and it was one of my favourites. Ta Prohm is a jungle temple where the trees mingle with the man-made stonework and it was the site of the filming of the first "Tomb Raider" film with Angelina Jolie. It's funny how its name has pretty much changed to the Tomb Raider temple now, much like James Bond Island and Maya Bay which was simply called "The Beach". American films dictate tourism over here whenever possible and tourists eat it right up... I saw a few smaller temples as well before heading back to the hostel for a rest for a few hours, exhausted from my early morning wake-up call and seven hours of exploring temples in the 37 degree heat! But in the afternoon, I headed back out and saw three more temples on the outskirts of Angkor Wat. Two of them were quite dull and unexciting but the third was quite impressive and luckily it was the last one, making it worth the trip...
Today, I headed to another slew of temples, bringing my total up to 15 and ending my Angkor Wat expedition. I am officially all templed out! Banteay Sray, a 20km drive from Angkor Wat was worth the journey, however, a temple known as being smaller and housing the most intricate red sandstone carvings in Cambodia, and also considered to be the temple most popular with the aristocratic population. It was very busy also, and like all temples, there were a ton of people haggling me while I walked to and from the temple, desperate to sell me postcards, paintings, food, drink, bracelets, or guidebooks. This part of my time in Siem Reap has been a little difficult to adjust to, mainly because Laos was laid back and I got used to not having to deal with the haggling. But in Siem Reap, a tourist haven, there are literally hundreds of hawkers with extortionist prices, and it was pretty tiresome by the 15th hour of my expedition. I am looking forward to a life free from "Excuse me sir"s when I return home to Vancouver!
Unfortunately, in the afternoon, after many days of little sleep and walking in the heat, I succumbed to my first cold/flu of my backpacking experience and it has been awful! I lay in bed for several hours this afternoon, unable to sleep and suffering from a bad fever. Thankfully, I picked up cold medication this morning before the temples when I felt the starts of something coming on so it has made me feel a bit better. I can only hope that it doesn't last long and I board my flight fully healthy and happy...
So that's it for my travels! Tomorrow will be a recovery day from this illness and then I head to Bangkok the next day to have one full day in the metropolis before I go home. It's hard to believe that my nine month adventure is almost over and all the planning that I spent so much time on over the past one and a half years has come to fruition. As this blog has been solely for the purpose of my travels, it will soon be coming to an end so I thank you all for reading and hope you have enjoyed it. See you all soon!
Ciao for now,
Max
So I arrived in Siem Reap on Wednesday and took the recommendation of a friend for a place to stay, the Siem Reap Hostel, a great backpacker joint with air-conditioned dorms, an indoor pool, good food, cheap drinks, a DVD player with a ton of movies, massages, a pool table and foosball... pretty much all the amenities you could hope for. A friend of the woman who owned my hostel in Phnom Penh picked me up in a tuk-tuk from the bus station and told me he would be my driver for the entirety of my stay for whatever I wanted to do and that I could decide a price at the end. Very trusting of him but I'm guessing he's happy to have the work. After all, Siem Reap is a city where tuk-tuk drivers are a dime a dozen!
I spent an hour settling in and then my driver picked me up and took me to Angkor Wat to see the sunset. After purchasing a ticket for three days, we headed in and I got my first far-off glimpse of the magnificent, ancient temples, very impressive even from a distance in their stature! We drove further down the road past Angkor Wat and I climbed a hill to see the sunset from Bakheng Temple, one of the highest viewpoints for the popular activity. There were at least a hundred people at the top and it was scorching hot but I got a good spot on the edge and enjoyed the sun going down over a vast landscape of foliage, fields, and flowing rivers. When I returned to the hostel, I got talking with a couple of guys at the bar and we headed out together to check out Pub Street, the popular place for people my age to go out for a good time and plenty of drink specials. After a night of margaritas, dancing and very loud music, I contentedly headed home to sleep in.
The next day, I took a break day to relax at the hostel and recuperate, tired from a late night and from all the transit from the past few weeks. But at night, I headed down the road to the local orphanage for a dance recital performance, food, and refreshments. The orphanage was quite sad, as the size of it and the living conditions for the children are quite poor. However, the kids seemed so incredibly happy and they put on a hell of a show, with a mixture of traditional dances and hip-hop mixed in. Once again, I have to mention that Cambodia kids are some of the most friendly youngsters I have ever met and they invited all the audience on stage at the end for a communal dance. It was a great cultural experience and I'm really glad I got the chance to do something different!
On day three, I had my first full day of temple exploration. I got up at the ungodly hour of 430AM and headed to Angkor Wat to watch the sunrise. It was very busy there despite how early it was but I managed to get a good spot again and took in the first rays of sunshine while snapping some great photos. Afterwards, I hired a guide who took me through the epic Angkor Wat Temple for an hour and a half, explaining who the carvings represented on the walls, figures like Vishnu and Krishna, and also giving cool facts about how they constructed the temple itself. It took 37 years, 30000 people and 5000 elephants to put together the massive stone temple but it shows. Its size and beauty is really unparalleled compared to any other temples I have seen and it is intricate in its wall carvings as well. Next I headed to two other main temples that were also very impressive, Bayon and Ta Prohm. Bayon is a very old-looking temple that has something in the neighbourhood of 50 huge stone carvings of faces and it was one of my favourites. Ta Prohm is a jungle temple where the trees mingle with the man-made stonework and it was the site of the filming of the first "Tomb Raider" film with Angelina Jolie. It's funny how its name has pretty much changed to the Tomb Raider temple now, much like James Bond Island and Maya Bay which was simply called "The Beach". American films dictate tourism over here whenever possible and tourists eat it right up... I saw a few smaller temples as well before heading back to the hostel for a rest for a few hours, exhausted from my early morning wake-up call and seven hours of exploring temples in the 37 degree heat! But in the afternoon, I headed back out and saw three more temples on the outskirts of Angkor Wat. Two of them were quite dull and unexciting but the third was quite impressive and luckily it was the last one, making it worth the trip...
Today, I headed to another slew of temples, bringing my total up to 15 and ending my Angkor Wat expedition. I am officially all templed out! Banteay Sray, a 20km drive from Angkor Wat was worth the journey, however, a temple known as being smaller and housing the most intricate red sandstone carvings in Cambodia, and also considered to be the temple most popular with the aristocratic population. It was very busy also, and like all temples, there were a ton of people haggling me while I walked to and from the temple, desperate to sell me postcards, paintings, food, drink, bracelets, or guidebooks. This part of my time in Siem Reap has been a little difficult to adjust to, mainly because Laos was laid back and I got used to not having to deal with the haggling. But in Siem Reap, a tourist haven, there are literally hundreds of hawkers with extortionist prices, and it was pretty tiresome by the 15th hour of my expedition. I am looking forward to a life free from "Excuse me sir"s when I return home to Vancouver!
Unfortunately, in the afternoon, after many days of little sleep and walking in the heat, I succumbed to my first cold/flu of my backpacking experience and it has been awful! I lay in bed for several hours this afternoon, unable to sleep and suffering from a bad fever. Thankfully, I picked up cold medication this morning before the temples when I felt the starts of something coming on so it has made me feel a bit better. I can only hope that it doesn't last long and I board my flight fully healthy and happy...
So that's it for my travels! Tomorrow will be a recovery day from this illness and then I head to Bangkok the next day to have one full day in the metropolis before I go home. It's hard to believe that my nine month adventure is almost over and all the planning that I spent so much time on over the past one and a half years has come to fruition. As this blog has been solely for the purpose of my travels, it will soon be coming to an end so I thank you all for reading and hope you have enjoyed it. See you all soon!
Ciao for now,
Max
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Phnom Penh: The City Of Four Faces
Hey folks,
So I finally arrived in Cambodia on Saturday night at 8PM, a full 24 hours later than originally anticipated. After my horrendous overnight bus journey and stop in Pakse, the second day of traveling went much better. I was low on cash and met some travelers from Quebec who were nice enough to lend me a few bucks to get my visa and cross the border, paying them back once we reached an ATM. The look of the Cambodian countryside was a familiar sight at this point, similar to many of the landscapes I have seen in South East Asia. However, I did take note that the ground was flatter and the overall feel was very rural, no big towns or even moderate size towns in sight for the first four hours after entering the country. At a stop on the side of the road to allow some travelers to switch buses, I indulged in trying another weird food that is commonly eaten in Malaysia, the A-Ping Tarantula! It was deep-fried and had some sort of sweet, sticky exterior, making the crunch and slight fuzziness of the fur much more tolerable. All in all, not bad and much better than the crickets in Thailand...
