SOUTH EAST ASIA TRIP- 2006- (HONG KONG, THAILAND, LAO, CAMBODIA)

Subject: hong kong

hello all.

my friend lisa and i arrived yesterday evening after a long 15 hour
flight. damn! talk about loosing your mind. i can not sleep on planes so as you could imagine i went a lil crazy. i think one reason i cant sleep is because i actually set myself up not to. i have the attitude of "i ate flying and i can never sleep" i think ill start telling myself "i love flying and i can sleep". its all in the head.

so i am here in the amazing city of hong kong. this city is kind of like a NYC but alot more compact, alot more lit up and just the whole vibe is alot more "energized"
you fly into the airport a little outside the city, surrounded by the sea and a few moutains. looking out the window i was trying to spot the city we would call home for the next 3 days. hong kong has your typical western city feel to it upon driving into it but once you reach "kowloon" (where we are staying) its definitely a little more non- western. there is food everywhere but how much we will be able to eat we will see. no crazy experiences thus far. driving is on the opposite sides which i would say would be due to the ole brits who controlled this place for years. crossing the border wasnt bad at all.

so i havent done much yet. we landed, exchanged some money, caught a bus for 30 mins into the city only to miss our stop to have to walk another 30 mins with backpacks and all... not fun. the shoulders are a lil sore. anyhow we arrived at our hostel completely beat but decided to walk around for a lilttle bit.

this city is crazy. very very bright with tons and tons of people everywhere. a little crazy trying to navigate with a backpack and no where to walk. so far everything seems priced normally. before arriving i had heard that hong kong was very very expensive. compared to the rest of our trip yes it is but its not bad. we found a hostel for around $30 a night and the food seems reasonably priced.
whats the catch though is we have already seen alot of products that at home would be kind of expensive but here is really cheap. the clothing, shoes are so so cheap. a pair of "fake" converse is like $10.
not fun when you like shoes but have no room in your back pack and your trip just started. maybe ill stop here on the way back. anyhoo thats really it. we are about to get ready and head out on our first day here in hong kong. it is still the chinese new year festivities so i think tonight we may go watch a firework show, and laser show.

rock on


Subject: the peak #2

so i forgot to mention a certain part of my flight. flying here i thought we would leave LAX and head straight across the ocean to hong kong. not exactly. we headed north up across alaska, across the berring sea, down through siberia and over china. YEAH. intenese intense. i was so stoked. i was up flying over alaska and took a few pics even though it was mountains and snow.

yo yo
so today i had some skittles which i havent eatne in approximately 10 years. YEAH! you see back home there are tons of sweets that have horse hoofs/ ground up bone (gelatin) as a central ingredient. seeing how i dont like eating other living beings flesh or bones i choose not to indulge. i guess hear and even in europe they dont use gelatin in the food which i didnt know about until know. stoked!!
well its evening time here in hong kong and holy smokes am i beat. we had a long long day which consisted of 99% walking.
we woke up pretty early- jet lag. showered up, and headed out to get a bite to eat. hong kong in the day time is pretty cool. its not all lit up but under the natural light still looks pretty cool. so we headed out to get some food before we started our day. after which we cruised around kowloon checking some things out and then headed to the hong kong museum of art. this place was cool. very very old very very eastern art. amazing. there was art from all the different dynasties and some current displays of local artsists which was jsut as amazing. the museum is right on the bay where you can see all off the city on hong kong island.
hong kong pretty much consists of 2 main areas. you have the main area where our hostel which consists of the new territories/ kowloon and then you have hong kong island across the bay. both places are just jammed packed with skyskrapers neck in neck.
after the museum we walked around kowloon some more and then decided to head to hong kong island where we were going to head up the peak.
the peak is on top of the highest point on the island where you basically over look the whole island......

FEB 4TH, DRAGON HOSTEL, HONG KONG CITY

....we arrived at the lower tram where the line was super super long but ended up going pretty quick. you get on this little car thing and head up the tracks. you litterally are going up this thing at a 45 degree angle. its a little sketchy knowing that the only thing holding you here is a thick metal cable. this sucker breaks and everyone is kapoots. oh well. so we get up there before the sun rises and the view is quite cool although there is some haze. oh well. we walk around the top of the whole mountain which ios about 2700 meters. once you get to the other side where the s\city is the view is absolutely amazing. hong kong during the night is a completely crazy looking city. all the buildings are little up numerous colors and most colors flash on and off which makes for an interesting watch. great photo opts. also up on this island there is tons on plant, fauna life everywhere. there was this one plaNT, ACTUALLY BIG TREE WHICH had like tons of string looking type branches hanging down from it. it turned out to be a india rubber tree. crazy. the root system was grasping onto anything it could. another good photo opt. he weather started getting a little chilly due to the height and bay breeze so we made our trek back down.
got onto the tram facing backwards which was even crazier and arrived back in the city in time to catch the ferry across the kowloon. its still chinese new years so there was fireworks and a laser show we were going to check out.
we were in the middle of the bay when all the passnegers from one side of the boat went to the other. the fireworks had began so the ferry stopped in the bay for awhile so everyone could check out the sites. it was pretty cool. all fireworks are the same but with the neon lit city, lasers from all the tops opf the buildings going off was neat.
we went to get some indian food and then headed back to our hostel. our legs were completely dead from walking non stop. before we arrived though we walked through this huge market selling all sorts of bootlegged products. swatch watches for $2. jeans for $5. pretty nuts and i wish i had some way to get some things home. we will see. if its not to much to send things back maybe il purchase a couple of things but then again i didnt come here to shop. ill wait until the end of my trip.

the evening on the 4th.

so yet again i am super super beat. i have never experienced jet lag until now. a 9 hour flight to europe is do able but being 16 hours off schedule is a little interesting. the time difference and then the walking all day long which is what was done again today. we woke up, cruised to the end of kowloon to get some good indian food. after dinner we then caught a train to the new territories where we were going to go to check out the 10 000 buddas monastery and the che kung temple in the same area.
it was super nice getting out of the city. this place is a little hectic at times. so so many people that its literally super hard to get around which at times can be a little frustrating. what can you do?
so we arrived at our stop- sha tin- and headed the direction we were supposed to go. i dont really know what to call the first place we visited. it wasnt the 10000 buddahs but was still part of the whole deal i guess. it seemed like a cemetery but wasnt at all. there was probably about 10- 15 different rooms each with probably 200 peoples pictures, names inside of them. maybe the people were creamated. im not sure. again i have a book for hong kong so cant really read up on it and dont understand cantonese at all. ha ha ha.
anyhoo this place was crazy. tons of people were there each holding insense sticks and giving there offerings. the rooms were filled with all sorts of different random fruits, nicknacks or what have you. most of the offereings were oranges, some cooked food and someone even left a carlsberg beer. while we were walking through this place out of the corner of my eye i see a monkey. yeah! at first i didnt know what to think and then looked over the edge of the wall to see if it was maybe "entrapped" - pet- or wild. ha ha ha. there i saw about 10 monkeys just cruising through the trees on the hill. insane. never before i have seen wild monkeys in their enviroment. it was pretty classic becasue what they would do is what for people to leave their offereing and then come up and eat the fruit or what not. classic. it stoked me out and they werent timid at all coming super close to you.
after this we walked back down all the stairs we ahd just walked up and tried to figure out how to get to the 10000 buddas monestary. this walk was a little over the top. about 400 steps upa very steep moutain side with monkeys cruising over head in the bamboo. good times!! at the top of this place lays the 10 000 buddas which line the main wall of the temple. i guess there are 12 800 exactly. there is also a 9 story pagoda you can climb up inside but once you get to the top you realize there isnt really anything there but another little station of offering. there was a little stall up here selling "bean curd dessert" which basically was raw tofu in a bowl with a liquid of sugar and ginger poured over top. im not a big plain tofu fan but fortunately this liquid disguised the taste enough to eat. you only live once. we chilled up here for awhile and then decided to walk back down yet again this steep moutain. my feet and knees so far are putting in the miles. i cant remember the last time i have walked this much.
we came down to the base of the hill and decided to check out the che kung temple which was about 800 meters away. more walking. ha ha ha.
upon arriving i noticed people walking around with little pin flower wheels. i think this is what they are called. i remember have a couple of these as a kid and being amazed at watching them spin in the wind. these little trinkets though that the people had were ALOT more elaborate and most had at least 6 different wheels on them with bells and some different ornaments hanging off of em. we come up to this temple which is a large taoist temple and the place was jammed back with people again covered in smoke from insence and tons of oranges everywhere- offerings. i am not sure if this place is like this everyday or if there was a special occasion.
all in all the day was amazing and a good last day here in hong kong. i just went outside about 30 mins ago to try and get some food and realized im over the crowds and dont want to ahve anything to do with em so i settled for some oranges, pears, and bananas to tie me over until thailand tomorrow.
one love

Subject: bangkok, thailand #3
Date: Feb 6, 2006 7:18 PM
FEB 6TH bangkok, thailand

so i am finally here in bangkok, thailand, after my trip to egypt the next place
i wanted to visit was south east asia and its now a reality. we arrived yesterday
after a 2 day/ 3 night stay in hong kong. its so so nice to be out of hong kong.
HK was cool and all but its a huge city, very western oriented, and the go go go
speed is a little hard to get used to. plus then there are the crowds. wow

so bangkok is still a big city but alot more chilled out and not as advanced we
will say. this sounds weird but its not meant to be. HK is an extremely expenisve
place where as thailand thus far is/ has been very very cheap. our hostel is costing
us $3 a night where as in HK we were paying $30 a night. food here is also super
cheap. real pad thai costs you around $.45 a plate and its good. so yes we are living
it up here so far and cant wait for the rest of the trip.

yesterday we landed at around 11 am. got off the plane, cleared through customs
and got the number A2 bus into the district we are staying. banglampu is the name
of the place and its known for its "backpacker" vibe. ha ha ha. one thing
you do notice when arriving here is the amount of tourists. they are everywhere
where as in HK i think due to the price not to many people go there. banglampu is
insane. the main street is called khao san rd and basically its just filled with
shops, food stalls, and nothing but backpakcers. its quite cool and makes for good
people watching.
we found a hostel just off this street to avoid the "hussle, noise" named
donna guest house. checked in and cruised around for a little bit. the weather here
is incredibly hot at this time of the year. both days so far have been around 30
c / 86 f. our room has 2 fans but no AC which ended up not being that bad last night.
slept with min. clothing and then woke up in the middle of the night a little chilly
so it was all good.
yesterday after eating some incredible pad thai, thai salad, we decided to take
care of a couple things. we booked some cheap flights to chiang mia ($40 for 1 hr
flight) which leaves tomorrow and we also sent out for an express visa for vietnam
with our passports which are supposed to arrive tomorrow at 630. our lfight leaves
at 9 so hopefully everything goes good and we get our passports, visa back. if not
looks like this place will be home for awhile. not bad. easy going and alot cheaper
then the good ole west. we then cruised out on a tuk tuk (a motorcycle powered cart)
to the river to check out the wat arun (wat means temple) at sun set. took a couple
pictures and then were driven near the grand palace to check out another wat. dont
know the name but in the dusk light the thing looked pretty cool. our driver took
us back and also took us for a ride with the money sit. oh well. our first day here
so its bound to happen where you get ripped off. NOW WE KNOW. touts youve been warned.
with the heat, sun and the walking our bods were a little beat so we decided to
sit down outside a bar on khao san road and check things out. major eye candy so
it was all good.

