The Great Panda Adventures

The Home Stretch: Family and Friends

nnninecountries — Wed, 26 Jun 2013 03:27:00 GMT

So as you may know, the GPA has now come to an end. After thousands of photos, five packages mailed home, hundreds of items left behind accidentally, many new friends and countless adventures, we made it home in two pieces!

Even though things have continued to be busy since we got home, I’ve found sometime to recount the last leg of our journey which mainly included visits to our family and friends.

One of the main reasons for choosing Asia for our great adventure, was an invitation from Jake’s brother and sister-in-law to stay with them in Beijing while they were living there temporarily. So from Hanoi we took a bus to the Chinese border. Unfortunately, we took too long at the border and our bus left us there with nothing but our bags and a plastic pass with Chinese characters on it. After showing our pass to a couple different bus drivers, they signaled us to wait. Not knowing how long we were going to wait, or if we were even going to get on another bus, I was getting a little nervous. But as with every other nerve-wracking experience on our trip, there was no reason to worry. We made it to Nanning and didn’t even have to wait that long at the border.

We spent a couple days in Nanning, where many tourists do not go, so we got our fair share of weird looks and some good food (including garlic stuffed oysters nom nom) and headed to a town called Yanshou. We spent two days there biking around the karst scenery and the local villages.

It was quite touristy with both Chinese and western tourists, but once you got on the trail, you rarely saw another cyclist. I definitely did not regret our decision to skip Halong Bay in Vietnam, as this scenery must have been at least comparable and I would much rather travel by bicycle than by boat anyway.

After Yangshou, we took an overnight train to Shanghai, and stayed for a couple days checking out the foggy skyline and designer stores before taking the bullet train to Beijing where we finally met up with Daniel and Stacy.

We spent a week with them and their dog, Gizmo and their neighbours dog, Dong Dong. Here they are:

Dan took us to many different types of Chinese food like Szechuan, Yunnan and the famous peking duck. We also went to a Chinese brew pub too! It was so nice to spend some time with them and see where they live in Beijing and hear what it is like to live in China. I really want to thank them for letting us relax at their place, use their computer and for getting us addicted to Game of Thrones. I can’t wait to see them again, but in Canada this time!

In Beijing we took some time to see the Forbidden City, which was the ancient royal palace. It was very nice, but overwhelming big, especially when it is full to the brim with people. Here I am with some other tourists who wanted my photo:

We also went on an amazing hiking tour of the Great Wall of China. We went with a group called Beijing Hikers, which took us about two hours away from Beijing and we got to hike on empty parts of the wall with spectacular scenery for about four hours. While in Beijing we also checked out an art district, bought some cute antiques, and ate as many dumplings as we could.

After Beijing we flew to another previously walled city, Berlin. I really liked Berlin, especially when we took an “Alternative walking tour” that showed us all the artsy districts, street art and cool bars.

We checked out the wall and took a slightly disappointing bus tour, but managed to at least see all the important buildings, even if the bus tour didn’t tell us much about them. Berlin was just such a cool city to me in the sense that the city was not just a place to live, but where people felt they could really be a part of it. From using an old jewish market building as free living quarters to having parties in the subway station with free music every Saturday night to having a bus system based solely on the honour system to street art being legal and encouraged.

It just seems like there is more to living in Berlin than just living there, you are part of something and really a citizen of Berlin than just a citizen of Germany. I’d probably have to live there to see if that is the reality, but that was the vibe I got from Berlin and why I liked it so much. Also something worth mentioning was that Jake ran into a friend from his highschool there! How crazy! So we hung out with her for a night, which was a lot of fun.

On our way to Hamburg we missed our first train out of our whole trip. I thought traveling in Europe would be easier than Asia, but I was proved wrong. We eventually made it to Hamburg to the little town of Bargetheide where my Dad, Stepmom and little brother live.

While I relaxed and applied for jobs, Jake spent most of the time entertaining the crazy nine year olds. We went to the beach, saw my Uncle and my cousins and ate some great food. Once again, it was really nice to hang out with family and see what life is like in Germany. Here is a photo with Tuscan and my uncle Ron cutting the birthday cake:

Do you remember the friends we met in Hanoi who live in Paris? Well their place was our next stop. Believe it or not, it was actually the same price to rent a car and drive to Paris than take the train, so we go ourselves a Nissan Note and drove the ten hours to Paris, stopping at a castle along the way.

We then met up with Hervé and Pauline at their place in Paris and spent a couple days wining and dining with them, and checking out the beautiful city of Paris.

We saw Nortre Dame, the Effel Tower, The Sacre Coeure, the Arc de Triomphe and many things while just walking around. Here is Jake with Herve and Pauline outside the Notre Dame:

We then took a train to London, where we almost got turned away at the border. We didn’t have proof of our flight out of London, or jobs in Canada, or any money, so the border agent didn’t think we would leave London. At that point I was more than ready to return to Canada so I wanted to beg our case that we were ready to go home and wouldn’t stay even if we were allowed! But we finally convinced him by showing him our hostel reservation was only for five days, so he let us in which was a great relief.

We finally met up with my friend Rochelle, and the time spent with her was really great, as I hadn’t seen her in year, and we had gone from living and working together, to not being in the same country anymore. She showed us around London, took us to some great restaurants and saw Wicked with us too. Here we are in front of the Tower Bridge:

It was such a great end to the trip to see her, and spend some time with her again. Who knows where either of us will be next, so it was great to dedicate k days to see where she lives, and spend some time catching up.

Jake and I spent our last night at a pub in London where they happened to be showing a movie called Frozen. I took it as a bad omen for coming back to Canada, as it was a movie about three people who get stuck on a chairlift with vicious wolves circling the bottom. Even though I was really ready to go back I think something was telling me to remember how cold Canadian winters can get and to be thankful I was able to skip out on part of the winter.

We made it home and were lucky to be greeted by another one of my best friends, Steph and her boyfriend Alex, and her parents John and Deb, who we are living with in Toronto. What a great end to the trip! I am definitely happy to be home and excited to see what adventure will be next!

Bia Hoi Hai Noi!

nnninecountries — Mon, 27 May 2013 16:50:00 GMT

Our journey to north began after a couple days of waiting for our tailored garments to be finished. Once they were mailed off to Canada, we hopped on a bus to Hue, a small town near the DMZ or the old border between north and south Vietnam. It is a very historical town as there is an ancient imperial city in the middle and plenty of mausoleums of emperors around the town. We rented a motorbike and followed our guide book to the furthest mausoleum from town, and ended up crossing a river on a little bamboo raft and winding down pathways. Here is Jake with the motorbike on the small raft. I like this picture because you can see the guy bailing out water behind him!

We only really knew we were going the right way beacuse people kept flagging us down and telling us which way to go. We eventually found the mausoleum quite literally in the middle of the woods. We walked to the front where there was a beautiful view of the mountains and the lush landscape.

When we started going up to the mausoleum we were disappointed because a dog came up and started barking at us, and we assumed it was a rabid dog and we didn't want to mess with him. But then a security officer poked his head out and waved us in. He then offered to take us to the tombs by jingling his keys and demanding money. We paid him and followed him towards the tombs but quickly became quite nervous as a guy with a giant gun started walking around and the security guy starting talking on his cellphone. We started thinking we would die along with those Ancient emperors, but nothing ended up happening... Thankfully! I just can't seem to get use to people having guns, especially when they seem to carry their biggest guns around just willy-nilly.

So we left that mausoleum and found another one (once again flagged down by a local) but it looked like it was about to storm so we just had an ice tea with the guy and chatted with him about Vietnamese food and then Went back to the city, just making it to the hotel before it started pouring.

The next day we took a cyclo taxi, the old traditional southeast asian way of transport.

We first went to the imperial city, a beautiful old fortress type building with a moat, a giant wall around it and beauitful old palaces and temples. Once again, I was amazed at how Chinese the whole place looked compared to other temples we'd seen in SEA, and it just made me even more excited to make it to China.

After Hué, we went to Hai Noi to see the capital city of Vietnam. We stayed in the Old Quarter, which was a beautiful old district section of Hanoi with all the colonial architecture still mostly intact. While here, we went to the H Chi Mihn museum and mausoleum. The musuem was interesting from an artisitc perspective as it was very contemporary and designed in a circle and felt almost like a giant group of art installations. From a learning perspective, the museum wasn't very informative as it really only had every single thing Uncle Ho had touched, wrote, signed, looked at, wore as wellas every picture he ever posed for. Sort of icoolif you know everything there is to know about Ho Chi Minh, but not so much if you are looking to learn anything about him to begin with.

The mausoleum was also interesting because he was one of those leaders who was embalmed. So we got in line with many Vietnamese paying their respects, and got ushered through a dark but heavenly air conditioned building past Ho Chi Minh resting in peace. Why did we go to see this? Who knows. Probably just morbid curiousity or to say we saw an embalmed communist leader. Will we see Mao in Beijing? Probably not. One embalmed body is a year is enough, and I heard Mao isn't keeping as well as his buddy Ho Chi Minh. (no picture of him sorry!)