Once in the city, I got a tuk-tuk and again had to adjust to a little bit of culture shock, the same as when I went from the small islands in Eastern Malaysia to the big city of Kuala Lumpur. I have spent the past two weeks in very small towns in Laos, with a slow lifestyle and a laid-back vibe. The first thing I noticed in Phnom Penh was the traffic and the amount of motorcycles on the streets. Granted, every place I have gone in South East Asia motorcycles or scooters have been prevalent. But in Phnom Penh, they double, if not triple, the amount of cars on the road and there seem to be no rules that I am aware of for traffic. Drivers weave in and out of small sections barely large enough for someone to walk through let alone drive. Some can be found driving on the wrong side of the street against traffic if they're in a hurry! All I could think of when I first saw the chaos on the streets was what would happen if you took the drivers from Vancouver and placed them in the driving environment in Phnom Penh. I would give it five minute before a traffic massacre!
I stayed at a very nice hostel in a busy part of the city, not far from the Central Market and the National Palace. On my first day, I met up with two of my brother Juan's friends for a delicious Chinese lunch and a trip to the mall. Monika and her husband Yeng pointed out some local sites for me to check out and I bought a new pair of shoes, $100 cheaper than what I normally pay for sneakers. That night, I tested my palate again and feasted on some ox tripe with fresh morning glory and green bananas. This was very tasty and something I would probably try again in the future. On my second day, I signed up for TripAdvisor's top activity in the city, a tour with Blazing Trails which includes a stop at the Killing Fields and an exploration of the countryside and small villages by way of ATV. The Killing Fields were a somber stop but very informative and not entirely shocking for me, now that I have some experience in seeing the atrocities of history in Laos and Israel. What did surprise me is the fact that trials for war crimes from the times of the reign of the Khmer Rouge were still going on up until six months ago, over thirty years following this black period in history. I spent an hour at the museum and walking around the fields until I was picked up again and set off to learn how to use an ATV. Surprisingly, I was the only one signed up for the tour that day, so I had the pro of being able to stop whenever I wanted to take photos and go by my own timeline, but the con of not meeting any fellow backpackers and only having my guides to speak with. All in all though, it was much more of a pro than a con! It only took a few minutes to adjust to the controls of the ATV, pretty much identical to those of the motorcycle I used in Koh Yao Noi in Thailand, however, it's funny that the tour starts off traveling down very narrow roads through a village, with children running at you from all sides to say hello and give you high fives. This was very cool albeit nerve-wracking with so little experience behind the beast of a vehicle... The drive through the countryside was magnificent and it's easy to see why people do the tour more than once. The children greeting me were so friendly and happy to see a visitor, to witness someone with different clothing, the sought-after pale skin that so many Cambodians adore, and of course the gurgling vehicular companion I rode in on. After a couple of hours of riding past mango plantations, isolated temples, and many, many cows, we stopped at a little stall in a tiny village and enjoyed some fresh sugarcane juice. I got a chance to watch the woman skin the cane herself and she gave me a chance to try it myself, a technique similar to peeling a potato or carrot. Once she had enough, she placed it into a giant juicer and it was only moments before I had a cool, refreshing beverage to enjoy. It was very tasty and not overly sweet, a welcome relief from the blazing sun. After our stop, we had a few more hours of countryside expedition before stopping on the riverside to watch the sunset. As we watched the sun go down, my guide taught me how to speak some Khmer and admired my quick learning skills for language. I returned the favour by teaching him some French to help him in his future dealings with French tourists. It was a fantastic day and gave me pause from thoughts of home and the ticking clock signifying my approaching return to more familiar civilization...
Today, I went exploring in the neighbourhood and saw the National Museum, the National Palace where the King resides, the Independence Monument, and many different temples. It was blistering hot (37 degrees!) so I had to make several stops along the way for beverages or just to escape the heat somehow. I met up with Monika and Yeng for dinner again tonight, and we ate some traditional Khmer food which was very good. Afterwards, we headed to a country bar for a few drinks before calling it a night. I really enjoyed getting to know Monika and Yeng and my time in Phnom Penh has been very enjoyable!
It's off to Siem Reap tomorrow for my last real stop, a chance to see the famous Angkor Wat and its magnificent ancient temples. Really looking forward to it and only one week till I arrive safely back on Canadian soil!
Ciao for now,
Max
So I finally arrived in Cambodia on Saturday night at 8PM, a full 24 hours later than originally anticipated. After my horrendous overnight bus journey and stop in Pakse, the second day of traveling went much better. I was low on cash and met some travelers from Quebec who were nice enough to lend me a few bucks to get my visa and cross the border, paying them back once we reached an ATM. The look of the Cambodian countryside was a familiar sight at this point, similar to many of the landscapes I have seen in South East Asia. However, I did take note that the ground was flatter and the overall feel was very rural, no big towns or even moderate size towns in sight for the first four hours after entering the country. At a stop on the side of the road to allow some travelers to switch buses, I indulged in trying another weird food that is commonly eaten in Malaysia, the A-Ping Tarantula! It was deep-fried and had some sort of sweet, sticky exterior, making the crunch and slight fuzziness of the fur much more tolerable. All in all, not bad and much better than the crickets in Thailand...
Once in the city, I got a tuk-tuk and again had to adjust to a little bit of culture shock, the same as when I went from the small islands in Eastern Malaysia to the big city of Kuala Lumpur. I have spent the past two weeks in very small towns in Laos, with a slow lifestyle and a laid-back vibe. The first thing I noticed in Phnom Penh was the traffic and the amount of motorcycles on the streets. Granted, every place I have gone in South East Asia motorcycles or scooters have been prevalent. But in Phnom Penh, they double, if not triple, the amount of cars on the road and there seem to be no rules that I am aware of for traffic. Drivers weave in and out of small sections barely large enough for someone to walk through let alone drive. Some can be found driving on the wrong side of the street against traffic if they're in a hurry! All I could think of when I first saw the chaos on the streets was what would happen if you took the drivers from Vancouver and placed them in the driving environment in Phnom Penh. I would give it five minute before a traffic massacre!
I stayed at a very nice hostel in a busy part of the city, not far from the Central Market and the National Palace. On my first day, I met up with two of my brother Juan's friends for a delicious Chinese lunch and a trip to the mall. Monika and her husband Yeng pointed out some local sites for me to check out and I bought a new pair of shoes, $100 cheaper than what I normally pay for sneakers. That night, I tested my palate again and feasted on some ox tripe with fresh morning glory and green bananas. This was very tasty and something I would probably try again in the future. On my second day, I signed up for TripAdvisor's top activity in the city, a tour with Blazing Trails which includes a stop at the Killing Fields and an exploration of the countryside and small villages by way of ATV. The Killing Fields were a somber stop but very informative and not entirely shocking for me, now that I have some experience in seeing the atrocities of history in Laos and Israel. What did surprise me is the fact that trials for war crimes from the times of the reign of the Khmer Rouge were still going on up until six months ago, over thirty years following this black period in history. I spent an hour at the museum and walking around the fields until I was picked up again and set off to learn how to use an ATV. Surprisingly, I was the only one signed up for the tour that day, so I had the pro of being able to stop whenever I wanted to take photos and go by my own timeline, but the con of not meeting any fellow backpackers and only having my guides to speak with. All in all though, it was much more of a pro than a con! It only took a few minutes to adjust to the controls of the ATV, pretty much identical to those of the motorcycle I used in Koh Yao Noi in Thailand, however, it's funny that the tour starts off traveling down very narrow roads through a village, with children running at you from all sides to say hello and give you high fives. This was very cool albeit nerve-wracking with so little experience behind the beast of a vehicle... The drive through the countryside was magnificent and it's easy to see why people do the tour more than once. The children greeting me were so friendly and happy to see a visitor, to witness someone with different clothing, the sought-after pale skin that so many Cambodians adore, and of course the gurgling vehicular companion I rode in on. After a couple of hours of riding past mango plantations, isolated temples, and many, many cows, we stopped at a little stall in a tiny village and enjoyed some fresh sugarcane juice. I got a chance to watch the woman skin the cane herself and she gave me a chance to try it myself, a technique similar to peeling a potato or carrot. Once she had enough, she placed it into a giant juicer and it was only moments before I had a cool, refreshing beverage to enjoy. It was very tasty and not overly sweet, a welcome relief from the blazing sun. After our stop, we had a few more hours of countryside expedition before stopping on the riverside to watch the sunset. As we watched the sun go down, my guide taught me how to speak some Khmer and admired my quick learning skills for language. I returned the favour by teaching him some French to help him in his future dealings with French tourists. It was a fantastic day and gave me pause from thoughts of home and the ticking clock signifying my approaching return to more familiar civilization...
