The Malaria Blog

Back One Year Now

2009-10-09T15:21:00.000-07:00

Ughhhh....

Homeward Bound

2008-10-14T04:45:00.000-07:00

Day 86, October 10th, 2008

First of all, I wanted to thank everyone for reading my blog over the past few months and sharing my travels with me. With all of the emails and comments I have received, it has really made me feel like I’ve had company on a trip that was otherwise completed mostly solo. My trip is coming to an end but check back over the next week or so because I have a ton of videos that I am going to upload from home when I have an internet connection that can accommodate more than email.

Right now, I am on a plane over the Atlantic Ocean. I left three months ago headed West and am about to complete my trip around the world returning from the East. As my trip ends, I reflect back at all that I’ve seen, done, and experienced.

Over the past 3 months, I’ve:
-Set foot on 4 continents
-Spent at least one night in 11 foreign countries
-Visited a total of 15 foreign countries
-Swam in the Indian Ocean, the Straights of Malacca, the Andaman Sea, the South China Sea, the Gulf of Tonkin, the Red Sea, the Dead Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea.
-Flew by the highest spot on Earth: Mt. Everest.
-Swam in the lowest spot on Earth: the Dead Sea
-Traveled over… 27,000 miles by air, 1700 miles by train, 2000 miles by car/bus, 300 miles by boat, 20 miles by subway, 10 miles by camel, donkey, horse, etc, and 2 miles by cable car. That is a total travel distance of over 32,000 miles
-Seen wonders of the modern and ancient world including the Pyramids of Egypt, the Petronas Towers, Angkor Wat, Petra, and countless others.
-Met dozens of fascinating people some of which I hope to remain friends with for years to come.
-Prayed to many deities including Christ, Allah, Vishnu, Shiva, Ganesha, Buddha, and a tree
-Visited the homelands of two of the most important religious figures in history: Jesus and Buddha
-Visited countless UNESCO World Heritage Sites
-Eaten some of the best and worst food that one can put into their mouth
- Lost a ton of weight and then gained it all back plus some.
-Experienced every emotion known to man: joy, excitement, fear, loneliness, trepidation, frustration, accomplishment, wonder, fortuitousness, adventurousness, peace, and happiness.
-Laughed… a lot.
-Broken one foot
-Had my fair share of blisters and sore feet
-Grown a few more grey hairs
-Experienced other cultures that I didn’t even know existed when I left in June like the Iban in Borneo or the floating villages of Cambodia.
-Seen evidence of the worst horror humans can inflict on each other and also witnessed acts of generosity that would thaw the coldest heart.
-Loved being on the road, missed my bed, and after a short break, can’t wait to plan my next adventure.
-Did not contract Malaria……

Best Regards,
David

Tel Aviv, Israel

2008-10-08T23:07:00.000-07:00

Day 85, October 9th, 2008

Today is my last day and Tel Aviv is my last port of call on my worldwide tour. I am both very excited and equally as nervous to make the trip home tomorrow. I am excited to come back and catch up with my family and friends, take a nap on my couch, wake up in my own bed, and see how my house has fared my absence and the subsequent party that was held there.

I am nervous that I am coming back big bills, no job, no car, winter approaching, and the inevitable reverse culture shock. It is going to be strange being in a place where I can brush my teeth with tap water, drink something with ice in it, not have to clean sand out of everything several times a day, or live out of a backpack. Repacking my backpack to accommodate every day’s needs has become as common to me as opening my blinds in the morning back home. I almost do it without thinking at this point.

Anyways, back to Tel Aviv. Today is Yom Kippur.

Yom Kippur is the most holy Jewish Holiday and the country completely shuts down from sunset yesterday until sunset today. When I say the country shuts down, I mean it is like someone flipped a switch. There are no radio or television broadcasts, the airports and public transportation are shut down, there is not a single business open and most of our hotel is even shut down. The entire Jewish population fasts for the entire day so there is not a single place to get food or drink. Like I had said in my last post, we were lucky to make it to a supermarket before it closed or we would involuntarily be participating in the Jewish fast.

We knew immediately that our hotel stay wouldn’t be a normal one when we showed up in the lobby and the reception desk greeted us by name. We were the only people checking in yesterday. The last day and a half has been more like camping indoors than staying at a nice hotel which was the original intention for the last few days of all of our trips. There is no restaurant, bar, housekeeping, etc. We have been making sandwiches and using ice and a small fridge to keep everything cold. Even with the skeleton crew at the hotel, it is still much nicer than a lot of places that I stayed at over the last three months!

Being here during Yom Kippur is very nice in a lot of ways. Last night, in the peace of the night, we walked around for a while. The roads are shut down and there is not a single car out. It was almost eerie being in a city of almost a half-million people and not seeing one car driving down the road. We did see most of the inhabitants, though, as it is traditional to walk around at night after sunset. Most people wore white and took to the streets with friends and family enjoying the warm, quiet night. There are so many people walking around but with no other signs of modern society it reminded me of a scene from a post-apocalyptic movie.
(These two pictures are from the internet)

Yom Kippur is known as the “Day of Atonement.” The central theme for the Jewish population is repentance and atonement for past sins. I am, of course, sin free but thought that it was appropriate that my trip would end on a day in which reflection on one’s life played such an important part. I can reflect over the past few months with all that I have seen and done and everyone that I have met and consider myself a very lucky person. I am going to write a summary entry tomorrow on the plane but for today, I am going to remind myself often that I was given an opportunity that most people, in the US particularly, do not get and be thankful for every moment I have experienced.

Since there is absolutely nothing open in the entire country, it was a nice excuse to do nothing but lay on the beach all day long. We spent time swimming in the Mediterranean, body surfing, napping, reflecting, and not much more. It was a very lazy day and perfect for the last day of the trip. At one point, Maria got very bored and decided to spend about an hour making a sprawling sand castle. Being from Colombia, her castle was complete with Bull Fighting Arena and Soccer Pitch. She was so proud of it. No sooner did she finish her masterpiece then she went swimming and a dog came by and relieved himself in her castle courtyard.

After sunset, as the city slowly awoke from its Yom Kippur slumber, Maria, Brian, Karen, and I walked the 40 minutes or so down to the old neighborhood of Jaffa which is the site of the original port here. We had a good dinner and it was a perfect end to an incredible trip.

Right now, I sit in the Tel Aviv airport around 3AM local time ready to board the first of my flights that will take me back to Kansas City. The peace and tranquility that was Yom Kippur in Israel was shattered with the security process here. I completely understand why they have to have the tightest security on Earth here but I also believe that they could make the process a little friendlier. At best, I felt like a common criminal while going through the 2 ½ hour security process. At worst, there were times that I didn’t feel like they were going to let me out of the country. It was a very intense few hours. Israel was at or near the top of my list of places to revisit before I had to go through the airport but now, I am not so sure. I don’t want to go through that again!

Haifa and Akko, Israel

2008-10-08T09:44:00.000-07:00

Days 83-84, October 7-8, 2008

Shalom!

This will be a short entry. The last two days we’ve had a lot of rushing and a little doing so there isn’t too much to report on.

Our last morning in Jerusalem, we got a little later start than we had planned. I think that everyone was moving slower than they would have liked due to the spirits we had imbibed the night before in honor of our departure.

Our destination for the day was the northern Israeli city of Haifa. Haifa is a major Israeli port and the worldwide home of the Bahai religion. Haifa is a city of over a quarter million and has a history going back over 3500 years. Most recently, it has gained some notoriety for being attacked by rockets by Hezbollah during the Israeli war with Lebanon in 2006 .

We took the 2 hour bus ride there which is a fine way to travel around Israel if you can read a bus schedule. By the time that we got to Haifa, we were almost too late to do anything so we just walked around the city for a few hours. Haifa is built onto the side of Mt. Carmel and has the most unique subway I have seen. It is slanted to account for the slope of the mountain. When you are going up, it feels like you should be in a cable car above ground and not a subway below it.

The highlights of Haifa, on the quick, are the Bahai Gardens and the views of the Mediterranean Sea.

The Bahai Gardens and Temple dominate the topography of Haifa. The Temple is the most distinct feature of the city and, though we were too late to tour them, the gardens were impressive to view from outside.

The Bahai faith was founded in the 19th century and is a fast growing world religion. The Bahai believe that their prophet, Bahaullah, is the most recent in the line of Abraham, Buddha, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammad. They try to point out the historical and spiritual unity of the major world religions and try to work towards peace and tolerance on a global scale. It is an interesting modern religion and I suggest taking a few minutes to look it up on Wikipedia. One thing is for sure, they can garden.

We ate in the German colony below the Bahai Gardens and had an early evening to contrast the one from the night before.

In morning, we woke up and hopped on the train to go a few kilometers north to the modern town of Akko, Israel. Modern Akko is a sleepy fishing town but was home to the medieval town of Acre which was a crusader stronghold. It passed between Muslim and Crusader hands several times and was captured by the Muslim Army for the last time in 1291 AD. We were in a rush because we had to get to Tel Aviv so we ran through the sights quickly. The highlights were the city walls on the Mediterranean and the Templar Tunnels dug below the city to connect the crusader buildings. We also visited the old Turkish Bathhouse that is now a museum.

Yom Kippur was starting at sundown this day. It is the most Holy Jewish Holiday and the entire country literally shuts down so we had to be in Tel Aviv, settled, and stocked up on food before all of the stores closed. We took a taxi from Haifa to Tel Aviv and it was a good thing, too, because by the time we checked in and got to the supermarket, things were already starting to close. They actually closed the supermarket a few minutes after we entered. After we bought some food, there were some very concerned tourists waiting outside wondering not happy that they just involuntarily joined into the 24-hour Yom Kippur fast.

I’ll write about Yom Kippur and Tel Aviv in my next entry.

Jerusalem

2008-10-06T06:58:00.000-07:00

Days 80-82, October 4-6, 2008

Shalom!

As far as the cities I have visited in world, I rank Jerusalem just below Rome as one of my favorites. As I said before, I am staying right inside the gates of the Old City and have some of the most Holy locations of monotheism only minutes away. If I go outside of the city gate, though, New Jerusalem is right there with her modern malls, restaurants, and nightlife. My only decision when I leave the hotel is do I turn left to see history or right to eat, drink, and be merry.

I actually don’t have to go that far to eat, drink, and be merry. My hotel is situated off of a little alley and sharing the alley with us are two bars. My friends and I have got to know Christian Palestinians that own the place and have hung out there quite of bit the last few nights. In the middle of the square is a Roman mile post that was excavated near the hotel. It is written about a Roman general and commemorates the destruction of Jerusalem in 67 AD. My hotel, The New Imperial, has a lot of history. The building was originally built in the late 1800’s for Kaiser Wilhelm II to stay in when he visiting the Holy Land. It and the surrounding buildings are owed by the Greek Orthodox Church. The Patriarch of the Church lives only a few blocks away and personally leased the buildings to the business owners. The Patriarch is the head of that Church equal to the Pope in the Catholic Church. The hotel was leased to the family that operates it in the 1940’s and has operated by father, son, and grandson since then. They are a incredibly nice family and before I left, I sat and talked to the Mr. Djanni, the son of the original owner, for a while. He has lived in Jerusalem for 70 years and has seen and lived through a lot so he has an interesting perspective and knowledge on the mideast.

The hotel is in the Christian quarter which is filled with churches. Every morning, church woke me up with her bells at 6:45. Then for good measure, another church provided a 7:00 snooze alarm bell ringing. On Sunday morning, with my window open, I stayed in bed and listened to the morning services all around me including the singing and chanting in Latin. Amongst the sounds of the Christian services, you can hear the Muslim calls to prayer for one of their 5 prayer times a day. Now that I think about it, Jerusalem in actually a pretty noisy city.

My friends did make it in from Ein Gedi and I have to admit, after hearing what they went through, I am glad that I had another night in Jerusalem. Friday evening and Saturday was the Sabbath where everything shuts down here in the Jewish world. Ein Gedi is in the middle of nowhere and 100% Jewish so they had nothing to do, eat, or drink. They ended up getting a taxi to Jerusalem about 6 PM Saturday night and when they showed up, they all had the look of starving dogs in their eyes and recounted the hell that they had been through for the past 24 hours. I felt kind of bad because in Old City, Jews are the vast minority so while my friends were starved and bored to death, I was eating, drinking, and exploring one of the greatest cities on Earth.

Jerusalem really is amazing. It is the holiest city to both Judaism and Christianity and right behind Mecca for Islam. A city has had a wall here for over 5000 years and the name of Jerusalem shows up in Egyptian texts over 3000 years ago. Today, Old City is split into four geographic quarters: the Armenian, the Jewish, the Christian, and the Arab. The Armenian quarter is a walled city within a walled city which is locked every night and re-opened every morning. The Arab, Christian, and Jewish quarters are opened to each other and are divided geographically by main streets. The Christian, Jewish, and Armenian quarter all have about 2000 residents while the Arab quarter has almost 30,000. The makes Palestinian Arabs the prominent majority of Old City Jerusalem. Almost all of the businesses here are run by Palestinians including our hotel. I had thought that with the geopolitical climate here that there would be a lot of tension between the races and while it is evident, it is not as pronounced as I expected. I think that they are all proud of the city in which they live and that gives them some common ground despite the rest of their differences. Oddly enough, the majority of the violence right now in Jerusalem is from Orthodox Jews trying to push religion on secular Jews.

To get a good overview of the history and geography of the city, my hotel recommended a free-walking tour that goes for about 4 hours and starts everyday in front of my hotel at the Jaffa gate. I was very skeptical of a free tour. My experience is that if you are not paying for a tour or getting a “good deal,” they make up the difference by spending most of the tour at souvenir shops in which they make a little kickback for bring you in. The hotel said that shouldn’t be a problem with this tour group and so I figured that I’d try it out and if it wasn’t good, I’d just walk away.

My free Jerusalem tour was one of the best that I’ve had on my entire trip. The company is just starting out here and is trying to build a name for itself by word of mouth. They are operating throughout Europe and offer free overview tours there and then make a profit by selling additional tour packages. The guide was very knowledgeable, we hit all of the highlights of the city, and I learned a ton about the city. It also helped me to get my bearings around the city so I could further explore on my own.

Explore, I did. By myself and after my friends arrived, I think that I walked every street of Old City in which every turning every corner is like taking a trip back in time or tearing a page from the Bible. One minute, you are at the spot of the Last Supper and the next, you are at the Wailing Wall.

The two most significant locations in Old City are the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the Temple Mount. As I had mentioned before, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is where Christ was crucified, buried and resurrected. It is the most holy spot in Christendom and, even for a heathen like me, was a moving experience. There are so many people inside that are totally lost in the depths of their faith and clergy from so many different denominations of Christianity that it is an impressive and, at times, overwhelming experience.

The Temple Mount is one of the most holy locations for Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It is the location of Mt. Neriah from the Bible. On the, sits the Foundation Stone which Jews and Muslims believe is the spot from which the world sprang. On this stone, Abraham was told to sacrifice his son Isaac to prove his loyalty to God. God stopped him at the last moment and promised him and his descendents the land here as reward for his faith. King David placed the Ark of the Covenant on the Foundation Stone after conquering Jerusalem and his son, Solomon, built the first Jewish temple around it. Later, Kind Herod the Great built the Jewish people theirs second temple at the same spot. Christ spent much of the last week of his life in and around this temple and predicted its destruction. Today, all that remains of the temple is the Western or “Wailing” Wall. This is the spot that Jews believe always houses the presence of God and is a most holy site of pilgrimage and prayer. All of the cracks and seams in the stones are filled with little pieces of paper on which people have written prayers. I added mine even though I already have a direct line and God had just given me his New 10 Commandments.

Also at this spot, it is said that Mohammad ascended to Heaven to speak directly to God in order to begin the Islamic religion. The Dome of the Rock was built here to commemorate that event. Now, the entire top of the Temple Mount is an Islamic Holy Spot with the Dome probably the most recognizable feature in Jerusalem. Non -Muslims are only allowed to go to the top of the Mount at specific times and to specific locations but Muslims can visit at any time.

If you can’t tell, I loved Jerusalem. My days were spent learning and exploring and my nights were spent hanging out with friends sharing beers and stories. It was great and I was very sad to leave. Jerusalem has not seen the last of me.

Crossing into Israel

2008-10-04T00:08:00.001-07:00

Day 79, October 3rd, 2008

The political situation between Israel and her neighbors is complicated at best which I’m sure comes as no surprise to anyone. Most Arab countries, and several others, do not recognize Israel as a sovereign state. Luckily, Egypt and Jordan both have treaties with Israel recognizing her as an independent state. Because of these treaties, tourists and nationals may cross the border. It’s not quite that simple, though, because Jordan still claims some of the territory of the West Bank as it’s own as does the Palestinian Authority. The West Bank is one of the most disputed areas on Earth. For the moment, it is the Israeli government that controls it. Even with the treaties in place, it is still a major production so get across the Israeli/Jordan border.

There are three places from which to cross: the Sheik Hussein Bridge which is north by Galilee, the King Hussein Bridge which is closest to Amman and Madaba where we were staying, and the Arava land crossing which is at Aqaba where I entered Jordan.

Since we were staying in Madaba, we wanted to cross at the King Hussein Bridge. This crossing also affords one more advantage for many travelers which is that Jordan won’t stamp your passport upon exiting the country. Here, you are crossing into the West Bank and since they claim it as their own, they don’t see the need to stamp your passport if you really aren’t leaving Jordan.

This is important to many people because several countries will not allow entry if there is ANY evidence of a visit to Israel or Palestinian territories: Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria, Qatar, and Lebanon.

Once you cross the King Hussein Bridge, the Israelis stamp an entry/exit card instead of your passport thereby erasing, from any of the aforementioned countries, any evidence of time spent in Israel.

That is how it is suppose to work.

This is how it did work…..

I am traveling in Israel with 3 other people from my tour group: Maria, the crazy Colombian, and Karen and Brain who are two friends traveling together from Canada. We shared a taxi to the King Hussein Bridge, paid our departure tax, and gave our passports over to be examined and not get our stamp.

One passport, two passports, three passports…then my passport.

Apparently I had a different kind of visa from the other three which didn’t allow me to cross at the King Hussein Bridge. My visa was issued in Aqaba and they all got visas before they arrived. My three traveling companions were allowed to exit the country and I was stuck in Jordan.

I wasn’t really stuck, however, I was in a small race against time. My visa allowed me to exit Jordan at the Arava crossing or the Sheik Hussein Bridge. Arava was several hours away and the Sheik Hussein Bridge was about 50-60 miles north so I hopped, alone again, into a taxi bound there. It would take about an hour to get to the Sheik Hussen Bridge and I didn’t have too much longer than that to get across the border. Due to the Jewish Sabbath, the border shuts down on Friday afternoon through Sunday morning so if I didn’t make it on time, I’d be in Jordan for another couple of days.

When I got to the Bridge, it was a ghost town which made it more surprising to me the trouble that they gave me exiting Jordan. The first hassle is the transportation. I took a taxi to the Bridge, then you have to hire another taxi to take you through security, finally, you have to hire a bus to take you across the actual border.

The second hassle is the security. They unpacked every pocket of every bag that I had. After three months of travel, my backpack is not very orderly. It was a mess. Thank God that there were so few other people crossing here or it really would’ve been a disaster. As the Jordanian security was going through my bag, they are also playing with my belongings. They tried on several hats that I had and laughed at each other (and me too indirectly, I am assuming); They thumbed through some books I had and were asking me questions about the plots; They went through my entire toiletry bag asking me what prescriptions were for (diarrhea, heartburn, and hair loss, if you’d like to know) and why I had so much soap (gifts from the Dead Sea); They pulled out T-shirts I had bought and wanted to know why I chose these particular ones like my fashion decisions had national security implications. Mostly, I just think they were bored. As much of a hassle as it was, it was incredibly funny to see three men with machine guns trying on Nepalese hats. I was so tempted to ask for a picture but my time was running out and I didn’t want to risk spending the next week in a Jordanian prison.

After what seemed like hours of security, immigration, and transportation, I finally arrived into Israel.

Shalom!

From some internet blogs and from some of the Israelis that I had met in my travels, I had heard that the real fun begins once you cross into Israel. I had heard that security was incredibly tight and I would probably be pulled aside and interrogated. Once I actually got into Israel, besides the thorough search of the bus, immigration was quick. They did a cursory search of my belongings (2 minutes, maybe) and stamped my passport. My friends that crossed south of me at the busier King Hussen Bridge had considerable more trouble with Israeli immigration.

Since you're asking, yes, I did get my passport stamped. At this crossing, you cannot request the Jordanians to not stamp your passport because you are crossing directly into Israel officially leaving Jordan so it makes no difference if the Israelis stamp the passport. The evidence of a visit to Israel is stamped into your passport before you even enter. So I guess that there is no Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Qatar, North Korea, Libya, Syria or Lebanon for me. That actually reads like a list of countries at the bottom of my list of places I’d want to visit so I’m no too upset with my freshly stamped passport. Maybe someday, I’d like to see Syria and Lebanon but there are enough places in the world to see that I don’t think I’ll be missing out on too much.

Once I exited the border terminal and as the Jordanian side was earlier, the Israeli side was a ghost town. This is the much less frequently used crossing and as such, has none of the amenities of the one 50 miles south. Also, there, I would have been with 3 other people to split costs and get to where we wanted to be. Here, I was in the middle of nowhere, alone, and had no clue what my next step would be.

I decided that my first step had to be to find a taxi or bus station and an ATM. I waited outside the border station for over 45 minutes waiting for a taxi. No tourists crossing means no taxis. One finally came and wanted to charge me 50 sheckles or about 15 dollars to get the nearest town with a bus station that was 10 kilometers away. I didn’t want to pay that much but really had no other choice. I briefly thought that if I walked to Tel Aviv, I could make it in time for my flight home next week.

Once I got to the town, whose name escapes me right now, I had to figure out where I was going to get to before the Sabbath started and all the buses shut down. I was suppose to get to a town called Ein Gedi which was at least 4 hours south of where I was now with no direct transportation except for a taxi which would’ve cost more over $200. That was out. The taxi wanted to charge me $100 to get to Jerusalem but I found a bus for under $10. I figured that I’d get to Jerusalem, see if I could get a bus or reasonably priced car to Ein Gedi or just stay there and see if I could check into my hotel a day early.

Right now, I am in my hotel so staying in Jerusalem won out. By the time that I got here, there were no buses that could get me to Ein Gedi and it was still going to be too expensive to take a car. With a little luck, I’ll catch up with my friends here so we can travel the rest of Israel together.

I walked around for a long time last night when I got here. I am staying right inside Old City Jerusalem which is the location of almost all of the ancient places of significance. I am within a 10 minute walk of the Wailing Wall, the Dome of the Rock, and Mt. Zion. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher is right down the block about a 3 minute walk. The Church is where tradition says Golgotha was located. Golgotha was the “Skull Place” where Jesus was said to have been crucified, buried, and resurrected. My hotel is right inside the Jaffa Gate, or David’s Gate (appropriate, I think) from which every conqueror of the City has entered. Also, my hotel is said to sit (if you remember your Old Testament or Rufus Wainwright songs) directly on the site that King David saw Bathsheba bathing and subsequently stole her from her husband. After the orchestrated death of her husband, Bathsheba became the wife of King David and eventually bore him the son, Solomon.

I guess for the rest of the day, I’ll start to explore Jerusalem some more and hopefully meet up with my friends tomorrow.

More updates later...

Petra & Madaba, Jordan

2008-10-01T11:04:00.001-07:00

Days 76-78, September 30th – October 2nd, 2008

From Wadi Rum, we were in no hurry to drive the 2 hours to Petra since we couldn’t check into our hotel until noon anyway so we lounged around the Bedouin camp just relaxing in the cool desert morning. Khaleid was back in the morning but it was obvious that he was much worse off than the last time we had seen him. He spent the rest of our time at the camp and the time on the bus to Petra doubled over and wincing in pain. Things didn’t get any better for him or us as the day went on. He continued to feel worse and worse and then some suspicious events started to happen. I am not going to get into all of them but most of the suspicion surrounded multiple changes to our itinerary. In Egypt, our guide Michael, followed our itinerary to the letter. Here in Jordan, with a sick guide, that has been a lot of confusion about everything that has been going on.

For two days, we were visited the sights and monuments of Petra. If you have seen Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, you would know Petra as the location that housed the 800 year old knight and the Holy Grail. That must have been movie magic, though, because I saw neither.

On our first day, we visited a site called “Little Petra.” It is just outside of the main city and was used to house traveling merchants and their caravans. It was kind of like the business park of the city with hotels and stables. The building here were impressive enough on their own and I knew that the main city was dozens of times larger and more grand so I was very excited to see the main event the next day.

At Little Petra, Khaleid didn’t get out of the bus with us. He was too sick. Our guided tour of Little Petra turned into a self-guided walking tour with several of us trying to pull a few facts from any guide book that had been circulating through the group.

That night, Khaleid went to the hospital again. So, again, we were left guideless, in a foreign country, in the middle of no where, and with the biggest day of our Jordan visit ahead of us: Petra.