We also met a nice french couple and spent some time shopping and drinking cheap, local, Bia Hoi (draft/fresh beer). They were very fun to talk to and we are going to visit them in Paris on the way from Germany to London in a couple weeks. That's one thing about traveling that I didn't expect; it's really hit or miss with the people you meet. We've met some amazing people along the way that we are still keeping in touch with, and then other people just suck. Either way ,it's cool to be constantly meeting people form all walks of life, and im so happy to have met people from all over the world who I never would have met if I didnt go travelling. Here is a picture of Pauline and Herve!

One thing that was really on my mind during out stay in Hanoi was wehther or not to go to Halong Bay. HB is a UNESCO world heritage site, and is essentially a bunch of Karsts in the water. I was inclined not to go because the energy and money levels are waning and I kept hearing from people that it really is jiust a "duck around" (Thank you apple autocorrect for that family friendly term). We've heard of people slepeping on dirty boats, going in a cave with weird neon lights, heavily polluted water and everything else you can imagine. And the people who said it was okay, were kind of lame anyway. So after debating and debating, we decided not to waste our money, time or energy and just spend more time drinking Bia Hoi in Hanoi. Here is a picture of the lake in Hanoi:

One excursion we did agree to was to go to the North of Vietnam to Sa Pa. We took an overnight train and made it to this beautiful town in the mountains, that felt like it was in the clouds. We took a trek with a local guide named Sam and her baby Dean (who i affectinalty called dino). Here they are:

The trek was spectaclur with views of rice terraces as far as the eye could see, lots of water buffalo, and little farmhouses. Here is a photo of clothes being made by the women who all weave, dye (including growing the indigo) and embroider their own traditonal clothing:

We also met a nice Irish guy named Michael. Cool guy! The trip was perfect aside from two things : 1. The sales women were pushier than any other of the sales people we had met. They would follow us the whole way on our trek, and then demand we buy things afterwards. And if we saw them earlier, they would guilt us into it and they would not leave us alone. Even the bracelet girls wouldn't give up. At one point there was about ten girls all surrounding Jake chanting "You buy bracelet, You buy bracelet" and they wouldnt leave no matter how many times he said no. 2. We had an amazing meal made by the local people, and they gave us rice wine after dinner. But then the other people we were with said that if the Vietnamese give you rice wine after your meal, it means you ate dog. Gah!

After Sa Pa we headed back to Hanoi, where we hung out on a rooftop cafe our French friends told us about. To get there, you have to go through a silk shop to the very back, and up three windy flights of stairs, through someone's house, up to a beautiful balcony overlooking the lake in the centre of town. The coffee wasn't the best, but it was worth the view and peaceful place to read and talk about our upcoming adventure to China.

We also ate a dish we called "The cat food dish" which was deep fried pork belly on rice with a deep fried boiled egg. NOM! Here is a photo of the resaturant where we got our cat food dish:

We also visited the women's museum, which explained had three main parts to it. The first part explained all the indigenous dress and traditions of the women from weddings. medicine, fashion, work and child birth. You can see a picture of the indigenous style of dress below. There was then I section on the street vendors in Vietnam, who move out of their rural villages to make money in the city. I just assumed all the women were city dwellers to begin with, but they usually move to the city if their husband or farm can't support them, and so they can send their children to highschool. So they work starting at 2 in the morning, and then until 7 or so at night, staying in a little room they share with ten other women each night. And after two weeks they will go and visit their children in the rural part of the country, where they bring home only about $20 for two weeks of work. Who knew so much backstory could be behind the women selling donuts, hairpins, flowers or fruit on the street! It reminds you that everyone has a story and things aren't always what they seem or what we assume them to be at first. You have to honour the hard work these women put in so their children can go to school and have better futures. Let's take some time to thank all the mommas out there for their hard work!

The last part of the museum was dedicated to the women in the war effort and women who helped build the underground communities and worked in the fields to feed the soldiers. It was a pretty cool museum and I feel I learned more about Vietnamese culture in general than just the woman, which was cool to see. We also checked out a prison where the French sent dissidents during the colonial days, which was then a prison for American soldiers during the American war (one of which was John McCain) and the museum made sure to make it obvious that the American soldiers were treated very well just in comparison to how the Vietnamese were treated. I just had to laugh at how blatant that message was.

I will take this time to say a formal farewell to South East Asia! Thank you for the food, beer, new perspectives, hospitality, beautiful views and to your bus drivers who kept me alive through the many death bus trips.

Thank you! Cảm ơn! Aw-koon! Jezu-bei! Kup Jai Lai Lai! Khop khun kah!

Nicasaratops or South Vietnam

nnninecountries — Fri, 24 May 2013 14:18:00 GMT

Hello again after a long delay! This post was written at the beginning of May, but lack of computers, travelling and general things prevented me from posting it until now. The name of the post was the dinasaur name I came up with for myself, and wrote it down in a note on the ipod where i wouldn't forget it. And then continued to write my blog post when I had the time. So, thus the name of the blog from the very beginning was Nicasaratops from the beginning and that's how it shall remain. Now here is the voice of my past self:

Wow! We made it to our last south East Asian country before going on to something totally different in China.
It's been a while since I've written a post because we've so busy trying to absorb as much of Vietnam as possible.
We started out in Saigon, the old southern capital. As a note for those wondering why Saigon doesn't show up on a map; since the independence and reunification of north and south Vietnam, Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh city after their communist leader. But, after double checking with a Vietnamese bartender, everyone still only calls it Saigon.Here is a photo of the alley way where we stayed. Always old ladies sleeping, cooking cockels and pho, or selling raw meat. We also met a drunk guy who shared a beer with us! A great place to stay to get a real feel of Saigon:

There was definitely lots to do in Saigon, and we dove straight in by going to the Ben thanh market (same name as a delicious viet-Thai restaurant in Cambridge!) We also kicked off Vietnam with our first of many bowl of pho which is beef noodle soup with all the fixings.

The next day we went to the war remnants museum which was very interesting. My whole life I've only ever heard of the "Vietnam war" and to have it displayed as the "American war and occupation" spins that notion on its head. The museum was very much centred around the injustices and atrocities of the war. Although it wasn't really news to me, as I learned about it in university, it was so astonishing to read about how unjust, unnecessary and brutal the war was. Another interesting aspect of the museum were the pictures on the walls from every country and person that protested the war. They also had a section on the effects of agent orange, including a letter from a girl to Barack Obama, asking him to send money to support centres for victims of agent orange in Vietnam as people are still suffering at the hands of the American forces.

It was so different from most war museums I've been to. I don't think I've ever seen a war museum that showcased war resisters and pacifists before. Normally they glorify the work of the soldiers and mourn their sacrifices. To have a museum almost totally dedicated to the victims of war and the injustice of war was a very different perspective.
It also made me glad I wasn't an American as it would be a lot to handle on the way of national guilt. But we can't pass judgement on the Americans of today who maybe would not have made the same choices as the American soldiers did then. But then i think about Iraq today, and I can see the same museum being built in five or ten years, with equal if not greater atrocities displayed but with less protestors. It makes me so disheartened and angry that the American government has not learned from its mistakes and continues to cause such harm and destruction on human lives while under the guise of a protector of democracy and human rights. And Canada is right there beside them. It's the same story repeated throughout history and even with international laws forbidding wars of aggression, it doesn't seem like much has changed at all. How will we stop these atrocities when they are being committed by the countries who are supposed to be leaders of democracy? It's a big question which was always debated in my human rights courses, and being in Cambodia and Vietnam (and reasing a Noam Chomsky book) I've been thinking about it alot. I think it's our job to pressure our governments to actually stand up for human rights, and not allow ourselves to get caught up in the lies and propaganda they use to convince us to sit back and allow these things to happen under the guise of our security.

