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Unfortunately, I am too lazy to continue writing in this blog, although I have many more trips that I can share.  I actually did enjoy writing about my experiences, and when I have the time, I might consider writing about more.  Travelling is really enjoyable, and I believe everyone’s life could be improved by a little trip somewhere.  I am going on another hopefully life-changing trip this summer to Honduras with the Amigos program.  If it’s really as amazing as I hope it will be,  I will make a post (or several) about it.  The endddd

A trip to Asia (part 3)

On our last day in Cambodia, crisis struck.  As we were eating breakfast in our hotel, my dad overheard an American couple talking about how they forgot to get a reentry visa to Vietnam, which also was our next destination.  My dad had switched the itinerary around from before, where we were going to stay in Vietnam and then go to Cambodia.  Hw changed it so that we would go to Cambodia from Hue, and then to Hanoi after.  However, he forgot to get a reentry visa too.  So, we spent all day wandering around the small town of Siam Reap trying to find a government building, and then trying to find a bank, etc.  It took us all day.  Finally we succeeded, but ended up having to pay 3 times what we wouldve had to pay in the states.

Finally, we went to Hanoi.  One of the first things we did there was visit Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum, where they have preserved his body.  It was very odd to enter the frigid room where they kept his body, to walk by the hero of Vietnam.  Later, we visited the most famous resteraunt in Hanoi, a fish restaurant where they brought out sizzling hot plates where you cooked your own fish.  It was incredible, save for the 6 inch rat we saw crawling across the ceiling.  We also visited the American War museum, which had an interesting twist, and ate many bowls of pho.

A trip to Asia (part 2)

After spending 3 weeks in Malaysia and Singapore, we met my dad in Singapore to continue the trip into Vietnam and Cambodia. First, we went to Saigon and ate some azaing food, almost every night we ate at some street stand. It was odd because we didn’t even order, we just sat down and they gave us pho, the traditional Vietnamese noodle soup; I remember getting one type of pho that had some odd piece of meat in it, and it didnt taste like beef. And it definitley wasn’t chicken.  One day, we took a trip down the Mekong Delta in a small boat, stopping at  a small banana candy and alcohol factory.  We each got a complimentary shot of very strong banana wine and bought some heavenly banana candy (I know it sounds gross but it really was incredible).  As we took the boat back on the winding river through the thick jungle, I had images of the war flash through my head and it became clear how there was no way we could have won.

Next, we travelled to the ancient walled city of Hue.  Hue is mostly newer houses and streets, with a grand walled citadel in the center.  However, Hue was the site of one of the most brutal battles of the war, and it’s very obvious when you visit.  Bulletholes packmark the walls, and you can tell where the older buildings were destroyed.

For the next leg of the trip, we left Vietnam for Siam Reap, Cambodia; the site 0f the famous ancient temple Angkor Wat.  Cambodia is much different than Vietnam; it is much poorer and much more full of strife.  The signs of the genocide are everywhere.  There are no middle-aged people, because they were all killed in the Pol Pot regime; almost every person was old or young.   Crippled and deformed beggars littered the streets, dragging themselves by their hands because they had no legs to walk on.  The level of poverty was amazing.  The average per capita income of the country was 600 dollars, which was the equivalent of 4 or 5 nights in our hotel.

The temple itself was amazing in ways that the pictures can’t describe.  While the massive main temple, Angkor Wat, is the most famous and recognizable, it was not my favorite part.  I liked the crumbling old temples deep into the complex, with massive trees sprouting out in every direction.  The sights of elephants wandering down the main road with people on their backs, ducking under the elegant arches, was amazing.

A Trip to Asia part 1

The trip to Asia is the longest and most memorable trip I have ever been on. It was planned extensively, and my brother and I benefited from the fact that our parents are divorced, because we travelled for 3 weeks with our mom, and then for another 2 weeks with our dad, totalling up to 5 weeks in Asia. It was a long time to be gone, and I had a moderate case of culture shock when I returned home, partly from seeing so many white faces after a sea of Asians. Overall, it was a life changing experience, and it changed my perspective of the world.

The trip began comfortably when we arrived in the city-country Singapore, which was cleaner and more westernized than most American cities. There were some oddities about it, like the fact that possession of narcotics will give you the death penalty, and that vandalism will get you 20 lashes, and that there is a 500 dollar fine for bringing a durian (a weird spiky, smelly fruit) on the subway. The streets are incredibly clean and lined with malls and top of the line buildings, more modern and advanced than anything in America. However, there was a sense that it was all fake, and that the cleanliness is just due to the oppressive government and overly harsh rules.

Next, we moved on to Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. Kuala Lampur is equally clean and Americanized, but at the same time it is a major tourist destination for Muslims, and the streets are filled with them. It is very odd when you see them for the frst time; the man usually wears American clothes, nikes, levis, maybe even a rolex watch and chains, but the woman is usually covered head to toe in black, including their faces. The food there was amazing, whether we ate at nice resteraunts or at simple street stands, it was all good.

