Slow Boat Trip Down the Mekong

I got to the city of Huay Xai, Laos right on the border of Thailand. We had to cross the Mekong here by boat. When I got into the country the first thing I did was exchange some money. The exchange rate is about 10,000 kip to the dollar. I exchanged about $70 worth. I had never held so much cash in my hand at once. I felt like a millionaire. My wallet would barely close there were so many bills in it. We proceeded to a little port in the town where a bunch of slow boats were waiting. A slow boat is a long wooden boat that is about 60 feet long and 8 feet wide and, of course, slow. The boats are usually packed from front to back with little benches that someone of my height has no chance of fitting in to. We were fortunate enough to wait until the first boat filled up. I say fortunate because they made another boat available for the rest of us waiting that only had about 8 rows of seats and the rest was just empty space where you could lay out and weren't so cramped. We also had our own bar on the boat selling food and drinks. The people who boarded this boat were all excited backpackers, like me, and made for a real good crowd to spend two days with. Since it was the rainy season in Southeast Asia, the views of the banks of the Mekong were interrupted by brief spells of torrential downpour. When it wasn't raining the landscape of rural Laos was revealed. Huge undulating mountains stretching down to the water were covered in alternating patches of dense jungle and crop fields. The fields had evidence of local tribes using slash and burn techniques to prepare for a new planting season. The hill tribes lived in little villages of anywhere from 5 to 20 huts made out of bamboo. Along the way I saw Lao people using elephants in the jungle to drag huge logs to boats, lizards strung on to poles for a meal later, monks boarding the boat going to the next village, Lao children playing in the murky waters, weird fish being pulled from the water with nets or bamboo poles, and the most shocking, a man dragging a boar by its hind leg to a village for what I presume would be a feast or sacrifice. Everything I saw on the journey reminded me that I was in an authentic hilltribe area deep in the hills of Laos. It was one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had. We stopped that night in a little town of dirt streets and 6 hours of electricity a night, called Pakbeng. The guesthouse we stayed in had two 7-foot bombs right at the entrance with "US" painted on their sides. You probably have not heard of this, but Laos is famous for being the most bombed country in the world. The United States gets credit for giving Laos this distinction. During the Vietnam War, the US carpet-bombed Laos as North Vietnamese troops were using the "neutral" country as a gateway for supplies. The stat goes that if you dropped one plane load of bombs every eight minutes around the clock for 12 years, you would just then equal as much as we dropped on the country. There was nothing in the American news about the US bombing Laos for five years. Pretty amazing stat if you ask me. The remoteness of the town and lack of electricity ended up being a perfect setting for stargazing. You could see so many stars that you could barely make out the constellations. The next day we continued down the Mekong to a city called Luang Prabang. The whole trip took two days and was a great way to see the back country of Laos that can only be accessed through a slowboat down the Mekong.

Bangkok to Chiang Mai

On my way up to Laos, I got to spend some more time in Bangkok before heading to Chang Mai in the North of Thailand. This experience was quite different from my last trip to the capitol as I had learned a good amount of Thai and had gotten accustomed to the country by then. The Thais yelling "tuk-tuk" (which is their onomatopeic term for a Thai taxi), offerings of pad thai from street vendors, people dressed in all sorts of wacky styles, and of course the hustle and bustle, all seemed to be second nature to me. I felt that I blended in, I felt that I knew what was going on, I felt I had spent my "time" in Thailand and was a Thailand vet by then. I was with my friend Andy, from Bristol, England, and we both knew the ropes. We were now looking at the tourists from the other side; we were the locals. It was nice to be able to get where we wanted and not be overcharged (too much at least) for purchases. We headed to the MBK center in our free time. This is a huge shopping complex 8 stories high. There is everything here from contact lenses to cell phones to packaged dried fish. On the top floor there is even a huge cinema and bowling alley. Of course we had to stop by and see Spiderman 3, quite corny if you ask us. We did, however, experience something that I had only read about in the travel books. Right before the movie started, the national anthem was played and everyone was expected to stand. This is not like our anthem that they play at a Braves game with some 13 year old girl forgetting the words. This is a tribute to the revered King of Thailand. Pictures are shown of the King visiting the people of Thailand while the anthem is being played behind it. I realized that not many people would go to movies back home if they did this for Bush. Then again, Bush hasn't ruled the country for over 60 years, thank God. That night, Andy and I headed to the train station to board our 10 o'clock bound for Chang Mai. We were fortunate enough to get sleepers but the jerking of the train throughout the night proved too much for my REM. I was up early the next morning to sit by the window and soak up all of the rural life of Thailand that I could. Travelling by train always prove to be an amazing experience for me. You are able to see the small towns and villages that are off the main roads and experience a bit of the country life. This particular ride showed me rice fields covered in water, people fishing the streams using big nets suspended between sticks, huge drop offs high in the Northern mountains, water buffalo grazing the open fields, Thais in huge circular hats harvesting their crops, old houses constructed out of bamboo and wood, and people playing games of wicket ball (this game is basically volleyball with a wicker ball and the inability to use your hands). As we rolled in to Chang Mai, I was commenting on how nice it was to get away from commercialism for awhile. Of course, I spoke too soon as a McDonald's popped up on the horizon. The city of Chiang Mai is a gorgeous old town that is popularly known as the gateway to China from Southeast Asia. It is surrounded by moats and a broken down wall that used to provide protection from the invading empires around Asia in the 12th century. The city is known for shopping and food. The food is different here with things being a bit more sweet. The biggest difference between the food of the North and the South of Thailand is the sticky rice. Here they serve sticky rice that is meant to be bundled into a ball and dipped into sauces with the hand. The markets around the city are open almost all day. They have a huge night market called "Chiang Mai Night Bazaar" that offered everything you can imagine. These markets were quite different from the MBK in that they sold more authentic merchandise like real silk, spices, handicrafts, and other traditional Thai works. Since it is now the rainy season in Southeast Asia, market hopping would always be interrupted by a short rain storm. One of the most amazing things we saw was the insect museum. Yeah, call me a dork but can you say that you have seen all of Thailand's 436 species of mosquitoes? The guy who owns it, Mr. Manpoi, is the world's leading expert on mosquitoes. He has dedicated his life to them and their knowledge. He actually made me feel alot better about getting malaria (considering I have about a 1 in 2,000,000 chance of getting it). That feeling, however, was lost when he saw what I did, or almost did, in his museum. I was intently reading a poster on elephantitis when I noticed I was getting mosquito bites at a rate of about 3 bites/minute. Now being a westerner with a tolerance for bite rates at about 0 bites/minute, I was getting a bit perturbed. Not to upset Mr. Manpoi by killing his roaming "pets", I took out some repellent and started to protect myself. As I was spraying it, a big guy landed right on my arm. I could not just pass up this wonderful opportunity to kill my enemy. I reared back my hand in preparation to annihilate him from this world. I started to move my hand in the downward motion when something caught my eye, the Mosquito Man. Here I was on his grounds, with insect repellent in one hand and a open fist in the other, ready to kill his little comrads that were "just completing their life cycle" from my forearm. The dissapointed look on his face shot me down to a new level. Had I not learned anything about the mosquito? How could I just kill these things out of cold blood and hatred for the mosquito bite itch? Who in their right mind would do such an act as this? I guess me. I think he got over it later though as he asked me to sign his guestbook. Thank God because there is no telling what is in the Thai law about killing mosquitoes. Our time in Chiang Mai came to an end as we were ready to go to Laos. We were able to find a travel agency up to the border city of Chiang Khong, Thailand a.k.a. Huay Xai, Laos. My time in Thailand would be halted for a trip into the extremely laid back and pristine country of Laos.