Petra is a city, founded by a people called the Nabateans, cut right into the limestone mountains of Southern Jordan. The Nabateans were an early nomadic Arab tribe that settled in the area of the Arabian Peninsula. The Bedouins that currently live here trace their ancestry from these people. They are also the only people that are allowed to live in Petra today though most now make their home in the desert or small urban communities.

The Nabateans settled here because the area that would become Petra sat in the middle of trade routes from all over the mideast They became powerful and wealthy from the control of these trade routes and with this wealth, built some of the most spectacular ancient monuments that survive in the present day. Many of the grand facades were carved as tombs or temples. Only about 25% of the area of Petra that was used for daily living has been excavated. The city is huge and covers at least 10 square kilometers. The Nabatean civilization was at its height from about 200 BC to 106 AD when it was conquered by Rome.

Since we had no guide, our tour agency tried to arrange another agency guide for us but couldn’t find one so the next morning, we met with a local guide, Akmed, for our tour of Petra. This is probably the best thing that happened to us in Jordan. Akmed is a Beduoin who was born in Petra and knows the city better than anybody. We definitely got a VIP tour. Not only did we get to see the sights that the other tourist did, we got to climb and hike to some places where there wasn’t another soul. It was an incredible day. We were scheduled to be in Petra from 8AM until 6PM and I thought it was going to be way too long of a day. I could have stayed for several more hours there is so much to see and do.

The buildings that the Nabateans built are pretty amazing. Imagine taking a sheer rock cliff and carving an entire 6 story building or cathedral right into the solid rock. That is exactly what the people living here did 2000 years ago. It is truly a wonder of the world. You also enter the city just like Indiana Jones did by going through a very narrow, winding valley. I heard several people, from my group and others (but not me, of course), humming the Indiana Jones music while walking through the Siq (the name of the valley).

Our last day in Jordan was spent driving northward, with some stops, towards our overnight stay in the town called Madaba which was Moab in the bible. It was an overall tense day in our group. Khaleid was not happy with us that we questioned him to the agency and we were not happy with him that we had to do it in the first place. The tension mixed with the fact that the trip was winding down really made for a quiet day. I think that almost everyone was looking forward to wrapping up the trip or moving onward to their next destination. Despite all of this, I enjoyed the day.

A highlight of the day was a visit to Kerek Castle, which was the last crusader castle to fall to the Muslim Army of Saladin during the crusades. Most of the castle is in ruins but it was still fun to walk through the few resorted areas where war was raged during the crusades. The highlight for me was the dungeon. As you can see, I escaped.

We also stopped by the Dead Sea, the lowest spot on the face of the Earth, for a few hours of leisure taking advantage of one of the many spas that are along the coast. The Dead Sea has a salt content (33%) that is 10 times higher than that of the oceans. Because of the high salt content, there is absolutely nothing living in its waters (hence the dead part of the name). It is so dense and buoyant that sitting in it is like sitting a floating chair. You can float with your arms and legs straight in the air and it is almost impossible to put your whole body and head underwater. That’s a good thing, too. If you get any of the water in your nose or eyes, it hurts…bad. If you’ve ever got ocean water in your eyes, you know that it stings. Now imagine 10 times the sting. There is so much salt that it crystalizes out and sits on the shore like rocks. Also, the mud at the Dead Sea is supposed to be healthy for the skin so everyone sits on the shore and slops mud on themselves. People look completely ridiculous doing it but, of course, I had to join in the fun. I do have to say that after the mud bath, my skin felt….exactly like it did before.

Our last stop was Mt. Nebo, which has been a site of pilgrimages for millennia. It is, according to tradition, the last place in which the Israelites camped after wondering the desert for 40 years and before entering the Promised Land. It is also the place where Moses saw the Promised Land before him, wasn’t allowed to enter, and then died and was buried. From the top of Mt. Nebo, you can see very little green, a completely dead body of water, and a lot of desert. If I were Moses and had just finished wandering the desert for 40 years after battling a Pharaoh and God told me that the land under Mt. Nebo was my people’s birthright, I’d ask him if he had any other options. The only thing that I can think of that could be “promised” from that view is some thirst and a sunburn. Nonetheless, visiting here has been interesting just as it has been visiting so many other places that have been significant to history.

Tomorrow, my tour group continues to Amman, the capitol of Jordan. I won’t see Amman on this trip, however, because tomorrow morning, when the rest of the group moves on, 4 of us are hopping the border into Israel for the next and last part of my adventure.

Aqaba & Wadi Rum, Jordan

2008-09-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

Days 74-75, September 28-29, 2008

Early in the morning after our day in Newaba, we drove to the ferry station on the Sinai to depart Egypt. The ferry ride was about an hour across the Gulf of Aqaba at the north end of the Red Sea. When you are crossing the sea, you can look around you and see the coasts of 4 countries: Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. After I visit Israel next week, I will never be allowed to enter Saudi Arabia due to supporting a false Zionist state so this is probably the closest I’ll ever get to there. The city of Aqaba occupies most of the short Jordanian coast on the Red Sea and this is where we both entered Jordan and spent the next day and night.

Most of our time in Aqaba was free-time so it was spent walking around and taking the city in. The first thing that you notice when you enter Jordan is that it is noticeably cleaner than Egypt, which as I mentioned before, is a dirty place. Jordan is one of the few mid-east countries that has no oil or significant natural resources and they have prospered despite this disadvantage. When the Middle Eastern oil has dried up, Jordan has set itself up to survive through investments in education and business. They have used their strong economy to build and beautify their country. In Aqaba, everything looks new, is painted, and it has several gardens to contrast the desert that occupies about 80% of the country.

The other noticeable difference between Egypt and Jordan is that Jordan actually has good food. I don’t think that I commented too much on the food in Egypt before and, while it is edible, on a whole, it is very bland and hard on the palate. In my two days in Jordan so far, I have had some of the best food that I have had on my entire trip. OK, well maybe not the entire trip…I have eaten well my entire time abroad, but the food has been excellent nonetheless.

My first morning in Jordan was a big morning for me. I decided to shave my moustache. It was fun while it lasted but I can say without any doubt that I will never wear one again as long as I live. I thought that it looked ridiculous. For everyone in my group, though, that is the only way that they had ever known me so I received a myriad of reactions throughout the morning when they saw me clean shaven. My room mate, Brett, jumped back and asked, “what’d you do with David?” One of the girls, Larissa, gave gasp as if someone just punched her in the stomach. A few people, though, didn’t even notice anything until the next day when I caught them staring at me a little too long and I could tell that they couldn’t quite figure out what was different. Then I put my finger across my lip and they busted out laughing. Several people have told me that I look 5-10 years younger without it. I am happy to look 21 again.

Our second day in Jordan, we drove up to the desert of Wadi Rum which is about and hour and a half north of Aqaba. For our night in Wadi Rum, we stayed in a Bedouin community. It is a collection of tents tucked into a natural shelter created by a rocky mountain.

I never realized how beautiful the desert could be. We took a four hour jeep ride through it and were able to see some beautiful rock formations, colors, and a spectacular sunset. At our sunset location, a few of us hiked up a hill to get some amazing pictures and an even more amazing view.

When we got back to the campsite, it was dark and we ate a traditional Bedouin meal of lamb and potatoes. They cook it in the ground for several hours. The only thing that the meal was missing was a few cold beers. It was the last night of Ramadan and our hosts are very observant of the no alcohol during Ramadan policy. Since Ramadan ends with the new moon, we had a pitch black night by which to see the stars. After the singing and dancing around the campfire ended, most of us found a comfortable spot and kicked back to see a view of the starry sky that only the desert can offer.

The intrigue also began this night. Our guide, Khaleid, disappeared from the camp and no body knew where he went. One of the Bedouins, who spoke English, finally told us that Khaleid was in the hospital because he had become very sick. I knew that he wasn’t feeling well. You could tell that by just watching him but nobody knew he was that sick. All 15 of us went to bed that night, in the middle of the desert, not knowing if we had a guide for the rest of our stay in Jordan. I don’t think that it made anybody sleep any worse but it was in the back of everyone’s mind.

Cairo, Mt. Sinai, and Newaba

2008-09-28T06:53:00.000-07:00

Days 71-73, September 25-28, 2008

From Luxor, we took another overnight train back to Cairo. Everyone was beat from the early mornings and long days so it was an early bedtime all around.

When we got back to Cairo, we started our day by touring the largest mosque in Cairo named the Mohammad Ali Mosque. Apparently, this is named after the Egyptian King that built the mosque and not the boxer.

The afternoon was spent exploring a large market and at night, a few of us went to the sound and light show at the pyramids which blew away the one at Karnak. Seeing the pyramids during the day is impressive enough but seeing them lit up at night with stars as the backdrop is absolutely amazing.

Early the next morning, we departed for Mt. Sinai which is located at the modern day Egyptian town of St. Catherine. It really isn’t much of a town but rather a small collection of hotels set-up to cater to pilgrims and tourists. The monastery of St. Catherine is also at the bottom of Mt. Sinai and is said to be the location that Moses spoke to God through the burning bush.

Driving through the Sinai is one hell of an experience: Hell because it's hot and an experience because of the security. They have had several terrorist bombings at resorts here over the last 10 years so security is very tight. It’s even tighter now since the tourists got kidnapped in southwestern Egypt. Every 50 kilometers or so, there are roadblock checkpoints staffed by the army. Sometimes, they check everyone’s passports and other times, you have someone armed from the army or tourist police ride along in the bus for a while. It is a little unnerving at first but it quickly becomes just part of the routine.

Once we got to St. Catherine, we decided as a group that we were going to hike up Mt. Sinai to watch the sun set and then hike back down in the dark. We started to ascend at about 2:30 or so local time and it took me a little over 2 hours to hike to the top. It was difficult, steep climb to begin with and even more difficult with a broken foot.

However, it was all worth it at the top when, much like Moses, I received two tablets directly from God.

The following are the new 10 Commandments (as handed down from on high by God into the hands of the new prophet, me, on September 26, 2008:

1. Thou shall not mix whiskey and beer
2. Thou shall not be a Michigan Wolverine fan
3. Thou shall spend money you don’t have and worry about it later
4. Thou shall not exercise to the point of perspiration
5. Thou shall not watch “The Hills”
6. Thou shall enjoy unemployment to its fullest
7. Thou shall try any new food which is offered twice but may pass on cow brains
8. Thou shall remember that being single equals being happy
9. Thou shall drink to excess whenever thou pleases except in the case of Tequila which should be drank in moderation occasionally.
10. That shall always tailgate like it will be your last

Besides becoming a modern day prophet, the rest of the climb was also well worth it. The view from the top was amazing. You can see forever and it was an amazingly colorful sunset. Also, on the climb down in the dark (which, at times, was more difficult than the way up), I don’t think that I’ve ever seen so many stars.

My last day in Egypt was spent in the resort town of Newaba on the Red Sea. It was a good way to finish the Egyptian part of my trip. We did some snorkeling in the Red Sea, laid on the beach, and had a little beach party at night from which most of the group stumbled back to their rooms. I was impressed with the endurance of the group because the next morning we had a 5:30 wake-up call to depart for our next stop, Jordan.

Luxor, Egypt (apparently not named after the Vegas hotel)

2008-09-25T06:30:00.001-07:00

Days 68-70, September 22-24, 2008

We departed Aswan early on Monday morning via felucca. A felucca is a traditional Egyptian sailboat. Our destination, eventually, was Luxor. Luxor is a city that is a few hundred miles north of Aswan. We sailed on the felucca all day on Monday, camped Monday night next to an Island in the middle of the Nile, and then finished the trip on Tuesday morning via van.

I am pretty sure that spending all day on a slow boat sailing down the Nile was not my entire group’s favorite part of the trip but I absolutely loved it. Egyptians have been sailing up and down the Nile using the same basic technology for millennia. I, being a sailor, really enjoyed seeing how their sails were rigged, how they handled the boat, and most of all, I really just enjoyed relaxing on a boat all day long. With all of the beautiful girls from my tour on the boat with me, I felt like a real pharaoh.

The night was one of the most fun nights I’ve had on the trip yet. We drank the boat out of wine and beer and our Nubian guides had to go to another boat that was camped down the beach to procure us some more warm beer. They also got out some drums and we had a Nubian sing and dance along which wasn’t good on my foot but how many times am I going to be camped in the middle of the Nile singing with Nubians?

They also busted out some of their classics like, “In the jungle, the mighty jungle.” Afterward, we busted out some of our classics like, “Old McDonald had a farm.” I always forget, though, that every culture has its own words for animal sounds. In Egypt, the cow doesn’t go “moo”, the pig doesn’t go “oink”, and the chicken doesn’t go “cluck-cluck.” So unfortunately, “Old McDonald” is not the best song to bring abroad as no one understands why the chickens in America go cluck-cluck instead of pia-pia. After the Old McDonald disaster, someone figured out that “I’m a little teapot” works much better. All I’ll say about that is that if I ever run for office, I’ll have to fear that some incriminating “I’m a little teapot” photos may surface.

NOTE: I’m a little teapot photos excluded here for the sake of what’s left of my dignity.

Luxor is famous because it was, in antiquity, called Thebes and was the capital of Ancient Egypt for much of its history. Luxor also has the largest temple complex of Ancient Egypt which is called Karnak and is also home to the Valley of the Kings. The Valley of the Kings was the final resting place for most of Egypt’s Pharaohs after the pyramid building age and, in 1922, was where the untouched tomb of King Tut was discovered.

We visited Karnak both at day to explore the sprawling complex and at night to see the sound and light show. During our daytime exploration of the temple, which is impressive as anything else I’ve seen here except for the Great Pyramid, the temperature in the sunlight reached 50 degrees Celsius which is over 120 degrees Fahrenheit. It was hot.

The nighttime sound and light show was fine and I mostly wanted to go because it was featured in the James Bond Movie, “The Spy Who Loved Me.”

When James Bond was at Karnak, it looked something like this:

When I was at Karnak, it looked something like this:

Before the Karnak light show, we took several horse and carriages on a tour around Luxor. This was fun but the coolest part was going through the local market. The street is barely big enough for the market and shoppers and we were barreling through with a horse and carriage. No wonder people hate tourists.

Our last morning in Luxor, we visited the Valley of the Kings. In order to climb up to the valley, we all hopped on donkeys. I always envisioned that this part of my tour would be more like our camel ride from the other day and we would be trekking across the desert like intrepid explorers reading to discover the tomb of a long dead pharaoh. In actuality, all we did was ride in a close cluster up the main road dodging busses and cars full of the other tourists all staring down at us. Watching our donkeys sneeze on us, kick us, and try to buck us, I am sure that they were saying to themselves, “Look at those asses. They’re all riding donkeys.” Between the dirt, donkey snot, and sweat, it must have looked like we all crawled through foxholes by the time that we got to the valley.

It was no big deal though because the Valley was a cool place to visit. They have discovered 62 tombs here the only intact one being King Tut’s. Some of the tombs are closed for restoration but we had time to go into three of them: Ramses 3, Ramses 4, and Tutmoses 3. Though none of them contain their original treasures, the hieroglyphs and art on the walls still holds their original color and is incredibly impressive. Most of the paintings and carvings look like they could have been completed over the last several months and not over 3000 years ago.

(Both pictures from inside the tombs are from the internet)

The tomb of Tutmoses was my favorite because you had to climb up the mountain to get to the entrance and then descend far back down into the same mountain to get to the burial chamber.

Our last big tour of Luxor was the temple of Hachepsut who was the most powerful queen of ancient Egypt. In a society in which women could not rule, she took the title of King and ruled as one for over 20 years. Her mummy very recently discovered and we saw it in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo last week.

It was so hot in Luxor, all we did the rest of the time was hang out in the hotel pool.

Aswan, Egypt

2008-09-23T08:55:00.001-07:00

Day 66-67, September 20-21, 2008

FOOT UPDATE: As diagnosed by a doctor that is part of our tour group, I have definitely broken my foot. I have a fracture of my 5th metatarsal which I can do absolutely nothing for except suck up the pain and wait for it to heal.

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I have been in Aswan, Egypt for the last two days. Aswan is famous for a few reasons. It is one of most southerly inhabited areas of Egypt, the granite for the Pyramids was excavated from here, and this is the site of the Aswan Dam.

The Aswan Dam was built in the 1960’s with funding from the Soviet Union to help protect the Nile Valley from flooding and to generate electricity. The Nile starts thousands of miles south of here (it’s the longest river on Earth) in the mountains of central Africa. Every year from antiquity through 1970, during the rainy season , the Nile would overflow its banks and flood the entire Nile valley. The ancient Egyptians relied on this to both fertilize and irrigate their crops. Without the annual flooding, there would have been no Egyptian civilization known to us today. It was so important for farming that Imperial Rome relied on Egypt’s wheat to feed its empire. The Nile flooding was so exact that the ancient Egyptian’s named one of their months “Inundation” in honor of and in prediction of the floods.

With modern irrigation and farming techniques, more people living in the Nile Valley, and the occasional disaster, the flooding was much less important to modern Egyptians who needed safety and power so the dam was built. Behind the dam now exists the largest lake in the Mideast following the course that the Nile once ran through Upper Egypt. Lake Nassar is narrow but over 300 miles long and extends into Sudan to the south. It is a big, blue lake surrounded by desert.

Besides the Aswan Dam, we visited the Philae Temple dedicated to the Goddess Isis, the granite quarry, and the temple of Abu Simbal.

I’ll include some pictures of the quarry and the Philae Temple. It was quite amazing. It was built a few hundred years BC and was used to worship the goddess, Isis. During the early Christian persecutions, it was also used to worship Christ. Amidst the walls of hieroglyphics, one can also make our crosses and early Christian symbols. In the 1960’s, to escape being drowned by the birth of Lake Nassar, the entire temple was cut into pieces and reassembled on higher ground. The same process was used to save the temples at Abu Simbal much farther upstream.

The most impressive thing about the quarry is a giant obelisk that was carved out of the rock but then cracked so was left as is, ruined, over 3000 years ago. It is impressive that the ancient Egyptians were able to precisely cut the rock for all of their monuments without using any metal tools. All of the pyramids and all of the temples of ancient Egypt were quarried using stone to cut stone.

At night, after our tours, we took a long camel ride around the desert for sunset. Out of our entire group, myself, Maria, and Shilpa had the most lively camels. I think I laughed for an hour straight while the camels were racing around with us on their backs. All the while we were doing our best to get a few good pictures and not fall off. My camel was named “Crocodile.” I asked the camel jockey (a legitimate one) if he got that name because he bit like a crocodile. He said no but I am pretty sure that if he could have reached his neck around to me, I’d have been camel cud. Maria’s camel was named Christine. Our camels raced for a while, and while she may tell you differently, my camel defiantly won.

Nubian camel jockeys follow on foot to make sure the camel don’t decide to take off into the desert. When they want the camels to go faster, they yell, “Ya la.” Ya la roughly means, “go” or “get moving” or “come on.” So for and hour, I kept hearing, “Ya la, Christine, ya la.” I can’t wait to see my friends Dan and Christine in New Jersey and let Dan know how to call for his wife in Arabic. Sorry Christine. Ya la, Christine, ya la!

We took the camels to a Nubian village for dinner. The part of Egypt, in antiquity, was the country of Nubia, the perennial enemies of Egypt. The locals were and are referred to as Nubians. They have black skin, their own language and live in one of the more beautiful, if not hot, areas of modern Egypt. Saturday, the temperature hit 105+ but with zero humidity here in the desert.

Yesterday, my last full day in Aswan, we took a trip down to the temples of Abu Simbal. Abu Simbal is the large temple complex built by Ramses II, the Moses Pharoah, and one of the longest reigning and most powerful of ancient Egypt. Ramses is probably the most well-known Pharaoh, next to King Tut, and it is his image that is often used in modern media to depict an Egyptian Pharaoh.

We had to leave very early for Abu Simbal with our wake-up call at 3:15 AM. It is about 150 miles south of Aswan, deep into the Egyptian desert. The reason that you have to leave so early is that there are set caravan times to go to the temple. Since it is relatively close to the Sudanese border, one of the most dangerous places on Earth, all tourist buses have to drive together and need a security escort. The day after we were there, 11 tourists were kidnapped by some Sudanese in another border area of Egypt. They were off on their own in a place that they probably shouldn’t have but I am still glad that we had our security convoy.

There are two temples at the site: one dedicated by Ramses II to the sun god Ra and one by his wife Neferteri to the goddess, Mut. Both are over 3500 years old and amazingly preserved. In much of the temple, the hieroglyphs are so well preserved that you can still see the original paint on them. This would be impressive no matter what but even more so if you consider that the entire temple has been moved 50 meters up and several hundred meters down from its original location which now sits at the bottom of Lake Nassar. When the Aswan Dam was being built, Egypt and UNISCO organized a worldwide international coalition of archaeologists and engineers to document and save as many of the Nubian and Egyptian sites as possible that would be flooded by the new lake.

Abu Simbal, over the course of several years and with the Nile rising more everyday, was cut into pieces and perfectly reconstructed in its new location. It is so precisely reassembled that if you had visited in the 1950’s and then again today, you may have no clue that you are in a completely different spot.

The temple was great and totally worth the early wake-up but it did make for a very sleepy ride back to Aswan.

That night, we went through a crazy market and did some shopping. I had a great few days in Aswan.

Ya la, Christine, ya la!

She’s going to kill me.

Updates (Also new Cairo post below)

2008-09-22T03:54:00.000-07:00

Ihave had a few emails asking me how my foot is feeling so I figured I'd answer.

It hurts. I am getting around and I'm not worried about it getting worse but I still have to climb Mt. Sinai later this week which is going to be tough if it doesn't get any better. I'm on a boat all day today so I'll be off of it and am hoping that will help. I've pretty much been limping around most of Egypt.

On a happier note, yesterday was a big day for me. For the first, and probably last, time in my life, I had to trim my moustache. I feel like such a big boy. Granted, it's taken over two months to have enough to trim but, nonetheless, I am proud.

Egypt has been great. I have two posts ready to go but need to find a place to upload pictures.

I hope that you're still enjoying the blog. I really appreciate all of the comments and emails. Sorry it has taken so long to post entries but my net access has not been great since I left SE Asia. I found a good place in Cairo, though, so at the very least, I should be able to get things up to date by Thursday when I am back there.

PS. From all accounts, the party at my house in KC went great. I'll have to have another when I get back so I can actually be there. I'm home in less than three weeks.

Take care,
David

Cairo

2008-09-18T11:48:00.000-07:00

Day 63-65, September 17-19, 2008

I flew into Egypt yesterday.

My first glimpse of the pyramids was from the air. I was flying in from the east. After my layover in Bahrain, I flew across Saudi Arabia, the Sinai Peninsula, and the Suez and Aquaba Gulfs at the north end of the Red Sea. If I listened to my freshman year high school religion teacher, Sister Joan, I would still believe that Moses crossed the Panama Canal. However, as the bible has it, he crossed with the Hebrews somewhere under where my plane flew over 3000 years ago.

From the turquoise blue of the Red Sea, you cross over the eastern Egyptian desert. It looks like pictures from a Martian Lander. The sand and clay have a faint red tint and the desert stretches as far as the eye can see.

Almost all of Egypt’s population of 80 million lives, as they have for over 5000 years, in the several mile belt of habitable land that hugs the Nile up the entire length of the country. From the air, the boundary between desert and oasis looks like someone drew a sharp line in the sand down on either side of the Nile.

Our airplane crossed the Nile Valley and turned around back west to land. After completing the turn, there they were: the pyramids of Giza towering over everything else in the city. They sit on a patch of desert on the West side of the Nile and almost everything around them has been irrigated to try to reclaim any habitable land from the desert. They look like they are sitting on a sandy little island surrounded by a sea of green. Even from the air, you can get a sense of their size. You can also pick out the Great Pyramid even if all you had as a description was its name. It is noticeably the largest of the three main pyramids there. I visit on Friday and cannot wait.

I was met at the airport by a representative of the tour company, Meena, who helped me through immigration and drove me to my hotel. I had a day and a half in Cairo without any plans before my tour started.

Meena, recommended a few tours that I could do that weren’t included in my package and a few of them sounded great. Today, after I leave this internet café (the best I’ve found on my trip), I am going to visit the pyramids at Saquarra. Saquarra is where pyramid building began. It has the experiments that were built leading up to the monsters that are on the plateau of Giza. If you want to see how pyramids evolved, you start here.

The other tour he recommended was a walking tour of Muslim and Coptic Cairo led by him, of course. I decided to do that tour last night. Meena was the perfect person to lead this tour. Before becoming a tour guide, he worked for an archeological reconstruction company that restored mosques around Cairo. That meant that not only did he know where to go, he also knew everyone at the mosques so we could go places that most people cannot.

We got to see many old, beautiful mosques and even a Coptic Christian church that is over 1600 years old. That’s not old compared to the pyramids but even Rome doesn’t have any functioning churches that old. At one mosque that Meena had worked at, we were able to climb to the top of the minaret which is the highest point in Cairo. It was an incredible view of a beautiful city. With the minarets shooting up all over the town, it looks like a scene out of Arabian Nights.

