Monday was our first day with the kids, 70 or so came for surf camp and we've had between 6 and 8 coming for the "adventure camp" that I've been working.
Yesterday I lead kayaking in the morning, it was the second time I've ever lead it. It went well and it was a really good learning experience. The waves rolling in were probably around two or three feet, so it was really crazy trying to get some of the kids out past the breaking waves.
I was back helping a really slow boat get out and I got dumped from my kayak, which is really easy to do since they are sit-on-tops and there's no real way to hold on to them. So I get back in give the slow dual kayak a good push out, climb back in my boat and dump again. Frustrated I power out through the rest of the waves and try to reassemble the group of 3 kids boats. I patted my pockets and realized that my phone (which was double bagged in ziplocks) had disappeared. I forgot my watch and I really wanted a time keeping device or else I would never have brought it out on the water.
An hour and a half later, the session was over and the kids were back in on shore. We dragged our kayaks in about 4 inches of water along the beach back to the trail where we could pick them up with the pushcart or "trolley" as everyone says around here. As I was walking my boat back I spotted some plastic floating up along the shore and when I picked it up my phone was inside, good as new. I was so excited and did this crazy jumping dance. Irvin was right in front of me looking puzzled, all he saw was me picking up a piece of garbage or "rubbish" as all the Brits say and then jumping up and going crazy. Usually Pui O beach garbage isn't worth celebrating over since there is literally a tandem dump truck load of it washed up on Pui O Beach every day. Once i told Irvin the story about my phone falling out he realized I hadn't completely lost it...
Monday afternoon was beach games lead my one of the new senior leaders, while the rest of the senior leaders and the new Operations Director had a really good talk about how the morning went. I never thought I'd be able to write "Treasure Island" and "staff development" in the same sentence, but here it goes.... This summer at Treasure Island has been going so well in terms of staff development. Which leads me today...
Tuesday June 30, 2009
Last week we went up the gorge with our training group. Most of the senior leaders learned how to set it up from Khem our Nepalese rigging guru and veritable Renaissance man. We have a certain amount of ropes and carabiners and leashes to place safety lines at sketchy parts of the gorge right outside of Pui O. The new director had me fill my pack with all the ropes and pieces needed to set up the gorge and sent me off to do my best with setting it up. He'd follow us up and double check the ropes before letting the kids on them and then bounce back and forth between the riggers up ahead and the group of kids following behind. It was a great learning experience for me, someone that has never done much rock climbing or rope work. Like anything else it's all pretty straight forward, it just takes proper instruction and some practice, both of which I received today. Next time I feel like I can do the whole thing no problem and be 100% confident in the safety of the entire setup too.
We taught the kids surfing this afternoon, it went pretty well, but it was tiring being in the water for almost 2 hours with waves beating down on you constantly. I don't know how the surf camp staff does that every day.
Tomorrow is biking and beach games and also Hong Kong SAR day, which celebrates the day that Hong Kong broke off from the UK and rejoined China.
Thursday is an overnight with the kids and me teaching some wilderness skills...
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Day 12 - Monday, May 11, 2009 - Filipino Paradise...
I just moved to a new notebook, I'll now record my journey in the same waterproof notebook that I took on The Long Trail.
Still in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia actually still May 10...
---I will probably buy some coffee soon.....
I held out until 7pm then broke down and bought the executive "VIP" lounge with James, which included free drinks, food, showers, internet, and tv. We boarded the plane at 1 am bound for Manila, Philippines a 4 hour flight...
Now it's May 11!!
Irvin picked us up at 8am. He brought us mango and sticky rice treats for breakfast. He brought us directly to Glenda and Cyrill's house, his long time friend and occupant of Irvin's family's house.
We napped and ate until the afternoon, when we met Irvin for a bike tour of our new home for the next few weeks. We stopped at a market and ate some Mango-Guavas and then went to a cock-fight. Then we had dinner at Irvin's house.
No air conditioning on this night...(and many many more to come) but I'm ready to sleep for sure...
Still in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia actually still May 10...
---I will probably buy some coffee soon.....
I held out until 7pm then broke down and bought the executive "VIP" lounge with James, which included free drinks, food, showers, internet, and tv. We boarded the plane at 1 am bound for Manila, Philippines a 4 hour flight...
Now it's May 11!!
Irvin picked us up at 8am. He brought us mango and sticky rice treats for breakfast. He brought us directly to Glenda and Cyrill's house, his long time friend and occupant of Irvin's family's house.
We napped and ate until the afternoon, when we met Irvin for a bike tour of our new home for the next few weeks. We stopped at a market and ate some Mango-Guavas and then went to a cock-fight. Then we had dinner at Irvin's house.
No air conditioning on this night...(and many many more to come) but I'm ready to sleep for sure...
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Day 11 - Saturday, May 10, 2009 - The Parting of The Three
Sall met us at 6 am with his tuk-tuk and we sleepily motored out to the airport. Our departure from Cambodia/Cambodgee/Campuchia (depending on what language you use) and arrival in Malaysia was uneventful. Cambodia was surprisingly busy for being 6am, but it seems like much work is done before the sun gets too hot. It reached about 104 the day we arrived.
The flight to Kuala Lumpur was 2 hours (3 if you count the time travel...) On the way I saw the second tallest building in the world. Meg left us at 2pm to check in for her flight and use the computer lounge, while James and I are at "The Food Garden." I've been catching up on my daily summaries while James is sleeping forehead to table style right across from me.