today we woke up, went to get some food which was incredibly spicey. i got a thai
salad and wow..... i was on fire. i usually eat oat meal or something of the sort
first thing when at home. its interesting waking up and the first meal being intensly
spicey. after this we checked our email because a mutual friend of a friends was
in town but last night we coouldnt get ahold of her. she responded this morning
and said maybe we will run into each other. didnt happen. oh well. we then walked
to the grand palace area to check things out. here you have the grand palace- built
in 1782 where it houses not only the royal residence but also a number of goverment
officees as well as the reknowned temple of the emerald buddha. walking into this
place you must have pants on and a shirt. no sleeveless shirts or tank tops. i put
pants on which made for a very hot day.
the first complex we visited was the temple of the emerald buddha. you walk in,
your not supposed to point your feet at him and everyone is knelt down praying.
the chants sounded amazing but have no clue what was being said/ sung. this whole
complex was built out of a gold colored material with marble/ colored tile everywhere.
the roofs were very eastern/ ancient looking and the towers were decorated the same.
we chilled here for a bit and then cruised around the complex to eveentually the
grand palace. this buidling was quite spetacular as well but no where near what
the temple was. its just a big goverment/ roayl palace type place with a big garden/
grass area spawning in front. we were then in the area of a massage school here
in bangkok and lisa and i both wanted a "thai" massage. this was a school
so it wasnt anything sketchy which you hear about. the massage was insane. i have
had alot of massages in my time but nothing of this sort. normally you lay face
down on a bed and the massage therapsit stands next to you and rubs, kneads, and
works things out. this thing was completely different. first the therapist/ student
is actually on the bed with you so the bed is a normal size bed and not a "massage"
bed. its all pressure points, and reflexology. it was nuts. the dude who did me....
ha ha ha sounds a little kinky.... was super small but did he have strength in the
hands. completely just pressing into the muscles. its not a rubbing type thing like
i mentioned. they find a spot a just press, find another and press. it was definitely
pretty uncomfortable and a little overwhelming but i jst went with it. since they
are on the bed with you they use their lages as well. i was put into some weird
positions with his feet on my legs, him laying down and pulling my legs. nuts. after
an hour of it we were down and i was very sore but as of now ( 4hours later) i feel
so so good and am glad it was something we did. its super super good for you because
it just releases alot fo tension, stress, and bad energy. i may try to do it again
due to the price. $8 for an hour. well well worth it.
after we were down here we decided to catch a boat across the river to the wat arun
to check it out up close. the river was quite cool but extremely dirty. just waht
you would expect from what you see on the TV/ movies. boats everywhere cruising
around and little shops being held up by all sorts of rickety wood on the shores.
this temple we cool as well but you dont go inside. it was more of a photo opt type
thing. we then caught the boat back and headed to china town where we were going
to check out some street here. we looked and looked to no avail. it was nice being
out of the district we are staying in and being in another part of the city. just
waht you would expect. cars, buses, motorbikes, tuk tuks everywhere. the pollution
was pretty bad and there were alot of folks wearing surgical masks. i felt it in
my breath so since our search was coming up emmpty we headed back.
we are now back and just had some more great thai food. panang curry to be exact
and there is a possibility of us taking a cooking class tomorrow morning before
we head out of here tomorrow evening.

until next time
one love

Subject: chiang mai #4
Date: Feb 8, 2006 4:37 PM
FEB 8TH CHIANG MAI, THAILAND

holy cow. so i sit here in an internet room, on top of a mountain, inside a temple,
where i am the only person with 6 monks beside me and we are over looking the city
of chiang mai. insane.
i just had a big show and tell with these dudes about my tattoos. one of the monks
has some tattoos as well and removed his robe to show me. one of which was made
with a bamboo type utensil. so insane.
how i got here was woke up this morning and rented a motorcycle and cruised to the
moutains. serisoulsy the last 3 hours have been the crasiest day ever. i am about
20 km outside of chiang mai and on the way up you are inside a national park with
waterfall galore. so coming up it took me awhile because i stop to over look the
city, check out the waterfalls and eventually come across this temple. i had no
clue what was up here. there is also a tribal village up here selling local arts
and crafts. totally self sustainable. this rules!!!!!
i was told a couple weeks ago that someone i know referred to me as the honky che
guevara. ha ha ha. not even close but its funny. i was totally thinking about that
the whole way up here. me on this motorbike, listening to my headphones comepletey
singing at the top of my lungs, with the air blowing in my face. good good times.
makes me want to maybe buy a bike later and just tour the western hemisphere. one
day we will see.

so we arrived here last night after an hour flight from bangkok. our day yesterday
was spent walking in the sun all day long until our vietnam visas came back and
then headed to the airport.
the weather here in chiang mai is alot cooler. you can wear jeans and be comfortable
but during the day riding this bike here i did feel a little warm. glad im not in
shorts though bacuse i do have to get back down which will take abuot an hour.
OH YEAH!!! while i was driving up here i saw some thai dude with a back pack walking
up this incredibly steep moutain. i passed hiom and then flipped a u turn, went
back and threw him on te back and drove him up the hill a goopd 3 km until he needed
to get off he didnt speak 1 word of english and seemed a little weary about what
was going down but after getting off where he needed you could tell he knew it was
just a good gesture from another fellow human. he tried to pay me, i sto\uck out
my hand, shook his hand, gave him the peace sign and took off. classic.
experiencing things like this and seeing all these things makes you think about
the fellas in power controlling the world starting all these wars. come on. bombs
will destroy this stuff forever never to be retunr again. anyone in their right
mind who thinks about detroyiong things as such, life, experiences deserve to......
open to interpretation but dont hold back......

okay. im going to go put my shoes back on, say good bye to my monk frieds and hop
on my bike back down the moutiain.

Subject: luang prabang#5
Date: Feb 13, 2006 6:48 PM
FEB 12TH LUANG PRABANG, THE PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF LAOS

hello hello.

first off. this is going to sound hippy to some but i hope its sounds like just
a normal thing.

today i saw the most amazing rock structures ever. i know i know. rocks are rocks.
we walk on them everyday but sometimes those little stones came from bigger stones
which turn out to be amazingly shaped structures. my opinion of course. ha ha ha.
also its such an incredible thing to be out travel and to see such beauty that lies
in other parts of this world. living in your western city with the lack of natural
beauty will tweek your mind. this is why there is wars and all the other negative
things efffecting our world. okay this isnt a education lesson so ill stop. all
im saying is traveling and seeing things as such is a great experience you just
have to want to get out there and if that want is there then you can do it.

cool cool

so i am officially in laos now. i arrived yeserterday after a 3 hour bus ride from
chiang rai, and a quick boat trip across the legenday mekong river to huay xai.
the bus ride up there was very scenic and enjoyful due to a little french grrl keeping
us honkies, thais entertained. we got our thai departure cards stamped and headed
down to shore for a 2 min boat ride to laos. we arrive at the border get our 15
day visas and have to pay $1 more fee for a weekend charge. classic. then there
are no exchange places open and due to my lack of thinking had no money. fortunately
every place here thus far takes US dollars or thai bhat. i did inquire at the customs
place if they exchanged cash and if its the same rate. the dude says" depends.
may be good for him (customs dude) or may be good for you". um... ill wait.
we cruised to this place in the town of huay xai called the gibbon experience (thanx
danielle..... phyte, robert. and jen (roomie)- check this place out). this is a
quote from a friend of mine " here you can live out all of your childhood ewok
fantasies". i loved the ewoks. basically the gibbon experience is a place in
northern laos where you live up in trees, zip line from tree to tree, and are completely
surrounded by the most incredible scenery ever..... from what i hear. UNFORTUNATELY
upon arrival they were booke until the 16th of feb which may not work around our
schedule........maybe mine but there is now a chance i may be coming home a week
early for a tour. hence the time...... anyhoo....... it would ahve been incredible
and there is still slight talk about doing it we just may have to put vietnam on
hold. who knows.
so we checked into a hostel for a couple bucks and had a dinner on a graden terrace
over looking the mekong river. nice evening setting. i didnt eat much due to the
ole ailments still in the bod. after this we cruised around "shopping"
for the best deal for a boat down to luang prabang due to the gibbon not happening.
we booked into a "slow" boat due to hearing horror stories ( you where
a motorcycle helmet.... or a crash hat as a english bloak reffered to it) about
the "speed" boat. we booked ourselves onto the slow boat and bought some
water and fruit due to the 2 day trip which was about to unfold. the weather got
pretty stormy with in minutes so we went indoors to drop off the groceries and call
it anight when we decided to try and get on this speed boat thing. the lady said
come in the moring and we will see.

we head to bed extermely early to due an early morning.
wake up this morning and are able to get on this speed boat thing. hey you only
live once so lets do this. i pictured us getting off the boat completely soaked
from head to toe and banged up.... thats if we made it. it wasnt that bad at all
and saved us a day of sitting on this slow boat thing. yes you wear helmets but
its optional and its for the mist from the boat. a little toque kept me dry so i
didnt need this helemt. this trip was so amazing. 6 hours halling butt down the
mekong river with the most stunning moutains/ foilage/ trees you may ever see. i
took pciture after picture. this is the only way to really get to luang prabang
from what i hear. in our travel book there looks like there is a road but its broken
up in about 5 sections so there may not be. glad we did the river.
on the trip you pass so many little little villages which are up in the hills, on
the shores of the mekong. totally self sufficient. theres fields of some plant/
maybe vegi on the banks of the river. im not sure what it was that was growing there
because it wasnt really soil but just sand. most of the villages had cattle cruising
the shores and then i would say all of them relied on the fish from the river.....
oh yeah..... very dirty river at that. i think i probably have someones pee all
over my bod right now but hey.... whacha gonna do. looking at these viilages and
watching the people on the shores gave me some interesting thoughts yet again about
the west. im totally part of this as well but its interesting to see the other or
unknown. these people most likely are very content with their way of lives. they
know no other. in fact they probably dont even know about the world in a greater
picture. they seem like they do their thing, farming, fishing, swimming, and living
where they live and thats it. no borders, no hatered of the other, nothing of the
sorts.... or yeah and not much technology if any.
so...... is what we have going on in our western world doing much for us.... aahh....
ill stop. anyhoo it was another great thing to see first hand and just kinda reaffirms
certain beliefs of mine. everyone i have seen and came across are so chilled out
and are just living. no who knows who etc etc.
we stopped half way through to get a bite to eat where we joined an american and
french grrl who were up front in our boat. the french grrl had mentioned where some
of her travels have been. the ivory coast and nigeria. wow! will i ever be able
to go there? probably not. she mentioned it was in 2001 and at that time even in
nigeria walking on the streets was a big NO NO. what a bummer. the human race at
its decline.
let me go back to the boat quickly. theres only 6 people on this thing and this
"thing" is basically a wood, boat which is a little wider and shorter
in length then your average canoe. WITH a huge loud loud motor on the back. you
hav to wear ear plugs or you can expected to loose your hearing.

