Koh Phi Phi Views and Snorkling

My last day in Koh Phi Phi was brilliant. Since it was my last day, I wanted to go to the viewpoint. I can't even tell you how many steps you have to walk up, but my legs are still sore. The hike is definitely worth the views.

Can you image if this was the view you woke up to everyday? It is quite breathtaking. The tsunami hit this island five years ago and so a lot of the development around this stretch is new.

Near the viewpoint, someone has tacked this picture to a tree. It serves as a reminder of the devastation that hit this region not too long ago. I also saw a few locals wearing t-shirts in remembrance of the tsunami.

After my hike, I headed to beach to meet Lucinda and Moira for a day of snorkeling and a mini tour of the little islands around Koh Phi Phi on a long boat.

Here is a picture of me and monkey on Monkey island. The unfortunate part is that the locals and tourists give these monkeys really unhealthy things, such as candy and soda.

Here is a picture of Lucinda and I are the "beach" - I think it is called Mora Bay. These is where the movie The Beach with Leo C. was filmed. It was really beautiful and nice to swim in, but of course every tourist goes there so it got a bit crowded.

Here is a photo of the sunset from the boat on our way back to Koh Phi Phi. Sadly it was the first and probably last sunset I will see on this trip. There was quit a bit of rain and fog during the early part of my trip, so no views of sunsets. However, this was a really beautiful one.

Koh Phi Phi - No Roads and Lots of Fire Shows

My first full day in Koh Phi Phi was a lot of fun. I finally hooked up with Lucinda and just relaxed on the beach during the day and walked around the town at night. The great thing about Koh Phi Phi is that there are no roads, so all the locals pretty much get around my either by walking or by bicycle. There a few motorbikes, but not many and they are usually used by the police only. Koh Phi Phi is a bit touristy and has too many Americans for my liking, but the views and the locals are really cool, so it was definitely worth the trip. I also got great Mexican food at the Banana Bar - chicken enchiladas. Yum... wish I had one now!

There have a lot of fire shows in the evening. You have two options I know of. You can go to Carlito's or Carlita's to watch the more advance folks performing fire shows, such as twirling a baton that is on fire, but don't get too close because sometimes they throw it up in the air and don't catch it and it could land on you. The other option is to go to the Apache Bar where the younger guys are trying to learn how to perform in a fire show. This one you definitely do not want to sit too close because these kids are drinking quite a bit and it seems a bit dangerous to allow them to be playing with fire. However, they are quite entertaining and very nice. The Apache Bar also has viewer participation, such as fire limbo, jumping through a fire ring and fire jump roping. I have a video of me fire jump roping, but can't seem to load video.

Lucinda and I are suppose to be limboing under this fire stick, but we crawled instead.

Me jumping through a fire ring. It was really hot and luckily I still have my hair.

Lucinda and I with the Thai Jimi Hendrix.

Here is a picture of Lucinda (my English travel buddy) and Moira, a woman from Italy. We sort of lost her the second evening and never saw her again before we left.

There are bats on Koh Phi Phi

I just wanted to share a funny story. My new friend Chris and I are staying at the same Guesthouse. His room is on the 4th floor and mine is on the 3rd floor. Well we made plans to have dinner last night because I did not know where Lucinda was. Anyways, I leave my room at about 6:30 p.m. to go up to knock of his door and see when he wanted to head out. I was wearing shorts and a tank top as it is really hot here. As I approach his floor, I see all of these things flying around. It took me a minute before I realized it was about 10 bats flying around his floor. To make things worse, his room was at the end of the hallway. I had to think for a minute - and I decided to go back to my room and put my hoodie on. Then I again tried to approach his room, but I was still scared. Then I go back down to my room and grab a flashlight. I again tried to approach his room - but I was still scared. So I crouched down and started to call his name, but he did not answer. Then I thought about trying to get across the floor either on my stomach or my knees - as if I was in boot camp. Well I was still scared, so I went to the front desk and asked the woman about the bats. First, she said that is was probably butterflies, but these things were no butterflies. Then she assured me that bats don't like people, so I should be fine. But her words did not comfort me. I asked her to walk with me to the room, which she happily did, but she started to laugh. Of course, when she accompanies me to Chris's room, the bats were no longer flying around. Later that night, we saw another bat flying around Koh Phi Phi. I wish there was a video showing how ridiculous I looked trying to get to Chris's room.



Anyways, internet is much more expensive (well everything is more expensive on Koh Phi Phi, so I will try and write again from Bangkok on Sunday.

