February 2012
32 posts
3 tags
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Let myself sleep in until 1:30 p.m. Went for lunch at Modern Toilet with the others in my dorm room at about 4:30 p.m. Returned to my hostel to do laundry. Ate a late dinner at McDonald’s again. Played on my computer.
5 tags
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Rode a tuk tuk from my hostel to the airport. Flew to Taipei with a layover in Kuala Lumpur. Rode a bus to Taipei Main Station. Rode the MRT to Guting station. Walked to my hostel and arrived around 9:30 p.m. Ate dinner at a nearby McDonald’s (sorry, Tess). Met the others in my dorm room, English teachers from south of Taipei visiting for a long weekend. Played on my computer, then went to...
3 tags
Friday, February 24, 2012
Called Tess to plan my flight to Seattle. Ate lunch at my hostel. Walked to a nearby ATM. Rode a motorbike taxi to the S-21 museum where thousands were detained and tortured for confessions by the Khmer Rouge. Afterward, rode a motorbike taxi to the killing fields just outside of town where thousands were murdered. It was so very sad. Rode a motorbike taxi back to my hostel. Bought a flight ticket...
4 tags
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Checked out of my hostel. Wanted to call Tess, but my ride to the bus terminal was early. Rode a bus to Phnom Penh for six hours. Rode a tuk tuk to my hostel and checked in. Walked around the neighborhood a little, but there was little to see. Ate dinner at my hostel.
3 tags
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Jake drove me to some of the smaller temples. I can’t recall which ones, but aside from small features, they were very similar. After seeing temples for two days under a blistering sun, they all started to look alike and I grew weary of it. Returned to the hostel and arranged for a six-hour bus ride to Phnom Penh the next morning.
3 tags
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Ate breakfast at the hostel. Jake drove me in a tuk tuk to Angkor Wat, Banteay Kdei, Ta Prohm, The Bayon in Angkor Thom, and Phnom Bakheng, to the top of which I hiked for a sunset view. Needless to say, the temples there are exquisite and exciting to explore. My favorite was Angkor Wat, but The Bayon was a close second. I ate dinner at the same street place as the day before. I arranged to have...
5 tags
Monday, February 20, 2012
Woke up at 4:30 a.m. Flew to Siem Reap, Cambodia. Jake, from my hostel, picked me up at the airport. Checked in, showered, and ate lunch. Arranged a private tuk tuk for seeing the ruins the next day with Jake as my driver. Spent the rest of the day napping and relaxing. Ate dinner with another guy from my dorm named Robin (from Germany). Went to bed early to get up early the next day.
3 tags
Saturday & Sunday, February 18–19, 2012
Didn’t do much. Again, I felt tired, and mostly remained inside and ate at nearby restaurants. One evening I walked to the Mekong River’s edge to see the night market there and watch the local people. Ran into a few more people from the group I was with at the river near Vang Vieng. Met a girl in my hostel that I’d met before at my hostel in Luang Prabang. Feeling the bandaid on...
4 tags
Friday, February 17, 2012
Rode a bus to Vientiane at 10 a.m. Walked around with a couple looking for a guesthouse or hostel. Checked into a hostel called Asian World. Ate a croissant for a late lunch and drank a couple Cokes to cool down. Read my guidebook about the city. Ate dinner at a pizza place and ran into a couple from the group I had hung out with at the river at Vang Vieng. Felt sick after eating dinner and went...
3 tags
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Ate lunch at a Friends restaurant. Went to the inner tube shop, then rode a tuk tuk with a group of others, including two girls I’d met at my hostel in Chiang Mai, to the river. Hung out with that group there for an hour or so, drinking a beer.
I’d heard stories about how dangerous it was inner tubing there, how people had died falling on rocks while riding zip lines over the river,...
3 tags
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Still felt tired, so I stayed inside mostly and kept to myself. Ate lunch and dinner at restaurants that played Friends. I’d forgotten how funny Friends is.
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Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Moved my things to a private room at the Chilllaos hostel about a block away. Ate lunch at one of the restaurants playing the TV show Friends. Felt very tired, so I stayed in my room all day by myself. Ate dinner at the same place.
4 tags
Monday, February 13, 2012
The tour started at 11 a.m. All four of us rode a private minibus to the three Plain of Jars sites. “Plain” is an exaggeration; “fields” is perhaps more fitting. The first site (called Site 3) was a five minute hike from a parking lot through some dry rice fields and rolling hills. Fortunately, the area had been cleared of land mines. I’d seen all I wanted to see...
3 tags
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Rode a minibus to Phonsavan for six hours. Stopped at a small town on the way for lunch and ate with another guy from the minibus named Vincent. Shared a tuk tuk with Vincent and two girls from the Phonsavan bus terminal to the center of town where all the guesthouses are. Vincent and I shared a room with two twin beds. It was cheap, but the wifi sucked. We looked around at a couple of tourist...
3 tags
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Woke up earlier than I expected, at about 8:30 a.m. Read my Laos guidebook about the northern area to plan where to go next. Decided to go to the Plain of Jars next, and then to the wild debauchery of Vang Vieng. Walked around town with my guidebook and saw all the temples that I had missed the day before. Met a couple novice monks, Joy and Sing, and talked with them for about an hour. Sing was 19...
3 tags
Friday, February 10, 2012
My birthday! Let myself sleep in. Tried to call my parents, but the wifi wasn’t working. Walked into downtown and rented a bicycle for 10,000 kip. Rode around town looking at some temples. Stopped at a cafe for a Coke to cool off and use their wifi to call my parents and Tess. Continued riding around town and saw a a couple more temples. Returned the bicycle and ran into Matteo. Walked with...