The highlight of the evening was a surprise to me and Meena too, I think. He had asked if I would like to stop by the mosque that the crew he used to work with was restoring. Of course I would. When we got there, they were preparing for a Ramadan feast. Ramadan is the most holy month in Islam and the Muslim’s fast from 5AM to 6PM. We arrived at 5:30 so, needless to say, everyone was ready to eat. During Ramadan, since the evening meal is their first of the day, they call it their breakfast. I’ll talk more about Ramadan later because it has been an incredibly interesting time to visit a Muslim country but for now, just know that I was making friends with about 100 hungry Egyptians.

Meena and I were supposed to go to a restaurant for our dinner but his old boss invited us to stay for their feast. Meena asked me with some trepidation if I wanted to stay, as if he were nervous I wouldn’t enjoy it, but little did he know that is right up my alley. So, my first day in Cairo, I found myself having “breakfast” and celebrating Ramadan with 100 of my new Egyptian friends in a mosque that is over 700 years old. It was awesome. I learned a little Arabic and had an amazing time.

Meena, along with several of the workers at the breakfast, were actually Christians. Meena explained to me that, in Egypt, Christians and Muslims are not only very tolerant of each other but value and support each other. I could tell in Meena’s reverence while describing both the mosques and churches, as well as the local traditions for each religion, that though he was a very devout Christian, he too also had a great respect for Islam.

If you would’ve asked me last week if I’d feel comfortable having a Ramadan meal in an Egyptian mosque with scores of Muslims, I don’t know if I could have honestly answered yes. I feel bad about that now, though, since my hosts could not have been more welcoming or friendly.

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My Ramadan feast was yesterday evening. Today, I took a tour of Memphis, a capitol of ancient Egypt and Saquarra, which I had mentioned earlier as the birthplace of the pyramid.

Memphis was not much to look at. It sits in the Nile Valley and millennia of flooding have taken their toll. They have excavated some amazing artifacts which can be seen in a museum on site but other than that, it was a quick stop.

Saquarra was very interesting. Djosier, a pharaoh that lived about 2600 years BC, built here the first large, stone, pyramid shaped tomb for himself. It is not a true pyramid as compared to the monoliths a few miles away, though, because it is really a series of progressively smaller square building built on top of each other. It also doesn’t have some of the other architectural requirements to be classified as a true pyramid but is impressive nonetheless and served as inspiration for later pharaohs to build theirs.

Also visible here, in the distance, is the first true pyramid. It is named the red pyramid and was built by a pharaoh named Snefru. Next to it is another of Snefru’s earlier failed pyramids called the Bent Pyramid. The lower half was built with normal proportions but, since pyramid building hadn’t been perfected yet, it couldn’t support its own weight and the angle had to be changed at the top to use less stone and reduce the weight.

Tonight, I meet my tour group with which I will spending the next 17 days. I will pick-up writing after then.

Right now it is Sunday afternoon. I am in Aswan, Egypt and have some time to catch up on as it has been a very packed few days. I’ll start back where I left off on Thursday evening.

That night, I met my tour group. I was a little worried about this because I knew that THE group can make or break any trip. Fortunately, I have a great group. It is diverse, though not as diverse as some groups I have been with, and everyone seems to be fun or at least friendly. That’s a good thing because I will be spending over 2 weeks with them. Actually, I will be spending more time with some of them as several people are going to hop the border into Israel and we have decided to travel together.

There are 15 people in the group plus our leader, Michael. He is a 26 year old Egyptian and so far, has been a great leader. His English and knowledge are excellent. Also, we have a group that can be easily distracted and he has done a great job of keeping us on track. That has been no easy task on his end, I am sure.

In the group, there are:
- A couple from Sweden
- A couple from NY
- A girl from NY
- A girl from Colombia
- Two couples from Canada
- A guy from Melbourne
- Two girls from Canada
- A girl from Oregon
- Me

I have mostly been hanging out with one of the Canadian couples, Brian and Karen; the couple from NY, Brain and Shipra; the girl from NY, Katie; the two Canadian girls, Amanda and Larissa; and the Colombian girl, Maria. That is my extended Egyptian family. Mostly, though, it seems that everyone has broken off into twos for sightseeing and picture taking and the person that I have been hanging out with the most is the Colombian girl, Maria. She is crazy. Maria esta loca!

We all met on Thursday night and our tours started on Friday. That was our Pyramid and Egyptian museum day.

Driving around Cairo, you can get a sense of the beauty and culture of the city but, like most big cities around the world, sanitation is not high on the priority list. On the way to the pyramids, you pass several irrigation canals that come off of the Nile and all are full of trash. One of them even had a bloated dead horse floating in it. I was sitting next to my friend, Maria, on the bus and neither of us could really believe what we had just seen.

The Great Pyramid is beyond words. I don’t know any more that I can say that hasn’t already been said or written about it. It took a crew of 100,000 people over 20 years to complete, consists of over 2 million granite blocks that all weigh over 10 tons and were floated up the Nile from over 500 miles away. It was the tallest manmade structure on Earth for over 4500 years and standing next to it and climbing onto it is something nobody should live their life without experiencing.

While at the pyramid complex, we also took a short camel ride and saw the other pyramids and the Sphinx. That was my first of two camel rides so far and I noticed one consistency: camels stink.

All in all, it was an amazing day. We spent a few hours at the pyramids and it wasn’t near enough. We moved so quickly in order to see everything that there wasn’t really enough time to just sit and appreciate what was in front of me. Next week, we have another day in Cairo and I think that I will have to go back to the pyramids.

The afternoon consisted of a few hours at the Egyptian Museum which houses all of the treasures of Ancient Egypt that haven’t ended up in the U.S, France, or Britain. This museum has over 100,000 pieces on exhibit so it is impossible to see everything but we definitely got the highlights. We saw some of the more famous mummies like Ramses II which is the Pharaoh that is most often associated with Moses and the Exodus. We also saw the King Tut exhibit which takes up most of one floor of the museum. I have never seen so much gold in one place. King Tut was, in reality, a rather insignificant Pharaoh who is famous to us solely because his tomb was the only one, out of scores of Pharaohs, that wasn’t looted in antiquity. From it, we saw how much effort and wealth was put into ensuring the afterlife of a Pharaoh. I’ve also decided that when my time comes, I would also like a 100 pound solid gold mask resting with me. Is that too much to ask?
(King Tut picture from the internet)

From here, we proceed via train to the far south of Egypt, about 500 miles up the Nile from Cairo. We’ll be spending a few days there and then making our way via boat, bus, and train back north to Cairo over several days before spending some time at the Red Sea, the Sinai Peninsula, and then crossing into Jordan for the second part of the tour.

Back to Kathmandu and Mt. Everest

2008-09-18T11:30:00.001-07:00

Day 60-62, September 14-16, 2008 (No Malaria)

I am now 62 days into this trip and my odds of getting malaria are almost zero. I almost feel guilty now calling this the Malaria Blog. If anyone has any suggestions of what I should re-name the blog, let me know. I will consider all options…except for whatever you propose, Chad. I usually never have any clue what you are talking about.

My trip back from the JPC was relatively uneventful except for a few gangs of teenagers that blocked the road at points trying to demand a toll to get by. I was totally intimidated by the yelling and hitting the car and would have caved and paid them double but Arjun just laughed at them and drove past. He’s the man. One of the Irish girls that was at the JPC needed a ride back to Kathmandu so we let her hop in. Since Arjun doesn’t speak a lot of English, it was nice to have someone to talk to on the long ride.

When I got back to Kathmandu, I went to meet Abe and Anna Goodale and their guide, Eck. I had met them back at the JPC. We were going to go to the Kumari festival that I had mentioned in my first Nepal post. This is one of the stranger and more fascinating festivals and traditions that the Nepalese have.

The Kumari is a little girl, 3-12 years old, who is literally worshiped as a living Goddess. Many cities choose a Kumari to represent them but the most famous and revered in Nepal is the Kathmandu Royal Kumari.
(Kumari Picture from Interet)

The Kumari selection process has been compared to that of the Dali Lama in Tibet and involves many religious and secular leaders in Nepal. I cannot do justice writing about the Kumari tradition so I am going to quote Wikipedia, the world’s foremost authority on everything, to describe the selection process:

“Eligible girls are Buddhists from the Newar Shakya caste (the clan to which the Buddha belonged) of silver and goldsmiths. She must be in excellent health, never have shed blood or been afflicted by any diseases, be without blemish and must not have yet lost any teeth. Girls who pass these basic eligibility requirements are examined for the battis lakshanas, or 'thirty-two perfections' of a goddess. Some of these are poetically listed as such:
A neck like a conch shell
A body like a banyan tree
Eyelashes like a cow
Thighs like a deer
Chest like a lion
Voice soft and clear as a duck's
In addition to this, her hair and eyes should be very black, she should have dainty hands and feet, small and well-recessed sexual organs and a set of twenty teeth.
The girl is also observed for signs of serenity and fearlessness (after all, she is to be the vessel of the fierce goddess Durga) and her horoscope is examined to ensure that it is complementary to the King's. It is important that there not be any conflicts as she must confirm the King's legitimacy each year of her divinity. Her family is also scrutinized to ensure its piety and devotion to the King.
Once the priests have chosen a candidate, she must undergo yet more rigorous tests to ensure that she indeed possesses the qualities necessary to be the living vessel of Durga. Her greatest test comes during the Hindu festival of Dashain. On the kalratri, or 'black night', 108 buffaloes and goats are sacrificed to the goddess Kali. The young candidate is taken into the Taleju temple and released into the courtyard, where the severed heads of the animals are illuminated by candlelight and masked men are dancing about. If the candidate truly possesses the qualities of Taleju, she shows no fear during this experience. If she does, another candidate is brought in to attempt the same thing.”

Once the girl reaches puberty or has any serious illness or loss of blood, it is believed that the Goddess has left her and a new selection process begins.

Once a girl is done with her duties, she goes back to live with her family. By all accounts, they can lead pretty miserable lives. Once worshipped and revered, they often have a lot of difficulty adjusting to life as a mere mortal. Parents still nominate their daughter, though, due to the high honor of having them selected.

The Kumari festival is being held now and we went down yesterday to see the chaos. There had to have been several hundred thousand people in Old City Kathmandu. We couldn’t even get close to the Kumari as she was driven around the town on a huge golden chariot. It was a little overwhelming and fascinating to see so many people turn out to worship a 9 year old girl.

It was good to see Anna and Abe again. They are starting a 8 month trip together all around Asia and down into Indonesia, Australia, and New Zealand. Eck also took us to a little back-alley restaurant to eat mo-mo’s. Mo-mo’s are a Nepali food similar to Chinese dumplings. These were filled with buffalo and were excellent.

Today, my last full day in Nepal, I took a flight north to do a flyby of Mt. Everest. It is really difficult to imagine how big the mountain is. We were cruising at 23,000 feet and the mountain summit was still about a mile above us. For comparison, if you were flying at the same altitude, the summits of Mt. Ranier in Washington or Mt. Hood in Oregon would still be one to two miles below you.

The Kathmandu domestic airport is pretty hilarious. There is an internet café without any computers. Also security is not what I would call tight. I set off the metal detector on the way to my gate and the guard looked at me and waved me through. During the plane ride, the crew opened the cockpit doors and let the passengers come in to see it and a better view of Mt. Everest. I couldn’t imagine any of this happening back home.

Nepal was amazing. I really loved it despite of and often times because of how different it was to anything I have ever experienced. I would love to see Nepal in a few years to see how different it is. I heard that a McDonalds, the worldwide symbol of westernization, is opening in Kathmandu next year. That can only mean that the age of instant communication has started to open up one of the last untouched places on Earth.

Island Jungle Resort...aka...the JPC

2008-09-18T10:56:00.000-07:00

Day 58-60, September 11-13, 2000 (No Malaria)

Arjun and I got an early start to my next destination: Chitwan National Park. Chitwan Park is also located in the large plain in the south of Nepal about 3 hours east of Lumbini. I was scheduled to stay at a place called Island Jungle Resort. I have been here for 3 hours now and all I can tell you is that the “Jungle” part of the title is absolutely correct. It may be on an Island as I had to cross I river to get here but other than that, I have no clue as to my location. The “resort” part is a stretch…a big stretch. I am in my room right now waiting for lunch. It is Spartan at best which isn’t a problem but I am hoping that the lack of mosquito nets doesn’t become one. This entire trip, I’ve been waiting to see unnaturally large bugs worth of some museum collection. I thought that I’d see them in SE Asia but rarely saw any bugs including mosquitoes. I can count my total mosquito bites on one hand since this trip has begun. That may be about to change. While waiting for my boat to cross the very large, swift river to pick me up, I noticed large red beetles, large blue grasshoppers, and mosquitoes the size of small birds. My room does have screens and I am hoping that the mosquitoes here are just too big to get in the room. Unfortunately, there is a gap under the door that a goat could climb through. I may finally be glad that I brought malaria pills. The malaria blog may soon be true to its name!

While I’m here, I suppose to do some safari, jungle trekking, and white water rafting. They have elephants that they use for the safaris. I’m a little torn, after what I saw in Thailand, about riding the elephants. I know that it’s not the best situation for them. I also know that if they aren’t useful for tourism, they probably aren’t useful for anything else and will be sold into something worse, set free to fend for themselves, or maybe even killed.

I’m here for three days and nights with my activities starting this afternoon. When I arrived and checked in, I learned that there is no power except from 6-8 o’clock at night. There are armed guards to protect the guests in case of rhino, bear, or tiger attacks and when I say armed, I mean armed. They are carrying large machine guns. Also, much to my disgust, there is no internet at all. This will be the longest I have gone without internet access since 1995.

So far, this is more like “Jungle Prison Camp” than “Island Jungle Resort.”

The nice part is that I’ve already had plenty of time to catch up on writing the blog. It is nice to write in the present tense a little. Hopefully, I can keep a charge on my battery long enough to keep up-to-date while I’m here. Then when I get back to Kathmandu, I can upload several pictures and post some entries.

Day 2 at “Jungle Prison Camp”

Yesterday was interesting to say the least. When I arrived at the camp, everyone else was out on jungle activities so I was alone in the resort. After I wrote yesterday’s entry, it was lunchtime and I got to meet the rest of the guests. It was a disaster. There was a couple from France, four guys from Spain, and two girls from Ukraine. None of them spoke English so it was a long lunch. I tried to bust out my best high school Spanish on the Spaniards and that lent itself to a little conversation. Unfortunately, the conversation ended abruptly when I was trying to tell them I was embarrassed that I didn’t know more Spanish after studying it for 5 years and instead told them that I was pregnant.**

After lunch, I went for a jungle safari on an elephant with the two Ukrainian girls. I am still conflicted about riding the elephants but they seem to be treated pretty well here so that made me feel a little better. Also, I was very happy I was 10 feet up on an elephant when we ran into a rhinoceros. The rhino was eating some grass in the river and didn’t even seem to notice us on the back of the elephant.

I thought that I was going to have nobody at all to talk to for three days but when I got back to the jungle prison camp, a large new group had arrived. They were late to camp because some locals had shut down a bridge between here and Kathmandu and were not allowing any traffic across. Locals here pretty much run the roads. They set up tolls wherever they like and decide if bridges are open or closed. They new group had to take their luggage, walk across the bridge, and get on a new bus on the other side. I am a little worried since I have to go over this bridge on Sunday morning. I’m hoping that it is opened back up by then.

Part of the group that arrived consisted of a family from Maine and a large group of people from the UK and Israel. Since last night, I have been hanging out with the family from Maine. They have adopted me as their jungle prison camp son and that makes me very happy because for a while there, I was a jungle prison camp orphan. The Goodale family has been incredibly nice to me have been fun to hang out with. Nat and Lilly are the parents and they have four kids. Abe and Anna are in their 20’s and there are two little girls, Adrianna and Jessie. Anna is fresh out of competing in the Beijing Olympics for the US Crew Team. She won the gold. U.S.A…U.S.A…

Goodale family, if you are reading this, thanks again for including me in your jungle activities and congratulations, Anna. You are my favorite Olympian. Michael Phelps sucks.

The two younger kids showed me some of their best card tricks. Although they didn’t always get their intended outcome, all of the tricks were entertaining. They also taught me a new card game. I can’t tell you how satisfying it is to beat two children at cards when their combined age it two thirds of you own. If you’re going to play, you should play to win.

I also made friends with another Israeli couple, Tal and Irit. The three of us played a lot of cards with another Irish girl, and two guys from Denmark. The jungle prison camp is like a low-tech United Nations. While at the JPC, there were people from the USA, England, Ireland, Canada, Ukraine, Israel, Denmark, India, China, Australia, and France.

Over the course of the three days, I took a few jungle walks and several elephant safaris. We saw monkeys (of course), crocodiles, deer, an owl, and rhinos. While we saw several tracks and claw marks on trees, the local tigers eluded us. There are three that live in the area but are apparently very shy of humans and sightings are more by accident than design. Honestly, I am starting to think that the tracks and claw marks are planted by some eager to please jungle prison camp guides.

The first jungle walk we went on, we got our safety talk about the dangerous animals that we could encounter. Jungle safety is as follows:

Rhinoceros – If it charges, run away from it in a zigzag pattern. If that doesn’t work, climb a tree.

Bear – Do not climb a tree. If a bear charges, stay in a group and make a lot of noise.

Tiger- Stay in the group and do not make a lot of noise. Do not turn your back on the tiger and do not leave the group. Tigers like to attack single targets from behind.

I am quite sure that if any of these animals meant to do me harm, no safety talk would’ve helped. I saw a rhino charge from the back of an elephant one day, there was no amount of zigzags that would’ve stopped me from being flat. Two rhinos got in a fight which sounded like gunshots. One barreled out from behind a tree running faster than an animal that size should be able to. It freaked our elephants and they trumpeted and started running towards the rhino. Luckily, the drivers calmed the elephants down pretty quickly. It was crazy.

(Tiger Claw Marks on a tree)

In reality, the animal we had to worry about most were the leeches. We never got the leech safety speech. The crawl up on leaves near the ground and stick to your ankles as you walk by. They even get in your socks. If your lucky, you can feel something wet on your leg and get them off right away. Unfortunately, they have an anesthetic and anti-coagulant in their saliva so you can’t feel them bite and when you get them off (which is usually pretty easy), the bite takes a long time to stop bleeding.

Day 3 at the JPC.

Today is half-way over and all I have done is sit around the dining area by the river. Last night, I had a little mishap after watching a traditional dance from a local tribe. I was walking to the dining hall and rolled my foot on a rock outside my cabin. Today, I can’t put any weight on it at all, am walking around using a cane, and really don’t know how I am going to get on an elephant this afternoon. I have decided that I am never walking around the dark jungle wearing flip flops after having too many beers again. In all reality, I am a little nervous that this injury is going to slow me down. I am leaving for Egypt on Tuesday (it is now Saturday) and for the three and a half weeks after that, I have to be on my feet a lot. The timing of this couldn’t have been worse. Hopefully, tomorrow, I’ll be up and running.

** If you don’t get this joke, go online and look up the words in Spanish for embarrassed and pregnant.

Pokhara and Lumbini

2008-09-16T22:29:00.001-07:00

Day 55-57, September 8-10, 2008 (No Malaria)

Namaste.

My week long road trip away from Kathmandu began with the 6 hour drive west through the mountains to the city of Pokhara. The driving, as it is everywhere, was hair-raising. The trip to Pokhara is several hundred kilometers of road winding up and down through the Himalayan Mountains. There is not as much traffic as in the cities but the speed at which traffic drives, along with the condition and cliff-side location of the roads, makes it scarier than any amusement park ride I’ve ever been on. The most dangerous parts of the driving are the landslides. In the 6 hours I spent in the mountains, there were probably 100 of them. Some were fairly recent in which you had to drive over or through them and some were older where people had cleared the road down to one lane. Either way, with driving conditions already less than perfect, every landslide made the road that much more treacherous. Also, I didn’t know that there were so many different kinds of landslides. You have big landslides and little landslides; You have rock landslides and you have dirt landslides; You have wet landslides and you have dry landslides. I preferred driving through the little, rock, dry ones the most and the big, dirt, wet ones the least. During one particular big, wet, mud one, some more mud actually started to fall while we were driving through it. It wasn’t much but it scared the hell out of me.

The entire trip, Arjun, my driver was trying to describe different things to me about what we were seeing with little success. I think that his vocabulary is probably OK but his accent is very hard to understand. When we were passing through the big, wet, mud landslide, I asked him what happens if the mud falls on us. Very clearly and calmly, I heard him answer, “dead probably.” That was not reassuring…at all. I also later asked him if he had ever been hit in by falling rocks and he laughed and said, “Yes.” I asked how many times and he said, “Many.” That is not at all what I wanted to hear when so far removed from any civilization.

One thing that did impress me about Nepal was how smart the animals were. I have driven past thousands of cows, chickens, ducks, water buffalo, dogs, and goats all grazing and playing in and around the road and have only seen two dead dogs. One of those was on top of a giant trash pile, though, so I don’t think it even counts as road kill. All of the animals actually look both ways, like we teach children back home, before crossing the road.

The Nepalese even let their children play by the roadside. There are very young kids sitting on the shoulder playing next to traffic. Some of them look 3 to 5 years old. I wish that the children’s appreciation for traffic stayed with them into adulthood. So far, we’ve driven over 500 kilometers around Nepal and have come close to hitting no children or animals. We have hit one adult (not injured, thank God) and grazed several more. I am pretty sure that most of them have a death wish.

Pokhara is a very nice city. I wish that I could say the same for Lumbini. They are both, like the rest of Nepal, very archaic. I was trying to think about other cities that I have visited that are similar sizes and I decided that Pokhara is about the size of Chang Mai, Thailand and Lumbini is about the size of Hoi An, Vietnam. Both Nepalese cities make their SE Asian counterparts look like Manhattan. Pokhara, even with a large hydroelectric facility fairly close, still has rolling blackouts everyday which are fairly random and last for several hours. You can be sitting in a restaurant or internet café and the power just goes out. You can walk a few blocks away and usually find someplace with some electricity but theirs may or may not go out any minute. Also, for a fairly small city, there are hundreds of cattle living free in the streets. Sometimes the streets were so full of cows that it reminded me of watching old westerns with the cattle drives. Needless to say, they make a huge mess. Other than the blackouts and cattle, Pokhara is a pretty nice place. It is tucked away in the Himalayans and has two large lakes next to it. From the lakes, and several points around the city, you can see the high snow covered peaks in the distance and it is quite beautiful. While I was there, I did some kayaking on the lake and got up early one morning to try to see the sunrise. I didn’t get a very clear sunrise but it was beautiful nonetheless. Pokhara, like Chang Mai and Hoi An, is a big backpacker spot. Unlike those places, though, where the backpackers seem to be couples or students on holiday, Pokhara was almost exclusively hippy. I’ve never seen so many dreadlocks in my life.

All in all, Pokhara was pretty relaxing. I was still there before the beginning of official tourist season, though, and the town seemed to be getting ready. The hotel that I was staying in seemed half-closed and was prepping for the influx of tourists next month. There was a lot of sanding, painting, and cleaning going on. The place was so empty I almost felt like I was staying at the place in The Shining.

One thing I learned in Pokhara, though, is never eat sushi in Pokhara. I got pressured into trying sushi by one of my guides in a restaurant at which she works. I'll just say that the tuna was from a can and I've had better.

Lumbini is a small town right along the India/Nepal border about another 6 hour ride south of Pokhara. The southern part of Nepal is a big flat plain contrasting the mountains that occupy most of the country. It is hot on the plain. Lumbini was over 100 degrees when I was there. There is really no reason on Earth to spend anytime here except for the fact that it is the birthplace of the Buddha.

The short, short version of the Buddha legend is as follows: The man that we know today as the Buddha, or “Enlightened One,” was born here in Lumbini as the son of the king of the area in the 6th century BC. His given name was Siddhartha Guatama. Shortly after his birth, a seer told the father of the Buddha that he was destined to become either a great king and conquer a huge empire or a great holy man and save the world. His father, being a king himself, wanted his son to follow in his footsteps so tried to shield young Siddhartha from any religious teaching or exposure to world suffering. Siddhartha grew up not knowing of sickness, death, starvation, or poverty. Despite his father’s efforts, Siddhartha left his palaces and eventually saw and old man, sickness, a corpse, and a holy man. He was so moved by leaning that there was suffering in the world, he left his life as a prince and became a monk in search of the meaning of life and salvation for humanity. After several years of meditation and learning, he became the Buddha breaking the endless cycle of birth and death and chose to share the true way with the rest of humanity. Almost all modern religions today incorporate facets of Buddhism.

