Crazy Asia

Photos: Pulau Tioman, Malaysia

kmanzoni — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 13:36:00 GMT

Beach Sun Jungle Bugs Sweaty Sweaty Hikes

Cambodia, Malaysia, and our Return to Thailand

kmanzoni — Sat, 2 Apr 2011 23:35:00 GMT

Wow... lots of stuff has happened, and I have been SO bad about writing about it! First of all, we are having a BLAST. So much fun, so many beautiful places and fun things to do. Casey and I are in Phuket, Thailand right now... taking a few days of down time before heading off for a scuba diving liveaboard in the Similan Islands next week (CANT WAIT!). After selling our bike in Saigon we set off on a whole new journey, and kind of a sad one, to Cambodia.

Cambodia is one of the countries I was the most excited to visit. After going there I have mixed feelings about it. The history is devastating, and Casey and I did our best to get informed on the horrible events of the Khmer Rouge, which we were shocked to realize happened only a few decades ago. I knew a little bit about the Khmer Rouge before visitng Phnom Penh, but had no clue how recent and BRUTAL it was. I read a bit about the Khmer Regime on the long busride from Saigon to Phnom Penh... for those of you who dont know, the Khmer Rouge was a political movement (or if you have any brains in your head you may also consider it a genocide) to return Cambodia to a rural agrarian society, with no dependencies on the West. The leaders, called the Pol Pot Regime, after the head man named Pol Pot, thought that Cambodia was too dependent on imported goods, and was getting abused by the big business of the West... they envisioned a Cambodia that grew enough food to feed the people, and was completelty isolated from the outside world. Forgive me if I am messing any of the history up, but it seems like what started out as an effort to unify the country into a utopic agrarian state went completely sour when the regime started offing anyone who had anything to say about it. The regime relocated people out of the cities to work in the fields, performing backbreaking labor all day with little or no food or water. Anyone with a formal education, that could speak a foreign language, or even wore glasses was taken away, either to a prison camp where they were tortured, or to a killing field where they were executed, nice guys, eh?

Casey and I visited the Cheoung Elk Killing field, outside of Phnom Penh. There is a beautiful grassy field, with large shady trees and birds chirping. It is very peaceful and beautiful until you realize that tens of thousands of innocent Cambodians were beheaded and buried in mass graves right beneath your feet. As you walk you can actually see unearthed bones as the Cambodian government has not yet completed excavating the sight. The mass graves are intact, you can walk right up to them, and the "killing trees" still stand, where babies were brutally murdered, it is absolutely horrible. The regime was very open about not leaving any babies alive, as when they grew up they could attempt to seek revenge on the regime, so naturally couldn't be allowed to survive. In the center of the field is a stupa, or monument which houses over 8,000 skulls that were uncovered at the sight. Standing before a tower of human skulls is an absolutley chilling experience, not one that I care to repeat, but it did a great job at showing us how terrible the Khmer Rouge was.

Because were masochistic Casey and I rode away from the Killing Fields, and headed to Tuol Sleng Prison, where victims of the Khmer Rouge were tortured, sometimes for months, before being transported to the Killing Fields. I thought the Killing Field was terrible, it was nothing compared to the prison. The Khmer Regime took photographs of every prisoner that passed through Tuol Sleng, one of them alive when they arrived, and one of them dead after months of torture. All of these photos are on display inside of the prison cells, stark black and white photographs of THOUSANDS of faces staring out at us. The eeriest place I have ever been. In the ninety degree heat Casey and I both had chills. I'm sorry if this is too gruesome, there is just no other way to describe it.

Casey and I stayed in Phnom Penh only a couple of days, but it had a huge impact on me. We next headed to Siem Reap to visit Angkor Wat. Casey came down with a lovely case of food poisoning (poor guy) so it wasn't our favorite part of the trip, but Casey was a trooper and we visited the temples anyway. Angkor Wat is pretty incredible, huge stone temples in the middle of the jungle, Casey was even up for riding bikes around the complex, climibing up the the long staircases under the hot Cambodian sun. I felt just like Lara Croft (my idol, duh). After a few days of chilling we decided to hop a flight to Malaysia, and MAN am I glad we did!

