First Love, Fast Love, Last Love

I had another one of those "holy shit, I'm in __________" traveling moments. This one was at the floating market in the Mekong Delta, I had just bought a cup of vietnamese coffee (see above) from an old woman on a rowboat and I was eating a pineapple I had bought from another boat when I realized, "holy shit, I'm in vietnam".

Lovely little moment.

Then, I bought a beer from another boat because I wanted to.

I've read a lot of cautionary tales of scams and crimes committed on tourists in my guide book. But they never really seem realistic to me until I hear about real experiences from other travelers. On the Mekong Delta tour, I met two german girls and they told me one of them was carrying her camera in her hand. Someone cut the cord and stole the camera and she didn't even notice until she had walked a couple hundred meters down the street. I was talking to this other girl in this criminal hostel I'm staying in now and she said another guy in the dorm had lost USD$2,700 in the old "poker game" scam. A local invited him to the family home and cook him dinner. The "rich uncle" comes over and wants to play poker, they play the victim for a little while, then more people come and play and then the victim is suddenly in the red for a couple thousand dollars to a big and menacing group of locals. To be fair, the backpacker was a 19 year old "kid". A little too naive and trusting. Too eager for a story to bring back home.

Did you know 9/11 happened 11 years ago?

random pics

Bar's Bar. The place bars go to for a few drinks after a hard day's work of being a bar. I couldn't resist and had a drink there. It was acutally a posh place: Dim lighting, overstuffed chairs, dark wood decor, 5% service charge and 10% tax added, professional staff, good whiskey, etc...

This is ice cream. The thing that looks like real cabbage leaves is white chocolate.

Typical street vendor selling random stuff. In this case, sunglasses and zippos. There are also many locals who walk carrying a stack of books for sale. These books are all photocopies. They have the original cover art and everything, but the image and the text on the pages all have the distinctive photocopied blurriness to them. They have pretty decent titles like Catch-22, The Ten Thousand Day War, and other good titles I can't remember.

Random pic of typical street in kathmandu city.

backpackers in the backpackers ghetto drinking beer from the street side bars with the famous tiny plastic chairs that make you feel like you're peeing in an elementary school urinal.

back in chiang mai, some of the other wwoofers playing soccer with local kids.

The father of the smal hotel I stayed at in Ho Chi Minh (aka Saigon). I guess the family sleeps on the tile floor like that because it's cooler. The wife sleeps in a little alcove between the ground floor and first floor.

His snoring was terrifying. It sounded as if the man was suffering from night terrors, sleep apnea, nightmares, severe sinus congestion and drowning by orangutan all at the same time. I could hear his snoring from my THIRD floor room. With the door closed.

HoChiMinh Zoo

I went to the city zoo and saw some animals:

There's an asiatic cat somewhere in there

giraffes, which I realized look a lot like camels, they both have that same goofy looking face.

A penguin.

A silly orangutan. note the large hands they use to strangle people .

Tiger, a young one. I played peek a boo with.

White tiger.

I honestly did not expect to see some of the animals I saw. Tigers? White Tigers?! I thought that was pretty cool, if only it wasn't so depressing. The zoo itself was in my opinion quite nice and well kept. I have to go the honolulu zoo when I get home. There's a lot of thigns I have to do when I go home.

Cinderella story

The Cinderella story is such nonsense. Why would a well-experienced, highly educated, rich, powerful, cultured, intelligent prince want to marry a dumb peasant washer woman? They have nothing in common. The only thing the Prince wanted was to lay a pretty peasant girl, and what a prince wants, a prince gets. Hence the country wide search for the girl who fits the glass slipper. And don't tell me it was for love. A prince doesn't marry for love, nor does he acquiesce to love. What if Cinderella had been ugly? Would Prince Charming have even bothered picking up her glass slipper from the floor?

Rich powerful man, beautiful woman in need of rescuing.

Disney fantasies. Disney movies work by manipulating our emotions. Their movies (or all entertainment in general) are designed to bring us up, then bring us down, only so they can raise us up again and end the story/experience on that positive note. Look at Bambi, happy deer and his mom (happy), mom gets killed (sad), proceed to happy ending (happy again).

