Hartley's Travel Blog

Re-Integration - The follow up

lhartleyiii — Wed, 10 Feb 2016 07:22:00 GMT

Now that I've been back in the U.S. for over a month, I have been able to reflect on most of what happened during my trip. There are so many People, Places, Foods, Activities, and Memories for me to look back on and smile about whenever I want, which is pretty cool. When someone who didn't have a chance to keep up with my blog asks me how my trip was and what I did, I have absolutely no idea what to tell them. When I wrote my blog, I summarized, paraphrased, and even excluded a lot of things; but in 6 blogs I still used 9,911 words. So summarizing my trip even further typically results in a more vague response to these questions. I usually resort to "it was amazing- it was enlightening and I did/saw a lot of cool things." Not the best description, but the best I've been able to come up with after experiencing more new things in the last 3 months than in probably the last 5 years.

For my own benefit, and in case you missed any of the blog posts, I have put together a brief list of some of the most prominent experiences in my mind from each country. Hopefully this list will help me better explain to people what I mean by "enlightening".

RECAP:

*Thailand

-Full Moon Party on Koh Phangon (Largest party in SE Asia every month)

-Scuba on Koh Tao Island

-Farming in a village in the mountains

-Muy Thai fights

-Fish Spa x4

-Night Markets

-Temples and Monks

-Sticky Waterfall

-Stolen Motorbike... Kinda

-Elephants (Mud bath, medicine, waterfall bath)

-Tattoo (Bamboo tattoo from Buddhist monk)

-Eating Bugs... (Cricket, Grasshopper, Cockroach, Scorpion, Snake)

*Vietnam

-Kayaking and Cruise around Halong Bay

-Confrontation with local street vendor

-War Remnants Museum

-Surfing

-Immense seafood dinners (Shark, Barracuda, and endless oysters)

-Abseiling down waterfalls

*Cambodia

-Gun Range

-Killing Fields Museum

-Angkor Wat Temple

*Indonesia

-Mass transport confusion

-Sunrise mountain climbing

-Cheating the parks department

-Bromo Volcano w/ sea of sand (Active volcano with epic slopes to run down)

-Night climb of Volcano Ijen (Blue fire, gas masks, sulfur mining, beautiful crater lake)

-Surfing again and again

-Feet attacked by Sea Urchins

-Gili Trawangan

-High-speed motorbike chase

-Uluwatu Temple (Hindu temple on steep Bali cliffs)

-Tanah Lot Temple (Buddhist temple on the Bali shore immersed in water)

-Ubud (Aggressive Monkey park, Coffee Plantation)

I feel that I have truly grown from everything that we took part in. But on top of that, I learned so much from all of the cultures and people we interacted with. It was enriching to learn more about other places, religions, governments, personalities, and so on that are present in other parts of the world. This helped me break down several personal walls that I had always held up, both for places we visited and destinations I now plan to visit because of other travelers' origins and travel experiences.

After such an amazing journey, it was hard to take that step back into the "Real World". I was able to ease that struggle by coming back during the happiest time of the year, and going to visit friends and family in Iowa for a couple weeks. I do find though that almost on a daily basis I miss a few things that SE Asia does differently than the U.S.:

1. Driving - Hard to get used to boring driving again with rules (i.e. Speed limits) and it is weird not having to be constantly cautious of reckless drivers or people driving the wrong way.

2. Eating - Food is so predictable nowadays. I'm not surprised by what I find on menus at restaurants or when walking down city streets- it's always hotdogs or pizza, and never bugs or a creative way to serve animal parts.

3. Communication - I miss working to understand what people from all over the world are trying to say. People using hand signals who are almost guaranteed to know more of my language than I know of theirs. Recently, watching the presidential debates and following several of the candidates closer, I have realized that even though they speak the same language as me, I might understand and trust the foreign hand symbols more.

On the other hand, seeing the world has forced my hand in many positive ways. I have started to open my eyes to the beauties of everyday life and the multitude of relationships I have with everyone in it. Trying to make as many people smile on any given day, finding small ways to make the world a better place, and concentrating on what really makes me happy are a few important realizations I've had from this trip. Another revelation has been discovering that I would like to try my hand as a writer, with my first project being "You don't need Toilet Paper in Thailand - SE Asia Travel stories and tips from an ignorant traveler." Speaking of 'new projects', Conrad and I came up with a few ideas for bringing cool Thai and Indonesian clothing products to U.S. Markets, so be on the look out for the fashionable and multi-functional "Indo-Scarf", quickly followed by the coolest fisherman pants you could possibly imagine. We are currently working out the fine details, but expect to have an e-commerce site up and running within the year. So before you make your next scarf purchase, make sure to check in with us first.

Finally, I have come to realize that although I do agree with the saying "Home is where the heart is", I am and always have been blessed with many homes. Whether it is the towns I have lived in (10 to date), or the places that my family and friends reside, or the amazing places I have seen throughout my life, this trip helped me realize that my heart will always be split among all of these people and places and that I am fortunate to have "Homes" all over the world!

All good things must come to an end, but I have a feeling that this is just the beginning.

Please leave a comment or get in touch if you want to know anything else about the trip. I love sharing with travelers headed to that part of the world, and am excited to start planning the next trip, so please let me know if you have any suggestions.

Until next time,

Lawrence J. Hartley III

P.S. - Hats off to Peyton and the Denver Broncos! Not the way that most Carolinians (Myself included) wanted Super Bowl 50 to go, but they deserved it and Panther Nation will stand behind Cam and the boys as they 'Keep Pounding' right onto SB 51!

Indonesia - The Final Frontier (Surfing, High speed chase, and Turtles

lhartleyiii — Thu, 17 Dec 2015 03:57:00 GMT

In my last blog I mentioned that we had nicknamed this last part of our trip as the "Vacation of our Vacation." It ended up being just that, but every vacation has it's glitches and stressors, and for our last 3 weeks of travel throughout this beautiful country we experienced this every time we changed locations... whether we were headed across town or to a different Island there was always a hitch, fee, fine, shady travel agent, or shady cop making sure we had to work for it. I'll only quickly reference these instances in the blog as I don't want to overshadow the elegance of Indonesia with the hassles we faced, but if you travel Indonesia please be prepared to shell out some cash for private drivers or have books (plural) on hand because you will be spending large amounts of time in bus stations and working out other kinks in the system.

