IN BETWEEN JOBS BLOG

Gallery: Thailand's Beaches!

slosman — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 02:54:00 GMT

Ko Phangan and Ko Tao

A bus ride in Laos...

slosman — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 23:57:00 GMT

WOW, there is no way to describe the bus adventure that we embarked upon last night, but I will try to express just how tired we are and how horrible the ride was.

We left Luang Probang at 7:30pm, we arrived at 6:15 as told since it was planned to leave at 7:00pm. The total trip hours was 9 hours, or so we were told multiple times. We were also told we would arrive Vientiane at 5:00am. (not 9 hours for those that dont do math,...mom)

We thought there was going to be plenty of room on the bus, but at the last minute a connecting bus drove up and everyone from that one hopped on ours. This, to be exact was about 15 Chinese men who we would come to know as the most LOUD, obnoxious and rude people ever. (not a general steriotype, just applies to the men we met on the bus) The bus was over booked and two Americans next to us had to ride the complete journey on plastic stools in the middle of the isle along with 6 or 7 other people.

As the bus started to pull away from the station, the driver started blaring!!!!! Laos music. We also happened to be seated directly under a speaker, however there was one speaker every two seats so there was no escaping the madness. Imagine being at a club and trying to yell at your friends to tell them something, this is how loud it was...it was a night bus for crying at loud. At first we found it rather amusing, or Becca did, I not so much ever, until the Chinese men, started blaring Chinese music from their cell phones. Just our luck that the men all happen to get the only remaining seats which surrounded our seats. Not only where we now deaf from two different ethnic sounds, but at this time, the men starting to throw food across our seats. It only got better when the group of men started handing out cigarettes and lit up ON the bus! Americans and Shayna did not see it this way so we started to retaliate. We opened the windows which only created more problems when the ashes came back in the window and landed on me.

Becca utilized the rest stops, which consisted of "popping a squat" on the side of the road with 45-50, laoians, chinese and tourists. She came to find out she was using the restroom among six or seven grunting goats. I could not stop laughing.

Needless to say, eventually the bus driver made them stop smoking and a hour or so later the driver turned off his music Becca could not stop applauding. It was obnoxious, but I just couldn't finally believe he turned it off. The Chinese men turned theirs down for a bit, but the night consisted of music being turned off and on, constant stops to eat dinner at 1:30 in the morning (the bus driver) and so on and so forth. It was mayhem all night and we didn't sleep at all. The day we arrived to Vientiane we basically ate and slept and felt like zombies all day.

We are flying out to Vietnam tonight, can't wait for Ha Long Bay, that is the part I have been most looking forward to. Ahhh

Good times in Laos,

Gallery: Halong Bay, Vietnam

slosman — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 05:26:00 GMT

Gallery: Hanoi, Vietnam

slosman — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 17:56:00 GMT

Luang Probang: SaiBaDee

slosman — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 19:11:00 GMT

"SaiBaDee," or "Greetings" from Luang Probang..

We arrived here after 2 days on the boat and it is wonderful.. Our boat "docked" (there arent really docks) aroudn 5:30pm Thursay. We found a great guesthouse for $7/night that is clean, private and has our own bathroom!!

LP is a small town, still filled with many tourists, but much less obtrusive than prior towns. We wondered through the outdoor night market. It was beautiful to see... tons of vendors under red tents selling scarves, jewelry, clothing, and other crafts from the area. We ate at a cafe, SALAD for dinner (I was very excited to have a salad). We walked around more, taking in the culture and town... and had a wondeful night's sleep!

The next day we woke up, had an omellette breakfast and pineapple juice smoothie. Every restaurant here serves fruit shakes.. they are unbelievable delicious, put's Jamba Juice to shame! (in fact I might grab one after writing this :)

We spent the day walking through the town, checking out shops, relaxing and reading our books.. It was definitely the most relaxing day yet.

The next day we woke up at 5:45 am to watch the monks alm's.. a line of monks walk down the street and the local people offer rice as they pass. The rest of the day was spent, hiking to the top of a temple and planning the rest of our trip.

Tonight we are taking a night bus to Vientiene (the country's capitol city)... check back for more soon

(ps, i am having trouble uploading pictures from this internet cafe, hopefully I will be able to update the site with more soon!)

Gallery: Laos: Mekong River & Luang Probang

slosman — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 18:35:00 GMT

Laos: The Mekong River Journey

slosman — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 18:53:00 GMT

The internet failed me again and erased everything I wrote.. so again I am frustrated and writing it to the best of my memory...

Our first 2 days in Loas were spent on a slow boat floating down the Mekong River.

Our trip to Laos started at 8:30pm Tuesday, when we embarked on our overnight bus trip to the border at Northern Thailand. It was a SCARY ride! I kept my eyes closed and listened to my book on ipod to keep me from getting out and walking. We finally made it after several 711 stops (yes, there are tons of 711's here, sad).