Malaysia is my favorite place we've been so far (sorry Thailand, I love you, but Malaysia wins). We had heard of an island called Pulau Tioman off the East coast of peninsular Malaysia, and it sounded WONDERFUL, so we headed straight there. We caught a small plane from Kuala Lumpur, seating about 20 people... a bit of a bumpy ride, but we landed on a single lane airstrip along the beach on a jungle covered island fringed by turquoise reef... welcome to Tioman! Casey and I hopped off the plane, where plenty of moto-taxis were waiting, but opted instead to hike the 7km across the island, on a trail through the jungle, to the beach town of Juara, heaven on Earth. The sun was beating down on us, our bags were heavy and we were sweating our asses off... I can't lie, the hike was intense. We saw plenty of insects, lizards, leaches, and even a few monkeys. About 3 hours of sticky jungle later we emerged on a long sandy beach, with calm blue water and very few people. We dropped our bags and jumped in the water, SO refreshing! We found ourselves a quaint little beach hut, and passed the next seven days with long beach walks, scuba diving, snorkelling and lots of cribbage (oh yeah and SAILING, don't forget to ask captain Casey about our sailing adventure :) I absolutely loved it on Tioman.

We knew we couldn't stay in Tioman forever, so we headed back to the mainland with lots of bugbites and some pretty rockin tans, and made our way to Phuket, where we are now. Phuket is pretty awesome, but for very different reasons. We're staying in Phuket town, which is pretty dull actually, but its only a quick motorcycle ride away from some of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen (nothing beats Tioman though, sorry Phuket). Of course we've got ourselves a motorcycle, and were having lots of fun riding from beach to beach, exploring dirt roads into the jungle and squeezing in some serious chill out time with a beer and a heaping plate of pad thai. We're really excited for Chip and Diane to visit us in Thailand next week... finding some great spots for the four of us to explore. This is a very abbreviated account of the past month, I'll have to tell you guys all of the random stories and adventures when we get back home! Love you guys, see you soon!

Road Trip Vietnam!

kmanzoni — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 14:41:00 GMT

We did it! Casey and I successfully rode over 2,000 km on an illegally purchased motorbike from Hanoi to Saigon in just under one month- What an adventure! Sitting in an internet cafe in Saigon, even as I type this I am amazed by the experience that Casey and I have had... Vietnam is insane. I mean it, literally insane. The culture is by far the most foreign to our culture that I have ever encountered, the language sounds like a cat in the throws of death, the food tastes like an odd mixture of fish paste gooey shtuff, boiled chicken-of course with eyeballs, tormented little chicken flesh and scaly feet still intact, and plenty of white rice. If I never see another bowl of plain white rice that will be fine by me!

The journey began in Hanoi. We arrived early in the morning after an overnight bus from the border town of Dien Bien Phu. Thanks to Tylenol PM I remember little of the 12 hour journey crammed onto a stinky bus with a hundred or so odd people, rattling its way through mountain passes, jungle and rocky "roads"... the quotations are in fact necessary as there was very little recognizable pavement on the journey. Hanoi presented itself to us, at 5 in the morning, a heavy fog lingering over the enormous city, the motorbikes already zipping by in full force even before the sunrise. Hanoi is a noisy cram packed city of twisting alley ways, a million aromas intermingling in heavy plumes- some incredible that I greedily sucked in as deeply as I could, some absolutely repulsive (An image is called to mind of a man taking a dump on the sidewalk right in front of a restaurant... hungry anyone?). Casey and I stayed in Hanoi just long enough to go bike hunting, eventually finding a sweet little ride for sale for $400 USD, incredible expensive by Vietnamese standards, about half of what we expected to spend. The bike was in great shape, a cute LITTLE 100CC Honda Win. We loaded that baby up with two large backpacks and our big ol' American bums and rode away into the sunset... putting along at a meager 40 km an hour :)