It's 3pm now and I've been writing for almost 2 hours. I'm glad I've been able to keep up this record of each day. I'll be glad to post it on the blog for everyone to see. We have 7 hours before checkin and 10 before our flight. I have no idea what I'm going to do in the mean time...
The flight to Kuala Lumpur was 2 hours (3 if you count the time travel...) On the way I saw the second tallest building in the world. Meg left us at 2pm to check in for her flight and use the computer lounge, while James and I are at "The Food Garden." I've been catching up on my daily summaries while James is sleeping forehead to table style right across from me.
It's 3pm now and I've been writing for almost 2 hours. I'm glad I've been able to keep up this record of each day. I'll be glad to post it on the blog for everyone to see. We have 7 hours before checkin and 10 before our flight. I have no idea what I'm going to do in the mean time...
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Day 10 - Saturday, May 9, 2009 - Angkor Wat Tomb Raiding
Hope you have your reading glasses ready this one is pretty long, it took me 3 different sessions to finish typing...
I took over 200 photos on this day, you can see them here:
We woke up and met Sall, bought a bunch of water and some snacks and took off for the temples. We stopped and paid or $20 entrance fee and received our photo ID cards to enter each of the temples. We mad intermittent stops at a few of the temples which were completely mind blowing and I snapped a ton of pictures. The exquisitely detailed and enormous works of art and human ingenuity were truly breathtaking. After a few stops we decided to head out to a remote temple 40 minutes off the beaten tourist path. Although still frequented by many people, it's not part of the "must see" attractions. It was a great ride out to the temple, we passed fields, mini road side shops and stilted houses with hammocks underneath.
Our tuk-tuk bumbled into a dusty street with restaurants and shops on both sides, we dismounted our Cambodia chariot and were hit with the usual swarm of children looking to sell any number of bracelets, bamboo jaw harps, dvds, books, soda, water, post cards, fruit, shirts, and pants. All for "one dolla!" All in all throughout the day I ended up with ****TEXT EDITED OUT TEMPORARILY AS TO NOT GIVE AWAY ANYTHING BEFORE MY PACKAGE ARRIVES BACK IN THE U.S.***** All for about $25 with $15 of that being spent on ********.
The wheeling and dealing that comes with buying from all the street vendors, although fun, gets very tiring after a while. The constant pestering from all the kids took a toll.
The long ride to the far temple was worth it as it was the most detailed and complete one that I had seen. It took maybe 45 minutes to walk through it and on the way out, Meg and I got to play some of the instruments that were owned by traditional Cambodian music band. We reassembled, mounted the tuk-tuk and were off to find food. The day before Meg and James went to an air-conditioned restaurant to gain some sanctuary from the relentless heat and they later found out that our tuk-tuk driver couldn't eat for free there. So we went to one of the many roadside places and were greeted by the usual chorus of gorgeous smiling Cambodian waitresses.
We had our meal and took off for a few more temples and then went to the "Main attraction" the Ankor Wat. Which is the largest of all the temples in the entire region and it is surrounded by a massive man made (I believe) moat. It is connected to the outside by a newly restored stone and earth causeway leading up to it. It took me almost 2 hours to meander through the various walkways, paths, open rooms, and corridors. Everything was so minutely detailed, from the massive walls stretching hundreds and hundreds of feet along a walkway to the enormous statues and moats. The sun was setting as we met up at the tuk-tuk and headed back in to Siem Reap and our hotel.
We rested up for a few hours and went to the "night market" where there were dozens of shops. I bought a nice Cambodian silk shirt and another pair of "sailor type" pants and we decided to try this thing called "Dr. Fish." It was a foot massage where hundreds of tiny fish munch away at the dead skin on your feet. It was $3 for 15 minutes. It was pretty awesome, you just dip your feet into a bubbling hot tub type pool and the mini fish just swarm your skin. It is a very peculiar feeling at first, but it becomes very nice after a minute or two. After our experience with t
he flesh eating fish we were going to watch a special documentary on the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge at 11pm, but we hadn't eaten since lunch so we tried to get some quick food, but a hot dog and fries in Asia seems to t
ake an insanely long amount of time. We received our Cambod-merican cuisine, topped with ketchup, mayo, onion, lettuce, and some other spices and a handful of fries.
The sign outside of the place we ate was one of the most hilarious massacres of the english language I've seen in my entire life. Some of the words printed on the professionally done and printed sign were: "Frech Fried" $2.50 "Ras Pberry" "Meat Loves Pizza" "Stake and French Fried"
We made it back to the movie place, but they had closed up shop, so we sat down and ate our food just outside of the movie area. Following this we went into a discotech for about 2 minutes and then found a "gweilo bar" with a pool table. After 2 games we called it a night, our last night as the "Three Adventurers" whom had travelled through and set foot up 5 different countries in 12 days.
I took over 200 photos on this day, you can see them here:
We woke up and met Sall, bought a bunch of water and some snacks and took off for the temples. We stopped and paid or $20 entrance fee and received our photo ID cards to enter each of the temples. We mad intermittent stops at a few of the temples which were completely mind blowing and I snapped a ton of pictures. The exquisitely detailed and enormous works of art and human ingenuity were truly breathtaking. After a few stops we decided to head out to a remote temple 40 minutes off the beaten tourist path. Although still frequented by many people, it's not part of the "must see" attractions. It was a great ride out to the temple, we passed fields, mini road side shops and stilted houses with hammocks underneath.
