Alyse in Wonderland

Argentina Calling

2010-11-19T03:42:00.005+07:00

When I left SE Asia, I promised myself that I wouldn´t take another twelve hour night bus. Well, promise has been kept as Argentine distances tend to be between 16-23 hours! Anyway, it´s been just over two weeks, and I can´t believe how fast time is flying. I´ve been having a great time meeting people and enjoying the cities and the countryside. Here are a few quick notes about the cities I´ve been to so far:

Buenos Aires: Really big. I stayed at Palermo House Hostal and met a lot of Americans, so much so that I felt the need to leave BA pretty quickly, despite how cool and awesome they were (two studying in Chile, one who works a diamond mine in Sierra Leone, one creative director, etc). Regardlessm I needed to feel in Argentina so I left after two or three days. The hostel workers were really nice and had a lot of good advice on Tango clubs, etc - very much a party hostel.

Anyway, La Boca district is fairly touristy and pretty beautiful. It doesn´t seem dangerous, but it is. Most of BA´s theft tends to happen there. The cemetary in Recoleta is a lot bigger than it seems and includes many of Argentina´s wealthiest dead. Saw the madres in the Plaza Mayor in front of the Casa Rosada. They march every Thursday at 3pm.

I think my favorite part of my brief stay in BA was the art museums. My god is Argentine modern art purely amazing! MALBA and Museo de Belles Artes were just incredible. The first is discounted every Weds. and the latter is free. I´ll probably go back there and write some art-inspired poetry. I think I could stare at those pieces all day long.

Puerto de Iguazu: Wow! Beautiful waterfalls, totally worth the 20hr bus ride. I met an Aussie girl who had spent the last 6 months traveling around South America. She´s only 18 and hasn´t even started Uni yet, a very bright and lively chica. Anyway, the two of us romped around the national park, taking snacks and a bunch of photos. Buses to the cataratas were only about 15 pesos ida y vuelto and the second day to the falls garners a 50% discount.

The first day at the falls there was a butterfly who landed on my arm and stayed with me for over half an hour. I named him Eduardo the Butterfly. Other animals included coati (racoon-like creatures), condors, iguanas and little lizards, and birds. Loved it, especially the Sendero Macuco and Isla San Martin.

La Garganta del Diablo wasn´t all that impressive after seeing everything else, but damn there´s a lot of water. I read somewhere that in the 1930s you could pay a local boater to row out to the top of La Garganta and row rapidly against the extreme current for a unique and highly dangerous photo opp, but after the death of one boater and six German tourists, the adventure was deemed illegal and thus no longer exists.

Córdoba: Here I met up with my long-time friend, Nelson (yes, there exists an Argentinine named Nelson). We had met four years ago, more or less randomly, in BCN. Ask me later for the story. I stayed with his family in Villa Allende just outside the city. One day we went to the campo where I met Minda del campo, the man who takes care of Nelson´s family´s acres of farmland and animals. He´s, to put it in one word, awesome. An old man full of life and energy, laughing at us crazy gringos that come to say hello to him and share some bizcocho and maté. He really liked me, the hugely tall american girl. I´ll post pics of him on Facebook later.

The following day we went to Alta Gracia to see Ché Guevarra´s first home. Not terribly interesting except a quote that says, ¨Leer y escribir es andar¨meaning To read and write is to walk. Love it. That and apparently Castro and Chavez visited in 2006... woo. Oh el comunismo.

More later on Mendoza and Chile.

Reinventing the Revival

2010-09-11T05:39:00.003+07:00

I'm bringing this bitch back!

Lookout for more poems and more random adventures... quit the job and heading to Argentina in November. What this means is I've got two months to compile my book of poetry and break free to the big bad world of wanderlusty profound confusion.

Zing!

The Final Days of SE Asia

2009-04-06T11:15:00.003+07:00

The last ten days of Vietnam and Bangkok were certainly bittersweet. After leaving Jungle Beach, we took a grueling and miserable night bus to Hoi An where we were supposed to meet my parents at a nice hotel. The overnight sleeper bus beds were clearly meant for non-western people. They were all too small with a box for your feet to go in. Not to mention someone had gone through our bags in search for valuables. The bus was cramped and uncomfortable. Those on the top bunks had a constant fear of falling out to the narrow passageway below. Valium and sleeping pills helped only a little. To make matters worse, the dates at the hotel were mixed up and we had to trek around looking for a new one and letting the parentals know where we were.

Tailored Clothes Galore!
Hoi An is a wonderful place, quaint and infested with millions of tailor shops. You can get anything you want made for any price. Alison and I got jackets made (without which we'd be dying in freezing Tokyo). I also got a dress made. The last time I had anything tailored was when I went to Venezuela about eleven years ago for my cousin's first wedding. Our friends, Steve and Tyler, got all too many things made for them: suits, shirts, jeans and.... Team Zissou suits from Wes Anderson's Life Aquatic. Hilarious.

Aside from tailor shops and various markets, Hoi An is host to ancient Buddhist ruins called My Son. We did a tour there and found out that the temples would've been more complete if the U.S. didn't bomb them during the Vietnam-America War, known to the Vietnamese as the American War. After being in Southeast Asia for over four months, the ruins weren't that impressive. After seeing Angkor Wat, you really don't want to see another temple. Still, My Son is interesting and beautiful.

Driving through the DMZ
From Hoi An, we took a four hour bus up to Hue. There we walked around the citadel but skipped out on the tombs and other attractions. We took an all day tour to the Demilitarized Zone, aka DMZ. The tour was miserable. We spent all day in a sauna, aka our bus, driving across the country and stopping at minor sites to take pictures. If you are a history buff or someone who enjoys scenic bus rides, this tour is for you. All in all, I learned a lot from the tour and the Vinh Moc tunnels were cool, but I've had it with bus rides especially since we had to board a night bus to Hanoi right after the tour. This was another miserable bus ride where my ipod got stolen as well. Hopefully, travel insurance will be able to compensate me for some of the cost.