The birthplace of the Buddha is now situated in the middle of a large park that houses many stupas and monuments that have been erected by many nations. This is one of, if not the most, holy pilgrimage site of Buddhism. I was surprised to see that the temple marking the birthplace of Buddha is so modest. I was expecting a huge, golden temple to have been erected on the site. All there is on this most holy Buddhist site is a simple rectangular brick building. It was so hot that I didn’t feel like touring the dozens of other stupas in the park so I decided to call it an early day and check into the hotel.

Modern Lumbini town is hot, dirty, disgusting, and unfriendly. There are so many cows everywhere that they make a mess on the hot streets and most of the adult men chew some kind of red tobacco that they spit everywhere that looks like blood. It is not remotely tourist or westerner friendly and after trying to find a descent spot to check email, I decide to hide in my room for the rest of the afternoon and night. The little that I did walk around, I realized that I must have been the only westerner in the town and stuck out like a sore thumb. It seems like the kind of place in which it’s not good to stick out like a sore thumb.

The Kathmandu Valley

2008-09-14T21:45:00.000-07:00

Day 52-54, September 5-7, 2008 (No Malaria)

Namaste.

Of all of the places that I have visited so far, I have experienced the most culture shock (and general shock) in Nepal. It is an amazingly beautiful country that desperately wants to be in the 21st century but, in a lot of ways, is still stuck in the 19th. The country is one of the most beautiful I have seen but often lacks in the basics like sanitation or electricity. In every city that I’ve been in here, there have been rolling blackouts throughout the day. That means that specific blocks or areas do not have power for several scheduled hours each day. It is a country largely untouched by the west unlike the SE Asian counties that, through war or tourism, have had much western influence. Nepal doesn’t have a McDonalds or KFC. While this is not, by any means, the hallmark of an advance culture, they litter almost every city in SE Asia. I think that it is indicative that Nepal, landlocked between India and Tibet, has been able to resist the influences that have turned areas of most asian cities into strange imitations of any American strip mall. Nepal’s population of 27 million has retained their heritage which is unique to itself although influenced by its Indian and Tibetan neighbors.

They Nepalese people are a predominantly Hindu with Buddhism compromising most of the rest of the population From the people that I've talked to here, it seems like many people consider themselves both religions. It seems odd to claim two religions but Hindus consider Buddha an incarnation of the god Vishnu so it's not a stretch for someone to practice both. The end goal of both religions is the same which is to break the cycle of life and death in order to enter into heaven. Even the route to achieve these goals has a lot of overlap. Most temples here are primarily dedicated to one religion or the other but almost all have places to worship deities from both religions. I spent my first three days in Nepal in the Kathmandu Valley. The valley is totally surrounded by mountains and holds several cities the largest of which is the Nepali capitol of Kathmandu. Kathmandu gained some world notoriety in the 60's and 70's as a legal place to smoke marijuana drawing hippies from worldwide. The city still bears evidence of its hippy past. There is a temple called hippy temple which used to be a good place to get high and people watch and the street around the corner is called Freaky Street. As much as most Nepalese say that this is a part of their past, a marijuana culture is still present everywhere. Hindu holy men are still allowed to smoke it whenever they want and they live in caves along the river in the middle of the city. Pot still grows along the side of the road all over the country. As a matter of fact, during my jungle safari, several fun-loving Irish were also staying at the lodge. On their way to the jungle, they had their bus driver stop so they could do some “harvesting” of their own. Still to this day, each February/March, there is a huge festival in Kathmandu to honor the god Shiva. During this festival, which seems like it must be a very free spirited one, the government hands out pot to the revelers. Hundreds of thousands of people turn out for this.

While in Nepal, I have one driver taking me everywhere. He picked me up at the airport last Friday and will be dropping me off next Tuesday. His name is Arjun and speaks very little English. I will be in the car with Arjun, just of two of us, for somewhere around 24 hours. Those are going to be (and already have been) some long rides.

Thankfully, though, Arjun is a good driver. I don't know how people learn to drive here but traffic is, like most places, insane. In Nepal, though, there is the added obstacle on the road of livestock. Cows are considered sacred in Hinduism and there are domesticated cows living out happy existences everywhere. Some even sit in the middle of traffic fully confident that their holy butts will not end up as road kill. They also have no regard for cars and may decide to cross or change direction at any moment. Added to the cows, even in the cities, are herd of water buffalo, sheep, and goats that all use the roadside to graze and add to the chaos of traffic. Even passing busses on the road sometimes, you an see a goat or calf staring out at you from a window. That’s another reason to avoid the public busses.

The beauty of the valley and country is greatly contrasted with the filth from human occupation present everywhere. Kathmandu is an incredibly dirty city. Along almost every single roadway are piles of trash. It doesn’t look like they have any formal sanitation or the desire to organize it. Even in Cambodia, in which the roadsides are often used as trash dumps, I didn’t see anything like this. Here, there were stretches of road where trash was piled, reeking, 10 or 15 feet high. The piles were used by packs of feral dogs looking for any remaining scraps and also by herds of goats eating, well, everything they saw. As much as I love goat meat, I wouldn’t touch it in Nepal.
While in Kathmandu, I was taken to several Hindu and Buddhist temples. Most are very interesting because they are old and full of history. There are also always many colorful people hanging out at the shrines. There can be monks, con-men, or women on the prowl for a husband. At the first stupa I visited in Kathmandu (a stupa is a Buddhist shrine), I was sitting inside an adjacent monastery listening to the monks chant while my guide, Babo, waited for me outside. When I exited the monastery, he was talking to a young female security guard in Napali and they kept looking back and forth at me. When he finished, we walked away and I asked him what the conversation was about. He told me that she was from a small village, looking for a foreign husband in Kathmandu, and was wondering if I had mentioned anything about wanting to get married. Ha. She definitely picked the wrong American! So far on this trip, I could have picked up a Vietnamese kid and a Nepalese wife. I should go home now before something disastrous happens.

I also saw a local wedding.

I toured Kathmandu and the other 2 main cities of the valley named Patan and Bakhtapur. Different cities are known for different trades. Bakhtapur is known for pottery and Patan is known for metal work. Also, all three cities are very old and filled with temples. Competing rulers in the area used to get into temple building “arms races” with each other. Often associated with the temples, there are many interesting rituals and festivals. One of the more bizarre, by our standards at least, is called the Kumari festival. It is actually occurring while I am here so I’ll wait until I attend to write about it. The Nepalese also still perform animal sacrifice. One of the temples that I visited had a water buffalo’s intestines strung up above the door like a confetti streamer. It seems like the only animal that is not sacrificed fairly regularly is the venerated cow. Their way of worship is so different than anything I’m used to. In front of one temple, there was a giant mask representing a god. There were several men fighting with sticks over the right to drink alcohol from the god’s mouth. The honor to drink from the god happens only once a year so the competition is fierce. Somebody needs to take these guys to a bar! I sometimes need a drink as much as the next guy but I’m not going to get my head bashed in for it. Another temple has a little boy chosen every month as the high priest. You walk in and they have a very young, maybe 5 or 6 year old boy, locked behind bars blessing people and throwing holy water on them. It looks so out of place…an incredibly old temple and a little kid running things.

I spent my second night in Nepal in a little town called Nagarkot. It is on the peak of a mountain at the very Northeast end of the Kathmandu Valley. The hotel was very cool and worth the hazardous drive up the mountain. The road up was barely one lane, in poor condition, winding, and full of cows, bikes, and busses. I was white knuckling it for most of the ride up. There were also some interesting local minorities walking up the mountain in their traditional dress. Nepal has over 60 minorities.

My room overlooked the valley facing away from Kathmandu. It was amazing. That night, I got to see the sunset over the Himalayas. It was spectacular. In the morning, the first of many early ones I’ve had here, I watched the sunrise over the mountains from my bed.

The most interesting thing that I did while in Kathmandu was visit the public Hindu crematorium. In Napali Hindu culture, a person who dies is very quickly taken for cremation. It is usually within hours of death and it is the duty of the family to provide all of the services. This is all done along the river in the middle of the city. It is the same river where there are kids bathing, drinking, and performing other bodily necessities. The family brings the newly deceased to a platform by the river, performs some ceremonies, attends to the body, and then sets it one fire starting at the mouth. I watched the entire process. It was totally fascinating and a little revolting at times. They use a lot of grasses and fragrances while attending to the fire to mask the sights and sounds that occur during the cremation. It is possible, though, to smell and see a little too much for my western eyes and stomach. I have never seen anything like this and regardless of how fascinating it was, I hope to never again. One interesting fact is that up until about 80 years ago, if a man died in Nepal before his wife did, which was often the case, she was forced to be cremated with him alive. Imagine that being part of the wedding vows. That practice was banned before WWII but from what I have been told, it still goes on sometimes in very traditional families.

I really enjoyed my time in Kathmandu. Like most big cities on the trip, it was not my favorite place ever but is was so interesting that more than made up for the filth. I was very much looking forward to my visits to some of the more remote areas of Nepal.

Hanoi and Ha Long Bay

2008-09-05T00:02:00.002-07:00

Day 47-51, September 1-4, 2008 (No Malaria)

Hanoi was probably my favorite “big city” that I have visited on my trip. I took the overnight train there which left from Danang. The landscape in the north of Vietnam is gorgeous and even though I had only a few hours of daylight on the train, I really enjoyed it

I arrived to the hotel around noon and had a whole day in front of me to explore Hanoi. I really didn’t know what to expect. Hanoi had always seemed like such and exotic and foreign place to me when I had thought about visiting. Before I could even leave the hotel, though, I experienced 1 of my 4 room changes for the 3 nights I stayed there. The hotel facilities were very nice and it was very well reviewed online. However, it was operated, much like everything else in Vietnam, like it was everyone’s first day on the job.

I must have walked 10 miles my first afternoon in Hanoi. It’s a pretty nice place to walk around. You have all of the annoyances of any SE Asian city: the beggars, the merchants, the taxi drivers, etc. but they seemed less frequent and less aggressive. Maybe I’m just getting better at ignoring them. Hanoi is also very beautiful with several lakes and parks. Near my hotel, past a very cool food market with all types of fish, meat, and fowl, was a large green lake with a temple in the middle. It was a good place just to go sit, relax and watch people go by. Even with the typical Vietnamese traffic and crazy street crossings, Hanoi seemed much more laid back than other big cities. I did notice, though, that there are very few dogs and no cats around Hanoi. Both are present is huge numbers in every other SE Asian City. Dog is still eaten here so that would account for the scarcity of canines but I still haven’t figured out where all the cats were hiding.

One other odd thing about Hanoi is the morning announcements. Every morning, somebody speaks to the entire city over load speakers placed everywhere. I missed these on the first few mornings but heard them my last morning there. I was told that they say things like, “Work hard for the state and the state will work hard for you” and “Don’t spit on the street.” I am pretty sure that they stole both of these quotes from JFK.

The only thing that I didn’t like on that first day was the Vietnamese Water Puppet Show. All of the guidebooks and several people that I met had all recommended the show and the theater was right around the corner from my hotel. The water puppet show was developed by farmeres as entertainment long ago on the rice paddies. Instead of a hard stage, the puppets are partially immersed in water as their stage. Unfortunately, this is an hour of my life I will not get back. I am sure that the puppeteers work very hard to do what they do but I guess that was just expecting more. The marionette scene is “Sound of Music” is more impressive. I suppose that I thought that this kind of show, being such an old and evolved art form, would be spectacularly intricate with puppets that defied how they should be capable of moving. I am quite sure that if I taped Mike English’s Cabbage Patch Doll to a stick and shook it over someone’s hot tub, it would be a more impressive display of water puppetry.

NOTE: Just before I posted this, I learned that Mike and Corie English welcomed their first child, Finnegan English, into the world this week. Congratulations Mike and Corie! Now Mike can stop playing with his cabbage patch doll.

The next two days, I was scheduled to go on a tour of Ha Long Bay aboard a Vietnamese junk boat. Ha Long bay is in the Gulf of Tonkin east of Hanoi a few hours. It is one of the natural wonders of the world. You’ve all seen it on TV or movies before. The water is emerald green with tall limestone cliffs shooting out of it. It is amazingly beautiful. The hotel almost talked me out of it though. In most of SE Asia, you can book all tours and day activities right through the hotel. I had wanted to do Ha Long Bay after seeing some pictures and reading about it in the guidebooks. Right after I checked in, alone, to the hotel, I tried to book the trip. The girl at the front desk was going over the details with me and said,

“This is very romantic trip. Night on boat very romantic. Good for honeymoon.”

She had just checked me in. She knew I was alone. Romantic honeymoon trip? About the last thing that I needed was to be a third wheel for several happy couples!

Then she says, “At night, you will do much singing and dancing.” Singing and dancing? I, under no circumstances, wanted to sing or dance. In fact, I was worried that if I was forced to sing or dance, there may be a mass suicide by drowning of those disgustingly romantic honeymooners. I decided to take my chances, though, and thought that if I got stuck in the middle of singing and dancing newlyweds, I could hide in my cabin…or just get stinking drunk.

I am so glad that I went. I ended up in a great group of people from all over the world and we had a blast. With me were about 14 people. The group consisted of two couples, an English family with a little girl, two French girls traveling together, me and two other guys traveling alone. Everyone except for the English family and one of the guys who was alone ended up hanging out together most of the trip.

I made good friends with a few of the people. Or and Rona are an Israeli couple with whom I talked a lot. They sat behind me on the bus ride to Ha Long so we had some time to get to know each other. I am going to be in Israel in a few weeks and they gave me a ton of advice on visiting and I have actually changed my plans based on their advice. They also taught me some Hebrew to get me through my trip including some great curses. I can’t wait to bust those out. Ben Zona! On the bus ride back to Hanoi, they put together a Hebrew language guide for me which was very funny in content and very nice of them also. Or also taught me a thing or two about haggling at the markets. You’d think that I’d be better at this but we just don’t come from a haggling culture and it is a skill that takes practice. I’m getting better.

One of the other guys traveling alone was named Danny and he lives in Chicago. His girlfriend, whom he left at home, lives on the same block that I lived in 2001-2003 only a few houses down from where I did. We bonded pretty quickly over that and the fact that he was viewing this trip as a good opportunity to sample several of the local brews. I liked where his head was.

The two French girls and a German couple rounded out the group with which I spent my time. At night, we sat on the top deck of the boat and all drank and laughed a lot. It was a lot of fun.

Over the two days, we sailed around the bay, did some ocean kayaking, swam, toured an Island cave, and visited a small floating fishing village. Overall, the trip was pretty good but in true Vietnamese fashion, there were still several mishaps. I think that the boat was pre-WWII. The floorboards were buckled everywhere and it had defiantly seen better days. Also, the engine died for over an hour one day and we just floated. I told our guide, mostly jokingly, that I could help fix the boat. Imagine my surprise about 45 minutes later when she came and asked me to take a look. Thankfully, the crew fixed it before I had to go into the engine compartment. That will teach me to joke about Vietnamese technology.

Our guide didn’t speak great English. She tried very hard which was appreciated but was very difficult to understand. She would start each announcement to us with, “Ladies and Gentlemens…” Also, the boat had rats; loud rats. Late at night, the entire boat was wakened to shrieking rats running through the walls. At first, I thought that my fan had broke and was making a weird noise but after I heard the scurrying in the walls, I knew that there were more guests on the boat besides the tourists and crew.

The last bizarre thing about the Ha Long Bay tour was my roommate. To avoid paying a single penalty, which I’ve often had to do and means I end up paying two fares for one person, I had to have a room mate on the boat. I don’t usually mind this at all especially when it is only one night. My room mate, however, was the third guy on the boat traveling alone. His name was “Joe” and he was from Japan. Joe also had track marks all over his arms and slept for most of the trip. Most of the boat independently determined that Joe was in SE Asia for more than the scenery. He slept so much, though, that he was pretty harmless and quiet. On the bus ride back to Hanoi, he fell asleep on one of the English women’s shoulders. He also avoided getting into any pictures at all. I hope Joe avoids any Vietnamese prisons on his trip.

After a good Ha Long Bay trip, I only had one day left in Hanoi. I spent my last day in SE Asia with a few new friends: Danny from Chicago and Shannon from Vancouver (who I had met in Phnom Penh and who had arrived to Hanoi while I was in Ha Long).

The photo below is Shannon and Danny eating our back-alley lunch of Pho (noodles) and mystery meat. It tasted good but we still have no clue what we were consuming.

We started that day by going to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum where “Uncle Ho” is displayed, against his wishes, like Lenin. This was one of the most bizarre overall experiences of my trip and I don’t think that the level of weirdness can come through in my writing. Much like the rest of Vietnam, the mausoleum is run like it is every one’s first day on the job and they are working out the bugs. You’d think that this would be the one place where things would run more smoothly because, since Uncle Ho’s death in 1969, there has been a steady procession of people through here for 8 months a year (the other four, he gets sent to Russia to get his makeover). It’s basically the world’s longest line of people paying respects.

You aren’t supposed to take bags into the mausoleum so we were going to check them. At the bag check, they told us that we didn’t need to check the bags. At the security checkpoint 20 feet away, they told us we needed to check the bags. Back at the bag check, they told us not to check the bags but just make them look smaller. Look smaller? So we went back to security holding the exact same bags with the exact same contents that we had shown to them 2 minutes earlier but now folder over on themselves to look smaller and they let us through. There are also signs that say no shorts or cell phones but the security staff didn’t really seem to care if we followed those rules. I wore shorts and took my cell phone in but did have to check my camera.

The people that did care about the rules, though, were the multiple armed soldiers that are everywhere inside the mausoleum making sure that people keep moving and don’t talk. While we were walking past the disturbingly wax-looking, mummified body of Ho Chi Minh, an English woman a few people in front of us must have been taking just too long of a look at Uncle Ho. She was pushed forward by a soldier with a machine gun. After we left Uncle Ho’s chamber, but were not quite out of the mausoleum yet, Danny said something to me and I started to answer but was forcefully shushed by another machine gun toting soldier. The whole thing was just weird: the security people, the body, the guards, everything.
(Ho Chi Minh Photo from internet)

We also went to the Hoa Lo prison more popularly know to Americans as the Hanoi Hilton where John McCain spent several years of his life. The original prison is now mostly demolished and what’s left is a museum. They have several exhibits showing the brutality of the French when they ran the prison with Viet Minh inmates. Also, they show how “gentle” and “kind” the North Vietnamese were to American prisoners when they later ran the prison during the Vietnam War. From their depiction, the “Hanoi Hilton” was nicer than any other Hilton I’ve stayed at. John McCain and the other POWs look like they had the time of their lives here. They got to play sports and music, decorate for Christmas, draw, and several other activities that look like fun in the Vietnamese photos. If I ever meet John McCain, I’ll ask him why he ever left.

That evening, Danny, Shannon, and I went to celebrate my last night in SE Asia. We went to a seafood restaurant near our hotels. I can’t really figure out why they even gave us menus. I am pretty sure that they just make you whatever they feel like regardless of your order. Danny ordered pepper crispy fish and got some curried fish. Shannon ordered seafood fried rice and was given vegetable fried rice. I ordered grilled fish and was given a dish of something unidentifiable that I guarantee was not grilled or fish. Also, I tried to pay with my credit card so I didn’t have to get anymore Vietnamese Dong from the ATM. That was a big mistake. It took about 45 minutes for them to run my card. They kept coming up and saying that their new “accountant” didn’t know how to use the credit card machine. Needless to say, I have been paying close attention to my statements. The dinner, strange and unorganized, was a perfect way to end my trip to Vietnam and SE Asia.

Despite what it must sound like, minus Saigon, I really liked Vietnam. I think that they are slowly trying to make themselves into a tourist Mecca like Thailand and they are well on their way. There is so much to do in the country; I didn’t even get to scratch the surface. I have made quite a list for my return visit.

Hoi An, Vietnam

2008-09-05T00:02:00.001-07:00

Day 44-46, August 29-31, 2008 (No Malaria)

Lest ye think that I didn't enjoy Vietnam, let me continue with my visit. To me, there is Saigon and there is the rest of Vietnam.

From Saigon, I decided to take the overland route to Hoi An in central Vietnam. Everyone that I’ve talked to on the trip or has been here previously has really like Hoi An. Also, pretty much universally, people seem to like Vietnam more after they leave Saigon. I was no exception.

I took the overnight train from Saigon to Danang, near Hoi An. The train left Saigon at 11:00 PM and arrived to Danang at 1:00 the next afternoon. That sounds like a long time in a train but, to be honest, the downtime was very welcome. For 15 hours, I had nothing else on Earth to do except for sleep, relax in a moderately comfortable bunk, read, look out the window and watch a few movies that I have been buying for a dollar each on my computer. I recommend Iron Man and could have done without Cloverfield.

When I got on the train in Saigon, there was a guy in my sleeper car who was setting up a ton of computer equipment. It turns out that he worked for the railway and the computer equipment was all used to measure the vibrations of the train for quality control. I have to imagine that this is the only quality control department in the entire country. It took a while, with the language barrier, to figure out what he was doing but I didn’t really care because he was using his employee pass to buy me beers. I can put up with a lot of computers and wires for some free beer.

My computer friend got off of the train at around 9:00 AM and a family with a little baby took his spot. The baby was hilarious. I don’t think that it had ever seen a white person before because it couldn’t stop staring at me alternating between curiosity and terror. The terror part I understand. I’ve looked in a mirror recently. After a while, it got used to me and the parents wanted to take several pictures of me holding the baby. I don’t think that they’ve seen very many white people either. At first, when the mother handed me the kid, I was worried that I’d somehow just agreed to adopt. That would be my luck. Get on a train in Vietnam: single and happy….get off a train in Vietnam: parent to a kid that never stops staring at me.

I met some Kiwis on the train that I ended up hanging out with for the rest of the day in Hoi An. We shared a cab to there from Danang along with a couple of Aussies that had lost their luggage somewhere between Melbourne and Hoi An. The better half of the Kiwi couple works for Eli Lilly in New Zealand. Maybe I should try to have her find me a job. New Zealand for a few years…I could handle that. It’s about a 30 minute drive between the two cities. Danang was a big US base during the Vietnam War and the rusting airplane hangers of the base are still visible off of the main road. Also, along this stretch of road is China Beach where the US GI’s used to try and take some R&R.

Hoi An is a sleepy little fishing village with miles of beautiful beach, an artist community and, much like Chang Mai in Thailand, a stop for every backpacker in SE Asia. I actually ran into two girls at my hotel that stayed at the same hotel as me in Chang Mai. I didn’t really do much in Hoi An except for explore the town a little bit and relax on the beach. I wish that I had some funny stories from here but it was really just a nice, relaxing few days. I did get nice and drunk one night with the Kiwi couple. It’s really amazing how half-way around the world, I automatically resume my traditional role as third-wheel. At least these two weren’t on a honeymoon like the last vacation I crashed. Bob and Nicole can tell you, though, that I add a lot to any honeymoon. If anyone else needs me to chaperone theirs or any other romantic vacation I have no business being on, let me know.

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

2008-09-05T00:01:00.001-07:00

Day 42-43, August 27-28, 2008 (No Malaria)

After the ridiculous day that brought me to Ho Chi Minh City and as long as I didn’t have 18 people cramped into it, I didn’t care if I had reserved space in a tent in a Vietnamese park. I was pleasantly surprised when I checked into a nice, if not Spartan, hotel off of a scary looking ally in the backpacker district of Saigon.

While, since the fall of Saigon in 1975, the official name of the city is Ho Chi Minh City, many Vietnamese still call it Saigon especially the downtown area near the Saigon River. I tried to use the proper name as much as possible in conversation, though, so my new Vietnamese friends would not think I was an imperialistic American white devil. Never mind, they already did.

I have intentionally put off writing about Vietnam until I left. Though it is a stunningly beautiful country, with interesting people, tons to do, wonderful food, and modern in many ways, it still creeps me out a little bit. There is a massive amount of propaganda and people are always a little too interested in what you are doing and thinking about their country. I wanted to present a very fair balanced view of what I observed and I didn’t know if my little corner of cyberspace would be noticed and cause me any problems. It is probably incredibly arrogant to think that anybody in Vietnam would care about what I wrote but I was discussing this point with a few friends over dinner the other night while we were comparing observations about Vietnam and they all agreed that it was probably better to wait.

Saigon was the capital of South Vietnam after the Vietnamese independence from the French in 1954. Also at this time, the country was divided into the communist north and the capitalist south. The Cold War desire to both spread and blunt communism inevitably led to the US war there that we now learn about in the history books. Today’s Vietnamese refer to the Saigon of that era as the location of the American “puppet” government.