Jakarta wasn't on our list of places to visit, but after much research we decided it would make the most sense to fly there ($45/bag unexplained charge) and work our way down the Island of Java instead of covering some ground twice. With no real plans for the city we headed straight to the train station from the plane to catch a ride East towards temples and Volcanos. From noon on all trains were sold out so we hopped in a cab for the driver to get lost going to the hostel that we showed him on the map. Experienced a very strange night market with people dressed up as creepy witches and demons, and food that made us feel queazy (Until we found A&W for RootBeer floats :)), and headed back to the airport for the first flight out of town for Surabaya. I'm not saying Jakarta is a bad place, but definitely spent enough time there for the type of low budget traveling we are doing.

Surabaya got us closer to the first landmark on our list, the Bromo Volcano. After a 2 hour bus ride we arrive in the town of Probolingo which is the hub to get to the small village of Cemoro Lewang. Here in Probolingo we dealt with a the shady tour guide who scammed us and then spent 10 hours waiting for enough people to fill a van to leave for the village. Probably our least favorite town in all of Asia, but after hour 2 or 3 waiting we made really good friends with the young (Lazy) "Cliche" of bus drivers and fellow travelers. They shared with ustheir favorite mixed drink of 1.Rice Wine 2. Beer and 3. Carbonated Tea, try at your own risk, and joked around with us while also setting off the neighbors police motobike siren and even letting me play pretend cop (see photo, happy to be staying on the right side of the law...for now). Luckily the time did allow us to form a strong bond with solo travelers Rebeka (Canadian) and Yasmine (British/Australian) who we would end up going on many adventures with. Eventually we said "Adios" to Probolingo and nestle in to the village where there is no hot water (lucky for us our hostel didn't have a shower, so we didn't have to freeze).

Chemaro Lewang is positioned in a beautiful place in the mountains on the top of a cliff that over looks the 2km "Sea of Sand" that leads up to the Volcano. At 2am we rise after only a few hours of sleep to climb to a view point on a neighboring mountain where the sunset is best viewed. We had all opted to do the hike here independently instead of with a guided tour (against the strong recommendation given by previously mentioned shady tour guide) and this ended up being the best choice. Instead of a jeep driving us up the mountain and freezing our tails off, we got a great hike in and had worked enough to maintain a good body temperature while also finding a secluded spot on the mountain away from jabbering sightseers. This sunrise generated what I think are my favorite pictures of the whole trip and also inspired me to potentially one day run a hostel in the area and smooth over the process of getting to the village. This was only the first half of our adventure for the day though and after a few cups of coffee we proceeded to sneak into the Bromo National Park. It sounds worse than it really is, but long story short Security threatened us in the morning that we had to pay or we would be breaking the law, it was a Sunday so the entrance price doubled because it was the weekly "Holiday", we didn't have enough cash on us and there are no ATM's within an hour drive, and our new friend Yasmine has a keen sense in how to bend the rules while also maintaining best luck I have ever encountered. We do feel a little bit bad and plan on contributing to Indonesian Charities in the future (Not kidding, Stay tuned for a new business/charity venture we hope to embark on soon), but none the less we proceeded to stick to the shadows and began our journey through the "Sea of Sand".

By "Sea of Sand", they actually mean "Dunes of Volcanic Ash" with frequent gusts of wind that both block out your vision and occasionally hurt. That was barely a hindrance though when you are operating in a "Gray" area (Literally and Figuratively), while also pursuing an active volcano. The troop trudged through the sand and made it to the base where Conrad and I decided that instead of taking the stairs that all the groups took, we would work our way up the side resulting in a 2 steps up 1 slide down rhythm. After our dance/shuffle up to the rim we found ourselves looking into a crater where the bottom could not be seen due to the billowing egg-flavored smoke and ash. Initially there was a low rumble coming from below and while staying at the rim for nearly a half hour we heard first-hand as the rumbling grew louder, which we concluded sounded exactly like the slow and fast cycle of a washing machine...on STEROIDS! An absolutely amazing perspective of the area and a thrill to be so close to one of the worlds most volatile phenomena. With a deadline of sneaking back in to the town during the lunch hour we descended the Volcano, in a fashion much like skiing and quickly caught a bus out of town before we ourselves got Caught.

In the weeks following we learned two very interesting things. First is that The Council members of the surrounding villages hold a traditional ceremony where members descend down the crater and whoever gets the farthest down or even is able to walk on the crater surface (Identical to walking on coals) is deemed the leader of the council for that year. Not exactly the democratic system. Second is that some days after we left the Volcano it had it's first eruption since the 1960's and was put on high alert for continued activity....Timing really is everything.

Back in Probolingo we had to say goodbye to Rebeka as she was headed to Tokyo, but we stuck with Jasmine and after the same old song and dance of the bus system we made our way to the next Volcano and what would end up being our travel "family". It wasn't an hour into our stay at the next hostel that a group of four showed up and "Yasmine-Luck" kicked in. She uncovered that the nearby volcano we were going to be leaving for at 1am was actually restricted to independent hikers and required a guide as the level of sulfur coming from the crater mine was toxic to the point of being deadly. This was pertinent information to know only hours before setting off, luckily she also uncovered that they were traveling in a 15 passenger van and with 11 open seats we could easily work out a deal with the guide to make him a few extra bucks. Crisis averted! So just like that our group grew to Seven, joining Wouter (Dutch), Francy (German), Gab (French Canadian), and Naomi (British/South African). We bonded by going and finding a nearby waterfall, followed by a natural hot-spring and we would end up traveling with this group for the next week +.