Island Life on Koh Tao, Thailand

Well I know it has been a while since I have posted and let everyone know what's been going on. I feel though, that after being here for this long I can give a much better synopsis of the way life is on Koh Tao. I have also found it somewhat hard to convince myself to sit in front of a computer in a tropical paradise typing on a computer. The name Koh Tao means "turtle island" in Thai. There are two explanations for this, one being the shape of the island and the other being the number of turtles that used to lay eggs on its beaches. The island has alot to offer for the average vacationer to Thailand and for those of you who don't know, I haven't ONLY been hanging out on the beach or in the jungle surrounded by exotic fruit trees and tropical birds. I have been exploring the underwater jungle here too. I have finished my divemaster certification here and have a bit more than 100 dives logged. The divemaster level is the first level of professional diving where you basically handle logistics of a diveshop and also guide divers around a dive site. I took my time with it and felt the crunch of it more as I got ready to depart from Thailand. It was amazing how many people I met and all the different places people were from. My fellow divemasters-in-training and also the people getting there first level of certification all became instant friends and people to hang out with, not to mention I now have places all over Europe to stay. The dive sites here are real close to the main land, thus making diving here substantially cheaper than other places. The turtles, whale sharks (largest fish in the world), schools in the milllions, lack of currents, visibility to 120 feet, and lifestyle help to pull people here as well. There are several dive sites all around the island, which is only 12 mi^2, that offer ideal places to relax weightlessly in the water while watching fish curiously approach you. We do night dives frequently as well. During a night dive you go out at sunset and descend watching the colors streak across the sky. A flashlight helps you to see the true color of the coral that is lost with depth. Many new creatures come out at night as well including, stingrays, shrimp, crabs, and preying fish, my favorite being the barracuda. It is always a barrel of monkeys when you see a barracuda because they use your light to hunt. If you shine it on a smaller fish, the barracuda sees it and will sometimes chomp a fish in half, right before your eyes. The best way to finish the dive is ascending to a sky littered with stars. Being on a tiny island in the middle of the Gulf of Thailand does not put much light in the sky, making stars come out of everywhere. It is quite an amazing experience. I spend my time out of the water relaxing on the beach. We sometimes get together games of football, frisbee, and even the occasional mini golf that is on the island. I only saw rain once in the two and a half months I was there, that is until about a week or two ago. The rainy season is just starting up and it rained for 14 out of 15 days near the end of my time. Thank God I got a couple of sunny days in the end though. It was also nice to have it cool down a bit. The days were getting hotter and hotter. I never wore a shirt as doing so would just make it sweaty and dirty, not to mention I was always working on my tan. Nights there are something else. There are two main beaches on the island, Mae Haad and Sairee. Mae Haad, where I lived in a series of little bungalows, is more the local scene and also where my dive shop was. Sairee is the touristy area, but also home to the night life. The bars are right on the beach. Little padded mats and small tables are laid on the sand facing the ocean. Palm trees jetting out at unbelievable angles are a beautiful foreground to the thousands of stars in the sky. Tiki torches are set up in a ring where firedancers compete and try not to burn themselves. Frequently, people will set off fireworks over the water to everyones surprise. Wish candles are also used on the beach. These are wooden framed, cloth boxes where a candle is lit under it. It fills up with heat and rises above the crowds, drifting off to join the stars. If you have seen the movie The Beach with Leonardo Dicaprio, you might know what I'm talking about. All in all it is a very relaxed atmosphere, as you might be able to imagine. There are hundreds of stray dogs on the island. While I have seen my fair share of stray dogs before, these are different. You barely see any skinny, malnourished, or injured dogs. There is a good veterinarian on the island, but I think that it is mainly due to the farangs (thai for foreigners) feeding them and treating them well. Most people kind of "adopt" a dog when they come to the island for awhile. The dogs here are all happy as well. They don't bite, chase, or growl. They hang out on the beach at night and in the town during the day. It is quite strange, but these dogs are the pickiest dogs ever. I have tried to feed them on several occasions with food that any dog in America would chow down without hesitation, but they don't. The only thing they spend there time on is meat. I have, however, gotten ONE dog to eat a piece of bread, who knows how. I have picked up on a good bit of Thai. I can say almost any number from 1-10,000 and alot of phrases useful for bargaining and ordering food ("Can you lower the price a little?", "I would like...", "How are you?"). The Thai language has five different tones in it that make it extremely hard to learn. One word can have five different meanings depending on how you say it. I expected to pick up more, but when everyone speaks English, it is hard to rely on Thai. I of course can not leave out something on the Thai food. I think I have tried every single Thai dish in Southern Thailand. The tastes are out of this world and leave you wanting more and more. I only ate Western food about 10 times. My favorites so far have been massaman curry, red thai curry, tom yum, sweet chili basil, pananeng curry, pad thai, fried yellow noodles, and pretty much anything. I generally have to ask for it "pet pet" (meaning spicy, spicy) because they tend to dull the dishes down for the farangs. I have built up quite a spicy threshold to say the least. These dishes are almost always served with rice and eaten with a spoon, not a fork. This is a reminder that if you go to a Thai restaurant, eat with the spoon and use the fork as we use the knife, shoveling food on to your spoon. People mainly get around by walking, but quite a few people have motorbikes. They are more like scooters actually. It is quite a dangerous activity though because the roads are so bad. Sand and potholes plague the road, waiting for farangs on vacation to shoot past. Anytime you see someone with a bandage or wound, you know exactly what happened. I can't lie though, I was in a little one. While all I got was a scratch on my foot, getting into the water everyday did not allow it to heal quickly. Going down to 30 meters with 4 atms of pressure on me proved disastrous for waterproof bandages so it took quite a while to heal. I learned my lesson though and barely rode on them after. I could keep going on and on for ages about the wonderful island of Koh Tao, but what would we talk about when I get home? Thus, this will have to do for now. In case you are wondering where I am now, I am currently headed to Laos for a couple of weeks with a guy I did my divemaster with. He is a very energetic guy from Bristol, England who I get along great with. I had to change my flight out of Bangkok so my itinerary I put up is not accurate right now. I will be leaving out of Bangkok on the 28th of May and will hopefully have some more updates for you by then. Till that time...