Our first destination was North of Hanoi, to the beautiful Ba Be National Park. We averaged about 150km a day, passing through endless rice paddies, villages shrouded in red dust, lush green jungle and enormous limestone mountains appearing out of nowhere and disappearing into a soggy grey mist that chronically lingers above the north. We rode on roads that I was certain would kill our bike... a particular mountain pass outside of the village of Pac Ngoi that took us up and down steep mountains, on jagged rocks the size of soccer balls, as rain drizzled down and the mud began to shift beneath the road. We were both convinced we would be blowing both tires and walking the bike the 30 or so odd km to the next village, but miraculously- we survived, as did our bike...which we've nicknamed little Dynamo. Ba Be Park was our home for a quick two days, but during that time we were able to hike through the jungle on rudimentary trails, one of which led us to the most incredible cave either of us had ever seen. A small sign marked the trailhead to an unnamed cave- in the spirit of adventure we decided to try to find it. A few kilometers of jungle walking later (and two VERY strange spiders later) from behind the human sized banana leaves and thick cloak of jungle emerged a giant gaping cave mouth in an absolutely looming cliffside. The cave entrance was draped with vines and thick cobwebs. Casey and I were stunned by it, one of the more surreal images of my life. We slowly entered the cave mouth, our flashlights poised- a little afraid but very excited, almost instantly noting the pungent aroma of bat guano wafting on the stagnant cave air. The shrill screams of hundreds, thousands, maybe even MILLIONS of bats echoing from cracks in the caves ceiling. Bizarre rock formations caked with brown slimy guano (how we didn’t contract a disease I have no idea!). As we pressed on into the darkness, along a small green creek running through the cave mouth we watched in awe as the creek widened into a wide rushing river, running directly through the mountain. Were we braver we could have swam deeper into the cave... but we aren't- so we had to enjoy the scene from the rocky ledge overlooking the milky green sediment rich river, disappearing beyond the reaches of our flashlights. Sufficiently amazed, we made the return hike to our bike, waiting patiently on the side of a dirt road to carry us away to the next adventure.

As we proceeded south we were baked by the hot sun, pelted by fat raindrops, drenched by the mountain mist, and nearly blown over by heavy winds. The weather in Vietnam can change on a dime, and more than once we were forced to stop, lest we be blown over a cliff and swept away by the pouring rain. On one particularly rainy day we limped into a Vietnamese village- noticed a familiar sign (Ahh.. cafe sua da, I LOVE you! The best Iced Coffee ever!) and decided to take a break. Barely into our iced coffees we heard the beating of a gong... along the roadside next to us a procession of glum faced Vietnamese villagers trodding past us, some with gongs, other drums, and near the rear, a brightly decorated coffin was carried past. A funeral procession, along a muddy dirt road, in the highlands of Vietnam, while the rain dumped down and the angry sky turned a sinister shade of grey. As soon as the procession had past, so did the rain. The sun peeked out and we were able to continue a journey. I felt as though I had been allowed a sneak peak at a part of Vietnamese culture I was never supposed to witness. A chilling but incredible feeling.

To write about all of the places we visited would be impossible, but some highlights include... Our lovely guesthouse in VihnLoc... fully equipped with a moth the size of my fist, dirty razors in the bathroom sink, a petrified gecko carcass on the floor, and what appeared to be an entire heads worth of hair nuzzled up under the sheets... that was a fun night. On a different occasion in the city of BacKan we were oh so pleased to discover a used condom completely fused to the bedside... as if it had always been there and was part of the room decor. No amount of cheap Vietnamese vodka could make us sleep soundly that night, even after disposing of the evidence and putting on every layer of clothing we own to prevent our skin from touching the contaminated sheets- UGH! That was a tough one on Casey... moral hit a low on that night :) But we made it to morning, and (knock on wood) we haven't been forced to sleep with any other used condoms since.

In Central Vietnam we visited the Phong-Nga Cave, one of the largest in the world (or so they say). We hired a boat, with two elderly Vietnamese women with paddles, who rowed us the 5km to the cave mouth, upriver. How they do it, everyday, sustained on a diet of white rice, is an absolute mystery. They are protruding bones draped with thin skin skin as wrinkled as melting wax dripping down their faces. I wanted to grab the paddles out of their skeletal hands and make them sit down, but of course any attempts on my part were met by the absolute screaming cacophony that is the Vietnamese language, so I took my seat, and enjoyed the ride. The cave was enormous, by far the largest I had ever seen, dwarfing our cave from Ba Be National Park in size. We rode the boat deep into the cave, which seemed to never end... we turned back after about 30 minutes of paddling; obviously it would take days for us to see the entire cave. Quite an incredible landscape- hanging stalactite- reaching to meet their stalagmite counterparts jutting up out of the river. Casey and I hardly spoke- just looked wide eyed at the incredible feat of Mother Nature presenting itself before us.