With power in numbers we started the next day well before sunrise in search of the infamous "Blue Flame". Requiring a gas mask and quite a bit of energy we climbed in darkness for several hours until reaching the rim and descending into the crater. You know when you are looking at a well established fire and when tracing the tip of a flame down to the coal or source of energy you sometimes see a blue section of fire? Well in the crater of the Ijen Volcano there are openings that spit out 5-10 foot pure blue flames, which are best viewed in pitch black before sunrise. Aside from the view (and the poisonous sulfur gas) there are 3 things that will leave you awe struck about this place. First obviously being the Blue-Fire (It's so freaking cool). The Second is that right next to the blue fire there is a giant lake that is best described as a very eery, cloudy teal/turquoise color (I'm not the best at colors, but use your imagination and/or check out my pictures). The Third, but possibly the most impressive is the "Ijen Super-Men" who have chosen this as their place of occupation. As someone who enjoys hiking I wouldn't classify this as a difficult climb, but it definitely took a lot of energy and the descent to the crater was pretty steep with uneven rock steps the entire 150 meters down. The 200 men who work here don't think it is that difficult either, so everyday they come to the crater and mine the sulfur, load 50-90kg in to two baskets attached by bamboo and carry it back to the rim. They make it look simple, but under these circumstances this climb is treacherous. I know because I carried a medium load the last 30 meters up the crater (the easy part) and barely made it to the top. An incredible combination of height (shorter is better with protruding rock faces), strength, and heart allows these men to make 2-4 trips per day, depending on their age and size of loads. Once they reach the top half use a cart to progress down the mountain and the other half aren't able to save up enough money and have to continue the walk to the base carrying their baskets. They truly are real life "Super-Men"!

Before mid-day we had made it back to the base of the Volcano and ready to say goodbye to the Island of Java and reach coveted Bali. If you know anything about Indonesia besides that the capital, it is most likely that Bali is a wonderland. The Surf/Yoga Mecca of S.E. Asia and home to a tranquil vibe that has turned in to a playground for Australians on holiday, as well as a must do for anyone making it to this part of the world. By help from a certifiably insane Cali Surfer dude, Ethan, we found accommodation for all 7 of us to stay at a homestay in Canggu only 10 minutes from the beach and with a pool that we would find ourselves in at all hours of the day. A week here was filled with surf, a few bar crawls, new friends from Australia, Switzerland, Canada, and 6 guys from a Dutch surf camp, and the first ever World Championship of "Thong-Toss". Much like Bocce Ball, we would compete head2head by throwing our sandals from the second floor with the goal of getting the closest to the umbrella. Proud to say that I took the first title, but playing again Wouter beat me in a photo finish. Trip is in motion already to travel to the Netherlands and win back the crown.

Overall the week was spent relaxing after a few intense days of trekking and adventure. We became very close with everyone so quickly through our experiences, but as everyone had come as solo travelers (besides Conrad and I), we all had our own itineraries and eventually went our separate ways. Once again so surprising how quickly you can make friends for life in such a short time and feel a hint of sadness as people go on their way.

When we broke off it was to head to the next Island of Lombok for more surf, an evening session of sunset yoga, and a quieter scene. Although relaxing, Bali is big and highly populated due to all of it's amenities and this has created quite the hustle and bustle as soon as you get away from the beach towards the main roads. To sum up Lombok we drove the motor bike down the rockiest dirt paths known to man, tried surfing in an expert spot and got beat up by waves before making the mistake of walking back to shore through a sea urchin pit (10+ urchin spikes still lodged in my feet), Took some great surf lessons from DC, who should be a new father by now and taught us the local Lombok surf saying "Long Hair: Long Life...", and I got my finger pinched by a giant crab at a beach bonfire. A short but sweet 4 night in Lombok led up a fast paced 3 nights in the tiny Island of Gili Trawangan.

There are Three Gili Islands that are positioned within view of the North West corner of Lombok Island. The first is Gili Air (Which means water), then Meno, and the furthest out is Trawangan which is the largest and most popular. These Islands are unique as they are tiny and have a few rules that are a little surprising compared to everywhere else we had been. The rules or norms are that there are no motorized vehicles allowed on the island, no dogs allowed, Bicycles or legs are the primary method of transportation, and carriages pulled by a single horse are everywhere in case you want to go on a quick ride or to move supplies up and down the island. It is quite refreshing to eliminate honking from your daily strolls and not have to worry about what idiot is in your blind spot. Gili T. is also known for having beautiful scuba spots, but almost just as exciting snorkeling spots, as well as being a lively spot to enjoy the night. Staying in a great hostel by the name of "La Boheme" we were able to congregate with about 15 people and spent most of the each night at "Sama Sama" reggae bar before singing along with some performers in the street and one night even staying up for sunset on the beach with said performers. By day we biked the entire island in less than 45 minutes and found a snorkel spot called turtle bay where I was lucky to find and swim with 4 different turtles. It had been 7 years since the last time I snorkeled with Turtles in Hawaii and I forgot how enjoyable it was to take the back seat and just follow them around as they go about the world that they know best and that I am just visiting. It is hard to leave this type of miniature paradise, but with trying to get a few more days of surf in before ending our trip and Gili's one surf spot not having a swell this time of year we needed to head back to Bali.

With 7 nights left we started in a new place in the South peninsula of Bali where we were able to visit the magnificent Ulluwatu Hindu temple a top a steep cliff overlooking fierce seas and housing some pretty feisty monkeys who fancied my hat but didn't succeed in acquiring it. After a few days we were having a hard time finding the appropriate surf conditions for our level so we decided to head back to the familiar ground of Canggu.

During the process of moving up North we had a few issues with transportation. Getting lost is frequent and we usually find our way with help from a few resources, but this time on the moto we had a few additional complications. First we got pulled over by a cop on a motorcycle...Bali cops are notorious for making up fines and taking all of the money you have on you. This is a huge problem because we had just come from the airport after ironing out an airline issue, so we just so happened to have all of our money, cards, and passports on us. This was a unique scenario in itself being our first real run in with authority, but unlike the stories we had heard of police flagging you down and making you pull over, he actually followed us and cut us off telling us that we had run a red light and needed to follow him back to his post. Initially tried playing ignorant tourist and waving and keep driving in hopes of him being lazy, but he was not having it. Round two of cutting us off and the conversation was much more aggressive this time. He forced us to turn around and then led the way to his post, consistently looking back to make sure we were right on his tail. We travelled a block and then came to an intersection where he crossed traffic but we could not follow with oncoming vehicles and for the first time we had 15 to 20 meters of space. Being the driver I turned and had a milli-second conversation with Conrad and just as fast whipped the bike around and drove like lightning. That day I drove like a true local, making questionable passes and needing to use the front brake constantly to avoid rear-ending other motorists, but also go as fast as physically possible. The cops bike would have been 3-4x faster than ours and after a stunt like this the repercussions would most likely have been severe. Heart pounding out of my chest we frantically searched for the first side street and peeled in and continued to do some zig-zagging around in hopes that we had either lost him or he had returned to the main road to scam the next tourist victim. We did escape but with the outcome of a popped back tire. I feel bad for the old tire that has to support 2 fully grown guys zooming around like mad men.

