Christmas in Asia and the rest of Bangkok...

Christmas! Odd, non-traditional xmas in Bangkok. We got a Thai massage, which was amazing. Definitely the best massage I have ever had. We also saw Madagascar 2 at the only IMAX in Thailand. It was a huuuge screen and so much cheaper than seeing a regular movie back in the states. It was also the first time the Burgess family had seen an IMAX movie since apparently they don't have those in Australia yet? Crazy. I take for granted that I live within driving distance of like 5 IMAX screens.

The next day was the start of the real sightseeing. Early start to go to the

Bridge over the rvier Kwai and the Tiger Temple. The cemetary was so sad - all the Commonwealth soldiers and those POWs who died building the Death Railway. The museum was small, but still effective and sad. On the other side of the bridge, we ran into a sad

elephant chained to a tree for tourists to feed. It seemed like it was being kept as a pet by locals. We fed it and it seemed to be happy enough, but sadly this was my only experience with elephants in all of Asia. We just ran out of time and didn't properly plan for it to get done. Oh well, another reason for me to go back someday!

The tiger temple was really cool, though I highly doubt those tigers aren't drugged. No way they're just naturally that sleepy and calm.

The next day we went to the ancient capital of Ayuthaya.

It was interesting to see such ancient ruins mixed right in with the modern city that has grown around it. Angkor Wat was isolated and you felt like you had stepped back in time since nothing modern has encroached upon it except the people. This was very different, right next to the ruins was a modern street and school. There were so many Wats in SE Asia though, I'm kind of over it.

The last day in Bangkok was spent at the floating markets. They're organized chaos, with the rivers filled to the brim with boats of people in transit and people with goods. It was so touristy, but there were also some locals doing their personal shopping so it seemed pretty legitimate. We walked around the markets and tried some great food like spring rolls, chinese

buns, and banana fritters (all of which were made on small boats on the river). I also got a cute purse for only $3 thanks to my honed bargaining skills.

After that, Kelly and I did a lot of shopping in the local mall. So weird to see a real mall just have tables, booths, and stores, all selling obviously counterfeit goods. There are no laws here about that, I guess.

We caught our sleeper train to Koh Samui! It was a different set up than the China/Vietnam ones - no private rooms, chairs that fold out to beds, and food served to you. It wasn't the best first impression, but it ended up being really comfortable. Plus, we were right next to a really cute family w/ 3 young boys who kept things entertaining. They played hide & seek with us and kept calling someone on their phone to try to speak english with us. It was adorable! Definitely helped to pass the time on what ended up being a nearly 24 hour journey to get to Koh Samui and the best New Years Eve party of my life.

Bangkok on my Birthday

The early morning cab ride at 5:30am was made worse by the late night birthday drinking, plus we were still drunk when the ride started and then subsequently hungover for the rest of the journey. It was on the bumpiest road ever, which apparently can't get better because the airlines are preventing and slowing the development as much as possible so people have to fly between Bangkok and Siem Reap so they can make more money. Poipet border town was a dodgy hole and I'm pretty sure we paid to much for our bus to Bangkok, but whatever, we just wanted to get to BK as soon as possible. We got ot the Princess hotel where Kelly's family was staying, and letting me stay there with them, and HOLY COW IT WAS AMAZING. Rooftop pool, spa, bar, and just suck luxury! We checked in them went bowling to celebrate my 22nd birthday. So much fun! We tried to stay up until Kelly's family came in, but between the late night and horrible journey, I passed out too early.

The next day, Kelly's family came and we were all pretty exhausted so we just saw the Grand Palace.

It was amazing and so impressively beautiful. It's incredible how well-maintained they were after so many centuries. They were so different from everything else in Asia, a nice change of pace after all the Chinese temples we'd seen in China, HK, and even Vietnam.

The walls were so ornate, covered in gold, and never the same as another. Kelly's parents weren't hip to dangers of Asia and trying to get ripped off around every corner. It's a good thing Kelly and I had already gone through the trenches (aka Vietnam) so we were more prepared.

Cambodia: Siem Reap

The bus ride was looong but filled with Cambodian movies - pretty interesting mythology based fables. The other 3 tourists on the buss were all American s who were teaching English in Aisa for a few years. They loved it and said they were having the time of their lives exploring Asia and teaching children. Siem Reap is seriously just a town built because of its proximity to Angkor Wat. The city was such a contrast - poor huts on stilts on the river and the resorts for the tourists right next to them. The only thing to do there is Angkor Wat, so we went for the sunset from the ruins. It was beautiful but covered in tourists. They charge $20/day for tourists and have it free for Cambodians, which I think is fair and what they should do, but many locals use this free admission to sell their wares just outside the temples. Kind of annoying to have to deal with people pestering you to buy crap I don't need when I'm just trying to look at the temples. But seeing how tourism is their main source of income, it's necessary.

