People... traveling is about the ppl you met

I am chilling with a kick ass group of ppl from Kelowna, Canada and a rowdy group from Sydney, Australia here in Koh Phangan. Everyone I have been meeting is staying around on the island for the next week... its prefect I may not leave. We will see.

It feels like Vietnam was such a long time ago and really it was only 4 days ago. Maybe it has something to do with ditching the watch and spending my time eating when I am hungery, swimming when I am hot and napping in the sun.

Its new years eve tonight... Seafood buffet starting at 7:30, then we'll grab a truck to the party city thats 20 mins away and I am going to dance all night long.

Last night was the first time I left our little beach area, we headed into town to check out the beach partys... And it is the place to party, but the city is just another city with a dirty beach. I am soo happy we are staying out of the over touristy area. There is the beach, and 7-11 is only a 5 min walk. I am loading up on the junk food.

Cheers.

Happy New years

Hanoi and Sapa

Its Christmas Day and I am going for a large buffet at a hotel like the Hilton. It is going to be a little expensive but Christmas only comes once a year and I have a craving for turkey. And its my first Christmas away from home.

To add on to the last entry. I decided to go to Sapa first, spend Christmas in Hanoi, then to Halong Bay after Christmas.

At the early hour of 6:30 my night bus arrived to the outskirts of the massive city, Hanoi. The only way to get to the backpackers/tourist area was agree to see the hotel that the bus company wanted to bring us too. It was a hotel that was above my budget... but I decided to just say I wanted to stay and then when we arrived I just walked the other way. I only wanted a cheap dorm bed so I could sleep for a few more hours, I was leaving that evening on a night train to Sapa. For 3$ I got to sleep until 1pm and have a hot hot shower. It wasn't too bad. In the afternoon when I was checking my email, Jazz (my Canadian travel chick from Home) was online and happened to be in the same city, just down the street. I dropped by and had dinner with 2 familiar faces and finished the evening off with 15cent beers. Draft beer on the street is only 2000Dong.

The night train to Sapa wasn't the nicest train I have seen but I did get a hell of a lot more sleep than I did on the night bus on the previous evening. I was a happier person. Its funny I really thought the train went all the way to the mountainous town of Sapa, but in reality it only took us to the base of the mountains, so at 5:30am me and 12 other sleepy travellers were shovelled on to a tiny tiny mini bus for another hour.

Sapa was cold, but dude it was beautiful. It was unreal. They were mountain slopes with ruice fields, local tradition people selluing ur goods and really I just can't describe it.

Maybe later

Too lazy. I just spend ovwer 24 vhours getting to Koh Phangan

I am ready to relax

Hey hey.Its Christmas.
Just for a recap... starting from the beginning of vietnam.
I was in Ho Chi min city for 4 days and did the tourist thing... saw museums, the cuchi tunnels, a temple ceremony and ate lots of sushi and bonded with my new American Friends, Matt and John. I ended up traveling with them for 2.5 weeks.

Mui Ne was a beach town. Partied and sand sledded, swam, saw sand dunes, a red canyon. The boys tried to surf but it wasn't the water for surfing. It was very funny trying to carry a surf board on a motorbike for 20mins. Scary in a way too. I just enjoyed seeing the ocean. I love water.

Dalat was a mountainous town, colder. I had to wear a jacket. Me and the 2 american rented motorbikes and toured the area. Saw 2 waterfalls, a chicken village, lots of villager ppl, walking down a hiking path. We ate good, excellent western food. Had a grandmother special, mash potatoes, gravy, pork roast and veggies. We even stayed in a guesthouse with a tv, hot water, good beds for 9$ total. I started my tea kick again in Dalat. I drank lots and lots of tea. Mango tea, vietnamese tea, lipton tea... all kinds and I can't stop, tea is just sooo good.