Subject: kuang si waterfall #6
Date: Feb 14, 2006 6:44 PM
FEB 13TH. luang prabang, LAO

okay.
i know that i am not good with words at all. maybe it comes from not being college
educated or even educated that much. i never did well in english even in high school.
plus i am sure reading mostly non fiction that may play a part in not being able
to use words better etc etc. what can you do. i write what i feel but i also feel
like i repeat myself alot which i think may take away from the reader actually "feeling,
imagining" the things i write.

anyhoo......
so here it goes again.
you heard this before but ill write it again. in fact i wrote this just the otehr
day about my trip in the moutains of thailand and seeing this amazing waterfall.
true true. it was an amazing setting in the most amazing moutain. i did say it was
the best waterfall ive seen thus far. well thats THUS FAR.

today i saw the craziest waterfall setting i have ever seen. the thai waterfalls
were just that. a waterfall.
this lao waterfall named kuang si waterfall was seriously levels after levels on
top of more levels of the prettiest colored aqua blue water coming from everywhere.
what i would suggest is entering the name in a web search and check it out yourself.
the place is beyond anything i ahve seen.
water comes from everywhere. underneath tree roots on cliffs which congregates into
pools to make bigger waterfalls which then form more pools which then form more
water falls. about 180 degrees around you. from right to left there is water coming
from pretty much everywhere. you can swim in this place as well which is a plus.
so my skrawny canadian butt swam underneath 2nd biggest fall to have my body first
get extremely shocked from the cold water which was interesting and then actually
get used to the temp i was able to get underneath the thing where inside there is
a little cave- crewvass you can just chill in and take in your thoughts.
it is dry season right now and i truly cant imagine what this place would look like
during the wet season.
i also want to download all my picutres from today just to share them. but will
shortly.
a website quoted this waterfall as one of the best in the world so this may give
you an idea how spectacular it really is. the others thus far i ahve seen i dont
think have had such high words spoken about em.
please check it out on the web.

FEB 14TH, VANG VIENG, LAO

i am now sitting here in vang vieng which is located about 6 hours south of luang
prabang and about 4 hours north of vietanne. actually vang vieng on the map is literally
about 110 km away from luang prabang. however it take syou 6-7 hours to get here
#1 due to the speed everyone dirves here and in all honesty you dont want to be
driving super fast on the hghway we jsut were on. its seriously by far teh craziest
road i have been on to date. the whole drive is through the mountains with literally
not 1 flat spot or valley until you reach vang vieng.
for anyone who has driven hghway 1 on cali between santa barbara and santa cruz.
this highway is i would say 10 times as insane.
the whole drive you have on one side of you a 80 degree cliff or so and on the other
side the same steepness of cliff which ends at the bottom of the moutain. and there
is no guardrails. the only thing saving you is a 1 lane poorly poorly paved road
in between these 2 vortexes. there are some parts of the road where you look out
your window and you can not see the end of the drop. so so SO nuts. by far the
hairest ride i have ever been on but it wasnt super bad. i mean what can you do.
its the only way here so suck it up and lets go.
also throughout the journey you pass numerous villages on the side of the highway.
since there is no where to really go the houses are kept up on stilts between the
highway and cliffs. thats if theres even room for the huts. its pretty amazing.
these people have the most amazing views from there very unstable (i would say)
housing. sine there is nothing else around as well youll see kids up or down the
hghway fom these villages playing on the sides of the highway, on the areas where
there are places to walk etc etc. thats it. most villages didnt ahve any sort of
stores, schools nothing and were only about 10 dwellings big. its neat to see. when
you live in certain places you adpat and you make fun with whats there.
some people sit at home and play comptures, some people live on top of the world
and sit on the highway play games and walk on the cliffs.
the roads are covered also from left to right in pot holes so the you could imagine
what kind of damage the bottoms of the vans have. not nice to think about while
hanging over the edge.
the upside is that the drive was incredibly stunning. not a boring minute at all.
anywhere you look there was a moutain/ cliff/ limestone structure to see.
in the travel book that we ahve it does mention how this part of the highway is
actually pretty dangerous and un predictable when it comes to people. i guess 2
years ago a couple tourists got killed and some others shot while on this road.
you do see your occasional army vehicle pass and your randomd person hanging onto
the back of a truck with an ak47. no worries though.
its crazy to look at this scenery and imagine people fighting wars here. the moutains
are literally the steepest things ever and thats if you can even attempt to climb
em. weird.

so tomorrow i think we will wake up and go tubing and check out some caves and then
i think i may start heading down south.
my trip is now being cut short (by choice) because of a tour that is happening back
home. SO..... tonight i need to do some major planning, make some phone calls to
airlines and try to figure it all out.

Subject: vang vieng #7
Date: Feb 15, 2006 10:59 PM
feb 15th VANG VIENG, lao

beerlao! beerlao! opium! opium!

i just came back from tubing for 4 hours down the river that runs through vang vieng
which is located on the side of a huge limestone moutain in which it runs along.
the thing is so so high and its not your normal incline.
straight up is pretty much the layout of the thing. so your in this river on a tube
with the biggest rock structure towering over you. good good times.
so along the river there are points where youll come by little beer stands that
th locals have set up. so their selling pitch goes a little some like so.
beerlao beerlao!! opium opium!! the peeps say it quick as well. they will throw
out a huge bamboo stick for you to grab onto and pull you up to shore to their little
make shift hut/ dock. its classic. complete genious and awesome to see and experience.
there are a coulple of these beer stops that have huge makeshift towers in which
zip line are attached. as you could imagine these are the best stops. if you little
tummy is craving a beer then you got it and if the brain is craving adventureness
you have that as well.
i did the zip lines in a couple different stop. the second stop which has the highest
zip line out of em all definitely makes the feet sore after a couple goes. you are
extremely high when you let go so the speed when you hit the water is a little fast.
last year when i was in turkey i met this canuck names james who had just come from
SEA and he specifically
mentioned lao and this river tubing thing. so its nice to actually now know what
he was talking about. tons of travellers taking it easy on the river for the day.
im not going to get to go to the beach on this trip now due to me leaving on tour
so i am glad that i was able to come here and chill in the river. i know where i
am heading down south in lao to a place called "4000 islands" will be
somewhat similar. i hear you just chill in a hammock all day. on the river. we will
see.

vang vieng is by far the prettiest countryside i have seen on this trip and in a
long long time. in fact never seen anything like it due to the rock, trees, and
jungle - lao- enviroment. im gonna head out and watch the sun set with the moutian
back ground.


Subject: vientanne #8
Date: Feb 17, 2006 1:42 PM
feb 16th. vientanne, lao pdr

so life is getting a little crazy.
trying to get everything done before i leave here and then trying to take care of
alot of things -now- back at home or abroad.

im now in the capital of lao pdr-vietanne- where i planned on being on a bus later
this evening for 9 hours to southern lao-pakse. its not happening. it happens that
the border between cambodia and lao down south doesnt do "on arrival"
visas.
so this has pinned me up here in this -somehat of a- city. fortunately i have been
able to get an express visa which is supposed to arrive tomorrow and then i will
- hopefully- be on a bus down south.
1 day behind schedule.
once getting into pakse i plan on either getting into a van/ or boat and heading
down to don khong which is in a place entitled "4000 islands" where i
will lay in a hammock for at least a day and then continue down south.
hell will i even sit in the hammock for 1 day. yesterday i was in a tube for 3 hours
and have the worst sun burn ever on the ole feet. when lotioning up remember your
2 little feet down below.

im still not sure if ill have enough time to do everything. once into cambodia i
plan on heading to phonm penh where i will check out that city and hopefully the
old killing field areas.
sometime you actually need to see first hand what humanity is capable of to fully
understand it and to fullly fight against it. my reason for my killing field visit.
after this i plan on heading to siem reap for the temple gazing - 2 to 3 days- and
then onto a plane to bangkok and then on what seems to be 100 more planes until
i finally get situated which now looks like it will be in a bus.

ha ha ha. i havent been home for what will be about 40 some days and then i come
straight home for 1 hopefully cozy sleep in my bed and then off to 3 weeks of sleeping
in a bus. wowzers.

then something else has came up while over here. i have been approached by another
little rocking group to start touring with them so today has been interesting trying
to tackle everything and still being on a little vacation of sorts.
yeah

FEB 17th. vientanne. LAO

still in vientanne just with about 100 extra mosqito bites added to the arms and
legs. bum deal.
the window was open but i had a fan cranked. obviously it didnt work. lets hope
one of these little bastards wasnt carrying anything. on 1 arm alone i can count
at least 20. on top of that i am also burnt from the sun.

today thus far i have just rented a little 125 cc motor bike and have been cruising.
pay $5 for a couple hours of cruising not bad eh. tonight ill be on the bus all
night and then still be traveling tomorrow south for sometime until i come to the
border of LAO/ cambodia. i here where i plan on staying there is no western comforts.
electricity, internet etc etc. should be fun. thats it for now.