To understand more about the American war, we then went to the Ci Chi Tunnels after a frustrating miscommunication with the lady at our guesthouse, which made us miss our bus there and we ended up having to pay a million dong to go see it (not exaggerating!) it was worth it though as these tunnels were so cool! Because the town of Cu Chi was very close to Saigon, the American Base during the war, the Americans wanted to have control of it. But that was not cool with the Cu chi people and they were not going to let the Americans get hold of their city no matter what. So they moved underground! Literally, their houses, schools, and kitchens were all underground with tunnels leading through all of it. They had the tunnels hidden and small enough that the Americans couldn't fit in if they found it. The cu chi people also took the metal from the bombs dropped and made really horrible booby traps hidden in the jungle. The ambiance of the place was really realistic as they had an on site shooting range, so throughout our whole tour we could hear machine guns and shotguns going off in the distance. The frequency of shooting ranges around here is still so weird to me. And how they're always placed in war memorials where I feel the least tempted to shoot a gun. Here is a photo of Jake in the tunnel that was widened for tourists:

From Saigon, we took a day bus to Nah Trang and decided to just keep on going to Hoi An, so we hopped on an overnight bus twenty minutes later. After twenty four hours of being on a moving bed with just enough of an incline to be uncomfortable, we made it to Hoi An.
Hoi An was similar to Luang Prabang as it had a river that ran through it and its highlight was the French colonial architecture. Hoi An is also on the coast, with a beautiful white sand beach, so it really has it all. Here is a photo of the old French colonial architecture:

Here is a photo of a young boy selling floating candles for good luck during the Full Moon buddhist festival (very different from the full moon party!). The street lights were all turned off, and the streets were filled with people burning insences and offerings. We bought a candle so we could take a picture of this cute little boy. Hopefully some good luck will come of it too!

It is also known for its tailors, and we have four weddings coming up, so on our first day we went to the one recommended by our hotel and I picked out a nice yellow dress and a winter coat. Jake picked out two suits and a dress shirt.

Watch out Brides and Grooms! We're going to look good!

While waiting the three days for our garments, we once again rented a motorbike and scooted along the coast to Danang, just to check it out. While driving we saw this giant Buddha on a hill overlooking the ocean, so we had to inspect it. After parking our bike a kid told us to climb over the waist-high gate to the pagoda. We were kind of nervous as we didnt even know where we were going. but after climbing up some stairs we reached a giant pagoda on the hill housing the giant Buddha. It was such a surprise and there were lots of people there so I could brush away my fears of being arrested or shot (it's amazing how often I am subjected to those types of feelings).

This was the first temple we visited in Vietnam, and it was so different from the other countries we've been to as it had such an obvious Chinese influence. As well as the long slender Buddha, it also had the chubby Buddha, dragons, warriors, and Chinese symbols. There weren't many obvious Hindu influences like in other temples we've seen although this one was quite new. We also got a beautiful view of the coastline from Danang all the way back to Hoi An.

Thats my thoughts of the South of Vietnam and to respect their differences, and so I don't bore you, ill be writing about our journey to the North next time!

Small towns, Big Cities, Ancient Temples and Nice People: What's not to love about Cambodia?

nnninecountries — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 20:01:00 GMT

When planning our trip, it seemed outrageous to me that we could go to ten or eleven countries in six months or less. So, I was originally thinking about skipping Cambodia as it is geographically easy to get from the south of Laos to Saigon, and I had never heard from anyone who had been to Cambodia. After more research and hearing from a friend at Oxfam who recently traveled there, I realized it was a must see. With the promise of beautiful country sides, the bustling city of Phnom Penh, rich history and of course Angkor Wat, there was just too much to miss. So here we are, on the soil ofthe ninth country we've entered in three months, and I'm not regretting my decision at all.

Cambodia also came at the right moment as Don Det in the south of Laos was a bit of a disappointment. It was just too touristy which made what probably used to be a beautiful island into an over-crowded and dirty place. The Lao people were also very unpleasant probably due to tourists being unpleasant to them. We also had a bad experience with a tour group there and were just ready for something totally different. Cambodia proved to be the well needed change.

We started out in Kratie, a small town in the east of Cambodia along the Mekong river. It was a bustling little town with a big market place and lots of people.

In our Lonely Planet book it said there was a tour called The Mekong Discovery trail where you could bike along the Mekong and then volunteer to help out local villages to learn about their way of life. Unfortunately, the website didn't work, and the office didn't exist. Instead, there was a giant billboard along the river with the different trails of the Mekong discovery trail and by finding the name of the trail we wanted to go on, we found a website that had the pdf! So this is the trail we took starting on the east side at KRATIE and heading north in a big circle:

We woke up at six in the morning and after buying big sandwiches for breakfast and sticky rice in a bamboo tube for lunch, we headed out on rented bikes (all for about $5 each) along the eastern side of the Mekong. After an hour and a half of riding along a busy road lined with houses and huts we reached the spot where you could see rare Irawaddy Freshwater dolphins. To get a boat to see them would cost $10 each, so we decided to take a break on the riverbank and try to see them from there. This was not cool with a cop who happened to come by (or was called by his boatman friends). He told us that if we sat there any longer we would be fined for not having a boat ticket. Probably not really a law, but I'm not one to argue with guys in uniform in foreign countries. So we got back on our bikes and continued heading east. We eventually hopped on a ferry where we got giggles and confused looks from the locals who probably don't see many tourists taking the local ferry.

The west side of the Mekong was totally isolated, and we saw only one or two cars on our whole three hour ride. But we did see lots of people hanging out underneath their huts to evade the hot sun, men on motorbikes selling cockles and kids swimming in the river. Like our last bike trip, all the little kids ran out of their houses to say hello to us which made the whole trip worth it. For lunch, we didn't know how to open our bamboo tubes, so we sat down where some kids were gathered, hoping they could show us how to open them. They crowded around us as we sat down, and after miming to them various ways we thought we could open the tube, they just giggled and ran away and shook their heads at us. So I cracked mine open and Jake peeled his like a banana and we sat and ate the coconut sticky rice while the kids stared at us.

When we decided to buy a sugar cane drink (the bag Jake has in his hand in the photo above) from the adults that were sitting near us, I grabbed the camera to take a picture of the sugar cane grinder, and the kids went nuts! They started posing and then would laugh so hard when I showed them the picture I had taken. I took a video too and they thought it was so funny! They must see cameras every so often as they knew exactly what to do. Like I had surprised them with my camera, they surprised us by saying their english ABC's and 123's unprompted. They were eager to impress how much English they knew! I was sad to leave them, but it was getting to the hottest part of the day, so we had to head home so we wouldn't be stuck biking for the whole day.

By the time we made it home I was so dirty and exhausted, but satisfied about what turned out to be a great bike trip. It was nice to do a trip on our own instead of having a tour guide and paying extra money for it. The tours are nice, but I just want to experience these things on my own sometimes and the tours tend to baby the tourists a bit, telling them where to go, what to do and preparing food for them. I like the feeling that I'm exploring something on my own, and it's hard to get that when you always have to follow the tourist path.

After Kratie, we headed to the capital city of Phnom Penh, which was just spectacular. It had lots of markets, lots of spots to eat food and lots of people. Because of the recent history of genocide in Cambodia, there were also two genocide museums to learn more about what happened and to commemorate those who suffered. We separated the museums into two days so we wouldn't be overloaded with information or grief in one day. We went to Teol Sleng or S21, the interrogation prison of the Khmer Rouge first. It was an old highschool turned into a prison and was quite creepy.

The second day we went to the Killing Fields where we placed flowers and incense at the commemorative Pagoda and saw the mass graves of the executed people. It's always hard going to these things, especially because it happened in the 70's so most of the older Cambodia's who survived can remember it. I found it hard to ask the Tuk Tuk driver to take us to the fields, but tourists go there all the time and he kept suggesting we go to the shooting range after to play around with machine guns. We had to tell him three times that shooting a gun is the LAST thing we wanted to do after visiting a genocide museum, but it eased my mind because then I knew it wasn't too much of a sensitive issue, at least for him. In the photo below you can see the commemorative pagoda behind the feild of mass graves.

At the end of the Audio Tour we took, there was also a very haunting song about Phnom Penh which Jake couldn't get out of his head! And there is a nice video of it on youtube you can view here if you want something to listen to while you read: http://youtu.be/gu6HpVo5oUI

After re-stocking on cheap clothes at the market, we headed to Sihanoukville in the West of Cambodia to hang out on the beach once again. The Mekong is great, but I was anxious to put my feet in the ocean again. I was worried before we left that I might not enjoy Sihanoukville though because we had heard about how busy it is and how over run it is, and as you should know by now; I hate places that are filled with tourists more focused on cheap drinks than understanding a country for what it is. Which is exactly what is was, but we found a small beach called Otres Beach, which was secluded and for those wanting relaxing holiday. It was a great couple days as we got to know the Canadian bartenders at our resort, and had some delicious food.

A funny thing about the beach was that there were "mobile spas" or women walking the beach offering spa services who made you promise if you wanted a massage you would find them first. I think I pinky sweared at least three women for three different spa services, just in case I changed my mind. Since Jake and I hadn't succumbed to the massage in any of the countries we've been to, we broke down and paid six dollars for a massage. We couldn't resist!

The women would also sit down beside me and talk to me about everything and anything. One woman told me about her wedding, and one told me about how a tourist told her to "Go away" and she was upset but told him off by telling him "this is my country! don't tell me to go away!" and we would always joke about how they cover themselves from head to toe even in 35 degree heat so they can stay white, while tourists sit in the sun to get dark.The people in all other countries were not like this and would only talk if you bought something, and it is so nice to talk to the locals, even if it is about small things.

