Well then.
Cambodia was fricken awesome. I spent a week there (roughly) and it has been a highlight for sure. Phnom Phen, while only being there for one night, was so charming that I could've stayed there for quite some time. While I was checking out the Royal Palace it started to down pour, so I just sat and chatted with fellow travellers while we waited it out. Once it stopped I ventured back to the street to get back to my hostel and wouldn't ya know it...the streets were all flooded! I am talking about water to the waist and kids pushing cars around because they hadn't gotten stuck. All you could do was smile and start "swimming". Just watching all the Cambodians swimming and laughing and loving the flooded streets made me smile and enjoy it myself. It was a great intro to the country!
Siem Reap was another amazing city. I stayed at a great hostel called the Garden Village. 3 dollar rooms and 50 cent pints at the rooftop restaurant made for unreal time. The temples of Angkor were outstanding as well. It had been awhile since I had gotten some culture and I was craving it. The temples did not dissapoint. In no particular order my favourites were Pre Rup, Bayon, Ta Phrom and of course Angkor Wat itself. If you ever have a chance to get out to SouthEast Asia and are not sure where to go, Siem Reap should be a must see near the top of anyone's list.
After that, took the long way into Laos (Siem Reap to the border at PoiPet, bus to Bangkok, night train to Nong Khai and then into Vientianne) I have been here a couple days and its such a great time I wouldn't even know where to begin.
Today, in Luang Prabang, a group of us from my hostel went out to a small village and played volleyball in the Mekong River with a dozen or so Laos children and then ate some delicious food prepared just for us!
A couple more days here and then a two day boat ride up to Huay Xia (sp?) to do the Gibbons Experience (www.gibbonx.org for more info) and then a crazy Plane sked involving Chiang Rai > Bangkok > Singapore > Hong Kong > back home...
See you all in a couple days!
Monday, May 4, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Off to Cambodia
Well I have been in Malaysian Borneo for a about week...
Kuching was my first city. Stayed in quite possibly the worst place on earth for about 4 dollars...should sprung for an extra 2 dollars to get the room that didn't look like it was straight out of a horror flick. Ever smelled BO so bad, that the BO had its own BO?? That was what my hostel was like.
I have been in Sabah for the rest of the trip, going to see some Orangutans and just relaxing with this Irish guy I met on the plane ride over...its soooo much cheaper when your travelling with someone and can split on everything.
One thing I will remember about here is that it is sooo expensive to do any of the outdoorsy stuff. All the tours are ridiculously over priced. For instance, if you want to climb the Mt. Kinabalu (a huge, gorgeous climb) you need to pay something like 300 Canadian dollars for two days....not really in my budget unfortunately.
Anyway in a few hours I am off to Singapore for a day to do my laundry (one of the more charming things about backpacking is after a day of hiking and sweating, taking a shower and feeling so clean and then having to put on dirty clothes...doing laundry is like a two day ordeal in some places) and then heading to Cambodia. I am pretty excited to get back to some culture and see some temples and all that. I have heard nothing but good things about Cambodia...
Kuching was my first city. Stayed in quite possibly the worst place on earth for about 4 dollars...should sprung for an extra 2 dollars to get the room that didn't look like it was straight out of a horror flick. Ever smelled BO so bad, that the BO had its own BO?? That was what my hostel was like.
I have been in Sabah for the rest of the trip, going to see some Orangutans and just relaxing with this Irish guy I met on the plane ride over...its soooo much cheaper when your travelling with someone and can split on everything.
One thing I will remember about here is that it is sooo expensive to do any of the outdoorsy stuff. All the tours are ridiculously over priced. For instance, if you want to climb the Mt. Kinabalu (a huge, gorgeous climb) you need to pay something like 300 Canadian dollars for two days....not really in my budget unfortunately.
Anyway in a few hours I am off to Singapore for a day to do my laundry (one of the more charming things about backpacking is after a day of hiking and sweating, taking a shower and feeling so clean and then having to put on dirty clothes...doing laundry is like a two day ordeal in some places) and then heading to Cambodia. I am pretty excited to get back to some culture and see some temples and all that. I have heard nothing but good things about Cambodia...
Friday, April 17, 2009
Phew...Its Hot
Wow, its been awhile since I have done one of these...I think it has something to do with being in paradise beaches and the internet costing more than food at said paradises..
Since you last read about me I was in my last weekend in Taiwan (seems like ages ago) and was en route to Thailand...