We woke up early the next day for a day full of temples. Beautiful ancient ruins, so old that massive trees have overtaken them at points. While the temples were beautiful, it was trying to navigate through all the vendors. At one of the temples, a couple kids came over and bombarded us with facts about the US and Australia and gave us bracelets. When we refused to buy anything, they cursed Kelly with "I give you bad luck forever!" After countless temples, we crashed and then go dinner and buckets to celebrate my birthday! Mexican food, 1 bucket of margarita, 2 buckets of Angkor Sunset (and a free shirt!), 2 tequila shots (free birthday shots!), and a cocktail and then it was midnight. The bar played the bi

rthday

song for me and then we had to peace out to get sleep for our long journey the next day. Over all, a great birthday night! And a great time in Cambodia. A beautiful country with such a sad story.

Cambodia: Phnom Penh and the journey there

7 hours on a bus to Phenom Penh - nothing exciting to report on that, just glad to have made it in one piece peacefully after the stories I heard. PP was a lot nicer than I was expecting - clean, put together, and just a cute little town. We only had that day to see the town so we hired a tuk tuk for the day to see S-21 Tou Seng Prison and the Killing Fields. What a depressing day. I had no real knowledge of Cambodia's history before; its just not taught in school like European and US history is. The Poi Pot regime is so recent, so fresh in hisotry too. The museum had so many photos and personal stories of events that happened just 30 years ago. Even outside the museum, there were many people begging for money and it was obvious they were landmine victims or somthing equally as tragic. Then we rushed out to see the Killing Fields. I just can't phatom the horror of the prison and the fields. What those people experiend, its just horrifying to think about. The fields closed and we headed back to town just as the sun was setting. Such a beautiful sight!

Cambodia architecture was unlike anything I'd ever seen before. So different from Vietnam! The people are also so different: so much darker and shorter than the Vietnamese. It was such a striking difference as soon as we crossed the border.

That night in the Phnom Penh may just have been my favorite night of the whole semester. Definitely of SE Asia so far. Had a delicious Indian dinner then went in search of a happy hour. A group of guys invited us to join them for a free drink, so how could we refuse? Tehre's no way to transfer the greatness of that conversation to the page, but it was a great night with a Kiwi, Australian, and a few Americans just shooting the breeze and celebrating the Kiwi's upcoming child. The Kiwi, Stanley, is 60 years old, been in Cambodia since 1988, married to a 28 year old local woman, and just found out his wife is pregnant with their 3rd child. Phil is 40 something and had been living in Cambodia for 4 years. Th was traveling around SE Asia and just never went back to TX. Joseph had been working in Japan for 2 years and is travelling around before going home for the first time in 2 years. All of them had interesting stories to tell. We ended the night all too soon and it was time to move on to Siem Riap.

Vietnam! Ho Chi Minh/Saigon City Redux

Kelly hadn't seen the city so ther was a bit of a repeat in sights, but getting around on our proved a challenge. We decided to dip our toes in slowly by hiring a cylo instead of a motorbike. It was a great ride - slow but in the thick of the action. Allowed us to see the city rather than just zip through it. But, this being Vietnam, it wasn't going to be easy. We just wanted to go to the Cathedral, but we got taken to a pegoda first, then the Cathedral. And because of this detour we didn't ask for, it was more than triple the original agreed upon price. Well, argument ensued but in the end we got a good deal. then getting from the zoo (which wasn't as bad as China's, but still not that good) we hired motorbikes. Such an exhilarating ride! To drive in this environment takes such awareness and just TRUST in the other drivers.

We stopped at the night market to pick up a souvenir shirt & keychain. We ate at Pho 2000, which is where Bill Clinton ate way back when, and stopped at frozen yogurt, which was so out of place but I'm not complaining!

And now, bus to Phnom Penh! Bring on Cambodia!

Vietnam! Cao Dai Temple & Cu Chi Tunnels

After Checking out the bar scene, we decided to call it a night so we'd be awake for our Cu Chi Tunnels tour. The first half of the day was spent at the main Cao Dai Temple. It's a new, purely Vietnamese religion blending Buddhism, Hinduism, Confusionism, and even bits of Western religions. The temple was beautiful - so different to ancient temples that had started to all blend together after spending so much time in Asia. While those are dark, small, andcovered with Buddhas/figures with incese, this was so bright, airy, and new. The worshippers have to wear white and the monks wear colorful robes - which made for great contrast, and overall look of the service.