Next Nha Trang. Beach town. We arrived at 2 in the afternoon to a cloudy sky. I really wanted a beach day :(. Instead we walked down the beach and ran in to friends from Mui Ne. Spent the afternoon drinking tea at a beach resort. Amazing dinner with 2 of the english chicks... bbq vietnamese food. Nha Trang is a town with a nightlife, when we met some NZ and aussia guys. I was really glad to hangout with some new ppl. I was getting tired with the american boys. The more I play pool the worst I get it seams. At this bar call Zippo... the english man that owned the bar, Crazy Rich, sang... and beer was on happy hour prices. A good night... which was followed by a excellent boat tour the next day. It is more of a party boat ride rather than the typically sightseeing tour. I met an awesome vancouver boy, who was on exchange in bangkok from sept to dec. I may see him again down south. There was a little drinking (i don't drink every night, just everyother town), a little swimming, snorkling, beach volleyball, a little more drinking, singing and dancing. We ran in to the NZ boys again. After a good sushi dinner we headed for an over night bus to Hoi An. I was stuck beside John who was drunk beyond drunk and drugged up on Valium and man does he snore.

Hoi An is a shoppiong town. There are tailors, and art stores and shops every where in old town. I had some clothes tailor made. A nice jacket (which I need in northern vietnams winter weather), 2 skirts, 2 tanks, one dress all for 50$. I need to email grandma knox/seller and tell them what I bought for me with their money. Every time I do laundry I only get half of what I sent in so I did actually need some clothing. I have lost 2 pairs of socks, 3 tanks, 5 undies. I didn't see much of Hoi An other that the french architecture of old town because it rained and rained and rained. I feel like I am back on the island in spring time.

Played lots of pool at night, saw my swedish girls from Cambodia, watched some news and a movie (rained alot). But me and Matt did the walking tour of town in the rain while John shopped too much.

I left Matt and John, my american buddies on the third day there. I needed to move on because my flight was only in 12 days away and I still had too much to see. I took an afternoon bus to Hue, but it wasn't until halfway there that I realized that I left my passport at the hotel in Hoi An. I just paid matt the money for the room b/c they were staying another night. I called the hotel and they promised to sent my passport to hue to their travel agent on the first bus of the morning. So I wasn't too worried, yet.

It was a good evening in the city. I found my way from my hotel to the backpackers area, only about a 20minutes walk with out a map. The moto drivers were annoying and always asked me if i needed a ride, but they did direct me in the right direction. I normally always bring my vietnam book, but not this time. I was planning on having a good meal and a single beer and calling it an early night, but I ran into 2 french guys I'd met in Hoi An. I need to learn french again. Played more pool with 2 irish guys because the french ppl were having a french discussion. I was home by 10:30.

Guess what. I walked the 15mins home from the bar in the dark by myself. I was a little scared because the city is full of rats and mice. I nearly decided to take a moto after one ran over my foot. But it wasn't too far.

I did a city tour in Hue. Saw some cultural things, 3 tombs of past kings. I learnt that there were 13 kings that ruled over vietnam. The monarchy fell in 1945. I saw incence made and the cone hats the vietnamese ppl wear. Ate a good meal... then set off for the citadel. It rained all day, and was so cold. I wore my fleece and my jacket, but I had wore capris. It wasn't a good day... feeling like winter more and more.We arrived back to the main city at 4:30, which left me 1 hour to pick up my passport, get my back and make it to the place to catch my bus. Which would have worked if... my passport had arrived. I had to call the hotel, they told me that my passport wasn't there in Hoi An and that it should have arrived in Hue already. There was another bus coming at 5... so maybe it was on that bus. I was hoping. That bus came and went too. The lady was so helpful and patient with me. She helped me change my bus ticket to the next day leaving me time to find my passport.

My next hope was that the american boys picked up my passport when they left the hotel. I was crossing my fingers b/c if that wasn't the cases... I would have been screwed. With the open bus tours you buy... the companies take you to set hotels. I was hoping to find them at that hotel, because we were usually lazy... and the hotels are very nice and prices reasonably, except in this city. I was directed to 3 different hotels with not luck. It was 6:30-7ish now... I decided to find a guesthouse to stay at that was cheap and close to backpacker land and the bars... I was going to get drunk ( i was in a very mad mood, I felt soo stupid). My book has cheap one listed, 3$ a night and it wasn't full. I emailed the boys and told them what bar I was going to... and I was hoping I would run in to them. And I tryed myspace.com too. No luck. Bar time.

This is were the story turns around. I am lucky. I was heading for a bar called "Why not Bar". It was 3 blocks from my hotel. On the way I was checking restuarants for my friends. I walked by the first one on the last block and saw blond hair and kept walking. But then I did the double take and looking in the bar again. Guess who i found. Matt was standing just inside, barely in view from the door. I was sooo happpyy. I hugged and kissed him and john both on the cheeks because they had my passport. I didn't drink that night. Had some awesome food and played a bad game of pool.