Hanoi and Halong Bay
Hanoi was relaxing and pleasant. The weather there is cooler than in the south and the people more localized. It does not have much of a westernized feel like Ho Chi Minh City had. Here, we booked a one night two day tour to Halong Bay on a deluxe boat, which was not deluxe but still very nice. Basically how these tours work is you get what you pay for and everyone pays a different price for the same thing. Unfortunately, our trip was dawned with gloomy weather, a few arrogant guests and a crew that kept super over-charging us for random things. The rest of Hanoi was fun, just some shopping and saying goodbye to Vietnam and my parents.

Bangkok... the last three days
So Bangkok is, well, Bangkok. The one cool thing is that we were on Khao San Rd. for the 60th hour, also known as Earth hour, which is an event that supposedly took place worldwide, a simple concept: one hour lights off. It was pretty cool to be there.

From Cars to Motorbikes: The “Tuk Tuk” Phenomenon

2009-04-05T10:28:00.001+07:00

The automobile has been one of the world’s greatest inventions, giving people an affordable and convenient method of personal travel. Although the versatility and usefulness of cars still reign in many parts of the world, in Southeast Asia motorcycles and scooters seem to be not only more common, but more cost effective and necessary for livelihood

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Viet Nam as told by a young American

2009-03-21T17:44:00.009+07:00

Well, I must first say that Ho Chi Minh City aka Saigon is utter madness. Imagine standing on a street corner watching herds of honking motorbikes zoom past you like a Disney cartoon of Goofy attempting to cross the street. I'm pretty sure motorbikes outnumber people here. Aside from that, HCMC is just another large city. We only spent two days there. Saw the Reunification Palace which is decked out in 70s decor asian style.

NAM, War and Tears
The War Museum was quite a heart-wrenching experience. Simple and plain with halls of pictures, this museum will scare you and if you're America it may just haunt you. After being in Phnom Penh and seeing the horrors of the Khmer Rouge regime at the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng, I couldn't help but find comparisons between the tactics. It's sickening really. What was especially interesting was the exhibit of photos by photographers who had died in the war. Then there's the pictures of the lasting effects of Agent Orange, not to mention the pickled deformed fetuses in one corner. This museum made me never want to go back to the US, especially with the double war in Afghanistan and Iraq. But, it's home and I've got the return ticket already.

Mui Ne Hey Hey
From there, we moved up the coast to resort Mui Ne. Boring boring for longer than a day, unless you want to drop $250 and learn to kite surf for a day or surf or just relax on the beach. Ok, so maybe not that boring, but we've done plenty of that already aside from kite surfing. The white and red sand dunes were amazing. It felt like a time warp to Morrocco. My favorite was the Fairy Creek or Fairy Trail. You walk a km or two down murky ankle-deep waters like walk through the river Styx to a fairly mediocre waterfall. One side of the walk is full of green and life while the other is sand and death. It's truly an incredible sight. Not to mention that it felt like we needed some M16s to hold high above our heads and the water to be eye level. Amazing is an understatement for this mini-trek.

Nha Trang and it's Jungle boogie Beach
We went diving in Nha Trang for $35 for two dives including lunch. It's definitely cheaper than Thailand for certifications. Advanced SSI was $175 and gives you six dives. We went to Octupus Divers, which supposedly is one of the better dive centers. I regret not doing the Advanced Course, but perhaps it'll allow me more freedom with my money when we get to Tokyo at the end of the month.

Next stop Jungle Beach, a must for any traveler. For $22 a night you get a secluded private beach, a bamboo hut, three comunal meals a day, afternoon fruit snack, ping pong table, free wifi, and a bonfire each night. It may seem pricey for those who have been living on $12 a day, but it's really worth it. The resort is within walking distance to a waterfall where dumb tourists such as myself jump off and fall about 12m into the cool water below (and that's the medium jump!). The high one is about 15-17m! It was totally worth it!

Rocking You from Saigon to the DMZ
Well, that's all for now folks. Stay tuned for Hoi An and Hue, some crazy tailors and 5,000 dong beers (about $0.20).

The Khmer Rouge Aftermath: Volunteering in Cambodia

2009-03-09T23:44:00.009+07:00

Phnom Penh, Cambodia a diverse city with tragic history. To detail my adventures in this wonderful country, I must first shed light on the horrors that have befallen it. The year 1975 marked the end of the Vietnam war, but not the end of war for Cambodia. During the years of this infamous war, Cambodia was victim to U.S. bombings and landmines that were meant to weed out Viet Cong. By 1975, the country was overtaken by an extremist communist group known as the Khmer Rouge.

One of the first acts of the new regime were to evacuate Phnom Penh under the pretext that it was going to be bombed by the U.S. Hundreds died on this trek to the countryside and many more were captured and imprisoned or sent directly to the Killing Fields. One of the most famous and atrocious prisons, Tuol Sleng, has been turned into a genocide museum, a must see for anyone who goes to Cambodia.

The Khmer Rouge imprisoned, tortured and murdered all the country's intellectuals and political dissenters as well as women and children. If they were ethnic Khmer, they were as good as dead. The survivors were predominately the uneducated rural people. The regime believed that hard work and farming were the backbone of any society. Religion, family and many other ideals that Cambodians hold true and dear were unacceptable. Therefeore, families were separated and sacred temples bombed, including the ancient city of Angkor, one of the world's seven man-made wonders.

Genocide, we've all heard it before. Some of us have even seen it first hand. Why would this be any different? Many of us believe that we do our best to prevent or stop such heinous acts. That's why we have the U.N. right? Well, the U.N. acknowledge the Khmer Rouge government and gave them Cambodia's seat. Moreover, for years the U.N. ignored the Cambodian people's plea to remove the Khmer Rouge as representatives of their nation.