Subject: don det to phnom penh #9
Date: Feb 22, 2006 7:28 PM
FEB 22ND Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Well i after a crazy 4-5 days i have finally arrived in the mighty Cambodia. One
of the main countries i have always wanted to visit.
Have only been here for about 10 hours so wont go into it yet cause there is nothing
to go into.
i will say this though. the killingfields- (the mass genocide that took place here
in the late 70s at the hands of the khmer rouge/ pol pot)- are here. actually about
15 km from the city.
so i wake up this morning due to my guest house getting construction done at 8 in
the morning. not fun. so i switched places with my portugal bud jose. getting to
this second place everyone there/ or even around the streets are hitting you up
about "killing fields"/ "s-21".
like everyone is saying that "wanna ride to the killing fields""$4".....
i find it a little interesting.
people are definitely using the site/ incident to obviously get/ make money. its
interesting. not that im against it. or for it. its just interesting. it is yes
a tourist attraction and i am going to go either today or tomorrow as well as many
others im sure. you need to see the other sides of history. um..... but yeah just
being bombarded with all the "killing fields. $4" was interesting.
where theres not much money you need to figure out ways to make some these days.

okay so my last 5 days have been THE BEST!!. yeah. the travel to and from has been
very interesting and in about 90% of the travel very rough, brutal.
i took a bus to down to southern southern lao. the bus ride was very interesting.
so i buy a ticket, show up at the place i am supposed to show up at 6:30, dont get
picked up till around 7:30. then get drivin with 6 other people about 3 blocks to
get dropped of on the side of the road and be told "someone else will pick
you up and take you the next 6km in about 10 mins".
okay after standing on the road for about 50 mins we get picked up only to then
get SPED to the bus station. this dude was late. we drove in the middle of the road
with our horn blaring going extremly fast. being in the back with nothing but tin
over your head was interesting. one wrong move and us 7 bodies are road kill.
get to the bus only to see its jammed pack. i manage to get on but with the worst
seat in the thing. the very back, center. there was room to spread my feet out but
no blanket and when it came to hitting the pot holes and very bad bad place to be.
and there are more pot holes then there is road to let you know. trying to take
this sucker all night was.... yeah.... not fun. i did manage to sleep and then
by no time we were closer.
we arrive in pakse only to try and figure out how to get to don det. everyones trying
to make some cash and put in the least amount of work so......
we finally got to the river where we were to head to don det by boat.
don det is located in southern lao about 20 km from the cambodian border in the
middle of the mekong. this area is called 4000 islands due to the literally hundreds/
to thousands im sure little islands everywhere. yes little sand bars im sure ar
part of the equation. don det is a smaller island where there is a little village
here and there. most of the villages are usually guesthouses though.
so we take the boat over and for the next 4 days literally do nothing.
thats it. nothing. okay...... there was um....... relaxing, more relaxing, a 3 hour
bike ride for 1 of the days which i did get lost but came to the most amazing beach
with huge rock strucutres everywhere in the water. the sand was by far the hottest
ground i have ever stepped foot on. the heat even absorbed through thee ole flip
flops. then i cruised back and came across a lao party where they were watching
kick boxing and betting. i chilled here for a bit, drank a drink i was offered and
cruised back to relax more.
wake up, eat breakfast, sit on the balcony of my bungalow just looking at the mekong
ad the nicely colored water, lay in my hammock, swim, relax, eat, read, and call
it a day.
dont det just got electricy but its only run from a generator and only from 7- 11
at night.
other then that there is nothing. most of the families that live on the island have
turned their places into guest houses. the family we stayed with ruled hard. everyone
out ehre is self sufficient.

don det was probably the most chilled enviroment i have ever been in. such an easy
live.
you hear the sound of boats passing quite often but thats it. the sounds of the
motor when there is actually nothing else around was actually pretty neat.
don det and this area - 4000 islands- is actually the widest part of the mekong
and can spread to 14 km wide during the wet season. out of the 4300 km of the mekong
this is the widest.
i met 3 people on the travel down to there which 2 grrls were from israel and this
dude jose was from portugal. there were 3 canuck grrls with us as well but opted
to stay at another bungalow.
those 4 days were so neat watching the locals. the children playing in the river,
laughing having fun, the adults doing their laundry in the river, the dishes in
the river, bathing in the river. people on the shores working on their boats, some
other children with nets just runnning along the shore trying to catch fish.
the water was beautiful. i swam everyday i was there. im not sure how clean the
sucker was but the color of the water was a nice nice blue and very warm. i say
follow the locals.
since all the bungalows are lined up next to each other on the bank you also become
friends with your locals. there were 2 norwegian grrls, and a couple of brits i
hung out with as well. everyone doing the same thing.
NOTHING but maxing and relaxing to the fullest.
theres no bars or anything of the sorts which is a good good thing. when the electricy
gets shut down people know its time for bed if they arent already there.
its a god place. i think people come here strictyly to reffresh and clear your mind.
i love it.
this place will always be a top place on my list. good ole don det.
th families whose bungalows we stayed at were by far amazing. basically there is
a book on a table and when you order something you just keep track of your ttab
and pay it when you leave. trust. i was there for 4 days and spent 19 dollars on
everything. i ate and ate as well. the family cooked me food with out certain things
i requested so when i left i gave the grrl who pretty much ran the place due to
her learning english in school as nice tip which she then bought a shirt her friend
was trying to sell her. she was stoked as with i on them. i was given a nice gift
upon leaving which stoked me out. a nice bracelet and a free departing meal/ drink.
aahh!! don det.
this place though will chage and is changing. you see new bungalows getting built
everyewhere and now with electricity i could see this place being a little more
lively in the next year or so. sad i think. the most chilled out place ever.
being a kid and growing up on that island or in that area has got to be such an
incredible experience.
all the kids did everyday was just play in the river. i mean thats what i did too.
it was neat to see.
my beach fill has now been filled with don det. im not going to have time to go
to the beaches so dont det was by far the best thing to it. just as good but with
no diving and more secluded.

i wrote alot of things in my journal at the time and it would take to long to share
them all so.......

im now in cambodia after a 13 hour crazy trip yesterday. out fo the 13 hours of
travels i was we were probably drinving on "semi"level groud for .....
30 mins or so. yeah the tush is a little raw and tired of sitting down.
the drivers here dont care as well. we definitely ran over a chicken and a little
puppy dog. yeah. i saw both and i saw them both run away after we passed so i am
hoping everything is alright. the puppy sucked to see and hear. the chickens you
know what there there for so........ i still hope the bird the best.

today i need to do something and possibly go check a couple things out.
rock on

Subject: don det to phnom penh #9
Date: Feb 22, 2006 7:28 PM
FEB 22ND Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Well i after a crazy 4-5 days i have finally arrived in the mighty Cambodia. One
of the main countries i have always wanted to visit.
Have only been here for about 10 hours so wont go into it yet cause there is nothing
to go into.
i will say this though. the killingfields- (the mass genocide that took place here
in the late 70s at the hands of the khmer rouge/ pol pot)- are here. actually about
15 km from the city.
so i wake up this morning due to my guest house getting construction done at 8 in
the morning. not fun. so i switched places with my portugal bud jose. getting to
this second place everyone there/ or even around the streets are hitting you up
about "killing fields"/ "s-21".
like everyone is saying that "wanna ride to the killing fields""$4".....
i find it a little interesting.
people are definitely using the site/ incident to obviously get/ make money. its
interesting. not that im against it. or for it. its just interesting. it is yes
a tourist attraction and i am going to go either today or tomorrow as well as many
others im sure. you need to see the other sides of history. um..... but yeah just
being bombarded with all the "killing fields. $4" was interesting.
where theres not much money you need to figure out ways to make some these days.

okay so my last 5 days have been THE BEST!!. yeah. the travel to and from has been
very interesting and in about 90% of the travel very rough, brutal.
i took a bus to down to southern southern lao. the bus ride was very interesting.
so i buy a ticket, show up at the place i am supposed to show up at 6:30, dont get
picked up till around 7:30. then get drivin with 6 other people about 3 blocks to
get dropped of on the side of the road and be told "someone else will pick
you up and take you the next 6km in about 10 mins".
okay after standing on the road for about 50 mins we get picked up only to then
get SPED to the bus station. this dude was late. we drove in the middle of the road
with our horn blaring going extremly fast. being in the back with nothing but tin
over your head was interesting. one wrong move and us 7 bodies are road kill.
get to the bus only to see its jammed pack. i manage to get on but with the worst
seat in the thing. the very back, center. there was room to spread my feet out but
no blanket and when it came to hitting the pot holes and very bad bad place to be.
and there are more pot holes then there is road to let you know. trying to take
this sucker all night was.... yeah.... not fun. i did manage to sleep and then
by no time we were closer.
we arrive in pakse only to try and figure out how to get to don det. everyones trying
to make some cash and put in the least amount of work so......
we finally got to the river where we were to head to don det by boat.
don det is located in southern lao about 20 km from the cambodian border in the
middle of the mekong. this area is called 4000 islands due to the literally hundreds/
to thousands im sure little islands everywhere. yes little sand bars im sure ar
part of the equation. don det is a smaller island where there is a little village
here and there. most of the villages are usually guesthouses though.
so we take the boat over and for the next 4 days literally do nothing.
thats it. nothing. okay...... there was um....... relaxing, more relaxing, a 3 hour
bike ride for 1 of the days which i did get lost but came to the most amazing beach
with huge rock strucutres everywhere in the water. the sand was by far the hottest
ground i have ever stepped foot on. the heat even absorbed through thee ole flip
flops. then i cruised back and came across a lao party where they were watching
kick boxing and betting. i chilled here for a bit, drank a drink i was offered and
cruised back to relax more.
wake up, eat breakfast, sit on the balcony of my bungalow just looking at the mekong
ad the nicely colored water, lay in my hammock, swim, relax, eat, read, and call
it a day.
dont det just got electricy but its only run from a generator and only from 7- 11
at night.
other then that there is nothing. most of the families that live on the island have
turned their places into guest houses. the family we stayed with ruled hard. everyone
out ehre is self sufficient.

don det was probably the most chilled enviroment i have ever been in. such an easy
live.
you hear the sound of boats passing quite often but thats it. the sounds of the
motor when there is actually nothing else around was actually pretty neat.
don det and this area - 4000 islands- is actually the widest part of the mekong
and can spread to 14 km wide during the wet season. out of the 4300 km of the mekong
this is the widest.
i met 3 people on the travel down to there which 2 grrls were from israel and this
dude jose was from portugal. there were 3 canuck grrls with us as well but opted
to stay at another bungalow.
those 4 days were so neat watching the locals. the children playing in the river,
laughing having fun, the adults doing their laundry in the river, the dishes in
the river, bathing in the river. people on the shores working on their boats, some
other children with nets just runnning along the shore trying to catch fish.
the water was beautiful. i swam everyday i was there. im not sure how clean the
sucker was but the color of the water was a nice nice blue and very warm. i say
follow the locals.
since all the bungalows are lined up next to each other on the bank you also become
friends with your locals. there were 2 norwegian grrls, and a couple of brits i
hung out with as well. everyone doing the same thing.
NOTHING but maxing and relaxing to the fullest.
theres no bars or anything of the sorts which is a good good thing. when the electricy
gets shut down people know its time for bed if they arent already there.
its a god place. i think people come here strictyly to reffresh and clear your mind.
i love it.
this place will always be a top place on my list. good ole don det.
th families whose bungalows we stayed at were by far amazing. basically there is
a book on a table and when you order something you just keep track of your ttab
and pay it when you leave. trust. i was there for 4 days and spent 19 dollars on
everything. i ate and ate as well. the family cooked me food with out certain things
i requested so when i left i gave the grrl who pretty much ran the place due to
her learning english in school as nice tip which she then bought a shirt her friend
was trying to sell her. she was stoked as with i on them. i was given a nice gift
upon leaving which stoked me out. a nice bracelet and a free departing meal/ drink.
aahh!! don det.
this place though will chage and is changing. you see new bungalows getting built
everyewhere and now with electricity i could see this place being a little more
lively in the next year or so. sad i think. the most chilled out place ever.
being a kid and growing up on that island or in that area has got to be such an
incredible experience.
all the kids did everyday was just play in the river. i mean thats what i did too.
it was neat to see.
my beach fill has now been filled with don det. im not going to have time to go
to the beaches so dont det was by far the best thing to it. just as good but with
no diving and more secluded.