There were also little kids that would come up and sell bracelets, and Jake and I ended up hanging out with two small girls named Dana and Kim, as they saw the ipod and demanded to play games. I played Pictionary with Dana using the sketchpad on my Kobo, but instead of drawing objects, she would draw scenes of tourists getting caught in the rain everytime. "This is a girl with blonde hair walking through the market in the rain" or "This is two tourists in the rain and one is happy about the rain and one is sad." I think she was happy that the rainy season was coming like all those Canadians out there anticipating spring time. It's funny how comfortable the kids get with the tourists right away. They just sit right beside you and answer all your questions without hesitation. I think they like it better than walking up and down the beach selling things.

After Sihanoukville we went back to Phnom Penh to meet up with Scott and Cat, two of Jake's friends from Ottawa. They had been travelling and working in New Zealand since November and then travelled to Vietnam for a couple weeks and through Cambodia to Thailand. So we made sure our paths crossed so we could check out the temples of Angkor Wat together. We spent a night in PP swapping stories and playing cards (It was nice to play different games than just the two player card games Jake and I play!) and headed to Siem Reap the next day.

We then spent the next three days checking out all the ancient temples. We spent about six hours there the first day driving around with a tuk tuk driver nicknamed the Speed Asian because of a logo on his helmet. We spent another six hours on bikes the next day. At one of the temples a police officer showed us all the cool spots to take photos and took group shot after group shot of us! We were kind of nervous because of the rumours of corrupt cops and thought there was a scam involved, but he just asked for a $5 tip and that was it, not bad for some sweet photos!

We made the mistake of staying a bit too late at the temples that night though and got stuck biking home in the pitch dark with flat tires on both Jake and Scott's bikes. The next day, we sacrificed sleep to check out the Lonely Planet must-see activity to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat. I won't say it was completely worth it as there were so many people there and we were all really tired (and Scott and Cat had to take a flight to Bangkok that day!) but we got a good picture (above) before checking out the temple from the tomb raider movie. As you can see, we are were all fit for the job:

I don't want to go over details and details of every temple, but I have to say that Angkor Wat is definitely something everyone should see. (Although please refrain from wearing your singlet with a naked woman on it and please wear a shirt that does not expose your leopard print bra-These are temples people, not the bar!) Each temple has a different story and different features and there is just so much to see. Seeing the ruins and the reconstruction of the ruins, it shows you just how important it is to preserve these pieces of history.

On a separate note, I was surprised at how the amount of people selling things outside of the temples was not as bad as in Bagan, but maybe it was because of the Khmer new year or maybe I'm just used to it now which might be the case. I was half way through haggling with a four year old for postcards when I realized how ridiculous it is that I was haggling with a four year old, and that maybe I really have adjusted to the ways of bartering here.

Now we are back down to two. We spent some time in Siem Reap over the Khmer new year, and there isn't much to do for tourists, so we are just laying low. We haven't forgot our bad experience of travelling on Chinese New Year so we stayed a couple extra days to avoid the hassle. Below is a photo of Siem Reap all decked out for the New year:

We then went back to Phnom Penh, and the New Year's festivities are still going on. Yesterday, while sitting on the lawn of the grand palace, we were invited to have a picnic dinner with a woman and her three kids! We ate hard boiled eggs with a sort of developed baby duck inside, and little meat skewers. The woman didn't speak much English, and we don't speek any Khmer, but miming things out can be quite funny sometimes, so we had a good time. I was so touched she invited us to celebrate the New Year with her, and I am so grateful. What an experience! We are definitely leaving Cambodia on a very happy note. Here they are!

And for something totally different. we're off to Saigon tomorrow! Happy Khmer New Year everyone!

Life in Laos (some ups and some downs)

nnninecountries — Tue, 2 Apr 2013 00:59:00 GMT

One of the things that has occurrd many times in Asia that was hard to get used to was the amount of people who want to take photos with me. At first I usually assume they want me to take a photo OF them, but then they hand Jake their camera and wave me over to stand beside them and put their arms around me. I started to get Jake to also take photos with our camera as its quite funny.

To begin our trip in Laos, we took a slowboat from Chiang Khong to Luang Prabang; one of the most anticipated parts of our trip. Two days of slowly meandering down the Mekong river was more than I expected. Everywhere we looked were lush mountains and people living in bamboo huts. It was a perfect introduction to Laos and all the nature it has to offer. One prickly thorn in our peaceful Mekong experience was that the second day we happened to be travelling on St. Patrick's day, and because they sell beer on the boat, everyone drank to celebrate the occasion. So once again we had to listen to other people's shitty music on their shitty speakers and listen to them loudly sing along. Why does this always happen to us!? I feel like everywhere we go a gaggle of wannabe karaoke stars follows us along. Annoying! If I could give one piece of advice to other travellers: no one wants to listen to your music or your singing voice, especially on public transportation. (Also another piece of advice for travellers I read somewhere: "think more, wear more." I want to wear that on a sign around my neck!) Jake still managed to get some sleep though:

Anyway, we made it to Luang Prabang and it was just so relaxed compared to most of the places in Thailand we had visited.

There weren't nearly as many people and it was cozied right between two rivers giving it a secluded feel. We went for a bike ride the first day, crossed a precarious bamboo bridge, and checked out the evening market right outside our guesthouse.

The next day we went on a two day trek to the mountains. It was pretty intense! It was about a six hour hike, with a stop for lunch in a small village. The small village had a small dirty looking body of water just outside it (that the local people drink from) with picnic tables set up. During the day while their parents are tending the rice fields or doing whatever work they do, the children play in that area. When they hear tourists coming they quickly clean up the area and then run and get little things to sell us. They then set up these little things in the most particular and organized ways on the table and while the tourists eat, the children smile and pat the items, making it impossible for you not to buy something. We bought four homemade bracelets from the kids in exchange for a photo of them too. Here they are refusing to smile! You can see their perfectly laid out goods too!

I then ran around with the kids, helped them ride a cow, and pondered why they all had runny noses and dirty clothes and why they weren't in school. Ill never forget their sweet little faces!

After hiking up and down the sides of mountains, we made it to a home stay in a hmong village at the top of one of the hills. There was a nice guesthouse for us there and our tour guide showed us around the village and told us about their way of life. It was funny to see the 19 or 20 year old German tourist we were with so shocked at the living conditions, especially that some of the children don't go to school or had never seen a doctor.

I liked staying in this village because we had a guesthouse and we weren't in the way or the focus. no one had to stop what they were doing because we arrived there. It was funny because my first instinct of a village this remote was one of serenity but they were having a big party that day and were blaring music and dancing the whole time we were there! And then when we went to bed (at 9 o'clock! Haha) someone in the hut beside us was watching a horror movie at full volume. They really shot down the peaceful stereotype we had!

Seeing a big village like this definitely gave me a different perspective of poverty too. Probably from years of World Vision ads and learning about human right issues, I had an engrained vision that everyone in these living conditions were suffering all the time. Even though I know that's irrational, those were my underlying feelings. I feel like that comes from the perspective that if I were to live in those same conditions, it would be very hard and possibly fatal for me because of the way i grew up. But when i saw these people partying and the kids as happy as they can be, it is really eye opening. After talking with jake about it, I deduced that living without government assistance at all is not suffering, but they suffer whenever something drastic occurs. Like a sickness in the family, or a drought, and that is when they need more assistance from the government, and that is when their basic rights are not within their grasp. And that's what makes it hard to help the problems within these communities. They don't need help now, they need something to rely on when things happen that put their rights and their lives at jeopardy.

This view of it however, does not include schooling which I believe every child should have access to. But it's more than just learning their ABC's, it's about choice as to whether they want to stay in the village, or go to the city. Which makes education seem very valuable, but when we saw the three roomed school with one teacher, you wonder if the children really have access to those choices in life. And what it means to them to have those choices.

I could go on forever about this, so ill stop and think about it some more and continue about our journey through Laos. Not before sharing a peaceful photo of Jake swimming at the base of a waterfall:

After the trek I got a bad case of travellers sickness, which was pretty wicked but with the help of antibiotics, went away in a day. We're pretty lucky that that was the only time either of us has gotten sick. Fingers crossed it doesn't happen again! It's funny when you're travelling because evey time you have a cramp or feel kind of gross, you think you're going to die or be in bed for ten days. It's usually nothing but you hear so many horror stories you can't help but think about it all the time. It helps that we are taking malaria pills though so I don't think i have malaria every time I sneeze.

When I recovered we got on a bus to Vientiane, the capital. The bus ride was one of those death buses you hear about from other travellers all the time. it took us 10 hours to travel 300km, even going as fast as the driver could go, because it was up and down the side of mountains the whole time, on a one lane highway. Despite what seemed like unfavourable odds, we still made it in safely.

