Luang Prabang, Laos - Day 3

I got to hike through elephant poop…barefoot.

So we stayed overnight in the village which was really fascinating. The villagers had a chief who was one of the taller guys in the tribe and had one of the best looking woman for his wife. But best of all…he had one of two TV antennas in the village. They hosted TV night where what seemed like the entire village squished into their living room and watched the wife channel surf the Thai TV channels.

The next day I woke up early around 6 am and it started raining shortly after. So we started hiking down the mountain after breakfast in a steady downpour. The trail was a complete mud slide. I would just slide down the mountain; and I had two sticks that I would periodically stick in the mud to stop myself from careening out of control. So for most of the hike the mud was the slippery variety which required a lot of effort to not fall off the trail. Then we hit another type of mud that was more clay like and it stuck to anything it touched. After hiking about 5 minutes in the clay like mud it would constantly build up on the bottom of my sandals until I was basically walking on stilts. Stilts that weighed 25 lbs. I couldn’t get the mud off my sandals it was caked on so hard. So I took my sandals off and proceeded to slide down the mountain barefoot. It was smooth sliding until I hit these HUGE pot holes which looked like a couple moon landings took place on the trail. I asked the guide what these were and he said that they were elephant footprints. Then I noticed the large mounds of poop scattered along the trail which were slowly “melting” into the trail as the rain mixed them in with the mud and made little poop pools in the elephant footprints. And I still couldn’t put my sandals on because I would be sliding all over the place – not that they would have offered much protection from the feces mud mixture. LOVELY!

Luang Prabang, Laos - Day 3

Luang Prabang, Laos - Day 2

So I decided to do a two day trek with an overnight stay in village. This would have been one of the highlights of the trip if it wasn’t pouring both days. Now I’d been traveling during the rainy season in South East Asia so I figured I would get stuck in the rain sometime but so far I had been lucky. The only rain that I got was a little bit in Sapa for a couple hours. It also had to happen on the days that I decided to do a trek. I was trekking with two girls from Italy and one from Spain along with our guide. We first took a boat that looked about as sturdy as one of those paper boats that I made when I was 10 and floated in my sink until it sank. If you leaned a little the entire boat rocked, so you tried to do your best to mimic a statue while one of the guys on the boat was bailing water. The water was extremely fast and viscous as it was engorged with the past monsoons. We were crossing the river to a point perpendicular to where we were starting, but the water was so fast that we had to go up stream a bit then boat down across the river. The combo of the fast water, preposterously paper thin boat, and the bailer only having two arms and one small bucket didn’t lead me to have much faith in this trip. And of course safety regulations like life jackets are nonexistent in the interior of a third world country. And if there were life jackets they were probably pillaged a long time ago to be made into pillows or something more ingenious and practical than a life saving device.

Somehow we managed to skitter across the river and hiked up the mountain in the rain - luckily I had a poncho from my Sapa trip. I only had flip flops and because of the rainy and muddy conditions sliding a bit on the way up. But it was better than the girls who had sneakers. As we had to cross a couple rivers, they had to keep taking them off and putting them on. After an hour or so they were soaked and covered in mud. Sandals were cleaner and more convenient; you just a little less traction when climbing…which isn’t the problem…going down in where lies the issue. So we climbed for 4 hours, made it to the top and then got a small bowl of fried rice to eat. I’m trying to remember the last time I ate so little fried rice in one sitting when rice was the only available food item, especially after a grueling 4 hour hike…I’ll let you know when I think of it.

Luang Prabang, Laos - Day 2

Luang Prabang, Laos - Day 1

UNESCO World Heritage Site

Luang Prabang, Laos - Day 1

Hanoi, Vietnam - Day 2

It doesn't take much to be a pop star in Vietnam. I ran into a music video shoot at the Temple of Literature with a 5'6'' guy lip singing to a boom box and dancing with a girl. Wasn't really impressed but afterwards my driver told me that he's the biggest thing in Vietnam right now.