Once we entered Southern Vietnam we were reinvigorated by the beaches, stopping for several days to enjoy the nearly uninhabited coastline along China Beach- white sand, powerful waves (although unsurfable... sorry Casey) and in the evenings- green blue phosphorescence tumbling with each rhythmic crashing. A couple of cold beers, a spot on the beach with your boyfriend, stars overhead, luminescence and the waves... you get the picture. Heaven.

Nah Trang, further south, was a bigger and better beach- less quaint but with a whole lot more action. We went scuba diving off the coast of Nah Trang- our first underwater excursion of the trip, with many more to follow. The reefs weren't fantastic as the winter lowers the visibility in this part of the world, but we were thrilled to get wet, and we did see some beautiful fish, a cuttlefish (SO cool... camouflages itself to match whatever it's next to... sometimes that means neon blue to match the reef) and lots of urchins and anemones, fluid tentacles undulating with the currents. I love scuba diving.

We left Nah Trang and headed towards Dalat on a mountainous road with incredible views of the jungle. About halfway through the journey Dynamo started to wobble, then buck... then DONE. A complete flat on our rear tire- in the middle of nowhere of course. We hailed down the next passing moto, after some confusing communication he promised to return with a mechanic. We sat on the side of the road, I braided some grass bracelets for us... we fried like bacon in the sun... and MIRACULOUSLY a mechanic came riding on his motorcycle down the road to save the day! Half an hour later we had a new rear tire and we were back on the road- EASY!

After a short stay in Dalat, a city in the Southern highlands with a thriving market, and CRAZY house... a bizarre architectural phenomena equipped with creepy kangaroo sculptures with glowing red eyes, staircases leading into the tree tops and plenty of mazelike hallways decked out with glitter plaster of paris to look like a psychedelic cave passage... whoever built this structure was definitely on something good.

Our final day of riding was through the intensely cram packed superhighway leading into Saigon. By the end of the ride we were both drenched in swear, and our faces coated with a thick black soot from the exhaust fumes of a thousand diesel semis cruising past. I am pretty sure I have the black lung now... Casey and Kendra and Vietnamese chimney sweeps... we were happy to arrive in town and take a cold shower.

As I type Casey just popped his head in on me to let me know that Dynamo has sold! It’s been sitting on the street corner with a homemade for sale sign for about 4 hours- not bad! I'm so sad to see it go; I'd better go say my goodbyes... sniffle.... I will miss him! Pictures to follow.... miss you guys!

Photos: Laos Time

kmanzoni — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 11:16:00 GMT

Villages, Caves, Jungles, and LONG boat journeys

Laos

kmanzoni — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 19:32:00 GMT

Last time I wrote an entry was from Chiang Mai, Thailand, SHEESH! Seems like a long time ago... we've been covering some serious ground in the past two weeks. After enjoying Chiang Mai we decided to make our way northeast in Laos. One long day of busrides, which took us through the Thai towns of Chiang Rai, and Chiang Khong, we hired a long boat to motor us across a muddy brown river to the Laos town of Huay Xi. In Huay Xi we were able to pass through immigration and get our Laos visas, a simple and easy process (I kid, it was a total pain in the ass, but welcomed us to the concept of "Laos time"). Everything moves slowly in Laos. The people saunter down the street, the traffic crawls, stray dogs stumble along the hot sand, even the sun hangs lifelessly in the sky. We were able to find a hostel to hunker down in in Huay Xi, awaiting our next voyage: A two day boat ride down the Mekong River to take us to Luang Prabang, near the center of Laos. Not knowing what to expect we loaded up on fruit and some sandwhiches, and boarded a boat, suitable to hold about 100 people, around the departure time of 9:00. 3 Laos hours later (sitting, waiting, laughing, waiting, and more sitting) about 250 people were successfully sardined into the boat, and we set off motoring down the river. The boats are similar to buses, and in this case you got to know your neighbors VERY well as there were no spare seats, and even some standing room only space. We were lucky enough to get seats next to each other, and a nice man travelling along from England. We had a pretty good time on the slow boat actually, a hilarious british kid named Paulie happened to pack a bottle of whisky, and lucky us, he was right in front of us, we made friends :) After 8 hours on the river day one we stopped in the village of Pak Beng, a perfect place to load up on fried noodles and Beer Lao, and lay your head. The next morning we were off bright and early, packing in another 8 hours on the river, finally arriving in Luang Prabang in the late afternoon. The river is beautiful, I expected dirty brown water, with plenty of litter, but the Mekong is quite pristine. The water is deep green and the surrounding mountains are incredible, rising endlessly towards a bright blue cloudless sky, drapped in luscious jungle.