That said, Cambodia is still suffering greatly and taking all too long to recover from these tragedies. Cambodia has one of the highest female to male ratios in the world, not to mention that 33 percent of its population is under the age of 15. Something needs to be done. Alison and I spent four days volunteering at a childcare center/orphanage called Save poor Children in Asia Organization (S.C.A.O.). The director Mr. Sath Samith is one of the kindest men I have ever met. He and his late brother started S.C.A.O. only 16 short months ago.

Now the center houses 17 poor children, helping to put them through school, an otherwise costly and often discouraged luxury). On average it costs $300-$450 a year to put one child through primary or high school. This may not seem much, but to a people whose income is rarely more that $1,000 a year, it's a excessive. Children roam the streets hungry and desperate, claiming they go to school when they are forced by parents or poverty to sell books and knick knacks to help support their families. Not to mention that Cambodia has one of the highest rates of child sex slavery and trafficking in the world.

Something needs to be done. Despite the economic recession and hardships worldwide, there is always someone less fortunate. These people have suffered long enough. Therefore, I implore anyone who can give to please do so. In Cambodia, the dollar rules. Even just a few can make a difference. Also Alison and I are working on a proposal to NGOs to obtain annual funding for S.C.A.O. Anyone interested in getting involved or who has any information about proposals, etc. Please contact me at http://www.blogger.com/alyse.speyer@gmail.com. Also, S.C.A.O. is desperate for volunteers.

Donate Now!

Car Culture: What It’s Like to Drive in Southeast Asia

2009-03-03T22:40:00.000+07:00

Every day we drive, take a cab, or use a subway, train, or bus to get to wherever it is we need to go. On occasion, we pack our bags and jump on a plane, take a break from the day to day hassles of life, and go on vacation. Still, no matter where we are in the world or where we are going, transportation plays a key role and knowing the types of environment we may be driving in can make day-to-day life and vacations safer and more enjoyable.

On the Move
In November, I decided to jump on that plane and fly half-way across the world to Bangkok, Thailand, on a five-month Southeast Asian tour. For the past three months, I’ve traveled by car, bus, minivan, train, motorbike, “tuk tuk,” taxi etc to get to temples, waterfalls, beaches, mountains, borders, guesthouses, Wats, and plenty of other tourist attractions. On my journey, I’ve grown to appreciate the steady chaos of driving back home in Los Angeles.

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Onward to the End of the World...

2009-02-21T12:56:00.002+07:00

So it's been awhile, I know. The truth is I've been so distracted by all the things we've been doing. This period of our travels marked a lot of traveling and rushing from place to place. We flew the 20th of January to Bali and spent three or four days in Kuta and Legian before heading to Gili Trawangan aka the most beautiful place in the world.

On the full day journey to Gili T., we met two guys from England and two from New Zealand. We had a great time enjoying the sun and beaches, learning to surf, and the most incredible diving ever! For $74 we did two dives and saw so many cool things such as banded sea snakes, cuttlefish, an octopus, white tip reef shark (including a pregnant one!), sea turtles, anenome crabs, sweet lip snapper, banner fish, damsels, sponges, fan coral.... I can go on and on. The visability was about 20 meters (about 69 ft) in the warm water of Indonesia. I could certainly live in Bali with a summer home in Gili T. Anyone care to join? Real estate is super cheap, their practically giving away beachfront property.

Anyway, from Gili T. I left early to get to the airport to pick Wes up on Feb. 2. Alison and I split up for four painful days of separation anxiety! However, it was really great to see Wes and spend a few days wandering around the sweaty streets of Kuta and Ubud. He and I did an island tour to all of the temples in Bali as well as ate lunch at a rooftop restaurant overlooking a lake and volcano. On our tour we were with an older couple from Bevelry Hills, of course. They were quite pleasant and interesting to talk to.

Then Alison came with our two British friends and we spent two more days in Ubud. We went to the Monkey Forest Sanctuary and got plenty of cute photos with cheeky monkeys as they chased us down for bananas and rambutans (lychees). Then, we said our goodbyes to the guys and headed back down to stinky, touristy Kuta to buy up some gifts and ship a package home. Thank god! Our bags are easily 5k lighter! We flew out back to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Feb. 11.

In KL, we wandered around and saw the Batu Caves which were quite beautiful and then spent another day traveling to Jerantut and the Taman Negara, the National Forest/Jungle. It was so beautiful. Wes and I hiked around in the heat up to the Canopy walk, the longest one in the world at about 450 meters! It was pretty intimidating at first, especially since I'm not a big fan of heights. The Canopy Walk is 50 meters high and consists of a slew of ropes and cables and a narrow plank of wood on which to walk. Wes spent the majority of the time laughing at me freaking out in the middle of the rope-swing-like walkway.

The next day we woke up early and hiked on the other side of the jungle to reach the bat caves. We talked to some locals and the gave us a rough guideline on how to get through the caves. Long story short we spent the better part of an hour crawling the heaps of guano and ducking out of the way while hundreds of bats flew over head in dark, clammy, low-cielinged caves. We made it out alive enough to hope on a 30 hour bus to boat to boat to bus to minivan journey to get to Koh Lanta.

Bargaining in Bali

2009-01-28T16:12:00.001+07:00

Bali air, thick like a warm stout, hangs over the art market
where eager vendors call out, "Hallo darling"
to passersby. Two of them creep out of their shop of tricks,
sunglasses, dresses, knock off purses and wallets.
The first, with a crystal whit smile, tanned skin
and as thin as the sandals he sells, comments
on my "beautiful white skin."
He laughs when I tell him I came here to be
a darker colour.

Stealing a sideways glance at the other vendor,
I run my fingers through the hanging sarongs.
The first puffs at a freshly lit Marlboro.
"Sexy body, like Coca Cola" -
grease on the wheels of an impending deal -
white skin, Coca Cola... money sign.
"A beautiful sarong for you madam
only 50,000."
Breathe out and bargain for a better price
as the heat wrings the water from my skin.