Saigon is a very big, busy city. One of the more interesting experiences in Saigon, or anywhere else in Vietnam for that matter, is crossing the street. It is more interesting in Saigon due to the massive amounts of cars, buses, motorbikes, cyclos (little peddle taxis), bicycles, etc. In Vietnam, you can’t wait for traffic to clear in order to cross the street or you will never get across the street. Even if there is a traffic light, most drivers do not follow the rules of the road like we do and there is always something crossing your path from some direction. As one of my tour guides in Saigon said, “In some of your countries, you drive on the right. In some of your countries, you drive on the left. In Vietnam, we drive on both.” So in order to cross the street, you just start walking into traffic. The key is to walk slowly and keep you head up to try and make eye contact with as many drivers as possible. Drivers are so used to pedestrians crossing the road everywhere that, if they can judge your pace, they will always get out of the way. The result is feeling like you’re in a real-life Frogger game every time you cross the road. The first few times you watch someone cross, you think there is no way they can survive. The first few times you cross on your own, you think that there is no way you will survive. Before long, you just start walking into traffic with confidence that traffic will open like Moses parting the Red Sea. Walking around a big city in Vietnam is putting yourself in a situation multiple times a day that would result in death on the streets of New York or Chicago. It is wild.

I had spent two days in Saigon seeing the city and visiting the Cu Chi Tunnels outside of town. Saigon, in my opinion, is an entire city designed to show the virtue of Ho Chi Minh, tout the advantages of communism and disparage capitalism and American “Imperialism.” Any tourist spot in the city is one giant piece of propaganda. I am not naïve enough to think that, even with a free press, we don’t get our share of propaganda but this was so over the top and so anti-American, it wore on me very quickly. The highlights of Saigon are the American War Crimes Museum, the Ho Chi Minh City museum featuring American war crimes and The Reunification Palace with some American war crimes thrown in for good measure. Also, anytime the American war effort is discussed, they make it sound more like a Three Stooges clip than a war. You get the picture.

The Cu Chi tunnels were very interesting and disturbing. They are the chain of hand dug tunnels stretching for several hundred kilometers outside of Saigon in which the Vietcong ran supplies, hid and moved throughout their wars against the French and Americans. The effort that went into these tunnels and the terrible conditions inside is actually quite amazing and it is unimaginable to think of spending more than a few seconds underground like this. We actually got to descend into a portion of original tunnel and move through it 100 meters. I’m not usually very claustrophobic but it was tight, very hot, difficult to breath and overall, a little unnerving. Most of the people on the tour couldn’t make it through the entrance. I had to exit early after only about 80 meters because it was just a little too much for me. My legs still hurt. Despite being interesting, the propaganda here is over the top. The first thing that you have to do when you arrive is watch a video detailing the struggle of the “sleepy, quiet, peace-loving villagers against the “American monsters.” One part of the video is roughly as follows, “The Americans descended on the peaceful village like a crazed bunch of devils shooting their guns at everything they saw. They shot man, woman, and child. They shot chicken and duck. They shot pot and pan, the ground, and even Buddha statue.” One of the guys on the bus recorded the video on his camera. I’ll post it if he sends me the link. Also in the video, we also got to see a “sweet and gentle” 12 year old girl who won the award of “American Killer Hero” after she “traded her school books for a rifle.” It was bizarre. The most disturbing part of the day was the demonstration of the booby traps used to capture and kill Americans. Our guide took a little too much pleasure in demonstrating how each trap could maim an American soldier. I know that war is brutal on both sides but this was a little too much for me thinking of how many Americans were killed or injured on traps just like these. I was never pro-war and think that in extreme situations, war can be justifiable but seeing the carnage here and in Cambodia makes me more of a pacifist than ever.

Saigon wasn’t my favorite city. The propaganda got to me after a while. Sometimes it is so over the top that it is actually funny but that soon fades when it just doesn’t end. Also, many of the people here are not overly friendly. For a communist country, I have never seen such a capitalistic spirit. I am pretty sure that at one point, someone wanted to charge me for crossing the street next to them. The drivers (taxi, motorbike, etc) are extremely aggressive trying to get fares more so than any other city I’ve visited. Every second there is someone in your face trying to get you to do or buy something. This happens everywhere but here it was really out of control. Very few people would offer help or directions when asked and the amount of begging is out of control. Call me crazy, but also being in a communist country, I thought that everyone should be provided for...must not be working out like they planned.

Saigon represented the halfway point in my trip. From this point on, I will always have more of my journey behind me than in front. That makes me a little sad, and happy, depending on what else is going on at the moment.

Shark Pictures from Phuket

2008-09-04T23:57:00.000-07:00

The German guy who was diving with me a few weeks ago in Phuket sent me some photos from our dives. I thought I'd post them. I'm the diver in black right behind the leopard shark in the second and third pictures.

The Road (and River) to Saigon

2008-08-30T08:07:00.003-07:00

Day 41, August 25th, 2008 (No Malaria)

After bringing everyone down with Phnom Penh, I’ll write about my trip traveling from there to Saigon which you should enjoy for the ridiculous nature of every part of it and the level of insanity that it caused me.

I have been backpacking around SE Asia for many weeks now but I have not really been a true backpacker. Most of the people that I meet who are doing similar trips are staying in dorms every night, not private air-conditioned rooms. They are busing it or training it between destinations, not flying. For Vietnam, my final country in SE Asia, I decided to rough it a little more. I’m not staying in the dorms, of course (I haven’t sunk that low) but I did decide to use some less airborne forms of transportation to get around the country. My first big overland route was from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly known as Saigon).

The day started with a few hour bus ride from Phnom Penh to a small port on the Mekong River. This was a port if you consider a few half-sinking fishing boats parked in someone’s back yard a port. I was with about 9 other backpackers all of which were European. They were all experienced with overland travel and were even surprised at the woeful state of the boat that we were suppose to take down the Mighty Mekong.

Joining us on our voyage were a handful of villagers from downriver who were returning from selling their goods somewhere near civilization and obviously haven’t had much contact with white people. For the few hours that they were with us, they gawked at us, open mouthed, the entire time.

As we are pulling out of “port,” I begin to take some short movies on of the river and the people on the boat. As I’m about to get a shot of the captains son bailing water out to keep us afloat, the engine stops. I have this moment on video and will post it, along with many others, as soon as I can. Frantically, the captain tears into the engine compartment and starts tinkering away while the entire time, his son bails. He got the engine started and we went back to port for some more repairs. Underway again, it was a few hours to the Vietnamese border in a slowly sinking, mechanically unsound boat in the middle of nowhere.

The Vietnamese immigration station at this border crossing looked like it was a roadside hotdog stand in Pigsknuckle, Arkansas. It was a series of shacks in the middle of nowhere. The picture does no justice to how isolated the area is. We were detained in quarantine for about an hour to make sure that we weren’t carrying SARS. Also, while we were waiting, a motorbike hauling about 2 tons of ice almost overturned onto half of my group. Thankfully, I was out of the way buying water about 20 feet away and tried to snap a picture of the incident.

After our quarantine, we were put on another ferry for the remaining trip to the port city of Chou Doc, Vietnam. This was another few hours in this smaller, slower boat. The accommodations (lawn chairs) were great, though, and this boat didn’t seem to be sinking as much. This was actually pretty cool as we were traversing a portion of the famous Mekong Delta. We passed clusters of houses that could only be assessable by boat. It is so desolate that I often felt like we could have driven right off the edge of the world.

As we approach Chou Doc, the heavens open up. I have never seen rain like that in my life. Luckily, while we were in the boat, we were mostly covered but still seemed to all look like we had just showered with our clothes on. It got so windy and rainy that the captain had trouble docking. We almost swamped a family fishing on their small wood raft. We did eventually dock and the rain let up for a few minutes to allow us to get off of the boat and all figure out our next steps.

I got to Chou Doc with no clue how I was going to get the additional 7 hour bus ride to Saigon. I was told in Phnom Penh that I could go to the bus station in Chou Doc and get an express but that leaves several times a day. When we got off of the boat, there were several cab drivers and, fearing more rain, I ran to the first driver I saw and asked him to take me to the bus station. As I’m in the back of his rickshaw, the heavens open up again. At that moment, all I wanted to do was to get under the shelter of the bus station. The driver drops me off at a restaurant near the harbor that doesn’t remotely look like a bus station.

Looking for a little reassurance from my driver, I ask him, “This is the bus station?”

I get back is a quick, “Yes.” At this point, I am questioning our ability to communicate.

I tell him that I don’t want a meal but a bus and he says, “Yes. Bus.”

It’s still pouring and the restaurant is dry, smells good, and does have a small picture of a bus on the sign in front so I decide to take my chances. Inside, I learn that this is a stop for a private bus company. The rickshaw driver probably gets a small kick-back for bringing me but at this point I’m wet, desperate, and don’t care what kind of bus I take to Saigon as long as I get there. A few minutes after I arrived, two German guys that were on my boat showed up on another rickshaw. I knew that they were trying to get to another place in Vietnam and this made me a little more confident that I had reached an actual spot where I could get a bus. I found out that it was $10 for a minibus to Saigon and the bus was leaving in 5 minutes. Sure enough, 5 minutes later, a large, empty 12 passenger van arrives to take me to Saigon. At this point, I think that I’m going to get to ride the entire way with a little room to stretch and maybe even take a nap. I was wrong.

Within one hour, I was in the same 12 passengers van with 17 other people, three child-sized bags of macadamia nuts, and not a soul that spoke a work of English. Also being wet, dirty, and cramped, I was not in the most positive mood and vowed that from that moment on, it was trains or airplanes…no more buses or ferries…ever.

I have seen some crazy roads and driving while over here but for 5 or the 7 hours of this bus ride, we were on horrifically bumpy dirt and gravel roads. The road is often not even wide enough for two cars side-by-side and if two cross, one has to swerve off onto the shoulder…if there is one. Add to this hundreds of motorbikes, bicycles, pedestrians, and our constant 50 mph speed and you can begin to image why that will be my first and last Vietnamese bus ride. It was terrifying, I didn’t get my nap, and spent most of the trip with a 70 year old Vietnamese woman half on my lap. A big regret of mine is that it was so dark and cramped; I took no pictures the entire ride. On second thought, maybe it’s better I just forget it.

Honestly, with the lack of communication, I really didn’t even know if I was on the right bus or headed the right direction. Wherever I ended up, though, I was going to find a hotel and be happy to be off of the bus ride from hell. I did eventually make it to Saigon and was ready to collapse immediately upon arrival.

The trip from Phnom Penh could have been a $50, hour-long flight and ended up being a wet, cramped, dirty, and sorrowful 16 hours of my life. It does make for a good story though.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

2008-08-30T06:48:00.001-07:00

Days 39-40, August 24-25, 2008 (No Malaria…or mad cow)

There is no smiling allowed in Phnom Penh...at least some places.

I enjoyed Siem Reap, Cambodia so much a few weeks ago that I decided to adjust my itinerary and swing through the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh for a few days.

I flew from Chang Mai with a short layover in Bangkok. Only one more short lay-over in Bangkok and I am done with that city…at least for this trip.

Phnom Penh, like most of Cambodia, is still recovering from Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge regime. Immediately after the Khmer Rouge took power, they instituted a city wide evacuation sending the entire civilian population to state run farms in the countryside. They wanted to abolish commerce, money, industry, family life, transportation, or anything else that was deemed a foreign influence that could disrupt their farming utopia. Phnom Penh went from a city of 2 million to a city of less than 40,000 literally overnight. Anybody left living in the city were officials of the government. It took the city until 2006 to recover its pre- Pol Pot population. Phnom Penh is one of the most developing cities I have seen yet. Every SE Asian city has a lot of construction but Phnom Penh would make Donald Trump proud. There is bamboo scaffolding everywhere.

When I arrived in Phnom Penh, my hotel was supposed to have a driver waiting for me at the airport. There was a driver from my hotel waiting there but he was not waiting for me. He was waiting for three other girls on my flight were also staying at the hotel so they let me tag along with them to the hotel. Actually, they let me tag along for the next few days. It was good to have some travel companions in Phnom Penh. There are some locations there that provoke a lot of thought and it was good to have some people with which to discuss the Khmer Rouge atrocities. I’ve never been to any of the Nazi deathcamps but I imagine that those also have to evoke similar reactions by any sane human being. Also, it was just good to have some people with which to have a few meals, beers, and solid English conversation.

By the time we got to the hotel from the airport, it was already getting late and nobody felt much like seeing Phnom Penh after dark much due to its reputation as being one of the more dangerous SE Asian cities (which I disagree with after having been there). The hotel had a TV and DVD collection and one of their titles was the Killing Fields which is a mid-80’s movie chronicling the Khmer Rouge regime from the eyes of one American and one Cambodian journalist based off of very real characters and very real facts. It was a good thing to watch to set the context of what we would be seeing the next morning.

Our first stop the next morning was Choeung Ek or what is commonly referred to as the “Killing Fields.” Is really, though, only one of dozens of sites around Cambodia in which the Pol Pot regime used to execute innocent Cambodians. I am not going to write again about how most of these people were selected for death but if you are interested, you can go back to my Siem Reap blog or read about any of this on wikipedia. This location is the main one visited because of its proximity to Phnom Penh and the sheer number of people that were executed here. In two years, a staff of 10 at this site killed over 20,000 people most of which are still interred where they were murdered. The bones that have been exhumed have been placed in a monument in the center of the park. It is grisly to see all of the skulls with the very visable head wounds. Prisoners had to dig their own graves, kneel next to them and were then executed with a blow to the head. Bullets were too expensive.

As you walk around the park, you can see all of the excavated graves that look like bomb craters one after another. Between the graves are pathways on which I really didn’t want to walk. There are so many bodies still buried here that there is evidence of them literally everywhere you walk. During every rainy season, like it is now, the rain erodes bits of dirt and exposes the bones and clothes of murdered people still in shallow graves in the ground underneath your feet. Everywhere you walk, you can see the white of bone peeking out from the paths. I even saw a tooth just lying in front of me on the path at one point. It is a terrible, terrible place. As bones and clothing become exposed by rain, they are usually placed in piles near the trees. I have a picture below of my guide explaining this while standing next to a pile of bones.

The next place we went to was the S-21 prison. S-21, before the Khmer Rouge took power, was Tuol Svay Prey High School, a public school in the heart of Phnom Penh. A society, though, in which you don’t want anyone educated, schools have little value. So the building was converted from a place of learning to a place of torture. Again, it is gruesome. One of the exhibits is a collection of thousands of mug shots of former inmates. Most of them are too young to vote in the US and some are only toddlers or younger. As I was looking at the photos, I realized that most of these people are now buried in the grounds of or displayed in the monument of the Killing Fields that I had just left. I probably walked right over several of their remains. Trucks left S-21 every few days, with whoever survived their torture, bound for Choeung Ek just outside of town. The instruments of torture are displayed everywhere and you can walk through the closet sized cells where prisoners were stuffed.

We saw several other sights on that day but I will remember none as much as the prison and killing fields. It is a shame, too, because, Phnom Penh is a great city with a great future and I’m sure that all anybody remembers upon leaving is darker side of its history. Living in the US, I think that we are sheltered a lot from some of the terrible things that go on in the world. Seeing a place like Cambodia really makes you realize how terrible human beings can be to each other. To me, Phnom Penh is either proof that Satan exists or God doesn’t.

Chang Rei and the Golden Triangle

2008-08-27T03:25:00.000-07:00

Days 36-38, August 21-23, 2008 (No Malaria)

I am sorry that I haven’t updated this in a week. I have not had very good internet access and have also had some pretty long days that have prevented me from having the chance to type. I will be providing several updates over the next few days. So back into it…

The day after the elephant park, I took advantage not having anything specific planned and explored Chang Mai some more. Chang Mai is an 800 year old walled city. Well, the original part of the city is still walled, at least. It is also surrounded by a moat around the entire perimeter. I walked around the entire “Old City” and then crisscrossed the streets for hours finding some used book shops and stocking up. The more that I walked around Chang Mai, the more I enjoyed the city. It is such a friendly, laid-back place that I don’t know how anybody couldn’t like it. As a matter of fact, the more people that I meet traveling around, the more that I realize that it is almost everyone’s favorite. People seem to be drawn here and then drawn back.

The next day was my excursion to a city farther north called Chang Rei and an area called the Golden triangle. Chang Rei (along with Chang Mai and several other “Chang” cities in the area) was once part of the powerful Lanna empire which existed at around the same time as the Khmer Empire farther south in Cambodia. They were both at the height of their power in the 12th and 13th centuries. It is another charming little city tucked in the hills of northern Thailand. On the way, we had a few stops. The first was a natural hot springs just south of Chang Rei. Call me crazy but when it is already over 100 degrees, the last place you want to be standing is next to a boiling pond or geyser. I sweat enough already.

We also stopped at a place called the white temple in Chang Rei. It is the completed part of what will one day be a large Buddhist complex. I have seen too many Buddhist temples all over SE Asia but this was, by far, the most beautiful. It is all white to begin with (as the name would indicate, I guess) and is also covered in thousands of tiny mirrors. This has the effect of making the entire temple look like it is covered in ice and snow which is really odd and out of place considering the heat. It is truly gorgeous though.

Our guide for the day, Tassa, was very good. She was extremely knowledgeable and helpful at every location. More importantly, she was very funny. Humor is something that often doesn’t translate well when one learns a language and even if one is funny in their native language, it is difficult to be in another. At one point, we stopped for a roadside “pit stop.” Before we got out, she was explaining how even though the Thai’s are Buddhists, they still hold onto some animistic beliefs from deep in their past. Animism is the belief that every object hold a spirit…every home, plant, rock, or tree. These spirits need to be kept happy in order for day-to-day life to go well. So while on a roadside pit stop, it is customary to ask the forest or tree for permission to take your liberties. She says, “you have to ask the tree for permission…but don’t have to wait for the answer. If you hear an answer, run.” OK, maybe my telling isn’t as good as hers but we all got a good laugh out of it. She had several good one liners throughout the day.

The Golden Triangle is the area along the Mekong River in Northern Thailand in which Myanmar (Burma), Laos and Thailand all come together at a point. It is called “golden” due to the fact that is was once one of the largest opium trading posts in the world and the only currency that was allowed in trade was gold. The opium traders used to sit out in little island in the Mekong River between the countries that would be exposed during the dry season and do their business just out of the reach of any government authority. Our guide told us that when a bust did occur, most often the evidence would disappear from the local police offices anyway. The traders most often avoided prosecution and the police had a few happy weeks to smoke their evidence.

Since the three countries come together here, it is possible to visit the two others in one day. We took a boat to a market in Laos and walked across a bridge to a market in Myanmar. In Laos, we drank king cobra whiskey. It is a giant vat of homemade whiskey that just happens to have a giant snake adding to the already tasty goodness. It is supposed to increase virility. Lucky me. I’m stuck on a Laotian Island in the middle of the Mekong River and my virility is being increased. What the hell good does that do me? They should start serving that stuff at the bars in Chicago.

The Myanmar visit was very short and really just an excuse to get the passport stamp.

To compare the attitudes of the two countries towards tourists, Laos didn’t even check our passports until we forced them to for the stamps. Myanmar granted us 30 minute visas under the supervision of armed guards. Myanmar also charged $10 US for the border excursion but would only accept clean, new $10 bills. I had several US bills in my security belt but none of them were good enough for the immigration officials. I thought that a dollar was a dollar but the Myanmar officials were more picky than a vending machine. Finally, one of the girls in the group traded me a clean, new dollar for one of mine that was equally as clean and new but for some reason was not good enough. The other thing that I discovered about the Myanmar officials was that the only thing that makes them as touchy as an old $10 bill is when you cross the border and don’t buy anything from their market. I don’t think they were not sad to see us go.

On the way back to Chang Mai, we made our last stop at a tribal refugee camp. There are several ethnic tribes that live in the hills of Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and Myanmar and, to this day, try to maintain their lifestyle, customs, and traditions. One of these is called the Karen Tribe and is originally from Myanmar. They are one of the last peoples in Myanmar who are consistently fighting the military government there and many have taken refuge, illegally, in the Thai hills. The camp that we went to has been there for 8 years and tolerated by the Thai government. The biggest distinction of the Karen is that their women elongate their necks. They wear snug, heavy rings on their shoulders which push their shoulders down and neck up. They survive on tourism and off of the land. They were very kind to us, welcoming, and also enjoyed seeing the pictures on the camera after we took them. Like typical women everywhere, if they didn’t like the picture, they wanted it erased…I’m not kidding you.

In the tradition I have started of meeting some great people, I met a very nice couple from Trinidad on the bus. They names were Kenrick and Stacey. They are currently living in London and were fun to hang out with for the day. One of my new goals is to chalk-up as many international invites as possible while I am abroad…so far, so good.

Chang Mai, Thailand (Elephant Nature Park)

2008-08-20T09:34:00.000-07:00

Days 34-35, August 19-20, 2008 (No Malaria- best odds of contracting yet, though)

After the nightmare that was Bangkok, I knew that Chang Mai couldn’t be worse. Luckily, it took me about 10 minutes after I left the airport to decide that I loved Chang Mai. It is, by far, my favorite place in Thailand. I got into my hotel in Chang Mai at about 4 PM local time. My hotel was amazing. It was clean, friendly, and even has a pool. After walking around the charming town for a few hours before dark, I was happy that the friendly and welcoming residents of Chang Mai had earned redemption in my mind for the people of Thailand.

Chang Mai is a small city located up in the mountains of northern Thailand. It is actually Thailand’s second biggest city but only a fraction the size of Bangkok. It is laid back, friendly, manageable, and beautiful. No wonder it also has the densest concentration of backpackers of anyplace I’ve seen yet. People looking for an out-of-the-way place to see the real Thailand are drawn here from all over. This city is what I pictured in my minds eye when I read about Thailand in the guidebooks. I am very happy with my decision to forgo any more time in Bangkok for another day here. I am also doing a few excursions while I am here. The first of which, I am in the middle of right now.

Right now, I am in the middle of the jungle again about 75 kilometers outside of Chang Mai at a place called Elephant Nature Park. Elephants, the most revered symbol of Thailand, are in severe decline here. In the last 100 years, the population here has gone from over 100,000 to under 4,000. Most of those are domesticated animals left are used by indigenous tribes as beast of burden or by the tourism industry to haul people around on jungle treks. There are less than 1500 wild elephants left and are all relegated to Thailand’s small national park system. Even though the wild elephant is severely endangered here, there are no laws protecting domesticated elephants. They are considered livestock and are often treated brutally by their owners. Elephants have strong wills, stronger bodies, and most owners feel they need to be “broken” to be effective workers. All of the adult elephants at the park bear multiple pink scars on their heads from owners “hooking” them during training, over their backs from carrying too heavy of loads on their backs, and their legs from overly tight chains.

Elephant Nature Park is a unique place in Thailand (or probably anywhere for that matter). They take in broken and abused domesticated elephants or orphaned wild elephants and give them a place to live out their years. They train and control the elephants through positive reinforcement in which none of them need to be “broken.” It is really an amazing place. I am here to learn and interact with the elephants for two days. Day one has been completely unbelievable. Earlier today, we got introduced and comfortable with the elephants by feeding them fruit which they happily accepted.

The elephant’s mahmoots also helped us by showing which foods their elephants liked and disliked. A mahmoot is and elephant keeper. There is one mahmoot per elephant and it is a long-term arraignment often lasting several years. Strong bonds form between the elephant and the mahmoot and most of the mahmoots talk about their elephants with the pride of a father speaking about their child.

After the break-in period, we followed them down to the river and helped to give them a bath. They kneel down in the water (if they still can) and the humans scrub and rinse them. Right after they get all clean, they immediately go roll in the mud. I know it seems futile but they love it. The mud keeps the sun and bugs off their skin.

The afternoon consisted of another feeding session and bathing. After dark, we ate dinner, had a Thai lesson and learned the elephant song. I’ll put the video on you tube when I have a chance. Now it is am early bedtime in the very dark jungle. I am in a private hut and some of the dogs are scratching at the door looking for a softer, cooler place to sleep. Dogs are dogs everywhere.

Day 2 at Elephant Nature Park

This morning, I woke up to two elephants grazing behind my hut.

After, I was in a group of three that got a 3 hour tour of the entire park. I got to interact with most of the park’s elephants and hear their stories. Of the 33 elephants in the park, it is safe to approach most of them. Some are so traumatized, they trust no one except their mahmoot and nobody else can or should get close. Most of those don’t stay around the people anyway.

The stories of the elephants here, like any animal rescue, are filled with triumph and tragedy. One of the elephants, Jokia, is totally blind. She was used in a logging camp and the loggers killed her baby as to not slow down her work. She got so depressed she stopped working. The loggers shot one eye out with a sling shot to try to motivate her to work and when that didn’t do the trick, they stabbed the other one out with a knife. When the park’s owner, Lek, brought Jokia here, she didn’t know how the other elephants would respond to a blind newcomer which is something none of them had encountered. The oldest elephant and matriarch or the herd, Mae Perm, was the first to walk up and inspected Jokia’s eyes with her trunk. Mae Perm immediately accepted her into the herd, took responsibility for her care, and they haven’t left each other’s side since. The staff has even put a little wood clapper around Mae Perm’s neck so Jokia doesn’t lose her in the crowd.

Another elephant, Maximus, is the largest elephant in Thailand and almost as big as his African cousins. When Maximus was younger, he was used by his owner to beg on the streets of Bangkok and was hit and severely disfigured by a 18 wheeler truck. Maximus doesn’t move very well these days but seems to be the ladies man of the herd.