Vientiane had a decent backpacker scene but was pretty empty and our water in the hotel was giving us electrical shocks! So we left the next day for the south. Not before having fun in the Mekong river though! During dry season it's super fun to go rafting:

and even more fun to go swimming:

The bus we took to the 4000 islands was a sleeper bus, too unsafe for Canada, but perfect for an overnight drive. It's equipped with beds, but luckily jake and I are pretty close friends, so we were fine sharing a bed. Sign up by yourself and you may be sleeping in a single bed with a weirdo! Hhaha!

We slept like babies as we were no longer driving up the side of a mountain. After a short bus and boat ride, we arrived on Don Kong, a quiet island in the Mekong with not too many other tourists. We went for a bike ride which was great as all the little children came running out of their houses waving and screaming "sabadee!" (Hello) to us. Then they would giggle or chase after us, and it was just the best thing ever. It's small experiences like that that make me so happy to be on this trip.

After relaxing in serenity for a couple days we moved to Don Det where all the other tourists flock to. It was fun as we ran into Suzie, a German who we met on the trek, so we we went out with her one night. We also watched movies at a movie bar and saw a disappointing waterfall. Unfortunately being a child of Ontario and many trips to Niagara Falls as a kid, I will never be impressed by a another "big" waterfall. Nothing will ever compare to the pride and joy of Ontario.

Up next: One of the countries we have both been looking forward to the most, Cambodia!

Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai-goodbye To Thai!

nnninecountries — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 03:45:00 GMT

After an overnight bus, waiting in an airport for nine hours and a sleepless overnight train, we ended up in Chiang Mai in the North of Thailand. How we managed to get to Chiang Mai and everything we were doing there was very much different from the rest of our trip as everything was pre-booked before we left for Myanmar. The way that happened was we went to a Tourism Authority of Thailand office (or so we thought) in Bangkok and our fast talking travel agent planned and booked everything within a blink of an eye. She was very good at her job and the way she added an "ahhh" of wonderment at the end of get sentences left no room for argument. (To possibly try to explain it better she would say: "you see elephants ahhhh and then you see tribes ahhhh" in a very drawn out way, much like you would ooh and ahh while watching fireworks)

After we left the travel agency not really knowing how we ended up booking the next 20 days of travel with the intention of just getting a visa, I felt frustrated with myself for possibly making the same mistake we did with our jungle experience in Malaysia. For that trip we had booked in advance and then realized we wanted to move our schedule around to do more things and couldn't. I was worried that would all happen again and that once again I would be disappointed.

Anyway, we had booked all these things in advance and then just went with the flow not really knowing where we were staying or what we were doing. The one really good thing about it though was that instead of haggling with taxis drivers and tuk tuk drivers who always rip us off, we had a pre-paid driver to and from the bus stations and our guesthouses. It was really nice not to feel like we were getting ripped off every time we needed to get anywhere.

We were lucky to have arrived in Chiang Mai on a Sunday, the day when a huge market sets up right downtown. You could buy anything you wanted including lots of handmade crafts and paintings. Although i absolutely love the markets, Jake and I try our best not to buy things for a couple reasons. (Tangent Alert!) First of all, we don't want to carry anything more than we have to and mailing things isn't cheap. Secondly, we want to save our money for activities or visiting more places along the way. Lastly, I spent the last half a year before we left trying desperately to get rid of as much stuff as I could, so to start hoarding again wouldn't make much sense. It's hard not to buy things though because all the crafts are so cool and so cheap. It takes a lot of self control!

The next day, we left for our trek and sure enough we were with four other Canadians! They were four guys from Victoria who seemed to be drinChiang Mai, Chiang Rai-goodbye To Thai!king their way across south east Asia while getting in as many shenanigans as they could. Needless to say, they had a lot of funny stories.

The trek consisted of a short elephant ride and then a two hour trek to a jungle camp. We passed a village of hill tribe people and I bought a handmade bracelet from a cute little girl along the way. Not nearly as invasive as our last trip to native lands and when I asked the tour guide if they care that we walk through, he said it wasn't a problem because people have been trekking through there for 9 years so it was more normal than anything. Its still a little strange to me how much people want to poke around native villages, but one tangent per blog post is enough.

When we arrived at our jungle camp we hung out with the guides who offered us "Thai-water" or rice whiskey they made themselves, muskrat and deep fried snake skin. We then sang campfire songs and drank beer, and tasted frogs they cooked live on the fire. We felt so bad for the poor froggies but I guess that's how they do things in the jungle. As our tour guide said more than fifty times "never try, never know!"

It was a very fun night which ended badly as I woke up in the middle of the night and our water bottle had soaked all of our blankets and our mattresses. Luckily there were two separate beds beside us, with two extra blankets, but it was so cold that I barely got any sleep with just the one blanket. It was just horrible!

The next day was nice and hot though and we headed back down to Chiang Mai. But not before we got on a bamboo raft and cruised down the river while our boatmen made odd jokes about ladyboys and yelling "no wet, no fun!" while splashing us with their paddles. Overall it was a great trek and we didn't feel any buyer's remorse.

We then did a cooking course which was super fun and delicious. After taking us to the market to show us all the things we would be cooking with, they let us each choose four dishes and taught us how to make them, including curry paste. The people who were with us were very cool and our teacher was super flamboyant and fun. In the end they gave us a certificate and a recipe book so we could make them at home.

That night we me up with the four Canadian guys and our tour guides again and they took us out to the "real" Chiang Mai at a Thai bar. It was so cool to actually hang out with some Thai people and to see something other than the tourist side of Chiang Mai.

Our package then took us to Chiang Rai, northeast of Chiang Mai, which was a bit more relaxed. We went to a night market where we saw traditional thai dancing, and then rented a motorbike the next day. With the motorbike we went to a temple made by a contemporary thai artist. It was so cool! My sister Tina would live there if she could! It was supposed to represent the necessary suffering endured during life before reaching nirvana, and so it had skulls and demons all out front of the temple. And not even old demons. but modern day demons like Freddie Kruger and Predator.

It was kind of like you had to walk through all kinds of human suffering to get in the temple. In a good way.

I haven't uploaded my pictures from Chiang rai, but here is a link. Please check it out! It's so cool! http://www.neverendingvoyage.com/white-temple-chiang-rai-a-photo-essay/

To continue on the morbidity theme, our next stop was called "the black house". It was like a very large art project modelled like a large house where all its rooms are separate buildings. For example, one building was a bathroom, another two buildings were the guest bedrooms and so on. The decor of all these rooms was like an overdone hunting lodge with antlers, snake skin, bear hides and even a live cobra. It was pretty strange but interesting none the less. Here's a link for this one too, check it out! http://www.neverendingvoyage.com/black-house-chiang-rai-thailand/

Our motorbike tour continued to the most northern part of Thailand to the point where we kept thinking we had accidentally crossed into Myanmar again but this time without visas let alone passports. But we learned its not actually that easy to go into other countries and eventually saw the border crossing and stayed safely in Thailand. The sun was setting so we headed down the serene empty highway only stopping to check out the "golden triangle viewpoint" where you can see Laos, Thailand and Myanmar at the same time. We made it home just a little after dark with very sore bums from driving all day but slept very well that night.

I feel this blog post has been long enough so ill write about our trip down the Mekong river into Laos next time!

From Bangkok to Burma

nnninecountries — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 01:33:00 GMT

We made it to Bangkok after braving an overnight bus with loud travellers singing Karaoke and some near death turns that almost made the bus topple over.
I don't have much to say about Bangkok, as Jake got a pretty bad cold and we were in need of a break. We saw some temples and the grand palace but mostly stayed on the infamous Khao San road. Khao San is really for backpackers and travellers, so there isn't much to do other than go to bars which we were not up to doing. We did make a trip to Ayutthaya about an hour outside the city and saw the old capital with scenic views of old temples. I don't want to bore you with too many photos of temples, so here is a photo of an elephant taking a cucumber from a baby instead. Aww!

As our visa in Thailand was running out, so we had to leave the country. Jake's brother and his wife had taken a trip to Myanmar earlier in the year and convinced Jake that it was a must see. Although it wasn't in the plan, we decided to head west to Myanmar for an extended visa trip. So after four days in Bangkok, we hopped on a plane and landed in Yangon, the former capital of Myanmar. I was quite nervous to go, as it wasn't one of the countries I had looked into, and I didn't really know what to expect. But from the second we landed I knew it was what we were looking for in a city. It's hard to describe but it just had such a good feel to it. First of all, there are all old buildings still from the colonial age which give it a very interesting look. There are also endless markets and stalls all over the city. As the borders were just recently opened for tourists, it is not overrun with tourist infrastructure yet, so the look and feel of the city is completely genuine. We checked into our hostel, ate and then ran to the most famous pagoda in Yangon for the sunset. It was absolutely phenomenal! It was all pure gold and all the temples were decorated and very detailed. There were so many people there as this temple is the pride and joy of Myanmar and a must see for all Buddhists in the country. We stayed for a couple hours and then got lost trying to find where we left our shoes. The next day we did a Lonely Planet walking tour where we saw another pagoda, city hall, the strand hotel, and then china town, little India and the Aung market place. We ended our day with a traditional Myanmar meal with curries, soup, raw veggies and salads. It was similar to Chinese food, but a little bit different as it was a bit spicier and had a bit more of an Indian influence. And they give you so much food! It was great.