We stayed in Luang Prabang for 3 days, and found it a nice place, but rather odd. Instead of Laos village we were transported to a European Vacation spot, with cafes, hotels, all the amenities. We rented bikes and rode around, the scenery is beautiful, and enjoyed some very delicious Lao food, my favorite being the Laap Chicken. Minced chicken mixed with mint, basil, green onions, and chilis, served with lime and sticky rice- DELICIOUS.

We packed up and headed to Nong Khiaw as the comfort of Luang Prabang was beginning to spoil us. Nong Khiaw was a fun journey, 4 hours bouncing around in a van up the mountains, packed tight with locals and tourists. Casey and I were not lucky enough to sit together, but I pulled the motion sickness card and got to sit up front, Yay! It finally pays off :) I was in the middle between the Laos driver, and the navigator I suppose, or rather a Laos guy who spoke absolutely no english, but tried to talk to me the full 4 hours non the less... pretty entertaining.

Nong Khiaw was enchanting. A short walk from where the bus dropped us on the side of the road we found ourselves looking down a winding river, twisting between enormous jungle covered mountains. Guest houses and cabins were perched along the shore and we picked ourselves a nice one equipt with bug nets and a hammock (Heaven!). We were right on the river, and had a fantastic view of the naked little Laos babies that are constantly swimming, bathing, and playing games in the sand. The people in Laos are incredibly happy. The babies are smiling all the time, and everyone wants to say hello to you (Sabaii Di) and shake your hand. Its quite fun to be liked :) We rented bikes and rode about5km out of town to a huge cave where the Laos villagers hid while the US was unrelentlessly carpet bombing their villages during the Vietnam War. The history is incredibly sad, we've both had our eyes opened. The cave system was massive, we entered, thinking it would be a cool thing to pop in and see, but instead it blew our minds. We spent the entire day going deeper and deeper into the icy cold rock cave, mineral formations dripping from the walls, passing through squeezes, climbing to hidden chambers, I felt like the first person to ever discover them! So much fun. On the way home we saw some terrifying spiders, but I slept worry free under my bug net.

Nong Khiaw couldn't last forever and we needed to press on, so we took a boat two hours upriver to the village of Muang Ngoi Neua. The village is small, with the people surviving mostly by farming rice and more recently through tourism. Everything seemed to be in bloom in Muang Ngoi Neua, the trees were lush and green, the water was crisp and cold, healthy happy babies rolled around in the street (no seriously, in the street). Chickens were followed by a trail of fluffy chicks, and each dog had an entourage of three or four wobbly legged nursing pups. I loved the pups and spent a lot of time playing with them, so soft and sweet. None of the animals here seem famished or unhealthy, quite a contrast to my travels in South America where the street dogs are downright terrifying. MNN's main attraction is its caves, surprise surprise, also used as hideouts during what they call the "Secret War". The caves here were completely different than in Nong Khiaw. The limestone mountains were carved up like ant hills, so many cavers and tunnels, it took us two days to barely explore the two largest (that we knew of) systems in the area. The first was just upriver, about a 30 minute hike, then up a steep mountain side. We explored it for the better part of the afternoon, having a great time finding giant crickets among the stalagmites and stalagtites that were formed on every surface. The second cave we went to was further, about an hour walking on a dusty red round East of the village center. As you walk out of town you can here the sounds of the village, the talking, babies crying, roosters crowing, the pups whining... all seem to fade away. They give way to a buzz... a constant electronic hum of insects. The jungle seems to breathe with them. The chirps and whir of cicadas, flies, bees, the call of geckos, the sound of a snake slithering through the dry leaves on the jungle floor. Its incredible. We walked on and on, wondering if we were on the wrong path, as the sun burned brighter and hotter above us. Finally we came across a handpainted sign nailed to a tree with an arrow, reading "Cave". We found the cave opening, a giant gaping hole in the side of a massive mountain. Equipt with flashlights and not much else we entered, to find the light completely disappears after the first bend and were alone at the entrace to a giant water filled cavern of water. Of course we jumped in! The water was icy cold and felt so refreshing after the long dusty walk. The cave went on and on, deep into the mountain, but the thought of swimming between rooms and losing our light was just too frightening. We staying in the first two chambers, and got quite a spook as we saw first a fish, and then what I believe to have been a snake swimming through the water. We got the hell out of there after that, enthralled, and happy to have survived!