Today, I went exploring in the neighbourhood and saw the National Museum, the National Palace where the King resides, the Independence Monument, and many different temples. It was blistering hot (37 degrees!) so I had to make several stops along the way for beverages or just to escape the heat somehow. I met up with Monika and Yeng for dinner again tonight, and we ate some traditional Khmer food which was very good. Afterwards, we headed to a country bar for a few drinks before calling it a night. I really enjoyed getting to know Monika and Yeng and my time in Phnom Penh has been very enjoyable!
It's off to Siem Reap tomorrow for my last real stop, a chance to see the famous Angkor Wat and its magnificent ancient temples. Really looking forward to it and only one week till I arrive safely back on Canadian soil!
Ciao for now,
Max
Friday, May 20, 2011
"On The Road Again..."
Hey folks,
So it's been a few days since my last post and activity has simmered down quite a bit since then. The majority of my time, or at least half of it, has been spent on the road, traveling from one destination to another. While this is a necessary part of backpacking, it is getting rather exhausting and tedious at this point, especially after my experiences the past few days...
First, I headed to the Northern region of Laos to visit the old capital of Luang Prabang. I seem to have somewhat bad luck when it comes to who I sit next to/behind when I travel from one city to another. Unfortunately, I was sitting behind a woman on the way who had reclined her chair almost fully before I got on and had proceeded to pass out, leaving me and my long legs with no option but to sit cramped for the seven hour journey. Ironically, the person next to me was a full foot shorter than me and had all of their leg room, but he too was passed out and I was too polite (it's my Canadian nature) to ask to switch seats. Despite this minor pitfall, the scenery on the trip was magnificent and some of the best I have seen in two and a half months of traveling. The whole drive North is along twisting mountain roads, to the right a sprawling landscape of karst peaks and rolling hills, scattered smoldering patches from the heat and cows and goats crossing the road in front of us, delaying our journey only slightly in their leisure. Passing through little towns, the children always stare you down with their calculating eyes, transfixed by the gaggle of Westerners passing through their home. After the long bus journey, I was happy to find the first place I could to settle down and happened to end up in a nice little hostel, cheap and with all the amenities I was desiring. My next day, feeling a mixture of pain from my wounds, weariness from my commute, and longing for my own bed back home, I stayed in and powered through two full books, happy to have some down time. The day after, I rented a bicycle and explored the city in a few hours, stopping at temples along the way and for views of the river banks. All in all, Luang Prabang was nice peaceful city, and if it had been my first stop in Laos, I certainly would have been more appreciative. That being said, after the activity and beauty of Vang Vieng, and the culture of Vientiane, Luang Prabang was a little lacking for me and slightly disappointing. The drive to and from the town was the most entertaining part of my experience there...
After a trip back to Vang Vieng, and another night in my wonderful hostel there, I set out on the road yesterday for Phnom Penh, excited and eager to explore a new country and new surroundings. It was going to be a doozy of a commute, a full 30 hour journey with three to four separate buses and a passing through border control where I would have to obtain a visa, but I was determined to get it over with and have the last major commute of my travels completed. I took the four hour bus journey down to Vientiane and switched buses to a huge overnight VIP bus, equipped with a bed about the size of a single. The bus was supposed to leave at 6PM and take twelve hours, but it was two and a half hours before it finally took off. I spent that time having a light dinner and actually stretching out quite comfortably on the single bed, impressed at the amount of space I would have for the long journey and convinced it would go by quickly. Unfortunately, I soon realized that I was sorely mistaken in thinking I had the whole bed to myself. After two hours of sitting idle, the bus suddenly started to fill up and I took note at that point that there were two pillows on the bed, a perk that was too good to be true. Fifteen minutes before take-off, an English guy named Tommy stumbled up the stairs and notified me that we would be sharing the bed. I was a little mortified at the thought of spooning with a complete stranger, but alas, I had no choice in the matter and he crawled into the single with me! At first, it was not too bad... he got out his laptop and we watched "Into The Wild", a great film and quite appropriate considering the protagonist is a 23-year old man going on a journey of self-exploration... but when it came time to go to bed, I had no room to get comfortable. I started on my side facing the window, but my knees were pressed up against the glass and my ankles were chafed together quite painfully. I then switched to my back and hoped to fall asleep that way but it was hopeless and my legs started to cramp that way as well. Finally, after four and a half hours of lying in pain and distress, I faced the other way towards my bed companion and managed to doze off for a few hours. Before this all occurred, the bus we were on stopped after only 45 minutes of driving due to engine troubles and a flat tire (at least that's what I assume, I couldn't see out the windows what they were doing). This caused a three hour delay in the trip. By the time we arrived in Pakse, the transfer point to my next day bus, it was just before 12PM and I had been on the bus for close to 18 hours! In the morning, when the sun came out, the window concentrated the heat all over my body, no curtains on the bus to shield me from the blistering 36 degree heat and nowhere to escape to. All in all, it was an absolute horrendous experience, and my worst one with transportation so far. Because we arrived so late due to all the delays, I missed my connecting bus and I'm stuck in Pakse for the day and due to leave in the morning bright and early to get to the border. I still have at least 16 hours to go and I am not optimistic about the comforts of my remaining transportation. I would be okay with the stop in Pakse if it were nice or there was anything to do here, but the town is one that has exploited tourism and yet has no natural beauty to offer. The streets smell of stale weed and palpable humidity and my current accommodation smells of sewage and body odor. I feel the world is playing a cruel, cosmic joke on me right now and I can only hope that the journey to Cambodia is worth it and I am met by something wonderful to make me forget my current state of despair...
Sorry for the somewhat cynical, depressing post but there really has not been much to brag about or praise in the past few days. Hopefully, the next post will be a cheerful one. Less than two weeks until I arrive back home!
Ciao for now,
Max
So it's been a few days since my last post and activity has simmered down quite a bit since then. The majority of my time, or at least half of it, has been spent on the road, traveling from one destination to another. While this is a necessary part of backpacking, it is getting rather exhausting and tedious at this point, especially after my experiences the past few days...
First, I headed to the Northern region of Laos to visit the old capital of Luang Prabang. I seem to have somewhat bad luck when it comes to who I sit next to/behind when I travel from one city to another. Unfortunately, I was sitting behind a woman on the way who had reclined her chair almost fully before I got on and had proceeded to pass out, leaving me and my long legs with no option but to sit cramped for the seven hour journey. Ironically, the person next to me was a full foot shorter than me and had all of their leg room, but he too was passed out and I was too polite (it's my Canadian nature) to ask to switch seats. Despite this minor pitfall, the scenery on the trip was magnificent and some of the best I have seen in two and a half months of traveling. The whole drive North is along twisting mountain roads, to the right a sprawling landscape of karst peaks and rolling hills, scattered smoldering patches from the heat and cows and goats crossing the road in front of us, delaying our journey only slightly in their leisure. Passing through little towns, the children always stare you down with their calculating eyes, transfixed by the gaggle of Westerners passing through their home. After the long bus journey, I was happy to find the first place I could to settle down and happened to end up in a nice little hostel, cheap and with all the amenities I was desiring. My next day, feeling a mixture of pain from my wounds, weariness from my commute, and longing for my own bed back home, I stayed in and powered through two full books, happy to have some down time. The day after, I rented a bicycle and explored the city in a few hours, stopping at temples along the way and for views of the river banks. All in all, Luang Prabang was nice peaceful city, and if it had been my first stop in Laos, I certainly would have been more appreciative. That being said, after the activity and beauty of Vang Vieng, and the culture of Vientiane, Luang Prabang was a little lacking for me and slightly disappointing. The drive to and from the town was the most entertaining part of my experience there...