On Leaving

2009-01-27T19:08:00.000+07:00

It's no attachment to anyone or anything or any place. You're here. You meet single serving people. Create a family, a memory, who knows if the connection stays; but for three or so days that you are in one place, it becomes home. You are sad to say goodbye when you leave, but once you're gone, you're gone completely. You don't miss them or the place. It becomes a memory and an experience, nothing more. The people become another number added to your Facebook friends. Sometimes, they are more. They become real. People you may know forever. People you shared those three special days with, a pact. You never know if they will be these people until you leave them, just like you never know if you'll go back to the same place until you leave it. You keep moving and learning and seeing everything you can and those are the things that stay with you. The things that make traveling different from holiday, because you settle into a nomadic lifestyle. And you realize how easy it is to choose to leave or stay. The dat trippers don't know this because they go back to a stationary life, choosing to stand still and wishing to move, but refusing to take the step or afraid to strike obligation, the sacrifice. People are not meant to be barnacles waiting for adventure to float their way.

Cameron Highlands

2009-01-25T15:39:00.000+07:00

The rain forest adventure trek was quaint, but can be done on your own if you are amped up enough to do everything by hiking. At the start, one of the range rovers had a blowout and we all had to pile three carloads of people into two in order to get to the village for a blow dart demonstration. We all tried it, with poison-less darts made of bamboo. On first try, not only did I hit the board but I also hit the leaf attached as a target.

Because we were still waiting for the range rovers to come back, we decided to walk from the village through puddles of red mud. After 15 minutes, the rovers picked us up for an amazingly bumpy ride through rain-softened terrain. It was like being on a roller coaster without seat belts. Once we reached the top, we trekked through more mud and water, crossed a make-shift bamboo bridge where Alison nearly slipped through one of the bamboo poles that broke under her feet and the right railing fell. It was quite a scare but she managed to get across unscathed.

By the time we reached the Raflessia flower, we were caked with mud and sweat with soggy feet and pant legs. Apparently, this flower is actually a mushroom and smells like dead bodies or, as our tour guide joked, a Malay public toilet. The texture was bumpy and thick like an animal hide.

Afterward, we hiked back, many without shoes, jumped in the waterfall to wash off some of the mud, drank bamboo water and hopped into the range rovers for another bumpy ride down the mountain. Next stop was the BOH Tea factory that has roughly 200+ hectares of rolling landscape covered with bonsai-looking tea trees. The plantation is owned by a Scottish family who lives in Kuala Lumpur. It was quite a breathtaking site like green courdouroy hugging the lands voluptuous curves.

After lunch and a brief tour of the factory, we headed to the butterfly and insect observation. Imagine giant red and poisonous centipedes about 3/4 the length of your forearm, or mine at least. Giant beetles and mantis, millipedes and scorpions of indescribable size, yuck! as well as brightly coloured butterflies posing for snapshots. Next was the strawberry farm and back to the guesthouse for showers.

That night we has a Steamboat dinner, which is a soup where you cook your own ingredients. Unfortunately for Alison, the soup reminded her of the one we had in Laos that gave us food poisoning, we can thank the Lonely Planet for that one. Afterward, we went to Daniel's lodge for a campfire which wasn't much more than a group of Brits babbling about movies, actors and crap TV. Alison and I opted for playing a few rounds of pool and then bed. I really hate the day trippers.

If you want to be a rock and roll star...

2009-01-22T19:16:00.006+07:00

We arrived in Penang. It was late and we weren't planning on going out. At the cafe where we ate dinner in Georgetown, we met two guys. one was fairly creepy and took pictures of us while we ate. He bought me a soda, because I said I wasn't drinking. We couldn't understand a word he was saying because of his thick Indian accent and the music from the cafe was loud. After an hour, he left thankfully.

The other guy we met, Jose, is half Portuguese and half Malay and grew up in Australia. Jose is, to use the word he used to describe himself, a vagabond. He's a sailor who works on private boats as a chef. He also helps to run the cafe. He gave us some good recommendations for the Cameron Highlands.

Down the street was another restaurant called the Blue Diamond where a live band was playing. We decided to join him for a bit. There we met two other travelers, whose names escape me, one from Norway and the other from Denmark... musicians. Ironically, they had met doing volunteer work twelve years ago in Lake View Terrace/Tujunga.

We convinced the musician to play a song or two with the band. He did. Then they were talking about playing one of his songs from his band back home, Glory Box.. The next thing I know, the Norwegian points at me and says, "You are playing bass." I politely declined, saying that I don't know how. Apparently, that wasn'y good enough. So we played the sone for the entire restaurant, about 20 people. It was a lot of fun and a didn't screw it up!

We spent until 2:30 am talking about music festivals and traveling. What a night!

Langkawi, Malaysia

2009-01-18T13:26:00.001+07:00

This place is beautiful. The island is huge and there's lots to do here. It's a really strange change of pace, coming here. Since in Buddhist theology, people don't value life in the way westerners do. Because life is reincarnated, they don't tend to fear death. It's the soul you take with you, not the body. So coming here, to Malaysia, where there's more western thought, is really a change. Also the roads are paved and there are signs about "safety first" and "Keep Langkawi Clean" signs I never thought I'd see in SE Asia. There are a lot of muslims, but it doesn't have too much of a muslim feel (at least in comparison to Morocco). Alcohol is sold, but Malay people are not allowed to apply for liquor license (there's always a loophole though). The economy is stable, the locals are educated and speak English very well. It's really strange to be here after two months in Thailand and Laos.

We're staying at a guesthouse called Zackrys. It's the best place we've stayed at yet. The people are great and they have a lot of amenities for guests like free wireless, scooters on property for rent, cheap tours and a bar. The owner actually offered me a job here, maybe I'll come back and stay if things don't work out in the US.

We rented a car and toured the waterfalls and did some duty free shopping. Driving on the British side, was interesting, not as difficult as I had thought it would be.