They call Thailand the land of smiles but i think Vietnam should be given that nickname. The people here are friendly and they smile a lot. But it is mostly in the context of selling you something. And I've found that the vietnamese are good salesmen. They will often touch you in a friendly way to gain your trust, like a hand on shoulder or arm type of touch. The prettier girls kept touching me on the stomach which I found charming, inappropriately intimate, obvious, and effective (not that I bought any 5 dollar shirt just cuz they touched my tummy). I don't feel like getting into the complex details, but they are generally convincing when it comes to prices.

I am staying at a tiny family run hotel in the backpacker's area of ho chi minh city. It's kind of weird because the family lives in the downstairs area, the lobby is their living room/living area. I got to see the son get whipped with a stick by both mom and dad as I sat here on the computer typing this. The other night the father was either asleep or drunk on the marble floor next to me and snoring like an orangutan was strangling him with a wet mop. I don't know if he sleeps like that normally or if he was having some kind of crazy drunk-sleep. I have video of him, and pics I'll post here when the family isn't looking over my shoulder. This place is a pretty good deal. US$12 for a private room with AC and cable TV, hot shower. the house itself is down a tiny little alleyway full of narrow walk ups. It only has 4 stories, and therefore, four rooms.

Vietnam

Holy shit, I'm in Vietnam.

First thing I did in Vietnam was get two hundred US dollars worth of dongs.

Then, I went to Vung Tau to catch a 5-6 foot (face) swell. But as Colonel Kilgore said, "charlie don't surf!"...and the reason charlie don't surf is because of the ridiculously strong on-shore winds that blow all day, every day. My hopes for surfing in vietnam have been dashed. I knew the winds were bad here, but I thought that I might be able to catch the morning glass, but apparently "morning glass" doesn't translate very well into vietnamese.

In Vietnam, there is an ethnic minority that worships Liam Neeson as their god. Despite harsh religious persecution from majority groups and after many years of movie screenings to raise funds, they built this 28 meter high statue of their actor-god on a mountain in Vung Tau.

Pho, this particular bowl was really sour. I couldn't tell if it was rotten or if that was supposed to be the flavor. I didn't get sick so I guess it was just the flavor. But then again, after India and all the literal and figurative shit I've eaten off the streets, I feel like my stomach is pretty rugged and manly now.

Ho Chi Min City. Is pretty cool. I really like this city. it's got a good vibe. it's modern, but gritty at the same time. I like vietnam in general. I really do.

Me watching the mush at Vung Tau. This place was a beach resort town, but totally second rate. the water was murky, the sand was full of garbage and not nice. The only food you could get was either pho, bun or fried rice.

stupid CSS.

thailand recap pics

The most popular tourist site in bangkok, the grand palace...as seen from outside it's wall cuz I wasn't going to pay 300 bhat to look at more temples, I was on a mission to find a little ice cream parlor nearby that is famous for it's home made coconut ice cream. I had some trouble finding it, but when I was ready to give up is when I found it. the coconut ice cream was good, so was the coffee flavor.

This girl gets it.

Wise words of wisdom.

A pink car in the canal at Chiang Mai.

Thailand Recap

back in BKK now, flying to vietnam tomorrow morning.

I've met two TV character dopplegangers here. My roommate at the WWOOF site was a london'er with a cockney accent and a face that looked very familiar. I finally figured this guy looked and sounded and acted EXACTLY like Badger from the show Firefly. I wondered if he was actually the same guy, possibly the actor on vacaction the resemblance was so uncanny.

Then I met a canadian girl who looked like Emily Deschanel of "Bones" fame. She even had the husky deep voice.

during my first stay in bangkok I got drunk, fell off the top bunk bed in the middle of the night when I tried to go to the bathroom and seriously hurt my foot. It put a serious damper on the chiang mai and chiang rai part of my trip and it only started feeling normal in the past couple days. I had to ice it and ibuprofen it as much as i could.

WWOOFing 2

Chilling after a long hard day of work. WWOOFing is very hit or miss. It all depends on the farm you choose. The "farm" I was at was actually an adventure park. There were rock climbing walls, zip lines and stuff like that. There wasn't an actual farm so the work was different. That's why we were hauling a huge metal beam up a mountain; we were going to use it to make a giant mountainside swing. I didn't have very high expectations for the place, I've grown pretty good at reading between the lines of travel marketing verbiage (even when it comes from individuals) and I knew it wasn't a "farm" farm, but I was still a little disappointed at the lack of interesting work.