Our tuk-tuk bumbled into a dusty street with restaurants and shops on both sides, we dismounted our Cambodia chariot and were hit with the usual swarm of children looking to sell any number of bracelets, bamboo jaw harps, dvds, books, soda, water, post cards, fruit, shirts, and pants. All for "one dolla!" All in all throughout the day I ended up with ****TEXT EDITED OUT TEMPORARILY AS TO NOT GIVE AWAY ANYTHING BEFORE MY PACKAGE ARRIVES BACK IN THE U.S.***** All for about $25 with $15 of that being spent on ********.
The wheeling and dealing that comes with buying from all the street vendors, although fun, gets very tiring after a while. The constant pestering from all the kids took a toll.
The long ride to the far temple was worth it as it was the most detailed and complete one that I had seen. It took maybe 45 minutes to walk through it and on the way out, Meg and I got to play some of the instruments that were owned by traditional Cambodian music band. We reassembled, mounted the tuk-tuk and were off to find food. The day before Meg and James went to an air-conditioned restaurant to gain some sanctuary from the relentless heat and they later found out that our tuk-tuk driver couldn't eat for free there. So we went to one of the many roadside places and were greeted by the usual chorus of gorgeous smiling Cambodian waitresses.
We had our meal and took off for a few more temples and then went to the "Main attraction" the Ankor Wat. Which is the largest of all the temples in the entire region and it is surrounded by a massive man made (I believe) moat. It is connected to the outside by a newly restored stone and earth causeway leading up to it. It took me almost 2 hours to meander through the various walkways, paths, open rooms, and corridors. Everything was so minutely detailed, from the massive walls stretching hundreds and hundreds of feet along a walkway to the enormous statues and moats. The sun was setting as we met up at the tuk-tuk and headed back in to Siem Reap and our hotel.
We rested up for a few hours and went to the "night market" where there were dozens of shops. I bought a nice Cambodian silk shirt and another pair of "sailor type" pants and we decided to try this thing called "Dr. Fish." It was a foot massage where hundreds of tiny fish munch away at the dead skin on your feet. It was $3 for 15 minutes. It was pretty awesome, you just dip your feet into a bubbling hot tub type pool and the mini fish just swarm your skin. It is a very peculiar feeling at first, but it becomes very nice after a minute or two. After our experience with t
he flesh eating fish we were going to watch a special documentary on the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge at 11pm, but we hadn't eaten since lunch so we tried to get some quick food, but a hot dog and fries in Asia seems to t
ake an insanely long amount of time. We received our Cambod-merican cuisine, topped with ketchup, mayo, onion, lettuce, and some other spices and a handful of fries.The sign outside of the place we ate was one of the most hilarious massacres of the english language I've seen in my entire life. Some of the words printed on the professionally done and printed sign were: "Frech Fried" $2.50 "Ras Pberry" "Meat Loves Pizza" "Stake and French Fried"
We made it back to the movie place, but they had closed up shop, so we sat down and ate our food just outside of the movie area. Following this we went into a discotech for about 2 minutes and then found a "gweilo bar" with a pool table. After 2 games we called it a night, our last night as the "Three Adventurers" whom had travelled through and set foot up 5 different countries in 12 days.
Day 9 - Friday, May 8, 2009 - So long Loas, Hello Cambodia
We made the early flight out of Pakse, the flight gave us a breakfast of hotdog with mayo and fruit. We landed in Siem Reap, Cambodia around 9am. After customs (and another $20 visa...) we split a van into the city with a bunch of other travelers.
--Random side comment--
In Cambodia they use Riel as their currency, $1 USD = about 4,100 Riel, but almost everything is paid for with 1, 10, or 20 USD bills, but if something is less than 1 USD or they need to give you 50 cents change they give you 2,000 riel.
--Back to your regularly scheduled post---
We found a hotel called "The Heart of Angkor" for $15 a night with 3 beds. After dropping our stuff off James and Meg took right off for Angkor Wat with a fellow American ('merica!) that was on our flight. I decided to stay behind it was over 100 degrees outside and I was pretty exhausted. I rested up for a while and then went out and walked around. The streets were bustling and dusty with tuk-tuks everywhere. I found a stone fired pizza shop and ordered a chicken pizza. It was pretty good, but it was still effected by the bain of all pizza made in Asia, a paper thin crust. I think a tortilla chip would be better crust than some of the crusts I've had.
I walked quite a bit more, I ended up walking past the hotel accidentally, I was literally 10 feet away from the door when I walked by. After about 15 minutes I decided to ask a tuk-tuk driver, he offered to take me there for free since it was directly back the way I came. He was hoping for me to book him the next day to go around Angkor Wat, I didn't know what James and Meg had worked out so I told him I had to talk to my friends first. I came to find out they already had booked Sall for the next day too.
The Tomb Raiders returned around 6 exhausted from their long day in the sun, but their minds were blown by all they had seen. I can't wait to get there tomorrow
This is the only picture I took on this day, it's not very good, but whatevskee...