Next stop was the Cu Chi Tunnels. It's hundreds of miles of underground tunnels that stretch from the Cambodian border to Saigon and further. The intro video was another example of biased hate against the US with such sounds bites like "The American devils" and "hunting the American animals". Oh well, again this video was made too soon after the war. We got to go down into the tunnels, which were small and claustrophobic , and this is even after they've been widened for tourists! Also at the tunnels, they have old weapons (M16, AK47, machine guns) that you can shoot for about $1/bullet. This was the main attraction for me, because where else can I shoot an AK47 for $10/round?! I fired my round, nearly going deaf in the process since they don't have proper headphones, and just missed the prize by 1 bullet. If you hit the target 3 times you get a prize, but my skills are not that good. Yet.

That night Brad had an overnight layover on his way back to HK. We met up and enjoyed the bar scene until he ahd to head to the airport at 4am. The downside of most of the guesthouses in HCM is that they lock up at 11:30 so to get back in afterwards you have to ring the bell and wake up the owner so he'll unlock it. I felt bad disturbing him so late, but it had to be done.

Vietnam! Ho Chi Minh/Saigon City

Vietnam isn't very single-traveller friendly since there are no dorm hostels. Plus, everything you do, you have to watch for the scam, the exorbitant amount they want you to pay just because they think you don't know better. The simplist taskes become ordeals (like laundry and buying band aids). But, despite all this hassle, I love Vietnam. And as long as you're aware and stand firm, you can get through it unscathed. This same advice goes for crossing the motorbike flooded streets.

Day 1: City Tour

Since I was alone this day, and hadn't met anyone since there are no traditional hostels, I went ona US$10 tour of the city. Tours always to to get you to buy stuff but I do enjoy them because I usually get more information about what I'm seeing and therefore appreciate it more.

The tour group was on the whole older than me - a few retired couples, and then the rest were 30 somethings on xmas vacay. Made it a bit hard to relate, but the tour was really nice. It made seeing the city really convenient.

Saw City Hall, the Post Office, and Notre Dame - where they're so french that you forget for a second that you're in Asia. The Reunification Palace was pretty, but nothing really spectacular. We went to a huge market, where it was piles and piles of goods as far as the eye could see. The most memorable sight of the day was the War Remnants Museum. It was depressing and disgusting to see. The Vietnam War was the first to make it into American living rooms thanks to the media, but I'm pretty sure these images never made it to the US news. The most distubing was the section on Agent Orange and other chemical weapons. Graphic photos of the resulting disabled children and deformed fetuses on display were hard to take. Before and after photos of entire regions that were beautiful and lush turned into barren wasteland unable to grown anything for years. Gruesome and chilling, but the museum was also so biased and was basically propaganda against the US that it made me angry. I have family who was in this war and not all soldiers were monsters or responsible for the blanket bombings. Its understand that its so biased though - built in 1975 right after the war, it was too fresh to be built objectively. At least they changed the name since then, it used to be called "The War Crimes of American Imperialism and its Puppet Government of South Vietnam." So it seems like their taking baby steps in the right direction towards being objective.

Vietnam! Ho Chi Minh!

Overall thoughts on Maylasia: interesting mix of Malay, Indian, and Chinese. You could see it by just looking at the streets - different foods, different languages (on signs and spoken) and different architecture. It was so easy to get around and so simple - no fear of being ripped off as I do here in Vietnam.

I loved Vietnam when we were in the north, but it REALLY helped that people had been there to pave the way and make the mistakes that we learned from. I've been here 3 hours and I've had to be on my toes the entire time. From getting to the airport to the right area, looking into deals to get us to Cambodia, and even just to eat. It makes me really glad that I went to Malaysia for those 5 days instead of coming to Vietnam early. I'm sure that would have been fun, but just a lot more difficult.

Of all the jungles, in all the world, you had to walk into mine...

One of the main reasons I decided to spend a week in Malaysia was to do a Jungle Trek through Taman Negara, the National Rainforest.

Bright and early, we catch a bus to Kuala Tembeling. 4 hours on the bus, then 3 hours on a boat down the river, and I'm finally in Kuala Tahan, the main entry port of the Rainforest. Because travelling there took so long, there wasn't much time for Rainforest activities. We just had time for dinner and then a brief Night Jungle Trek. Watched a 15 minute film introducing us to the beauty of the rainforest and the many creatures that live there. Then set out with our flashlights and tried to find sleeping animals and various other things. Saw sleeping pheasants, mating stick bugs (they can mate for up to 2 weeks! nonstop!), and bioflorescent mushrooms.