We left Muang Ngoi Neua the following day, by boat upriver to the village of Muang Khua, really not a very nice place, but served us well as a gateway to Vietnam. The bus for the border left at 4 am!! We were up and waiting by 3:45, to board what was destined to be the most uncomfortable transport of our trip yet. We crammed onto a minibus, way overfull with people and bags, and took off on what they call roads, but in my eyes was untouched mountain biking terrain... rocks, logs, ledges, cliffs, all in the bright red sand. We watched the sun rise over the mountains as we drove along, passing by jungle filled ravines. There are massive road improvement projects underway in Laos, and on several occasions our busdriver passed by tractors working on the single lane road, bringing our tires what I thought to be suicidally close to the cliff edge. AHhh... we made it alive nontheless. The border cross to Vietnam was slow but bearable, putting us in the Vietnamese city of Dien Bien Phu. We booked the first night bus to Hanoi (really an interesting experience, but for another time!) where we are now... comfortable in our hostel, ready to explore a new country! Tonight will be a special night, no matter what we get up to as it is Casey's 30th Birthday!! What a way to spend it... happy and in love in a foreign county. I will have to think of something nice to get him for dinner, I saw some pretty tasty looking dog roasting rotisserie style on a stick on the street outside, what do you think?

Photos: Thailand!

kmanzoni — Tue, 8 Feb 2011 22:16:00 GMT

Bangkok and Chiang Mai... welcome to the sunshine

Bangkok and Chiang Mai THAILAND!!

kmanzoni — Sun, 6 Feb 2011 22:01:00 GMT

We are in Bangkok! We have finally made it to the sunshine. Its hot and humid and sweaty and stinky and I LOVE it. We are staying at a hotel tucked away on an alley just outside of the major backpacker area, so we have lots to walk around and look at. There are thousands of tourists staying in the main area, called Banglamphu, or more commonly, the backpacker ghetto. People from all over the world have come to soak up the sun, eat amazing streetfood, drink thai beer, buy bizarre goods at the market and explore this crazy city. The city is carved through with canals, kind of like Venice. Water taxis cruise the canals, which is nice becasue traffic on the roads in intense. Tuk-Tuks, which are like go carts, zip around on the freeways, as do semis, motorcycles and tricked out pickup trucks. Everything is colorful here, flowers in the trees, the buildings are painted bright colors, the stinky stray cats in the streets walk down the cobbled alleys chasing cockroaches, and even BATS. This place is crazy. There are tons of wats (thai temples) tucked away in the city, well be walking down an empty street and all the sudden there is a huge wat with ornate gold decorations, buddah statues, gardens for worship and monks, old and young, sporting shiny bald heads and orange robes. Its amazing to see.

We've been taking in as much thai food as the heat allows (its hot and humid so my appetite is like zero and the food is mostly hot and spicy, so its hard to eat sometimes, but SO DELICIOUS). We've been eating mostly from street vendors, they'll whip you up a heaping plate of pad thai noodles with chicken, veggies, egg and thai chilis in about 30 seconds for 30 baht (about one dollar). My favorite is the Tom Yum soup... a spicy broth made of coconut milk, lemongrass, ginger, and thai chili, loaded with veggies. Its amazing.I love it. Casey has developed an addicton to the pad thai which is so fresh it shames any american version. There are little thai ladies blendng fruit smoothies on most street corners, so I start my day with a mango smoothy in the early morning. Not a bad breakfast :) There are some weird foods too, like fried insects... which of course we've tried. Fried scorpion tastes like burnt popcorn, actually not that bad. We've adopted a sort of seista sleeping system, wake up early while its still kinda cool (like 80) stroll the streets, there are endless things to look at, grab some street eats and sit in the sun. There is no beach here, but we'll be at the beach soon enough I'm sure. Mid afternoon is the heat of the day and it gets DAMN hot, so we grab something cold to drink and pass out in our room for an hour or two, or find some shade in the city and write in our journals or play cribbage.