i wrote alot of things in my journal at the time and it would take to long to share
them all so.......

im now in cambodia after a 13 hour crazy trip yesterday. out fo the 13 hours of
travels i was we were probably drinving on "semi"level groud for .....
30 mins or so. yeah the tush is a little raw and tired of sitting down.
the drivers here dont care as well. we definitely ran over a chicken and a little
puppy dog. yeah. i saw both and i saw them both run away after we passed so i am
hoping everything is alright. the puppy sucked to see and hear. the chickens you
know what there there for so........ i still hope the bird the best.

today i need to do something and possibly go check a couple things out.
rock on



Subject: don det to phnom penh #9
Date: Feb 22, 2006 7:28 PM
FEB 22ND Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Well i after a crazy 4-5 days i have finally arrived in the mighty Cambodia. One
of the main countries i have always wanted to visit.
Have only been here for about 10 hours so wont go into it yet cause there is nothing
to go into.
i will say this though. the killingfields- (the mass genocide that took place here
in the late 70s at the hands of the khmer rouge/ pol pot)- are here. actually about
15 km from the city.
so i wake up this morning due to my guest house getting construction done at 8 in
the morning. not fun. so i switched places with my portugal bud jose. getting to
this second place everyone there/ or even around the streets are hitting you up
about "killing fields"/ "s-21".
like everyone is saying that "wanna ride to the killing fields""$4".....
i find it a little interesting.
people are definitely using the site/ incident to obviously get/ make money. its
interesting. not that im against it. or for it. its just interesting. it is yes
a tourist attraction and i am going to go either today or tomorrow as well as many
others im sure. you need to see the other sides of history. um..... but yeah just
being bombarded with all the "killing fields. $4" was interesting.
where theres not much money you need to figure out ways to make some these days.

okay so my last 5 days have been THE BEST!!. yeah. the travel to and from has been
very interesting and in about 90% of the travel very rough, brutal.
i took a bus to down to southern southern lao. the bus ride was very interesting.
so i buy a ticket, show up at the place i am supposed to show up at 6:30, dont get
picked up till around 7:30. then get drivin with 6 other people about 3 blocks to
get dropped of on the side of the road and be told "someone else will pick
you up and take you the next 6km in about 10 mins".
okay after standing on the road for about 50 mins we get picked up only to then
get SPED to the bus station. this dude was late. we drove in the middle of the road
with our horn blaring going extremly fast. being in the back with nothing but tin
over your head was interesting. one wrong move and us 7 bodies are road kill.
get to the bus only to see its jammed pack. i manage to get on but with the worst
seat in the thing. the very back, center. there was room to spread my feet out but
no blanket and when it came to hitting the pot holes and very bad bad place to be.
and there are more pot holes then there is road to let you know. trying to take
this sucker all night was.... yeah.... not fun. i did manage to sleep and then
by no time we were closer.
we arrive in pakse only to try and figure out how to get to don det. everyones trying
to make some cash and put in the least amount of work so......
we finally got to the river where we were to head to don det by boat.
don det is located in southern lao about 20 km from the cambodian border in the
middle of the mekong. this area is called 4000 islands due to the literally hundreds/
to thousands im sure little islands everywhere. yes little sand bars im sure ar
part of the equation. don det is a smaller island where there is a little village
here and there. most of the villages are usually guesthouses though.
so we take the boat over and for the next 4 days literally do nothing.
thats it. nothing. okay...... there was um....... relaxing, more relaxing, a 3 hour
bike ride for 1 of the days which i did get lost but came to the most amazing beach
with huge rock strucutres everywhere in the water. the sand was by far the hottest
ground i have ever stepped foot on. the heat even absorbed through thee ole flip
flops. then i cruised back and came across a lao party where they were watching
kick boxing and betting. i chilled here for a bit, drank a drink i was offered and
cruised back to relax more.
wake up, eat breakfast, sit on the balcony of my bungalow just looking at the mekong
ad the nicely colored water, lay in my hammock, swim, relax, eat, read, and call
it a day.
dont det just got electricy but its only run from a generator and only from 7- 11
at night.
other then that there is nothing. most of the families that live on the island have
turned their places into guest houses. the family we stayed with ruled hard. everyone
out ehre is self sufficient.

don det was probably the most chilled enviroment i have ever been in. such an easy
live.
you hear the sound of boats passing quite often but thats it. the sounds of the
motor when there is actually nothing else around was actually pretty neat.
don det and this area - 4000 islands- is actually the widest part of the mekong
and can spread to 14 km wide during the wet season. out of the 4300 km of the mekong
this is the widest.
i met 3 people on the travel down to there which 2 grrls were from israel and this
dude jose was from portugal. there were 3 canuck grrls with us as well but opted
to stay at another bungalow.
those 4 days were so neat watching the locals. the children playing in the river,
laughing having fun, the adults doing their laundry in the river, the dishes in
the river, bathing in the river. people on the shores working on their boats, some
other children with nets just runnning along the shore trying to catch fish.
the water was beautiful. i swam everyday i was there. im not sure how clean the
sucker was but the color of the water was a nice nice blue and very warm. i say
follow the locals.
since all the bungalows are lined up next to each other on the bank you also become
friends with your locals. there were 2 norwegian grrls, and a couple of brits i
hung out with as well. everyone doing the same thing.
NOTHING but maxing and relaxing to the fullest.
theres no bars or anything of the sorts which is a good good thing. when the electricy
gets shut down people know its time for bed if they arent already there.
its a god place. i think people come here strictyly to reffresh and clear your mind.
i love it.
this place will always be a top place on my list. good ole don det.
th families whose bungalows we stayed at were by far amazing. basically there is
a book on a table and when you order something you just keep track of your ttab
and pay it when you leave. trust. i was there for 4 days and spent 19 dollars on
everything. i ate and ate as well. the family cooked me food with out certain things
i requested so when i left i gave the grrl who pretty much ran the place due to
her learning english in school as nice tip which she then bought a shirt her friend
was trying to sell her. she was stoked as with i on them. i was given a nice gift
upon leaving which stoked me out. a nice bracelet and a free departing meal/ drink.
aahh!! don det.
this place though will chage and is changing. you see new bungalows getting built
everyewhere and now with electricity i could see this place being a little more
lively in the next year or so. sad i think. the most chilled out place ever.
being a kid and growing up on that island or in that area has got to be such an
incredible experience.
all the kids did everyday was just play in the river. i mean thats what i did too.
it was neat to see.
my beach fill has now been filled with don det. im not going to have time to go
to the beaches so dont det was by far the best thing to it. just as good but with
no diving and more secluded.

i wrote alot of things in my journal at the time and it would take to long to share
them all so.......

im now in cambodia after a 13 hour crazy trip yesterday. out fo the 13 hours of
travels i was we were probably drinving on "semi"level groud for .....
30 mins or so. yeah the tush is a little raw and tired of sitting down.
the drivers here dont care as well. we definitely ran over a chicken and a little
puppy dog. yeah. i saw both and i saw them both run away after we passed so i am
hoping everything is alright. the puppy sucked to see and hear. the chickens you
know what there there for so........ i still hope the bird the best.

today i need to do something and possibly go check a couple things out.
rock on



Subject: don det to phnom penh #9
Date: Feb 22, 2006 7:28 PM
FEB 22ND Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Well i after a crazy 4-5 days i have finally arrived in the mighty Cambodia. One
of the main countries i have always wanted to visit.
Have only been here for about 10 hours so wont go into it yet cause there is nothing
to go into.
i will say this though. the killingfields- (the mass genocide that took place here
in the late 70s at the hands of the khmer rouge/ pol pot)- are here. actually about
15 km from the city.
so i wake up this morning due to my guest house getting construction done at 8 in
the morning. not fun. so i switched places with my portugal bud jose. getting to
this second place everyone there/ or even around the streets are hitting you up
about "killing fields"/ "s-21".
like everyone is saying that "wanna ride to the killing fields""$4".....
i find it a little interesting.
people are definitely using the site/ incident to obviously get/ make money. its
interesting. not that im against it. or for it. its just interesting. it is yes
a tourist attraction and i am going to go either today or tomorrow as well as many
others im sure. you need to see the other sides of history. um..... but yeah just
being bombarded with all the "killing fields. $4" was interesting.
where theres not much money you need to figure out ways to make some these days.

okay so my last 5 days have been THE BEST!!. yeah. the travel to and from has been
very interesting and in about 90% of the travel very rough, brutal.
i took a bus to down to southern southern lao. the bus ride was very interesting.
so i buy a ticket, show up at the place i am supposed to show up at 6:30, dont get
picked up till around 7:30. then get drivin with 6 other people about 3 blocks to
get dropped of on the side of the road and be told "someone else will pick
you up and take you the next 6km in about 10 mins".
okay after standing on the road for about 50 mins we get picked up only to then
get SPED to the bus station. this dude was late. we drove in the middle of the road
with our horn blaring going extremly fast. being in the back with nothing but tin
over your head was interesting. one wrong move and us 7 bodies are road kill.
get to the bus only to see its jammed pack. i manage to get on but with the worst
seat in the thing. the very back, center. there was room to spread my feet out but
no blanket and when it came to hitting the pot holes and very bad bad place to be.
and there are more pot holes then there is road to let you know. trying to take
this sucker all night was.... yeah.... not fun. i did manage to sleep and then
by no time we were closer.
we arrive in pakse only to try and figure out how to get to don det. everyones trying
to make some cash and put in the least amount of work so......
we finally got to the river where we were to head to don det by boat.
don det is located in southern lao about 20 km from the cambodian border in the
middle of the mekong. this area is called 4000 islands due to the literally hundreds/
to thousands im sure little islands everywhere. yes little sand bars im sure ar
part of the equation. don det is a smaller island where there is a little village
here and there. most of the villages are usually guesthouses though.
so we take the boat over and for the next 4 days literally do nothing.
thats it. nothing. okay...... there was um....... relaxing, more relaxing, a 3 hour
bike ride for 1 of the days which i did get lost but came to the most amazing beach
with huge rock strucutres everywhere in the water. the sand was by far the hottest
ground i have ever stepped foot on. the heat even absorbed through thee ole flip
flops. then i cruised back and came across a lao party where they were watching
kick boxing and betting. i chilled here for a bit, drank a drink i was offered and
cruised back to relax more.
wake up, eat breakfast, sit on the balcony of my bungalow just looking at the mekong
ad the nicely colored water, lay in my hammock, swim, relax, eat, read, and call
it a day.
dont det just got electricy but its only run from a generator and only from 7- 11
at night.
other then that there is nothing. most of the families that live on the island have
turned their places into guest houses. the family we stayed with ruled hard. everyone
out ehre is self sufficient.