The next day was the big day of activities. Canopy Walk - 45 meters above the ground and the only thing keeping you up is a plank of wood and lots of rope. Awesome, but nervewracking. After that we trekked to the nearest peak. Such hard work in the heat and humidity and then it started pouring buckets of rain, making the trail muddy and slick. By the time we reached the top, I was drenched and about ready to pass out. Thank goodness the trek back was all down hill. The peak provided a good view, but because of the rain a lot of it was covered in mist. Oh well, still great! We reach the bottom for lunch and then we were off again, this time for Rapids Shooting!

Rapids Shooting is like White Water Rafting, but instead of a raft we were in a long, thin motorized boat. We all got drenched and it was so refreshing! At the halfway point we got out to visit the Bahat Nomadic Tribe. They are the only people allowed to live and hunt in the national rainforest and it's never guaranteed they'll be available to visit because they move so often. This was the first village that I've visited that didn't try to sell me stuff and didn't feel kind of manufactured. The villagers didn't speak any English, but our tour guide spoke their language, so he translated. They showed us how they start a fire, make their blow darts for hunting, and I even got to shoot a blow dart! They set up a mini target and a few of us in the group got to try! So after the demonstrations, we got to walk around the village for a bit. Just as we were starting to dry off from the rapids, it starts pouring buckets again and I slip in the mud to boot. I'm soaking wet, covered in mud, and then we realize that in order to get back, we go through the rapids again! SO MUCH FUN. That night, a cold shower never felt so good.

That night at dinner, who do I run into but Jonas and Stephanie from CUHK! What are chances! So we catch up a bit, but then I'm off to a Night Jungle Safari. Road in the back of a heavy duty pick up truck type vehicle through the jungle and see some wild boar, sleeping birds, owls, and even a small jungle cat!

The next day we travel back to KL. That night, went around Times Square, the Petronas Towers, and go to my first Fish Foot Spa. It's where you put your feet in this pond where there are toothless flesh eating fish and they eat all of the calluses and dead skin off your feet. It tickled so much and was so weird. But definitely worth the US$1.25! My feet are soooo smooth right now. Maybe I'll do it again towards the end of my trip when I'll need it most.

Today I visited the Batu Caves, where there's a huge gold figure of a Hindu God and inside the caves are many smaller ones. It was pretty cool, but if you're ever in KL and short on time, you could skip it.

And now I'm off to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Haven't booked a hostel yet, so we'll see how this goes.

I hope you guys all survived finals and are having a great holiday season so far!

This isn't "goodbye" this is "I'll see you around"

Alright guys, I'm so behind that I'm just going to skip over the awesomeness of Vietnam and the frustration of Beijing to the most recent travels. I'll come back to those locales at some point, probably not til I'm back home though. I'll never catch up otherwise.

So my last week in Hong Kong was so much fun, so stressful, and so sad. I made a lot of great friends in the past 4 months, and it's hard to say goodbye knowing that it's very likely I'll never see them again. Sad to say goodbye, but it did lead to a lot of "last" nights out on the town. The best was Last Ladies Night where Kelly and I ended up taking the first morning train back to campus. I saw the sunrise as I was walking back to my room. My official last night in HK was great - typical canteen dinner, cheap drinks at the campus bar, and then off to Causeway Bay and 7-11 drinks on the harbor as we waxed philosophic on anything and everything. However, that means I didn't get back to my room until 5:30am. Did I mention I needed to get up at 7am to catch my flight to Malaysia? Well, I woek up at 9:15 and had to do a mad dash to the airport! Ended u making the final call thanks to a lot of luck and a very skillful cab driver. Never doing that again. Well, I say that now....

So on my flight I ended up talking the whole 3 hours to this guy and his family that I was sitting next to. We exchanged cultural knowledge and he answered a lot of my questions about Malaysia. Made for a pleasant and knowledgable flight.

Exploring Kuala Lumpur was fun but not really anything new. Made friends with a couple of the girls in my hostel and have pretty much spent all of my time here with them. Visited the Pavillion (a shopping center), the Lake Gardens (Orchid & Hibiscus Gardens and National Mosque), Little India (yummmmm), Chinatown (markets markets markets), and the Petronas Towers and the KL Communication Tower. It's interesting to see an area where every building is so different - moorish, chinese, and western architecture stand side by side. You see women walking in shorts and a tank top on the same block as women in burkas and saris.