Cambodia

From the islands I went into Cambodia to a town off of the beaten path called Ban Lung. The first day there a Canadian and I rented moto bikes for the day and we both had some trouble with them. I was on a 125cc dirt bike and he was on a 100cc scooter. In that late afternoon my bike stalled and I couldn't get it started again. Being about 15 Km outside of town, I pushed it to a grease monkey 300 meters down the road. He checked it out and could not figure out what was wrong with it. I had my friend go back to town to get the owner to help us out. He laid his bike down going about 30km/h and got some abrasions on his leg and arm but was ok. Meanwhile, I started to push the bike back to town. After an hour of pushing I ran into the owner and he informs me that his bike stalls sometimes and is really easy to get started if you know the secret touch.


The next day I went to a really cool volcanic lake that was in the top of an inactive volcano and stayed there until sunset. When I get back to my room I noticed that some things had been moved and $20, my cell phone and ipod were missing. After an hour of arguing with the owner and manager trying to convince them that those items were had been stolen, I use one of their phones to call my phone. I looked on every floor and ended up hearing it ring in a room on the floor above me. The owner and manager open the room, which belonged to 6 of the employees of the hotel, and my phone was hidden in the dresser and was still on. So one down, one to go. Since I now proved that things had been taken the police came to question the 6 residents of the room. They didn't say a thing. At that point I could have them all arrested or not and all i really wanted was my ipod back and no one going to jail for 1 to 2 months. After some scare tactics by yours truely and 3 hours later, the ipod shows up out of no where. The owner of the hotel then made it up to me by buying dinner and drinks for the night for myself and 2 other guest that were helping out. I also didn't have to pay for my hotel room or any other meals as long as I was there. I only spent three nights there, but it felt like a life time.

Now on to Siem Reap.

The 4000 Islands

After visiting the Vientiane, Lao, I headed farther south on an over night bus to Pakse. The bus ride was 14 hours long, thank god that I went to the pharmacy and got some sleeping pills because the 4 Englishmen that sat right behind me decided that downing a couple bottles of $1 whiskey and the more they drank the louder they got. I was starting to get very upset with them until the pills kicked in and I was out until the girl next to me had to wake me cause we had arrived.

The original plan was to stay the night in Pakse and move on to the island the following day. With the help of 20 or so Laotian tuk-tuk drivers and a couple bus drivers, that idea was laid to rest as I as on another bus to the islands. With a couple stops to pick up some locals and their chickens and tie a refrigerator to the roof we were there. I helped pass the time by talking to the parental units and my sister on the phone, it was thanksgiving day, and watching as the Laotian lady get off the bus a puke her brains out and come right back on and sit next to me. i was trying to think small and not make any contact with her. she got off the next stop.

After taking a short boat ride to Don Det, I found shelter and Mr. Phao's Sunset guest house. I lucked out because Mr. Phao is the man. His guest house is on the water and the restaurant that his wife runs is on a patio that extends over the Mekong River. The drinks are on the honor system and you don't pay for anything until you leave the island. The time was past with seeing a waterfall, which is more like a huge rapid that extends 14 km. across the Mekong, playing cards and chess with the other guests, drinking delicious beer Lao, whiskey, and a real ball buster called Lao Lao.

Lao Lao is made from rice and is not sold in stores because it is made by the locals. My encounter with Lao Lao was with 3 other tourist and 8 Laotian fisherman. For 50 cents a coke bottle, that they refill from the gas can that contains the Lao Lao, it is really easy to get stuck talking to a fisherman that has been drinking since he got up at sunrise that day. I also found some time to lay in the hammock on my porch and read a bit. There is no electricity on the island so generators run when it gets dark to about 10p.m. which is the curfew for the island. One night when curfew hit, Mr. Phao told us of a party on a neighbouring that was for a boat race the next day. Mr. Phao was kind enough to drive us to it opn his boat. We were a group of ten people that made up for half of the Falangs(tourists) at the party. There was about 700 Laotians and 20 tourists all together. Some of the most fun that I have ever had! It was a strenuous 8 days.