After a trip back to Vang Vieng, and another night in my wonderful hostel there, I set out on the road yesterday for Phnom Penh, excited and eager to explore a new country and new surroundings. It was going to be a doozy of a commute, a full 30 hour journey with three to four separate buses and a passing through border control where I would have to obtain a visa, but I was determined to get it over with and have the last major commute of my travels completed. I took the four hour bus journey down to Vientiane and switched buses to a huge overnight VIP bus, equipped with a bed about the size of a single. The bus was supposed to leave at 6PM and take twelve hours, but it was two and a half hours before it finally took off. I spent that time having a light dinner and actually stretching out quite comfortably on the single bed, impressed at the amount of space I would have for the long journey and convinced it would go by quickly. Unfortunately, I soon realized that I was sorely mistaken in thinking I had the whole bed to myself. After two hours of sitting idle, the bus suddenly started to fill up and I took note at that point that there were two pillows on the bed, a perk that was too good to be true. Fifteen minutes before take-off, an English guy named Tommy stumbled up the stairs and notified me that we would be sharing the bed. I was a little mortified at the thought of spooning with a complete stranger, but alas, I had no choice in the matter and he crawled into the single with me! At first, it was not too bad... he got out his laptop and we watched "Into The Wild", a great film and quite appropriate considering the protagonist is a 23-year old man going on a journey of self-exploration... but when it came time to go to bed, I had no room to get comfortable. I started on my side facing the window, but my knees were pressed up against the glass and my ankles were chafed together quite painfully. I then switched to my back and hoped to fall asleep that way but it was hopeless and my legs started to cramp that way as well. Finally, after four and a half hours of lying in pain and distress, I faced the other way towards my bed companion and managed to doze off for a few hours. Before this all occurred, the bus we were on stopped after only 45 minutes of driving due to engine troubles and a flat tire (at least that's what I assume, I couldn't see out the windows what they were doing). This caused a three hour delay in the trip. By the time we arrived in Pakse, the transfer point to my next day bus, it was just before 12PM and I had been on the bus for close to 18 hours! In the morning, when the sun came out, the window concentrated the heat all over my body, no curtains on the bus to shield me from the blistering 36 degree heat and nowhere to escape to. All in all, it was an absolute horrendous experience, and my worst one with transportation so far. Because we arrived so late due to all the delays, I missed my connecting bus and I'm stuck in Pakse for the day and due to leave in the morning bright and early to get to the border. I still have at least 16 hours to go and I am not optimistic about the comforts of my remaining transportation. I would be okay with the stop in Pakse if it were nice or there was anything to do here, but the town is one that has exploited tourism and yet has no natural beauty to offer. The streets smell of stale weed and palpable humidity and my current accommodation smells of sewage and body odor. I feel the world is playing a cruel, cosmic joke on me right now and I can only hope that the journey to Cambodia is worth it and I am met by something wonderful to make me forget my current state of despair...
Sorry for the somewhat cynical, depressing post but there really has not been much to brag about or praise in the past few days. Hopefully, the next post will be a cheerful one. Less than two weeks until I arrive back home!
Ciao for now,
Max
Saturday, May 14, 2011
"I'll Be There For You..."
Hey folks,
Life has gotten pretty crazy in the past few days! I arrived in Vang Vieng on Tuesday after a great night out with a friend from Israel. We checked out the bowling alley in Vientiane and played until the wee hours of the morning before we were kicked out of the place. Nice to see a friendly face after so long traveling alone...
Vang Vieng is a tourist haven and is most well known for its tubing, but there is a lot more to do than just get drunk on the river. I have been staying at a great guest house and have been paying only 30000 Kip a night ($3.50 CDN). It's a great place to meet people and it's a little bit off the main stretch so it's quieter. There's a good lounge to hang out in and they make world-class sandwiches that I have been feasting on every day. My first full day in Vang Vieng, I signed up for a kayaking tour. We started by visiting Elephant Cave which is home to a huge buddha footprint and a rock formation which gives the cave its name. Next, we checked out another cave called the Water Cave where we hopped on tubes with a headlamp and went deep into the cave (about 700 or 800 metres) using a rope to pull ourselves along. I brought my camera in with me to take some photos and on the way back, while adjusting my grip, I accidentally dropped it! I realized right away but it was somewhere on the soft muddy ground under 12 feet of water... I spent thirty minutes diving underwater and feeling for it in the pitch black, which was absolutely terrifying but I was determined, and then finally had to give up hope. When I emerged from the cave, we ate lunch and I had settled with the fact that my camera was gone forever and that I would have to purchase a new one for the last leg of my trip. But then, one of the guides came over and offered to go back in with me to try finding it with a snorkel mask. I thought it couldn't hurt and I had made a point of remembering the surroundings where I had lost it. We arrived at the spot where I had dropped it and he dived down to look. Incredibly, within five minutes of searching, he resurfaced with my camera in hand! Despite being underwater for over an hour and caked in mud, it still works perfectly! I gave him a nice reward and we continued the tour, 18km of kayaking down the Nam Song river with beautiful karstic landscapes in the background and plenty of rapids to go over. At the end of the river, we made a few stops at some of the bars in the 500m stretch which has made Vang Vieng so well known. I took a few turns at some of the jumps before we did the last few kilometres of kayaking and headed back to our respective hostels, content and exhausted...
On day two, I rented out a bicycle and decided to go explore some of the caves in the area and the local spot known as the Blue Lagoon. I went with the guy I met in Vientiane who I am still with somehow, however, he has gotten a lot better and is up for anything so that's always a perk for a travel companion. We stopped at a smaller cave first which had an awesome swimming grotto and then headed up the hill a little bit with headlamps to check out the bigger cave. It was massive and had lots of stairs and ladders to climb, with a ton of amazing rock formations along the way. Once we got to the end, we turned around and headed back to the opening, daylight a welcome sight! We stopped for lunch in a tiny village halfway between the Blue Lagoon and the main town, where little kids came and pointed to candy on the wall, to them too expensive but to us, less than 50 cents. They were very happy when we obliged their demands by buying them a treat to gobble down. After some delicious fried noodles and a break from the sun (it was 35 degrees at least that day!), we finally went to the Blue Lagoon, or at least what we thought was the Blue Lagoon... it turns out that we didn't actually make it all the way there but rather to one of the impostors that have sprung up in the area to take advantage of the site's name and tourists' money. Even so, the little place we stopped for a swim was nice and the scenic backgrounds were great to relax next to. That night, we met a bunch of new backpackers at our hostel from Sweden, England, and Norway and all went for dinner together. We had a delicious meal at a nearby restaurant and spent some time enjoying another thing Vang Vieng is known for: episodes of "Friends"... Nearly every restaurant and bar along the main road shows episodes all hours of the day and night, some of the places changing things up by showing "Family Guy". It's really a wonder the people in Laos aren't sick of the show but I guess they figure it brings in tourists by giving them something familiar and so it is a tradition that will last for many years...