I met up with a group of Guelph's finest in Koh Pahnang for buckets of fun (not to mention Swedes and Body Paint galore!!)...that was a fairly exhausting two day trek to get there involving various boats, planes, shady 'taxis' and one extremely comfortable (but long) train ride. After sleeping on the floor of an airport (not recommended) and sleeping on short bed on a sleeper train (fairly recommended) I was happy to get a real bed on a sunny beach.
There were 6 of us, and we actually managed to stick together for the most part (remember the safe word!! chicken sandwich right?) during what happens to be one of the most famous parties in the world and turned out to be OK...not great, but definately not boring).
After that we went to paradise...errr...Bottle Beach, on the same island as that aforementioned party, albeit worlds away. Without getting into too much detail (you need to go there on your own, or wait for my pictures), white sand, crystal blue water, and delicious food were the name of the game here. Not too mention great (GREAT) people, pretty good beds, and some very strange locals all made for a great couple of days. I tell ya, time flies when your going swimming, playing volleyball and sun tanning all day.
Three of us seperated and went to Koh Lanta, on the other side of Thailand...meaning a stop over on the main land. This turned out to be one of the highlights of my trip so far (the stopover, I mean). It happened to be Songkram in Thailand this past week, which is the Thai New Year. Thais celebrate by driving around town and spraying water on everyone and everything (not too mention painting and high fiving etc). They were especially happy to have foreigners join in the fun and Andy, Dan, and I were more than happy to oblige. We waited outside our busstop with buckets of water and splashed everyone that came by...we got soaked, but were smiling as wide as a young kid on Christmas morning who just opened the present he had been dreaming of (well, I don't really know what that feeling is but you get the idea). We were then escorted to our REAL bus stop (this part we didn't understand) through the city on the back of an open air taxi, extremely prone to the water fights that were going on around us...we tried to cover our bags up but they got pretty soaked (luckily our cameras were OK). We were driving around for maybe an hour (soaked..) due to traffic and then finally we turn onto a street that was relatively quiet....only to discover us driving right by where we had previously been! They took us in a circle basically to get us wet and to enjoy Songkram...no complaints here!
A few days into Lanta, we read about the crazyness that was going on Bangkok. My original plan was to head back up there and take a train into Laos, but there was no way I was going near that city...Andy and I flew into KL from the airport nearby and now I am on day 2 in Malaysia. I stayed one night in KL and flew into Kuching on the Borneo side of the country....not entirely sure what my plan is but I think I will be here for a couple days, possibly go check out Brunei (that would be a cool stamp on my passport) and then head to Cambodia and Laos to finish off my trip.
The funny thing for me is, with only 3 free pages left in my passport, and with both Laos and Cambodia having full page visas, I have to plan very carefully which page I open my passport up to when I go to customs nowadays...
Ummm...I think that is it. Thanks for reading!
Ari
PS - Big thanks to Josh and Jason for letting me stay at their place in Tainan, Taiwan for a few days (read 10 haha). You were great hosts and I really appreciate being shown around a little bit, especially considering I was too much of a wuss to rent my own scooter...Thanks again!
PPS - Big shoutout to Team Guelph (Becky, Andy, Quyen, Dan, Thean) for letting me rain on their backpacking parade for a week or so in Thailand. I have learned that I much prefer to travel with people and there are few better people to travel with than those five! I wish you safe journeys into Vietnam (good luck with those visas) and I look forward to jamming with you in Canada when I am back!
Since you last read about me I was in my last weekend in Taiwan (seems like ages ago) and was en route to Thailand...
I met up with a group of Guelph's finest in Koh Pahnang for buckets of fun (not to mention Swedes and Body Paint galore!!)...that was a fairly exhausting two day trek to get there involving various boats, planes, shady 'taxis' and one extremely comfortable (but long) train ride. After sleeping on the floor of an airport (not recommended) and sleeping on short bed on a sleeper train (fairly recommended) I was happy to get a real bed on a sunny beach.
There were 6 of us, and we actually managed to stick together for the most part (remember the safe word!! chicken sandwich right?) during what happens to be one of the most famous parties in the world and turned out to be OK...not great, but definately not boring).
After that we went to paradise...errr...Bottle Beach, on the same island as that aforementioned party, albeit worlds away. Without getting into too much detail (you need to go there on your own, or wait for my pictures), white sand, crystal blue water, and delicious food were the name of the game here. Not too mention great (GREAT) people, pretty good beds, and some very strange locals all made for a great couple of days. I tell ya, time flies when your going swimming, playing volleyball and sun tanning all day.