Our Cambodian tuk-tuk driver showed up last night and brought us to have an authentic dinner. We rode for about 15 minutes before pulling our motorcycle powered chariot off at a large street side area. There were about 30 tables and a mini-butane stove at each one, with the ever present red plastic kids chairs at each one. We sat down and ordered 4 Angkor Wat beers and the fired up the butane stove and placed a large clay pot filled with soup base ingredients. Following this they brought out a plate of spinich type greens, meat, and meatball shaped meat, spices, yellow noodles, and rice. We talked with Sall for a bit, found out he had a wife and son. He pays $30 a month for his son to go to school and a little extra for him to take english lessons.
We were the only Westerners at this place, it was immediately apparent there was a friendly yet unfamiliar sense that our presence was very intriguing for all around.
After a should while our little pot started bubbling and Sall dumped in the meat plate. 5 minutes later he dumped in the veggie plate and spices and let it return to a boil. The Cambodia soup was served with a ladle and placed in our individual bowls where we ate it with chopsticks and the Chinese Spoons that are everywhere in Southeast Asia.
We finished the pot, all 4 of us filled up, and paid the bill. Sall says that he rarely comes here because even a $5 meal for 3 people is too expensive for his budget. We loaded up and took off for a place with live music. After rumbling by a place that was closing we pulled up to a very much open, but very much deserted Karaoke bar. We were greeted by a chorus of "suh-suh-die" from the very colorfully dressed and very pretty Cambodian singers waiting for their turn on stage. We had a seat and listened to a few songs, it was just a Yamaha keyboard with some pre-programmed arrangements and a rotation of singers. We were the only ones in the audience. We decided to move on shortly in search of a "Riscotech (Boun from Loas' pronunciation)" aka Discotech.
Sall pulled us into a place and when we entered we were swarmed by a mass of suited usher/waiters. We were shown directly to a choice seating area with a sea of coaxing arms and smiling faces. "The Don" as I call him, motioned over a bunch of glasses and bucket of ice. It was a pretty surreal experience, being V.I.Ps with everyone shaking our hands and cheersing us. There was an entourage of people constantly dropping ice into our glasses and topping us off.
When it came time to leave we called for the check and our entourage immediately crowded around us. Sall then informed us as to why they were waiting, they were looking for tips from us. So we handed "The Don" a bunch of Reil and I passed out some $1 bills to gratefull hosts and we were off only after dispensing about 100 more handshakes.
We made it back to the "Heart of Angkor" and bid farewell to Sall until 8am the next morning.
--Random side comment--
In Cambodia they use Riel as their currency, $1 USD = about 4,100 Riel, but almost everything is paid for with 1, 10, or 20 USD bills, but if something is less than 1 USD or they need to give you 50 cents change they give you 2,000 riel.
--Back to your regularly scheduled post---
We found a hotel called "The Heart of Angkor" for $15 a night with 3 beds. After dropping our stuff off James and Meg took right off for Angkor Wat with a fellow American ('merica!) that was on our flight. I decided to stay behind it was over 100 degrees outside and I was pretty exhausted. I rested up for a while and then went out and walked around. The streets were bustling and dusty with tuk-tuks everywhere. I found a stone fired pizza shop and ordered a chicken pizza. It was pretty good, but it was still effected by the bain of all pizza made in Asia, a paper thin crust. I think a tortilla chip would be better crust than some of the crusts I've had.
I walked quite a bit more, I ended up walking past the hotel accidentally, I was literally 10 feet away from the door when I walked by. After about 15 minutes I decided to ask a tuk-tuk driver, he offered to take me there for free since it was directly back the way I came. He was hoping for me to book him the next day to go around Angkor Wat, I didn't know what James and Meg had worked out so I told him I had to talk to my friends first. I came to find out they already had booked Sall for the next day too.
The Tomb Raiders returned around 6 exhausted from their long day in the sun, but their minds were blown by all they had seen. I can't wait to get there tomorrow
This is the only picture I took on this day, it's not very good, but whatevskee...
Our Cambodian tuk-tuk driver showed up last night and brought us to have an authentic dinner. We rode for about 15 minutes before pulling our motorcycle powered chariot off at a large street side area. There were about 30 tables and a mini-butane stove at each one, with the ever present red plastic kids chairs at each one. We sat down and ordered 4 Angkor Wat beers and the fired up the butane stove and placed a large clay pot filled with soup base ingredients. Following this they brought out a plate of spinich type greens, meat, and meatball shaped meat, spices, yellow noodles, and rice. We talked with Sall for a bit, found out he had a wife and son. He pays $30 a month for his son to go to school and a little extra for him to take english lessons.
We were the only Westerners at this place, it was immediately apparent there was a friendly yet unfamiliar sense that our presence was very intriguing for all around.
After a should while our little pot started bubbling and Sall dumped in the meat plate. 5 minutes later he dumped in the veggie plate and spices and let it return to a boil. The Cambodia soup was served with a ladle and placed in our individual bowls where we ate it with chopsticks and the Chinese Spoons that are everywhere in Southeast Asia.
We finished the pot, all 4 of us filled up, and paid the bill. Sall says that he rarely comes here because even a $5 meal for 3 people is too expensive for his budget. We loaded up and took off for a place with live music. After rumbling by a place that was closing we pulled up to a very much open, but very much deserted Karaoke bar. We were greeted by a chorus of "suh-suh-die" from the very colorfully dressed and very pretty Cambodian singers waiting for their turn on stage. We had a seat and listened to a few songs, it was just a Yamaha keyboard with some pre-programmed arrangements and a rotation of singers. We were the only ones in the audience. We decided to move on shortly in search of a "Riscotech (Boun from Loas' pronunciation)" aka Discotech.