Meadow was severely disfigured after being hauling huge loads as a young elephant and has suffered a broken backs and hips.

Malai Tong had half of her back right foot blown off by stepping on a landmine while working as a logging elephant in Burma.

Hope is one of the only elephants in the park that was originally wild born. His mother was shot and killed while eating rice from a field. He is a total hell raiser. As a general rule here, if an elephant is walking directly at you, you move. The elephants don’t like to be the ones to have to make a course correction. Hope doesn’t walk; He runs everywhere. If he’s running in your general direction, you get the hell out of the way. Actually, he is the only elephant here that has to wear a bell around his neck so everyone, including the other elephants, knows when he is around. He is constantly egging on the other elephants to try to get them to play. Most of them just ignore him or put him in his place. After bath time today, however, he got on another elephant’s nerves a little too much and they had a fight. It moved down the river and we couldn’t get close but I got a few good zoom shots.

All of the young elephants are a little rambunctious. At bath time, the routine is that all of the young elephants bathe, swim around the river, get chased by their mahmoots (elephant keepers), and then all charge out of the water to roll in the mud. When you hear the cry, “Babies, babies,” you also get the hell out of the way. A young elephant is nowhere the size of their parents but they are still a ton or more.

It is funny how much the elephants are like us. While the young one’s wrestle during bath time, the older ones just want to relax, get a scrub, and not have to deal with the juvenile’s nonsense. Also, at feeding time, they all have their favorites. One of the elephants was eating pineapple. For each pineapple, she was biting off the leaves at the top and dropping them on the ground. The elephant next to her was eating the entire pineapple, including the leaves, and even reaching under the first one to eat the discarded pineapple leaves as a snack.

Beyond elephants, the park adopts any pathetic creature that shows up (which may explain why they took me in so readily). There are a herd of water buffalo, cows, cats and dogs. Some of the elephants liked the dogs but most of them just tried to kick them when one ran by. This morning, an elephant tried to kick a dog and got my leg instead. Damn dog.

If you can’t tell, I absolutely loved this experience. It was truly one of a kind. I would love to go back one day. I learned a lot and met some very interesting people. I would recommend this to anybody.

Bangkok, Thailand

2008-08-18T09:20:00.001-07:00

Days 32-33, August 17-18, 2008 (No Malaria)

As I write this, I am in the airport leaving Bangkok and headed for Chang Mai, Thailand. Chang Mai is supposedly the cultural center of Thailand. I am looking forward to exploring it a little. Right now, there are some TVs that have the Olympics playing. I haven’t got to watch a second of them so I was kind of excited until I realized that the only sport on right now is synchronized swimming. I hate this sport. The girls frighten me and I am always waiting for their makeup to run off into the water like the ink from a squid. It never does and I am a little disturbed that it is so plastered to their faces. Also, Bangkok just plain has me in a bad mood.

I am going to try to keep this short because I don’t want to dwell on the negative.

If the Orient has a dirty, smelly, rotten armpit, it is Bangkok. I am sad that I have to waste any more of my life here between connecting flights. I know that many people find it a charming, beautiful city but I find nothing redeeming about it. That’s coming from someone who generally sees the glass half full and gives everyone and every situation the benefit of the doubt.

I could look beyond the filth, expense, depravity, congestion, and hell-like climate if the people were welcoming and friendly. Honestly, in the last two days, I think I encountered ONE person that I didn’t feel was trying to rip me off or scam me. Now I realize that everywhere I go, there are local prices and foreigner prices. I realize that taxis charge an extra few cents when a westerner enters. I understand and accept that. In Bangkok, however, I couldn’t get a taxi or tuk-tuk to take me anywhere without a scam afoot. Most of the scams are gem scams. The tuk-tuk diver makes a short stop at a location that only he knows is giving great deals on jewelry that day…no tax, no duty, no real gems. The deal could also be on suits or anything really. The drivers get a commission for bring in a mark so they would rather do that than take you where you want to go. It was amusing at first but really got on my nerves after the 7th or 8th time.

Some of the scams are pretty intricate. One driver told me that he was going to take me to an interesting temple called the Black Buddha. When I arrived, a Thai man sitting inside told me that there were monks meditating and we would have to wait a little while to go into the main sanctuary. Ok, there are monks meditating everywhere and that isn’t too out of the ordinary. The man tells me that his brother is one of the monks, he works for the Thai consulate in San Francisco, and is back in Thailand for a month on holiday. Then he starts chatting me up trying to build trust.

“How long are you in Bangkok?”

“What have you seen?”

“What else were you hoping to do?”

Then he starts to tell me that it’s my lucky day. When anybody in Bangkok tells you that it’s your lucky day, what they really mean to say is, “I think you are an idiot and are going to fall for whatever crap comes out of my mouth.” He then tells me a long story about the Thai “gem expo,” how this is the last day a foreigner can buy special gems without luxury tax, and he knows the jeweler that can sell me quality gems. In fact, he writes a name down for me. As he is pushing me to go, a French guy walks up and the Thai “Ambassador” starts to give him the same wrap. As coincidence would have it, the Frenchman buys gems here every year and sells them back home to finance his trips. Now these two random “strangers” are both telling me how great it is to buy gems from the expo all the while waiting for the monks to finish meditating so they can have their own deeply moving spiritual awakenings. I decide it’s time for me to leave and, sure enough, when I get to the tuk-tuk, the driver takes me, unwillingly, to a “traditional Thai jewelry expo.” Who else is waiting for me there but the man whose name is written on a piece of paper in my pocket.

There were at least four people, probably more, involved in this potential scam and this happened all day long. I think traveling alone didn’t do me any favors in Bangkok as it made me stand out from the crowd.

I met a couple soon after I got to Chang Mai that told me they missed their flight to Chang Mai from Bangkok because they couldn’t get a taxi to take them directly to the airport. It’s a terrible place.

That afternoon, I noticed on my map that I was near the Bangkok Zoo. I love zoos and thought this would be a good place to relax for a few minutes, cool off (physically and mentally), and regroup before I tried to get back to my hotel. Unfortunately, the Bangkok zoo could be the most godforsaken collection of animals on the planet. Actually, there are more animals outside the zoo than inside the zoo. I am pretty sure that the pheasant cages were full of pigeons and the monkeys were plucked from their happy lives roaming Bangkok and incarcerated in cages that haven’t been cleaned since the Vietnam War. They had a lot of pictures and statues (elephants and dolphins) of animals but very few “live” animals. At one point, I was sitting in front of the chimpanzee pen (also disgusting and depressing). The chimps are usually one of my favorite exhibits. These chimps all looked like they wish they had a rope and a tall branch. There was one old chimp that had lost or pulled out most of his hair. He looked completely miserable. I was going to take a photo of him for the blog but somehow convinced myself that maybe he would regain a little dignity (and grow a little hair back) if I just let him be.

I left the zoo in a worse state of mind than when I arrived.

The only redeeming thing that happened in Bangkok is that I met a girl from Israel who is going to school in Jerusalem. I told her that I was going to be in Jerusalem in a few months, we traded emails, and she is going to get me some info and show me around when I am there. It will be nice to know another friendly face in another unfamiliar place.

I was supposed to spend another day in Bangkok at the end of this week but I changed my flights to spend an extra day in Chang Mai instead. The dregs of Bangkok society can find someone else to annoy.

Phuket, Thailand

2008-08-16T01:56:00.001-07:00

Days 26-31, August 11-16, 2008 (No Malaria)

I am in the airport leaving Phuket. It has been busy and as I write this, I cannot believe that over 1/3 of my trip has now passed. I have one more week in Thailand (Bangkok and Chang Mai), then I will be off to Cambodia for a few more days, and finally (for SE Asia, at least) I will spend 9 days in Vietnam. It’s funny, when I planned this, I thought that I was going to have enough time to see everything that I wanted to see but have since realized I was wrong.

On September 5th, I fly from Hanoi to Katmandu, Nepal for the next leg of my journey. Nepal will be a little cooler. It should be in the 70’s during the day so that will be a nice change from the inferno that is here but only a short reprieve before the deserts of Egypt and Jordan.

So back to Phuket…

Off the southwest coast of Thailand, in the Andaman Sea, is post-card worthy collection of crystal blue water, white sand beaches, and hundreds of picturesque green islands. Tucked in the middle of these islands is the largest, Phuket (Tom, it is pronounced
poo-kett, thanks for asking). Phuket is a wretched hive of filth and depravity. I felt dirty just walking down the street. If it were not for the perfect seas surrounding it, I could see no reason spend time here. I wouldn’t be surprised if God smote this place like Sodom and Gomorrah. Actually, he almost did during Christmastime of 2004. That is when the tsunami hit this entire region killing hundreds of thousands.

Looking around Phuket or any nearby island now, it is impossible to see or imagine the chaos and destruction of the tsunami. Everything is rebuilt. Talk to anyone that survived, though, and they have stories making that time sound like hell on earth. The divers, like anyone else that morning, were not exempt from the fury of the ocean. If their boats were on the open water, not much happened. If they were diving a deep site, even underwater, not much happened. For any dive boats that arrived early to their shallow water dive spots that morning, the destruction was complete. Luckily, the diving usually starts around 10:30 or 11:00 here so most of them were spared. The dive shops, boats, and divers of Phuket played a key role in the following weeks and months to help in search and recovery and also to clean up debris clogged harbors. One of the dive masters with which I spoke was 15 minutes away from his dive site when the wave hit. They were close enough to feel a little shaking of the boat and then, moments later, see a white wall of white water hit the island they were approaching. Another dive boat was going to Phi Phi Island which is often considered the jewel of the area. At 10:00, when the wave hit, they were still an hour away. Unfortunately, at the same time in the harbor at Phi Phi, a ferry was unloading 500 people and getting ready to load 500 more for the trip back to Phuket. Nobody survived. The dive guide on that boat told me that over the next few weeks, several dive boats volunteered to help clear the harbor of bodies and debris. His boat pulled up 180 bodies in one day. It sounds like it was very grisly.

Most of the underwater reefs suffered little to no damage making the diving around Phuket some of the best on earth just as it was before the tsunami. I dove three days and it was fantastic. However, everything leading up to, between, and after the diving (like most things in SE Asia) were completely chaotic and unorganized.

The first day, I went downstairs to the dive shop at my hotel to get ready to be driven to the boat. Jimmy, the Korean guy who runs the dive shop gave me the briefing for the day. Most of it was pretty standard: car ride, boat ride, two dives, lunch, etc. The part that was a little different was when he told me that if there were Europeans on my boat, I shouldn’t speak to them. I have tried very hard to figure out why this was the case and to this moment, I have no clue. I even asked him the next day and he put his finger over his mouth in a shushing motion and said, “just no talk.”

The ride to the harbor was an excruciating hour of picking up and dropping off what seemed like a million people. Again, to this moment, I can’t figure out where half of these people were coming from or going to. At the marina, I was herded like cattle onto another bus to drive the kilometer or so down the pier. At this point, I still haven’t spoken to anyone and have no clue where I am suppose to be going. Finally, I see two dive boats with my dive shop’s name on them and I know one of them is my ride for the day. As I looked at the boats, I noticed that one boat is full of white people: mostly Europeans, I guess. The other is full of all Asians. I had looked in the mirror that morning and remembered that I was white so I started to head for the “white” boat. Imagine my surprise when Jimmy shows up out of nowhere, says, “no your boat,” and pulls me onto the “Asian” boat.

“But…but…white…boat…English…maybe?” I muttered.

Jimmy said, “no your boat.” I later came to conclude that not only was Jimmy the “Godfather” of Phuket diving, I think he also liked to see me squirm. The first picture below is of my view of the white boat from the asian boat. The other two are of my view of my boat.

I spent the next two days on the “Asian” boat with 40 other people being the only person on it who spoke English. I realize that I’m in Asia but what the hell? I think that many of them felt sorry for me as several tried to strike up conversations in their best English. The communication was painful but everyone was very nice. One night at the hotel while going downstairs to get a bottle of water, I got invited, via hand gestures, over to a table with a few Koreans that were on the boat to join them for dinner. One of the guys had just got his instructor certificate and they were celebrating. The water that I was suppose to get turned into several bottles of Korean whiskey. The stuff actually wasn’t that bad. It hit me like a ton of bricks but wasn’t really that bad. I also have no clue what I was eating (pork, maybe?) but it was spicy as hell and good.

Back on the boat, my dive guide was and old Japanese guy named Taka who dove with a Katana sword. I’m not kidding; I took a picture. He was actually a very good guide, had a camera, and took a lot of good pictures of those two dive days.

Remember though, like I said, the diving was great but everything else is chaotic. I am used to easy Caribbean diving where everyone stays near the boat while diving. Here, everyone breaks off into groups of 2 or 3, goes their own direction, and the boat drives all over plucking people out of the sea when they pop-up. I always wondered how the “Open Water” scenario could actually take place and now I know. By the time everyone surfaced, divers were separated by several hundred meters bobbing around in the waves. They didn’t lose anyone from my boat but the second day, another boat left without three divers and had to come back for them. Luckily, for two of the three days, we dove close to shores that had beaches. Worse case scenario is to kick to the shore and wait for a boat….I think.

The third day, I had one of the best dives of my life. We went to a spot called Shark Point which isn’t normally on the dive schedule this time of the year due to weather and currents. I happened to luck out that day and the conditions were right to dive it. It was amazing. There were sea fans taller than a person. Everything was absolutely pristine due to the nutrients from the currents and minimal divers most of the year. We even saw a leopard shark swim past. We followed it; he circled us and then set himself down on the ocean floor. We went down, let the air out of our vests, and sat down on the sand next to him. I was close enough to touch it. A German guy that was with us took some photos of me next to it and said he’d email them. I hope he does so I can put the picture on here. While this was probably the nicest dive I’ve had, it was also, by far, the most difficult. The currents were so strong that, for most of the dive, it was useless to flight them. I felt like one of those reporters that goes out into a hurricane they seem like they will blow away at any minute.

I also got offered my first job since being layed off. Taka took some videos of me diving and apparently was showing them around because he was impressed with my diving skills. I was told that I should get my dive instructor license and come back to work on a boat. I don’t think the pay is what I’m used to but the lifestyle would be second to none. I don’t think I could live in Phuket, though.

The dive sites are a few hours via boat from Phuket so there are several hours every day to read, sleep, or just relax. I really liked the rides to and from the sites. The only negative is that it makes for some very long days. After a 6:30ish AM pick-up each day, I didn’t make it back to the hotel from between 5-8 PM. I was beat at the end of everyday from spending all day in the sun. Cue the violins; now is when you feel sorry for me.

Yesterday I couldn’t dive due to flying today, so I took a tour of some of the islands on the other side Phuket. One of them was the island used for filming the James Bond movie The Man With The Golden Gun. It is now just a giant tourist trap. It is a scenic tourist trap but a tourist trap nonetheless. We also did some sea canoing around some islands and into a cave. That was interesting as there were a lot of bats in the cave. Also, again, there were very few English speakers around. I’m a talker. These days have been killing me.

The tour was nice but wasn’t the greatest day that I’ve had. Our tour boat looked like it was one wave away from capsizing. The dive boats were much more comfortable. On the tour boat and everywhere for that matter, we were packed like sardines. It was a scenic ride but way too long and uncomfortable. I did make friends with a guy named Ahmed from Oman (in the Arab Gulf, as I was corrected). He was on a “gentlemen’s vacation” away from his girlfriend back home. We hung out most of the day and I leaned a lot about Oman and the Mid-east culture. It made me have some more appreciation and understanding for the Arab culture but also made me realized even more how vastly different their world is than ours. Despite the vast chasm between cultures, when you sit and talk to someone about their everyday life: successes, trials, and hopes, you realize that the human condition is not that different no matter what your background. All most people really want is family, safety, friends, love, and the chance to be happy by whatever standards they use to judge.

Right before we got back into the dock, one of the crew got on the microphone to thank us for coming. The crew had been polite and mild-mannered all day long. All of a sudden, MC Hammer starts playing and we are treated to a 20 minute strange break-dancing show. It was so out of place and unexpected. I laughed the entire time.

Overall, I enjoyed the diving and area around Phuket. I would go back for that reason but the Island itself wasn’t my favorite.

Siem Reap, Cambodia

2008-08-10T01:44:00.001-07:00

Days 21-25, August 6-10, 2008 (No Malaria)

Right now, I’m in my hostel back in Kuala Lumpur. Today’s accommodations look like the Lincoln Bedroom compared to the last hostel in KL. Tomorrow, I am off to Phuket, Thailand. I am taking today off trying to pay some bills, update the blog, and return some emails.

I landed from Siem Reap, Cambodia a few hours ago and was there for the last 4 days. Cambodia is another one of those, “Where do I begin,” kind of places. I can say this: I didn’t budget enough time to spend there and it was, by far, the most fascinating place I have visited. It is such a strange combination of welcoming, friendly, interesting, and sad all at the same time. The Cambodian people have been through a lot the last 30 years. It is a profoundly poor place where the average shop worker makes around $75/month for wages. Do the math. That is less than $1000/year. Buying something for a dollar at someone’s shop can make is a big deal to them. Tourism is the only significant thing that brings any foreign money into the country and I can’t imagine the poverty level if they didn’t have the Angkor temples close to bring in the tourists (I guess it would be like Laos…even poorer from what I hear). One of the unfortunate results of the poverty is there is a lot of child labor. At any and all tourist attractions, young boys and girls are selling souvenirs so they can to make money for their families. It is very sad. I was very conflicted every day between buying things from the kids, feeling like I was supporting their forced labor, and knowing that they needed the money to eat. It’s really a no win situation. The kids, who all know English, are so charming that it is hard to say no. They are persistent and know exactly what to say to get a few dollars from you.

Cambodia also has a terrible landmine problem. From the American-Vietnam War and through the Cambodian civil war that followed, millions of landmines were buried all over the country. Most were dropped by planes and ended up where they fell including school yards, homes, street, farms etc. The landmines have turned the country into a death trap. Millions of landmines have been disarmed but by most estimates, there are still somewhere around 6 million left in Cambodian soil. The population of Cambodia is just shy of 13 million people. There is one active landmine for every 2 people in Cambodia. Over the last 20 years, over 40,000 Cambodians have been killed or maimed by leftover hidden landmines. Everywhere I went, and especially in the countryside, I was warned to stay only on marked paths due to the threat. In Siem Reap, everywhere you look, you can see people missing limbs. It is grizzly. I have been told that Phnom Penh, the capitol, is significantly worse.

Added to the poverty and the landmines are the still very open wounds of the Khmer Rouge. The Khmer Rouge, led by the dictator Pol Pot, took control of Cambodia in 1975. They wanted to isolate Cambodia internationally and turn it into a communist farming society. Pol Pot forced the relocation of hundreds of thousands of people from the cities to forced labor farms in the countryside. His regime also decided that they needed a social purging and deemed anyone who was educated as a threat to the new Cambodian utopia. Anyone that could speak a foreign language, wore glasses, university professors, and hundreds of thousands of other “threats” were brutally tortured and killed. This effectively removed several generations of thought leaders, social activists, entrepreneurs, and skilled laborers from Cambodian society. They are just starting to recover. No one knows for sure how many people died but most estimates are around 1.5 of the 7.5 millions people living in the country at the time. That is one out of every 5 citizens. Hundreds of thousands more died of starvation as a direct result of Khmer Rouge policies. Anybody under 30 or so doesn’t really remember but almost everyone has been affected through missing or dead family members or friends. Though most everyone to which I spoke about the Khmer Rouge claimed that the country is no longer affected day to day, I could tell that the scar is still there. Comments about them are often thrown into casual conversation. For example, we were driving past a cemetery one day and my guide, Tola, said to me, “Pol Pot regime kill many people there.”

Despite all of this, the Cambodian people are some of the most welcoming and friendly I have ever met. Often when traveling, if you are driving down the road and you smile or wave at someone, they often ignore you are turn away. One thing that stuck me about Cambodians is that everybody returned each wave with a genuine smile. They are very interested in America and American culture and, since so many people know some English, you are often bombarded by questions about home.

The official currency of Cambodia is the Riel but for all intensive purposes, the US dollar is the currency used in day to day life. It is about 4000 Riel to one dollar so they use 1000 Riel notes like quarters. US dollars even come out of all of the ATM machines. Since their economy is based on the dollar though, they, like us, are not too happy about the dollar being down.

Driving in Cambodia is an adventure in and of itself. On the road, you have cars, bicycles, mopeds, and Tuk-tuks. Tuk-tuks are like rickshaws drawn by mopeds. These are the luxury taxis of Cambodia. If you cannot find a tuk-tuk, you have to ride on the back of a moped to get anywhere. The combination of vehicles on the crowded roads is nothing less than chaotic. Officially, there are traffic lights, road signs, and traffic drives on the right side of the road. Practically, these are only suggestions. I asked my guide what the rules of the road were and he replied, “No Rules.” The only rule is that if you hurt someone, you have to pay for their medical care. All of the vehicles weave in and out of each other, run lights, drive through oncoming traffic to jockey for position, and generally scare the hell out of me.

Siem Reap is home to the ruins of the capital of the original Khmer empire dating from the 9th-13th centuries AD. The Khmer Empire ruled most of this area including modern Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam. Their kings built monumental temples and government buildings that survive very well preserved to today. This is the main tourist draw to Cambodia. These ruins are truly wonders of the world. In Rome, unless a building was converted to a church, you have to use a lot of imagination to picture what any original structure looked like. At Angkor (the Khmer capital), most of the ruins have been preserved by the jungle so when it was cleared, many look ready for use. This coupled with the size and sheer number of ruins make this a one-of-a-kind spot on Earth. The temples were either dedicated to Hindu Gods or Buddha and were often converted at anytime to meet the needs of the ruling King. The largest temple, Angkor Wat, was built in the early 1100’s, covers an area of 1 square kilometer, and is surrounded by a moat that would make any medieval castle jealous. To me, I didn’t scratch the surface of these impressive ruins. There are still many temples hidden in the jungle that are being uncovered on a regular basis.

I spent 3 days exploring the ruins with my guide, Tola, and my driver, Mr. Syed. Tola has been a tour guide for several years, is very knowledgeable about the entire area, and we became good friends. One day, we drove the tuk-tuk about 60 kilometers outside of Siem Reap to visit one of the more remote temples. The temple was a 1 kilometer hike up the side of a mountain after the drive is over. The climb was hot and exhausting but the temple was amazing. The roads, though, once one gets a short distance from Siem Reap, can hardly be called roads. They are more of dirt or mud trails. At one point, the tuk-tuk couldn’t make it through the mud with two passengers so Tola and I had to get out and walk while Mr. Syed drove and pushed the tuk-tuk through. I asked Tola why the road was so bad and he said that a Thai company was hired to fix the road but Thai-Cambodian relations are so bad that the company just left. Apparently, Thai-Cambodian relations are historically bad and now there is a border dispute that most Cambodians are confident will end up in war. Even Tola, being the mild mannered Buddhist he is, said he would be willing to fight the Thais if his country needed him to.

Besides the temples, I also got to experience a lot of the Siem Reap area and Cambodian culture. I made pretty good friends with my tour guide, Tola, and he even took me out with some of his friends one night. They took me to a restaurant a little off of the beaten path for dinner. This particular restaurant serves one dish, beef soup, and is never, ever visited by tourists. I wish you could’ve seen the stares I received when I walked in the place. I would’ve been stared at less if I’d had a cat growing out of my head. As friendly as these people are, they were shocked to see me enter the beef soup restaurant. I soon found out why. Tola told me that I was the first tourist he ever brought there because I had been so respectful and open to Cambodian culture. He thought I could handle a very traditional meal. The meal would’ve better been called “cow soup” than “beef soup.” They set all of the ingredients in front of you with boiling broth in the middle and let you cook the soup to your liking. It’s kind of like a weird cow fondue. The first thing that was set in front of us was a plate with an unidentifiable animal product and a raw egg in the middle. I asked Tola, “what is that?” As if I should’ve already known he says, “It’s the cow brain. We add that last, though, because it will melt if we put it in too early.” Great, the last thing I want is melted cow brain in my soup. The next plate was another unidentifiable animal product: cow nail. I am a pretty adventurous eater but this was a little too much for me. I fought back my nausea as not to offend Tola and his friends. I ate the cow brain and cow nail. After the brain was gone, Tola asked me which I preferred…cow brain or nail? Since the brain was gone already, I thought that I could get out of eating anymore nail and I told him that I enjoyed the brain more. My mistake was not realizing there was more of my preferred cow brain to be ordered. When it came, Tola and his friends told me that they got to eat it often so they would save it for my soup. They were genuine, too. They were happy to think I enjoyed the cow brain and wanted me to enjoy more. I have to stop being so accommodating….