I even convinced john and matt to sign up for a Demilitarized zone tour, which in the end turned out as a bad investment. But I get get to see a museum, tunnels, the ocean and lots of scenary, but lots of bad food. It was a 10hour tour which was spend mainly sitting on a bus, which i am going to do to night for 12 more hours. I heading to Hanoi actually this time.

Which bring me to now. I am sitting with a girl from sydeny an a little internet cafe waiting for the bus at 7pm.I am not sure who I am going to be with for christmas. Hopefully my 2 american, 2 swedish for cambodia, and jazz and dave... if everything works out as planned, but that is rare.As for my flight.. I am going to try to change in now... but just by one or 2 day if it is free.

I am going to either Sapa or halon bay tomorrow night. It depends on the 2 americans. If they get the bus tonight too... I am going to go to halon bay, if not I am going to go treking in sapa.

My blog isn't working is it.

Pics

kiI paid 2.5$ USD for this room, that was then split 3 ways. There was no sink in the bathroom. I am sharing the room with Tuve and Lisa my swedish chicks. Good times


tuva






I am on my way to the Killing fields in Cambodia and my motor drive stopped to buy mask due to the extremely dusty road. Everyone wears them here.






In Phnom Penn, at the same same but different guesthouse on the lake, I saw this wonderful sunset while drinking ice cold Angkor beer. Its funny how few sunsets I actually see here. This has been the best one






Lisa - swedish chick. the view from the 2.5$ room. Phnom Penn was a awesome city, but I spent too many days there waiting for my vietnam visa.







Made it to Vietnam. This a a pic from the red canyon just outside of the small beach resport town of Mui Ne. Me, matt, john and amanda (english chick) shared 2 motorbikes are tours the surrounding area of the beach town. So much fun... we went sand sledding, swimming at 3 diff beaches, the guys tryed to surf, the girls sun tanned, had lunch with crazy vietnam military guys that were really drunk. Always good times


The view from our beach front bungaloo in Mui Ne. I didn't try kite surfing, but i did enjoy watching the pros. I had some of the best seafood here in Mui ne. Fresh red snapper one night and crab the next. Yummy. Food is the best part of travelling





After one day in Mui ne, me and the american guys, Matt and john... travelled 6 long hours to Dalat, a french style city in the hills. We rented motorbike and toured the nearby waterfalls and small trails. I haven't actually drove a motorcycle... i love riding on the back. I love the flexible you get when you rent bikes as opposed to taking a tour. You may get lost and see fewer things but its always an adventure... especially with these 2 crazy americans.

Finally some pictures.

Getting lazy

This pic is from a couple weeks ago, not the best pic. Me, 2 sweds, a brazilian are chillin out on a desert island just off the coast of Cambodia drinking beers and starting a tan.

I am getting lazy with this blog thing, there is soooo much to write about, but I just don't have the patience.

I am still travelling with the 2 american I met on the bus from cambodia to vietnam. They are awesome travelling buddies because they hate tour groups, hate doing the normal thing and are just fun to party with.

The only bus that runs to Mui Ne, a small beach resort town 4 hours from Saigon, leaves at 8am.... so i actually had to get up early (its a first in like a week). The ride was flat, straight, but too long. It just wanted to see the ocean again.

I am not sure what I expected from Mui Ne, but it wasn't what I thought it would be. The bus first pulled up in front of a beach resort... something a backpacked couldn't afford, I was a little scared that we wouldn't be able to afford to stay in the town... but just a block down we found a beautiful place with bungloos, pool table, lots of sand... and it was right on the beach. It was little on the expensive side, 15$ for 3 beds.

This town is a town of vacationer... all kite boarding, and wind surfing. It is a sight to see. There are hundreds of kites in the sky, people getting meters of air... looked like fun.

I wanted to try my hand at kite boarding, but time and money wouldn't allow it. I think it is the first time I haven't been able to do what I have wanted to do because of money this trip. Oh well...instead... me, 2 american, and a british chick rented motorbikes for the day and went sand sledding, for a walk through sand dunes, a red canyon, went swimming/played in the waves. I even tryed driving a motobike for hte first time. It was an awesome day that ended with a plate of fresh crab. I am loving the food at the beach. Fresh fish the first evening and crab the second.

