Merry Christmas!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, despite my absence.

I met up with Crish and Dean, and Micheal (a new friend of mine), and we went tubing down the river to celebrate. Lots of fun, lots of free drinks, a shitty turkey dinner at some bar, a good time was had by all.

Did I mention that Laos is incredible? Well, it is. Its basically got all the cool, awesome stuff that you have in Vietnam, but everyones really chilled, no ones trying to constantly sell you stuff, and no one honks their horn ALL THE TIME. Basically, a great country, the highlight of my trip so far.

Take care all and enjoy the holidays!

The Big Picture

Alright, for the curious and illiterate, here are some follow-up photos.

My last day in Hue, I saw some cool Kong Fu,



and some impressive tombs of old kings.



Hanoi failed to impress,



so I grabbed the first boat trip I found to Halong Bay.



What an incredible place!



Then I grabbed a night train north and wound up in small, isolated Bac Ha.



had lunch at the small farm on the left,



and caught the first bus the next morning to beautiful Sapa.



Did a day trek (15km walk) down the mountain and through some Tribal Villages, and (thankfully!) took an old army jeep back up to the city.



Today I walked down to another village, got lost in from the Tourist Trail for a while (always fun), and got back in time to narrowly escape being rained on.



I've been hanging out in cafes all afternoon. Not terribly exciting, but still, a shitty day in Sapa beats a nice day in Hanoi. Tonight I catch the night train to Hanoi followed by an early morning flight to Vientianne in Laos, where, I'm told, the weather is much nicer.

Mountain Bound

So after a day in Hanoi, I was sick and tired of all the people and cars and honking horns. So I was happy to get on a bus heading out to the incomparable Halong Bay.

This place is incredible! Even though I was on a package tour (something I normally despise), I thoroughly enjoyed the trip. The bay itself is spectacular, you're surrounded by these massive limestone outcroppings that soar high above and around you and the whole place feels surreal. We did a too-brief (45 min) sea kayak and visited some small lagoons within the islands, as well as a cool cave (a place that you step into and think: "Oh great, another tourist trap," then you round a corner and are blown away by the massive opening that stands before you, complete with candle-wax pillars and tiny underground lakes).

It helped that our whole group got on great, we all jumped off the roof of the boat for a swim in the surprisingly warm water (like 20 degrees) after sunset, then settled in for a night of cards and beers. All the other dozens of tourist boats are anchored around you, which isn't as lame as you might think, since they're attractive vessels and are all lit up at night. Lots of fun, great food, shitty bus trips, but well worth the $40 (although most people paid $30-35, I was lazy and booked through my hotel, never a good idea if you want to save money). In future, I think it might be worth looking into a charter trip (assuming I had other people with me) to go and visit some of the less touristy parts of the bay, but however you visit it, Halong Bay is well worth your time.

Afterward, I grabbed the night train to the Chinese border and wound up in the small town of Bac Ha. This place is really off the map, tourists show up on Sunday mornings for the over-rated market, then head back to their resorts in Sapa. One thing I will say about the markets, when you get away from the kitsch sellers, it is kinda cool, I've never seen people selling live pigs in a sack before, or puppies trussed up like chickens (dinner, anyone?) But the true joy of Bac Ha was walking out to the tribal villages and up to a mountain pass for some spectacular views. While up there, I met a farmer who was leading his donkey back from the markets. Without any English, he invited me to his farm for lunch. Not an amazing meal (just rice and cabbage with chili sauce), but the fact that this total stranger who must be amongst the poorest people in the world invited me back to his small, isolated farm for lunch was simply an incredible experience. I gave him a few dong, and gave his kids some candy (which they devoured immediately!) before walking the long trek back into town. On the way, I passed some tourist buses parked at the bottom of the hill and couldn't help but think that these people were missing out on the true experience that their tour could only approximate.

But yeah, Bac Ha is kind of a boring town (there are like 3 restaurants and no other travelers to hang out with), so today I caught a bus to Sapa. Beautiful city. Sure it's touristy and busier, but perched on the side of a mountain, with incredible views at every turn, it is an awesome place. I spent today just wandering the town, booked a trekking tour for tomorrow, plus my train and plane tickets to Hanoi and onward to Laos (I'm meeting up with Dean and Crish there for Christmas). I've been pretty lucky with the weather: although chilly at night and in the early morning (though not as cold as Hanoi, surprisingly), when the sun comes out and burns away the haze, it actually becomes T-shirt warm outside. I really like it here, and I'm glad I skipped the beaches down south to visit some places that are truly out of this world.