Definitely the most intense experience of our entire trip and impossible to top from an exhilarating blogging perspective, but our last 4 days in Bali were much less eventful in a good way and were spent surfing, relaxing, visiting the nearby Tannah Lot temple on the coast, and making a day trip to drive up through the rice fields to Ubud to see the Monkey Forest and have them climb all over you in search of a raised or hiding banana, do some souvenir shopping, and stumble upon an AgroTourism Coffee Plantation that was really cool and allowed us to try 13 local coffee's and teas that were all an interesting explosion of flavor.

Wrapping up travels through Bali, excursions through our fourth country, and the conclusion of our whole trip we headed off to the airport to begin our 52+ hours of travel including flights through 1.Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2.Guangzhou, China and 3.Los Angeles, CA, and two 12+ hour layovers...literally the longest days possible. This blog has been long enough with so much to talk about so I will save a short recap blog in the coming weeks. We will arrive home in just a few hours now and start getting used to real life again. Great timing with the Christmas spirit being in full force and being fully ready to jump right in to caroling.

This blog was very scattered brained so I apologize.

Merry Christmas!!!

Love Lawrence

Cambodia - The land of Treasure and Treachery

lhartleyiii — Sun, 29 Nov 2015 02:33:00 GMT

Cambodia - The land of Treasure and Treachery

Rounding out the end of our second month traveling we headed to Cambodia to experience a country and culture that I knew next to nothing about. Although we were pretty close to Cambodia when we were at our last Vietnam destination, the itinerary is much more difficult than the 3 hour drive that you would predict when looking at a map. It takes a 7 hour bus ride back down to Saigon in order to catch a bus heading west. Definitely a hassle, but allowed for one more pub crawl (+ a free t-shirt) and running in to a few friends we had met in other locations. The next bus early in the morning was a quick 8 hour trip over roads that are more suitable for a 4-wheeler or dirt bike. This drive was broken up by a lovely stop at the border where we got stuck in limbo after a french girl on our bus decided to sit on the security guard's table which spiraled into everyones passport being held hostage and having to wait while the bus guide pleaded and bargained with border patrol.... Piece of Cake!

A few more hours on the bumpy bus and we arrived in Phnom Penh. One of the first things we realized was that Cambodia primarily uses the US Dollar. They have their own currency the Cambodian Riel, but they use it as change as it is a 4,000 to $1 conversion and the Dollar is more stable. Being somewhat familiar with the dollar and knowing what we normally pay for things in the States, it was refreshing to pay just a dollar for taxi rides and not having to think about the math for awhile.

We got checked in to the "Lovely Jubbly" Hostel and got right to our to-do list. Shooting ranges, Killing Fields, and not getting mugged were on the agenda for our 1 day visit so we headed to the outskirts of town to get started. I've been to gun ranges at home, and typically they do not have tanks parked outside, or the option to shoot an RPG at an old car on a mountainside (Live cows are also an optional target...). We didn't end up doing any shooting as the prices were excessive for low budget travelers, but it was crazy to see what is available to those who are slightly more trigger happy.

After a few quick hours of sleep we headed off to the Killing Fields before our afternoon bus. You arrive at this outdoor museum on a few acres with a large tower located in the middle. Picking up the headset and audio player you start the walk through the path. Learning about the Khmer Rouge and their insane leader Pol Pot, I was horrified to learn the gruesome details of how this location was one of many where thousands of innocent people were slaughtered to fulfill the orders from Prime Minister Pot in his effort of purification and unrealistic societal structure. Seeing pits used as mass graves where bones still become unearthed during rain showers and the thousands of skulls cased in the tower with different descriptions of the ways tools were used to murder the victims without wasting any money on bullets or gas. It brings you to tears and puts into perspective just how scary the world can be.

Having quickly accomplished our to-do list including not getting mugged (although we did encounter several people who had their bag w/ passports and money/cards taken just that day), we headed to Siem Reap to uncover a much brighter side of Cambodia.

Getting to the next hostel at about 10pm we were instantly met by Tessa a solo Canadian traveler asking if she could join us for a day of touring the temples as she didn't want to pay for a tuk-tuk driver on her own. It is funny the different friendships you make when traveling. There are the drinking buddies who you share crazy travel stories and exchange travel tips, because they always somehow just came from the place you are going next. There are the friendly locals who think you look funny, often don't speak very fluent english and half the conversation is in hand gestures, hysterical laughter and the brightest smiles. And then there are the most random introductions that always come at exactly the right time in your trip and turn in to what feels like a friendship that has been building for a lifetime. Tessa was one of the acquaintances that came at precisely the right time and probably saved Conrad and I from a very boring 3 days of touring the temples.

With the newest edition of our team we departed the next morning for the first day of our temple excursions. Angkor Wat is a collection of Buddhist and Hindu temples making up the largest Religious monument in the World and referred to as "Heaven on Earth". That explanation sets a pretty high bar and I am pleased to say that it lives up to the hype. I will let pictures do most of the explanation for this monument, but for three days we climbed massive and extremely steep temples that for the most part were so unique. Breathe taking sunrises and many of what we called "Door-ways to Heaven" that command your respect and admiration. 3 full days, many selfies and thousands of steps later we had conquered the majority of Angkor and felt both enriched and confused as to how these magnificent structures could possibly be located in the same country where we had learned about so much death and destruction. A very clear example of Yin and Yang I suppose.

Long days and that much walking lead to a few much needed nights out on the town. Siem Reap is a very wonderful town with endless markets, 'Pub St." a street very reminiscent of 6th St. in Austin, Texas, More Fish spas, and even a stage where a "Lady Boy" (Transgender) lip-synced Taylor Swift in a bright pink dress. We were able to find some good skewers and curry, a few places to sell us the local "Angkor Draught" beer, and become regulars at a smoothie and noodle stand.