We then got on an overnight bus to Bagan to see the famous 600 year old temples and pagodas. When we got to Bagan at three in the morning, it was funny to see all the people wearing jackets, bu it was actually quite cold outside. Luckily when we hopped on a horse carriage, there was a blanket I could use to keep warm as I sent my only sweater home because I haven't needed to use one this whole trip. Instead of paying for an extra room in the hotel, we left our bags with them and joined a nice traveler from New York named Bob to watch the sunrise. After getting dropped off at a temple and given vague directions to turn left, we wandered around a 600 year old temples in the dark. Eventually we found stairs in the temple and stood on top of it to watch the sunrise. It was so amazing because we didn't really know what to expect of Bagan. But as the sun rose we saw why we were told to go to there. Every five minutes as the sun rose we saw more and more temples until there were more temples than the eye could see. It was absolutely spectacular.

After a good sleep, we rented bikes and saw a couple more temples and watched the sunset from a large, more tourist populated temple. It is probably the first and last time we intentionally watched the sunrise and sunset on the same day.
The next day, we took a horse cart with good humoured Bob, and did the usual route, stopping off at all the big temples along the way. It was so amazing to see so many temples in one spot, and I am so glad we made the trip. The children selling us things were also quite adorable and I keep seeing their cute little faces in my head. Here is a picture of Bob and Cheeta!

That night we headed back to Bangkok via an overnight bus to Yangon where we waited about 9 hours for our flight, and then waited another 3 hours for an overnight train to Chiang Mai.

Although I was hesitant about Burma at first because of the politics and lack of knowledge I have of it, I was so happy to go and it's one of my favourite places so far. The people are less jaded to tourism now, and I get like we were really seeing it for what it is. It saddens me to think that we are part a slow process that contributes to turning these places into overrun tourist hubs, but I feel if all tourists tried to be respectful and understanding of there surroundings, as well as try to do as the locals do, we can have a small impact, and hopefully a positive one.

The Beautiful Beaches of Thailand

nnninecountries — Mon, 4 Mar 2013 02:08:00 GMT

Sorry for the lack of photos! the internet cafes in Bangkok wont let us look at upload photos. Ill add some later!

Hello Thailand! Considering how close Malaysia and Thailand are, the people and way of life is very different to us! I never would have guessed that I was comfortable in Malaysia until we got to Thailand and I had to adjust to a totally new culture again. Which is why we're doing the trip, so no complaints here.

We started out our trip in Koh Lipe, a tiny island about 6 km off the west coast of Thailand. There aren't any cars on the island of lipe but they have their fair share of beaches, bars, and stray dogs. We stayed in a small straw hut, with a mattress on the floor and just enough roomfor our bags. We also had our own bathroom which was just a dingy cement room attached to the side of the hut. All in all it was pretty good aside from the frog we found in our toilet (named Captain Joe Phi Phi) and the giant spider he brought with him.

The beach was exactly what comes to mind when you think about Thai islands. Perfect sand, live music, restaurants right on the beach, longboats and fire dancers. We spent most of our time on one of the three beaches and were expecting to meet up with our friends but they ended up heading to railey instead. It was too bad we couldn't see them sooner, but I'm not going to complain about changing plans to go to paradise for a couple days. I should thank them for the idea!

After a couple days in the beach and being surrounded by other tourists, we were desperate to find out what "real" Thailand was like. So we took a really choppy speed boat and a minibus, and another bus, to nahkon si thammarat. It is a city where people first existed in the south of Thailand, and is known for its temples, craft work and slow pace. It was beautiful but difficult at first as no one at all spoke English and we had a hard time finding places to eat food. But I'm so glad we went and spent two days just looking at all the temples and market places. We also only saw about three or four other white people there, and you can tell the locals don't see many tourists as everyone would smile at us and use every English word they knew when they saw us, even when they were driving by on their motorbikes of in shared taxis. Also, all the children in the museum stood near us and giggled, and then eventually got the courage to stand in a line and shake our hands and say hello! It was pretty cute!

Then, to mix it up completely, we went to Ko Pha Ngan, the epitome of Thailand beach tourist culture and home of the famous Full Moon Party. We had a nice bungalow on the beach (no frogs in the bathroom this time) and finally met up with James, Kim and Steph. We spent a couple days on the beach, rented some motorbikes and scooted around a bit, and just caught up on our adventures so far. We then headed to the full moon party dressed in florescent clothes and glow in the dark body paint. For those who don't know anything about the full moon parties, they originated when hippy travellers first noticed that the full moon was best viewed from haad rin beach, and started partying every time there was a full moon. So now it's become the thing to do and about 25,000 people go during the peak season when there is a full moon. They also have "half moon parties" and "sliver moon parties" and "we went to the jungle today" parties and "we saw a waterfall today" parties, and then after-parties for each one. The full moon party is really the big deal though and it was definitely a lot of fun. The beach was crowded from one end to the other with people drinking buckets filled with mickeys of alcohol and mix for 120 baht ($4 Canadian). There were djs, food stalls and people selling florescent gear as well as laughing gas. We spent most of the time walking around running into people we'd met previously and saying hello to other Canadians. We then danced on a raised cement platform. Around 5 am ( they mix red bull with all the drinks) we sat down on the beach and counted the amount of people who were passed out along the beach and helped one guy who was about to get swept in with the tide. The goal of the party was to make it to sunrise, but we were tired and hungry so we went home. Jake and I had to walk home along the beach while the sun came up, so we did make it to sunrise, just not amidst all the people still dancing and drinking.

Overall, it was fun, except for the fact that forty five minutes after arriving to the beach, my iPod was stolen from my purse. I knew i shouldn't have brought it with me, but i wanted to take some pictures. So I am a little lost without my ultimate survival tool. It was also a gift from jake, so I am very sad about loosing it. I filed a police report and am filing an insurance claim, so hopefully i'll get some money to replace it.

Anyway, it was still fun, and it was really great to hang out with our friends for a couple days. We said goodbye and are now heading to Bangkok where the relaxation ends and the real adventure begins.

Goodbye Malaysia!

nnninecountries — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 23:24:00 GMT

The last time I wrote, we were on our way to the bus station to catch a bus to Penang in the north of Malaysia. It turned out to be way easier said than done. When we got to the bus station, we went down to the terminals below the station to wait for our bus and it was complete mayhem! There were roughly five guys with walkie-talkies moving groups of people from one end of the terminal to another, while other men crowded around them trying to find out where they were supposed to go. When the buses arrived, everyone crowded the bus doors and pushed and shoved to get it. It was definitely not the Canadian way to do things, and after we found a place to stand, it ceased being a stressful situation, and actually became quite humorous. For the first two hours at least. Our bus was supposed to arrive at 3:30 and get us to Penang around 8:30pm. At around 5:30, another passenger asked the security guards when our bus was coming as he was annoyed at having to wait 2 hours already. The man with the walkie talkie came up and said it would be there by 6. And then at 6 he said 6:30. "It's on its way, but it won't be here until 7" and so on and so on until about 8:00pm when we finally got to push and shove our way to our seats. We didn't make it to our hotel until about 1am, and luckily there was a nice cab driver who knew where our hotel was on the mainland, and we were relieved to see the reception at our hotel was open 24 hours a day.

The next day, we went to the island to try to find a hostel, for the next couple nights which also proved to be quite the ordeal. It was another long process as we had to push and shove and eventually run, to get on the ferry. Finally, we made it to the island and found a cheap hostel on the main street which was backpacker central (in a good way). The next couple days (after the horrid ferry ride again with our big packs) we spent exploring the beauty of the city. Georgetown on Penang is a UNESCO world heritage site, because it was settled by the British and all the heritage buildings and fort continue to be preserved. It is also known for its aspects of religious harmony, as Hindu temples, Churches, Mosques and Buddhist temples exist all on the same streets within blocks of each other. Penang is also known as the food capital of Malaysia. We experienced that portion of Penang at a food market called "Red garden" which was the biggest food market we had been to yet. We ordered about 4 or 5 small dishes so we could try as much as we good. Some of the dishes included dumplings, Chee Cheong Fun (gross!), Filipino lamb, and Thai special fried ribs.