Long post and no pictures to break up the monotony, but if you've made it this far, well, thanks for reading and if I don't get another post up in time, have a Merry Christmas!

Going North

Alright, since last time, I wandered around Saigon, visited their zoo (they had a film fest going on there showing the best advertisements this year, plus a cool short film by Spike Jones called "I'm Here"). They had tons of exotic animals too, like giraffes, elephants, lions and the eerily sentient gorillas.



A nearby museum housed tone of random stuff, such as Ho Chi Minh's cane and some ancient Vietnamese deer that you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley.



I left the big city on a night train and wound up in beautiful Hoi An.



Not a very happening place, but they had some really good restaurants and the nearby My Son ruins were worth a visit. The ruins aren't near as cool as Angkor, but our guide was hilarious.



Best quote: "Shiva is male and female. Female and male. What does that make Shiva? The first Ladyboy!"

My next stop was Hue, a really cool city (my favourite so far). Inside the city is an ancient Citadel: this was the Imperial Palace back before the French took over, and is also (I'm told) where the big firefight featured in Full Metal Jacket took place.



The Citadel's in pretty rough shape, but they're fixing it up and it's fun to explore the area.



Speaking of rough shape, I took a DMZ tour which took us to a bunch of famous American military bases (like Khe Sanh) around Hue.



Not much left to see, but the country side is gorgeous and it really helps put the Vietnam war in perspective - looking at the terrain, I'm amazed the Americans did as well as they did. (There used to be an army base on the top of this mountain, it could only be supplied by helicopter).



The nearby Vinh Moc tunnels (an entire underground city, with 41km of tunnels, up to 24m deep) were also really cool.



Did a boat trip to some ancient tombs, and then grabbed another night train to Hanoi. Got in this morning and realized that I'm sick and tired of the big city, so I'm heading out to Halong Bay tomorrow, and then north to the mountains around Sapa, near the Chinese border.

It's a little chilly up here (I actually had to put on pants!), but not so bad that I'd complain about it, it's actually a nice break from sweating all the time :) But that's all for now, take care and make sure you visit Vietnam, it's a fantastic country.

The Pictures Have Arrived!

As promised, here are some pictures of my recent journeys:

In summary, I took the Slow Boat to Battambang,



caught a ride on the Bamboo Express with Dean and Crish,



took the bus to Phnom Penh,



shot an AK-47,



visited some holocaust memorials,



had my first ever massage (but not by this guy!),



grabbed a boat to Vietnam,



visited the Mekong Delta,



caught a bus into crazy Saigon (I cannot believe this place is supposed to be communist, it feels incredibly Western),



visited their War Museum,



and the old government Palace,



and finally took a bit of a break to get this up.

Been really busy, but I'm having a fantastic time! I have one more day in Saigon, then I'll catch the night train to Danang and further adventures. So long for now!

The Mighty Mekong

So after a few days in Phnom Penh (checked out the genocide memorial, shot an AK-47, among other things), I took a van / boat down to Chau Doc in Vietnam. Spent today doing a riverboat tour around the Mekong Delta. It's an incredible place: hundreds if not thousands ramshackle little huts built on stilts right on the water, it puts Venice to shame! The river really is everything around there, you have river markets in the morning (pretty chaotic!) and more boat traffic than I've ever seen.

Speaking of traffic, I just got into Saigon (or Ho Chi Minh City, as it's now called) and taking a bus through town at 5:00 is absolutely insane! It's kind of a blessing that no one here can afford a car, the traffic would not flow. As is, the hundreds of scooters buzzing around is ridiculous, but traffic here has a kind of organic flow that seems to keep everything moving. Though I'm amazed there aren't more accidents.

Anyway, that's all she wrote for now. Still alive and doing great, I'll see if I can't put up some pictures tomorrow.

Slow Boat to Battambang

After Siem Reap, I took a boat across the Tonle Sap (a massive lake here in Cambodia) to Battambang. I joined up with a couple of Brits, Dean and Crish, really great people. We checked the Bamboo Train in Battambang, which was awesome! You basically have this small bamboo frame sitting on top of two sets of rail car wheels, and then you go zipping along this shitty old railway line. When you meet a train coming in the other direction, they literally take one train apart and pull it off the tracks to let the other pass. Like a lot of things in Cambodia, it's a very ingenious system, with people making full use of what little they have.