Phuket and then finally Koh Phi Phi

I wish I had an impression of Phuket, but since I only used it as a jumping point to get to Koh Phi Phi, I did not really venture too far from my hotel. I did however have to listen to Thai karoke blasting until after midnight, which was unpleasant. Not because it was Thai karoke, but because of my long journey the night before on the train from Chiang Mai and the flight from Bangkok. I got on the first ferry in the morning and met an American named Chris also traveling to Koh Phi Phi on his own. It was nice to have the company, as I did not find my friend Lucinda until about 8 p.m. yesterday evening.

Here is a view of Koh Phi Phi by ferry. I basically just laid on the beach for about an hour. The water is so warm and there is all sorts of fish swimming around. Unfortunately, I did not go into the water yesterday because I had all of my stuff with me. Today, Lucinda and I are heading to the beach, so I am going to take a dip in the water.

There are 2 international airports in Bangkok!!

Now I am writing from Phuket. And let me tell you the journey from Chiang Mai to Bangkok (by train) and then a flight from Bangkok to Phuket and then finally to my cheapy hotel was long! Especially since I initially went to the wrong airport. But I will get to that. I left my cheapy hotel in Chiang Mai. It was only 100 baht a night which is a little over $3 USD. It wasn't very nice and it was loud, so I was glad to leave, but it served its purpose.

Here is a picture of my room. It is funny because the longer I travel, the lower my standards become. And I cannot forget to mention the cold showers!

Just a little comparison, I lucked out and got this room in Siem Reap for only $12 - not in any Lonely Planet guide. It had hot water and a proper shower. For those who don't know Asia traveling - the toilet and shower tend to be in the same area. Sort of shower over the toilet, but not quite. It was cheaper and much nicer than the place I stayed in Phnom Penh. I also had cable, a mini fridge and free breakfast. I sort of got spoiled there :)

Well after my fantastic time at the Elephant Nature Park, I headed over to take an overnight train - which was a seat because no more sleepers were available. At the train station, I met a Danish girl of Vietnamese ancestry named Dang, a Laotian girl and her mother (they currently live in Oregon) and another Danish girl (who made me look like a little person as she was about 6 feet tall). It is always nice to cross paths with other travelers and hear their stories about where they went and where they were going. I exchanged emails with the Laotian girl, so I hope we can keep in touch. I took a photo of the Danish girl (Jeanette- English translation of her Danish name which I couldn't remember or pronounce).

Here is a photo of Jeanette at the train station in Bangkok.

Well after I left Jeanette at the train station, I grabbed a metered taxi and asked him to take me to the airport. Well silly me did not realize there were 2 international airports in Bangkok and they are not near each other. He did not ask me which one and I did not tell him which airport. I get to the airport, I pay him and go to wait in line. Once I get to the front of the line, the airline employee informs me that I am at the wrong airport. So I rush out and hope into another cab. Since I was in a rush, I could not haggle over the price of the cab fare. The other international airport is on the other side of the city. If you have ever been to Bangkok, you know that traffic can be quite bad. I get to the right airport, laughing at myself the whole way to discover that my flight was delayed over one hour. The important thing is that I made my flight! The funny thing is that guy spoke English, but when I asked him if I was Thai what would be the price of my cab fare, he acted like he did not understand English!

Elephant Park in Chiang Mai

Well I arrived in Chiang Mai yesterday by bus. Arrived at 6 a.m. and had to sit outside the guesthouse until I figured out what door to knock on to see if a room was available. I waited for one hour when a fellow traveller showed me the way.

Last night there was a terrible thunderstorm and I thought I hope that I can still make it to the Elephant Nature Park located 1 1/2 hour drive from Chiang Mai. Thankfully the rain stopped! Thanks to an article by my friend, Rob Selna, I was able to learn about this amazing place where a woman called Lek (meaning "small" in Thai) has adopted/rescued over 32 elephants from the tourism and logging industry. There is one wild elephant named Hope. He was adopted after his mother died from disease. The elephant park also has two baby elephants and one pregnant elephants. The gestation period for an elephant is 22 months - but I wasn't sure how far along the pregnant elephant was.

If anyone is interested in learning more about elephants, I strongly suggest making the journey to the Elephant Nature Park. For more information check out their website -- http://www.elephantnaturefoundation.org/. There is no riding and no shows, but you do get to feed the elephants, assist in bathing them, and get pretty darn close to these gigantic creatures. They are very amazing. There is also a short video at the end which shows the brutality involved in breaking their spirits - so it definitely makes you think twice about (1) ever riding an elephant and (2) checking out a show where the elephants play instruments and/or paint. There is also a problem with elephant begging in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. I never saw it, but I haven't spent much time exploring around. I have to get ready to hope on an overnight train (no sleeper available), so upright seating only to Bangkok to catch a flight early afternoon to Phuket, and then off to Koh Phi Phi to meet a fellow traveler I met in Siam Reap, Cambodia. I have met some of the most interesting people traveling. So many people who are on either 6 month or 1 year trips around the world. I wish that was me! But these past few weeks have been amazing.