don det was probably the most chilled enviroment i have ever been in. such an easy
live.
you hear the sound of boats passing quite often but thats it. the sounds of the
motor when there is actually nothing else around was actually pretty neat.
don det and this area - 4000 islands- is actually the widest part of the mekong
and can spread to 14 km wide during the wet season. out of the 4300 km of the mekong
this is the widest.
i met 3 people on the travel down to there which 2 grrls were from israel and this
dude jose was from portugal. there were 3 canuck grrls with us as well but opted
to stay at another bungalow.
those 4 days were so neat watching the locals. the children playing in the river,
laughing having fun, the adults doing their laundry in the river, the dishes in
the river, bathing in the river. people on the shores working on their boats, some
other children with nets just runnning along the shore trying to catch fish.
the water was beautiful. i swam everyday i was there. im not sure how clean the
sucker was but the color of the water was a nice nice blue and very warm. i say
follow the locals.
since all the bungalows are lined up next to each other on the bank you also become
friends with your locals. there were 2 norwegian grrls, and a couple of brits i
hung out with as well. everyone doing the same thing.
NOTHING but maxing and relaxing to the fullest.
theres no bars or anything of the sorts which is a good good thing. when the electricy
gets shut down people know its time for bed if they arent already there.
its a god place. i think people come here strictyly to reffresh and clear your mind.
i love it.
this place will always be a top place on my list. good ole don det.
th families whose bungalows we stayed at were by far amazing. basically there is
a book on a table and when you order something you just keep track of your ttab
and pay it when you leave. trust. i was there for 4 days and spent 19 dollars on
everything. i ate and ate as well. the family cooked me food with out certain things
i requested so when i left i gave the grrl who pretty much ran the place due to
her learning english in school as nice tip which she then bought a shirt her friend
was trying to sell her. she was stoked as with i on them. i was given a nice gift
upon leaving which stoked me out. a nice bracelet and a free departing meal/ drink.
aahh!! don det.
this place though will chage and is changing. you see new bungalows getting built
everyewhere and now with electricity i could see this place being a little more
lively in the next year or so. sad i think. the most chilled out place ever.
being a kid and growing up on that island or in that area has got to be such an
incredible experience.
all the kids did everyday was just play in the river. i mean thats what i did too.
it was neat to see.
my beach fill has now been filled with don det. im not going to have time to go
to the beaches so dont det was by far the best thing to it. just as good but with
no diving and more secluded.

i wrote alot of things in my journal at the time and it would take to long to share
them all so.......

im now in cambodia after a 13 hour crazy trip yesterday. out fo the 13 hours of
travels i was we were probably drinving on "semi"level groud for .....
30 mins or so. yeah the tush is a little raw and tired of sitting down.
the drivers here dont care as well. we definitely ran over a chicken and a little
puppy dog. yeah. i saw both and i saw them both run away after we passed so i am
hoping everything is alright. the puppy sucked to see and hear. the chickens you
know what there there for so........ i still hope the bird the best.

today i need to do something and possibly go check a couple things out.
rock on

Subject: don det to phnom penh #9
Date: Feb 22, 2006 7:28 PM
FEB 22ND Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Well i after a crazy 4-5 days i have finally arrived in the mighty Cambodia. One
of the main countries i have always wanted to visit.
Have only been here for about 10 hours so wont go into it yet cause there is nothing
to go into.
i will say this though. the killingfields- (the mass genocide that took place here
in the late 70s at the hands of the khmer rouge/ pol pot)- are here. actually about
15 km from the city.
so i wake up this morning due to my guest house getting construction done at 8 in
the morning. not fun. so i switched places with my portugal bud jose. getting to
this second place everyone there/ or even around the streets are hitting you up
about "killing fields"/ "s-21".
like everyone is saying that "wanna ride to the killing fields""$4".....
i find it a little interesting.
people are definitely using the site/ incident to obviously get/ make money. its
interesting. not that im against it. or for it. its just interesting. it is yes
a tourist attraction and i am going to go either today or tomorrow as well as many
others im sure. you need to see the other sides of history. um..... but yeah just
being bombarded with all the "killing fields. $4" was interesting.
where theres not much money you need to figure out ways to make some these days.

okay so my last 5 days have been THE BEST!!. yeah. the travel to and from has been
very interesting and in about 90% of the travel very rough, brutal.
i took a bus to down to southern southern lao. the bus ride was very interesting.
so i buy a ticket, show up at the place i am supposed to show up at 6:30, dont get
picked up till around 7:30. then get drivin with 6 other people about 3 blocks to
get dropped of on the side of the road and be told "someone else will pick
you up and take you the next 6km in about 10 mins".
okay after standing on the road for about 50 mins we get picked up only to then
get SPED to the bus station. this dude was late. we drove in the middle of the road
with our horn blaring going extremly fast. being in the back with nothing but tin
over your head was interesting. one wrong move and us 7 bodies are road kill.
get to the bus only to see its jammed pack. i manage to get on but with the worst
seat in the thing. the very back, center. there was room to spread my feet out but
no blanket and when it came to hitting the pot holes and very bad bad place to be.
and there are more pot holes then there is road to let you know. trying to take
this sucker all night was.... yeah.... not fun. i did manage to sleep and then
by no time we were closer.
we arrive in pakse only to try and figure out how to get to don det. everyones trying
to make some cash and put in the least amount of work so......
we finally got to the river where we were to head to don det by boat.
don det is located in southern lao about 20 km from the cambodian border in the
middle of the mekong. this area is called 4000 islands due to the literally hundreds/
to thousands im sure little islands everywhere. yes little sand bars im sure ar
part of the equation. don det is a smaller island where there is a little village
here and there. most of the villages are usually guesthouses though.
so we take the boat over and for the next 4 days literally do nothing.
thats it. nothing. okay...... there was um....... relaxing, more relaxing, a 3 hour
bike ride for 1 of the days which i did get lost but came to the most amazing beach
with huge rock strucutres everywhere in the water. the sand was by far the hottest
ground i have ever stepped foot on. the heat even absorbed through thee ole flip
flops. then i cruised back and came across a lao party where they were watching
kick boxing and betting. i chilled here for a bit, drank a drink i was offered and
cruised back to relax more.
wake up, eat breakfast, sit on the balcony of my bungalow just looking at the mekong
ad the nicely colored water, lay in my hammock, swim, relax, eat, read, and call
it a day.
dont det just got electricy but its only run from a generator and only from 7- 11
at night.
other then that there is nothing. most of the families that live on the island have
turned their places into guest houses. the family we stayed with ruled hard. everyone
out ehre is self sufficient.

don det was probably the most chilled enviroment i have ever been in. such an easy
live.
you hear the sound of boats passing quite often but thats it. the sounds of the
motor when there is actually nothing else around was actually pretty neat.
don det and this area - 4000 islands- is actually the widest part of the mekong
and can spread to 14 km wide during the wet season. out of the 4300 km of the mekong
this is the widest.
i met 3 people on the travel down to there which 2 grrls were from israel and this
dude jose was from portugal. there were 3 canuck grrls with us as well but opted
to stay at another bungalow.
those 4 days were so neat watching the locals. the children playing in the river,
laughing having fun, the adults doing their laundry in the river, the dishes in
the river, bathing in the river. people on the shores working on their boats, some
other children with nets just runnning along the shore trying to catch fish.
the water was beautiful. i swam everyday i was there. im not sure how clean the
sucker was but the color of the water was a nice nice blue and very warm. i say
follow the locals.
since all the bungalows are lined up next to each other on the bank you also become
friends with your locals. there were 2 norwegian grrls, and a couple of brits i
hung out with as well. everyone doing the same thing.
NOTHING but maxing and relaxing to the fullest.
theres no bars or anything of the sorts which is a good good thing. when the electricy
gets shut down people know its time for bed if they arent already there.
its a god place. i think people come here strictyly to reffresh and clear your mind.
i love it.
this place will always be a top place on my list. good ole don det.
th families whose bungalows we stayed at were by far amazing. basically there is
a book on a table and when you order something you just keep track of your ttab
and pay it when you leave. trust. i was there for 4 days and spent 19 dollars on
everything. i ate and ate as well. the family cooked me food with out certain things
i requested so when i left i gave the grrl who pretty much ran the place due to
her learning english in school as nice tip which she then bought a shirt her friend
was trying to sell her. she was stoked as with i on them. i was given a nice gift
upon leaving which stoked me out. a nice bracelet and a free departing meal/ drink.
aahh!! don det.
this place though will chage and is changing. you see new bungalows getting built
everyewhere and now with electricity i could see this place being a little more
lively in the next year or so. sad i think. the most chilled out place ever.
being a kid and growing up on that island or in that area has got to be such an
incredible experience.
all the kids did everyday was just play in the river. i mean thats what i did too.
it was neat to see.
my beach fill has now been filled with don det. im not going to have time to go
to the beaches so dont det was by far the best thing to it. just as good but with
no diving and more secluded.

i wrote alot of things in my journal at the time and it would take to long to share
them all so.......

im now in cambodia after a 13 hour crazy trip yesterday. out fo the 13 hours of
travels i was we were probably drinving on "semi"level groud for .....
30 mins or so. yeah the tush is a little raw and tired of sitting down.
the drivers here dont care as well. we definitely ran over a chicken and a little
puppy dog. yeah. i saw both and i saw them both run away after we passed so i am
hoping everything is alright. the puppy sucked to see and hear. the chickens you
know what there there for so........ i still hope the bird the best.