3 tags
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Rode a minibus with Aimee, Glenn, Nic, Sara, Dan, Sylvia, Michelle, and Ingo to the gorgeous Kuang Si waterfalls. Took lots of pictures, swam, swung on a rope and jumped off a small cliff into the icy blue water. Hiked up to all the different pools and falls. Got lost coming down the other side of the falls and ended up taking the long way back to the bottom of the falls. Returned to the hostel....
4 tags
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Ate another American breakfast and got a sandwich to go for lunch on the slow boat. Boarded at 8:30 a.m. and sat and waited for the stragglers to arrive. Departed around 9:30 a.m. Sat with Aimee (from Austin, Texas) and we chatted for a while. I also read and listened to a couple podcasts and some music. The scenery was again very beautiful. This time my seat was much more cramped, but still the...
4 tags
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
No hot water for my shower, and there was a breeze from a fan when I turned on the shower light, so I skipped the shower except for a light rinse. Ate an American breakfast at the hotel’s restaurant. Shared a tuk tuk to the river boat pier at 9:30 a.m. Boarded around 10 a.m. and sat waiting to depart for an hour or two as others trickled on board. Listened to podcasts the whole time and...
5 tags
Monday, February 6, 2012
Awoke still sick with a bad back. Ate a cheap lunch at a local restaurant. Rode the bus to Chiang Khong at the Thailand–Laos border. Shared a tuk tuk with a guy to the Mekong river shore and exited Thailand. Bought passage across the river and landed on the Laos shore. Paid the fee and entered the town of Huay Xai in Laos. Walked up the hill and looked at a few places and chose to stay at a nice...
3 tags
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Woke up still feeling sick, and also felt like I had thrown my back out (the “mattresses” were really stiff). Showered, ate lunch, stayed in all day watching BSG, bought a bus ticket to Chiang Khong at the Thailand–Laos border, went out again for dinner, then returned to the hostel.
3 tags
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Still sick and miserable. Slept in, showered, ate lunch, returned to my hostel and stayed inside all day, lying on my back watching Battlestar Galactica with my head angled up to reduce the running of my nose. Ate an expensive dinner at a pizza place nearby to try to cheer myself up.
4 tags
Friday, February 3, 2012
Awoke feeling sick again. Returned the scooter I had rented the day before. Checked out and rode a taxi truck to the Arcade bus terminal. Rode the bus to Chiang Rai for a few hours and listened to podcasts. Arrived and wandered around for ten minutes looking for my hostel. Checked in, ate lunch, then returned to my hostel and stayed inside on my bed the rest of the day feeling too sick to do...
3 tags
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Rented a scooter and rode it to Doi Suthep. On my way back, I came across a scooter accident that had just happened. The driver was a man from Nebraska named Paul. He was in really bad shape. All the skin on his right knee cap had been scraped off and he was bleeding heavily from his right arm. He took an antibacterial wipe and a clotting pad from my first aid kit and some toilet paper I had to...
3 tags
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Went to the Elephant Nature Park and fed and washed elephants all day. I didn’t realize the way elephants are trained to be ridden and do tricks is so brutal and inhumane. Returned to the hostel and planned my next few days. Craved McDonalds, so I ate dinner there. Watched some Battlestar Galactica.
3 tags
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Rented a bicycle and headed for the interior of the old quarter. Stopped to east some street food for lunch. Saw several temples. Rode to a neighborhood outside the old quarter that supposedly was a nice place to shop, but was sorely disappointed. Returned to the hostel for a couple hours. Ate dinner nearby. Rode my bicycle to the night market a few blocks away and browsed the stalls there for an...
5 tags
Monday, January 30, 2012
Ate an American breakfast at a restaurant across the street. Rode the minibus to the Ko Phuket airport and arrived at 1:30 p.m. Ate lunch at Burger King and then had four or so hours to kill. Drank some beers in a bar to use their free wifi. Flew to Chiang Mai at about 7:30 p.m. and arrived at about 9:30 p.m. Rode a taxi to my hostel, A Little Bird Guesthouse, in the old quarter of the city....
4 tags
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Bought some lunch to go and put it in my day pack. Rode a long tail boat from Krabi to Railay East. Climbed to the vista point overlooking the Railay area. Ate my lunch while admiring the view. Tried to hike to a nearby lagoon, but it was too muddy. Walked to Railay West and went for a quick dip in the ocean and then laid on the sand and read for an hour or so. Got up and walked along the entire...
3 tags
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Rode the ferry in the morning to Krabi. Met a girl my age from England named Louisa who had been teaching English in South Korea. We were both going to the same hostel. Checked in. Planned what to do the next day. Walked to see a nearby temple. Walked from the temple to a nearby night street market for a delicious dinner of street food. Returned to the hostel for some quality computer time.
3 tags
Friday, January 27, 2012
Got up early and had the showers to myself. Walked to the travel agency where I’d booked the boat tour and bought some bananas on the way. Was led to the boat tour company office, then to the pier, then to the boat itself and boarded. The tour wasn’t organized as well as the Angthong Marine Park one, so we didn’t really know where the next stop was, or how they would signal us...
4 tags
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Rode a minibus to a nearby pier and boarded a ferry bound for Ko Phi Phi. Was a little worried about my pack — as I usually am — after I stowed it on the deck like everyone else, but it was soon buried under a bunch of packs. Safety in numbers. Got off the boat without trouble a couple hours later. Wandered the streets of Tonsai Village for over an hour in the burning sun, sweat running down to my...
1 tag
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo →
A really well-written review of the 2011 American movie by James Berardinelli.