I am now in a town called Dalat. I feel like I am in a European country. There are parks everywhere, french style building, even swan boats on the lake. Pics to follow soon.

Not the best food here, but i have only eaten one meal here.

Dude... the guesthouse we are staying in in amazing... no beach front bungaloo but it does have hot water, a tv, good beds and free water.

I shouldn't complain but it is cool here... 10 degrees or so and no humidity. I may use my fleece tonight.

Tomorrow, the plan is to rent motorbikes, see waterfalls, and the natural sights the area has to offer.

bye bye

Vietnam - loving it

Hey, its been a couple days... I have been busy busy sightseeing.

I don't know what to write... I am so happy I ran in to my sweet swedish friends that i left 4 days ago in Phmon Penn. We didn't exchange email last time but now we can find each other for christmas.

On the bus from Phnom Penn to the Vietnam border, I met 2 americans traveling together, but I was on a different bus from the border to Saigon...I thought I wouldn't see them again. :(

But when I was on my way for dinner (I found a sushi restuarant here in Saigon) I ran into one of the americans on the side of the street, they joined me for dinner that night and the next. We had become a little travelling group . Tomorrow the 3 of us are travelling to the coast to see what is left of the beach towns after the storm.

So what have I done? I saw the tunnel here, a random church service and lots of local museums (including the American war crime museum). I have been shopping, and I took a mekong river tour. The mekong river tour was so cool... a bus trip, a boat trip, a honey farm, a canal row boat trip, snake farm, a coconut candy factory, more boat trips, tried local fruit, heard local singing... it was a bit of everything. I even met an chick from Sydney australia that I am going to meet up with in Feb. We have a "date", we are going to go for sushi there.

I have been a bad person... I have been in vietnam for 4 days and I have only eaten vietnamese food 2 times. I feel in love with the sushi here, it is so yummy so i have eaten there 3 times in the last 4 days. The american, who had only tried it onces before, enjoyed the food too, one guy has been there 4 times. SUSHI..... YUMMMY

I ranted about traffic in cambodia, but traffic is worst here. You almost have to just close your eyes and walk across. The traffic never stops, so u just walk slowly across and the motorbikes go around u. It is very scary at first. I had to help one of the chicks I met today cross the street.

The internet place is closing... night night

Traffic here in Cambodia is crazy. I need to express my concern and amazement that I am still alive. There is a yellow line painted in the center and white lines dividing each side of the street, but Khmer people ignore the lines completely. There is a magically middle third lane that both directions of traffic can use at any time. The rule of the road is smaller vechiles give way to larger things which is fine when everyone is going straight, but if you are turning.... anything goes. My motorcycle driver needed to cross a major roadway so he just slowly inches forward ( infront of cars, bikes, trucks). The other vechiles that have the right of way sort of go around or stop (usually). And when making a left hand turn, often motorcycles drive on the wrong side of the road until there is less traffic coming on the onward direction. I don't know if this makes any sense.... I am going to try to film some of it because dude.... all I can do is hold on for dear life and hope the driver knows what he is doing.

I have another rant too. I would like to think I am a tough brave solo traveller, but when it is dark... and I am by myself I am a chicken. Yesterday I changed guesthouse from lakeside to riverside (only a 10mins moto ride, 30-40min walk) and I had to return to the lakeside to get my passport with my vietnam visa so i walked over there from memory ( i didn't open my map once, i was so proud because I had only taken a moto once between the places), but by 6pm when I got my visa the sun had set. I started walking but by the time I got to the first busy road it was completely dark... I gave up and took a moto... its funny I could have just taken a moto from the travel agent place for the same price... but no I wanted to walk.

Ok I am done.

Off to vietnam maybe I will be able to see Jazz and dave again.