Southeast Asian Experience - Bangkok

I arrived in the Bangkok international airport around 2 a.m. Being that it was my first experience of Bangkok I one, did not know what was out there at night and two, did not know that Bangkok is prepared for early morning arrivals. I decided to sleep for a few hours in the airport before I took my leave to the city. I threw out my mat and slept by some store with my backpack as my body pillow. Around 6 a.m. I awoke to a beautiful sunrise and an airport busier than you can imagine. I found my way to a public bus station and headed for Khao San Road. This street is know as the backpackers haven and is rightfully called so. I got there pretty early in the morning and was amazed at the sight in the street. It was not crowded yet but had the feel of a typical urban street in Asia. I just wandered wide-eyed through the streets starring at the wires hanging like vines across the road, watching the onomatopoeic tuk-tuks whizzing haphazardly past me, and letting every thai on the street know that I wasn't looking for a taxi ride, tailored suit, or a zippo lighter the size of a small dog. Khao San road has plenty of hostels to choose from and after reflecting on my surroundings and losing about 8 gallons of sweat, I found one for 150 baht. This is about $5 back home. I was soon to realize how cheap everything is in Thailand. Most meals cost 50 baht/$1.30, shirts are 150 baht, guesthouses are 150-200 baht, and a taxi ride anywhere is around 50 baht. The best part about Thailand, though, is that everything is negotiable. Good bargaining skills and a few thai phrases can knock your price down anywhere from 50 baht to 150 baht. The first day was spent going around the side streets of Bangkok and checking out all of the various shops and street vendors. It really was a sight to see all of the different things being sold. You could get anything on the streets, like an iPod, fresh squeezed orange juice, brass knuckles, jewelry of all sorts, fruits I had never seen before, and even used shoes. Khao San Road is popularly known as a congregating place for people going out to party. I hadn't realized this until I went out on to the road the first night. The scene was quite different from what I had seen earlier that day. There were tons of people all over the place looking as excited as I was. After checking out the change in scene, meeting a bunch of new people, and somehow getting on the topic of the hottest club in Oslo, a cart with a bunch of people around it caught my eye. There was a little thai lady pushing a cart around with a battery-powered light hanging from it. As I got closer I realized what all of the commotion was about. She was selling something that most other vendors left out of their carts: crickets, worms, spiders, scorpions, and God knows what else. These little critters were not for fish bait or keeping as pets as you might generally assume; they were for eating. Now before you start talking about how gross it is, I must inform you that they were not raw. She cooked them to a nice crispy finish. And the best part was the seasoning she thought might take your mind off of the crunchy bug you are trying to swallow. I found it funny that people were actually ordering the seasoning like it was going to help. I just wanted to say "You know, that seasoning is quite bad for indigestion." It was around the third spider and second worm that had been eaten when I saw some people order a scorpion. I immediately started to make conversation about what they thought it was going to taste like. Most of the group refused their sample of the treat until it came around to me. Being that I am American, and most people assume that we all eat nasty things like on Fear Factor, they assumed I wanted it. I said screw it and took the seasoned scorpion and stared into this little guy's black eyes. With no hesitation, I took a chunk out of him. Now most people will tell you when they try something new that it always taste like chicken. These people have not eaten a scorpion. It was quite chewy and had a dull flavor that wasn't that bad, if it weren't for the hard shell on the outside making it feel like chewing a fingernail. But thank God for the seasoning. The next day I went around some of the temples around Bangkok. I saw the infamous reclining Buddha, Wat Suthat, and the throne where the revered King Rama IX sits. It was an interesting day of seeing the thai culture in Bangkok. I got to get out of the Khao San Road area and see a bit more of what Bangkok had to offer. The streets in the city are madness. Nobody obeys traffic laws, motorbikes whiz past everywhere with no concern of other cars, three wheeled "tuk-tuks" try to pick you up every five feet, and there is no such thing as "defensive driving". It was quite a sight to see. After I had been traveling around three countries and over six cities for longer than two weeks, I was ready to settle down and start my diving. I booked transportation to Koh Tao that night and got on the bus at 6 headed for the island. I was done with Bangkok... for now...