Today we have an interesting adventure ahead of us... were headed to the vietnamese embassy to arrange for our entry visas, it takes 3 or 4 days after you apply so sooner is better as bangkok is fun, but more than a week in this madness might be a bit much. The embassy is on the complete opposite side of town, with several options for travel: taxi, subway, skyrail, or longtail canal boat. With a sense of adventure were going to attempt the canal route, we'll see how it goes as we don't speak any thai, and it wil mean leaving the safety net of the backpacker area where most everyone speaks some english. Were game. Tonight were going to visit a few wats most likely, and maybe take in some muay thai (thai boxing) i'll let you know how it goes.

UPDATE: well... the Vietnamese Embassy was closed for a week to celebrate Chinese New Year, so our visas will have to wait. Thats alright, because we decided to head North to Chiang Mai before leaving Thailand (we'll be back in a month or so for some scuba beach bum action).

We did go see Muay Thai in Bangkok, which was incredible. We hired a tuk-tuk which drove us about 150 miles an hour to the stadium, just like in Mario Kart. We sat in the 3rd class seats with the locals, which was a riot as they were all betting on the matches, screaming, hand gestures, cheering. We got in on the action. Thai people are really friendly, and eager to practice English so we got a lot of hellos and welcomes. We had a blast betting (each other) on the matches while the crowd blared on around us. The fighting was pretty cool, not really my thing but Casey is a big fan.

We're now in Chiang Mai, which is a welcome change of pace from Bangkok. Much quieter, calmer, and hotter. We didn't know that we were flying in on the day of the Flower Festival, an annual event where thousands of people gather in the streets of Old Town to watch parades, shop at the market, eat street food, and sweat sweat sweat. There are more flowers than I've ever seen, so many bright beautiful colors, even the parade floats were made out of flowers! We rented a motorcycle today from our hostel and zipped around town, I even learned how to drive!! We visited a temple that is hidden way up on the hillside about town. It was beautiful, but I think riding along the windy jungle road on the way up there was the highlight. We're probably going to stay in Chiang Mai for a few more days before heading towards Laos. We were originally planning on going straight from Bangkok to Cambodia, but the plan is constantly evolving. We'll have to catch Cambodia on the way bach through. Lots of fun, maybe one of these days my tan will be worthy of showing off, but for now I remain the incredibly pale MeGook. CIAO

Photos: Goodbye Korea

kmanzoni — Wed, 2 Feb 2011 13:51:00 GMT

our final days in South Korea

Goodbye Korea

kmanzoni — Wed, 2 Feb 2011 13:40:00 GMT

Casey and I are heading to Bangkok tonight! Woohoo, happy to see Thailand, but sad to bid South Korea farewell. This country really surprised me. What started as a mandatory layover turned into a 5 day Korean extravaganza with some awesome friends. The ryleys are hilarious. Tucker was an awesome host, and showed us all the best parts of Seoul. Among the highlights are the amazing food!! (I cant help it, the food is amazing) the flashing neon lights and brights signage of downtown Seoul, the immense ratrace of a subway system which reminded me constantly that I am just one of the 11 million people passing through this huge city. We visited the giant Naedamung market (going to have to double check the spelling on that one :) which twists through several crowded streets, packed with all sorts of bizarre wares. If you ever wanted to see a 10 foot blood sausage coiled up like an anaconda in a basket, or a pickled mushroom the size of a small man. We ate amazing street food... Sweet bread pancakes loaded with sesame, ginger, and chocolate. :) I had tried to find pancake mix somewhere in this country, quite unsuccessfully, so when I saw the shriveled little man flipping flap jacks I was pretty excited! We have many more stories that will have to wait until we get home, Casey and I are determined to learn some of the Korean recipes we've enjoyed, so we shall have Shabu Shabu and Kim Chi Jigae for all!!! We miss you guys, stay tuned for Thailand. XOXO Kendra and Casey!!