The Last Two Weeks

2009-01-15T12:47:00.005+07:00

So I know it's been a while since I've last written. To recap the last two weeks: New Years was fun, check typical beach party and fire dancing. The first four days afterward were detox days as we got diving certified. Diving is amazing, I feel that everyone should try it. I fell in love and am itching to get back into the water. Two days after certification, we said goodbye to our friends and hopped on a ferry to the mainland at Surat Thani heading to Krabi. Here's a snippet I wrote in my notebook about the day:

A long journey, but an amazing one. Leaving at 9:30 am to catch a 10:30 ferry to Koh Pangan, then another ferry to Surat Thani. We sat on top of the boat in pounding heat that went unnoticed because of the breeze and the beautiful open water view. Along with our Canadian friend, we baked in the sun. By the time we got to Surat Thani, we were crispy like bacon.

The boat ride itself couldn't have been more fun. We also met a guy from San Francisco on the boat, who guessed on the nose where I'm from. I guess I can't escape the valley girl persona, even 15000 miles away. He had spent 1.5 months of his two month holiday on one beach on Koh Pangan. The four of us talked about travels and our next destination while we listened to music from Dave's ipod speakers and drank some beers.

At one point, a bag had fallen off the boat and we had to turn around to fish it out of the water. We thought it was a person, because only minutes before Dave had recounted a story that two travelers had told him. They had been sitting on the boat and saw a dead body float by and didn't say anything to anyone. We had been talking about how screwed up that was and then the boat slowed. In the distance an object was floating. We were relieved when we saw it was a backpack. Regardless, it was a cause for excitement.

We docked at Surat Thani where a bus was waiting to take us to Krabi. There, I met a girl from Argentina, Sylvana, who was incredibly relieved that I speak spanish. We chatted until we reached the next stop where we all had to wait an hour for a different bus. The hour went by quickly for me because Wes had called. On the second bus, Dave and I shared music the entire ride. He's a promoter (the type of people I avoiod like the plague), but also a musician and contractor - an all around great guy.

At Krabi, Alison, Dave, Sylvana and I caught a cab to Ao Nang and then a long boat to Rai Lay beach, thus was born La Familia Rai Lay. We arrived at around 9 or 10 at night and went on a hunt for cheap rooms, which was vastly unsuccessful. I swear we must have circled the beach twice with all our luggage. The only room we could find was a severely overpriced double that Sylvana and Alison haggled down to a slightly more reasonable one, while Dave and I talked to some of the local Thais. They came back and told us that we would all have to share for the night and wake up to find cheaper accomodations.

The next day we found cheaper rooms, but they were still overpriced and twice as disgusting... the beauty of high season. So we ended up spending the next few days all together... four people in a room meant for two. It was great fun, we became a sort of family, cracking jokes and climbing mountains and enjoying the beautiful scenery. I could live on East Rai Lay. Although it is not an island, it felt like one. It was our little home (overpriced and full of smelly mangroves). Phranang was gorgeous with white sands and small islands in the distance that were truly a site. There were caves and climbing spots as well as warm green-blue water. Vendors were selling corn, mangosteen and other exotic fruits, spring rolls, beer, soda, and chicken.

I spent a lot of time climbing the mountains to the lookout point and then down to the lagoon (probably the scariest thing I've ever done). Granted, the climb was full of vertical drops with ropes (no harness) to belay yourself down. At the top of each drop, more and more tourists chickened out until I found myself alone, shitting a brick terrified. Not to mention, I was in sandals as well. I had to do it. We climbed up and over a mountain late the night before to get to Ton Sai (also in sandals and a short skirt). If I could do that, I could do this. I made down to the lagoon, which was not worth the climb at all (maybe it's better at high tide when the lagoon is actually a lagoon and not just muddy nastiness). I didn't care, I was glad to find Dave, Steve and Sylvana and proud of myself for making the journey.

Before it could get any better, or worse for that matter, Alison and I booked our way out to Langkawi, Malaysia.

Koh Pangan Moon Party Madness

2008-12-31T12:36:00.004+07:00

Oh my is Koh Pangan absurd! So when we first arrived we stayed at a very small, quiet resort on Haad Son and relaxed for a few days. The beach was beautiful, although it rained off and on the entire week or so we were on Koh Pangan. For those of you who don't know, Koh Pangan is famous for its moon parties: full, half, black, shiva, etc. Generally, as most parties made for people on holiday, it consisted of a bunch of foreigners and some Thais getting blasted with buckets of alcohol, soda and red bull. There were fire dancers and glow-in-the-dark paint along with black lights and house music.

We paid 300 Baht for the Half and Black Moon Parties. The Christmas Party, however, was free. Usually the Full Moon Parties are on Haad Rin, one of the biggest cities on the island. Absolute chaos, to say the least.

At just a random night on Haad Rin, Thais were dancing with fire poi and staffs. We were talking to and dancing with these two Aussie girls on holiday when all of a sudden we feel the heat of a nearby fire on our backs. Two Thais were dousing a long rope in butane and setting it on fire. They through it across the crowd and the partiers scattered like cockroaches. We ran to one side and watched them swing the rope round and round. Three words: fire jump rope! I had to try it. It was a lot of fun, although I did get a small burn on my leg from the rope. I suppose that I've lost some weight since the skirt I was wearing that used to be tight was then starting to slip. So in attempt to keep it on, I got burnt - the lesser of two evils, in my opinion. Regardless, I got some great pictures out of the whole thing.

On the Christmas Party there was fire Limbo, which I didn't try. Anyway, many of the parties we went to we went with several people we had met at our bungalow in Baan Thai, just south of Thongsala. There was a Canadian from Toronto, two Chileans that live in Australia, two British boys (one who lives in Qatar) and a German.

We wanted to leave the island to go to Koh Tao the 26, but overslept and missed the ferry. Luckily, we hadn't bought tickets yet. So we spent our last night in Koh Pangan watching movies with our new friends. We must have watched at least four because we didn't get to bed until 2am.