Bondi Beach

After flying through Brisbane to get to Sydney, I had to walk around for forever to find a hostel. The first three or four of the hostels I had checked with were full. I finally found one and moved my stuff in. The hostel was a very different style than I was used to. The people there were kind of rude and there were a bunch of dirty hippies all rolling their own cigarettes and smoking them wherever they felt like, but it was about all I could find. I went out that night looking for some Kangaroo on a menu. All of the places I had checked with did not offer it. I wanted to try some because I figured that I would not have another chance and as you probably guessed, I was in Australia. After searching and finding nothing, I just settled with some ordinary food. I came to find out later that most people in Australia don't eat kangaroo. It is mainly a tourist thing that foreigners think is all Aussies eat. The next day I headed for Bondi Beach, the famous beach of Sydney. As soon as I got there it was high tide so I decided to try my luck on a surfboard. I rented one for two hours and since I was a beginner, he gave me the beginner board. It was a very long softboard. The long ones are supposed to be easier to get up on and the softboard was so I didn't have manslaughter on my record. If you have never tried surfing before, let me tell you, it is not easy. First, getting out to the break is a process all in itself. I kept getting knocked off of my board whenever a wave broke close to me. Another surfer finally saw my frustration and showed me a tip to get past the wave. After finally getting out to the point where the waves start to break, you have to sit and wait for a good one to come as well as your turn. A real hard thing for me was the paddling. It isn't like normal swimming because your arms are way out to the side and it really tires your shoulders if you aren't used to it. After several failed attempts to catch a wave I fnially caught one and actually stood up for a couple of seconds. I not only got fully up about two or three times but I was very satisfied with my accomplishment without any teaching. The surfing experience ended when I was paddling back out to catch another wave. A guy had gotten up on a wave and was headed right for me. Since I was on this beginner board I was not able to move out of the way quick enough and got nailed. I had a cut on my shin and my knee. Needless to say, it hurt...alot. I came back in and retired the board, hobbling up the beach. I wasn't that upset I couldn't ride anymore because I had already used the two hours up. The rest of the day was spent on this walkway that goes around three or four other beaches. There were people on every beach and everyone there was real friendly. The walk across the beaches has alot of places describing the history of the area. It was nice being able to get a bit of Australian beach knowledge. After some time hanging out at Bondi I headed back to the hostel. That night, after some asking and searching, I finally was able to find a place with kangaroo. Although it was in kebab form, I can still say I had kangaroo in Australia, right? It was very tender and had a very unique taste to it. Not bad but I would probably not pick it as my meat of choice. I was not able to go out that night because I had to catch a flight to Bangkok real early in the morning. I basically just hung out playing cards with some guys and packing up my stuff. Unfortunately, my time in Australia had expired. It definitely could've been longer, but I was happy for the time I had there. There is a weird thing about Australia. It has so many things that seem so familiar, yet at the same time, is so different. It is a very westernized country, obssessed with cricket, no modern concept of size, having no worries, and drinking the bloody poms under the table. Australia seemed a bit different from what I had imagined. Maybe because I went to a country that was so different first, it was hard to see the exoticness there. Of course, maybe it helped to see the differences between the familiar and the exotic. Without seeing Japan first, I don't think I would be able to appreciate the familiarity of it and maybe because I saw Japan first I can appreciate the exoticness. Either way, I felt like I was able to get a very good understanding of the country and the way it works. It was hard for me to understand how they can be left out of so much news and attention, yet it is such a huge, thriving, bustling country seeming so small in the media. Australia truly is the land down under and that is about all I can agree upon with what I had heard. The country does not eat kangaroo, throw boomarangs, play the didjeridoo, and only eat vegemite. It was far from this in fact. You can tell that this is what they set up for the tourists. The country is not what you have seen in the media or on old shows of the Crocodile Hunter. It is just Australia, big and full of character. Visit it and see for yourself.

Finally, Some Pics!!!!

Ok, so here is the deal. I am in Koh Tao, Thailand and because I have been moving a mile a minute, I have not had time to write an entry for everywhere I have been yet, but im getting on it. The uploading on to this blog is not working so I have a link where you can find the photos. It is my friend's, Adam McDonald's, site so don't be confused. Please let me know if it is not working for you. http://www.flickr.com/photos/amcdphoto/sets/72157594559903573/

The City of Cairns

I arrived in Cairns (pronounced "Cans") in the afternoon after a short flight there. Getting there I realized the enormous differences in Australia. I had been in a barren, dry wasteland in the middle of Australia and was now in an amazingly lush, tropical environment that had recently been flooded. I met some Danes on the bus from the airport to the city and we were all looking for a place to stay. We ventured around a bit and found a pretty cheap place, right on the boardwalk in the city. After we got settled in we went around the town exploring what it had. The city was mainly built for shopping and dining, so there wasn't too much to see. We picked up some beers and headed back to the hostel to hang out there for a bit. Amazingly enough, as we were walking through the city, the Danes saw some people that they went to school with, small world I guess. They came back with us and I had to try every second to start a conversation in English but it always kept going back to Danish. Later that night we went out to the bars and saw some live music. It was a real fun night and I showed everyone how to play speed quarters. It is a game where you try to bounce a quarter into a glass like a race, for those of you who don't know. We had fun playing this and drew in a lot of people who wanted to play too. The next morning I decided to get out of the city a bit. I walked all the way down the boardwalk and explored off of the streets. There wasn't a beach there and most people just hung out at this community pool that was right on the boardwalk. After walking around for some time I realized that Cairns is not really a place within itself to visit. The main thing that people do there is excursions. They usually go out to the Great Barrier Reef, or Whitsundays for sailing, or into the jungle to go ziplining. This cost alot of money and I thought most of it was horribly overpriced. Just to go snorkelling was aronud A$180. I wasnt about to pay that to swim around the surface of the water. Besides, I will be getting my fair share of marine venture in Thailand. I didn't get to see too much in the city, as it didn't offer much, and was very happy to just have a day of relaxing and not moving around all the time. That night I took it easy and just hung out some with the Danes. I had a flight in the morning back to Sydney. I realized that Cairns is only there for tourism. There was not much character to the city and not much to do without paying for an excursion. I was still glad to have gone there and seen it, though. I had a great time there as well which made my whole Cairns experience very fulfilling.