We were only in Cambodia for I think 6 days but so much happened that it felt more like 6 weeks. We had already booked our flight to Indonesia so there was no extending this portion of the trip, but I think we all agreed that Cambodia could be easy to get stuck in for awhile, especially if you make it down to the islands in the south which everyone raved about... It will most likely make my next SE Asia Itinerary!

Saying goodbye to Cambodia and heading to the Islands of Indonesia we are embarking on the final leg of our trip. Volcanos, surfing, and more overall adventuring is in-store as we reach the point of our trip that is referred to as the "Vacation of our Vacation".

I hope that everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving and safe travels. (I didn't get a single snapchat of a turkey which was a shock.) Keep cheering on the Hawkeyes and Panthers for me and somebody please help put up the Cox and the Emery's Christmas lights as it is the first time in I think 4 years that I'm not there to do the work.

One Love and see you soon,

Lawrence

The Roller Coaster that is Vietnam!!!

lhartleyiii — Sun, 15 Nov 2015 06:36:00 GMT

Stepping in to the second country of our trip (excluding layovers) we thought we were pros at this part of the world and knew exactly what to expect. The hard fact is that as Thailand was an excellent stepping stone for travels in SE Asia, it also spoiled us rotten and set us up with unrealistic expectations and unfair comparisons that it took a while to overcome.

This became extremely apparent the second we arrived in Hanoi, when instead of the warm smiles and kind hearts we were welcomed with intense/angry TSA (Or Military) officers. The biggest problem they had was that 20 people from all over the world flew in to the country without enough money to pay for the Visa but expecting that a smooth running system would have an ATM available so we could each withdraw 1,000,000 VND (Vietnamese Dong, 22,000VND = 1USD). Unfortunately that wasn't the case so our first hour of Vietnam was spent in a holding process until they would finally escort us to the overcharging ATM outside...And thus begins the gut wrenching and exhilarating 3 weeks in Vietnam.

For the first couple of days it seemed that situations like these kept on happening. It was either blunt/rude people, scary traffic situations (Making Bangkok which had once looked like a Jungle, now look like a playground), Police abruptly shutting down the hostel lobby and yelling at residents before the city curfew...We were not impressed to say the least and kept thinking how much we missed Thailand.

It wasn't until after the most miserable bus/ferry ride we had ever experienced until we landed on Catba Island (Just south of Halong Bay) that we decided two things. First was that we would stop making comparisons to Thailand as they were not the same place, and second we would accept negative things that happen as we understand that Unlike a normal vacation, travel is an adventure, and you never hear of a good adventure story that doesn't have its fair share of misfortune...and we most certainly want to share a good story.

From that moment on Vietnam changed for us and we started to open our eyes to the wonderful culture and amazing people. The group of Vietnamese people we met next were the owners and team at "Catba Central Hotel" where we were welcomed with open arms, given the best advice on how to experience the area, and invited to family dinner where we ate pounds of oysters, whole fish, squid, and many bowls of rice wine (Very comparable to sake). This is the absolute best way to learn and feel apart of the culture and not be the the ignorant traveler who doesn't know anything about the language or the region.

With the advice from Chung the owner of the hotel we did a one day boat tour through Halong Bay seeing some of the 7,000 beautiful limestone islands before embarking on a kayaking journey into some of the island bays through cave tunnels and seeing monkeys on the hill. Next we swam on an uninhabited beach and then ventured to Monkey Island where we saw a few more monkeys and climbed up this limestone mountain to get a 360 view of this unbelievable landscape. After an experience like this our 3 night stay turned into a full week and we got to hike the Catba national park to the highest peak on the Island and hang out on a few beautiful beaches while intaking a healthy diet of Banh Me (Baguette filled with meat, veggies and egg, pronounced Bun ME) and Pho Bo (Beef noodle soup, pronounced pha Bo, Most people in the USA are familiar with this Vietnamese cuisine). Living off of a $3 hostel/night and $1 meals we were kings and didn't see a rush to get back to the madness of Hanoi.

When we finally decided it was time we made our way back to the big city and with an open mind, and this made all the difference. We adopted Hanoi this time around and had an amazing time with the people we met in this extremely modern Hostel called "Hanoi Rocks". Taking in much more of the city, coming to understand the driving situation and walking through without fear what was referenced to as a "Motorbike school of fish" that somehow didn't turn in to a thousand vehicle pile-up, and overall finding this land as a much more welcoming place. At Peace with North Vietnam we said our goodbyes to Conrad's sister Lilly and her friend Sara who were staying to teach and headed to the south to see what else we could learn.

In Vietnam many travelers buy motorbikes and drive from North to South or Vice-Versa so that they can see everything. We opted for the $40 flight to Ho Chi Minh City to expedite the process and skip the headache of constant repairs. Once landed we found our driver from the new hostel waiting for us with a sign with my name on it (This made me feel so special as a penny traveler knowing that several months ago I might have seen this as a semi-important business traveler). This turned in to a pleasant stay in this city with so much history that would actually turn in to an intense eye opener.

Our time here was spent on pub crawls with new friends and a trip to the War Remnants Museum. Nothing to crazy about the pub crawls except getting in to the final 3 of a billiards tournament (The game was called killer which I wasn't familiar with) and helping a fellow traveler who had lost his bearings and not in a safe part of town. The museum on the other hand provided a new view point on a war that America had largely contributed to and the aftermath that is still seen today. I won't go in to detail of our exact experience, but I will say that I walked away shedding a few tears and having a better understanding of why people I had met in Vietnam weren't as welcoming (Rightfully so) as our Thai friends and realizing that some of the individuals I had seen all over the country both young and old were misshaped because of war crimes involving a treacherous chemical called "Agent Orange". With so much donated to this museum from America's veterans, media, and government I strongly recommend a visit if you are ever in this part of the world.

Off to greener pastures we left for our next Ocean paradise in Mui Ne, Vietnam. Although we didn't partake, Mui Ne is the Kite surfing capital of the world, which is almost a liberating feeling watching hundreds of thrill seekers catch the wind and fly 20 meters above the water and land with such grace (or smack the water with powerful force, also entertaining!). Mostly lounging and indulging in the best seafood we had ever had (Shark, Barracuda, Scallops, etc..), but we were able to take our first surf lesson from Michael the dutch surf pro. Going to a college that had a surfing team and beautiful NC coastline you would think that I would have tried it by now, but better late then never. Luckily we were both able to get up a few times and this prepared us for hours of practice to come in the near future in Bali, Indonesia.