I also enjoyed my short stay in Chiang Mai, it is a more laid back place than Bangkok for sure. Internet down in 5 minutes, so have to make it short. See photos below. More to come later.

Bye Bye Cambodia

Well I have finally taken a moment to think about my travels. I knew that attempting to travel through 3 countries in a little over three weeks was ambitious, but I forgot how exhausting it is. It has been a great time and I have loved every minute of it.

Cambodia is one of the most amazing places to visit. If you ever get a chance, I recommend it. I spent only about 6 or 7 days in Cambodia and I can't wait to come back. I only traveled to Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, but there are beach areas and hills tribes that I would love to visit on my next trip to Southeast Asia.

After I Phnom Penh, I took a 6-7 bus ride to Siem Reap. It was raining quite a bit and at times I was a little nervous that our double decker bus may tip over, but thankfully it did not. Siem Reap is full of most tourist than Phnom Penh. I suspect it has to do with the many temples, especially Ankor Wat, which was pretty amazing. Lisa (my travel campanion in Cambodia) and I arrived a tuk tuk for two days to drive us around the temples. However, several people rented bikes and biked around. Our tuk tuk driver was Mr. Eang. He was a young guy about 24 years old and sweetest person you could ask for.

Mr. Eang our tuk tuk driver in Siem Reap.

Once we got to Ankor Wat we arrived an unlicensed guy to walk us around the temple for $10 US. He was very nice and knowledgable about the temple. Apparently it costs about $2000 US to get a license, so I am not sure who could afford it there. I was happy with our guide. We walked around this amazing temple for about 1 1/2 hours and we also talked a lot about his life in Cambodia. He rides his bike for one hour each morning to the temple hoping to serve as a guide to the tourists. I did not realize that the civil war in Cambodia ended just a little over 10 years ago. His life was greatly affected by the civil war. His father was killed (Ibelieve) when he was two months old. He had 2 older brothers and a sister. His older brother died in the civil war, and his other brother and sister were victims of landmines. I am not sure if one of the brothers is still leaving, but he did say that his brother couldn't get good health care and started to have psychological problems. His sister died and left behind 3 children. Now our guide supports his mother and 3 nieces and nephews. It was pretty heartbreaking, and just about everyone I met in Siem Reap has a similar tragic story. I was so impressed and amazed that these people with such a tragic history could be so warm and friendly with us - especially Americans.

Our guide at Ank Wat.

Me at the entrance of Ankor Wat.

More about my travels and lots of rain

I have arrived safely by bus to Siem Reap (about a 6 hour bus ride from Phnom Penh). It is again late in the evening which is the only time I find time to write anything. It has been raining for two days in Cambodia, which is unusual as this is suppose to be the dry season. Apparently, it hasn't rained in 3 months, and it has rain not only yesterday and today, but may very well rain tomorrow. I hope it doesn't as I want to venture to the temples and it will make the conditions slippery and wet, not to mention all the mud that I accumulate on my pants and feet.

I have been so impressed with the food in Cambodia. Each day I try to get a different Khmer style dish, and it has all been great. They do have some delicacies which I have not tried, nor do I think I will ever try, for example, fried tarantula and other sorts of insects. Here is a picture of a woman selling them at a roadside stop on our way from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap. She had a bucket full of live tarantulas as well as some sort of beetles and maybe grasshoppers. I wasn't really sure because I stayed on the bus.

The people of Cambodia have also been great. They have been very helpful and friendly. At one point in Phnom Penh, I was standing on the side of the street which had six way traffic and I was trying to figure out a way across. Normally, if you go at the same speed across the traffic will go around you, but the traffic was coming from too many different directions. Anyways, this cyclo driver I was chatting with a second before walked up to me, grabbed my hand and safely brought me to the other side of the road. It was actually very nice and a little embarrassing as I felt like a child being led by a parent. Cambodia is filled with people like this. However, the next morning I woke up to learn that a fellow traveller staying at my hotel had been robbed of all of his money, passport and credit cards the night before. Phnom Penh is a little sketchy at night and it is recommended that in the evening you shouldn't carry any bags. I also learned from Neil Weinstein, former RJO partner, that a few weeks ago he was walking late at night with friends when they were held up at gunpoint. One of the woman in his group had a bag which most likely made them a target. Everyone was safe thankfully. It is a good reminder not too get too comfortable here. Aside from that Cambodia is a very charming place and the people are very warm.