Sall pulled us into a place and when we entered we were swarmed by a mass of suited usher/waiters. We were shown directly to a choice seating area with a sea of coaxing arms and smiling faces. "The Don" as I call him, motioned over a bunch of glasses and bucket of ice. It was a pretty surreal experience, being V.I.Ps with everyone shaking our hands and cheersing us. There was an entourage of people constantly dropping ice into our glasses and topping us off.
When it came time to leave we called for the check and our entourage immediately crowded around us. Sall then informed us as to why they were waiting, they were looking for tips from us. So we handed "The Don" a bunch of Reil and I passed out some $1 bills to gratefull hosts and we were off only after dispensing about 100 more handshakes.
We made it back to the "Heart of Angkor" and bid farewell to Sall until 8am the next morning.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
I can't escape it!
I might be 8,000 miles away from home, but my yearly occurrences still follow me everywhere I go.
It first started with the hideous jelly fish rash in the Philippines, this instance substituted my streak of 23 consecutive years of getting poison ivy with a year of jelly fish rash to commemorate my 24th year. (How did I get poison ivy as a 1 year old? I don't know but I would not be surprised if it actually happened. Poison Ivy and I are like soul mates destined to be together...)
Next up, I walked into the flat last night to find an inch of water in the middle of the floor spreading out into all the bedrooms and most/all of the living room. After a good 2 hour mopping session and about 9 gallons of water later, I had to begin sorting out all the books and clothes that became soaked. This seems vaguely familiar....every spring.....there's something that I feel compelled to do......without fail, but I can't quite put my finger on it.... Oh Yea! it's picking up and moving everything I own off the floor of the basement of our house, to avoid it getting soaked from the incoming deluge of gallons and gallons for water spewing from the pipe hole coming into our basement. Then, staying up all night and emptying the water from the trash can collector before it fills up and overflows!
Now there are line after line of clothes crossing our flat hopefully drying from the Air Conditioning and not turning into mold encased disgusting mats like so many other things here.
I'm not sure what is coming up next...I've been racking my brain for another yearly occurrence that hasn't happened yet. Probably bee stings or bees nest....or maybe hurting one of my knees or something...I'll stay posted....
Alright I'm done my rant for the day
It first started with the hideous jelly fish rash in the Philippines, this instance substituted my streak of 23 consecutive years of getting poison ivy with a year of jelly fish rash to commemorate my 24th year. (How did I get poison ivy as a 1 year old? I don't know but I would not be surprised if it actually happened. Poison Ivy and I are like soul mates destined to be together...)
Next up, I walked into the flat last night to find an inch of water in the middle of the floor spreading out into all the bedrooms and most/all of the living room. After a good 2 hour mopping session and about 9 gallons of water later, I had to begin sorting out all the books and clothes that became soaked. This seems vaguely familiar....every spring.....there's something that I feel compelled to do......without fail, but I can't quite put my finger on it.... Oh Yea! it's picking up and moving everything I own off the floor of the basement of our house, to avoid it getting soaked from the incoming deluge of gallons and gallons for water spewing from the pipe hole coming into our basement. Then, staying up all night and emptying the water from the trash can collector before it fills up and overflows!
Now there are line after line of clothes crossing our flat hopefully drying from the Air Conditioning and not turning into mold encased disgusting mats like so many other things here.
I'm not sure what is coming up next...I've been racking my brain for another yearly occurrence that hasn't happened yet. Probably bee stings or bees nest....or maybe hurting one of my knees or something...I'll stay posted....
Alright I'm done my rant for the day
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Day 8 - Thursday, May 7, 2009 - "I like coffee but I don't like tea"
I've uploaded all the pictures from this day to my Picasa account, I placed a few photos below but you can see the rest here or just try the slide show below.
--Up at 7:30 and ready for a day in Laos we were out of the room by 8 and grabbed some iced coffee and we were off on our tour.
First stop was a tea plantation where we say them baking green tea and we watched how they dried it over a fire for 40-50 minutes first, then ground it in a large hopper, then baked it in a tumbler oven for 3 hours or so. I bought a bag of their fresh tea for 35,000 kip (~4-5 USD).
Next was a waterfall and coffee plantation. Boun, our tour guide, explained the coffee is growing now and out of season. He also showed us Arabica and Robusta coffee beans growing and the bright yellow flowered "cattle" eggplant trees.
We walked down a short path and came into view of a 170 meter tall waterfall, this was a spectacular sight.
We loaded back into the Landrover and continued on to another waterfall. We hiked down into the misty abyss and took some pictures from the viewing platform before desending even farther down a slippery muddy path to the base of the falls. After about 30 minutes of exploring we trekked back to the top of the falls, we crossed over to a "swimming" area near the top. The water was pretty muddy so I just waded around and relaxed. After about an hour we headed back up to meet Boun for lunch.
Lunch consisted of steamed and sticky rice, papaya salad, and roasted venison meat and a really strong iced coffee.
After this we loaded up and went to the final water fall. The Paxoum waterfall was an amazing sight with a really great traditional village set up all around it. This area was created by a man that gathered all the unsustainable tribes in the area and created a non-profit tourist spot for them.
On the way back to Pakse we passed a massive rubber plantation and coffee exporting factory. Tonight at 7 we are supposed to play some peatung with Boun.
