Vagabonding Adventures

Back in Oregon

ace — Fri, 3 Aug 2007 08:39:00 GMT

well, after a VERY long journey we have found our way to Oregon, to my family. my mom has a test on the 7th that will tell us where the cancer originated and where all it has spread to. this is a very important test as it will determine the next course of action.

sorry, no new adventures to talk about yet. until next time.

jason

arrrrgggghhhhh!!!!!

ace — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 22:27:00 GMT

well.... after a day of riding in boats, an all night bus ride, 7 hours waiting in the bangkok airport, we have finally made it to hong kong.... actually, we made it hear yesterday but have been waiting for an open flight ever since. we are doing all this totally stand-by, which is difficult for international flights. i guess i should back up a bit.

it's sunday night now..... late thursday night i got a call from my mom.... cancer...... the next morning we woke up early and started the above mentioned travelling. we are REALLY hoping that we can get on the next flight to LA, which leaves in about 3 hours. our days consist of waiting a couple hours, then checking in and re-checking the stand-by list, then waiting some more, then getting told there are no seats, repeat.... you get the idea. but about mom. she is having a full body scan done on the 7th which should tell us where the cancer is and give us a better idea of things. it is unlikely that it started in her liver though.... she of course welcomes and indeed requests all of your prayers, as do we. natalie and i just want to get to oregon asap. mom is being well taken care of by family that has come in, but i'll feel better when i see her with my own eyes.

natalie is amazing.... she is such an encouragement and i am so appreciative for her. it has been murder to not be able to get home quickly and she has really been here for me.

i don't really know what else to say.... i'll post more when i know more. thanks for your encouragements, especially you elizabeth. i love all you guys.

jason

stuck

ace — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 18:11:00 GMT

well this is the scoop.... we are confirmed on a flight the 7th of aug.... but our travel lady can't do any better than that.... at some point we will probably end up sitting in the bkk airport waiting for open seats.

in the meantime, we finally found a waterfall, yes they do exist!!!! we got some great pics and i'll try to post some soon. we also found the new harry potter book.... wich means we will be doing NOTHING but reading for the next couple days!!!!!

please keep praying for my mom and that we'll be able to get home soon..until next time...

jason

Island hopping

ace — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 23:23:00 GMT

it occured to me the other day that after my last post it might seem that i am sitting in an airport not having any adventures and miserable.... i just wanted to let everyone know that isn't the case, especially you mom. the last few days have been great. i took a refresher course so i could dive with natalie on koh tao, which we did... we got within about 10 feet of a 2 meter grey reef shark, saw lots of cool fish including a scorpion fish and a HUGE trigger fish (they bite)..... we are now on koh phangan and spent the afternoon driving all over the island looking for waterfalls that we are pretty sure don't exist, laying on the beach and swimming in the beautiful water. still don't know when we will be headed home, our travel lady is working on it.

oh, we also went to the half moon festival last night, festival is code for huge wild party..... it was......yah..... good times.

until next time.

jason

back in thailand

ace — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 17:06:00 GMT

so as some of you already know i left cambodia after just a few days. while visiting the temples of angkor i got a call from my family.... my mom had gone into the doctor and they found a tumor on/in her liver. more tests are scheduled for the 24th and we will know more then. i returned to thailand to be with natalie and make travel arrangements to return home early. i am very appreciative of her.... i didn't really know what to do but i knew i didn't want to be alone right now, nor did she want me to be, nor did my mom or anyone else want me to be. we are on an island waiting for info from the travel agent and will return to bkk shortly.

in addition, my camera was stolen while getting back to thailand so all my pics from the 2nd day of temples were lost. i will put up some from the first day though.

i'll keep you all posted and of course your prayers are appreciated. thanks all.

oh... i put a few pics of the temples up so you could see them.... if you are my friend on facebook you can see all my pics so far. thanks.

jason

Cambodia.....hmmmm

ace — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 23:18:00 GMT

well it's been a VERY mixed couple of days. after a terrible bus ride and more chaos than i saw in china, i arrived in siem reap. oh, by the way, there werent enough seats on the bus so i made the 8 hour trip on a plastic chair in the middle of the aisle.... not too comfortable. so the bus company also has a guesthouse, no surprise, and thats where they took us. i left today because they just keep trying to pry every penny they can out of us. actually, thats been my experience with almost all cambodians. and its not like in thailand or china... its worse, way worse. to hang out with them is ok.... they are like most other asians, but get money involved at all..... oh my gosh!!! i think their poverty has made them this way... and its not just 50 cents or some small amount. i wouldn't worry about that. but its 10 dollars sometimes. thats a lot of money, especially here. it really is taxing. you have to be on guard in a different way ALL THE TIME. i am exhausted by it.