After many days in the city, we went to the jungle. The journey was in several parts, first we took a 6 hour car ride, then a 4 hour boat ride down river in a small wooden boat, then we arrived at the hotel, which was a jungle resort with cabins spread out. The first day we got there there was a amazing downpour like nothing I had ever seen before. The rain pounded into the dirt, but it was over as soon as it started. We spent a couple days exploring the jungle, seeing amazing animals and 6 inch beetles. One day, we went on a canopy walk on rickety wooden bridges hundreds of feet above the forest.

Finally, we travelled to a resort on the beach.  It was a beautiful resort, spread out and small, with only a few guests besides us.  The beach was on of the most incredible ones I had ever seen, a stretch of perfect white sand beach for miles and miles.  The water was calm and wave-less, and warm as a bath.  I went out swimming for hours, way out into the surf because there was barely any current and because the water was so warm and tranquil.  On one of the days, my mom chartered a guide to take us snorkeling at a reef.  We took a 30 minute boat ride with just my brother, my mom, the guide and me.  He warned us not to get near any small blue plants that lived on the rocks, because they can shoot poisonous darts into your skin which will kill you in a half hour.  When we arrived, I immediately went in and saw many colorful fish and coral, and collected many amazing shells which I still have.  One moment of that dive I remember in particular.  I was swimming along the seafloor when the guide pointed out a 6 foot shark maybe 30 feet away.  It turned and swam away.  A couple minutes later, I was swimming back to the boat when I felt a sharp sting on my back.  My heart jumped into my mouth and i turned around expecting to see a shark in my face. Instead, I found a palm frond stinging me in the back with it’s sharp barbs.

The Most Travelled Person I Know

Every up and coming traveller must have a hero, someone they know that has been everywhere, done everything. For me, that person is my grandfather, Sandy. He belongs to a organization of travellers that have been to over a 100 countries, which is an amazing feat, as well as visiting all seven continents. He first started travelling during WWII, when he was in the navy. He travelled all over Africa, and enjoyed travelling so much that he decided to continue as his hobby for the resr of his life. Luckily, his wife enjoys travelling as much as him, and she has accompanied him on many trips all over the world. After his two kids left home, he and his wife went on many trips all over the world. It is a rare thing for me to have been to a country that he has not; it has happened only once and is hotly debated. Sandy and my brother have been in a constant debate about whether or not he has been to Portugal (which we have been to). Sandy has been to the Azores, which he counts as Portugal, because it is a territory. We always debate whether touching down in the airport counts, or if it counts if you drove through.

He has some great travel stories from when he used to rough it, which he is now too old to do.  The story from Papua New Guinea, where he and his wife had to stay with in a tribal village and entertain the villagers with song and dance in exchange for food is a good one.  His story of his endless trip in the outback of Austrailia, in which he got no sleep and laid down in a field of kangaroo shit, is another one I always remember.  Then, there are the bad ones.  In Thailand, where he left his bag containing his passport and all of his money in a taxi, then had to spend an entire day at the embassy aqcuiring a new one.  To make it even worse, when he got back to the hotel, the nice taxi driver had tracked him down and returned his bag.

Top Five Favorite Places I Have Ever Been (Not in Order)

1. Seldovia, Alaska

Seldovia is a town of about 300 off of the Kachemak Bay in Alaska. We went there on some odd trip that my aunt who lived on Alaska, organized. We were going to go stay in cabins in the woods with this organization called the Alaskan Native Plants Society. They were all in their fifties or older, and OBSESSED with plants. I remember going on a hike with them, while they stopped every 5 minutes to observe a plant and then go into a spirited discussion/argument about it. The cabins were in the middle of nowhere, close to the tiny town of Seldovia but hours away from everything else. One of the odd things about that trip was that there was two cabins, one for the Alaskan Native Plants Society, and one for my aunt, uncle, brother, mom, cousin, and me. This wasn’t the odd part. The odd part was that they were in a really nice cabin, complete with electricity, a fridge, a tv, multiple beds and real floors, and a nice outhouse with a tile floor. In contrast, our cabin was all wood with foam mattresses that were filled with shit, no electricity, unsanded wooden floors, no heat, and with an outhouse crudely made of wood with a shittily carved toilet seat made of fiberglass. However, there were some great times up there, including: the best tidepooling i’ve ever done (we found an octupus, several fish, sea urchins, and other cool things, finding the biggest mushroom i’ve ever seen and eating it (it was delicious), and exploring the Alaskan wilderness.