The Heart of Australia

I left Adelaide on Wednesday morning on the only airline that flies to Alice Springs, Qantas. This little town is located in the center of Australia and is known for its large number of aboriginals and Ayer's Rock, or Uluru as the aboriginals call it. This is the world's largest monolith and part of aboriginal heritage. It is a gigantic rock out in the middle of the desert and when you see it on the map it looks real close to Alice Springs when in reality, it is about a 5.5 hour drive away. When my flight landed I was sitting in the last row of the plane on the aisle. I stood up and took a couple of steps back because I figured I would be the last one off of the plane. As I stood there waiting my turn I was tapped on the shoulder by a flight attendant who politely told me I could exit at the back. I was amazed because I had never been on a flight where this was so. I walked down some metal steps that were pulled up to the plane and went down to the runway. As soon as my foot hit the ground I was immediately attacked by something I had heard about from many many people before I got there, the flies. Just like that I had about 30 flies vigorously attacking my exposed areas, especially my nose, mouth, and the worst, my eyeball. These things would fly around your head and no matter how many times you would swat away, they were relentless. I quickly ducked into the main building of the airport where there was only one baggage claim and about 4 or 5 check-in counters. I don't think I have to tell you that this place was small. I was able to catch a ride with a bus that was chartered by the hostel I was going to stay at. They gave me a ride into town and directly to the hostel where I stayed. I decided I would look at some options for tours to the rock. After I talked with the staff at the hostel, the only option I had for going to the rock would be a day trip since I really only had one full day there. It was $200 dollars just to ride for 11 hours and see the rock for maybe 3 hours. Since I live about 45 minutes, if that, from the world's second largest monolith, I figured it was not worth the money. I had also heard that there are hundreds of tourists there and also a let down when you see it, considering it is just a rock. I decided to do the option that waq more fit for my kind of lifestyle. There is this park right outside of town called the West MacDonnell Range National Park. It has many different sights to see and as many watering holes to jump in and swim. They told me that it was not very crowded and I should have most of the places to myself. The option I had was to rent a car from them, less than half the cost of the Uluru daytrip, and take myself around at my own pace to wherever I wanted to go. This was much more my flavor. I went ahead and booked it and decided to have a walk around the town. Alice was full of aboriginal people walking all around the place. They are known as huge alcoholics as well as the fact that they don't regularly take showers, both of which were apparent. The "abos" as most Aussies call them are very distinguishable. They have a distinct look to them and really look like they are straight from the outback. I realized that they are kind of like the American Indians in America. They were killed and persecuted and nobody respected them. While the Indians in America are alot further up the social tier nowadays, abos are still at the very bottom. There is alot of racism towards them and they earn very little respect in the community. I picked up some food for the next day at a local supermarket and headed back to the hostel. When I got back, I met the first two Americans on my entire trip, minus the 75 year old woman from Seattlethat was on the train. They were from Vermont and being that Americans are like magnets in foreign places, I guess, we hung out the rest of the night. I went with them to get some food and then some drinks at a bar where the group that they had gone to Ayer's Rock with was at. It was alot of fun getting to meet everyone there and having a group of people who all knew each other pretty well by that point. I woke up real early the next morning and picked up my car from across the road. Throughout the trip I have kept gettting closer and closer to feeling truly Australian, and driving on the left hand side of the road was just one more step. It took awhile getting used to but I soon got the hang of it. The biggest problem for me was the turn signal. If you didn't know, the turn signal is on the other side of the steering column so everytime I signalled to turn, the wipers would go off and usually give me a jump. The first place I stopped at was known for Black-Footed Rock Wallabies. If you come in the morning or are very silent, you usually see one. I walked down the trail looking for them when I rounded this big boulder and found myself no more than 10 feet away from one. I quickly took a couple of pictures before it hopped away into the rocks. The next few stops were full of beautiful sights, gorgeous gaps, dry creek beds, and all sorts of wildlife. It is hard to believe that there is that much wildlife in such a dry desert. I had lunch at what is know as the world's oldest river. It has not changed course in 100 million years. Trust me, it looked like nothing special. I guess imagining it being in the same place for that long is what made it cool for me to look at. I had a fly net over my head the entire time and I realized that when the flies don't get their way of eating your face, they get pissed. They would get louder and louder until finally they would land on the net and look for an entrance to get a suckle of my sweet eyeball juice. Somehow, one would ocassionally find its way in and have his way with me. I was starting to think that maybe the same flies were just following my car around the entire day because I couldn't imagine what they do when there isn't a person around to harass. What is their life for if not to irritate me beyond belief? The rest of the day was filled with refreshingly freezing cold swimholes, magnificent overlooks, long straight desert roads, absecences of people, and familiar animals and insects with all sorts of different colors you don't find in America. I left the MacDonnell Ranges that day with a new appreciation of the Outback of Australia. I saw what the desserted areas look like and also the spectacular sights out there that so many people pass up on their trip to Alice Springs. It truly set in that I was driving through Australia when a kangaroo jumped across the road on my journey home. I literally started yelling and cheering to myself in the car when I saw it. It was so perfect at the moment too, driving across a straight desert road with slowly undulating hills hiding the dried out creeks at the bottom of them right as I was reflecting on how awesome Australia is. I couldn't have asked for anything more perfect. When I got back into town that night I booked a little excursion to the world famous desert park before my flight the next day. The park is known for having the largest nocturnal house in the world and also some of the best desert set ups in the world. When I went there the next day I spent three hours going around it. The park was done from an aboriginal perspective and showed more birds than I cared to look at. The coolest part was the nocturnal house and the kangaroo and emu section. They had about 20-30 different species in the nocturnal house, most of them threatened or endangered. It was really spectacular seeing the night species because most of them will probably be gone from the planet by the next time I come back to Australia. The kangaroo section allowed you to get real close to them and, even though you weren't supposed to, pet them. The emus were awesome close up too, as they have these amazingly huge, sharp claws that reminded me of the Velociraptor from Jurassic Park. After my trek through the desert park I got a ride to the airport and caught my next plane to Cairns.