Anyways, it is late yet again and I must go off to sleep so that I can wake up early to explore the temples. I am again attaching some photos of my trip. Hope everyone is well.

Monks walking down my street in Phnom Penh. I was staying near a Buddhist monastery and I easily saw 20 different monks in a day. I loved their orange robes.

A random elephant walking down a main road along the river in Phnom Penh. I wasn't sure why he was walking down the street with his handler and couldn't get my camera out fast enough to get a front shot.

I got caught in the rain and bought this poncho which resembles a trash bag for $.50. The best fifty cents I ever spent. I have used it for 2 days straight and likely again tomorrow. A few of the locals laughed at me when I was walking down the street with my new poncho, but I did not care because it kept me dry.

Me in front of Wat Phnom (also known at Hill Temple). At the top of the hill is a small temple where you can burn incense and pray to buddha. There were three monks inside when I went to pray. One of the monks had a cellphone in his bag which kept ringing, but he kept praying. I was wondering who was calling him. He wasn't the only monk I saw with a cell phone. I guess they also need to keep in touch with people. Earlier at the King Palace, there was a monk with a digital camera taking pictures of all of the foreigners waiting in line to buy an entrance ticket. He seems very intrigued with us. Funny because I really wanted a picture of him.

As Lisa and I walked around Wat Phnom, we noticed a man placing unused condoms all around the area. He was working for an NGO called PSI who is trying to prevent the spread of HIV. Apparently, in the evening people come to Wat Phnom to engage in this sort of activity. Later I saw a bowl of condoms in the bathroom at the Ramdun restaurant.

Good bye Vietnam and Hello Cambodia

This is my first post, and I am still learning how to operate this blog - so I apologize in advance if it is basic.


My trip started in Vietnam with a family visit to Saigon and Long Xuyen. I had an amazing time with the family and was sad to leave, but also eager to venture off to unknown territories. I also had a hard time leaving my uncle's two little chihuahua puppies. If I could have packed them in my backpack I would have taken them along.





Here is a picture of these guys with my uncle. We went on a boat ride in My Tho in the Mekong Delta. It was nice ride and the puppies really enjoyed themselves as well.





Saigon has continued to grow and thrive. Anything you can think of you can find in Saigon. There are so many expats currently living and working in Saigon. Although the standard of living has definitely improved for the Vietnamese people, there appears to being a growing disparity between wealth and poor. Saigon is definitely a fun city if you have money. My friend Lyndon put me in touch with an expat living in Vietnam. Calvin, is a Chinese-Vietnamese-American who has lived and worked in Saigon for the past 4 1/2 years doing real estate. He took me out one night to a bar and a night club. At the bar they had a Vietnamese band singing American music. The best part is that the Vietnamese can barely speak English, but when they sing you can barely hear an accent. I tried to upload a video of the Vietnamese guy singing John Denver's "Country Road" (I think that is the artist and the song title), but it wouldn't work so you will have to take my word for it. It was great. Then we walked over to a Vietnamese nightclub. I thought I was walking into an American nightclub with girls and boys wearing the latest fashions and dos. For awhile I forgot I was in Vietnam until we walked out of the club and I heard Vietnamese being spoken in the street.




Phnom Penh, Cambodia has been an amazing place to visit. The people have been really great and friendly. There are all sorts of businesses set up to help street kids or orphans, whether it be dining for a cause or shopping for a cause. It really makes you feel good when you not only get a great meal, but you see these kids being trained for jobs to help them help themselves. Tonight at the recommendation of a former partner from my former law firm (Neil Weinstein) myself and a friend I met at the border ate at Ramdun (I think it was called). The service staff was great. Many of the kids working there were former street kids who are getting training in the service industry.



There is so much to write, but I am tired as I have been out all day. Also, the internet connection is very slow and it takes forever to upload a few photos. I thought I would have more time to write about my trip, but I am too busy experiencing it :) However, I am attaching a few photos. I hope I get more time in Thailand.








Lunch at the Foreign Correspondent's Club which is historically hotel/bar/restaurant along the river.










Our tuk tuk driver"Two."
















My new house at the place- if only the king would let me stay.














Also at the Royal Palace. I just liked this shot.












Drinks at the Foreign Correspondent's Club with Neil Weinstein (former RJO partner) and his wife Annette.



I hope to write more later.








































































































































































































s
u