Another interesting thing that I did was to visit a Cambodian floating village. In order to get there, you have to drive about 30 minutes from Siem Reap and the docks are then several kilometers down a dirt path that is more field than road. The Tonle Sap lake near Siem Reap expands to 4 times its dry season size during the rainy season. The dramatic expansion and contraction of the lake has led to the evolution of an entire group of people that follow this cycle. They live their entire lives on boats. Their homes, schools, places of worship, and businesses are all on boats. If they have any animals, they’re on boats, too. They are a nomadic people but instead of following livestock feeding grounds, they follow the water and the fish. If you don’t like your neighbor, you just row down the river a little. If Cambodia is impoverished, these people are the poorest of the poor. They subsist by selling fish and raising crocodiles but the lake has been over fished and the price of crocodile is down so they have been hurt by it financially. You have never seen a happier group of people, though. The children seemed to be having a blast. I guess it would be like having a big pool that connected all your friend’s houses. I guess that would be fun. At one point, it started to downpour and my guide and I went to take a little cover but none of the floating villagers did. I realized that when you live 95% of your life completely wet, a good downpour is probably like a nice breeze to us. We hired a boat to drive us through the village, make a few stops like the crocodile farm, and even take a little excursion on the Tonle Sap to watch the fisherman work. I say it again, if I was looking to experience cultures vastly different than mine, I can’t imagine a more foreign lifestyle.

I also got a haircut in Siem Reap. I thought it’d be funny to walk in a barber and ask in Khmer (the language) for a haircut so I asked Tola how to do just that. I figured that I really didn’t care how it turned out so communicating in English wouldn’t be necessary. I walked in and said, “Cheung moi kat sah,” and received the worst haircut of my life. Bad haircut…funny experience.

So that was Cambodia. I am still trying to figure out a way that I can visit Phnom Penh while I am here. I wish I would’ve known that I was going to like it so much and be so fascinated by the culture and people. I would’ve definitely spent some more time there. Hopefully, I will visit one day again. There is so much more there to do!

Lots of Videos

2008-08-08T07:51:00.000-07:00

Hi Everybody,

I am currently in Cambodia and have a lot of things to say about the country and my stay here but my internet connection isn't very good here and I am having trouble uploading pictures. When I get back to Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, I'll post my Cambodia blog. Until then, I will attach the links for several videos that I have uploaded to youtube over the last few weeks.

Enjoy.

Iban Blowgun Demonstation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I824sPIlxgs

Cock Fight at Iban Long-House
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uV2Gx1zbp6U

Magic Trick an Iban kid did while we were drinking too much rice whiskey
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yApDKFQuazw

Drinking Rice Whiskey and Saying Cheers Iban Style
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2t7722oojo

Traditional Iban Dance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muXQMc6J2TI

Trekking Through Bako National Park in Sarawak
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXV_WIl19CI

Monkey’s Having Some Fun
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP5ItiinMnQ

More Monkeys
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVPihGoqG-8

Yet more monkeys
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrwEaVyLVDo

Proboscis Monkey Jumping from Tree at Bako
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVDNC3Qfg_Y

Jungle Trekking 2 at Bako National Park
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRyeSADYOyY

Germans muttering to each other over breakfast in the Jungle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXPV0eGBMj8

A plant that moves when you touch it in Borneo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV7C0oBGISA

A Bucket of Fish at the Market in Sarawak
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyczL61l1cA

Chinese Parade
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3Nmr0WA44k

Chinese Parade 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-YxCyU_lSc

Chinese Parade 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tghky6k2ZTA

Weekend Market in Kuching
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BemaCQqjC1Y

Music at Weekend Market in Kuching
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKdmnPLDPVc

Attempt to Break the Record for Biggest Cake in Malaysia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWlZaEmY-_M

Taking the Boat to Bako National Park in Sarawak
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaT37nEu-pQ

Orangutan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ2PMJhleQI

Orangutan 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH-53xsiBSE

Orangutan 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sikRqPzIm_E

Taking a long-boat up the Lemanek River
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKsyjawMa4c

Long-boat up the Lemanek 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVkauvNL56Y

Iban Dance 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4l1pzhIhmYs

Kuala Lumpur

2008-08-05T00:24:00.000-07:00

Day 18-20, August 3-5, 2008 (No Malaria)

Oh, the highs and lows that are Kuala Lumpur. The highs are the city and its people. KL is really an amazing city and nothing like what I expected. The lows are my accommodations while in KL. Let me explain…

On a recommendation, I booked a room at a hostel called the Green Hut right in the heart of KL. It’s a great location and the whole city is within walking distance. When I arrived, I thought that is was everything a hostel should be: great lobby with backpackers getting to know each other, small breakfast buffet for the weary traveler, and a friendly staff. They even had an outdoor balcony where people could congregate to share their adventures abroad. So far, so good, right?

The illusion that I had of the travelers paradise quickly evaporated once I saw my room. I’ll attach a picture and just say that it smelled worse than it looked. Luckily, or maybe unfortunately, my nostrils got used to the odor after a while so I could focus on the filth around me. My room reminded me of a prison cell complete with bars on the window. It doesn’t end there.

After getting over the shock of the room, I decide to get out and see the city (more on that later), have a great day, and then return to my room to endure the remaining waking moments I had left until I could drift off into a well needed sleep. The only problem is that when I get back to my room, it more resemble a cave than a room. There were bed bugs everywhere. Seriously, I took some napkins and started a bed bug genocide and they just kept coming. I was going to sit down and try to type some for the blog but, like and advancing army, the bed bug onslaught was relentless. At one point, I decided that I couldn’t take it anymore. I would either have to get a new room or get a new hostel (which is when I learned my lesson, pay by the day - not all at once). The staff WAS accommodating. They had a room that opened up and said that it was much better. Also, they told me that the hostel was fumigated once a month and it was occurring the next day so the bugs shouldn’t be a problem after that no matter in which room I was. So at 2 AM on Sunday night, I entered my new room. It is smaller, slightly cleaner, no window, bad AC, smelled better though, and LESS bugs. Yes, the new room still had bugs but a manageable amount to kill. Instead of a prison cell though, it was more like solitary confinement. I was wondering how the rest of the weary travelers in the hostel were faring and then realized that they were probably all in the lobby earlier to escape their own versions of hell unfolding in their rooms.

So Monday comes: fumigation day. The night before, due to my issues, one of the staff had shown me a small sign they had taped by the stairs:

The sign was so well hidden, nobody in the entire place was aware of the fumigation or the instructions that went along with it. I was up early on Monday and trying to clarify exactly what the staff wanted me to do with my luggage for the day while pest control was there. As I was speaking to them and the other guests were rising and shining (and itching, I’m sure), they over heard bits of my conversation. I had people coming up to me with a myriad of questions:

“What do we do with our stuff?”
“I just checked in, do I have to get my stuff out of the room already?”
“So I have to be out of here until at least 4?”

I am sure that when the fumigation started, there were still people in bed chocking and sputtering blissfully unaware until that moment that they would be in the middle of a giant bug bomb. Luckily, I was gone by then.

I arrived back to me new, less-bug, better smelling room that evening to find it now smelling worse and with a few new friends on the wall to let me know that the fumigation had been a totally futile effort. Thankfully, my “bug-killing” skills are keeping me ahead of their “human-biting” skills.

I decided that, albeit not the best situation, there are people that have to live like this every day and I could endure a few nights. Maybe it’ll be good for me somehow. I have no clue how…but maybe?

Oh, I have just one last thing about the hostel that I actually just noticed today. In the lobby, they have a set of clocks showing the time in various cities around the world. Can anybody tell me what’s wrong with this picture (for starters, I’ll give a hint…New York is exactly 12 hours behind Kuala Lumpur).

Despite my 18th century living conditions, I have very much enjoyed Kuala Lumpur. It is a little more expensive than I anticipated but has a charm and culture for a big city that I think even Singapore lacked. I had been told that KL was dirty and dangerous but I haven’t experienced that side of the city at all. I have found KL to be extremely friendly, welcoming, relatively clean (except for the aforementioned room), easy to navigate, and modern. I only have three days here plus one before I go to Thailand at the end of the week and think that I could have spent a few more here.

Kuala Lumpur, or KL for short, is a metropolitan area of over 7 million people and the capitol of Malaysia. Malaysia gained independence from the British in 1957 and is celebrating its 51 year of independence this August 31st. Like most of Malaysia, it is inhabited mainly by Malay Muslims, Indians, and Chinese. To me, it seems like the races get along pretty well throughout the entire country. KL seems to be going through a energetic revitalization after declining throughout the 70’s and 80’s with many restaurants, clubs, and shopping malls all being relatively new downtown.

In KL, I walked around a lot. For some of the more remote areas, I did a hop-on, hop-off bus tour for a day. The bus goes around the city and stops at around 20 places. There is commentary on the bus and then you can get off and see whatever you’d like during the day only to get back on the next bus that comes by. I prefer to walk a city but this is a big city and I am only here for a short time so it was a good way to go.

While in KL,

I did some bargain shopping in the Chinatown market. The guy next in the red shirt is making sugar cane juice, one of my new favorites…

…Ascended to the observation deck of the Petronas Twin Towers which were, until recently, the tallest buildings on Earth...

…had some interesting meals including “Grilled Stingray” (Sorry Cayman friends) and “Bak Kut Teh” which is, to my best guess, pig-part soup. I liked this but had a similar pig-part soup in Kuching called Khuy Chop which I prefered.

…and went to the Batu Caves outside of town. These were really incredible. They are a natural limestone cave formation about 8 miles from the city center.

One of the largest caves houses a Hindu temple and can be reached only after scaling 272 steep steps.

There are a ton of monkeys here and for the first time in SE Asia, I did not receive the “No Feed Monkey” speech. After thinking about all the monkey rules I had been given, I realized that not only do I look like the kind of person that would like to feed the monkeys; I am the kind of person that would like to feed the monkeys. The park rangers must be able to spot me a mile away. Encouraged by the lack of written or verbal warnings, my impulses got the better of me and I rolled the nearest monkey a piece of duku which is a small local fruit. He grabbed it and I watched him chow down.

I also quickly realized, as I was running from the half a monkey troop that was descending upon me, why the “No Feed Monkey” rule is so pervasive. I was telling my taxi driver about this and he was laughing saying how he once saw a monkey steal a camera from a little girl, bite it, realize that it wasn’t food, and then break it on the ground. No more feeding monkeys for me…maybe.

The other big attraction at the Batu Caves is the Dark Cave which is very creatively named. I took a two hour tour of the cave which is done with minimal lighting. Every place that my small headlamp illuminated was complete with bats, guano, cockroaches, water falls, stalactites, stalagmites, spiders, snails, and centipedes. It kind of reminded me of my room back at the hostel. This was my first time trekking around a cave and found it a very interesting experience. I would like to go back and do the four hour at some point where one really gets down and dirty.

I did have one very new experience to me; I got totally lost my first day here. I have become disoriented before in big cities before but never become as lost as I was on Sunday in KL. I had just left Chinatown and thought that I was headed the right direction. I was getting a little suspicious when nothing looked familiar to me but on one's first day in a big city, it is hard to remember everything one passes. When I finally decided that I needed to ask for help in finding my way home, I discovered one of the more unique Malaysian traits. Upon figuring out you are lost, everyone you talk to will try to give directions regardless if they understand you or have no clue which way you really have to go. I don't know if it is an overblown sense of hospitality that they don't want any visitor to feel lost or an overblown sense of pride that they wouldn't know every nook of their town but either way, it made for an interesting walk home.

Tomorrow, the end of my third week away, I am off to Cambodia. This is one of the destinations that I have been looking forward to most. I hope that it lives up to my expectations.

Again, thanks for all of the emails, comments, and questions. Please keep them coming. I am going to try to find a few minutes over the next few days to answer questions to which I have not had a chance to get. So if I haven't got back to you yet, sorry. I will try soon.

David

Penang

2008-08-01T07:03:00.001-07:00

Day 15-17, July 31-August 2, 2008 (No Malaria)

Hey Everybody,

I am just finishing off my stay here in Penang and on my way to Kuala Lumpur, the capitol of Malaysia, tomorrow.

Penang is a small island on the northwest coast of peninsular Malaysia. Penang has a pretty rich history. In the 18th and 19th centuries it, along with Singapore and Malacca (I’ll be there in a few days), was one of the hubs of trade for the British Empire in this part of the world. It was actually owned by the British East India Company. Remember, this was time when the lines were blurred between corporations, private armies, and states (maybe they still are in a lot of places). So, under British rule, this island was basically a big corporate office used to make money for the shareholders.

The recent history of Penang, in my opinion, is not that rich. Today, it is really only a tourist destination. Compared to some of the other places that I’ve been, Penang doesn’t seem to have an identity other than tourism. It has been perfect for the relaxation that I was looking forward to after the craziness that was Borneo, which is why it is such a big draw, but I am ready to move on. If I wasn’t paying close attention, I would have thought I was in Disney World or Ft. Lauderdale.

I stayed in town called Batu Feringghi which is famous for its beaches. My hotel, the D’ Feringghi, was nice with a Bali theme. The area is actually quite interesting as it has a totally different character during the day and night. By day, it is a sleepy beach town. By night, it is a hopping night-life area with a night bazaar stretching the length of the beach.

By Day…

By Night…OK, I know it's hard to see but it's a lot busier...

Batu Feringghi is not the cleanest place I have ever been to. Below is picture of what I have affectionately dubbed the “poo-river” that runs directly into the ocean near my hotel. It smells as good as it looks. I have had to cross a bridge over this several times a day. I will not miss poo-river.

Despite sounding like it is a terrible place, I have really enjoyed myself. On the first day, I took a tip from a tourist and walked a few miles down the beach until I found a clean, private beach which was the perfect place to take a nap and read a book. I’ll include a picture.

On day 2, I hired a driver to take me around the island’s east side, the more populated side, and see some the tourist sights. The one that I enjoyed the most was the Snake Temple which has live pit-vipers that have taken residence in the temple. The Buddhists that run the temple believe them good luck and don’t remove them. Why would they, I guess? Now their temple, one of many, is one of the biggest draws on the island.

I also went to the Botanical Gardens where they have monkeys that run free. As we were on our way, I told the driver I was looking forward to seeing the monkeys because we don’t have any back home. She was floored, couldn’t imagine a place where monkeys don’t roam free, and I realized that monkeys here are like squirrels back home…they’re everywhere, sometimes nuisances, and while people will try not to hit them with the car, the guilt will quickly fade if they do. Of course, I got the “No Feed Monkey” speech from my driver and also from a park ranger immediately upon entering the Gardens. I must really look like someone who is hell-bent on feeding a monkey. I’ll include a picture of the “No Feed Monkey” sign and also some other park rules. If anyone has a clue what the rule is as depicted by the turtle, I’m open to guesses…please, I can’t figure it out…

I can't tell you how badly I wanted these three to cooperate and cover their ears, eyes and mouth in order. I almost got a "speak no evil"from the one on the right.

After I got back to my hotel, I went to the local beach and made some new friends. I sat near some girls from England and we ended up talking for a while and then went to dinner. They invited me to come to the “Full-Moon Party” in Thailand next month. I’ll be there so…so why the hell not? I think that it would be an injustice if I was half-way around the world, got invited to go to the biggest party in Thailand, and didn’t accept the invitation…right?

I have to say a little more about the beach. Apparently, Penang is a huge tourist destination for rich Saudis. All of the Saudi women wear burkas every moment they are outside. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen a Saudi woman on the beach trying to swim in a burka. You really haven’t lived until you have seen the same woman hop on a jet-ski and drive away. I very much try to appreciate other cultures and not judge them by my standards. I try to see things from the perspective of others and realize that we all come from different ideals and backgrounds. However, I don’t think I’ll ever really understand this culture. Making a woman wear a multilayer thick black dress that covers her entire head on the beach when it is 100 degrees outside seems like torture to me. I’ll include a few pictures but I’ll apologize about the quality. I was trying to be discreet as to not offend any overzealous Saudi husbands.

Also, on the beach, they had a few parasailing services that were using the beach for takeoff and landings. I’ve seen parasailing many places and never seen the beach used for takeoffs and landings. Let’s just say that the Malays have not perfected the art of the beach landing. One woman ended up in a tree (and is lucky to be alive to be perfectly honest), a kid landed right on top of another kid almost killing the one on the ground and then a guy almost took out another whole group of people. I got a picture of this and have to say, it was hilarious. Picking a safe spot on the beach was like playing Russian Roulette. I even had to move at one point so I wasn’t used as a landing pad. My one regret is I didn’t get to see a flying burka.

Today, I rented a scooter to explore the less inhabited, west side, of the island. It was nice getting out and exploring and I only got lost a few times. I only drove on the wrong side of the road once. The west side of the island is mostly fruit plantations and mountains so it was quiet and relaxing. I found some pretty cool beaches and stumbled across some rowing races which were fun to watch, albeit at a distance. Only afterward did I learn that this is a famous and highly anticipated local event called the Dragon-Boat Races which are held annually.

Goodbye, Penang, I’ll probably never see you again…

Naughty Monkeys and Leaving Borneo

2008-07-29T17:50:00.001-07:00

Day 13-14, July 29-30, 2008 – No Malaria

I just landed in Penang which is an Island on the northern west coast of peninsular Malaysia. Though it is dark out, I am immediately struck by the modernity of the island. The guidebooks make it sound like some small, backwater place (maybe where I am going it is… as it is an hour taxi ride from the airport) but all I have seen so far is condos, shopping centers, and hotels. I also think that my driver is none to happy to have me due to the distance he has to cover to haul me to Batu Feringghi (the city where I am staying) and back. More about Penang later though since I just showed up.

Yesterday, I took a daytrip to Bako National Park which is located about an hour from Kuching. That hour is divided into about a half-hour in a car and about a half-hour in a boat as the park is inaccessible by road.

The park is famous for its diverse wildlife including the proboscis monkey, the bearded pig, snakes, and monkeys. I was fortunate to see all of these up close both on the rainforest trek that I took and also just hanging out around the park lodge. I also received what I have been calling the “No Feed Monkey” speech. Everyplace that there are primates of any kind, one gets the “No Feed Monkey” speech. The monkeys are cute but apparently, they can also be rabid and aggressive. Feeding them only makes them more so. I got the impression that, if they were not protected, the park staff would like to do away with the macaques particularly. While on the island, I also got to swim in the South China Sea. The park is beautiful as you can see in the pictures (though they never really do the real sight justice).

Last night, I met my new friends Disney and David out for food and drinks and we eventually met up with several other of Disney’s buddies. One of Disney’s friends was an Iban guy whose family left the long-house lifestyle for the city and he was very interested in my own experience.

These guys also wouldn’t let me pay for a thing. In return, although we did not get to play, I introduced them to the concepts of Cups which I am sure will be making its Malay debut in the very near future.

Today I just walked around to say goodbye to Kuching. I am sad to leave the city. It was a very friendly, welcoming place where I made some good friends and had some incredible were really great. Not only did they invite me out and show me the town, they experiences. If my lifetime travels ever take me back there, I will not be upset by it.

The Jungle

2008-07-28T04:34:00.001-07:00

Day 11-12, July 27-28 – No Malaria (I may have some other stuff going on but no malaria)

This is going to be a long, picture filled entry so make sure that you have a few minutes…

I really don’t even know where to begin. I guess I’ll start with my physical condition. I am filthy…no, filthy is too clean. I am putrid. I have mud all over me: river mud, village mud, jungle mud, long-house mud, bed mud (I think). I didn’t know that so many types of mud existed. I also have, what has tentatively been identified as, chicken blood spattered on my pants but from which chicken, I do not know. Throw in a healthy few gallons of sweat and funk and you start to get the picture. Oh, I also haven’t shaved in a week so I have hair on my upper lip and chin of which any eighth grade boy would be proud. Look out ladies…no seriously…look out, get away, I’m disgusting.

You may be wondering why I am so disgusting. I am currently on the way back to Kuching from my jungle adventure. It was quite an incredible experience.

I was picked up yesterday morning by the tour company at my hotel and our first stop was the orangutan preserve near Kuching. The preserve is home base for 24 oranutans that are either permanent residents or being rehabbed to live back out in the jungle on their own. It is situated on the edge of the jungle near Kuching and while it is not huge, the orangutans can roam in or out at free will. Some stay near the preserve. Some decide they don’t need it anymore and just decide to head out on their own. The original residents of the preserve are animals that were either bought off of the black market or from exotic pet dealers and just would not survive in the wild. The rest of the residents are the children and grandchildren of those originals which, upon being ready to live on their own, are taken further inland and released into the wild.

When you sign-up to go to the preserve, you are warned repeatedly that you only have a 50/50 chance of seeing any orangutans because most of them roam distances and aren’t always by observations areas. They do put food out for them twice a day but any individual orangutan only comes to eat every few days so there is no guarantee that they won’t pass up a tasty free meal. Suckers!

We got very lucky and I lost count of the number around us; And when I say around us, I mean all around us. We as tourists are in their habitat so, while an observation area exists, it is not separated from the orangutans and they can be any distance and direction from you including right over your head. I was told not to worry though because the last tourist bit was over two years ago. I think that the orangutans have mixed feelings about being stared at daily. They had reactions that ranged from apathy, curiosity, and mischief. As I was walking into the observation area, I felt raindrops and thought that it started raining. However, it was a young orangutan, unseen by me, that was shaking a tree so the water fell on us and then it laughed. This same one also was breaking off small branches and throwing them at tourists later in the morning. It was a big day for the park rangers, too. One of the females had given birth a few weeks ago and hadn’t come around at all since then. She decided to give us a visit yesterday morning, though, and show off her new baby for the first time. Watching the apes move in the trees and seeing their faces up close was an incredible experience and one that I will not ever forget.

From there, we began the long trek to the Iban long-house. I guess that I should explain who “we” is and also what an “Iban long-house” is. “We” is my tour group. Traveling alone, sometimes you get thrust into funny and bizarre situations. This was no exception. My group consistent of two guides (more on them later) and 11 Germans of which one spoke enough English for me to get any point across. For the past day and a half, I have often felt like I was in some strange Eurotrip film what with all of the constant German muttering and laughing. I was also a big fan of the German cell-phone techno at 6:30 this morning.

My two guides were great, spoke passable to good English, and were incredibly knowledgeable about the jungle. I learned things like how a pitcher plant eats, that Borneo has a lot of cobras but not spitting cobras, and how to properly dig the flesh out of a cobra bite and apply the proper plants as to not die. Let’s hope I never have to use some of this very practical knowledge. I also learned a great deal about the variety of bananas here and how they are named. A sample of a conversation with my guide, Kenny, went something like this.

Kenny: We have banana that is very good to feed the baby. It called the baby banana.

David: Interesting

Kenny: We have banana that is better to eat when it still green. It called green banana

David: Fascinating

Kenny: We have banana that look like horn of rhinoceros. It called horn banana

David: Nice

Kenny: We have banana that is better to eat after it turn black. Do you know what we call that?

David: Black Banana?

Kenny: How you know that?

Seriously, these guys were first class and made the experience much richer. They also have relationships with the Iban villages that were very beneficial.

The Iban are one of the three indigenous tribes of Sarawak and traditionally live in jungle long-houses. Of those that still remain in the jungle (many are drawn to the city), they are spread out in around 5000 long-house communities. About 50 accept tourists into their communities. I should also mention that, until recently, the Iban were a head-hunting tribe. This was officially ended sometime in the 60’s but there are still a few old men that have the significant neck tattoo which indicates a successful decapitation. Crazy! Skulls are still displayed in the long-houses as trophies of past victories over enemies.

A jungle long-house community has one main building that is for living, socializing, and relaxing. Each family in the village has their own “apartment” in this house and the chief lives in the middle. If they need room for another family, they simply build onto the end of the house until they run out of land. Once that happens, they will start a new long-house close to the original. In addition to the long-house, there are buildings for animals, storage, worship (the Iban are Christian), and guests. We stayed in the guest long-house near the river and the roosters.

Getting to the Lemanek River long-houses, where the Iban live, is an adventure by itself. It is approximately 250 kilometers from Kuching and is a several hour trip. On the way, one will pass bustling metropolises like Serian and Lachau. Serian has a huge market which was interesting to walk around. Lachau, however, is the last vestige of civilization before one falls off of the edge of the earth. It consists of a few small shops that survive off of the tour industry’s travel to the Iban.

After a 4 hour bus ride, it is off to the river for a 1.5 hour long-boat ride to our long-house. Skimming along through the jungle passing nothing but the occasional Iban community was very Apocalypse Now. Aside from the boat almost capsizing about 10 times, it was also very relaxing.

Upon arrival at the long-house, we got a tour of the life of the Iban. By any standards, and particularly by American ones, these people live in absolute squalor. It was the first time that I have seen a standard of living so different from what I know that I couldn’t imagine human beings existing like that. The long-houses are not much more than patch-work wood structures with sheet-metal roofs. There is no electricity other than an emergency generator and the interiors have loose plank floors beneath which are some storage and animal pens.