Adelaide, City of Parks

While I was on the train across the Outback, I looked at this guy's guide to Australia for possible places to stay in Adelaide. I found a hostel that said you could sleep on the roof if you had your own tent and what not. It said it was the cheapest option in Adelaide and also sounded like the most fun option I had. When we got off of the train the Brit that I had been hanging out with got picked up by his Aunt (or as they say "Aunty") and offered me a ride into the city. She dropped me off right in front of the hostel. The guy, Gordon, who was working the front desk was an absolutely crazy Aussie. He had a way about him that made every situation feel kind of awkward and out of place. When I told him I was from the states he became even more weird. He said most Americans have a look at the place and decide to go to a hotel. He informed me, as well, that not a lot of people come to Adelaide as a destination. Needless to say, I was a bit skeptical about the city and the hostel. I decided to have a look at the rooms before I made my mind up about staying there. I was throughly surprised to see the room. It was not dirty, had a great view, and was all-in-all a very good room. He even put the sheets on the bed for me. Most hostels will just hand you sheets and send you on your way. I was very confused about why he said most Americans don't stay there because I saw nothing wrong with it, plus they had free rice. I decided it was fine and headed out to find some grub. I came upon this place called Sushi Train. It was in the Chinatown section of Adelaide right across from where I was staying. It is a restaurant where they make a bunch of different rolls right in front of you. They cut them up and put them on different colored plates that stand for different price ranges. They then put the plates on this conveyor belt that goes around in front of you and you just grab whatever you want to off of it. It was a very clever idea and certainly caught my attention. I went back to the hostel to lay down after seeing a bit more of the town. When I got back I met these three Irish people who had been traveling around the world for a year and a half. They had been driving around Australia and working for about 4 months. There was a rugby match later that night that they invited me to go to with them. Of course, being that it was in Ireland, it was at 1:30 in the morning. We went to a Irish sports pub which of course, had more Irish people in it for the match. As we sat there exchanging stories, watching the match, and drinking pints of Toohey's, I learned all about rugby, Ireland, and the deal with North Ireland being part of the UK. It was a fantastic time and I really took in a bunch of information about places in Europe, Australia, and Thailand that they had acquired from their travels. The Irish ended up losing to the French in the final seconds, which I really didn't care, but I had a blast watching and learning. The next day I took a tram out to a small suburb by the beach called Glenelg. It was a really cool beach town and had all sorts of things to do. I mainly hung out on the beach, but it was definitely a hopping town (Australian Kangaroo pun intended). I walked away from that day with a sunburn and an experience of what one Aussie called "the best beach in all of Adelaide". I was going to go to Kangaroo Island the next day, but when I got back to the hostel there was a note asking if I wanted to go to a baseball game with the guy I had met on the train. I would not have been able to go to the island and make it back in time for the game, unfortunately. Being that it was a free meal and a free game, I decided to stay in town for that. Besides, there was still some stuff I wanted to see in Adelaide. I went around to all of the parks and checked out the different universities and churches that were spread across the city. There is a river, of which I can't recall the name right now, that runs through the city. It is absolutely stunning and had many birds on it that I had never seen before, for instance the black swan. This bird is a bit bigger than American swans and is all black except for a bright red beak. It has a walk to it that looks very strange with its long neck all twisted and contorted. I headed back in time to meet up with the Brit at 5. I waited and waited until it was past the time the game started. I was real pissed that I got stood up by some bloody bloke from England and had to miss Kangaroo Island as well. I found out later that he had gotten real sick and was bed ridden all day. That still did not ease my anger. I still had a good day, but damn that guy and their horrible excuse for a country. Anyway, the night was spent hanging out with a very nice Swiss girl and another German girl. We all swapped different music and stories while discussing that Adelaide was more of a place to work and not play. It is a beautiful town but just was kind of lacking in the whole "travel here as a destination" kind of place. Gordon, the crazy Australian, was right. Oh well, I still made the most out of it and got to see some beautiful sites. By the way, I fixed the site and you can now post replies on it. I will have some pictures up shortly and more posts coming. Stay tuned America...