today i need to do something and possibly go check a couple things out.
rock on

Subject: the city of phnom penh#10
Date: Feb 23, 2006 3:41 PM
FEB 23RD PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA

so the stomach is feeling better today. yesterday i didnt do anything due to not
being able to hold anything in if you know what im saying. alot of laying in bed
and doing nothing.
today i woke up and feel better so decided to head out.
found myself a little moto to hire around for the day and off i went. i was going
to get the dude to drop me off at a place to rent another motorcycle but i realized
my moto-cross skills from a couple weeks ago probably wouldnt make it through the
streets of phnom pen. the streets were completely chaos. when i was in egypt it
was definitely as chaotic but i was in a car. here i was on the back of a motorcycle
which makes it twice as crazy. i ahve definitly inhaled my share of dirt, dust and
fumes today. well not just today this whole trip ive probably inhaled unimaginable
amounts of the stuff.

my agenda today was to see the tuol sleng- former khmer rouge S-21 prison- genocide
musuem. its the first thing i have done hear but something i really wanted to do.
this incident happened very close to the time i was born. the late 70s. records
found suggest that around 12 499 men, women and children passed through here. this
place used to be an old school back in the day but was then turned into an interrogation,
torture, prison cells. the place is located in the middle of the city which is crazy.
this all went down in the middle of the city. you walk in an the place is surrounded
by razor wire coils and thick corragated iron walls. walking into the plce you first
see the center yard which is actually quite beautiful and green. then you see the
buildings surrounding this beauty and think about what went down here.
each of the buildings (about 4 main ones) is leveled with 3 layers and probably
have around 10 rooms on each level. the rooms are the size of your average big sized
bedroom.
the first level of the first building had beds in each room and a photo on the wall
of what was found. a body in some non natural pose very very decomposed.
the second building has been converted into board after board of photos. hundreds
of photos of the people who passed through s-21 and eventually were probably lead
to their deaths. seeing the pictures and looking at each one carefully is pretty
intense. the expressions on the peoples face and the look in their eyes. you wonder.
"do they know whats ahead". there were boards of children- the grrls with
short cropped hair, and the boys wearing little black caps. i heard some guise mention
that these were the children of the revolution. these children were all members
of the CP. some of the looks of the people you could tell were definitely looks
of definance. "fuck you".
the third building was covered from bottom to top with barbed wire. each section
of this building was converted into a little cell of sorts. 1 room would ahve approx.
10 cells inside.
s-21 was definitely a heavy dose especially with the pictures all over. upon entering
the place i wasnt sure what to do about pictures. do you take pictures in such a
place? i ended up taking photos here and at the mass graves outside of town.
my next destination was to the mass graves- choeng ek genocidal center- 13 km outside
of phnom penh. this was the site were all the victims lives were eventually ended
or dumped.

i have never before been to a place of a genocide ever. been to germany alot but
have never been to the camps. it sounds weird but have always wanted to see places
as such. its me. over the years i would say alot of the books i have read have been
on the topic of genocide. most of them focusing on the rwandan genocide but others
have dealt with pol-pot and the whole khmer rouge genocide.

choeng ek is located in the farming fields outside of the cities. the area isnt
super super huge as you would expect with so many bodies dumped. there have been
86 burial pits excavated with a 8985 bodies exhumed. there are still 43 mass graves
un-touced where estimates have the total of victims at around 17000 killed.
the first thing you walk by is a huge tower of sorts, dont know what to really call
it, a shrine with glass levels, shelves all the way to the top. there are hundreds
upon hundreds of skulls in each section with the very bottom section filled nothing
with clothes.
then you head out to the "killing fields" to walk through the graves.
what a trip. a couple of graves are labeled with how many bodies/ head less bodies/
children were in each grave. the place is just big hole after big hole. a weird
feeling knowing that there were and are bodies in each. whats even weirder is while
walking around the whole place is when you look down you will see old clothing,
and yes bones (big and small) below you and your feet in which you are walking over.
its something you cant avoid and seems somewhat just part of the ground. seeing
that and walking over that was the point in which i realized "WOW". pretty
intense. and this is just the surface of the ground. whats below? how far does it
go? who was this?
to think this still happens. unfathomable.

it was time to head back. ive seen enough of what i wanted to see so back to the
streets. i put on my headphones and hoped on the back of this moto and off we went.
now im off to enjoy some of more PP.

Subject: yeahaaw! seim reap#11
Date: Feb 26, 2006 3:50 PM
feb 25th. seim reap, cambodia

waaaahoooo!
so today has been thus far a good good time.
i woke up at 630 am to get ready for the bus to seim reap from PP. got on the sucker,
sit for 30 mins or so and then go through another classic little adventure. 5 mins
into the trip the bus pulls over at some bus stop and then it was implied that everyone
get off this bus and onto another. so so weird. its like why drive that 5 mins and
change buses. you could save all that hassle and what comes with it with just having
the main bus there and once loaded off you go. no worries its just how they do things
here. all you can do is laugh with the thought of "classic" on your mind.
so after stopping about 3 times for who knows what.... 30 min breaks... we get to
seim reap. whoa! as soon as you get off the bus there are like 100s of dudes outside
trying to get you to take their moto/ tuk tuk to a guest house. there all standing
there as you walk off the bus and even before the bus stops their hanging in the
windows. again "classic"
i end up getting a moto with 3 others to the main guest house area. a dude named
daniel from australia and an english couple. im rooming with daniel. we find a place
and i head out to eat while the others go cruising.
i planned on just chilling out today and resting for all the sight seeing tomorrow.
well i end up meeting this kid whos nicknamed turns out to be aknee( not sure if
thats the right spelling. its a khmer word).
i end up cruising on the back of this kids moto to the middle of the country here
in seim reap to some house out in the sticks. yeah! crazy!. on the drive aknee was
pointing out all of the coconut trees and then mentioned the palm tree and wine.
so we come to this families house out here in the "burbs". ha ha ha. not
burbs at all. just little huts everywhere.
aknee points out the dude in the palm tree whos up there getting "palm wine".
i guess they put a box/ container in the tree and over months it collects the moisature
from the leaves. so we head up the stairs into the attic of sorts. the houses there
are all elevated and are just wood shacks is what us westerners would call em.
basically for the next 5 hours i just chillup there with this family and their friends.
so so crazy. about 30 mins into they bring up a big container of this "palm
wine" which i was poured a glass of. after inquiring what was in it i decide
to give it a shot. smelt horrible and then seeing dead ants floating in my cup that
was it. but hey. why not.
so i drink the cup and it wasnt that bad but no where near good.
im on may way to being jolly.
over the next 4 hours im learning khmer words and the father is sending one of his
kids out to buy us beer. like 4 times. ha ha ha.
while sitting there his 8 children were seriously amazed by me. these kids seriously
could not stop just observing me and from what the olders/ aknee said was "they
have never met a foreigner-westerner". every couple minutes i would give them
this funny look with a popping sound and some would laugh, some would look at me
like " whats going on" and then some would get scared. we all had a good
time with it.
then one of their children comes up stairs with a dead rat and a dead baby baby
bird. the bird didnt eve have feathers yet. aknee told me the bird was "killed
with a sling shot as well as the rat" then he says " the rats bythe river
are better then the rats in the city". turns out they deep fry these things
with peanuts inside. yeah. and the whole river / city thing is - the rats by the
river eat plants, and fish where as the rats by the city eat garbage.
the father of the family also was a musician. this is what he soley does. he plays
the instrument at khmer funerals.
. i wonder if they have the term "musician" in khmer. the instrument he
played was a khmer instrument- not sure of the name. basically it was a percussion
sort of thing. you know the drummers in the marching bands. some of em have like
for drums strapped around em. this thing was similar in style but you dont strap
it around you, its made from wood, and it is bells and not drums. you sit on the
ground while surronded by these bells. one of the younger sons played while his
dad then pick upa flute type instrument playing along with em. yeah!
i have now been invited back in 2 days to have a vegi meal with the family and see
some more things. today i was told the old man plays the whistle with the cobra
snake. this may be classic.
there was another fellow there who didnt say a word but ruled. i think around 45
but very aged and from vietnam. lived in cambodia for the last 20 years.
non of the adults or children spoke englsih but aknee and his friend did. having
said that we totally understood each other and when this happens you can just flow
with it.
so after consuming a good coupple of beers with everyone and just hanging out aknee
and i decided to leave. a slow ride home which was nice. its just dirt road with
other motos on it cruising. no suv's hauling.

hopefully my stomach decides to keep climbing up hill with these ants and "palm
wine" in the system.

Subject: the temples of angkor.
Date: Feb 27, 2006 8:54 PM
FEB 26TH, siem reap, cambodia.

so i woke up this morning where i was going to meet up with aknee- my moto driver-
and he was going to take me to angkor wat and some of the other temples of angkor.
stopped bought a 3 day pass and headed it. its either 1/3 days..... i plan on coming
out tomorrow
the first one i went to was angkor wat.
when you first come up to the area where the temple is you cant even tell there
is a temple out there due to the mass forest. but on the right side of while driving
through this area there is a huge moat and wall in which surrounds the place so
you know your close. this moat is ver wide and very very long. i think the main
temple area spans 1km so this moat is definitely longer.
so you come up to the main walk away and across the moat you see the main entrance
into the ground of the temple. walking across the bridge towards the massive walls
and the main gateway is crazy because this place so far is huge. looking to the
left and right and seeing the moat with the wall it is a far distance.
angkor is the biggest temple in the world.
then you walk through the gateway and there lyes the grounds and the temple way
in the distance.
the 5 corncobe shaped towers that are on the very top you can see very clearly from
the distance. with this in the background of the grounds you realize that this thing
is huge. the grounds are enourmous.
angkor was consecrated around 1150 to the hindu god vishnu. its been calculated
that it would have taken 30 yrs to complete.
so you walk down the causeway which is a nice little walk in the blistering sun.
about 500m. once getting closer to the structure you realize that this sucker is
insanely amazing. every single piece of stone has been carved in fine detail. the
stone of the whole place was a naturally grey but over time the tops has turned
black, most of the sontes have faded water marks so all of this together over time
has given this place a certain tint.
its just crazy to see this temple in front of you, walls everywhere, and 5 huge
towers all covered in carved out pictures.
humanity is a big thing.
its amazing how elaborate every thing was. i climbed to the top of the main temple
which is a mission. the steps i would say were at about a 75 or so degree of an
angle. you cant walk up them at all. to steep so you must climb the thing. imagine
seeing people of all sorts- tourists- climbing this and then imagine seeing the
people go down. i saw some sketched out people. its super steep.
so you get up top and check out the towers, the art and the halls. its amazing to
look out of the front of the temple to the main entrance and see how far back it
is, how small people really look due to your height and then also to take notice
of your height. all inside this amazing structure. the stone work was incredible.
how they built the sucker ill never be able to comprehend. i chilled up here for
awhile, a nice little breeze and some nice little shade. i then decided to start
to wander some more and i headed down.
all the stair cases go down obviously but there is only 1 with a railing/ built
up steps. so everyone uses this including myself. the sucker is steep. turns out
when i was half way down that the closer you get its less of a fall so i let go
and slowly walked down the rest. i then cruised around the middle level for awhile
again just checking out the stones everywhere all craved up. it all tells a story
as well.
after a good while of chilling/ walking here i decided to head back. this time i
didnt walk on the causeway and followed one of the many dirt paths thgrough the
grass field. turns out this walk is exactly where most of your ankor wat pictures
are taken from. its the angle. i then crossed back over the moat, got a bite to
eat and one of the stalls that are near the entrance, and then got aknee to take
me to ankgor thom.
ankgor thom used to be an old city so there are ruins everywhere. it covers an area
of 3 square
km. the first temple you see we came up to was called bayon. the place wasnt as
massive as angkor wat but nonetheless still amazing. more ruins here then at angkor
wat as well. angkor wat is still unbelievably very very intact where as most of
the others have places in whcih are still standing and others in which have turned
to piles of rock bricks.
bayon is neat because it has these huge tower type structures which have faces carved
on each of the 4 sides.
when i was looking at all the art work it seems as if it was done while the structure
had already been built. it had to have been. theres no way you could do the art
first and then piece all the rocks together perfectly. again here at bayon every
piece of stone had carvings covereing every exposed side. the art work was so intricate.
i stayed here for awhile and then cruised to angkor thom to walk through what used
to be a city but what is now mostly ruins.