Hanoi, Vietnam - Day 2

Sapa, Vietnam - Day 3

Sapa, Vietnam - Day 3

Sapa, Vietnam - Day 2

Sapa, Vietnam - Day 2

Sapa, Vietnam - Day 1

Sapa, Vietnam - Day 1

Halong Bay, Vietnam - Day 2

Halong Bay, Vietnam - Day 2

Halong Bay, Vietnam - Day 1

UNESCO World Heritage Site

Halong Bay, Vietnam - Day 1

Hanoi, Vietnam - Day 1

Hanoi, Vietnam - Day 1

Hue, Vietnam - Day 2

UNESCO World Heritage Site

Hue, Vietnam - Day 2

Hue, Vietnam - Day 1

Hue, Vietnam - Day 1

Hoi An, Vietnam - Day 2

Today I rented a motorcycle and drove out to My Son (prounounced Mee Sun), a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I got extremely lost on my way there and a 25 minute trip turned into a 2 hour trip. I had to stop multiple times to ask in pointing sign language to figure out how to get to this national monument. While it wasn't fun to be lost in the middle of never ending rice fields and villages in the scorching sun, in hindsight, the experience was a rewarding one as I enjoyed the open road and time on the bike. I eventually got to my destination and wow what a let down. I had just come from Cambodia where the temples of Siem Reap were awe inspiring. My Son was about half the size of the smallest temple in Siem Reap and in much worse condition. It was also very architecturally similar so it was rather disappointing.

The rest of the day included a trip to Denang about an hour away to visit the Marble Mountains, a really cool mountain full of temples and nooks and crannies to explore.

Hoi An, Vietnam - Day 2

Hoi An, Vietnam - Day 1

So today I flew into Denang, a city in the middle of Vietnam, and took a 30 minute taxi ride down Hoi An. Hoi An, a UNESCO Heritage site, is a historic port town with the majority of the unique blend of local and foreign influenced buildings and architecture remaining largely intact. Besides the historic areas, there is also a nice beach, and lots of good local foods. I rented a motorbike in Hoi An for half the day and rode around the city sampling the various foods – I ate three dinners there was so much good food to try.

I also visited the beach and noticed something particular. A lot of Asian countries prefer the white porcelain skin as opposed to being tan, as the tan signifies a person who has to work in the fields. So during the sun light hours of the day there were no locals at the beach save those providing service to the tourists. However, as soon as sun started to set around 4pm, the Vietnamese went out to the beach in HORDES. Like the beach went from being empty to being packed in 30 minutes. People would come fully dressed from the office in jeans and a button down shirt and jump into the ocean for a dip and then sit down on the beach to food prepared by local vendors. What are they doing walking fully clothed into the ocean!?!? Aren’t there any bathing suits here?

Hoi An, Vietnam - Day 1

Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam - Day 5

Today I took a tour of the Cao Dai Temples where they combine Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism into one religion. Services at the temple, held daily at noon, 6 pm, midnight and 6 am, offer another glimpse of this East-meets-West eclecticism. An orchestra of 10 musicians and a choir of 20 youths lead the congregation in prayer. The hymns are much closer to Christian spirituals than traditional Buddhist or Taoist chanting, but the music is unmistakably Vietnamese. The mix, neither wholly Vietnamese nor wholly Western, is both very exotic and incredibly spiritual. During the forty-minute prayer session, a Cao Dai follower explains, the presence of God comes into the chapel and gazes out at the congregation through the Divine Eye.

Worshippers are separated by gender - men on the right and women on the left. In contrast to the vivid colors of the temple, lay followers and women wear pure white. Men with the rank of priest and higher are robed in solid colors depending on their spiritual allegiance within Caodaism: yellow (symbolizing Buddhism and virtue), blue (Taoism and pacifism) or red (Confucianism and authority). Bishops and cardinals also have an eye emblazoned on their headpieces.