--Written May 8th--
We didn't end up playing p-tung last night, the court was closed because the owners mother was sick, so we went to another place to play some pool. Boun didn't make it out so we hung out with our travel agent Chan. We ate some more Laotian food, it was more or less the Gwielo version, mass produced and salty. Some of Chan's friends showed up and she took us to a "discotech" and the band was the same one we saw on the street the night before.
The place closed at 11:30 so we went back to the hotel.
--Up at 7:30 and ready for a day in Laos we were out of the room by 8 and grabbed some iced coffee and we were off on our tour.
First stop was a tea plantation where we say them baking green tea and we watched how they dried it over a fire for 40-50 minutes first, then ground it in a large hopper, then baked it in a tumbler oven for 3 hours or so. I bought a bag of their fresh tea for 35,000 kip (~4-5 USD).
Next was a waterfall and coffee plantation. Boun, our tour guide, explained the coffee is growing now and out of season. He also showed us Arabica and Robusta coffee beans growing and the bright yellow flowered "cattle" eggplant trees.
We walked down a short path and came into view of a 170 meter tall waterfall, this was a spectacular sight.
We loaded back into the Landrover and continued on to another waterfall. We hiked down into the misty abyss and took some pictures from the viewing platform before desending even farther down a slippery muddy path to the base of the falls. After about 30 minutes of exploring we trekked back to the top of the falls, we crossed over to a "swimming" area near the top. The water was pretty muddy so I just waded around and relaxed. After about an hour we headed back up to meet Boun for lunch.
Lunch consisted of steamed and sticky rice, papaya salad, and roasted venison meat and a really strong iced coffee.
After this we loaded up and went to the final water fall. The Paxoum waterfall was an amazing sight with a really great traditional village set up all around it. This area was created by a man that gathered all the unsustainable tribes in the area and created a non-profit tourist spot for them.
On the way back to Pakse we passed a massive rubber plantation and coffee exporting factory. Tonight at 7 we are supposed to play some peatung with Boun.
--Written May 8th--
We didn't end up playing p-tung last night, the court was closed because the owners mother was sick, so we went to another place to play some pool. Boun didn't make it out so we hung out with our travel agent Chan. We ate some more Laotian food, it was more or less the Gwielo version, mass produced and salty. Some of Chan's friends showed up and she took us to a "discotech" and the band was the same one we saw on the street the night before.
The place closed at 11:30 so we went back to the hotel.
Day 7 - Wednesday, May 6, 2009 - Savannahket to Laos on a local bus!
12:15pm
We woke up, packed up, and caught a tuk-tuk (a motorcycle with a carriage/trailer on back of it) to the bus stop. Our breakfast consisted of a baguette and water with some mixed nuts.
Along the way a woman on the bus gave us some golf ball sized fruits that had a taste a lot like grapes. Irvin gave us some Filipino fruit very similar to this on back in Hong Kong. ***As I write this a sign that says 70km to Pakse passes by*** Hopefully we will get in to Pakse around 1pm. I'm ready for some food, coffee, and a nap. I think we're going to push for Cambodia/Siem Reap/Angkor Wat tomorrow, so we can have a day of not travelling and enjoying the sights instead of pushing though them
-9:45
We made it into Pakse Laos around 1:30 and were dropped off outside of town. A tuk-tuk brought us into the town center. We were dropped off at a hotel and decided to keep looking around. We then went to a travel agency to check on a bus service to Siem Reap. We found out it would be a day and a half travel with an overnight stop and 3 transfers for $44. We really didn't want to lose that much time, so we were quoted a price for a 1 hour flight right into Siem Reap, Cambodia at $130 US. We wanted to think the investment over and were in desperate need of some food after the grueling bus ride.
Off we went towards Lonely Planet recommended "Delta Coffee." We ordered a round of iced coffees and I asked for some spring rolls, green curry chicken, and red spicy chicken soup. We sucked down the iced coffees like God himself had fresh brewed it for us.
Our main course came and I devoured the deliciously fresh, but curiously piquant dishes. This was the most expensive meal yet, coming in at a whopping $10 US for each of us...It was worth it though.
We arrived at the decision that the extra $90 we'd spend on the airfare was worth it for one extra day and a half of taking in everything we possible could. After our gourmet cuisine was finished, we wandered around and checked out a few more places to stay. We ended up deciding on the Lankham Hotel for $5 a night each, with all the fixins' A/C, TV, huge bathroom. After resting up and using the Internet we set out to finalize our airborne time saving plan. There were 5 seats left on the plane leaving Friday morning so we booked 3 of them. We also booked a tour tomorrow (Thursday, May 7) to see a coffee & tea plantation, 3 waterfalls for $30 each for a guided all day tour with free lunch. The travel agent (Chan) finalized the tickets and we went across the street to get some more locally grown iced coffee @ 8,000 Kip each (aka ~$1) after a few minutes Chan returned and handed me (the so called dad/father of the trip) the envelope with our confirmation letter for the flight.
We wandered a bit more and browsed around a mall, there was a crowd gathered around a stage with a Laotian man doind feats sharp blades.