Moving on to our final destination up in the cool mountains, we took a bumpy 8 hour bus (surprisingly more intense than most rollercoasters, at least from the back row) to Da Lat, Vietnam. This destination had a different theme as it was based around a sport I have little knowledge of called Abseiling, or repelling. Loving the thrill of rock climbing or bouldering, but not being too keen on the idea of falling in any fashion from a rock face, I had my reservations. There is a reason you are supposed to face your fears, being stronger is usually a side-effect, but once in a while it results in a experience that you will cherish for the rest of your life. This happened to be one of those. Starting slow and then working our way up to intense 25 meter waterfall descents, you develop a sense of trust for a rope the size of your pinky that you never would have imagined and a courage buried deep within that you didn't know was there yesterday. Pretty powerful stuff to say the least.

A reoccurring theme is staying longer than anticipated in each location, and this was no different. We stayed at the "Tiny Tigers" hostel here which felt more like staying at a relatives home. Leo, Hae, and their 5 year old son Tin Tin have an infectious personality that was unique even among the handful of diamonds in the rough we have met thus far. Being a business owner at the age of 27 isn't standard in this part of the world, and becoming close friends with Leo we learn the pro's (Freedom, social standing, family pride) and con's (living under the stairs, restrictive laws, harsh fines while opening a new location) of breaking the norms and following your dreams. Leo and his family have more of a plan than most people I know in there 20's or even 30's and am excited for them as they grow their business but know that they will face more obstacles than we would in the States. Good luck to Leo and his Tiny Tigers!

This wraps up our excursions in Vietnams and leads to a short rendezvous in Cambodia. We arrived today and have been hearing stories almost daily of the beauty, kindness, and Moto-muggings that occur here, so we are ecstatic to visit, but going to make it a short 1 week visit to limit danger. Angkor Wat here we come.

Happy almost Thanksgiving and much love from the land of the lawless,

-Lawrence

P.S. If you made it through this please leave a comment or message me to say hello. (Reading a book on blog marketing and it says that you get more interaction when you specifically ask for it, Time to start practicing as a future business owner.)

And......GO HAWKS/PANTHERS!!!

Reunion, Muay Thai, Hidden Temple, Jungle Farming, Sticky Waterfall, Police Station, Elephant Mud B

lhartleyiii — Thu, 22 Oct 2015 14:57:00 GMT

I write this as we are headed south on a 15 hour day train ending our wonderful 2+ weeks in Chiang Mai and North Thailand. Chiang Mai is a beautiful place and during our time there we were certainly tested, but with a little help from new friends and higher powers we have escaped unscathed with more than a handful of life changing events under our belts

We started the trip with the typical walk around the city in search for street food and finding cool temples and statues that we marked as important places to hit during the day. Next up was reuniting with my friend Dalton from high school who recently moved to Chiang Mai from Chicago with his girlfriend Molly after they decided that Corporate America wasn't all that they had dreamed. Now they are equipped with kindergarten and 3rd grade english teaching jobs and enjoying the thrill of a new world. Dalton was able to join us on most of our adventures that we did in and around the city, and although he had only been there one week longer than us, served as a brilliant tour guide and fantastic host. He did the research and found that when we met in Webster City, IA some 11 years ago we were 8,127 miles from the most recent meeting spot. The last time I saw him was 2+ years ago for a weekend in Iowa City and it's crazy that neither of us could have possibly predicted the next encounter. Great to run in to old friends.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Muay Thai, it is a famous form of organized fighting (somewhere between boxing and UFC) that is practiced in this part of the world. Knowing that it was a Thai right of passage we picked a night and headed off to what legitimately looked like a scene from Fight Club. Very fascinating and great to see first hand, but several things surprised us while we watched. Turns out that we picked a night where all of the fighters were between the ages of 13 and 19, all f the music during the fight is played live so the fighters match the cadence that the flute, drummer and Tamborine are playing, and there is one match solely dedicated to 5 blindfolded fighters. Very cool to learn those unexpected twists, and in the end try to cheer an American female fighter to victory...Although we disagreed with the outcome the judges came to.

We also had the opportunity to trek the mountains nearby and find a temple that is supposedly much less known to tourists, but the most tranquil in all of the city. It is called Wat Pallat and can be found by hiking up the mountain in a specific location, eventually with the help of orange garments that monks have wrapped around trees. We took a short cut, but had a completely peaceful time discovering the temples, sitting by the trickling waterfall, and looking out over the city.

Taking a break from the city life and getting off the grid was something i think we were all looking forward to. We had selected Wat and Poh's Jungle Adventure on the Layou farm to help us achieve this and we met up with a new friend from the Mid-west, Abagail as she was off on her own adventure. It is a beautiful farm up in the heart of the mountains by a village of people who speak Karen (kuh-ren) which is a completely different language than Thai, so that took some getting used to. When it wasn't raining days were spent working for roughly 5 hours with the crops (beans, bak choi, passion fruit, yuca, bananas, pumpkin, and others i'm not familiar with), or conrad and I got to go to town and tear apart a house and build a new one on the farm. It felt great to be doing some manual labor again and helping to make a difference on this farm. When we weren't working (a lot of down time) we were enjoying 6am sunrises over the mountains, eating 3 gigantic meals per day with most of those being new to us, reading reading reading (I took down 4 books myself - "You are here", "The Greatest Salesman in The World", "The $100 Startup", and "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"), playing with the cute kids- Saweecha 3 and Weechai 8, and staying up till 8 or 9pm to sing along to one of the family members "Jungle Lek", play the guitar and joke around. Three particularly special days were Lek's birthday where we had a fire and tried out some home distilled "Happy Water" while star gazing, another day we were given the morning off to venture down the mountain in search of the waterfall and cave that lies behind it, and Sunday or "Holiday" where we fought the mudslides to walk to church where we were able to participate in a beautiful christian service. It was entirely in the village language, except for one verse of "Lamb of God" sung in broken english just for the visitors, and Conrad and I did sit on the female side for half of the service drawing a lot of attention, but seeing the joy in these 50 people who walked from all over the mountain in pouring rain for up to an hour to get to come together and sing songs for Jesus was amazing.