I also went to the Cu Chi Tunnels where the Vietnamese fought the Americans during the war using a complicated system of tunnels and traps. I got to climb down into one of the original tunnel entrances and I got stuck - shoulders were too wide to fit through the hole. I also went 60 ft underground through the tunnels. I’ve never felt claustrophobic before…but those tunnels are tiny – in certain parts of the tunnels you had to crawl and are really hot - I was drenched with sweat by the time I was done.

Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam - Day 5

Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam - Day 4

So today I took a tour of the Mekong Delta, which was quite possibly one of the worst tours ever…I mean most tours have some kind of filler (take the dumb tourists to a candy store, toy store, art store, something where they’ll buy useless junk and the tour will get a commission store)…if that’s what you’re looking for then this tour did not disappoint. We saw how honey was made, how coconut candy was made, rode a cart pulled by a miniature donkey (poor thing), and listened to some Vietnamese band. Needless to say, wasn’t too impressed with the Delta region.

An interesting thing that I noticed today’s tour were the vendors lined up on the side of the street. There would be 15 of them on one side of the street spaced out perhaps 10 ft or so apart selling the EXACT same products whether its bread or fruits. Like perhaps diversification may help? I mean who drives by the same road every day on the way to work and says “hmmm…I’ve seen a 10 bread stands by the side of the street…perhaps I’ll stop by the 12th one?” I suppose the power of persuasion works well here….

When a city has 12 million people and 8 million motorbikes, motorbikes tend to be the only transportation available; and it’s amazing what a little resourcefulness will do when loading them to capacity. I’ve seen couches, bales of trees, loads of lumber…and now flocks of ducks and geese…like 50 of them on a motorbike…

Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam - Day 4

Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam - Day 3

So today I took a city tour consisting of: two temples, the presidential palace (extremely 70’s and rather dilapidated for a palace), the Vietnam War museum, market place (amazing foods and spices), Notre Dame Cathedral, and the post office.

The most interesting stop on the tour was the war museum…which wasn’t referred to as the “Vietnam” war museum but the “American” war museum. It’s interesting to see Vietnam’s perspective on the American war. The pictures and videos of the bombing, torturing, and murdering that went on by the American army was horrific and ghastly. You could easily identify the Americans in the museum by their somber demeanor and saucer-wide eyes. I guess the atrocities of war are never fun to discuss but just like so many other countries that have wronged another (Germans and the Nazis, Chinese and Tiananmen Sq, and Japanese and Nanjing) the history is often glossed over in school and in the history books…until you see and talk to the affected parties…and then a whole different story comes out…

On a more positive note…I almost got ripped off…again…by a girl…who couldn’t have been more than 11 years old. I saw a girl selling miniature grilled rice cakes on the side of the road and figured that they would be between 4,000 and 8,000 dong (25-50 cents) or perhaps 16,000 dong (1 dollar) at the most. When I asked her the price, she said 200,000 dong (12 dollars). My jaw dropped when I realized she had marked it up nearly 25x the going rate. I thought perhaps I heard her wrong; maybe I should give her the benefit of the doubt. So I pulled two 100,000 dong bills out of my wallet and confirmed the price with her…she just smiled and nodded…wow…well I guess to a budding entrepreneur its better to sell one rice cake for 200,000 dong to a sucker than 25 rice cakes at 8,000 dong apiece. If she sells two of them, she can probably close down shop and head home for the day. But wow, tourists pricing is taken to a whole new level here.

Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam - Day 3

Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam - Day 2

So I booked a couple tours for the week after getting into HCM but I overslept in the morning and missed the pick up so I had to look for a replacement event for the day. I found what appeared to be the only cooking class in HCM city and decided to sign up. First of all, the class was $45 dollars for a 4 hour course…which ok maybe in the states is cheap but in south east Asia – you can eat 7 meals for that amount…its astronomically high. Secondly, the interpreter was horrible. Her English was atrocious despite majoring in it in high school and university, and she wouldn’t let us alter the recipes at all. She yelled at me when I put extra hot sauce and fish sauce in my food. Hello, I’m eating this not you. Lastly and definitely the worst, the foods were all prepped for us already and the “cooking” class was more like a 2nd grade “painting by numbers” class. There was no prep work, little “cooking”, and a bland informational session on local fruits which bored me to tears. So while I wouldn’t consider this adding to my perception of HCM as a rip off capital…it definitely didn’t help to bolster my image of the city.