Given'er on the River

I was just in a small town called Vang Vieng that is truely a diamond in the rough. You can walk across town in about 10 min. The town is in a valley with mountains all around it next to a river. The best part about this place is the tubing on the river. I will try to explain why this is so much fun. It startes at about 10 or 11 in the a.m. and goes until sun down. All you do is float down the river and stop off a bars that have rope swings, zip lines, sand volleyball courts, bocce ball courts, and of course all the semi-cold beer lao you can drink. The only hard part is budgeting your time wisely so that you don't get stuck on the river after dark. I made that mistake only once before to realize that I didn't want to do that again. And yes, the second time was just as fun as the first was.

Laos

So I'm in laos now. I took a two day slow boat to Luang Prabang. The boat was suppost to hold 80 passangers, but they put 150. some people were worried and started to make a fuss to the captain to try and get two boats. The arguement was easly settled by the captain as he says, "Ok, two boat." he then untied the boat and we were off . . . . . . . on one boat still. After about an hour into it everyone was put to ease because the boat seemed to handle it and 80% of the boat brought whiskey bottles. i was one of the masses and soon the other 20% realized how boring an 7 hour boat ride is and joined the festivities. I met a lot of really cool people on that boat and have been have a lot of fun in Laos with all of them. the one down side of the boat was that the Burmese have been throwing the bodies of their dead into the river, so there are a couple of floaters.

Yesterday, about six of us went to a waterfall about an hour outside of town with 10 people. it was really fun and they had some natural swimming pools with a rope swing and a cliff jump were we spent most of the day relaxing. I did have to make a rescue on some dutch girl who swallowed some water under the water fall. i was a hero for the day and got bought a couple beers for my good deed.

Tomorrow I'm off to Vang Vieng for some tubing and fun.
Hope everyone's doing well.

Crazy bus driver

Today I took a bus from Pai to Chang Mai in Northern Thailand. The bus driver was freakin CRAZY!!! It was pouring rain and he was bombing down the mountain and swerving in and out of traffic so much that people in the bus were screaming out loud. The driver didn't seem to mind that much. A couple of people in the front of the bus were begging him to slow down which wasn't really working to much until a lady right behind him called the police. He then shaped up quick and slowed down. i would have to say that i have been on a couple crazy rides here in Thailand, but this one takes the cake. Oh by the way love you Mom.

Going to Lao in two days, I'll keep you posted.

So I am in this place called Thailand.

So i have been here for about two weeks or so and have to say that it is amazing. I flew into Bangkok on the 18th of October and have been working my way up north slowly but surely. I got out of Bangkok as fast as i could because it just wasn't my cup of tea. It was very chaotic and I got ripped off twice within an hour that almost got myself a knuckle sandwich if i didn't pay. Since then i have kind of figured out the rules of the road so to speak and have gotten very good at bargaining.

The first stop north of Bangkok was an ancient city of Ayutthaya which had a moat around it as well some really amazing looking temples. From there it was on to Lopburi for the day that had a temple with about five hundred monkeys all over it. These monkeys are considered such a blessing by the Buddhists for the money the bring to the city that they can do what ever they want(i.e. steal food and water from tourists, play on you like a tree in the jungle, etc.).

Then up to Phitsanlok where myself and a Canadian were forced on stage in a local bar to sing some western songs, some of which i had never even heard before. After two or three songs we were allowed to pick songs that we knew and the band started to have much more fun.

I have since gone threw Lampang where i had a cold and then recovered. This place was funny because i tried to get to a national park near by but since it wasn't a very touristy town it took about two and a half hours to figure out that yes, there was a bus but no one knew how to get to it. I have a pretty funny video clip of about ten or so Thais try to figure out where the bus station was. i thought the map would help, it didn't.

In Chang Mai, I took a cooking course on a Thai farm that was all organic. There I found out that I am allergic to some of the spices that they have as well as learning that fish sauce is horrible.

I didn't spend to much time up Chang Mai because i heard about this place called Pai that is a very small city in the basin of some mountains and it is absolutely beautiful. I have only been here four days, but have seen the town and went on a two day river rafting trip. The rapids were only a class three but it was still fun because the guide let myself and one other guy on the trip kayak some of the rapids which made it a little more interesting. Like Jako the guide said, "More danger, more fun!." At the end of the trip there was a 45 foot cliff jump into about 5-6 feet of water that besides the guide i was the only one to do. i had a little bit of a butt check on the bottom that didn't hurt thanks to the sandy bottom, but my knife did happen to fall out of my pocket. oh well. I'll stay here a couple more days before going back to Chang Mai and on to Laos.