Three of us seperated and went to Koh Lanta, on the other side of Thailand...meaning a stop over on the main land. This turned out to be one of the highlights of my trip so far (the stopover, I mean). It happened to be Songkram in Thailand this past week, which is the Thai New Year. Thais celebrate by driving around town and spraying water on everyone and everything (not too mention painting and high fiving etc). They were especially happy to have foreigners join in the fun and Andy, Dan, and I were more than happy to oblige. We waited outside our busstop with buckets of water and splashed everyone that came by...we got soaked, but were smiling as wide as a young kid on Christmas morning who just opened the present he had been dreaming of (well, I don't really know what that feeling is but you get the idea). We were then escorted to our REAL bus stop (this part we didn't understand) through the city on the back of an open air taxi, extremely prone to the water fights that were going on around us...we tried to cover our bags up but they got pretty soaked (luckily our cameras were OK). We were driving around for maybe an hour (soaked..) due to traffic and then finally we turn onto a street that was relatively quiet....only to discover us driving right by where we had previously been! They took us in a circle basically to get us wet and to enjoy Songkram...no complaints here!
A few days into Lanta, we read about the crazyness that was going on Bangkok. My original plan was to head back up there and take a train into Laos, but there was no way I was going near that city...Andy and I flew into KL from the airport nearby and now I am on day 2 in Malaysia. I stayed one night in KL and flew into Kuching on the Borneo side of the country....not entirely sure what my plan is but I think I will be here for a couple days, possibly go check out Brunei (that would be a cool stamp on my passport) and then head to Cambodia and Laos to finish off my trip.
The funny thing for me is, with only 3 free pages left in my passport, and with both Laos and Cambodia having full page visas, I have to plan very carefully which page I open my passport up to when I go to customs nowadays...
Ummm...I think that is it. Thanks for reading!
Ari
PS - Big thanks to Josh and Jason for letting me stay at their place in Tainan, Taiwan for a few days (read 10 haha). You were great hosts and I really appreciate being shown around a little bit, especially considering I was too much of a wuss to rent my own scooter...Thanks again!
PPS - Big shoutout to Team Guelph (Becky, Andy, Quyen, Dan, Thean) for letting me rain on their backpacking parade for a week or so in Thailand. I have learned that I much prefer to travel with people and there are few better people to travel with than those five! I wish you safe journeys into Vietnam (good luck with those visas) and I look forward to jamming with you in Canada when I am back!
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Want some Cheesie's???
Well...that was an exciting week.
Josh and I hitchhiked from Taipei to Taitung in a few seperate legs. Driving on the east coast of Taiwan on HWY 11, with the view of the ocean to our left and the mountain side on our right we both felt extremely lucky to have just been alive. No joke. We began to muse about how the two of us met (Camp) and how Josh almost didn't go to Northern...meaning that neither of us would be in that random person's car (one of the guys, Gary, had a big crush on Josh) looking at the incredible views. We were both happy we chose to be Red Knights....
Anyway, the sun is shining and the beach is calling my name so I'll have to write more later....
See ya!
Josh and I hitchhiked from Taipei to Taitung in a few seperate legs. Driving on the east coast of Taiwan on HWY 11, with the view of the ocean to our left and the mountain side on our right we both felt extremely lucky to have just been alive. No joke. We began to muse about how the two of us met (Camp) and how Josh almost didn't go to Northern...meaning that neither of us would be in that random person's car (one of the guys, Gary, had a big crush on Josh) looking at the incredible views. We were both happy we chose to be Red Knights....
Anyway, the sun is shining and the beach is calling my name so I'll have to write more later....
See ya!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Taroko Ono...
She's breaking up the band!
Get it? Taroko ONO is breaking up the band...ahhh....okay maybe it was funnier at 8 am on the small bus up to Taroko Gorge.
Taroko Gorge is Gorgeous (pun intended). Just huge cliffs that stretch as high as the clouds. We took some pictures but certainly they won't do it justice. We were walking around there for a couple hours and then tried to grab a bus back to our hostel...unfortunately we saw it driving by as we stopped to take another couple pictures. With the next one not coming for a couple hours we stuck out our thumbs and ended up being picked up! We hitched to a train station and headed back to our hostel....
Great times.
Get it? Taroko ONO is breaking up the band...ahhh....okay maybe it was funnier at 8 am on the small bus up to Taroko Gorge.
Taroko Gorge is Gorgeous (pun intended). Just huge cliffs that stretch as high as the clouds. We took some pictures but certainly they won't do it justice. We were walking around there for a couple hours and then tried to grab a bus back to our hostel...unfortunately we saw it driving by as we stopped to take another couple pictures. With the next one not coming for a couple hours we stuck out our thumbs and ended up being picked up! We hitched to a train station and headed back to our hostel....
Great times.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Random Thoughts...