On day three, myself and three others from the hostel went to the cave just down the path from our hostel known for its many shrines and buddha statues. Before heading to main cave, we went swimming in another cave which was quite the experience, maybe one of the coolest I have had in Laos so far! We hadn't known about a swimming cave so none of us brought flashlights but I led the way and swam into the dark, using one of our cameras' flash as an aide at ten-second intervals in order to have some idea of where the walls were. I must have swum about 500 metres into the cave against the current, completely enveloped in darkness, with no natural light creeping in from the outside world. Very scary, but unbelievable unique and exhilarating! I decided to get out when I felt something the size of a small shark slither up against my leg! On the way back to the hostel, I bought what I thought was some local corn dish wrapped up in a banana leaf. I was wrong and when I smelled it, it had the smell of honey. I assumed it was honeycomb upon closer inspection, and took a big bite. Wrong again... Bitter, rancid juice squirted into my mouth and when I looked down I realized what I was actually eating: bee larvae! Not something I will EVER try again! After a quick, real lunch, we got our things together and hired a tuk-tuk to take us tubing. Unfortunately, the driver didn't tell us that we had to rent tubes in town and not at the river, so we didn't actually even use tubes the whole day but it didn't really matter; the experience has more to do with the bars. When I floated down the river on my kayak my first day, it was quite an assault on the eyes to see the over-developed stretch that has given Vang Vieng the ultimate party boost. It was almost like entering a different universe, the contrast was so strong! Something like this could never exist in a developed country simply due to safety regulations. Basically, there are bars scattered along both sides of the river and when you arrive, they give out free shots of Laos whiskey to everyone. There's mudfootball, pole-climbing, beer pong, volleyball, tons of slides, rope-swings and ziplining, people falling over dancing, and people jumping off the decks of the bars into the rushing current below. Because we didn't have tubes, we simply swam across the river, letting the current carry us on our backs to the next bar until someone threw out a tube attached to a rope to reel us in. I took multiple turns at doing zip-lining and rope swings, tried a few backflips (which have left me sore today), and danced until the sun went down. It was a crazy experience and also completely unique, much better than my time at the Full Moon Party in Thailand. Today, I have many cuts and bruises, spraypaint all over my back and front, and sandals that are coming apart from the insanity yesterday. I find it a little hard to believe that people go there every day for weeks on end to drink, party, and throw caution to the wind with silly stunts... I'm exhausted from just one day of it!
Tomorrow, I head to Luang Prabang, the old capital of Laos and a town known for its many temples. I think I might take a cooking course there and rent a bike to explore the countryside. It should be a welcome break from the craziness of Vang Vieng.
I'm home in three weeks and can't wait to see you all!
Ciao for now,
Max
P.S. Not a tough one, but name the song I took my blog title from!
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| The view from outside my hostel in Vang Vieng |
Vang Vieng is a tourist haven and is most well known for its tubing, but there is a lot more to do than just get drunk on the river. I have been staying at a great guest house and have been paying only 30000 Kip a night ($3.50 CDN). It's a great place to meet people and it's a little bit off the main stretch so it's quieter. There's a good lounge to hang out in and they make world-class sandwiches that I have been feasting on every day. My first full day in Vang Vieng, I signed up for a kayaking tour. We started by visiting Elephant Cave which is home to a huge buddha footprint and a rock formation which gives the cave its name. Next, we checked out another cave called the Water Cave where we hopped on tubes with a headlamp and went deep into the cave (about 700 or 800 metres) using a rope to pull ourselves along. I brought my camera in with me to take some photos and on the way back, while adjusting my grip, I accidentally dropped it! I realized right away but it was somewhere on the soft muddy ground under 12 feet of water... I spent thirty minutes diving underwater and feeling for it in the pitch black, which was absolutely terrifying but I was determined, and then finally had to give up hope. When I emerged from the cave, we ate lunch and I had settled with the fact that my camera was gone forever and that I would have to purchase a new one for the last leg of my trip. But then, one of the guides came over and offered to go back in with me to try finding it with a snorkel mask. I thought it couldn't hurt and I had made a point of remembering the surroundings where I had lost it. We arrived at the spot where I had dropped it and he dived down to look. Incredibly, within five minutes of searching, he resurfaced with my camera in hand! Despite being underwater for over an hour and caked in mud, it still works perfectly! I gave him a nice reward and we continued the tour, 18km of kayaking down the Nam Song river with beautiful karstic landscapes in the background and plenty of rapids to go over. At the end of the river, we made a few stops at some of the bars in the 500m stretch which has made Vang Vieng so well known. I took a few turns at some of the jumps before we did the last few kilometres of kayaking and headed back to our respective hostels, content and exhausted...
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| Nice refreshing swimming grotto |
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| One of the many bars on the "party" stretch of the Nam Song river |
Tomorrow, I head to Luang Prabang, the old capital of Laos and a town known for its many temples. I think I might take a cooking course there and rent a bike to explore the countryside. It should be a welcome break from the craziness of Vang Vieng.
I'm home in three weeks and can't wait to see you all!
Ciao for now,
Max
P.S. Not a tough one, but name the song I took my blog title from!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
People Coping Through COPE
Hey folks,
Throughout my travels, I have focused most of my efforts on visiting cool historical sites, stepping out of my comfort zone with new crazy activities like bungee jumping and scuba diving, and eating all kinds of different foods, many which I thought I would never try. However, I have not taken/had many opportunities to really get a full cultural experience in the places I've been, mostly because that isn't always something readily available for the traveling tourist... But there have been a few "real" experiences, and in Vientiane I added another to my list...
I went and visited the COPE (Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise) visitor centre, a small museum operating to educate people on the atrocities of the Vietnam war specifically when it comes to how it affected the people in Laos. Because it wasn't just the Vietnamese that were bombed on a daily basis by the Americans... Between 1965 and 1973, cluster bombs rained down on the people of Laos every 40 minutes, day and night! In an eight year period, over 260 million cluster bombs fell from the sky, and after the war, 80 million of them still remained on the ground, remaining a threat to innocent civilians long after the war ended and still affecting today's younger generation. The museum was very informative, eye-opening and incredibly sad, filled with stories from parents who lost children who were simply inspecting a glittering piece of metal on the ground or collecting scrap metal to help their families. The museum hosts many videos, photographs, and bicycle wheelchairs and crutches for you to try out in order to get a sense of what all the amputees in the country face every day. The organization COPE is quite spectacular in their efforts, not only educating the people of Laos on the dangers surrounding them, and tourists on the horrible history of the war, but also providing prosthetics for those who bring their stories to them, and providing rehabilitation for individuals who simply want a better life, whether it's children who want to be happy and go to school, or parents who need to find a way to provide for their families...
It's a shame that so many people skip over a city like Vientiane during their travels, simply because it does not offer activities like rock-climbing, kayaking, and tubing. The amount of culture I have soaked in within two days of being here, and the information I have learned as a result, is in many ways much more rewarding and long-lasting than the memories of some drunken trip down a river! It's things like my trip to the COPE visitor's centre that I will remember many years from now and that I will tell people about, hopefully spreading the word on their good work and ways to help them in their quest to heal the wonderful country of Laos. I don't know if the U.S. ever made amends financially for the horrible aftermath of their presence in the Far East but it's up to the people of Laos to make their land safe again and thankfully there is a good task-force available, working hard to clear the territory of remaining cluster bombs and trip wires that pose a constant threat to children every day...
All in all, my trip to COPE was a good one and if you wish to donate, visit their website (http://www.copelaos.org/). It only cost $75 to give a brand new leg to a child so that they can walk again, and even less to give them physiotherapy once they have that leg.
Ciao for now,
Max
Throughout my travels, I have focused most of my efforts on visiting cool historical sites, stepping out of my comfort zone with new crazy activities like bungee jumping and scuba diving, and eating all kinds of different foods, many which I thought I would never try. However, I have not taken/had many opportunities to really get a full cultural experience in the places I've been, mostly because that isn't always something readily available for the traveling tourist... But there have been a few "real" experiences, and in Vientiane I added another to my list...
I went and visited the COPE (Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise) visitor centre, a small museum operating to educate people on the atrocities of the Vietnam war specifically when it comes to how it affected the people in Laos. Because it wasn't just the Vietnamese that were bombed on a daily basis by the Americans... Between 1965 and 1973, cluster bombs rained down on the people of Laos every 40 minutes, day and night! In an eight year period, over 260 million cluster bombs fell from the sky, and after the war, 80 million of them still remained on the ground, remaining a threat to innocent civilians long after the war ended and still affecting today's younger generation. The museum was very informative, eye-opening and incredibly sad, filled with stories from parents who lost children who were simply inspecting a glittering piece of metal on the ground or collecting scrap metal to help their families. The museum hosts many videos, photographs, and bicycle wheelchairs and crutches for you to try out in order to get a sense of what all the amputees in the country face every day. The organization COPE is quite spectacular in their efforts, not only educating the people of Laos on the dangers surrounding them, and tourists on the horrible history of the war, but also providing prosthetics for those who bring their stories to them, and providing rehabilitation for individuals who simply want a better life, whether it's children who want to be happy and go to school, or parents who need to find a way to provide for their families...