I am not very good at describing my experience, compared to Jazzanddave. Check out what they had to say about Phnom Penn... it is very true to what I felt and experienced

http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/Phnom-Penh/blog-106686.html

they have pictures on there's too

miss ya

Bored of Cambodia, but I am waiting on my visa to enter vietnam

James just for u

I made a list a couple of days ago of the ppl I have met and hung out with for over 2hours (more than a bus trip or one meal) are u ready... this is in order from start to down

Entering Laos
Crazy british guy
one french women Gwen
one english chick
one brazilian doctor, Marus
5 monks I talked to for 2 and a bit hours
4 english guys in Vang Vieng
2 swedish chicks in Vang Vieng
1 Irish guys in Vang Vieng
5 kiwis on the boat trip
2 english on the boat trip
Chiang Mai - 2 english, 2 thai, 2 texas guys
Pai - 1 swedish, 1 english, 5 french, 1 israeli
Sukothai - 2 germans, 2 french, 1 Aussia, 1 diff french, one dutch
Loburi - 2 french and 1 american
Kanchanaburi - 1 american, 3 french, 2 spanish, 3 sibling from Melbourne
Siem Reap - 3 Czec guys
Sihanoukvile - 1 english, 2 sweds
The island - 4 sweds, 1 israeli
Kampot - 2 sweds
Phnom Penn - 3 sweds, 2 dutch, 2 Khmers (cambodia ppl)
Phnom Penn - 2 english chicks, 1 dutch, (ran in to a swed from Pai again)
Vietnam - 2 americans John and Matt
Mekong Delta - 29 yearold psy ph student from australia


Not too bad... I am hoping it will continue to increase with every new location and day.

I made it too Phnom Penn and I didn't get dragged off by a tuk tuk driver this time, (last time a drive grabbed my arm and only took me a couple steps). Me and the swedishs girls decided to stay on the lake... we are sharing a room for 2.5$ a night. That is less than a dollar a day. WOW

I have been hanging out with 2 local khmer guys, one is a boyfriend of the new swedish girl I meet. I found out that Cambodia ppl rarely get passports because it costs them 125$, and when they are only making less than 25$ a day it is hard to save up enough. Scarey

I made it too the waterpark here... its not quite what I was expecting but I am in Cambodia... I will upload pics when I get to vietnam (can't upload here). It was fun though... some slides, a river, a swimming pool, a little kid area ( ya I played there too) and a wave pool that wasn't one. We were having soo much fun the guards had to kick us out. Anything goes at the water park... trains down the slide, forward, backwards, head first... etc. I loved it.

I have a double vodka and red bull for 0.75$ and nachos for a snack after the pool. What a day. The evening wasn't as much fun... dinner took forever and the bar was lame, but I had good company, plus Sky and I won the pool game.

I am not very good at spending a lot of time with the same ppl so this morning I hit the killing fields, the prison and the national museum. I have had so many days with out runes and museums I was almost starting to miss them... j/k :P

It was a scary day, very depressing, but the reality of the Khmer Rouge has finally hit me and there were almost tears on my face. There were thousands of faces on the boards and the same amount of skulls to match. Wow thats all I can say.

There are lizards everywhere here... ya ya I know I changed the subject... but there are 3 on the wall in front out me.

I am annoyed... tomorrow is sunday so I can't get my visa for vietnam until monday night... so I am going to be chillin here for another couple days. I am going to need to make some different friends soon I have been hanging out with the sweds for a week now... its a long time record.

I am out of here. I love the comments everyone thanks

Real Cambodia and the touristly sites

Hey...


So after the rain finished... me and a friend ventured back to the beach for a nibble and guess who walked by... DAVE AND JAZZ. It hadn't seen my Canadian friends in 2 weeks and I find them strolling past me on the beach. We had a good visit. As it turns out, the English Aussia guy had already met Jazz and Dave a couple of days before at a cooking course. It is a small world. Anyhow... the swedish girls I met on the bus to Sihanoukville joined us on the beach too and convinced me and the english Aussia guy to go with them to bambo island. It was awesome

I was stuck on a desert island for 2.5 days, no interent no electricity, no cambodia people selling me things, just sand, ocean, 10 bungaloos, one restuarant and a hand full of cool swedish people. I officially have started working on my tan. My butt is like the Canadian flag at the momnet... red and white. :)

The island was taken over by swedish people, sort of... they were seven sweds, me, and israeli chick and a couple other too. We chilled, suntanned, read, played lots of backgammon, lots of cards, some drinking games...I even made the journey to the otherside of the island to see a different beach. It was a long 10min walk through the forest, very difficult.

Ok there was a down side to the island... a couple people got very sick, maybe food poisoning. I didn't but I didn't eat any meat.