Despite the stark contrast between our lives, the Iban were amazing hosts. They welcomed us into their homes and shared what they had. Granted, I am sure that they are receiving something for their troubles but the effort was second to none and appreciated. I bet that it would be easy to go through the motions for what to them must be just another group of tourists but they made us feel like we were the only guests that ever visited. We got to witness several traditions:

During the first tour, we spent some time in the medicine man’s room, the urgent care clinic of the village, and partook in some of the jungles more exotic fruits and spirits. We had a little plum-like fruit that was so sour that it made biting into a lime seem downright sweet. In the medicine man room, we also drank enough village-brewed rice wine and rice whiskey to kill a horse. This continued for several hours outside of the medicine room, also. The Iban, from a short observation, could all be alcoholics. The sheer amount of rice whiskey consumed by us and our hosts was staggering. The chief was even having a shot this morning before the blowgun demonstration. This stuff is no joke either: Think bad sake but very strong with a little gasoline added for an extra kick.

After dark, we went back to the long-house for some traditional Iban dance. It was interesting to watch the tribe perform such a peaceful dance underneath the skulls of their enemies. After the dances, it was rice-whiskey all around. Some of the tribe, the Germans, and I were probably a little over-served. The highlight was watching the chief get so drunk that he was putting cigarettes out on the wood floor of the wood long-house. Call me crazy but that doesn’t seem like the best idea.

For a most of the evening, the only thing I understood out of the German’s mouths was, “David, whiskey,” before they filled up my cup. At one point, however, I could have sworn that either the Germans miraculously leaned English or I had developed the ability to understand German. Right now, I would swear under oath that I remember having deep philosophical discussions sitting on that long-house floor. I went to bed convinced that we would all be chatting about our evening over breakfast. Unbelievably, I was wrong.

This morning we watched a blow-gun demonstration from the chief and then got to try our skills out on a very intimidating piece of cardboard. I slew my enemy. The morning ended with a cock-fight. You heard me right: cock-fight. Don’t worry, we were told before that they were going to leave the small sharp knives off the rooster’s feet. So I guess that is not where I got the chicken blood on me…

Fast forward a few hours…

As I wait for a new load of laundry to soak in the sink, I am about to add some pictures and post this entry. I have had a few hours to think about my last day and look at some of the pictures. This was a truly remarkable experience. If I wanted to experience different cultures and ways of life, I don’t think that it will get any better than this. I am a lucky guy.

Kuching

2008-07-26T02:16:00.000-07:00

Day 10, July 26 – no malaria

Hello from Borneo. I am taking a break from the heat and sweat before dinner so I figured that I would take a few minutes to write an update.

My flight arrived here from Johor Bahru a few minutes late last night. I got a cab voucher and, upon climbing into the cab, experienced my first real language barrier of the trip. I had the name and address of the hotel and showed it to the driver and it took a lot of back and forth (and the old trick we English speakers do of speaking slower and louder when someone doesn’t understand us) and he finally had to call over another driver and have the other driver provide directions. It wasn’t the most encouraging situation arriving in a totally foreign city and not knowing if I was going to get to the correct place.
As a matter of fact, the driver couldn’t find the hotel. We had to stop a few times in the neighborhood and ask directions before we finally found it.

By the time I got to the hotel, it was already midnight local time, I was beat, and ready for a long night sleep.

Today, I explored Kuching. I really like Kuching. It is a very laid back city and I found some Spartan fans. Go Spartans!

The shopkeepers in the markets aren’t in your face and they are very friendly. Actually, everyone is very friendly. It turns out my hotel is right in the center of everything. I walked around Chinatown, along the river, went to the Sarawak museum, and also through the Main Bazaar. The highlight of the day, though, was witnessing a group of very motivated bakers go for a try at the baking the longest cake in Malaysia. They did it. Everyone cheered. It was so exciting. I’ll include a pic of the record breaking cake! Awesome.

Fast forward a few hours….

Tonight, I went out to dinner and had a walking tour of the area with some of the people that work at Borneo Adventures, the tour company I am using here. I’ll tell you what happens when you go out with locals. First, you get tricked into eating a fried chicken’s anus…tasty. Second, you stumble onto the weirdest parade ever. Third, you sit and drink local brew until the group has invented what may be remembered in history as, “Biondi’s Borneo Chair Burning Party.” It’s amazing how a little beer can enter me into local folklore…

I’ll include a pic of my new drinking buddies, Disney, David, and Collin. Also, I’ll include a picture of the Chinese parade that I witnessed. I say “witnessed” instead of “saw” because I feel like I could be called into Malaysian court to testify to the lunacy of the parade. In the US, parades are usually fairly orderly events with streets blocked off and barriers keeping people off of the parade route. In Malaysia, something tells me that permits do not matter very much. The dragon floats were coming down the street and cars were weaving in and out of them. The poor kids dressed like dragons on the street had to have bouncers, I kid you not, in order to make sure they didn’t end up road kill for Buddha. It was pure chaos…and hilarious. I don’t think that you can get the any sense of the insanity from the pictures but trust me, I was laughing the entire time.

I don’t have time now but when I get back to town on Monday, I’ll post a few videos that I have taken and also a few more photos from Kuching.

How to post a comment

2008-07-26T01:51:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,
I received a few emails saying that people are having problems posting comments so I figured that I would post some simple instructions.

The easiest way to post a comment:
1. At the bottom of my blog entry, click where is says "X comments" (ie, 1, 2,3, etc)
2. In the box on the right under the words "Leave your comment," write your message.
3. Below that, you will see a box that says "word verification" with some random letters above it. Enter those letters in the box
4. Under the words, "Choose and Identity," click the circle next to "anonymous" (Just make sure you sign your message so I know who you are).
5. Click "Publish your Comment."

That's it.

David

Refexology Poster

2008-07-24T17:28:00.000-07:00

I had a couple of requests to show the propoganda poster that the shops show in order to try to convince you of the benefit of relexology. Enjoy. I'll be posting a bigger update later today.

David

Leaving Singapore

2008-07-24T15:24:00.000-07:00

Day 7-9, July 23-25, 2008 - No Malaria (started taking the Malaria pills yesterday)

Hi everybody,

I am currently sitting in the airport in Johor Bahru, Malaysia waiting to begin the next leg of my adventure. Before I begin to recap the last few days, I wanted to again thank everyone for all of the response that I have received on the blog. It's hard to believe that I'm only a week into a several months trip. Judging by the last week has gone, several stupid things will happen to me at which you can all laugh and I guess that is good for everyone.

Today was my last day in Singapore. I am flying out of Johor Bahru to Kuching, Sarawak which is on the Island of Borneo. Borneo has three countries (or parts of three countries) on it. Sarawak is a state of Malaysia. Most of the island is covered by Indonesia, which encompasses several hundreds islands as a country. The last country on Borneo is Brunei...as in the Sultan of Brunei. Brunei is a small, extremely rich country. The inhabitants of Borneo are predominantly Islamic priding themselves in keeping true to the original teachings of Mohammad and distancing themselves from the violence that is commonly associated with Islam in the West. Also on Borneo are tribes of indigenous people that still live in the jungle in long-houses. If any of you watch Anthony Bordain, you may remember his adventure to a jungle longhouse. Also, Borneo is one of only two places on Earth that is a native habitat for the orangutan. Hopefully, I'll see some while I am there.

I have set up my trip to Borneo through a tour company in Kuching that was recommended by several guide books. They have been extremely helpful, accommodating, and friendly. I asked them to make lodging reservations for me because I didn’t know what would be convenient for both them and me and they put me up in a hotel that they repeatedly assured me will be to my liking. The hotel that I'm staying in during my stay in Kuching is called John's Place. Think about the name of the hotel...John's Place. I hope that it is not so well endorsed because it is the biggest brothel in Sarawak!

The last few days have been busy. On Wednesday, it rained in the morning so I took advantage of the downtime to research some more of the trip and start to book some more lodging. In the afternoon, I went to the Asian Civilizations Museum. I thought it would be good to learn a little bit more about the history and people of the countries I will be visiting. It was a great museum and I think that I was there for most of the afternoon.

Thursday, I started the day by going to the US Embassy to get some more pages added to my passport. Across from the US Embassy is the Singapore Botanical Gardens. Orchids are the national flower of Singapore so they are predominantly featured in the Garden. Singapore really spares no expense to make sure that their country is clean, green, and convenient. The Botanical Gardens were no exception.

The Garden was followed by the Juroong Bird Park. I got to watch a few very cools shows and also see several exhibits. I absolutely loved the park but anything with animals will is usually first with me. For me, animals are like food...my favorite is usually what is right in front of me. One of the best parts of the park was the lori aviary. It is huge and has hundreds of colorful lories. I’ll include some pictures. The best part is that you can feed them so they flock all around you like pidgins in central park…OK, I guess that only I like that…On the way to my next stop, I met a person after my own heart…a kindred spirit. My cab driver, Andy, happened to be from the neighborhood that I was going to tour, Katoong. He was excited that I was going to tour his neighborhood and sample the local cuisine. As the conversation quickly turned to food in general, I quickly felt like we were old war buddies trading stories of bravery and comparing scars…except we were actually two fat guys trading restaurant tips and comparing what we had both eaten in the last week. Andy was so excited that I wanted to try the local specialty, Katoong Laksa, he took me directly to his favorite restaurant, got out of his cab with the engine running, and ordered for me to make sure everything was perfect. So began what I believe will be an obsession for the rest of my time here in SE Asia…Laksa.

Laksa is a noodle dish served in a coconut broth. The Katoong varitey contained shrimp, cilantro, fish, and spices. This dish, much like pizza in the US, is served with variation depending on where you have it. Laksa in Singapore, Kuching, and Penang will all be different. There are even different varieties in Singapore itself. The Katoong laksa, originating from this neighborhood, was so delicious and spicy. When I say spicy, I mean spicy. Of course, I did add some extra chili sauce to it because I like to punish my palate. I was choking and gagging so much through this spicy bowl of goodness that the locals were very amused. I like spicy but this took it to another level. Maybe Katoong laksa will finally grow back the hair on my chest that Kieran pulled out 6 years ago? I was very fond of that hair.

The gorgeous Katoong neighborhood is my kind of place. Everyone was extremely friendly and passionate about their food and drink. This is the only place that I have seen in Singapore with the local neighborhood pub. I have seen several trendy lounges around town but no pubs. Katoong not only has pubs but, from what I can tell, one pub for every 3 residents of the neighborhood! I took a photo above a pub in Katoong which, in my brief experience there, summed up the neighborhood pretty well.

So goes my time in Singapore. I met some great people, saw some beautiful sights, and ate some amazing local dishes. If I can say that about every city I visit, I will say that this trip was successful.

I wanted to thank Irene for all of her hospitality. If you are ever in KC or anywhere else I live, for that matter, you always have a place to stay. Thank you so much.

As they say in Singapore, “See you later.”

Singapore (2)

2008-07-22T15:14:00.001-07:00

Day 5/6 - July 20/21 - No Malaria (yet...but I did get a few mosquito bites)

Hello Everybody,

I am going to try to update this about every two days. While this is easy to say here in Singapore where I have my own bedroom, wireless internet access, and power, I am hoping that I can stick to it. There will definitely be some time where I am incommunicado but they should be relatively few and far between. That being said, I am here until Friday when I fly to Kuching on the Island of Borneo...but more on that in a later post.

Update on the last few days...

I spent most of Monday staring out the window of Irene's place. We had a torrential downpours all day long (a monsoon, maybe?) and that didn't make it too easy to get out. It was good, in a way, that the weather was so terrible because it allowed me to do some planning for for the next steps of this trip.

You see, three weeks back home were not really enough time to close out my job, tie up the loose ends of my life and household, AND plan for three months abroad. Don't get me wrong, I got all the necessary vaccination and equipment but other than a general idea of where I wanted to go and a one-way ticket to Singapore, I really had nothing concrete planned. I realize that isn't very sane but, oh well, that's my life. My mom's friend Nancy, her Husband Jeff, and my friend Irene have all been very helpful in helping me figure out places to go, what to do there, and how long to stay.

So most of Monday was spent on the phone, internet, and email booking tours, flights, and lodging. The jigsaw puzzle that is this trip is not complete yet but does have several more pieces in place than it did on Sunday.

I could write everything that I'm planning on doing but it will be more fun if I just write about it as I go along.

The one time I did get out on Monday, I actually had a stroke of luck. During a lull in the rain, I went to grab a bite to eat in the Little India neighborhood. I walked into a random restaurant because they had good pictures of the food out front (I pick my restaurants abroad like I pick my wine...by how much I like the label). Turns out, the restaurant was a Nepalese one and all of the staff were recent immigrants from there. I had been planning on going to Nepal but didn't really know much about the country. The staff spent an hour telling me things to do in Nepal and places that I have to go see. It made me very excited about that part of the trip even though it seems like it is so far away. It also made me a little sad to see how much they loved their country and cannot go back because of the govenment. I asked if they ever got angry that tourists like me could go even though they couldn't. They said they would rather have the world see Nepal and its beauty than keep it a secret behind the new government. Pretty amazing people!

Yesterday, I actually spent the day out of the house. I spent most of the day on a walking tour of Chinatown where they have both the Sri Mariamman Hindu temple and the Buddah Tooth Relic Temple. As luck would have it, there were services going on in both while I visited. It was really amazing to sit (respectfully, of course) in the back of the service and take it all in. I took some pictures of the Hindu service but was asked not too for the Buddhist one.

The Hindu service consisted of a lot of music and singing. Also, I watched the priests wash the statues of the Gods in the front of the temple. This is important in any Hindu temple that the statues are washed daily. With the fire and and music, it was really interesting. I was going to try to upload a video here but have been trying for two hours. I'll post it to you tube instead. Here is link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQDxh5CQWZI. From now on, I'll post all videos on You Tube and just supply the link. Also, the outside roof of the temple is highly decorated with images of the gods. The reason is because, with the caste system in India, not everyone has traditionally been allowed in the temples to worship. If there are images of gods on the outside, people can worship from the street.

The Buddhist service seemed to me a lot more regimented. Still, I guess with any religious service, there was the music and singing but it definitely seemed to be more of a scripted event. Beautiful nonetheless. After, I did take some pictures of the temple to share.

For lunch, I tried fishball soup which consists of noodles, vegetables, and well...balls of fish. It was one of the hardest challenges of my life trying to eat this meal with chopsticks and I think that more ended up on my shirt than in my mouth. Everything was so slippery! After telling Irene about my difficulties later in the day, you can imagine my embarrassment when she informed me that even locals use a spoon while trying to eat this dish!

After lunch, I decided that I was going to try a foot reflexology massage. Nancy, Jeff, Irene, and I had been talking about it at dinner the other night and there must have been 20 places offering reflexology services all touting the health benefits and showing posters of how everything from your liver, small intestine, and eyes are benefited. So I picked a shop (once again on the quality of the pictures on their sign) and went in. I leaned a few things about reflexology:

1. When someone who lives local recommends a specific place to go, follow their suggestion. Don't go to some random place in Chinatown

2. Reflexology is what gets you in the door and then, while they are working on your feet, a very strong up sell process happens in which they extol the benefits of additional massage

3. When more massage is politely declined...several times...the foot massage becomes increasingly painful. This intense pain is then explained as trying to benefit my unhealthy body.

Now I realize that one look at me, particularly unshaven and filthy, is enough to come to the conclusion that I am not the model of health. However, the torture I endured from the fingers of that 80 pound asian woman will endure with me a long time and was worth no measure of health. I learned that reflexology is mandarin for "torture the dumb American boy to the point of tears."

That will be my last attempt at whole body health through reflexology. Although...my small intestine IS feeling wonderful today.

Quickly, because I feel like I'm rambling, I'll recap the rest of the day.

We had drinks at the Raffles hotel which is the most famous hotel in Singapore and the location at which the Singapore Sling was invented. I didn't have a Singapore sling, however, based on multiple recommendations to the contrary. Good old Tiger beer for me...

Lastly, Irene and I went to the night safari. The night safari is over 40 hectares (that's pretty big, I think) of zoo in which all of the animals are nocturnal. I believe it is the only zoo like it anywhere. It was very cool as many of the animals can wander right up to the tram. If one wanted to risk losing a hand, they could probably get close enough to pet many of them. The night safari didn't allow flash photography making it tough to get any pics so I stole a few pics from their website to post. Enjoy.

Until next time...thanks for all of the emails of support, concern, and interest. If I am going to spend the time to write this, I am very happy people seem to be enjoying it. Also, please keep the emails coming. I'll try to reply to as many as possible and they are going to be great when I get out of Singapore and know no one.

David

Singapore

2008-07-20T10:50:00.000-07:00

Day 3/4- July 19, 20 – No Malaria

My travel luck continued today…which is great but tempered a little because I know that it is bound to run out sometime.

I woke up in my hotel in Tokyo and worked out (yes, all you non-believers, I do care about my health) by taking a quick jog through the beautiful Japanese Gardens behind the hotel.

Flight from Tokyo to Singapore – 3500 miles – landed on time

So after I got to Singapore, I met my friend Irene at her place which is where I’m staying while I’m here. Irene apparently doesn’t allow pictures of her to be taken so, for those of you that don’t know her, you will have to take my word for it that she exists. Irene lives in a cool old house which used to be residence to members of the colonial British government. The place is beautiful and I hope that I don’t have to settle for accommodations less than this for the remainder of the trip. I am getting spoiled.

I also hope that I don’t have to settle for a host less than this either. I wasn’t in the place two minutes before Irene had a local “Tiger” beer in my hand…and then another…quickly.

Singapore is pretty amazing. It is as crowded as any other big city I have seen in the world but ridiculously clean and friendly. English is the common language (from our colonial British brothers) so it is easy to navigate, order food or drink, catch a cab…really anything. I learned my second major subway system in two days, ate an awesome meal at a local food market (including fresh squeezed sugar cane juice…tasty and new to me) and threw back a few frosty Tigers at what would be comparable to the Plaza in KC. For those of you that don’t know the Plaza in KC, it is like the third ward in Milwaukee. For those of you that don’t know that, it is an trendy social area…except this one, Clark Quay (pronounced key), is on the Singapore river and is bristling with both ex-pats, tourists, and locals. It was a great day which brings me right now to what I am anticipating will be my first good nights sleep in what seems like forever.

Fast forward one day. OK, my second day in Singapore is ending and I’m beat but what a great day. I woke up a little late (totally acceptable considering the Herculean travel effort I have put in). There were so many highlights today. Number one, I got internet access for my computer at Irene’s and also got a card reader so I can now upload pictures. I am going to go back through some of the older posts and start adding pictures if you’d like to take a look.

Back to today. We went to Chinatown for a dim sum lunch. Dim sum is like Chinese tapas….basically a lot of appetizers...which everyone knows, is the best part of any meal. Some of the highlights: shark fin soup (please spare me any righteous prostolitising. I already feel bad enough because it tasted so damn good), fried chicken feet, pork porridge, soup filled rice cakes, and fried yam were all very good.

After, we went to Sentosa Island which is the resort area of Singapore. We took a cable car there from the mainland which was a cool sight, went to the beach, and I swam in the Indian Ocean.

I'll attach a picture as long as you all refrain from making any comments like, “Thank God they pushed that poor whale back in the ocean…”

For dinner, we met up with my mom’s friends Nancy and Jeff Mann at the East Side Seafood Market. Nancy has helped me plan for this trip quite a bit. She and Jeff have lived in Singapore for 8 years and have traveled extensively, well, everywhere but specifically around SE Asia.

They recommended the restaurant and I was not disappointed. The company and the food will make this a night I will always remember. We ate an incredible amount of seafood (Thanks, Jeff for handling the ordering) and I got to try some local flair: bamboo clams, sweet prawn (eaten with the shell), and a fried whole seabass were great. My favorite, though, was the chili crab. One very large crab smothered, no…drown, in a spicy chili sauce. Anyone whom has seen me polish off crab at the all you can eat crab extravaganzas in Vegas will appreciate my love for the spiders of the sea. This is one of my new favorite dishes. Now I just have to figure out where I can get some Sri Lanken crabs back home… also, though we didn't eat them, I'll attach a picture of some unique clams below. I don't even know exactly what to say except please keep your comments to yourselves.

Someone made the suggestion that I give the address where I am staying so people can look it up on Google Earth or the like while I am away. Irene’s address is 57 McNair Road, Singapore.

Tomorrow, I am going to start to book the Borneo leg of my trip and also take a walk around some of the local neighborhoods. I think that I have a special event tomorrow night so stay tuned….

Travel and Tokyo

2008-07-18T06:40:00.000-07:00

Day 1/2- July 17/18 – No Malaria yet

For as much trouble as I have with domestic travel, I have to admit, I was not looking forward to the sheer number of miles (or kilometers in most of the world) that I would be putting under me over the next several months. As I sit on a bus now from Narita Airport to my hotel in downtown Tokyo, I am amazed with how smoothly the day has gone.

Kansas City to Dallas – Arrived early

Dallas to Tokyo – 20 minutes late landing (it is 6400 miles so I think that 20 minutes is not too bad). Also, in sprawling DFW Airport, my gate to Tokyo was the one next to my arrival gate from KC. Nice! The only bad part of that is I didn’t really get to work off my farewell cheeseburger…There was another little bit of good fortune. My original seat was in the middle of the center section – not prime real estate on a 13 hour flight. I moved so a mother and daughter could sit together and ended up in a cushy isle seat. Who says nice guys never win?

OK, now it’s a little later. I have walked around Tokyo for several hours. I thought there were a few interesting things today. First of all, we were diverted to a more southerly course over the Pacific, south of the Aleutians, due to what was only described to us as “volcanic activity” in Alaska by the captain. Granted, I don’t watch the news as much as I should but I do check CNN.com every day and thought that I would remember “volcanic activity” in Alaska…guess not?! Second, I learned that 29 degrees Celsius is hot especially with 100% humidity. Thirdly, as much as I love to sleep, the Japanese have me beat. I’ve slept in some terribly uncomfortable places but today I saw people passed out everywhere…the plane (I can understand that), I was the only one awake on the bus to the city, and people were even sleeping standing up on a crowded subway car. I was going to get a picture of that but I had already noticed that the only open space on the subway car was a few foot diameter spot immediately around me!

So I spent most of my night in Tokyo walking around two of the nightlife areas, the neighborhood of Shibuya and Shinjuku. They were both packed with people and very interesting to walk through.

I ate dinner at a revolving sushi buffet. There is a conveyor belt that circles the whole bar and the chefs keep adding to it. Plates are color coded for cost. A lot of the stuff that we eat cooked is not here…like octopus, squid, scallops. It was interesting…where’s that cheeseburger. Actually, it was one of the best sushi meal that I’ve ever had and it cost me around 10 dollars. I also navigated the Tokyo subway system and learned how to use the dreaded “Fare Adjustment Machine” necessary when one misses their stop.

Now for bed. It has been a very long day.

Itinerary Update

2008-07-13T19:33:00.000-07:00

So after much deliberation, I think that my itinerary should resemble the following:

July 17th Tokyo
July 20th Singapore
July 27th Malaysia
August 10 Thailand
August 20th Cambodia
August 27th Vietnam
September 9th Nepal
September 16th Egypt
September 29 Jordan
October 5 Isreal
October 10 Turkey

When I get to Turkey, I am going to see how my finances look, if I have any leads on job, how the malaria is doing, etc and decide if I want to add another country or two. If anyone would like to make a trip, please let me know. Some of those dates are set in stone but most are very flexible. I'll try to keep this updated as often as possible. I am at T minus 4 days until I leave and am almost ready to go. I have all my supplies, gear, etc and am up to date with all of my vaccinations so after I take care of some things around the house, I'm outta here! I'll try to update this twice a week at a minimum. Also, if I know that I'm going to be out of touch for more than a few days, I'll post it so people don't think I'm rotting in a Cambodian jail. So until I get back, please take care of yourselves and I look forward to sharing all of my adventures with you.
David

Itinerary Update

2008-07-03T08:37:00.000-07:00

My plans are changing almost daily but I think that China and Russia are going to have to wait until another trip. It takes a while to get the visas to visit and it is a rather complicated process. Due to the short time before I leave, I don't think those countries will be an option. Instead, I think that I'll spend a longer time in SE Asia and add Nepal to the trip. There is just so much to do in SE Asia (maybe live for a week in the jungle) that I can definatley use the extra time.

I also got my first round of immunizations today....Typhoid, Hepatitis A&B, Tetnus, Polio booster, and Malaria pills...sounds like a great trip, huh? Now as long as I don't catch Japanese Encephalitis, I'll be great!

Getting ready

2008-07-01T16:20:00.000-07:00

For now, I am just getting all of my visas, tickets, and supplies. If anyone has any travel tips, please let me know.

So far, my itinerary is...starting out in Singapore (after a night in Japan). From there, I hope to hit most of SE Asia (Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam). I will spend 4-6 weeks in the area. After, I will go up into China for a few weeks and then across Mongolia, Siberia, and Russia to Moscow and St. Petersburg. I will then go south into Ukraine and across the Black Sea to Turkey. The rest of the trip will be spent seeing Jordan, Isreal, Egypt and anything else that I can fit in! Maybe I'll go across North Africa and fly home from Morocco or Spain...

All of this is subject to change depending on how long I decide to stay in any given area but if anyone would like to make a trip overseas, let me know. Maybe I can meet you!