It's a shame that so many people skip over a city like Vientiane during their travels, simply because it does not offer activities like rock-climbing, kayaking, and tubing. The amount of culture I have soaked in within two days of being here, and the information I have learned as a result, is in many ways much more rewarding and long-lasting than the memories of some drunken trip down a river! It's things like my trip to the COPE visitor's centre that I will remember many years from now and that I will tell people about, hopefully spreading the word on their good work and ways to help them in their quest to heal the wonderful country of Laos. I don't know if the U.S. ever made amends financially for the horrible aftermath of their presence in the Far East but it's up to the people of Laos to make their land safe again and thankfully there is a good task-force available, working hard to clear the territory of remaining cluster bombs and trip wires that pose a constant threat to children every day...
All in all, my trip to COPE was a good one and if you wish to donate, visit their website (http://www.copelaos.org/). It only cost $75 to give a brand new leg to a child so that they can walk again, and even less to give them physiotherapy once they have that leg.
Ciao for now,
Max
"Alice Died, In The Night..."
Hey folks,
So I'm officially in a new country and exploring new terrain. It was quite the long haul to get to Laos and I am looking forward to the days where I don't have to take planes, trains, or automobiles anymore! All in all, the commute to Laos consisted of: a 15 minute subway ride, a 1 hour bus ride to the airport, a 2.5 hour flight to Bangkok, a 1 hour cab ride to the train station, a 15 hour train ride to Nong Khai at the border of Thailand and Laos, another 20 minute train into to Thanaleng over the border, and a 45 minute tuk-tuk to central Vientiane, the capital of the country. I was pretty exhausted by the time I arrived, but I met a guy from Australia and we hit it off and decided to split the cost of a room. We explored the surrounding neighbourhood for a couple of hours and I hunted desperately for a book store to trade some of my books, a much harder venture than I expected but eventually I was successful. The area of Vientiane I'm in is very French-influenced as well, and I have already spoken nearly as much French here as English which is always a perk and good practice. Good French cuisine doesn't hurt either!
Unfortunately, I seem to have bad luck with bug infestation on my first nights in new countries! I'm 95% sure that the hostel room I was in my first night had bed bugs although it was a little more expensive, I did check and didn't find any proof (although I did see unidentified bugs on my mattress last night and on my roommates), and my roommate didn't have bites today. Despite all this counter-evidence, I have a multitude of red bites all over my body now, all resembling the ones I had several summers ago in Vancouver and itching like crazy. I really, really hope it's not the case and it's just ants like last time in Malaysia, but I'm afraid I'm not so lucky this time and it really is the dreaded bed bugs! I will hold out on doing laundry for awhile until I know for sure, also because I just did it and it's not cheap over here when you're a backpacker, but unfortunately I will have to suck it up and cover the expense of washing EVERYTHING! This includes my bag itself and the many souvenirs I have bought for myself and family members, which will now arrive back in Vancouver not quite new...
I also might not be the best judge of character when it comes to first impressions. This guy I met and hit it off with I somehow got stuck with very quickly and I'm regretting the decision. He's much older than me (he's 40) and it seemed logical at the time to save money on a room. At times, he's all right and we get along but he is very opinionated and quite self-righteous on a variety of topics and it is getting on my nerves within 24 hours of meeting him. This includes his ridiculous views on Israel which he jumped into when I revealed I had volunteered there and his pretentious do-gooder attitude when it comes to the environment (e.g. willing to accept a plastic cup of water from a local but commenting on me taking a straw with it because there is no "need" to waste the extra plastic... he said this as he fumbled for ten minutes to get the lid off of his water while I pretended to listen as I enjoyed mine). I plan on ditching him after my duty to share the room I have paid for has passed...
Aside from all of this frustrating news... the commute... the bugs... the companionship... I am actually quite enjoying Vientiane so far. The French atmosphere is certainly welcoming and I can't complain about the availability of good baguettes and crepes on every block. Even some of the architecture is similar to France, with Vientiane boasting its own version of the Arc de Triomphe in the heart of the city, named Patuxai. The over-all vibe is a chilled-out one and that is something I relish at this point in my travels...
On top of all that, I had a very unique experience while quickly checking out a temple, or wat (as they're referred to locally). We were just about to enter the gates when three buses arrived with women all dressed in white and monks in their traditional garb of all ages. Over one hundred people disembarked and were followed by a small truck with a huge ornamental centerpiece in the back. I wasn't entirely sure what it was used for, but we watched and snapped photos as the monks and women all grabbed onto a long white cloth and started walking slowly along the narrow pathway, through the gardens that house the giant wat with the truck behind them. At the end of the pathway, they took the ornamental centerpiece off the truck and set it up outside the wat, adding several pieces to it. Other men set up hundreds of chairs to the point I thought I was witnessing a wedding. After all, this seemed to be a big deal and there were a ton of people there. Someone came by where we were watching and handed out refreshments and a few moments later, someone else came by and asked for donations for the ceremony. We watched in silence as the beginnings of the ceremony took place, with unknown prayers being recited and many more decorations and incense being added to the large centerpiece in the middle of the courtyard. Finally, I leaned over to one of the monks standing by and asked what the ceremony was for, more specifically, where the bride and groom were because I hadn't seen them yet and was convinced by the preparation and atmosphere that it was a wedding I was standing witness to. The monk notified me that it was no wedding, but rather a funeral! I was shocked because I have never been to a funeral, but the vibe I would expect is a somber one and I saw many people smiling or seemingly in good spirits. The reason for this I soon discovered was that they were celebrating the life of the mother of the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Laos, and she just so happened to have been the oldest woman in the city! At only 84 years old, this is a little surprising but the life expectancy in a third-world country like Laos is understandably much lower and so it didn't shock me too much. All the people at the funeral welcomed us to join the ceremony of placing something on the centerpiece, which I now discovered was a pyre, and I went up and placed a flower and some incense and bowed my head and offered my condolences to the family of the deceased. Within minutes after the ceremony had finished, they set the pyre ablaze and the giant wooden structure burned to the ground, body and all, in a matter of minutes. Eerily, the cicadas that had been busy chirping away for over an hour went dead silent just as they lit it on fire! The whole experience was completely unique and I am very fortunate to have been at the right place at the right time, getting a full taste of Laos culture and a special memory for my first funeral attendance, not one of sadness or loss but of celebration and spectacle...
Next, I plan on continuing the cultural exploration by visiting a museum that focuses on the history of land mines in Laos and has demonstrations and explanations on how they create prosthetics for those affected by the war. After that, it is time for a bit of a party, a trip to Vang Vieng which is home to some world-class tubing and a good night-life.
Other than that, I can only cross my fingers about the bed bug situation and hope for the best. Hope you're all doing well!
Ciao for now,
Max
P.S. You should know the routine by now, but try and guess the song I stole the blog title from!
So I'm officially in a new country and exploring new terrain. It was quite the long haul to get to Laos and I am looking forward to the days where I don't have to take planes, trains, or automobiles anymore! All in all, the commute to Laos consisted of: a 15 minute subway ride, a 1 hour bus ride to the airport, a 2.5 hour flight to Bangkok, a 1 hour cab ride to the train station, a 15 hour train ride to Nong Khai at the border of Thailand and Laos, another 20 minute train into to Thanaleng over the border, and a 45 minute tuk-tuk to central Vientiane, the capital of the country. I was pretty exhausted by the time I arrived, but I met a guy from Australia and we hit it off and decided to split the cost of a room. We explored the surrounding neighbourhood for a couple of hours and I hunted desperately for a book store to trade some of my books, a much harder venture than I expected but eventually I was successful. The area of Vientiane I'm in is very French-influenced as well, and I have already spoken nearly as much French here as English which is always a perk and good practice. Good French cuisine doesn't hurt either!