On one of the days we went up to Penang hill where we squished into a train and rode up 6 km above the city. The air up there was cooler than in the city and we stayed up there (avoiding the thieving monkeys) until sunset and watched the city below light up. Because of Chinese new year, we could see fireworks in the different parts of the city which was really cool to see so high up.

We then walked to the Kek Lok Si temple right beside the hill. It is the largest Buddhist temple in South East Asia, and for Chinese new year they allow people to tour through it until midnight. The temple was beautifully decorated with thousands of lights, and it made me feel nostalgic for going to see Christmas lights with my family when I was a kid and the new tradition with my sister to go see Christmas lights on boxing day. Once again we squished into a little cable car to go visit the giant statue of Kuan Yin (wiki says she was a boddisatva) which was filled with more prayers, rituals and beauty. Throughout the whole temple, it was so interesting to see all the Chinese and Buddhist traditions and to see so many people partaking in them. It was a beautiful temple made even more beautiful by all the lights and all the worshippers.

The next day, we went to Batu Ferringi, a beach on the island. When we arrived we thought it was quite funny because there were men on the beach with whistles yelling at each other and trying to organize where people were going to sit on rented beach chairs, which was kind of like the hilarious bus station situation all over again. The beach was very picturesque and it was nice to relax after the hustle and bustle of travelling.

On our bus back from the beach we ran into our Quebecker friends we met on the Night safari in Teman Negara. It was so great to see them again so we decided to have dinner with them that night. They took us to a spectacular restaurant and overall it was really nice to hang out with some friendly and similar people. They are doing about the same trip as us, and are currently in Thailand, so we're hoping to meet up with them again.

We had to stay an extra night in Penang as we wanted to go to the Island of Langkawi, but all the ferries were booked up. So we walked through little India and checked out the old town hall, and Fort Cornwallis, the original British settlement points in Peneng. We had to hide in an ancient building originally used for gun storage as a monsoon-like rainstorm came on suddenly. We still ended up getting drenched on the way home. When we got home we were lucky because the hostel was offering a free buffet to celebrate Chinese new year. We tried some really good home-made Malaysian food and were really appreciative of the hospitality of the people.

We left the next day, and took a short ferry to Langkawi. As Langkawi is mostly a resort island, we spent most of our time on the beach save for the last day where we took a 5 hour kayak trip. We work up early and picked up three more couples and heading to the Kilm Geopark. Before we got into the kayaks, our guide took us to a bat cave and showed us the company fish farm where I got to touch a stingray! We then hopped in the kayak and I was surprised at how well we did. At least we weren't like the two honeymooners on the trip who kept getting stuck and couldn't go very fast at all. The guide took us to a lookout to see the Brahman-kites, or the giant eagles native to Langkawi. Our guide explained to us that other companies in the park feed the eagles chicken skin in order to attract them for the tourists. Their company refuses to do it as they are an eco friendly company, and they see the feeding as wrong because it essentially turned the eagles into fat pigeons and they no longer hunt. It was nuts to see how many eagles show up when a boat arrives, waiting for their daily meal. It's also very sad as it's really disruptive to the eco-system. I'm glad we went with a company that saw a problem with it, and refused to do it.

We then took a quick swim and continued through the narrow alleys of the mangroves where we saw a grey viper. Lastly, our guide explained to us how the trees in the mangroves grow sprouts in their branches and then drop them in the water hoping they'll eventually root. Our guide collected some stems that didn't root and let us plant them in the mud, to contribute to the reforestation of the mangroves. You could already see some of the previous stem sprouting into luscious trees. It was a great day. I can't seem to get enough of the jungle!

After a delicious dinner and a drink on the beach, we decided that instead of going to Trang in Thailand, we were going to go to an island called Lipe to meet our friends Kim and James. So we left for Thailand at 9am. Hello Thailand!

A Jungle Adventure-Teman Negara

nnninecountries — Sat, 9 Feb 2013 16:51:00 GMT

One thing I have been looking forward to since we decided to go to Malaysia was Teman Negara; A national park in Malaysia.
It is a place where people can trek through one of the oldest jungles in the world and stay over night either in the jungle or in a hostel in the little village across the river from the entrance to the park.
We bought a package which gave us three days and two nights at the park with a room in the village and we could pay extra if we wanted to do activities while in the park.

My first mistake was thinking that the package included three whole days in the park or at least one full day and two Half days. But travel here takes a lot longer than I thought and there were so many connections that we didn't get to Teman Negara until 5pm even though we left at 8am. Luckily there was a boat ride through the jungle which was pretty relaxing and we got to see some monkeys and water buffalo.
When we got the the park I was a bit disappointed because I realized that instead of booking two days in the hostel, we could have booked one night in the hostel and then done a two day guides tour where we could have slept in a cave. That would have been so cool! But we didn't know about it before and everything was already booked so we couldn't go for that option. Too bad!
So instead we went on a night safari ride, where we got in the back of a 4wheeler with two other Canadians, and went on and adventure to see animals in the palm tree plantation. Our guide, who sat on the roof with a giant flashlight, pointed out some birds and little leopards to us while we hung on for our lives along the narrow pathway over steep cliffs.

The next day, we hiked up to the canopy walkway, a sketchy little walkway above the treetops with nothing but a net on both sides. It was beautiful views but I was so scared and couldn't help walking super slowly.

I then had to stop about 5 times on our way up a million stairs to the top of a hill with a lookout. But it was worth the view.
We then booked a tour to "shoot the rapids" which was also stopping off at the Orang Asli or "original people" village. My first instinct was that it seemed like a strange things for tourists to do, but that was the only option so we hopped in.
At the Aboriginal village, the Malay tour guide told us about the way the Batek people there lived off the jungle entirely. He explained that they originated from Papau New Guinea and explained their funeral ceremonies and how they created blow darts for hunting and could kill animals in three seconds with the poison. A teenager then came and showed up how he could make a fire in one second and make a dart in about two seconds.
They guide then spoke about how the government allows them, and only them, to live in the jungle, but that the government hoped they would one day decide to live somewhere else as they are contributing to the degradation of the jungle. (But so is tourism so it was a strange argument to make to a bunch of tourists).
To be honest, the stop at the aboriginal village was very awkward and although it was cool to see the way people live in the jungle, I felt very awkward being there. I felt like we were making a spectacle of there life there and were being insensitive to their homes and space. I felt like we had walked into someone's kitchen or backyard uninvited and made entertainment out of their traditional ways (they let us try the blow dart pipe). Before we left for the tour, Jake and I figured it would be insensitive to bring our camera, and we didn't want it I get wet afterwards, but we were the only people who thought so. Everyone else was shamelessly taking photos of their huts and the children, as well as asking them to pose for the camera!
It's very confusing for me because I am essentially doing the same thing all over Asia, but I feel like I try hard to respect people's space and not take photos of people I don't know, but in the end I am still an uninvited tourist in another person's homeland. But for some reason the visit to the village felt even worse, especially because the tour guide said they were annoyed with tourists being there. The tour gives them five dollars for each tourist that goes, on there request, but still. Also, when we drove by again later, there were at least three times more people on the hill than when we stopped to visit. So obviously they go away when we show up. I'm not sure what to think about it. On one hand i feel like its good that the tours exist so tourists don't just go uninvited, but I still feel people should be going there without being invited. We talked with some other backpackers and they seemed to agree with our sense of annoyance that those tours exist and that we went on one. Maybe we should of thought harder about it next time. Anyway, your thoughts would be appreciated!
All these thoughts then disappeared as I did the third most dangerous thing I've ever done (that's three in two days) and went down the rapids in a rickety wooden boat driven by two twelve year olds. The tour guide and his friend sat at the front of the boat and rocked it back and forth to ensure we got soaking wet. Luckily it wasn't a deep river!

Anyway, we made it back alive and well. We're now on our way to Penang for Chinese New Year!
Good luck with all the snow for those in Canada. Stay safe!

The Lion City and KL

nnninecountries — Mon, 4 Feb 2013 21:39:00 GMT

Happy February! (I originally wrote this post a couple days ago!) Four countries in one month; not bad right?

Getting to Singapore from Australia was quite a long trip. Starting at 3am from the Brisbane airport, we eventually made it to Singapore about 18 hours later. But once we made it to the 31 degree heat of Singapore we were tired but happy. The great panda adventure had really begun!

Our hotel was in Little India so we walked around for a bit, taking everything in and eventually settled down at a hawker stall and ate mushy rice and questionable meat with big bottles of Tiger beer.

The next day we switched to a cheaper hostel called the Green Kiwi. It was such a great hostel! It had free breakfast, wifi and a rooftop patio.

We explored Singapore quite a bit in the two days. We started at the Asian civilization museum where we learned a lot about Buddhism. Which was very cool and also coincides with the book I'm reading by Jack Kerouac called The Darma Bums. We

then did a walking tour of The Clarke and Riverside quays which were the primary settlements along the river where business first started booming in Singapore.