We took a boat across the Mekong to cross into Laos. We were the first to cross the border into Laos, an honor since we waited for 4 hours until it opened at 8am to do so. We then took a tuk tuk to our SLOW boat... We were so early we were one of the few who got cushioned seating, the rest sat on wooden benches for 8 hrs, OUCH. We made friends with a few travelers on the bus and played cards, learning new Australian card games, to pass the time. We made several stops (not at 711, but small villages along the river). Several times swarms of children boarded the boat trying to sell beers, soft drinks and chips.. it was a bit overwhelming.

Half way there we stopped in PakBeng... a small town with scare electricity. We found a room for $1.50 (one of the nicer ones) it had electicity from 6:30-10pm, powered by a generator.. The cold shower was actually very refreshing. I tried Laos Whiskey, and my heart is still burning 4 days later (not exagerating)

Wednesday morning, we boarded the boat again the next day for another long journey to Luang Probang. This time feeling more refreshed from a night's sleep it was great to relax and read a lot of my book. I took a lot of scenery pictures but I dont think any of them actually capture the beauty of it..

Next stop Luang Probang...

Chiang Mai.. Elephant haven

slosman — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 00:59:00 GMT

I was really excited to visit Chiang Mai, I had read lots of great reviews and recommendations. However it did not end up exceeding/meeting my expectations... but we did end up having a great time

Chiang Mai is a little city with cars, mopeds and tuk tuk's zooming by. Walking down the street it's hard not to inhale the exhaust fumes. Our taxi driver again did not take us to the right place (He did take us to the US Embassy, but umm we were just looking for a place to eat dinner)

We enjoyed dinner at an outdoor cafe until it started pouring down rain- literally cats and dogs. The rain passed and we went to the famous night Bazaar, to again be disappointed by the offering. I guess we were just spoiled with the first market in Bangkok.

Please forgive me for the poor recap (I wrote this once and the computer crashed.. very appropriate for my time here in Chiang Mai, haha).

Back at the hostel it was also a little disappointing, the hostel received many awards and great reviews but I guess it was just not fur us. It had a community feel, so very little privacy, and No toilet paper in the dirty bathroom.

The first day we went on a 1 day trek... We visited the Karen Hill trip (the long neck women with rings around their necks). After we rode an Ox cart to an elephant camp where we rode an Elephant (we named him Buddy). It was a bit scary but we survived and I loved it! After, we hiked a bit to our lunch, Phad Thai, eaten in a hut in the forest. Then we hiked the mountains to a waterfall.. standing under the waterfall was one of the best feelings and very refreshing after our hike. After we took a bamboo raft down the river, again in the pouring rain. That night we were exhausted, we ate a great Italian meal and went to sleep.

The highlight of Chiang Mai was the cooking class we took. It started in the market, where we bought all the food we prepared. We learned how to cook 5 dishes, and mine actually tasted good!! (getting closer to being an excellent cook, haha). We met an American couple on their honeymoon, the girl is a USC alumni in my sorority.. Small world, huh?

After the cooking class, we decided to book an overnight bus to the Northern border of Thailand and Loas to begin our 2 day boat journey through Loas to Luang Probang.. More to come soon...

Bangkok.. the land of Wats

slosman — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:17:00 GMT

We arrived in Bangkok Saturday afternoon.. after being at the airport a fewe minutes, we knew we were no longer in Japan. We were welcomed by 91 degree weather and swarms of people offering every product known to man... We took a cab to our hostel, not sure if we were getting ripped off or not. Turns out we weren't... The hostel, Lub D, is in the Silom district.. which houses a lot of restaurants and gem shops. The hostel is new, industrial modern and CLEAN!! I actually really enjoyed staying there. We had our own room, which was also a plus.

We spent the afternoon at a large, weekend market that was located at the end of the sky train (a subway above ground). The market was incredible. It was packed with people buying and selling goods, everything from smelly dried fish, to clothing, jewelry and (my favorite) great wood artistry, vases, mirrors, wood bowls, etc.

We found a cute bar to sit and take a break from all the madness, it was a trendy spot with good music and drinks. We actually were sitting at a table next to James Vanderbek (dawson, from dawson's creek).

I wanted to buy so much to ship back but decided to wait to see how much it would cost (and never ended up buying the things i wanted). That night we got back and decided to eat pizza from a cute boutique hotel.

The next day we took a water taxi up the river to visit the Wats (temples). There are several in Bangkok, we chose the top 3 to see. First was the Royal Palace. The buildings are incredible- Intricate mosiacs and gold leafing. The Wats all housed a special buddah (an emerald buddah,a golden buddah, a HUGE lying down buddah, etc.) We had our first Thai food lunch on the river at a hole in the wall that has the best Phad Thai we've had yet. That night we went back to the pizza place.. I guess it's the closest to having "american food" we could find.