The true rip off of the day happened during my motorbike ride to the cooking class. The owner of the guesthouse had helped me to book the cooking class and offered to help me book a motorbike ride out to the cooking school for 50,000 dong each way and 100,000 dong both ways (which is about $3 and $6 respectively). The guesthouse proprietor said it should take about 45 minutes and was across town...we got there in 15 minutes. During the cooking course a monsoon was going through the area so when it was time to leave, one of my classmates suggested that we share a cab back to the area that we were all staying so that I didn’t have to ride back on a motorcycle in the whipping rain and wind. So I went outside and told the motorcycle driver and paid him 50,000 dong for the ride to the school. At which point he became extremely agitated and demanded the 100,000 dong for the entire ride. I calmly explained to him that I used half of his services and that I would pay him for the one way trip. The cab came and as we started to get into the cab to go home, the motorbike driver exploded into a tirade of about eight English words which he knew while physically threatening me. At which point, I had to stop and laugh at the absurdity of the situation…this guy came up to maybe my chest and I probably could have handled him with my dominant hand tied behind my back. I also realized that we were arguing about $3 dollars but at this point it was more principle than the actual money. I attempted to placate him by offering 10,000 dong for having to drive over to the school to pick me up…but to no avail. Finally I gave him another 10,000 dong and said enough is enough that’s all you’re getting and if you want to fight about the other 30,000 dong,I’ll be happy to wrap you around your bike. He of course backed down with his 20,000 dong; and after getting into the cab, I recounted the story to my other travelers. One girl who had been living in HCM for about 2 months said that even the 50,000 dong for the one way trip was astronomically high…that I should have gotten it for 10,000 dong…

The cab ride back in a legit cab for four people was 33,000 dong…

The “tourist pricing” is not what bothers me. The thing that bothers me is the extremity, audacity, and tactless rudeness that I had experienced thus far in Vietnam. At least in Thailand and Cambodia, you know you’re getting taken for a ride, they know you know, but at least they are friendly and smile about it the whole time.

Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam - Day 2

Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam - Day 1

In traveling through any country, one of the things that you have to on the lookout for is an entrepreneuring local looking to make a quick buck off a farang. Having acclimated myself to the sliding price scales of goods and services having traveled through Asia over the years, I pride myself in being able to minimize the fleecing. I’ve realized that what we as westerners perceive as a normal price would be astronomically high to a local in south east Asia and what we perceive as really really low is still high but somewhat palatable for a local. That being said…boy did I get ripped off in HCM…not once but a couple times and multiple other attempts were assuaged

So I get into HCM after about a 5 hour bus ride from Phnom Penh…and WOHHOOOO …welcome to the city of rip offs. After disembarking, a taxi driver comes over and grabs my bag and puts it in his cab. While I was a little surprised with the taxi driver’s audacity, I chalked it up to a cultural difference in customer service; and since I was planning on I was planning on taking a taxi anyway I hopped in. I first noticed that something was fishy when the meter was moving very fast. At one point, the meter was at 100,000 dong and then I looked away and looked back and it was in the 200,000 range. When I asked him about that, his English all of a sudden stopped working. Then I noticed that we made two left hand turns and were going back in the exact same direction that we had come from. We drove for about 15-20 minutes and when we got to the guesthouse the meter was at 320,000 dong which came out to be a little more than $23 USD. No twenty minute cab ride in a third world country should even approach what it cost to take a taxi in Manhattan much less supersede it. At that point there was little that I could do but pay as I really had no idea where I was and if the driver had truly driven around in a circle or not.