Unfortunately, I seem to have bad luck with bug infestation on my first nights in new countries! I'm 95% sure that the hostel room I was in my first night had bed bugs although it was a little more expensive, I did check and didn't find any proof (although I did see unidentified bugs on my mattress last night and on my roommates), and my roommate didn't have bites today. Despite all this counter-evidence, I have a multitude of red bites all over my body now, all resembling the ones I had several summers ago in Vancouver and itching like crazy. I really, really hope it's not the case and it's just ants like last time in Malaysia, but I'm afraid I'm not so lucky this time and it really is the dreaded bed bugs! I will hold out on doing laundry for awhile until I know for sure, also because I just did it and it's not cheap over here when you're a backpacker, but unfortunately I will have to suck it up and cover the expense of washing EVERYTHING! This includes my bag itself and the many souvenirs I have bought for myself and family members, which will now arrive back in Vancouver not quite new...
I also might not be the best judge of character when it comes to first impressions. This guy I met and hit it off with I somehow got stuck with very quickly and I'm regretting the decision. He's much older than me (he's 40) and it seemed logical at the time to save money on a room. At times, he's all right and we get along but he is very opinionated and quite self-righteous on a variety of topics and it is getting on my nerves within 24 hours of meeting him. This includes his ridiculous views on Israel which he jumped into when I revealed I had volunteered there and his pretentious do-gooder attitude when it comes to the environment (e.g. willing to accept a plastic cup of water from a local but commenting on me taking a straw with it because there is no "need" to waste the extra plastic... he said this as he fumbled for ten minutes to get the lid off of his water while I pretended to listen as I enjoyed mine). I plan on ditching him after my duty to share the room I have paid for has passed...
Aside from all of this frustrating news... the commute... the bugs... the companionship... I am actually quite enjoying Vientiane so far. The French atmosphere is certainly welcoming and I can't complain about the availability of good baguettes and crepes on every block. Even some of the architecture is similar to France, with Vientiane boasting its own version of the Arc de Triomphe in the heart of the city, named Patuxai. The over-all vibe is a chilled-out one and that is something I relish at this point in my travels...
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| The monks honouring the oldest woman in Vientiane |
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| Her funeral pyre, burning bright and silencing cicadas |
Next, I plan on continuing the cultural exploration by visiting a museum that focuses on the history of land mines in Laos and has demonstrations and explanations on how they create prosthetics for those affected by the war. After that, it is time for a bit of a party, a trip to Vang Vieng which is home to some world-class tubing and a good night-life.
Other than that, I can only cross my fingers about the bed bug situation and hope for the best. Hope you're all doing well!
Ciao for now,
Max
P.S. You should know the routine by now, but try and guess the song I stole the blog title from!
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Kuala Lumpur: The Big Durian
Hey folks,
So it's been almost a week since I arrived in Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia and the country's version of "the Big Apple", although apples are scarce on the crowded streets, replaced by my least favourite (and quite repulsive) fruit, the durian, hence the nickname, "the Big Durian"...
My arrival was quite a shock, especially after such a long commute from the Perhentian Islands, a 45 minute boat ride followed up by a 10.5 hour journey by bus which included a switch of buses and a stop to fix a flat tire. By the time I got into the big city, I was quite exhausted and perhaps more acutely aware of the bombardment to my senses: the loud traffic, the bright lights, and the hordes of people milling about on the streets. Squeezing through the bustling night market on Petaling Street was no easy feat with my large backpack, but necessary to get to my hostel, and once I got to my dorm, I fell down in a crumpled heap on my bed in great need of a few minutes of decompression before braving the alleyways of Chinatown for something to eat...
The next day, however, the size of the city was a little less daunting and if anything, maybe even a little comforting, a welcome reminder of my birthplace/home base back in Canada. I set out in the morning for a tourist site on the outskirts of the city, and approaching by taxi, the gasp-inducing grandeur of the Batu Caves baffled my eyes from well over 500m away. I climbed the 272 steps up to the cave entrance, the tallest statue in the world towering over me on my right, over 42m in height! The caves themselves were no less extraordinary and are among the biggest I have ever seen. Some of the magic was taken away by the amount of tourists there snapping photos, but I still enjoyed the walkthrough and several stops to watch monkeys terrorizing people by taking their cameras and fighting each other for scraps of coconut or left-behind juice containers and candy wrappers...
My stay in Kuala Lumpur has been a good mix of exploration and leisure, with on and off days alternating to give me a chance for rejuvenation and rehabilitation after the last busy two months. I'm finding more and more now that busy days take their toll, and it is harder to sleep at night, more than likely due to the knowledge of my impending departure and opportunity to pass out in my own bed. I have spent several afternoons here pleasantly sipping iced coffees and reading fairly enthralling books by Stephen King and Robert Ludlum, the chirps of traffic subtly reminding me of my background surroundings. I have also gone to see two movies at a theatre in the largest shopping complex in the city, the KLCC. The first movie Thor, was greatly entertaining and one of the better superhero movies I have seen in awhile, especially due to my lack of expectation going in. The second movie Fast Five, while somewhat entertaining was pretty stupid, although I had pretty low expectations so I wasn't exactly disappointed. Once again, it provided distraction until I fly off to Laos and wasn't a swindle (I only paid $3CDN for the ticket)...
As for my busy days, I did a great tour on my second day in the city where I could hop on and off of a audio-guided adventure bus that went to all of the main sites in the city. I started early and made the most of my ticket, making several stops along the way and taking my time with the sites. My first stop was at the National Palace where the king and queen live, and I was just in time to see the changing of the guards, a similar occurrence to the one in England. Next, I hopped off to get a sense of the vibes of Little India, similar to the ones I experienced in Penang but on a bit of a grander city scale. I found the colours in this area quite unique, with many buildings and apartment complexes painted pastel purples and pinks. After that, I stopped at the Lake Garden area of the city where I explored a sculpture garden with offerings from different South East Asian countries, saw the National Monument in all its glory, the Anniversary Theatre where concerts are held, and had a nice stroll through a park dotted with ponds and a variety of foliage. Following that, I went to the National Art Gallery where I checked out several exhibits and then I headed down to Lake Titiwangsa and enjoyed some corn ice cream, a delightful flavour that comes with actual kernels buried in it! I now have another weird flavour to brag about to my friends other than wasabi! My last two stops were at Merdeka ("independence") Square, home to the world's tallest flagpole and the site in which Malaysia gained independence from the British in 1957, and then Petronas Towers, the world's tallest twin towers. I actually went back to the towers a second time in order to line up early in the morning and get a ticket to head up to the skybridge, one of the highest viewpoints of the city of KL, suspended 140m above the ground! After an exhausting day of exploration, I headed back to my area of town and went through the night market on Petaling Street, picking up souvenirs for family along the way, and spending way more money than I should have, but a bargain for what I got nonetheless...
Now I head off for another new country and another new adventure. I'm sure Laos will bring lots more stories to tell and a chilled-out atmosphere for me to soak in. As for a timeline, I don't have one... I'll simply leave when I feel good and ready!
Hope you're all happy and healthy and I'll write soon about life in Laos
Ciao for now,
Max
So it's been almost a week since I arrived in Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia and the country's version of "the Big Apple", although apples are scarce on the crowded streets, replaced by my least favourite (and quite repulsive) fruit, the durian, hence the nickname, "the Big Durian"...
My arrival was quite a shock, especially after such a long commute from the Perhentian Islands, a 45 minute boat ride followed up by a 10.5 hour journey by bus which included a switch of buses and a stop to fix a flat tire. By the time I got into the big city, I was quite exhausted and perhaps more acutely aware of the bombardment to my senses: the loud traffic, the bright lights, and the hordes of people milling about on the streets. Squeezing through the bustling night market on Petaling Street was no easy feat with my large backpack, but necessary to get to my hostel, and once I got to my dorm, I fell down in a crumpled heap on my bed in great need of a few minutes of decompression before braving the alleyways of Chinatown for something to eat...
 |
| The magnificent Batu Caves! |
My stay in Kuala Lumpur has been a good mix of exploration and leisure, with on and off days alternating to give me a chance for rejuvenation and rehabilitation after the last busy two months. I'm finding more and more now that busy days take their toll, and it is harder to sleep at night, more than likely due to the knowledge of my impending departure and opportunity to pass out in my own bed. I have spent several afternoons here pleasantly sipping iced coffees and reading fairly enthralling books by Stephen King and Robert Ludlum, the chirps of traffic subtly reminding me of my background surroundings. I have also gone to see two movies at a theatre in the largest shopping complex in the city, the KLCC. The first movie Thor, was greatly entertaining and one of the better superhero movies I have seen in awhile, especially due to my lack of expectation going in. The second movie Fast Five, while somewhat entertaining was pretty stupid, although I had pretty low expectations so I wasn't exactly disappointed. Once again, it provided distraction until I fly off to Laos and wasn't a swindle (I only paid $3CDN for the ticket)...
 |
| Standing in front of the National Monument |
 |
| At Petronas Towers |
Now I head off for another new country and another new adventure. I'm sure Laos will bring lots more stories to tell and a chilled-out atmosphere for me to soak in. As for a timeline, I don't have one... I'll simply leave when I feel good and ready!