Photos: More fun in Seoul

kmanzoni — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 23:02:00 GMT

Kim Chi Jigae, Go Stop (my favorite Korean card game), Hookah bar, and mucking around town with my buddies :)

Photos: Adventures in South Korea

kmanzoni — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 12:29:00 GMT

Our first day in South Korea

Seoul, South Korea: Brrrrrr........

kmanzoni — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 11:39:00 GMT

We made it to Seoul!! After a relatively uneventful 10 layover in LA and long overnight flight we arrived in South Korea. With no clue how to communicate, Casey and I were able to figure out the Korean subway system with just a few hitches, and even successfully made a transfer (woohoo) to arrive at Sadang station, where Ryley T. was waiting to meet us. Korea is pretty crazy, the buildings are covered in neon signage, it is about -10 degrees Celsius outside, everyone is bundled up and scurrying around town in the snow. The air is incredibly dry, after a few hours outside Casey and I were both on the verge of nosebleeds, luckily we made it back to Ryley's little Korean apartment in the town of Maseok (like Mah-Sock), about an hour outside of Seoul proper.

Riley P. and Ryley T. are great tour guides. After a few rounds of Irish Coffee (I know we're in Korea, but sometimes you just can't say no to whiskey and baileys, especially when your nose is about to freeze off and you haven't had a drop of caffiene in days) we decided to take a stroll around town to explore this curious little town of Maseok. Ryley T. desperately needed a nap as he had just arrived home from his trip to the Phillipines the previous night, so Riley P., Casey and I geared up (it has become incredibly apparent that we definitely did NOT overpack on the warm clothes) and hit the streets. I struggled to lumber myself down the icy streets, donning every article of clothing that I packed, and resembling something in the way of a giant American marshmallow.

We were stoked when we stumbled upon a huge Korean market, quite a sight to see! Amidst all of the snow and ice there was a bustle of activity on every street. Rickety tables set up along the cobbled sidewalks, wrinkle-faced Korean grandmas slinging tentacles, chicken intestines, silk-worm larvae, ginger roots, every type of seafood you can imagine, even corn dogs! We had quite a time strolling through the market, sampling little bits of raw fish slathered in red chilis, seaweed rice cakes, Casey even tried his hand at Silk worm larvae. He thought they were 'sugared' when in reality they were just dusting with snow as it was freaking freezing outside and everything was subject to the sub-zero temperatures. He claims it just tasted like crunchy protein... looked pretty gross to me! The boys were thrilled when they came across the corndog booth, there are hot dogs everywhere here.Hot dogs on pizza, baked into bread, served on a stick. I was thrilled when I sighted the sugary popcorn booth. The way they pop the popcorn is so exciting, Casey took a video of it, which I'll try to upload. This little Korean man squats down next to what can only be a pressure cooker, which looked like a Civil War cannon, and pours in the kernels. After heating for a minute or two the cannon EXPLODES, shooting popcorn straight out into the air, where a second little Korean man catches it in a net. We were cheering, and of course I bought a bag. A shout out to Jackie: OH MY GOD, it is just like the popcorn from S.America! Slightly stale, salty/sweet, and VERY addictive. I'm a junky all over again!

After scouring the market completely, eating everything we came across that looked slightly appetizing, and freezing our bums off we headed home for a much needed nap, as the jet lag was kicking in and we were drunk off of fish bits and popcorn. After waking up and playing a few rounds of Cribbage we headed out for a massive Korean dinner called Shabu Shabu, i think I have a new favorite food. You take your shoes off and sit on little mats on the floor around a low table with a burner in the middle. The little Korean waitress scurries over (I've decided that is the only appropriate way to describe how Korean people move) and timidly takes your order, thank got Ryley T. speaks Korean. He hooked up up with a plethora of cheap Korean beer, Soju (domestic Korean liquor which tastes like cheap vodka and has much the same effect) and a giant pot of bubbling broth on our burner, with bowls of little bits to add in as we pleased. The broth was incredible, spicy and rich, full of big mushrooms, onion, potatoes and herbs, to which we added thinly shaved slices of beef which cook in the heat of the liquid. We gorged ourselves, only to find that there were more courses on the way, thick egg noodles, seasoned rice with vegetables and spicy chilis. We ate, laughed and were jolly, definitely a memorable first night in South Korea. After dinner we rolled ourselves back to Ryley's little apartment, enjoyed a Soju nightcap, and slipped away in to an intoxicating sleep.

Today Casey and I woke up early (thanks to the time change) and went for a walk. The city was just creaking to life. The sun is melting the snow and everything is sparkling. It's even colder today than it was yesterday. As soon as the boys are up were heading into the city to explore Seoul, I'll let you know how it goes!