After 7 days we packed up and said our goodbyes to head back to civilization and warm showers. As I'm getting long yet again I will try to summarize and let pictures fill in the gaps of our stories. Back in Chiang Mai I rented a motorbike and met up with Dalton and Molly along with their new friends Brandon and Lee. We rode north in search of a special waterfall as the rest of my group was taking a cooking class. After a few wrong turns we arrived at a waterfall that we believed calcified because of some combination of calcium in the water and the type of plant that grew on the cliff. This combination led to over a 300 foot steep waterfall that we were able to walk up and down making us feel invincible for an afternoon.

The next evening we were enjoying the Sunday Market which is quite a spectacle of street vendors spanning as far as the eye can see. We had a good time and bought gifts for ourselves and others, while also finding some new foods to try. After 6 hours we walked back to the hostel with the intention of taking one more drive around the city on my motor bike before returning it first thing in the morning. Excitement quickly turned to panic when the motorbike is no longer parked where I left it. The next 3 hours, from 11pm -1am include looking at security footage from the hostel down the road, walking across town to the police station, playing charades with the night officers who don't speak any English, having the motorbike company come to the police station and remind me that they have my passport until they get the bike or money to pay for it, and a trip in a car with a police man (sporting a fanny pack) to investigate the crime scene. This made for a very long night and left us with a date back in the police station the next day which would change the outcome of our plans and the balance in my bank account significantly. As we unlocked the gate to lay down to a sleepless night there was a shimmer in the corner of the lobby. It turns out that I hadn't locked the motorbike correctly so although I had the key, the steering wheel was free and bike in neutral. The manager of the hostel saw this and out of fear that it would be stolen rolled it inside and out of sight. With hope renewed we ran down the street to catch the manager of the store and tell her the good news. She could have been annoyed or angry for the late night hassle, but she was just as thrilled for us as we were relieved. It was a great sign of the Thai hospitality, and finally we could go to sleep.

So it looks like I lied when I said I would summarize, but kudos to you if you have stayed in tune this long I promise we are almost done. The plans that ended up not being foiled by the motorbike incident was a day back in the jungle we had grown to love, but with an entirely new agenda. We would be feeding, making medicine, applying a mud spa and eventually rinsing off some Elephant friends in a waterfall. We found the "Elephant Jungle Paradise Park" through the friendly people at our hostel and I have a new found appreciation and respect for the strength and intelligence of these gentle giants and will be posting a link to the park's facebook page to get a look at all of the action.

The next day was our last in Chiang Mai which was spent checking out a museum, saying good bye to friends. Before we left though Conrad and I had one more thing to accomplish in this city that had already given us so much. In this part of the world there is a traditional style of tattoo that is known as "Bamboo", where instead of a gun, there is an 18 inch long rod attached to a needle to is repeatedly tapped (stabbed) by the hands of a trained professional. We both had designs that we had picked out with different meanings behind them and planned on paying one of the shops around the corner to replicate the type of work that monks were known for. We had dabbled with the idea of getting a traditional "Sak Yant" tattoo (Sported by many including Angelina Jolie), but after careful research we decided that we wouldn't be able to adhere to the strict rules like no eating gourds, no eating at weddings, don't drink alcohol to name a few. With that decided we were walking out of the hostel to go and knock it out when we decided to first check and see if management had any recommendations. Loving that we asked their advice, the managers wife grabbed our hands and walked us down the street to be our translator before deciding that she would give the monk who usually performs their tattoos a call to see if he was available. After short travel and making a donation to the children's temple we were underway getting my first and Conrad's second tattoo in a manner that we will never forget. There was a short introduction and a time period where our friends were helping translate what and where we would like to get, before jumping in and getting started on writing Conrad's quote "To realize one's own destiny is a persons only real obligation" in traditional Lanna Thai writing and moving on to draw the cross symbol that our friend Jungle Lek had drawn for us (Lek is a Christian who plays in the band at church, but during his time at university studying art he had drawn and painted in the temples of Chiang Mai, I found it to be a perfect combination along with the simple but elegant design). After we had finished and one other person from the hostel got a tattoo, we sat in a circle around the monk and blessed our tattoos and our travels before tying white string around our wrists and wishing to see us again soon.

This wraps up our adventures in Chiang Mai and I'm sure i've even left a few instances out, but the moral of the story is that we have continued to be blessed with amazing encounters and I can't wait to make it back Chiang Mai in the near future. Our train is just now arriving in Bangkok for one more day of Thailand before we embark on new terrain and head to Vietnam on Friday.

Happy Halloween and I hope that everyone is having a wonderful fall. Be in touch with you soon!

-Lawrence

Destinations 1-3 and everything in between.

lhartleyiii — Thu, 8 Oct 2015 06:27:00 GMT

Well just as I suspected I am already behind on keeping a daily journal and a weekly blog. There is constantly so much going on that I always tell myself that I'll make time for it later and later tends to never come. That being said there is so much to put on paper in order to do justice to the last week and a half.

Flights all went rather smooth from Dallas to Bangkok, I slept, watched movies and read in order of most to least. No shocker that the majority of my 2 days traveling (and every other mini trip since) has been spent executing the art of skillfull sleeping. I'd like to thank my sleep training in vehicles, classrooms, and even standing for preparing me for International travel. I did meet several fascinating people though who helped liven up my journey. Drunk sleeping drooling Japanese man can be listed first since there is a picture of him, but he was more of a hastle as I had to be careful not to be spilled on when he woke up holding his drink. The two who I did end up conversating with were sweet Singapore lady with Blue died hair and Denise the American who practices Chinese medicine in Mexico city. Singapore lady and I discussed politics, war, drugs, and even the dangers of chewing gum which can be a serious offense in her home country. Denise and I started chatting in LAX and connected during our layover as she was heading in the same direction. She was headed to the Himalayas to hike the base of Everest for the 4th time in her life and she reminded me of some of the freedoms that Entrepreneurship offers as well as simply the splendors that await in world travel. The last thing that I will say about the flights is that if you ever have the opportunity to have a layover in the Singapore airport, or just visit it as the destination of a vacation you should do so. This place is ranked the #1 airport in the world on purpose with numerous gardens (Butterfly, cactus, Marigold), several free movie theaters, free tour of the city and I'm told even a swimming pool. Cool place and DFW could definitely learn a few things.