But I did get to do some rock climbing, both with ropes and a belayer, and free climbing the mountain everyday to work on the swing arm.


typical take-out lunches the host provided for us. chicken on rice with sweet sauce, and soup in a plastic bag.

First half of my stay I subsisted on instant noodles and fresh local vegetables (usually with an egg mixed in). The local vegetables were so good I could, and often did, just eat them boiled. I could buy about USD$10 worth of vegetables here for about one US buck.


Then, I switched back to my old standby, instant chicken stock with vegetables and rice. It's easy to make and cheap and delicious. Most importantly, it's simple for a backpacker with limited kitchen equipment to make.

WWOOFing

Journal excerpt:
...February 18, in the year 2,555 of our lord Buddha. I almost died today, again. I was standing on a big pile of steel cable when the 12 meter long metal swing arm we were hoisting up the mountain decided to break free of it's base and go crashing down to the ground. I jumped back into a crevice in the rock face and did a quick check to make sure none of the cable was wrapped around me. I survived, we all did. But we were very very lucky no one got hurt, or killed...

The pic above is the aftermath of the swing arm incident. it's resting on the ground with one single cable still connected to the top.


at the house I was sleeping in, I was actually showering with the toilet hose (the hose you use to spray your ass hole clean instead of using toilet paper) because the actual shower head in my bathroom had zero pressure:

After a couple of days of cold toilet hose showers, I said "fuck this" and used my roommates hot shower:


Compare this picture with my May 29, 2010 post and find the differences:



ugh, americano's...whose dick do i have to suck around here to get a proper drip coffee?

GOD BLESS AMERICA

24 hour electricity, hot water, relatively corruption free government and police force, environmental regulations, smooth roads, traffic lights, EPA, FDA, NBA, NFL, NASA, science, Hollywood and polished entertainment media, supermarkets, crosswalks, no spitting, public trash collection, free education, politeness and consideration for others, empathy, generosity, freedom of religion, welfare, emergency medical care, cheap oil, awesome music, fixed prices, equal rights, women's rights, sense of self-responsibility, queuing, street cleaning, class action lawsuits, clean water, tipping, ...God bless america... 

I guess.

The Other Guys

I loathe myself whenever I see the poverty I am joyriding through. There's so much poverty and suffering in this world, it makes me ashamed of what I have. For example, the following picture: A man pushing his street cart full of dolls. Hello Kitty, Ding Dong, Pokemon type stuff. When I saw that, I thought to myself, "there, but for the grace of god, go I". I couldn't believe a man could make a living selling things like this, or any of the random hawkers you see around the 3rd world peddling the most random little things. But then a moment later, a tourist on a moped pulled his scooter over to the side of the road, walked back and asked this man how much for a Hello Kitty doll. So it goes.

I've developed a love for finding and taking pictures of random graffiti and stickers and street "art" like this. I'd much rather look at dirty walls and telephone poles for this kind of stuff than the temples and wats around here.

Random note: The movie "The Other Guys" with Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell is really really funny. So much fun snappy dialogue. Mark Wahlberg doing his smart-mouthing bad cop thing, Will Ferrell in one of his better movies and roles...highly recommend it if you haven't seen it yet.

Some pictures from my trek in Nepal.

I may not post much for a while cuz I'll be heading to Chiang Rai tomorrow to do some WWOOF farming and internet access may not be too convenient. I haven't taken many pictures recently, there hasn't been anything really interesting worth taking pics of.

I stayed in chiang mai for a day longer than I needed to because I've been trying to get one good night's sleep, but I just can't find it. The room I'm in is fan only and I couldn't regulate my body temperature correctly. The city itself is meh. It's mostly a jumping off point for treks and hikes and activities like that. But as you can see from the pics up above, I've already been there and done that, so there's nothing much in this city keeping me here. Just the desire for good sleep before i start farming. Actually, the food isn't too bad.