FEB 27th siem reap, cambodia

so today i woke up, chilled out until mid morning and then aknee picked me up again
and we headed to ta prohm.
this temple is known for the jungle/ trees bascially taking the whole place over.
the place is unreal. i would say that most of it is still standing but then the
whole place is nothing but ruins which have been taken over by ole mother earth.
seeing huge huge trees with their whole rooting system wrapped around the walls
and the trees growing from the ruins makes for intense eye candy. i heard someone
pass me saying "this is probably one of the most photo genic places i have
ever been to" totally. you see one wall taken over by the biggest roots ever,
and then you come around a corner or through an hallway to see an even bigger tree
taken over another part. there are alot of walls here which are being supported
up by wood pillars and some even being held up by the trees themselves. unfortunately
i had only about 10 pics left so i did what i could. managed to get the feel of
the place which is what i wanted. i stayed here for awhile, found a shady spot and
did some reading in the forest. after this the plan was to go back to angkor wat
for sunset but it was only like 230 so aknee took me to a couple other old angkor
temples before we stopped off to hang in some hammocks for about 20 mins in the
shade and then i opted to head home. ive seen angkor wat but yes a sunset would
be a plus but it was just so so hot and i didnt feel like waiting a good 3 hours
in the sun. next time.
on the way home i stopped off at the old market and purchased a bunch of gifts for
the friends back home. everything here is so so cheap its unreal. i have to be careful
because i already have enough luggage going home.
tonight ill take it easy, get some food and then hit the sack early to catch my
7 oclock bus to bangkok. a good 12 hour bus ride. one thing ihave noticed is my
little behind is getting quite sore these days. maybe its the roads and sitting
in the seats for so long. who knows.

its pretty neat driving to these places in the forest and seeing monkeys everywhere.
ive never been in a place with wild monkeys so as you could imagine it makes for
a lot of interesting watching.
the animal cruelty thing here in south east asia is by far cruel. i forgot to mention
this a couple days ago so will now. when i rented the moto the other day in phnom
penh i defintely was driving next to a motorcycle in which there must had been a
least 20 chickens strapped by their legs on the back of the thing. they were all
just hanging there and a massive amount of fluid was coming out from there throats.
they were all still very alive but with the heat and just hanging upside down for
who knows how long there must ahve been some to pass. it was quite disgusting to
be near and all i could do was speed up in which i did. seeing the fluid coming
out was pretty rough. most likely they were choking in this heat.
ive seen people who ahve monkeys as pets attached to a string no longer then a meter
so the thing cant get away. again sad.
then the markets. yeah. if you cant handle seing pig heads, tons of fleshs, all
covered in flies then the markets arent the places to be. the flies are pretty brutal.


Subject: my last day in good ole south east asia
Date: Mar 1, 2006 6:16 PM
MAR 1ST, bangkok, thailand

FIRST AND FOREMOST. i want to congratulate my swedish counterparts and their swedish
hockey team in taking gold in the olympics.
ill fill you in on something. about 8 weeks ago i made a call to the great one.
you may know of him. they also call him wayne gretzky. the conversation went as
such.
"hey ole wayne. our team (canada) is looking good this year just like any other
year".... would you expect less..... anyhoo i said "why not give someone
else a chance. i know i know. its canadas sport and everyone knows this so why not
let someone else experience the "joy" for a second". he said "keeb
your totally right man. we (canada) knows what its like to be winners so i back
it". and thats when he decided after listening to me of course to have team
canada loose on one condition though. "only if the americans lost" in
which happened. so then it was canadas turn to be loosers. after which there was
only 1 team to take canadas place. the swedes. go sundin and go forsberg. it was
all set up though. ha ha ha ha

just kidding. congrats to sweden. im stoked for you all and glad that you all took
the tournament. wish i could have seen it.

so here i am in bangkok again where this time instead of arriving i am leaving.
i get on a little plane tomorrow for a cross atlantic flight to hopefully land and
then get on another flight home if all goes as planned.

bangkok is alot different this time then the first. its really the same as before
but i am just looking at it different.
when i first came here i was like "whoa! im here in south east asia. thailand.
yeah"
to be honest bangkok is pretty much like any big western city. i mean dont get me
wrong because it is also way different but its just developed like any big city
that we are used to. i mean its a major major tourist destination so they have to
be somewhat built up.

BUT not all major tourist destinations are built up.
check it out. so yesterday was by far one of the most hectic days of my whole trip.
now that the day is done looking back on it it wasnt to bad but at the time.
i woke up at 630 in the moring with yet again a case of the ole stomach not liking
anything inside of it. great. what a day to be sick. i have a 12 hour...... or what
i thought would be 12 hrs...... bus ride ahead of me and rumors have it that the
road from siem reap to bangkok is the worst in all of south east asia.
rumors were true but only up until thailand.
we being our journey super super late in this bus in which everyone on it thought
that it was jsut our shuttle bus to another more luxirious bus. wrong. this sucker
was it up to the border. well it was supposed to take us all the way to the border.
we begin and straight away the roads..... actually dirt path was extremely extremely
bad. not fun with a bad stomach either. the trip is actually a very very short distance
to the border but with the roads its seriously impossible to go over like 30km.
not fast at all.
so after a couple stops for who knows what our bus decides to call it quits. yeah.
totally in the middle of cambodia where there is nothing around. so we all get out
and find shade under the random trees in which are scattered around the countryside.
we sit here for a good 45 mins until they finally say "yeah. the bus isnt moving".
so it was aranged that a pick up would take us the rest of the way. ha ha ha. you
see. the whole time you are in these countries.. mostly lao, cambodia you see pick
up trucks completely pack with people. i mean packed. these trucks arent huge pick
up trucks either. little toyotas or something. so about 3 trucks arrive and we pack
into 2 of them which was a mission. there was 16 of us plus all of our bags. alot
of material to pack into 2 small trucks. then the 1 truck is asking for a $1 from
everyone in it. they said "no" due to our bus breaking down and its outta
their control. the bus company should pay. not happening. so then those people in
that truck get out and are instructed into our truck. CLASSIC!!! there are already
9 of us in the back with all of our luggage piled on the roof, on the back tied
to the truck. so this is another 7 people all with 1 huge bag and most with small
back packs as well. INSANE. SERIOUSLY INSANE. now we are those people you see completely
packed into the trucks. we have people hanging over the edge. standing. hanging
on for dear life.
my bum is actually very very bruised due to this ride. bum deal.
so we then begin the rest of the journey to the border of cambodia and thailand.
it tooks us about 1 hour total to get there with us breathing dust filled air the
whole time. most of our legs fell asleep which itself was a mission to swtich positions
with literally no room to actually move.
so we get to the border, cross through imigration and then get into thailand.

so from here on out the trip was a total breeze. as soon as you get to thailand
its nothing but paved roads. we had a super super comfie bus, with bathroom on board
crusing on completely smooth roads.
the difference was actually totally oppopsite.
in cambodia the paths were proabbly some of the worst in the world and then as soon
as you cross the border its smooth smooth sailing.
someone told me they had heard a "conspiracy" theory in that the cambodian
airlines actually pay the goverment not to pave that road so then people will actually
fly instead. bum deal because flights from siem reap to bangkok ar like $170. outrageous.
seim reap is a major major tourist destination as well due to angkor wat and you
would think that things as such would be taken care of. but again its my western
head doing the thinking on that one. i understand why things arent as such. soon
hopefuuly soon because that trips is a brutal brutal experience.

anyhow like i said im now in thailand where things are completely different then
yesterday and the last couple weeks. a total developed city where things feel like
normal.
i forgot to mention this this whole time but being here and especially bangkok you
see alot of older and younger(my age) dudes with local women. yeah. pervs. its like
come on. you can totally tell to. you see this normal looking white dude and then
a thai-local lady cruising with these dudes. im sure at least 1% are actually friends
and im just judging but i would say the rest 99% are dudes who cant get any at home
and need to go elsewhere to most likely pay for it.

today i spent my last day in a cooking class. AMAZING! we cooked 10 dishes in about
5 hours. seriously thai food is so so SO easy to make now that i have seen how its
done.
you wanna make a pad thai dish. it takes maybe 10 mins at the most...after all the
prep is done of course.
so so easy. im excited to come home wheneever that is and go to the asian markets
to purchase some products and start making my own curries, noodles, soups and desserts.
please check out maykaidee.com.... this lady is nothing but a good good time and
super rad.
i then went to get another thai massage which ruled but wasnt as intense as the
first. maybe cause i knew what lay ahead or i also felt that the lady wasnt as heavy
handed as my first dude. i wanted some pressure. it was still good though and now
ill just chill out tonight and get on this lil sucker tomorrow to head back closer
to home... or closer to will be my other home for the next 3 weeks. a bus.

south east asia has been such an incredible journey. i had the time of my life.
all of it ruled hard and there is so much still to be done so i will definitely
be back sooner then later although there is still the rest of the world to see.
maybe india next and back to SEA or maybe south america back to cuba. who knows.

keep on