Anyway, we are on Koh Tao right now and have been just been doing some relaxing and some partying as well. We met up with one of our friends, Brian, whom we met in Vang Vieng. He was the one that split his head open on the rocks and then got gauze stitched to his head so that he couldn't change it! We started calling him Bo Peep after awhile. We were on the same ferry and have been hanging out with him a lot, luckily he's healed so no more Bo Peep. We also met an Aussie in Bangkok on our way down and we've been spending time with him and his friend who lives on Koh Tao for the moment since he is an underwater wielder (one of the top five most dangerous jobs!). Well, that's all for now. We've booked PADI course at Baan for Jan 2 and will be officially diving certified.

Happy New Year everyone!

Last Days in Laos and Moving Down to Koh Pangan

2008-12-21T10:10:00.005+07:00

So it's been awhile, I know. Our last days in Laos were amazing. We went down to Champasak and Si Pha Don (aka 4000 Islands). Since we overslept, we spent about a day getting to Champasak and stayed the night in a guest house by the river. At 5 am we woke up and went to Wat Phu Champasak just after sunrise. It was breath taking. On the drive up we saw the locals give food offerings to the monks as the sun peaked it's glowing eye over the palm trees. We arrived to the castle/wat which looked a lot like a cross between the Secret Garden and Hogwarts. It was great. We climbed up the old, steep and uneven steps about 1km away from the entrance to get a view of the whole land. After about 100 pictures later, we went back to the hotel, grabbed our packs and hopped in a minibus down to Don Det island. On the ferry there we met up with Matt, one of the boys we met tubing in Vang Vieng. He was with a German guy named Til. We stayed together in the same guest house. I think it was called Thonden, but not sure.

We met some other Germans at the guest house and took a canoe boat over to a small piece of island in the middle of the Mekong. We hung out on the beach there and played some cards. Basically the whole time we were there we just chilled and enjoyed the sunsets. Not to mention watching one German get wasted and start singing Bob Marley's "Jamming" but replacing "jamming" with "German." A rendition that when something like: "We're German and I hope you like Germans too... We're German in the name of the Lord."

Unfortunately for us, we had no money and the nearest ATM was a 2 hour drive away. We cashed one of Alison's travelers checks. Then went up to Pakse, got sick from some bad noodle soup and spent a grueling day getting to the border then to the train and all night to Bangkok.

We stayed at the D&D, met up with Taz. Checked out the Grand Palace and disappeared on the bus the next night to Koh Pangan. We arrived at Chumpon at 5am and had to wait 2 hours for the bumpiest ferry ever. Half the boat was puking. We met a Mick Jagger type character named Ian. He was taking swigs from a bottle of Cointreau and shouting to me, "It's like a mad dance floor, but you don't have to move to feel the party." He was friggin ridiculous. Funny guy though, some sort of DJ. He played me some of his music from his ipod and took mine. He was so stoked on all my music. "Angelic Upstarts, mate, that's from when I was a kid oi!" I guess he's some sort of DJ. Kind of reminded me of a movie I saw with Wes called Everything's Gone Pete Tong or something like that. Anyway, it'd be pretty hilarious to run into him again. Strange old dude from South London who looked like Mick and started drinking at 7am on the rockin' ferry... pun totally intended.Do

A Life Made of Buses

2008-12-09T15:45:00.002+07:00

We were on another bus this morning from Vientiane to Pakse. This was a long one, about 14 hours. It was night and the giant VIP bus was softly humming along the roads, at least this time they were paved. The roads in Lao are like the board of a game, like Chutes and Ladders. They are windy with random patches of gravel. On the way down from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng, I had thought at some point we were going to land on the spot that will push us back three spaces. It’s possible, especially since the bus wouldn’t start when we first got on.

Luckily, I was at a window seat so when the day passed into night, I was able to see the stars. Not just a few, but billions like I was on the outside of a giant lantern. It reminded me of a Native American legend my second grade teacher told me, the one of the bird that flies up to peck the sky in order to help the dear get home. Well, I’m not sure how it goes, but from what I remember the bird keeps flying up and down to peck the darkness out of the sky. The first peck is the North Star and so on.

Being from Los Angeles, you really don’t get to see stars like this even if you hike up the canyons. The only constellation I can really point out through the smog and lights of LA is Orion, or rather his belt. He was there on the road, big and beautiful. It was dark enough that I could see his bow and sword. The funny thing is that he was on the other side of the sky than when I was home. I took comfort in knowing that that was the direction home, at least to me.

My eyes continued to scan the sky for other constellations. Instead they fell upon the moon. It was shaped like a smile. The bird had sense of humor. There were two bright stars above it, so the combination made it look exactly like a face. I thought God is in the stars. Then I thought of Nietzsche, who wrote not only “God is Dead,” but also “I want to pray to a god who laughs.” This god of moon and two stars had definitely been laughing.

This new bus we were on was much more comfortable and the roads were paved. I had picked up a new book before we left Vientiane, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I read about 50 pages and loved it. I suppose it sparked this memory of buses. We’ve been on so many and have many more to come. I feel like I was supposed to read this book a long time ago. The truth is I was.

I remember one day when I was in high school I was at my best friend Keren’s house. This was the time when she was living in Canoga Park, right next to the Mission Burrito. We were sitting in her room pulling up old photos. She was leaving to Canada, for real this time. I pulled out the book, “I’ve heard this was great.”

I’ve come across the book many times before, but never picked it up to read. But really, this isn’t about a book or a memory. It’s about embracing moments and feelings, despite the fact you can’t put your arms around them. Thank you Johnny Thunders.

One thing I’ve learned on this trip so far is to take in life, whatever that means to you or me or anyone else. We spend so much time suppressing everything in order to stay comfortable or happy in a unified society, but it’s not unified and it’s not happy.