Hope you're all happy and healthy and I'll write soon about life in Laos
Ciao for now,
Max
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
"Silver White Winters That Melt Into Springs..."
Hey folks,
So in the past week, based on a myriad of different emotions and thought processes, and some circumstances beyond my control, I have decided that I am heading home earlier than originally anticipated...
My original plan was to keep traveling until early July. My time would be made up of traveling to Laos for ten days, Cambodia for two weeks, back to Thailand for three weeks to volunteer teaching English, and then to meet up with two friends from Israel on my birthday and enjoy some island hopping in Southern Thailand for one week before heading home. But plans are made to change and be broken, and this time the alteration has a little to do with my own feelings and a little to do with events outside of my control...
I finally had a time-line figured out and so I applied to the volunteer program ISARA in Thailand to be a teacher for three weeks in a little, sleepy village in the North called Nong Khai, right on the border of Laos. However, I got an email back within in a day explaining that due to rising popularity, there was no room for more volunteers for the whole month of June! This now meant that I had an extra three weeks in June to fill up whilst waiting for my friends from the homeland to arrive. If I was still in super-excitement mode like I was when I arrived two months ago in South East Asia, this change would not have altered my plans... But after traveling for over a month on my own, and almost eight months away from Vancouver, days when I am not participating in an activity or part of a tour (like transit days on buses/trains) get me contemplative and incredibly homesick. The thoughts don't take long to become all-encompassing to the point I can't sleep at night and I long for my bed back in the city I know best, never-to-be-taken-for-granted, good ol' Vancouver!
Don't get me wrong, I'm fortunate for all the opportunities I have had over here! And I don't plan on going home just yet, I'm still having fun on 75% or more of my days in the Far East. But now that I don't have as much of a schedule to follow, I'm basically going to head home when the time feels right. I know for sure I'm going to head to Laos sometime in the next few days and will spend around ten days there, give or take. After that, I might still go to Cambodia for two weeks, but that decision will be based on whether or not I am still enjoying myself. I don't want to go simply because I am over here and it's accessible. After all, what's the point if I'm miserable while I'm there?
This puts my arrival time back in Vancouver anywhere from 2.5-5 weeks from now! I know my family is excited to have me back in close proximity and I already have a place to live and an almost sure thing for a summer job, so that takes a huge weight off of my mind! I feel content with the past eight months and the progress I have made as an individual, learning from my experiences and gaining strength in independence. I feel much more capable of handling smaller problems back home now with a greater insight into how things work in another part of the world and I consider myself fortunate to live in a city in which I don't encounter too much hardship or stress on a daily basis...
I leave you with a list of fifteen things that I miss most about life in Vancouver, or that I am looking forward to having/experiencing when I finally do return!
Ciao for now,
Max
P.S. As always, guess the song from which I got the blog title!
TOP 15 THINGS I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO:
1. Seeing my family, especially my niece Nevada!
2. A night out (or several) with all of my close friends
3. A home-cooked meal provided by each one of my parents
4. Toilets that properly flush without the use of manual bucket flushing and accessible toilet paper in every bathroom I go into
5. Sleeping in my own comfortable bed, with two pillows and a comforter!
6. Playing my guitar and working on new songs about the last year of my life
7. A nice long, hot shower, sans worrying about how long the water is turned on
8. Going to a movie without subtitles, heckling, interludes, or bad popcorn
9. Having my entire music collection at my disposal
10. Not dealing with any more mosquitoes whatsoever and leaving the house without lathering myself in bugspray
11. Going to a concert
12. Running along Kits Beach with a view of Downtown Vancouver and the mountains across the water
13. Eating a piece of Terra's French bread (you win Dad, it is my favourite!)
14. Cars driving on the proper (ie. right) side of the road
15. A game of beer pong with my fellow K-Sigs
So in the past week, based on a myriad of different emotions and thought processes, and some circumstances beyond my control, I have decided that I am heading home earlier than originally anticipated...
My original plan was to keep traveling until early July. My time would be made up of traveling to Laos for ten days, Cambodia for two weeks, back to Thailand for three weeks to volunteer teaching English, and then to meet up with two friends from Israel on my birthday and enjoy some island hopping in Southern Thailand for one week before heading home. But plans are made to change and be broken, and this time the alteration has a little to do with my own feelings and a little to do with events outside of my control...
I finally had a time-line figured out and so I applied to the volunteer program ISARA in Thailand to be a teacher for three weeks in a little, sleepy village in the North called Nong Khai, right on the border of Laos. However, I got an email back within in a day explaining that due to rising popularity, there was no room for more volunteers for the whole month of June! This now meant that I had an extra three weeks in June to fill up whilst waiting for my friends from the homeland to arrive. If I was still in super-excitement mode like I was when I arrived two months ago in South East Asia, this change would not have altered my plans... But after traveling for over a month on my own, and almost eight months away from Vancouver, days when I am not participating in an activity or part of a tour (like transit days on buses/trains) get me contemplative and incredibly homesick. The thoughts don't take long to become all-encompassing to the point I can't sleep at night and I long for my bed back in the city I know best, never-to-be-taken-for-granted, good ol' Vancouver!
Don't get me wrong, I'm fortunate for all the opportunities I have had over here! And I don't plan on going home just yet, I'm still having fun on 75% or more of my days in the Far East. But now that I don't have as much of a schedule to follow, I'm basically going to head home when the time feels right. I know for sure I'm going to head to Laos sometime in the next few days and will spend around ten days there, give or take. After that, I might still go to Cambodia for two weeks, but that decision will be based on whether or not I am still enjoying myself. I don't want to go simply because I am over here and it's accessible. After all, what's the point if I'm miserable while I'm there?
This puts my arrival time back in Vancouver anywhere from 2.5-5 weeks from now! I know my family is excited to have me back in close proximity and I already have a place to live and an almost sure thing for a summer job, so that takes a huge weight off of my mind! I feel content with the past eight months and the progress I have made as an individual, learning from my experiences and gaining strength in independence. I feel much more capable of handling smaller problems back home now with a greater insight into how things work in another part of the world and I consider myself fortunate to live in a city in which I don't encounter too much hardship or stress on a daily basis...
I leave you with a list of fifteen things that I miss most about life in Vancouver, or that I am looking forward to having/experiencing when I finally do return!
Ciao for now,
Max
P.S. As always, guess the song from which I got the blog title!
TOP 15 THINGS I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO:
1. Seeing my family, especially my niece Nevada!
2. A night out (or several) with all of my close friends
3. A home-cooked meal provided by each one of my parents
4. Toilets that properly flush without the use of manual bucket flushing and accessible toilet paper in every bathroom I go into
5. Sleeping in my own comfortable bed, with two pillows and a comforter!
6. Playing my guitar and working on new songs about the last year of my life
7. A nice long, hot shower, sans worrying about how long the water is turned on
8. Going to a movie without subtitles, heckling, interludes, or bad popcorn
9. Having my entire music collection at my disposal
10. Not dealing with any more mosquitoes whatsoever and leaving the house without lathering myself in bugspray
11. Going to a concert
12. Running along Kits Beach with a view of Downtown Vancouver and the mountains across the water
13. Eating a piece of Terra's French bread (you win Dad, it is my favourite!)
14. Cars driving on the proper (ie. right) side of the road
15. A game of beer pong with my fellow K-Sigs
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