I was only planning on saying one day on the island... but when the boat came... i didn't want to leave...

It was hard leaving yesterday.. but I do actually want to see an bit of the real cambodia... so me and Tuva and Lisa (sweds girls) headed to Kampot... its a little cambodia town on a little river with little for tourist but it does have shops, and cute buildings and very few tourist. It is a change... I am not sure if it is a good or bad one yet.

Tomorrow I am thinking i am going to stick with the swedish girls and go to Phnom Penn. They are going to meet one of their sis, a swed and some local ppls. Plus there is a cool water park and the very sad killing fields.

After that.... I am going to Vietnam.

I know there is a lot of cambodia I didn't see but there just isn't enough time for everything.

Missing everyone... December starts tomorrow. Christmas is coming and i am going to miss it.

My week has been a crazy one.. I last really wrote an entry while I was in Nakhom Pathon. The last 2 hours before my train were a long 2 hours. I sat at the train station for a bit but there were a couple of homeless guys sleeping on the bench, a group of 6 thai guys and one random guy sweeping... so after about 15mins of sitting there, I was a little scared for the looks I was getting so i walked off to 7-11... I love the place it is always open and they have my new favourite cookies. The city was awake at 2am.. there were women with veggies, ppl cutting meat on table, fisherman with truck fulls of fish... I felt a little safer walking around the market area...until 2 thai guys started following me... it was all good I still have all my money and passport :).
The train ride was a long 8.5 hours then an hour at the border with children begging for money, men with no legs for land mines, and the border officials tryied to tell me that I needed to pay 1000baht = 26USD instead of 20USD which is the posted amount for the visa. He was mad when I refused to pay him anything extra. Next, it look 3.5 hours in taxi to get from the border town to Siem Reap but it is only maybe 150km. The road isn't paved in places... bridges were missing... traffic drives on both sides, and they love their horns. It was a long long day that didn't end when I got to Siem reap because I meet some crzy czech guys on the train and we went drinking. I had lots of yummy angkor beer then stumbled home at 2am... I beleive the others didn't get in until 8am. GUESS WHAt.... I payed 2$ a night and the bed was amazing... the best yet... so compy I slept until 2pm the next day.
Angkor Wat was amazing, I saw one sunset, one sunrise, and too many runes over 2 days so on the 4th day in siem reap i decided to jump on a bus to Sihanoukville ( on the coast of cambodia) which was 12hrs long. It was worth the 12hrs on the little bus (the roads were paved now, but the driving was still random, the bus driver pulled a u-turn because he missed the turn off). I have seen the ocean again. I went skinny dipping in the ocean last night until the cover of darkness.
It rained this afternoon.... i was very sad because I wanted to start to get rid of my farmer tan lines. no such luck.

VERY Very VEEEEEEEEEEEEerrry slow internet

Hey.

I made it too Cambodia officially. The internet here is extremely slow and blogspot is the only web page that will open.

The journey here was so random and full of every type of trainsportation. I left Nakhom Pathom at 3:15am by train and finally arrived at 4:30pm in Siem Reap by shared taxi.

I am here

VERY Very VEEEEEEEEEEEEerrry slow internet

Hey.

I made it too Cambodia officially. The internet here is extremely slow and blogspot is the only web page that will open.

The journey here was so random and full of every type of trainsportation. I left Nakhom Pathom at 3:15am by train and finally arrived at 4:30pm in Siem Reap by shared taxi.

I am here

An update

A photo from Ayutthaya. I was there the day before I saw monkeys

I added some pics to previous posts... so have a look. Question, what ype of pics do you guys want to see, pics of the site, of me, the ppl I am with?

I am currently sitting in an internet cafe in Nakhon Pathom waiting for a 3am train to take me to bangkok... then I will take a train at 6am all the way east to Arayan station. Hopefully I will cross the border to Cambodia and by this time tomorrow I will be in Siem Reap.

It has been a few days... Jazz and Dave left for Pattaya and Ko Samet, while I retreated to Kanchanaburi to learn somethings about WWII and see more waterfalls.