I’ve been told many times that this trip is an excuse, a fear, a reason to run away from what’s really bothering me. The truth is that’s a load of crap. But, then again, it’s not. If I think about the two men who told me this and if I look at each individual relationship I have with both, I can see that it’s not me that’s running. It’s them. I’m doing what they want to do, what they can’t do, or rather won’t let themselves do. They are afraid of being uncomfortable, I’m afraid of being comfortable.

I don’t know what the future holds, or if this trip is a good or bad idea, or what the hell I’m going to do when it’s time to go back to this “real world” I keep hearing about. I feel like I’m already here in the world, taking in what it has to give me. Whether what it gives is good, bad or indifferent, it is still a gift and a part of me. I’m not trying to be new or unique in anyway, I’m just living and exploring in whatever way I see fit for now, because all I have is my mind and my now.

As a monk told me in Chiang Mai, “Tomorrow never comes. It’s always today, always now.” Life is suffering according to the Buddhist ideology. Want is one of the main causes of human suffering. I suppose it’s a good thing that I don’t know what I want...

Tubing in Vang Vieng

2008-12-05T10:20:00.003+07:00

Tubing is amazing! We had so much fun. It's bar hopping down the Nam Song river. You float down on an tractor tire inner tube. Some bars have swings where you can jump into the water and most give you free Lao Whiskey with every drink. So you can imagine how ridiculous it gets. One place had a mud pit where people were playing (we skipped that one) and the last place we went to had a fire pit and everyone dancing. We did not make it to the last bar, because it was just too much and we didn't want to float down the river drunker than skunks. An Irish guy hit his head on a rock and had to get stitches... not so much a good idea. He's in good spirits and doing just fine. Unfortunately, we have no pictures to document this event because we didn't get a waterproof camera. Maybe next time.

Since then, we've just been chillin. Said goodbye to Charlene and recovered from tubing. Yesterday we rented a motorcycle to go to the caves. We made a wrong turn and went up a hill. My foot slipped off the break and we fell. Just a few scrapes, but the exhaust hit Alison and she got a burn. She'll be fine, but I don't think we'll be riding on motorcycles for a while. (even though it was so much fun.)

Tat Kuang Si

2008-12-01T09:48:00.002+07:00

We went with some friends from the boat to the Tat Kuang Si waterfall about 32km outside of Luang Prabang. It was incredible. Charlene and I jumped off some of the smaller ones into the aqua blue swimming pond. We hiked up to the big waterfall and walked across the top, got lost and found our way back again. Ate and bought some stuff at the night market and went to bed. Sorry guys, I'm a little distracted so this is short and boring. I'll write more later. Today I think we are going to Vieng Vien.

On the river to Laos

2008-11-29T19:22:00.004+07:00

These last few weeks have been interesting, to say the least. I'm getting more comfortable here and we are meeting lots of people. The cities are small and we keep running into everyone we meet. On Monday, we went to Doi Inthanon just outside of Chiang Mai... I posted pics on facebook a few days ago. It's the national park. It was mellow and a lot of driving around, at least in comparison to the trekking tour. The forest and waterfalls were beautiful and we took all too many pictures. Also Markus, whom we met trekking joined us.

Later we met for dinner and got 30 min foot massages for $1.50. We ran into a Finnish guy who was on the park tour too. Then we all went to a bar yay! Some Welsh girl got all together too drunk and fell down a flight of stairs landing straight on her head. So we all spent some time helping her out and convincing her friends to take her to a hospital. Hopefully she's ok. After the drama, we went to 7 11 and got some Chiang beers and hung out by the river.

The next few days we slept in and took advantage of the free wireless at the hotel. We saw more wats on Thursday, our last day in Chiang Mai and booked a border crossing to Laos. I t was a little dodgey, but since we had great times on the other tours we figured it would be alright. Unfortunately, the guy had lied to us and we got ripped off. We were supposed to get to Laos in 2 days by bus and slow boat with night accommodation included. We left Thursday night in a taxi, not a minibus as promised, for 6 hours to the border crossing in Chiang Khong. We selpt in a spider infested, dirt encrusted, smelly room by the border. When we woke up the guy told us 2 more days to Luang Prabang accommodation not included and a stop in Pak Beng. Oh well, nothing we could do. All in all we lost about $20, but since we are thinking in baht it seems like a heck of a lot. So we got breakfast, hassled with the exchange guy who wanted to over charge us for US dollars (they only take $ for Laos visas).

We were told we could pay by credit card so we had no baht to exchange. Alison and I hopped on the back of his son's motorbike 2.5 km without helmets to an ATM. Then we changed money, got visas and onto a rickety boat for 6 hrs to Pak Beng. We met some cool people on the boat and hopefully will have some more friends to travel with in Laos. Also on our boat was the New Zealand girl that I met on the bus from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. Southeast Asia is a small world.

Chiang Mai and All That Jazz

2008-11-24T01:57:00.006+07:00

Ok so we took the bus to Chiang Mai from Bangkok last Tuesday night. It wasn’t so bad actually. I was able to sleep and I met a really cool New Zealand girl who’d been traveling for ages. I may not ever see her again, which kinda sucks cuz she was really interesting, but such is the case with single-serving friends.

We arrived in Chiang Mai at 7 am and went to the Lanna Thai guesthouse. The room wasn’t ready yet so we ate breakfast, stored our backpacks and headed off to get bank accounts and Thai massages – definitely interesting. They massage everywhere and try to crack your back with their knees at the end. So we wobbled back to the guesthouse afterward, showered and passed out. Next we woke up, stumbled half asleep to the neighboring restaurant, Sweet Rain, ate lunch (it was nearly 5pm at this point) and wandered around the night market before heading back to the hotel for sleepy time.

The next day we walked around, got lost trying to find the center of the city. We took a cab to Chiang Mun Wat, which is the oldest wat in Chiang Mai. We ate lunch at Ray’s right next door. He’s a nutty Englishman who decided to pack up and move to Thailand 6 months ago after coming to the country every year for six years. Next stop was the Wat something or other and Wat Chedi Luang which is beautiful. (more pictures on facebook). Then we took a cab back to the hotel for some old fashioned relaxing and watching the degradation of the American economy on CNN World News.