Later in the evening I was perusing some shops and restaurants looking for a place to grab some food. A lot of other foreigners were in the area, and I ended up running into a lovely couple from Austria who happened to be on my bus in the morning. We were chatting and they mentioned that they were staying in the area as well. I asked them how much their cab ride was. They looked perplexed, shook their heads, and pointed to the park across the street where we got dropped off. What?! Huh?! I could have walked there!? Saweeeeeeet!

Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam - Day 1

Phnom Penh, Cambodia - Day 2

I really treasured my time in Cambodia and saw it as one of the highlights of my trip. I enjoyed exploring the temples in Angkor Wat and valued it more on my subsequent trip as I could appreciate some of the minute details that I missed the first time while battling temple fatigue, oppressive heat, and throngs of tourists.

On my second day in Phnom Penh, I spent time at the killing fields and the S21 high school. The Khmer Rouge turned a high school into a torture facility and holding pen for prisoners before shipping them by the bus loads to the killing fields for mass executions. In some cases, the Khmer Rouge wanted to save bullets so they would beat the victims over the head with shovels and buried some people alive.

The bifurcation between the amazing culturally breathtaking monuments at Angkor Wat and the horrific destruction brought upon a cruel dictator in a country which once ruled most of what is now south east Asia is stunning. The fact that the Khmer Rouge ravished the country less than 30 yrs ago and that the country is still trying to replace the void left by the educated doctors and scholars being whisked away never to return is heart wrenching. The somberness is taken to another level when you experience the genuine joy, hospitality, and sincerity of the Cambodian people while living with meager trappings, few material luxuries, and in some cases downright squalid conditions.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia - Day 2

Phnom Penh, Cambodia - Day 1

I hung out with a group of 4 Estonians in Sihanoukville who were also going to Phnom Penh so we decided to meet up to do some sightseeing. They were carpooling in a taxi and I was going to take the bus which was only suppose to be a 3-4 hour bus ride. The thing that they forgot to tell me at the bus station was that they would be blaring Cambodian karaoke music the entire time and that the air conditioning wasn’t working. It was maybe 90 degrees outside and about 110 degrees inside the sauna on wheels. Even the climatized Cambodians, who wear long sleeve shirts and pants in the 90 degree heat and never sweat, were perspiring profusely. The bus driver was also driving rather unpredictably and even though it was pretty much on straight road, he would spend most of the time in the opposite lane passing cars, trucks, motorbikes, people, animals, and the occasional gaping hole in the road. So to add to the din and oppressive heat, we also had 3 people throw up on the bus due to the motion sickness brought on by the erratic driving. I promised myself to never again take a bus trip in Asia over 4 hours.

When I finally arrived in Phnom Penh blue faced and dehydrated, I went to go check into my guesthouse along the river. I took a quick shower and grabbed some lunch in the restaurant on the first floor before meeting up with the Estonian group to go to the royal palace. Who should I run into while eating but another Estonian that I had met on the island tour in Sihanoukville about a week prior. For some reason Estonians’ seem to love Cambodia.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia - Day 1

Sihanoukville, Cambodia - Day 6

On my last day in Sihanoukville, I rented a motorbike and biked around the town to venture off the proverbial beaten path. I went up to Wat Leu, a temple on the top of the only hill in sihanoukville, and went around a bit. I’ve seen quite a few temples going through southeast Asia central but this one had statues of old men leaning on canes that didn’t appear in any of the other temples that I visited.

On the way down the hill I took a different path down the hill. I stopped to take a picture of a statue and this adorable little girl came running out of a house at me. I guess she doesn’t see too many foreigners on bikes. After standing in front of me for about 2 minutes and smiling, she runs over to the statue that I was taking a picture of and poses in front of the statue for a couple minutes while also trying to get her brothers attention to come over from the door step of their house, which was about the size of a large shack. When her brother finally came over, she wrestled him to the ground and then made him stand up and pose for more pictures. She’s in the running for the cutest kid award on my travels although she’s going to have plenty of competition.