The Indian Pacific

I caught a train in Sydney called the Indian Pacific. Actually, the portion of it I took was called the Great Southern Railway. The Indian Pacific goes all the way from Sydney to Perth through Adelaide (being a 62 hour ride, blah). I got on in Sydney and took it to Adelaide. It was a 24 hour train ride but a spectacular one at that. We travelled across tons of country-side on our way to Adelaide and I got to see what the deserted, farming areas of Australia were like. We went through the Blue Mountains which are right outside of Sydney. They got their name from the oil in the Eucalyptus trees in the region that seeps out of them from the high temperature in the afternoon. It makes a magnificent blueish tint on the mountains. There were alot of shear cliffs and a couple times the train went right over them. We passed through a little mountain town called Katoomba. It looked so quaint and had a comfortable mix between a rural Australian town and something like Dahlonega. I really wish I could've gone through it. It was quite frustrating for some time of the journey beacuse there were times I could've gotten out of the train and ran faster than it was creeping along. I am pretty sure the 80 year old with the walker a row up could have done the same. It was like this for an excrutiatingly long time too. About two hours in to the trip I saw the most amazing thing I had seen yet. Something so exhilirating that I actually jumped to the other side of the train, screwed like a girl, and stared in amazement like a kid does on Christams morning. It was my very first pack of wild kangaroos that I have ever seen. Now this might not sound like much but there is a much different kind of thrill when you see your first kangaroos in Australia, especially in the wild and not in some zoo. They have such a graceful bounce to them when they run that looks so fluid and easy. It is alomst like it is their main means of transportation, oh wait... nevermind. Anyway, the train went on through the night as I made friends with a guy from England and a girl from Sydney moving out to Perth. They were very nice and it was good to have company on the train for that long. The next morning, after a very comfortable sleep in my chair, I awoke to a sunrise over the outback of Australia. It was spectacular and looked alot like I had imagined the outback to look like. There were little shrubs, few trees, and barely any signs of life besides the farm fences. We arrived about an hour later in a town called Broken Hill. This was a very small mining town that literally, and I do stress literally, had NO ONE in the streets; not even a car. It was 8 in the morning, but you would think maybe at least a car. We headed out to find some breakfast and after a long confusing walk past Broken Hill's finest closed establishments, stumbled upon a Mcdonalds. Now I made a promise to myself that I would avoid any fast food restraunts while I was away, but this was the only place open. We went inside and I realized that it was a McCafe. Somehow or another Mcdonalds tries to be classy in Australia and serve little pastries and the lot. I decided to get something not available in America, the Brekkie Roll, a hoagie with bacon, ham, eggs, and a spicy tomato sauce. If it weren't for my heart slowing a few paces I would say it was the most amazing Mcdonald's I have ever had. After our Mcdonald's experience we headed back to the train. It was another 6 or 7 hours to Adelaide. The rest of the ride was filled with packs of emus running through the bush, more kangaroos, and even more nothing. It was a fantastic ride, none the less, and I really felt like I got to see a lot of rural Australia, that being my whole intention for the train ride. We finally pulled into the station 24 hours later after we left Sydney to find ourselves in Adelaide.

G'Day From Sydney

I arrived in Sydney at 7 am on Friday. The plane flew over the course of the night and I didn't get to see anything from the window. That was a bit dissapointing but it made up for it when I got off the plane. The first thing I did was try to talk to as many Australians as I could in hopes of hearing their accents. I was thinking about it, the only real Australian accents I knew came from Crocodile Dundee and the late Steve Irwin so needless to say it was a bit of a novelty. I made it through customs at about 8:30 and got on the train to downtown Sydney. I thought that since the conversion rate is good for the US dollar here that I would be saving a good amount of money. I was right about that, but what I didn't see coming was the price of everything in Sydney. A water alone could be between 3 and 4 Australian dollars. Finding a meal for under 8 dollars is a rariety. The first sight of Sydney I got was after I departed from the train at Circular Quay Station (pronounced "circular key") was of the Sydney Opera House. As you can imagine, that is when it sunk in that I was in Sydney. I strolled about the town for a few hours before taking up a suggestion about a hostel called Wake Up. There is a section of Sydney that has most of the hostels in it and that is where this was located. I got my room, set down my stuff, and went straight back out, of course after a much needed shower. I went further past my hostel to a little park that had an open air market next to it. This market had anything you could imagine, well, more like anything a tourist could imagine buying. After browsing the aisles of stereotypical Australian souvenirs (boomerangs, stuffed kangaroo dolls, leather hats with crocodile teeth, etc.) I headed toward the Royal Botanical Gardens where the Opera House is located. The gardens were amazing with all sorts of plants that I had never seen before. They had a section devoted to the rainforest biome of Australia. In here, there were all sorts of crazy plants and the best thing about this area was the world's largest bat. It was some type of fruit bat that had about a 4-5 foot wingspan. There were around 4000 of them as noted by the guy cheking the hummus composition. I couldn't get over these bats in the middle of Sydney. I made my way down to the Opera House and checked it out. I had no idea that the arcs are actually made out of white and light blue tiles. They look completely different from up close than far away. After exploring the rest of the park and seeing spiders as big as my fist everywhere, and I do mean EVERYWHERE, I had to head back to the hostel to take a break. I had probably walked about 10 miles and was ready for some R and R. After laying down for a bit I started talking with this Dutch girl that was staying in the same room as me. She kindly invited me to go with her and a bunch of others to have some drinks at the Opera House and watch the sunset. I of course agreed and went with her to meet about 8 other people from all over Europe as well as some Canadians. There were people from England, Holland, Canada, and Norway. I was the only American and actually I had still not met a single American during my trip. We all picked up some Australian wine and headed to the Opera House. As you can imagine with a bunch of laid back travellers, we didn't make it on time to see the sunset but had a blast having our drinks at night on the steps of the Opera House. There were these little creatures that kept running around us that I later found out were what they called possums. Trust me, they looked nothing close to the possum we know. After some time exchanging stories and cultures, we headed back toward the hostel. There is a bar right under the hostel that we all went to. The bars don't really have a closing time so once jet lag started to catch me I decided to retire. The next morning I awoke to one of the Brits in my room saying "Alex! You missed check out mate!" I sprung up from my bed and realized that I had forgotten about the 10 am check out. I was 30 minutes late and actually didn't feel in that much of a hurry. I got a shower and packed up my stuff while the English people all laughed at my accent. In fact, they started to compare me to the turtle from Finding Nemo. I obviously responded with the typical "Tony Blair is Bush's puppet" and "the last good thing to come from England was an American revolt" and the like, but there were just too many. Anyway, it was all in good nature. I left the hostel without getting any late charges and said goodbye to my new friends. I had a train to catch at 3 and had to find where it was departing from. The day I had in Sydney was spectacular and I would be very upset if I didn't get another two days there in a week or so.