Friday you go trekking!

Early Friday morning we started a trekking tour through the northern mountains of Chiang Mai in the Mae Tang area. It was incredible, to say the least. First we stopped at a butterfly and orchid farm, which was nice – just another random tourist attraction but interesting. Then we were off to trek. Lunch was fried rice with soy sauce aka the spiciest sauce I’ve ever had. So with mouths on fire and bellies full, we started our trek.

Although the trek was difficult and a fairly good length, the sights were beautiful and it was worth it. They told us it would be 3 hours and it definitely took us all day, maybe 4-5 hours or so. We stopped at a hilltribe, I think the Lisu, and had some tea-coffee. It was kinda like a mate. Then we continued until we reached camp at about five or six. We just chilled, while some of the guys played Thai football, which is like a cross between hacky sack and volleyball.

We ate dinner and spent half the night by the fire singing and drinking Chang beer. (yes there was a 7 11 even in the mountains! Of course it was a hut with a drawn-on sign, but still.) Here we played a thai drinking game and ended up with black grease from the bottom of the cooking pots and pans all over our faces! Afterward we made a beer tower of about 15/16 cans. It was 16 cans tall for about 3 seconds before finally falling over. One of the locals did it, praying or chanting as he placed each can on top (the tower was taller than he was!).

Saturday Adventure

We woke up early. A wheezing cat had slept next to me all night, cats just love me. No new mosquito bites, which was awesome. We trekked another hour or so to the elephant camp where we rode elephants through the river and jungle. Afterward we went to the Padong (Long Neck Karen) hilltribe, more like an exploitation of human suffering. Maybe they were real Padong, maybe not. Either way those rings are heavy. Supposedly the women wear them to prevent tiger bites from when they lived in Burma/Myanmar. Now it’s just tradition or a tourist attraction (meaning they do it so they can make a living off of tourists).

After lunch, there was an elephant show which I missed, but I’m pretty sure you can see the same at any zoo. Then we took a bamboo raft down the river. After we hiked to a waterfall and did some swimming or at least washed off some dust from our arms and legs. We thought our long day was done, but wait… there’s more. White water rafting. The drops were small, so no big deal. I did fall out of the raft though with another person. Pretty ridiculous, if you ask me. No harm done though. The Thai guys were quick to get me back up, despite my maniacal laughter. They kept telling us to pedal faster as we were approaching large rocks. Of course we listened, and every time smashed into the rock. It was like bumper cars, really. The rest of the way down consisted of water fights with the other raft and collecting our things to go back to Chiang Mai. Finally the day was done.

Aftermath

Alison and I got our stuff and switched guesthouses and were grateful for our well deserved showers. We then met up with some of the people from the trip at the Red Lion. Had some drinks and dinner and went to Bubble, a Thai discothèque. There we saw some strange things. Several guys and gals we doing some funky dancing and acted as if they were on drugs. It was very bizarre. And they were around 40 or 50 years old. Random swing flips and smashed bodies. All and all quite a show. After, the club started getting more and more crowded. Exhausted from our trip, we didn’t stay too long and went to bed fairly early.

Leaving Bangkok

2008-11-18T12:56:00.004+07:00

So these last few days have actually been a rocky start. We've been stuck in touristville, jet lagged and confused. The princess (king's sister) had died of cancer several months ago and this weekend was her funeral. All of Bangkok tourist things were closed so we couldn't do any sightseeing. Every Thai person was dressed in black and swarmed the Grand Palace.

Sunday we just meandered around and didn't really do anything. Still tired and with everything closed, we were kind of stuck. One saving grace was our new friend Dave. Alison's friend John meet him a few years ago and so we linked up with him. He's been really awesome and helpful. Last night we went out and partied, partaking in the ever-so-indulgent buckets of booze. I'll post some pictures later here and on facebook. Yesterday we took a tuk tuk cab to a few random places and booked a bus ticket to Chiang Mai, which is in northern Thailand, for tonight. That's pretty much it for now.

Valuable Driving Techniques from Racing Professionals

2008-11-16T16:41:00.001+07:00

It’s not everyday that someone gets the opportunity to really have fun with the car that he or she drives. Can you remember the last time you drove your car just for fun?

read more | digg story

Looks like we made it

2008-11-15T12:18:00.003+07:00

So we made it to BKK after all. I have about 4 minutes to write this before my time goes out. We had a 3 hour layover in tokyo where we got a beer, edamame and miso soup... mmm good. Flew out to BKK for a 6 hour flight, cleared customs and got a cab to Khaosan Rd. aka backpacker central and checked into the D&D Inn. The room is small and the shower is next to the toilet... no curtain. Kinda weird using the entire bathroom as your shower. Once we got settled we went outside and got some falafal from a street vendor... not to bad. At this point it was probably 2 or 3 am, I'm not sure. We then went back to the room, showered and passed out.

This morning, we woke up late and got some breakfast at the hotel. Apparently, this weekend is the 3rd anniversary of the Princess's death so no parties. Earlier we heard fireworks... so we might check that out or go to a temple.

You can check out Alison's blog for a different perspective.

Two days later...

2008-11-14T14:48:00.000+07:00

We are now in Narita Tokyo's airport awaiting our connecting flight. After all was said and done. Alison managed to get her passport by 4pm Wednesday while I spent the day hanging out with Dave. We flew out earlier this morning. It's 4:30pm right now in Japan and we have about 7 more hours of flight time to get to Bangkok. Basically we miss a day in travel, arriving at 11:45pm Friday. I have no clue what time that is in CA, but it's 15 hours ahead or nine behind plus a day.

For those of you interested, download skype. It's free. My username is aspeyer77, so if you have one add away. Next post will be from BKK.

Woot!