Yesterday, we took a bus the Phnom Penh. Long trip, but at $3.50, I really can't complain. Phnom Penh is an awesome city, very relaxed actually. They've still gots lots of cool markets and stuff, but it's not nearly as crazy as other asian cities. Streets are clearly marked and it's incredibly easy to get around. Today we're going to tour around the city a bit, check out some of the sites.

Pictures to follow, when I find a faster internet connection.

Angkor WHAT!?!

(Hold for laughs)

South Korea was a whirlwind: I saw some temples and ruins Gyeongju, then went into Seoul with Stephen and Jon-Min (Stephen's the one on the left)

where we saw people and high rises and more people.

We spent the night at a Jong-de-Ju (or something like that), basically a huge sauna / hot tub spa thing (you get used to walking around completely naked after about a minute), saw a cultural dance / drum performance, guest starring the famous Stephen Stone himself! (he's the one on the left),

and went to the War museum, which was very interesting and well done (we even had a free English guide).

Night flight to Kuala Lumpur (a surprisingly green and clean city with high rises galore), you should see their weird hydrants!

Also this (as featured in the film Entrapment, don't see it).

Then onwards to Siem Reap, Cambodia, where I've spent the last couple days exploring Angkor Wat and area on a bike.

Cambodia is really cool, definitely worth a visit. In fact, I am now declaring it mandatory for all of you to visit Cambodia. Great eats, nice people, cool temples everywhere, it's really something else. Though I wouldn't come in the summer, it's sweltering here right now. And bring plenty of small Americna bills (few people can break a 10, my 50s are next to useless) which are accepted literally everywhere. Also, they don't have the much-feared "Reckless Elephant".

THERE IS NO ESCAPE!

Also, happy 87th Scott!

..... I mean 17th....

The Eagle Has Landed

(I'm the Eagle)

So I made it to Korea. It was a long flight, but it wasn't so bad. I got to watch Toy Story 3 again plus some other crap movies. Korea's immigration was ridiculously easy and their airport is ridiculously nice. The country feels hyper-capitalist, it's crazy crowded with ridiculous amounts of competition. On one street you can have 5+ stores all selling the exact same sports gear, in Gyeongju they have literally dozens of stores all selling the exact same traditional bread - it's nuts! You can't walk ten feet without seeing a line of cabs waiting to drive you anywhere. But the country is also extremely westernized and it's really easy to get around. Most people speak some English and most signs are in Korean and English. The country is kind of an enigma, despite the obvious wealth (all new cars, huge new apartment complexes, everyone has an Iphone), it also feels downtrodden. I can't really explain it, but imagine if Mexico and Stockholm merged together, then you might get Korea.

I met up with Stephen Stone in Chuncheon. He took me out for Korean (no shit) with some of his Korean friends (all very nice people) and it was excellent. Some kind of Chicken and Rice Cake platter with supposedly mild spice (I don't think I'll ever try spicy Korean food). Then he showed me some traditional Korean drumming (of course!) that he and his friends play in their spare time. It was fun, I got to try my hand at it, though I'm not very good.

Yesterday, I took the bus (Korea has a excellent bus system) down to the historical city of Gyeongju, where the Silla empire originated. It's a pretty neat place, there's a lot of old ruins of old fortress walls (not much remains) and tons of massive burial mounds around town. You can go inside one of the burial mounds which was pretty neat. They've also partially re-built Anapji Pond, which is this large old wooden fortress with a nice Japanese-like pond in the middle. I had this Kuro Saamba dinner which is like 24 (!) little dishes that you can mix and match to your heart's content. Included are different sauces, tiny crushed crab, different fish, chicken, beef (I think), vegetables, dumplings and more. All this for onle 9,000 Won (like $7), plus all the plates were refillable for free. It was very tasty, but a bit much for my stomach to handle, so I went back to my motel early for a well-deserved rest.

Today I'm heading out on a tour of some of the more far-flung sights around Gyeongju, then it's back to Chuncheon and onwards to Seoul where Steve and I will wander around for a couple days.

Questions? Comments. Feel free to post them, I like hearing from you folks back home. Enjoy the cold! :)

Prelude

So, in 7 days I'm heading off to South-East Asia. I'm flying via South Korea, so I'm going to stop in and visit Stephen Stone for a bit. Then I'm going to travel through Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand. I'll try tp update this thing at least once a week, but we'll see how things pan out.