We watched for a few minutes, he was trying to get a volunteer from some of the locals in the front, but no one was accepting. Then he looked back at us (the only Westerners in the place) and coaxed Meghan to go up on stage. She reluctantly accepted to the cheers and applause of the crowd. He situated a cucumber in her mouth and had her lean forward. He rose the suspense of the moment by dropping his blade as he was playing up the spectacle of the show, then proceeded to chop little bits of the cucumber in her mouth inches from her face. He sent her back to the crowd to much applause and then looked back at me and motioned for me to go up next. Ever the showman and not wanting to disappoint a crowd I made my way up to the stage. He sat me down and placed a cucumber between my thighs and proceeded to chop off pieces of it as the crowd oohed and awed. A flurry of applause erupted and my 15 minutes of Laotian fame was over.
We moved on, I bought some lightweight sock, I don't know what I was thinking bringing my wool socks on this trip...
We stumbled across a Laotian acoustic band playing at an open cafe on the side of the street. We sat and enjoyed fresh ice cream (coffee and coconut) as they played on a small stage in front of us.
I write this as I lie in bed high on life, (and caffeine from Pepsi, in a glass bottle!) I'm feeling as if my soul has somehow been refreshed and fulfilled by the deliciousness imbibed today. Spectacular coffee and ice cream hasn't occurred at all since arriving in Hong Kong. Time to read up on Angkor Wat and watch some crappy TV with Laotian subtitles, hooray for sleeping until 7:30 tomorrow!
We woke up, packed up, and caught a tuk-tuk (a motorcycle with a carriage/trailer on back of it) to the bus stop. Our breakfast consisted of a baguette and water with some mixed nuts.
 |
| From DrB HK |
 |
| From DrB HK |
 |
| From DrB HK |
Along the way a woman on the bus gave us some golf ball sized fruits that had a taste a lot like grapes. Irvin gave us some Filipino fruit very similar to this on back in Hong Kong. ***As I write this a sign that says 70km to Pakse passes by*** Hopefully we will get in to Pakse around 1pm. I'm ready for some food, coffee, and a nap. I think we're going to push for Cambodia/Siem Reap/Angkor Wat tomorrow, so we can have a day of not travelling and enjoying the sights instead of pushing though them
-9:45
We made it into Pakse Laos around 1:30 and were dropped off outside of town. A tuk-tuk brought us into the town center. We were dropped off at a hotel and decided to keep looking around. We then went to a travel agency to check on a bus service to Siem Reap. We found out it would be a day and a half travel with an overnight stop and 3 transfers for $44. We really didn't want to lose that much time, so we were quoted a price for a 1 hour flight right into Siem Reap, Cambodia at $130 US. We wanted to think the investment over and were in desperate need of some food after the grueling bus ride.
Off we went towards Lonely Planet recommended "Delta Coffee." We ordered a round of iced coffees and I asked for some spring rolls, green curry chicken, and red spicy chicken soup. We sucked down the iced coffees like God himself had fresh brewed it for us.
 |
| From DrB HK |
We arrived at the decision that the extra $90 we'd spend on the airfare was worth it for one extra day and a half of taking in everything we possible could. After our gourmet cuisine was finished, we wandered around and checked out a few more places to stay. We ended up deciding on the Lankham Hotel for $5 a night each, with all the fixins' A/C, TV, huge bathroom. After resting up and using the Internet we set out to finalize our airborne time saving plan. There were 5 seats left on the plane leaving Friday morning so we booked 3 of them. We also booked a tour tomorrow (Thursday, May 7) to see a coffee & tea plantation, 3 waterfalls for $30 each for a guided all day tour with free lunch. The travel agent (Chan) finalized the tickets and we went across the street to get some more locally grown iced coffee @ 8,000 Kip each (aka ~$1) after a few minutes Chan returned and handed me (the so called dad/father of the trip) the envelope with our confirmation letter for the flight.
We wandered a bit more and browsed around a mall, there was a crowd gathered around a stage with a Laotian man doind feats sharp blades.
 |
We moved on, I bought some lightweight sock, I don't know what I was thinking bringing my wool socks on this trip...
We stumbled across a Laotian acoustic band playing at an open cafe on the side of the street. We sat and enjoyed fresh ice cream (coffee and coconut) as they played on a small stage in front of us.
I write this as I lie in bed high on life, (and caffeine from Pepsi, in a glass bottle!) I'm feeling as if my soul has somehow been refreshed and fulfilled by the deliciousness imbibed today. Spectacular coffee and ice cream hasn't occurred at all since arriving in Hong Kong. Time to read up on Angkor Wat and watch some crappy TV with Laotian subtitles, hooray for sleeping until 7:30 tomorrow!
Sunday, June 7, 2009
"The Return"
or "Two Polachs Diverge in Southeast Asia"
Long day of travel tomorrow,
Malaysia, Singapore, Macau, and Hong Kong. That makes 4 countries between 8 am and midnight if everything comes together, I should have a little bit more breathing room with respect to timings tomorrow than I initially thought, but I'm not going to expect anything (Don't make assumptions; agreement #3)
My schedule for tomorrow:
Part ways with James at 8am as I head to Singapore on a 3-4 hour bus ride and clear customs
4:10 check in for my flight
6:10 take off for Macau
9:50 land in Macau and clear customs...
11:00 catch Macau Ferry to Hong Kong Island
~12:00 am arrive on Hong Kong Island and clear customs...
12:30??? Scramble from the Macau piers to First Ferry pier 6 and catch the ferry to Lantau;
if I miss that then it's the dreaded "drunk boat" at 3 am... and a very late night.