A Short Stop in South Korea

I flew out of Japan heading for Seoul on my way to Sydney. It was so foggy there that I couldn't see any of the countryside which was a bit dissapointing. I could tell a distinct difference between the Korean characters and the Japanese characters though. Korean has a much more circular flow to it while Japanese has a much more squared look. I don't know if it was actual or not but I thought I could tell the difference between the people too. As I got off the plane I thought I had gone through the same time hole that they went throught in Langoliers. There was no one there and all the shops were empty, I started to think I heard the roaring from afar too. That was until I went upstairs into the main part. It was swarmed with shops, mainly duty free shops. I guess I never realized what the whole duty free shop was about. I figured it was just cheaper than retail instead of being tax free. Then I saw the prices. The stuff was more expensive than anywhere in America. I thought it was incredibly stupid for people to buy it there. I guess the sound of "duty free" has a ring to it that makes it sound cheap. Anyway, four long hours there did nothing but bore me and finally, we left, heading for Sydney.

The World From Japan

Hello all!!! I made it to Japan safely and had a very long, but interesting flight. We took a route from New Jersey that took us over Northern Canada and Alaska then by Russia down to Japan. The flight was 14 hours long and we kept up with the sun the entire time so it was very weird when I got there because it felt like the same day even though it was the next. I think I lost the day somewhere off the coast of Russia so if you find it I would like it back. I wasn't aware until I got there that Tokyo was not the city I was going to. The airport was in Narita which is about 45 minutes outside of Tokyo. Trust me, you still get a feel of the country there. When I got off the plane all I could do was smile. I knew I was in a completely different place and was loving it. The vegetation is totally different and there are Japanese characters everywhere. It had never really sunk in the trip I am taking until I got off of the plane. It definitely hit hard and fast. I had quite some trouble finding a hostel to stay the night and of course locating it. I had this really rough map that showed where it was. I had to get help from this guy who did not speak any english but he knew what was up. He finally got me in the right diretion and after some time and some amazement I found it. I bet I looked like some cracked out American walking the streets with my jaw dropped and a pivoting head. I immediately fell in love with the culture there. Beyond Kill Bill I had never really had any experience with this culture. I was fascinated and it showed. When I got to the hostel my first two steps were met by an abrupt grunt. I realized I had my shoes on and was about to cross the shoe threshold of the hostel. Once I figured it out and apologized to the guy at the desk I got my room and threw my stuff down. I talked to this Brit who was teaching english there and got some recommendations for places to go and places to eat. I took his advice and went around the town by foot looking at the sights (being anything because it was all exotic). I stopped at this grocery store and saw some stuff that I had never seen before. Weird fruits and vegetables were everywhere, the fish section looked like a bait shop; it was exhilirating. I left there and went to find the sushi place he recommended to me. After searching for forever I could not find it and had to settle for somewhere else. As jet lag was rearing its ugly head I went to the first promising place and just my luck, it was a Hawaiian style restaurant, oh well, I was tired of looking. I ordered the closest thing to sushi, the California roll. I was a bit perturbed that I flew to the other side of the world and had a roll named after my home country but it was awesome, had raw fish too. I went to bed early that night to be able to get the most out of the next day not to mention I was tired as hell. The next morning I woke up early to go to the Shinsho temple before my flight. The temple was so amazing. It was totally "zened" out and had beautiful trees, gorgeous shrines, and lakes that actually had those orange and white fish that I always thought were some Japanese folklore that some American started to make $1000 dollars on a fish. There were these magestic statues and shrines of buddha and gods (and probably some other stuff that I couldn't read). The shrine was built in 940 A.D. I spent most of the day there and got to see some monks walking across the courtyard with wooden sandles. The people around seemed so excited to see them and bowed to them as they walked by. I, not wanting to be disrespectful, did the same. I explored everywhere around the temple and unfortunately, it was my time to leave. I went around the city a little bit before getting on the train to the airport. I felt like I got a good amount of Japanese experience but I can assure you this, I will be back.

Welcome!!

Well this is my first post so I felt that it was appropriate to start off with a brief explanation of what it is I am doing and where it is that I am going. First off, this is my travel blog. I will be posting pictures, writing entries, and responding to your comments throughout the entirety of my trip. You can respond to pictures and posts and comment on whatever. I will probably be checking it once or twice a week but sometimes it might be awhile before I can get back to anyone or write anything. Now that we have that out of the way: where am I going? My first flight leaves on the 6th of February. I will arrive in Sydney, Australia on the 9th after a 22 hour layover in Tokyo, Japan and a 4 hour layover in Seoul, South Korea. I will be in Australia for 11 days and leave on February 20th. After Australia I am headed to Pattaya, Thailand, through Bangkok for 3 months. I will be located at a dive shop there completing my divemaster certification. On May 14th, I leave from Bangkok heading to Istanbul, Turkey. I will be there for 4 days, mainly in the city. May 18th I leave for Athens, Greece where I will be crossing paths with one of my friends, Lee. I am seeking employment at a dive shop there to work as a divemaster for the summer months. My other friend, Matt Wink, is meeting up with me in Greece in mid to late July. We are sailing across the Ionian Sea to Southern Italy and travelling through Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France, and then Spain over a period of 4 to 5 weeks. We are going to the world's largest tomato throwing festival in Bunol, Spain at the end of August. I then fly out of Barcelona heading to London on August 31. I will be in the UK for 9 days until I leave from Edinburgh, Scotland on the 8th of September to return home, back to Atlanta. Well there you have it, my entire trip in a nutshell. Alot of it might change or some might not change at all, but now you can stay updated on it. Hope all of you check this frequently and I am looking forward to hearing from you!!