The next day we went to the botanical gardens which was very beautiful and we got to see a monitor lizard too! We then went to Marina Bay where we saw all the buildings that make up the beautiful, yet interesting Singapore skyline. This includes three skyscrapers side by side with a bar in the shape of a boat resting on top, an amphitheatre in the shape of two durian fruits , the science centre that looks like a lotus on a pedestal and a Merlion statue that spits water all day and gets its photo taken more than anything else in Singapore.

We are very lucky to be in Asia during the time of the Chinese New Year, as there are lots of preparations going on for the celebrations, making the cities even more beautiful than before.

We then paid $30 each for a bus to Malaysia. It was a great bus ride as the seats were huge with leg rests and massage options! Pretty good for $30! There was a little hiccup at the Singapore border, but we still made it through okay.

So here we are in Kuala Lumpur! We are staying in Chinatown again, at a place called The Birdnest. We arrived in the dark which is when the Petaling market starts bustling with hundreds of people haggling for knock off branded purses, shoes and clothing. It was quite a shock and after 6 hours of travelling we were quite unprepared for it. The next day we made the mistake of checking out the downtown area, not realizing it was a Sunday and so the city felt quite unenergentic and we decided we needed to go home and take a break from all the craziness. I had a bit of a breakdown because everything was so different, we were so nervous about being robbed, we had to worry about malaria now, we couldn't eat ice, we had to treat our water, and being a tourist can be a little stressful. I also get a little bit tired of trying to be culturally sensitive and always feeling like you stick out like a sore thumb is difficult to deal with everyday. I knew this kind of breakdown was destined to happen, so at least it happened when we had the time to relax and a great hostel to be at.

Instead of exploring and pushing ourselves over the limit, we ended up hanging out with the owner of the hostel, Willie, two Germans and five Swedish girls. We all decided to head out to "reggae"bar. I have a hard time calling it a reggae bar because although it had Bob marley photos all over the wall, they only played two reggae songs. It was still a lot of fun though.

The next day I caved and got macdonalds because I wanted something a little bit familiar. And indeed it was. Later on, a British couple and an Aussie girl showed up at the hostel and we all went to Bukit Bintang, a shopping district with a very larger market place. We enjoyed a big feast with crab, cockles, noodles and I drank out of a coconut.

We then head for Taman Negara the next day, which will be a separate blog post.

Photos: The Great Panda Adventure

nnninecountries — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 10:18:00 GMT

PIcture from Sydney to London

The three B's: Becky, Brett and Brisbane

nnninecountries — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 03:40:00 GMT

Side Note: I changed the website for my blog! The other one didn’t let me put pictures throughout the post (which I haven't figured out yet! Haha), and I really wanted that feature. It also didn’t notify me if someone made a comment. So I ditched it and now am using another site. I put the other two posts on there in case you want to catch up, or read them again (haha). I’m sorry I couldn’t keep all your lovely comments. Thank you so much for posting them!

Our first stop after Sydney was Byron Bay. To get there, we took a knock-off greyhound which was pretty good except for the driver’s obsession with the movie “Wild hogs”. We were forced to watch all the behind the scenes, director’s cuts and then the actual movie before he turned the t.v.s off. I tried to look out the window at the beautiful view, but old washed up actors and their midlife crises were just too distracting.

Anyway, it was really too bad we only had one day in Byron Bay, as the hostel we stayed in was just wonderful. It felt like we were at a beach cottage. It was above a dive centre and right near the beach and the downtown area. And by “downtown area” I mean, the three or four strips of beach shops, live music bars and backpacker havens. We spent the whole day on the beach, got our first REAL sunburns and checked out the nightlife for a bit.

We continued our trip the next morning to Brisbane, where we were staying with Becky, Jake’s highschool bestie, and her Australian fiancé, Brett. They live in a suburb just outside of the City Business District, in a part of town called Ascot. As I said earlier, we spent a lot of time being lazy, playing cards, reading and just hanging out but made sure to get to the city a couple times.

Brisbane is really unique because it is separated by a river that snakes through the whole city. Each time we wanted to go to the city we would take the “City Cat”, which was a ferry that will take you to different parts of the city. It was such a cool way to travel!

While in Brisbane, we hung out at South Bank, where there is a man-made beach in the centre and colourful walkways. We also walked to Kangaroo point and saw a great view of the city, went up a giant ferris wheel, went to an art gallery, and hung out in the Botanic gardens. We also checked out Chinatown and the local market.

We were also lucky to have been in Australia for Australia Day, where we tried to conceal our Canadian accents while we watched cockroach races and listened to a live band play music we had never heard. It was lots of fun and pretty comparable to Canada day minus the fire works.

Lastly, it was really great to hang out with Becky and Brett. They are super cool and I’m glad to have got to know them. Next time I see them will be at there wedding, which is pretty exiting too!

Now I am just waiting for our plane to board for Singapore!

Hanging out in Potts Point

nnninecountries — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 03:10:00 GMT

After spending four nights and three days in Bondi Beach, and seeing our first cockroach (blegh!), we checked out of our hostel and took a train to a new hotel in an area called Potts Point. On our trek there, we saw strip club after strip club, lots of dingy places and people and I started to get very worried about what area we were going to spend the next three nights. I started thinking about if it was worth it to cancel our reservation but then suddenly we turned a corner and everything had changed. There were no longer any bars with blacked out windows, but instead the street had cute little cafes, wine bars and quaint little shops. We checked into our hotel and it was safe, clean and very comfortable. I was satisfied and very relieved.

After we checked into our new hotel, we walked around for a bit, had a coffee (or should I saw a cappaccino-they don't have brewed coffee here! Only espresso. Not complaining!) and then took a bus to meet our friend in Maroubra beach. She wasn't there though, and it started raining so we hung out at another cafe and read our books. Jurassic park for me, and Gravity's rainbow for Jake.

Because of the rain and the coziness of our hotel, we decided to stay in that night, so we bought some cards and some meat pies and had a couple viscious game of snap.

The next day was another beautiful sunny day so we went downtown, and hopped on a ferry to the Taronga zoo. The ferry ride itself was an adventure as we saw Sydney from a beautiful perspective over the water. Jake and I both love zoos, so it was a very fun day. There was a part of the zoo called "Encounters" where you go in a caged area and walk down a path about three feet away from the kangaroos, emus and wallabees! It was really weird! There wasn't even any staff around to make sure the animals didn't attack. They must be domesticated or trained in some way not to attack the visitors. It was very neat, but also made me a bit nervous!

I also have to note that there were also animatronic dinosaurs throughout the whole park, which fit very well with the book I'm reading (Jurassic Park!).

The next two days were very relaxing as we just hung out in the sun (we both acquired our first sun burns!) and tried Austrailian oysters which were very different in comparison to North American oysters, but great none the less.

We checked out of our hotel this morning with bittersweet feelings as we will miss Sydney and our cute hotel, but are taking an overnight bus to Byron Bay which we have heard alot of good things about. We are staying there for a day and night to lay on the beach, maybe go on a mountain bike tour and just check out the area, before we move on to Brisbane to stay with Jake's friend, Becky.

Anyway, we are off to the bus! See you in Brisbane!

I Have Sunscreen in my Eyes!

nnninecountries — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 03:01:00 GMT

After 30 hours of travelling we have finally made it to Austrailia! This is our third day and it's been great so far.

We started our trip out in Toronto, were we spent a day and a half with some really great friends, eating seafood, playing ping poing and walking on the frozen beach.

We then hopped on a flight to San Fransisco where we were lucky enough to have a 12 hour layover! So we took the train to the city and took a bus tour and wandered up and down the hills of San Fransisco until our flight left for Sydney at 10:30pm. SF was an amazing city! I really hope to go back again someday. I would enver be able to live there though, the rent for a bachelor apartment starts at $2000 a month!

We then flew 14 hours or so to Sydney where we have been staying in a small beach town called Bondi Beach, It's s pretty touristy, byut we are seconds from the beach so we can't complain! We took a bus to the city centre in Sydne yesterday and saw the Opera house, the bridge and wandered around The Rocks and Darling Harbour. We also took a tour of an old jailhouse where convicts were sent from britain , which gave us an interesting piece of Austrailia history. Then, we met up with a friend from Canada who we used to work with and her sister ! We went to a couple rooftop bars in Newtown, and then headed home (aka our small hostel room!)

Today, we are going for a coastal hike along Bondi to Bronte, and then we are going to cook some dinner at our hostel. We hope to get to a zoo soon, and go up the Sydney eye to get a great view of the city.

Other than our camera battery dying half way through our bus tour in SF, getting dog poop on my pants before our 14 hour flight, and our credit cards not working the first day , I am loving our trip so far! oh, and another frustration is that Jake and I keep getting Sunscreen in our eyes! haha something we'll have to get used to I guess!

I'll hope to get some more updates out soon, with some better pictures too!