on the brighter side.... the temples at angkor.... A M A Z I N G ! ! ! ! they are so much more than i ever expected. the detail put into these things is awesome. i cant imagine how they looked in their glory. i could leave tomorrow and think the visit to cambodia well worth it.... and i might. but i'll probably stick it out a little longer to see if it gets better. anyway, i'm beat.

later

On to Cambodia

ace — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 11:28:00 GMT

Well, i had a great day yesterday with natalie, who is now on her way to the beaches in southern thailand..... i myself am off to cambodia this morning. i leavein about 15 minutes and will arrive in siem reap at about 8pm tonight. i'll spend a couple days exploring the temples of angkor and then go..... i don't know where from there. i'm really excited about seeing natalie again at the end of our trips and going diving in thailand. i'll let you all know how cambodia is in a day or two. sorry this is so short, i woke up early to get here right when the internet shop opened, but they were about an hour and ten minutes late opening...... hey, this is asia.

later.

elephants and tigers and waterfalls... oh my!!

ace — Mon, 9 Jul 2007 23:49:00 GMT

well... this has been a fun and interesting couple of days. i have ridden an elephant, pet tigers, (my least favorite) played in waterfalls, (my most favorite) and met about a hundred people from about 50 different countries. (slight exageration)

so the elephant ride was cool, but the korean girl sitting with me kept taking pictures of herself.... just herself. i don't really understand this but i was talking to a lady from holland later and she said that a couple korean girls had spent most of the 2 hour minibus ride up there looking at themselves in the mirror. hhhhmmmmmmmmm.... ok

we stayed last night on the river.... really, on the river. the guesthouse was like a big dock with walls and the toilet emptied right into the water! very nice.... the greek couple i had coffee with this morning didn't care for it too much, but i loved it.... no ac but it was so nice and cool with the breeze and the windows open. also, i havn't really put on any bug spray, and yet i seem to be the only one not getting bitten. perhaps they know i have already had malaria and so they don't like my blood. anyway. this morning was awesome! i woke up at 6am and sipped coffee for a while alone listening to the river and the jungle wake up. i could get used to that. later i walked to the little store a bit down the road where the night before i had requested some pineapple prepared for the morning. i walked back with it and had more coffee and the pineapple with a greek couple who spoke VERY little english.... good thing i majored in GREEK!!!!! i shook the rust off as best i could and made my way through the conversation. also.... the thai people love me. in every group i am the one who speaks the most thai, probably because i don't want anyone to be better at it than me. but the locals love it!! so do i.

so on to the tigers.... they were asleep... probably sedated.... and we were rushed in and had about 5 pictures taken in 10 seconds. now i'm not saying i want to have an hour long play/wrestling session with a hungry male tiger, that would be nice, but come on..... don't drug him up.... i probably could have jumped on top of them without a reaction. anyway, it was all over so fast anyway.

but oh the waterfalls!!!!! before the tigers we went to the erawan waterfalls in a national park.... they are absolutely beautiful, as you will see on my pics. i was with 6 brits, 2 yanks, and 3 dutch... thats right, dutch. anyway, we had a blast and made the long trek to the top as a girl was carried down in a stretcher, not from our group though. these were all people staying at the same place with me. anyway... i just got really tired so i'm going to put up some pics and then head to bed... i have an important appointment at 5:30am...

la gohn.

Gallery: thailand

ace — Sat, 7 Jul 2007 15:02:00 GMT

on to kanchanaburi

ace — Sat, 7 Jul 2007 14:57:00 GMT

so i already wrote this whole long story once and then the internet messed up and i am starting all over again, so this will be more brief.

i'm going to kanchanaburi tomorrow for 2 days to kill some time before entering cambodia because my visa is only for 30 days once i get there. i cant wait to leave bangkok because it stinks, is dirty, and i hate getting solicited by pimps and the like. i love thailand and the thai people, just not bangkok.

also, i have helped out 3 spanish people since yesterday. they seem to not speak much english and even less thai. working around spanish speakers so much has helped more than i knew. you would be proud colin. anyway, i'll put up more after this next trip. oh, here is a pic of me typing this just because i want to post something.

until next time.

Airports and exhaustion

ace — Fri, 6 Jul 2007 23:03:00 GMT

well... here i am in the hong kong airport after starting out from dfw about 22 hours ago... in just 4 short hours i will be in bkk with the promise of a nice bed and a long sleep... i have kept myself up this whole time so as to adjust to the new time zone with ease. i should have NO trouble sleeping when i get there.

nothing really significant to post about yet, but that hasn't stopped me from talking anyway. i had lunch in vancouver b.c. with a french guy who was on his way to beijing, always fun talking to the french. his response of "you americans" when i said i didn't speak french was typical, and true.

well, i guess thats all i can really say about that.... i look forward to having more next time, and maybe some pictures too.

until then.

Getting ready

ace — Tue, 3 Jul 2007 06:15:00 GMT

This is pretty much just a test to make sure this works.... I am busy working to make some quick travel cash and tying up my last minute stuff. I'm insanely excited to get going!