So either I'll be crawling into bed in Pui O around 2 am or collapsing at around 4:30 am depending on how everything turns out. Oh well, there wasn't a whole lot of options from here in Malaysia, I didn't want to spend another night in Singapore (~$40 a night for a room) or a 6 hour bus ride to Kuala Lumpur and a night there somewhere. So now I'm trying to jam pack what we did coming here, 2 days and 2 nights of traveling into 1 day and 1 night.
I have some goals for when I get back to Hong Kong, I feel by writing them here they are put out into the universe and might actually be accomplished (If not at least I will have more things (excuses) to write about here)
-I want to clean the heck out of our bathroom (I'm embarrased at how disgusting ours is compared to the Me(a)ghan's bathroom)
-I'm going to get a nice fry pan and learn how to make Pataya fried rice and Roti and also some fruit pancakes
-I need to catch up on the 42 days of journal entries I've made
Have more to write but internet place is closing...
Long day of travel tomorrow,
Malaysia, Singapore, Macau, and Hong Kong. That makes 4 countries between 8 am and midnight if everything comes together, I should have a little bit more breathing room with respect to timings tomorrow than I initially thought, but I'm not going to expect anything (Don't make assumptions; agreement #3)
My schedule for tomorrow:
Part ways with James at 8am as I head to Singapore on a 3-4 hour bus ride and clear customs
4:10 check in for my flight
6:10 take off for Macau
9:50 land in Macau and clear customs...
11:00 catch Macau Ferry to Hong Kong Island
~12:00 am arrive on Hong Kong Island and clear customs...
12:30??? Scramble from the Macau piers to First Ferry pier 6 and catch the ferry to Lantau;
if I miss that then it's the dreaded "drunk boat" at 3 am... and a very late night.
So either I'll be crawling into bed in Pui O around 2 am or collapsing at around 4:30 am depending on how everything turns out. Oh well, there wasn't a whole lot of options from here in Malaysia, I didn't want to spend another night in Singapore (~$40 a night for a room) or a 6 hour bus ride to Kuala Lumpur and a night there somewhere. So now I'm trying to jam pack what we did coming here, 2 days and 2 nights of traveling into 1 day and 1 night.
I have some goals for when I get back to Hong Kong, I feel by writing them here they are put out into the universe and might actually be accomplished (If not at least I will have more things (excuses) to write about here)
-I want to clean the heck out of our bathroom (I'm embarrased at how disgusting ours is compared to the Me(a)ghan's bathroom)
-I'm going to get a nice fry pan and learn how to make Pataya fried rice and Roti and also some fruit pancakes
-I need to catch up on the 42 days of journal entries I've made
Have more to write but internet place is closing...
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Juara Beach, Tioman Island, Malaysia and the future
James and I made it out to Tioman a few days ago. This place is one of the most unspoiled areas I've ever been too. Perfect beaches, jungle, and rivers. We are pretty remote where we are staying, it's a 30-40 Landrover drive or a 2 hour jungle walk, but it's worth it. We have been moving around from place to place each night. The first night was under the Turtle Sanctuary roof in my hammock, the next night was in a beach shack, then two more nights in my hammock in a rough campsite near the beach, now we are at a really cool house with a guy that also runs school trips. It's an amazing and beautiful house in a really great location, the catch is you have to wade across a tiny stream if the tide is out or you have to swim/paddle across a large river if the tide is in. It's a trade-off I'm comfortable with, especially being able to sleep in past 7:30am since the jungle blocks the scorching hot sun and it's not 100 degrees with no wind at 8am.
I'm buying my (steam-powered?) airplane ticket today and starting the countdown until I have to return to the "real world." It looks like I'll be back in Hong Kong around June 8th, that way I'll have a week to mentally prepare and rest up....haha from this travelling. It's hard to believe it's almost over, 5 weeks seemed like such a long time 5 weeks ago. Southeast Asia is such a large place, I could probably spend years here and not see it all. I'd say this is a sampler trip for more precise trips to come in the future.
This will probably be my last post until I get back to Hong Kong, James and I hiked 2 hours through the jungle path to get to Tekek and internet. So look for spot tracker messages over the next week.
I can't wait to send home all the goodies I've picked up for everyone back home, I think I have a little something from everywhere. I won't give any specifics, but there will be one of the Philippines most prized exports, Laotian handiwork, and Cambodian art... as well as something from the pestering Hanoi street walking merchants...
I also have something up my sleeve that will take some time for me to create... but will be well worth it.
I'm buying my (steam-powered?) airplane ticket today and starting the countdown until I have to return to the "real world." It looks like I'll be back in Hong Kong around June 8th, that way I'll have a week to mentally prepare and rest up....haha from this travelling. It's hard to believe it's almost over, 5 weeks seemed like such a long time 5 weeks ago. Southeast Asia is such a large place, I could probably spend years here and not see it all. I'd say this is a sampler trip for more precise trips to come in the future.
This will probably be my last post until I get back to Hong Kong, James and I hiked 2 hours through the jungle path to get to Tekek and internet. So look for spot tracker messages over the next week.
I can't wait to send home all the goodies I've picked up for everyone back home, I think I have a little something from everywhere. I won't give any specifics, but there will be one of the Philippines most prized exports, Laotian handiwork, and Cambodian art... as well as something from the pestering Hanoi street walking merchants...
I also have something up my sleeve that will take some time for me to create... but will be well worth it.
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