Then I biked to the Kbal Chhay waterfalls about 20km away. Apparently it’s a popular weekend picnic and relaxation spot for the locals but I found it rather lacking. Not much of a waterfall although the hammocks looked rather comfy.

Finally, I drove around the rest of the islands and checked out the other beaches that were further from my hotel before meeting up with some Estonian friends for dinner. We went to a local popular Cambodian seafood restaurant where we were the only foreigners amongst a ton of locals. I was a little wary as the menu didn’t have any prices which was a prime opportunity to get charged foreigner prices, but we ordered a ton of food and it came out to be about 4 dollars each. We were hanging out at the guesthouse, which ironically is partially owned by an Estonian, and he went and got some local Cambodian specialties for us to try – a chicken egg with a developing chicken inside. It was two eggs with some lime and pepper but when you peel away the egg shell there’s a definite skeleton structure of a baby chicken with a head and the normal egg whites around it. It was like a soft boiled egg with tender bones in it – tasted like chicken. I wouldn’t order it at a restaurant but it was a peculiar delicacy to try once in your life.

Sihanoukville, Cambodia - Day 6

Sihanoukville, Cambodia - Day 5

I took a cooking class the day before and I enjoyed it so much that I decided to come back for a second day. I liked it because it was a true cooking class where we had to prepare our own ingredients and not merely a cooking demonstration or a class where all the ingredients are already prepped. The instructor was also very friendly, informative, and spoke English well. For the second day, I asked to make some traditional Cambodian dishes like nam pah jook and caw. She was a bit surprised that I knew about these dishes as they aren’t the ones that are westernized and served at the local restaurants but more of the home cooking, but she readily agreed. We didn’t have the glossy laminated recipe cards that accompanied all of the other regular dishes, but it was much more interesting as it felt like a more authentic cooking experience as she taught me how to make the dish that she had for dinner the night before.

Sihanoukville, Cambodia - Day 5

Sihanoukville, Cambodia - Day 4

Sihanoukville, Cambodia - Day 4

Sihanoukville, Cambodia - Day 3

I took an island tour of Bamboo Island which is about 1 hour away. The waves were rather choppy and at least one girl regurgitated her breakfast for the fishes. We went snorkeling near one island and then had lunch on the beach at Bamboo Island. After lunch we hiked through a small forest and the discovered a uninhabitated beach on the other side of the island where we had the entire beach with pristine soft white sand and surfer worthy waves all to ourselves.

On the way back through the forest, we came across some locals who had smoked out a bee's nest and were enjoying the fresh honey straight from the honey comb. The honey was obviously amazingly fresh and included complimentary burnt bees as an extra protein supplement.

Sihanoukville, Cambodia - Day 3

Sihanoukville, Cambodia - Day 2

I went on a tour to the Siem National Park where we rode out on a wooden boat through the park to this small fishing village. We hiked through the woods to a deserted beach which was beautiful.

Then it was more relaxation on serendipity beach next to my resort.

Sihanoukville, Cambodia - Day 2

Sihanoukville, Cambodia - Day 1

I took what I thought was an 8 hour bus ride from Siem Reap in northern Cambodia to the beaches on the gulf of Thailand. I would have taken the 1 hour flight but they discontinued the flights during low season. So the bus ends up taking 13 hours and was excruciatingly long, but I made it one piece.

Sihanoukville, Cambodia - Day 1

Siem Reap, Cambodia - Day 5

I took a cooking class today and learned how to make tom yum soup and fish amok. Then I walked around and got a massage. While walking around a night market I managed to find grilled snake on a stick.

Siem Reap, Cambodia - Day 5

Siem Reap, Cambodia - Day 4

I spent the day relaxing, eating, and updating my pictures.