We checked out the famous night market after dinner, we were excited to buy all the things we had seen at the other market the day prior (i made a list) but it turns out they did not have the same stuff. The market was really cool, with great new fashions and art but not what we wanted.

Afterwards, sad and deflated, we stood on the street and bargained for a cab ride home, determined not to get ripped off. Becca finally got close to the price we wanted and we were in.. We ended up passing our hotel on the freeway, Becca laughing, while I was thinking we were being abducted, preparing to jump and roll out of the taxi. When the cab turns yet again in the wrong direction she gets scared too! After many attempts of telling the driver we were going the wrong way, he finally stopped and made a u-turn.. the driver assured us he knew the correct hotel, only he took us to the wrong hotel again! Needless to say, we finally arrived back at our hotel.. after a little walk.

The 3rd day we decided we had enough of Bangkok and bought a plane ticket (3 hours before the plane left) to Chiang Mai.. We had seen what we thought we should see and were ready to move on!

Gallery: Chiang Mai, Thailand

slosman — Mon, 9 Jun 2008 20:56:00 GMT

Gallery: Japan:

slosman — Sun, 8 Jun 2008 12:00:00 GMT

Tokyo & Japan

Gallery: Bangkok

slosman — Sat, 7 Jun 2008 20:27:00 GMT

Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan

slosman — Sat, 7 Jun 2008 20:21:00 GMT

Our first stop, Tokyo, Japan... Tokyo is a huge city, very similar to many 'western cities.' The metro was very complex but rather easy to navigate around. I did stop and point at maps a lot in order to get to our destinations. Tokyo is broken into several sub-sections. I particularly enjoyed Harajuku! It has great shopping, people watching, and was fun to walk around. Out hostel was in Asakusa, a great area of town.. known more for its "traditional tokyo" feel. One of the "must see temples" is in this area and it was easy to get on the metro from here.

We took the speed train to Kyoto, it was a little more expensive than we planned, but definitely worth it. I LOVED Kyoto... it offered a more traditional Japanese culture. We stayed at a guesthouse, with bamboo mats and a prerequisite shoe removal upon arrival. It was rainy the first day, but fortunately for us, most of the walkways in the shopping district were covered. We ate fried rice and sprouts for dinner. That night we went on a walking tour and spotted a few Geisha-

The next day, we explored the temples.. the Silver Temple was undergoing repairs, but the grounds (with bonsai trees, lilly ponds, and zen gardens) were definitely worth the trek up to it. The Golden Temple was amazing, it was packed with tourists from all walks of life. We walked down the 4km, Walk of Philosophy, a small path along the river, in search of a golden buddah. We never found the Buddah, but the walk was nice. Kyoto is still a big city but we were able to escape into the green country with a 10 min bus ride. We took busses throughout the town, it was cheap and a great way to see the city..

Overall the culture of Japan is very orderly and spiritual. I enjoyed the peace and quiet (I can say this in retrospect after being in Thailand for a few days.) The food was yummy too... We ate a lot of Soba Noodles and drank green tea.

Next destination, Bangkok, Thailand.. (6 hour flight)

What my Journal is About...

slosman — Sat, 31 May 2008 02:10:00 GMT

Shayna is taking the summer off of work to Travel. Her and childhood friend, Becca are taking a month long journey through South East Asia- stopping first in Kyoto to explore Japan. The itinerary includes Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Please check in for updated posts & pictures and feel free to leave a comment. Glad you can experience the adventure...

Puerto Rico

slosman — Sat, 10 May 2008 04:43:00 GMT

Chris and I visited Puerto Rico for a friend’s wedding.. It is an interesting destination with diverse surroundings. We flew into San Juan and although we were still in the “US” it could have been mistaken for Mexico- but hey so could parts of Los Angeles. We stayed in La Condado which is a mix of very high end hotels/shopping with torn down buildings and a ghost town feel during the day. Everyone comes out at night. We spent 2 nights at the San Juan Hotel and Casino, getting lucky at the Black Jack table (I actually won!) We enjoyed the wedding. Olivia and Ian had a beautiful reception with great food, friends, and dancing. We explored old town San Juan. It is amazing to see the old fortresses that are centuries old. The last day we spent time relaxing on the beach.. The weather hot and the water crystal blue. A 7 hour lay over in Atlanta was put to good use by visiting the Atlanta Aquarium.. (apparently the world’s largest aquarium) .. the Shark exhibit was my favorite! Overall we had a great time! This trip was a great precursor for my month long trek through SE Asia…

Gallery: Puerto Rico

slosman — Sat, 10 May 2008 02:12:00 GMT