Enough about planes though...We arrived in Bangkok and checked in to our first hostel. Nice enough place and nice to get a shower after what seemed like days (literally had been days though), but most of all it was great to be able to unload the backpacks and hit the streets. We walked for a total of 7.5 hours that day experiencing the relentless nature of motorbikes and the endless street venders of scary/amazing food, handmade artifacts, and everything under the sun that could possibly be counterfitted. It is interesting for a bit but after awhile the thrill ran out with the persistance of tuk tuk drivers and vendor every 2 feet becoming absolutely draining. This went on for a few days before we caught a night train to the Islands in the the South East of the country. Being a little weary of how the train would work out soon wore off when a Police officer approached and asked to take a picture with me and we played peek-a-boo with a baby Thai boy. The trip continued on this way as we got to see the countryside turn in to mountainside and we ourselves slept like babies. Very lucky to get a full nights sleep as the next day would be a long one.

Getting off the train we jump on a bus that takes us to a ferry and finally land on Koh Phangan. This island is slightly known for it's beaches and mountians, but more so for the all night party that is held on Haad Rin beach once a month for the last 28 years. Music, lights, glow paint, and minimum 20,000 people make this ritual an exciting one. Unfortunately no pictures as there is hightened fear of pickpocketing and what turned out to be a reality for Conrad who was picked for 500 Baht! (Only $15 USD luckily). We fought the urges of sleep though and were able to witness a beautiful sunset on the ocean with thousands of our newest friends.

After the party came a day of sleeping and several more days of relaxing before conrad and I ventured off to another island in search of new adventures. I haven't read about it personally, but i was told that the Island of Koh Tao island is the 2nd best scuba in the world (right behind the great barrier reef) and #1 for beginners, and I have to fully agree. Koh Tao is a smaller, denser populated island with hundreds of scuba providers and a wonderland of thrilling nightlife to keep anyone entertained. Being first time scuba divers we chose a 1 day intro dive where essentially we were trained on the bare essentails and our guide Bobby from New Zealand had the pleasure of baby sitting us as we kicked our way across a vibrant ocean floor up to 12 meters deep. We decided afterwards that it was only the first of many dives to come and we would soon be fish for life after such an eyeopenng/breathtaking experience. To capitalize on an amazing day we spent the evening mesmerized by fire twirlers with likeminded travelers from around the world! Isreal, England, Germany, France, Switerland, Netherlands, and my personal favorite Norwegians (I'm biased being half Norwegian, Ingrid did say she would help me get on the "Alt For Norge" TV show though too!) a few honorable mentions are Mathias from Geneva (Congrats on just finishing Med School!), Dane the Scuba Instructor (Coincidentally he went to UNCW like me, volunteered at the same aquarium and his parents live 10 minutes from mine), Canadian Police officers from the arctic, Charlie the Ex-Monk tattoo artist (No ink yet), Jake, Joe, Joe Buzzin, Fiona, Dan, Sam, Katie and Sherna all Hailing from England, Mark and gang from Netherlands, and Ingrid and Marie from Norway. Already looking forward to future trips around the world.

To end my rambling we had a few more amazing days on the Islands before hopping on a ferry, bus and Plane to reach Chiang Mai. I'll save the start of our visit here for the next post. With fear for life on mopeds, jungle trek to a hidden temple, and a reunion with an old buddy happening all in the first 48 hours it is sure to be another long one.

"I've found that the larger the world gets it also grows smaller" - Dalton Keane 10/7/15 - I found this so fitting during our conversation today that as I start to summarize my experiences it is a key component. Beautiful world and people exploring it, whether that be a weekend hiker or a Doctor of Chinese Medicine hiking Everest for 3 weeks!

Thanks for following along and look forward to talking with you soon!

-Lawrence

Photos: Photos of the first 1.5 weeks (Travel, Bangkok, Koh Phangan, Koh Tao, Chiang Mai)

lhartleyiii — Thu, 8 Oct 2015 03:29:00 GMT

Notes before takeoff.

lhartleyiii — Tue, 22 Sep 2015 00:28:00 GMT

I'm writing the first blog post for 2 reasons: 1st to give everyone an idea of how long a flight from LAX to Tokyo is, and 2nd to make sure that this program works as I have never blogged before and have absolutely no Idea what i'm doing.

My Flight leaves tomorrow at 12:50pm CST from Dallas Love Field Airport, from there i fly to Los Angeles, before hopping on a 18hr 40min flight to Tokyo. When comparing it to the worlds longest cricket match which lasted 150 hours by a club in England it is just a blink of the eye, but cricket is a strange sport and 19 hours is just shy of a full day so disregard any comparison to Cricket; IT IS A LONG FLIGHT! After a short layover in Tokyo I will be flying to Singapore where i will catch up with my group Conrad, Lilly and Sarah who leave a day before me but have a 23 hour layover in Singapore, then it's off to Bangkok, Thailand where the journey on foot beigins.

As I mentioned this is my first time writing a blog, really even the first time writing in a journal since the 1st grade when we had homade notebooks made out of cloth and most of the journal logging was done in elaborate cave drawing format (I come from a family of artists and there is a reason that many of you have seen their work and mine remains unexposed). So that being said I am not sure how frequintly I can or will be posting, but I would expect that I can populate a post weekly if not more and pictures will be going up frequently. If anyone has suggestions on how to make this blog enjoyable please let me know as even tips on whether longer or shorter is better, frequency so i don't wear myself or others out.

Finally, thanks for taking part in this journey with us. There are a million things to do in Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Indonesia and we have researched and planned for many of them but not even touched the surface. Please comment or email me if there are things that you think we might be able to enjoy(afford). Thanks for all of the love and support as we do something that i would have never imagined. I look forward to opening a new way of thinking and being able to understand cultures and ways of life that i have been shut off and closed minded to in the past.

Let the adventure begin,

Lawrence Hartley - lhartleyiii@gmail.com