Siem Reap, Cambodia - Day 4

Siem Reap, Cambodia - Day 3

Jason's last day in Siem Reap and we spent some time chilling. We went to the gym and walked around the markets in town. We tried these "special eggs" which we thought were the fertilized baby chickens but they ended up being similar to salted hard boiled eggs. They were pretty good but there definately weren't any bones there...although I ended up trying the fertilized chicken egg in Sihanoukville later in the week.

Siem Reap, Cambodia - Day 3

Siem Reap, Cambodia - Day 2

Amazing, Stunning, one of the Highlights of my trip. If you haven't been, GO!

Siem Reap, Cambodia - Day 2

Siem Reap, Cambodia - Day 1

I had a buddy Jason fly down from Korea to go temple climbing with me at this UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Siem Reap, Cambodia - Day 1

Bangkok, Thailand - Day 6

After flying back to Bangkok from Chiang Mai we went out to dinner at a awesome bbq place with tons of seafood and good food. And then I was going to take a bus at 6 am to Siem Reap which is about 10 hours away to meet up with my friend Jason. But unfortunately I got really really bad food posioning in the morning and spent about 5 hours in the bathroom. I missed my bus and ended up taking a flight to Siem Reap which was a ended up working out better than the bus.

Bangkok, Thailand - Day 6

Chiang Mai, Thailand - Day 2

Chiang Mai, Thailand - Day 2

Chiang Mai, Thailand - Day 1

Chiang Mai, Thailand - Day 1

Bangkok, Thailand - Day 5

Taking a bus up to Chiang Mai

Bangkok, Thailand - Day 5

Bangkok, Thailand - Day 4

Bangkok, Thailand - Day 4

Bangkok, Thailand - Day 3

Bangkok, Thailand - Day 3

Bangkok, Thailand - Day 2

Bangkok, Thailand - Day 2

Bangkok, Thailand - Day 1

Bangkok, Thailand - Day 1

HK Round 2 - Day 8

Hong Kong Round 2 - Day 8

HK Round 2 - Day 7

Hong Kong Round 2 - Day 7

HK Round 2 - Day 6

Hong Kong Round 2 - Day 6

HK Round 2 - Day 5

Today I met with my friend, Clarence, for lunch and he took me to a local spot to get some cheap good eats. After lunch we went to a famous local bakery where I had the most buttery dan tats (egg custards).

After walking around the IFC mall for a bit, I decided to take a day trip to Macau, a UNESCO site. It's about a 1 hour ferry ride to Macau and there are sizable remnants of the Portuguese influence. The captions on museum plaques are in Chinese, Portuguese, and English. I could get around HK rather easily because most of the people spoke a little English and when I went to some of the remote areas I could navigate in Mandarin. However, that was not the case in Macau as everyone spoke Cantonese and no English or Mandarin. My mandarin wasn't as helpful here as it was in HK.

Macau is the most densely populated region in the world and it was apparent in the hoards of people everywhere that I went. I visited two sections – the first being the historical area of Macau and the second being the casino area. The historical areas had a distinct European architecture and feel with the Portuguese style buildings and street names. I walked around the center for a couple hours and made my way up a steep hill to the top where there was a fort and a large museum in the fort. On the way up the huge hill it was extremely muggy and it felt like I was walking through a rain cloud so it wasn’t surprising that on the way out I got caught in a monsoon and stood under a shop awning for about an hour while I waited for the rains to dissipate. Then I walked around the casino area for a bit before heading home. The casinos in Macau were huge with an emphasis on hard core gambling. Other than gambling, there was little else to do for entertainment unlike Vegas where there are mini golf course, theme parks, local tours, street foods, clubs, gaudy reconstruction of other cities like Paris or New York, etc.

Hong Kong Round 2 - Day 5

HK Round 2 - Day 4

Hong Kong Round 2 - Day 4

HK Round 2 - Day 3

Hong Kong Round 2 - Day 3

HK Round 2 - Day 2

Hong Kong Round 2 - Day 2

HK Round 2 - Day 1

Hong Kong Round 2 - Day 1

Philipines - Day 4

Philipines - Day 4

Philipines - Day 3

Philipines Day 3