Anyway, stay tuned for future updates, and I appreciate any feedback.

Going Home

This time tomorrow (2:30 PM) I will board my plane in Sydney and proceed to travel back in time to 11:00 AM of the same day in San Francisco. Should be fun, maybe I can save the humpback whales from extinction.

Take care, see you all (or soe of you, anyway) soon.

I never did put up the details about Diving on the Great Barrier Reef or Steve Irwin's Zoo. Needless to say, they were both awesome, and if any of you want to know more about either of them, let me know and I'd be happy to fill you in.

No Pictures

Just Kidding!

Finally got some decent (and free) broadband, so please sit back, relax and follow me on a picture-filled journey from Perth all the way to Sydney.

So we start south of Perth, in the Porongurup.

This is where Adam and I worked for 2 weeks on a vineyard, and also where I saved several small children from being crushed by a boulder.

We then headed south to beautiful Albany,



where we witnessed firsthand the Sock Fence,

and the Dog's Head Rock.



Pretty fetching.

Also in this area is the Tree Walk, which is a series of suspension bridges 40 meters in the air,

and the Bicentennial Tree, a 67 meter climb (I only made it up 25 meters), with nothing but air below you as you climb up.



Then we started heading north again to the Margaret River Wine Region.

And what do you do in a wine region? Well, mostly you just wake up really early to go and pick grapes, but every now and then you get to spend some time drinking free wine samples, hanging out at the beach and going to concerts. Here we have the renowned (and incredible) Xavier Rudd.



After about 4 weeks in our beautiful campsite,



Adam and I began our long journey north.

First stop, the Principality of Hutt River.



Yes, there are in fact 2 countries on the continent of Australia, though Hutt River (and it's current ruler Prince Leonard, below) is often overlooked.

Check it out, this country does exist (I have the passport stamp to prove it) and is totally legitimate.

Along the way north, we stopped at Ningaloo Reef (the largest reef in the world on a western shoreline) for some serious snorkeling. While we were there, we saw tons of cool fish and coral,

and I met my Sea Turtle, who was kind enough to show me around for ~15 minutes before taking off.

Then it was inland to the spectacular Karinjini National Park,

and obligatory swim after a long hike down into the gorge.

In Broome,

we saw real fossilized dinosaur footprints

and we went to a crocodile farm

(wouldn't want to meet him in a dark alley... or anywhere, for that matter).

And that was it for the West Coast (there's more to visit, but all the roads were flooded out while we were there). So we continued on to the North Coast and beautiful Litchfield Park.

How could you not go for a swim here? Well, there is one compelling argument:

Who knew? 'E nu (OK, bad pun attempt, you don't need to laugh).

But to be fair, there were a number of lovely safe swimming holes in the park.

Then to Darwin, a lovely laid-back city that is surprisingly vibrant. We didn't spend a lot of time there, but I did have the best fish 'n' chips meal ever (tons of barramundi, shrimp and calamari for less than $15) while we were there.

Southwards! To Kakadu National Park

and some thousands-of-years old rock art.

The park is actually a massive wetlands area bigger than Holland, so it isn't much to look at, but apparently there are millions of birds at certain times of the year (though not while we were there). Also, some nice swimming holes and we saw a baby wallabee that a park staff member was raising after it's mother was killed by a car.

We then headed south to the stunnung King's Canyon

And then further south to this behemoth

Yes, the famous Uluru, it's big, it's overrated, it's touristy as all get out, but it's still pretty cool.

And it is MASSIVE. To give you an idea of the scale of this rock, check out the people near the top on this photo.

Can't see them? They're not much more than specks.

The real star of the show, though, was the nearby Kata Tjuta.

Massive rocks that soar hundreds of meters above you as you walk between them, it's pretty outstanding.

We then busted across the great nothing to Cairns for our dive course on the Great Barrier Reef (more on that later).

See that blotch out on the water? That's the Great Barrier Reef (well, part of it anyway, it's a lot more impressive when you're under the water).

The tablelands inland from Cairns are really spectacular,

but we didn't spend much time there. Nope, we just drove south for 5 days (stopping at Steve Irwin's Zoo along the way, more on that later as well) until we got back to where we started in Sydney.

So long Queensland!