2. An Island off of Belize

After spending a couple days at the beach in Belize with my mom, we decided to head out to an island in the Carribean. Although I don’t remember the name of the island or the hotel that we stayed at, I remember it was amazing. The island was small, less than a mile long and probably not even a half mile wide. It was uninhabited save for the hotel staff of about 5. It was ideal. For the first couple of days we were there, we and another family were the only guests at the very small resort style hotel. The island was half jungle, half beautiful white sand beaches studded with palm trees. Our room was on stilts over the water, and I used to sit on the deck and watch the fish swim under, sometimes I would see barracuda or other exotic fish. One day, we went snorkeling, and saw amazing coral and swam with eagle rays, whose wings were over 10 ft. wide.

3. San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

San Miguel is a relatively small city in Mexico that I have been going to my whole life. In the 70’s, my grandmother bought a house there for practically nothing. It’s a beautiful house, fortress style, with a wide courtyard with several orange and pomegranate trees, surrounded by ancient walls. The city itself is a colonial style city, with cobblestone streets and brightly colored houses. There is an amazing indoor/outdoor market where every kind of amazing mexican food can be bought, including tacos, tortas, milkshakes (which are called liquidas), and other stuff.

4. Amsterdam, Netherlands

Amsterdam is the ideal city, what we in America should base our cities on. There is little car traffic, even though it is a wide, sprawling city, most people ride bikes. It is a friendly, peaceful city, no doubt influenced by the legal marijuana and prostitution. Canals run through the city, and there are bridges that gracefully arch over them.

5. Tolantango, Mexico

Tolantango is a hot springs in the middle of Mexico, unkown to most American tourists.  It’s a 5 hour drive from the town I was staying in, and probably more than 9 hours from Mexico City.  This drive time is exaggerated due to the rundown state of Mexican highways.  As we got closer to the hot springs and farther away from the cities, the roads became barely paved, and dotted with speed bumps and pulque bars (an odd, semi-hallucinogenic alcoholic drink made from a type of cactus).  Finally we arrived at the the springs, and were amazed at what we saw.  This was a truly “natural” hot spring, with caves hewn into the cliff face.  One was a massive cave, maybe 30 feet high and 80 feet across, with a waterfall of hot water tumbling down the middle.  There was another cave, more like a tunnel, that was 4 feet wide and maybe 7 feet tall, that was waist high with hot water water and went hundreds of feet back into the steamy darkness.

First Trips

First trip that I ever went on, that I remember, was to Costa Rica when I was 5.  I went with my brother Zack, who was 7, and my parents.  Although I remember the trip decently well, I was 5 and don’t remember much of the details, like what specific cities I was in, just images of locations and specific details about it.  This is has a common theme with other similar trips from around that time, I remember little details but not the whole trip overall.  So in Costa Rica, I remember going to a really nice hotel on the beach when we first got there.  The beach was one of the most amazing I had ever seen; it was very thin and the tree-line ended not far from the water, so you could climb up a tree and jump in the ocean.  It also had an extraordinary pool, with a huge rock to jump off of as well as rope swings.  However, one of the most memorable moments from that part of Costa  Rica was seeing the hotel’s supposed “trained” monkey jump on my moms head and start pulling on her hair before jumping off and peeing all over our deck.  Next, we moved up into the mountains, into a substantially more economical hotel in the shadow of a volcano.  The next day we took a long, arduous drive up a narrow mountain path that was studded with rocks to get to a well-known cloud forest, or rain forest.  We didn’t see much in the way of memorable animals, except in the parking lot as we were about to leave, I spotted an odd-looking animal up in the trees that I found out was called a kinkajou.  I remember passing through what seemed like a thick fog, and coming out on the other side to find my jacket almost soaked.  The next day, we travelled to a natural hot-springs, fueled by the seismic activity from the nearby volcanoes.  Later that day we went up to a volcano and hiked around at the base, observing trails of leaf-cutter ants and plumes of steam coming out of vents on the side.  The top of the volcano was obscured by clouds, but we could hear it rumbling.  The guide told us that the volcano was still active and dangerous, and related a story of some German tourists who had met their demise up there a couple years before.  It was funny, everything bad that happened in that country to tourists seemed to happen to Germans.  For example, we went out on a trip down a river full of crocodiles on a flimsy motor boat.  Our guide told us of a story where some Germans had gotten really drunk (what a surprise) and taken a boat down that river.  Eventually, one of them had the idea to start rocking the boat, which turned into a contest to see who could rock it the most.  Sadly, none of them won, and the boat was found empty, floating upside in the river the next day.  The rest of the trip went by in a blur, or at least thats what my memory says.  People at home, especially kids, were fascinated and jealous that I hade gone to Costa Rica, and they loved hearing about those German tourists.

Introduction

This is my first post of many, hopefully.  My goal is to share my travel experiences from around the world with fellow travelers, to help them plan their own trips.   For my age, i’m a pretty experienced traveler, and I can share the good times i’ve had, and the bad times, or the times that I could have done differently.

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