Just a few thoughts...don't worry...their quick (and hopefully not long rambling like my previous posts...just short rambling).
I've begun to realize that its harder and harder to describe what I am doing day by day...at first I thought it was because I just couldn't remember what had happened (which could still be true) but after reading some of Anthony Bourdain's "The Nasty Bits" he shed light on what I now see as the cause of my writer's block:
After I read that I literally had shivers...as if Bourdain had read my mind and wrote what I was thinking in his book...
And now the ramblings...
Today I was saved from making an impulse purchase. A rather expensive one, at that. Don't bother asking what or how much it would've cost, because I won't tell you. Just know that it wasn't break the bank expensive but it was something unnecessary especially considering I am trying to spend as little money as possible. I am glad my credit card didn't work, for once...
Also today I lost my bible...otherwise known as my Taiwan Lonely Planet. This is kind of unfortunate for a variety of reasons. The biggest is I can no longer use its vast knowledge of the island...all the stuff I have seen I wouldn't have really known about had I not read this book. As well, and of greater concern at the time of loss was that I no longer had a map of the sprawling city that I was walking around and had to rely on my (awful) navigation skills to get me around. Even worse, I was on a 5 KM walk to see this giant laughing buddha and I really had no idea where it was, especially without the handy map in the book. Still, I walked around listening to some music for a few (read: 5) hours and then managed to make my way back to my hotel and eventually the train station...phew.
Also, I love Buddhas...big, giant Buddhas. I have seen a few in my travels and they never get old, no matter how similar they are to each other. Had I made it to the aforementioned laughing Buddha it would've been my 2nd in 3 days. The first being on Monday in Changua...very gorgeous, sitting on top of a mountain! If you are in Taiwan and haven't been to Changua, go do it.
...another place to go see if you haven't yet is Sun Moon Lake. I only stayed there for a couple hours but it was absolutely stunning. And very easy to get to from Changua...
Lastly I have been listening to Susan Tedeschi's new album Back to the River and it is fantastic. Particularly the song "Revolutionize your Soul"...check it out
Well that's it for now...so much for the writer's block I guess...I will try and post some pictures soonishly...
Bye for now!
I've begun to realize that its harder and harder to describe what I am doing day by day...at first I thought it was because I just couldn't remember what had happened (which could still be true) but after reading some of Anthony Bourdain's "The Nasty Bits" he shed light on what I now see as the cause of my writer's block:
"It's an irritating reality that many places and events defy description. Angkor Wat (which I hope to see on my trip) and Machu Picchu, for instance, seem to demand silence, like a love affair you can never talk about. For a while after, you fumble for words, trying vainly to assemble a private narrative, an explanation, a comfortable way to frame where you've been and what's happened. In the end, you're just happy you were there - with your eyes open - and lived to see it." from Preface - pg XII
After I read that I literally had shivers...as if Bourdain had read my mind and wrote what I was thinking in his book...
And now the ramblings...
Today I was saved from making an impulse purchase. A rather expensive one, at that. Don't bother asking what or how much it would've cost, because I won't tell you. Just know that it wasn't break the bank expensive but it was something unnecessary especially considering I am trying to spend as little money as possible. I am glad my credit card didn't work, for once...
Also today I lost my bible...otherwise known as my Taiwan Lonely Planet. This is kind of unfortunate for a variety of reasons. The biggest is I can no longer use its vast knowledge of the island...all the stuff I have seen I wouldn't have really known about had I not read this book. As well, and of greater concern at the time of loss was that I no longer had a map of the sprawling city that I was walking around and had to rely on my (awful) navigation skills to get me around. Even worse, I was on a 5 KM walk to see this giant laughing buddha and I really had no idea where it was, especially without the handy map in the book. Still, I walked around listening to some music for a few (read: 5) hours and then managed to make my way back to my hotel and eventually the train station...phew.
Also, I love Buddhas...big, giant Buddhas. I have seen a few in my travels and they never get old, no matter how similar they are to each other. Had I made it to the aforementioned laughing Buddha it would've been my 2nd in 3 days. The first being on Monday in Changua...very gorgeous, sitting on top of a mountain! If you are in Taiwan and haven't been to Changua, go do it.
...another place to go see if you haven't yet is Sun Moon Lake. I only stayed there for a couple hours but it was absolutely stunning. And very easy to get to from Changua...
Lastly I have been listening to Susan Tedeschi's new album Back to the River and it is fantastic. Particularly the song "Revolutionize your Soul"...check it out
Well that's it for now...so much for the writer's block I guess...I will try and post some pictures soonishly...
Bye for now!
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