I'm so tired

I need to get right man. I want to go home, start working out and meditating again. I'm going to stop smoking. I want to eat less meat. I haven't had a proper night's sleep in 2 months. My throat hurts, my feet hurt, my knee hurts, my eyes hurt. I want to go home. I need to get right.

last night in bangkok

I was at the huge weekend market with this Norwegian girl who was buying a clean dress so we could go to the infamous Sky Bar. The posh 275 meter high rooftop bar that was in the movie The Hangover 2. This is my favorite human picture. I love this sweaty shirtless guy, wearing an apron, selling dresses, with a wry grin and cigarette dangling from his mouth.


The view from the Sky Bar. Cheapest drinks were 500 baht. It's an amazing feeling to watch the cityscape as you lean against the glass railing with a drink in hand. Discussing philosophy and the meaning of life with the dirty backpackers I just met at the hostel while pretending to be rich and classy on this rooftop bar.


I had a vodka martini, because look how cool I look.


The people from the hostel I went with. I actually went the night before with a Russian girl and they wanted to go so I went again with them. Its a really cool, posh and fun thing to do, especially when you go with pretty European girls.

Bangkok

How the FUCK did I end up spending ten days here?!

"let not the beauty of the world deceive you"

Bangkok, man.

Been eating a lot of middle eastern food. delicious stuff.

Bangkok is a fun city, but I got pretty bored by it pretty quick. Going out with other backpackers is fun, but I wish my friends were here. it's pretty much the same thing every night and day. I want to get out of here and into the country and farm or build a house. Plus, it's not cheap. Well, they are by american standards, but by other South East countries, or india and nepal, this place is expensive. A beer could cost anywhere from 1 USD to 5 USD ,or more, depending on where you are. A meal with a beer, a bit of internet, a subway ride there, a pomegranate juice here and you're suddenly out ten or fifteen bucks. I'm not complaining. you can get by cheaply here. I just choose to eat lots of (sometimes expensive) food and beer.

like I said, I'm here to eat. In the day time I usually eat at a nicer restaurant, night time is the street food stalls, and the street snacks in between.

Interesting quote

"you have everything, you just have to find it"
-G, a Lithuanian dancer

I got nothing to say

so here are some pictures

a korean girl hiking ahead of me up to Annapurna base camp

graffiti

Tongba beer. A Tibetan traditional beer. made from fermented millet, hot water from a thermos is poured in, let to steep for a bit, then drunk through a perforated straw, it tastes as good as it sounds.

bangkok day wahtever

I will acknowledge the fact the Patriots lost the superbowl. Nothing more will I say about that.

It's a good thing I've had many years of practice of going out and getting drunk and returning home with all my important things like money, wallet, phones, glasses, camera's, etc...those drunken instincts have been very useful. while not everything was in their proper place, after looking around the dorm and hostel a bit, everything was found.

one of my favorite parts of traveling is getting to know a city well. especially well enough to lead newer tourist arrivals around. It's such a cool feeling. I also love coming back to a city I've already been to during my travels. It's like a weird quasi-homecoming, and I it's nice to arrive in a city and to navigate it without feeling lost and confused.

bangkok

forget the prostitutes, forget the bars, nevermind the nightclubs, nevermind the temples beaches and mountains, I just want to eat. The food here is...really good.

I wish i was fatter, i wish i had a bigger stomach.

Thailand

I'm in bangkok now. I can't tell if I love bangkok, or hate india. It's possible that this city seems so awesome becuase it isn't India or Nepal. Clean streets, nice people, no cow shit, no spitting, clean air, warm, etc.... It's been a rough couple of travel days. I spent 16 hours in Mumbai international airport, paid 6 dollars for a beer there.

While I was actually in india, I was okay with living in the filth and felt ambivalent about it after I left. But after going to Nepal, which is India-lite, and now beautiful bangkok, I retroactively loathe India.

I'll be here long enough to get my vietnam visa, and to mail some stuff back home, but since it's the weekend i have to wait for the work week to get that done. then heading up north to do some WWOOFing, then back down to bangkok to catch a flight to Vietnam.

oh, and i'm definietly waking up at 5:30am to watch the superbowl at one of the local pubs here. I predict Patriots win it 34-20.

no pictures to post because I don't have much interesting photos.