I arrived to the city via minibus (I went to the wrong train station so no train) with 3 french chics and went to a guesthouse recommended to be by numerous traveller. They were right about Apple Guesthouse... it was beautiful, relaxed atmosphere wth a restuarant that served excellent food. I meet an american women without the typically american attitude and I dined in excellent company that night. It was peaceful here even with the horrible past. The evening was spent shopping, eating chocolate cake and pineapple with a short trip to a little bar (no drinking thou)
One of my favourite spots. I was hiding under the waterfall too, but I could take the pic and be in too. Look at the color of the water. PRETTY.
I almost decided to take the package tour because it would have been easier... but what is the fun in that. Instead, I did it local style. I ran into the french chics and 2 spanishs guys, we were all doing it via local bus. It was an awesome day, very chilled. I meet some local thai guys, and lots of travellers too. It wasn't the thai southern beaches but it was a beautiful area with perfect swimming holes.


The cementries for the men killed during WWII was beautifully cared for.
Today... I meet a german man at breakfast and together we visited with war museum and the cementaries. The man had previously worked with a railway company and he had great stories that added to the history. Prisioners of War, Japanese and local Asians worked 12-16 hours a day with minimal food to constructed a railway from thailand to Burma. Thousand and thousand died during the 2 years of its construction. I took a bus to see a portion of the railway where the men carved out over 4meters of rock for the tracks with nothing but hand tools and dynamite. The photo to the left shows the path for the tracks through the rock. Look closely at the chic in the pic and compare her size to the size of the man made valley. It was truely amazing and sad at the same time.

One good thing was that I met 3 aussies from Melbourne. I have people to show me the town when I get there.

I am off to Cambodia now.
nd

Blaaaa

YES I do have a stick in my hand to "try" to keep the monkeys from attacking me, they just think it is a game to run after the stick.. its a little scary

I went to the city of monkeys......

And when I say city of monkeys, I mean a modern city that haves cages on the balconeys and window to keep out the hundreds of wild monkeys that roam the streets of Lopburi. It was scary and exciting all at the same time.

When we (a french chic, an american women, and a another older french women) paided to get into the runes with monkeys, I was expected a few animals, not a couple hundred. Plus the gate ppl gave us sticks t beat the monkeys off with. A little boy, the son of the women working the gate showed us his monkey bits and showed us around the area. This country gives a new meaning to bring your kids to work.

Like I have said before... I am not very good about staying by myself. I meet people where ever I go and today was go exception. I was up early to catch the 9:30 train to Loburi, but it was an expensive train over 300baht, so i waited an extra 1.5 hours to catch the 13baht train instead. In that time I meet a french chic on holidays for 3 weeks, then an american women. It was a good day filled with musuems, monkeys, runes and good company too.

I will post pics as soon as I fix my camera...sorry

Guess where I am....

A Beautiful lake in the middle of the Sukhothai runes.

Check out http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Mae-Hong-Son/blog-102046.html this is Dave's blog entry from their little trip to Mae Hong son (I am glad I missed out on their adventure)

I make it to Ayutthaya all by myself. Dave and Jazz leave really early this morning and I was planning on going with them, but I stayed out too late bar hopping with 2 Germans, 1 Dutch, 1 Australia, and 1 French, and jazz and Dave too.

For those who worry, don't. I ran into Jazz and Dave within 30mins of being in Ayutthaya which isn't bad considering its a city of over 80 thousand people.

Janice... We will habit share stories when I get home. I did sleep in a Karen Village 50km from Pai in a stilt house, 11 of us plus guides shared a large room, sleeping on a bamboo flooring 2.5 meters in the air with 2 waterbuffalo, lots of chickens, and pigs too.

I guess I should actually start from where I left off.

The trek was well worth the money was spent. Jazz, Dave and me joined up with 5 French ppl, one Swedish guy, one English women, Israeli women and we all squished in to a pickup truck. I have decided that I hate pickup trucks here, because I get car sick from sitting sideways. Normally I can read on the windy roads of the northern Thailand in buses, tuk-tuks, etc, but just sitting in sideways in a truck... Not good. Lucky the truck ride was only 1.5hrs to the beginning point of the trek (50km from Pai.) Sorry mom, I can't tell u exactly where I was.

The trek was an easy trek in terms of distance. We walked up hill for 30 mink - had a 10min break, walked 30-40mins more uphill - 45min lunch that consisted of a little fish, chicken, curry and lots of fried rice. I was one of the adventurous ppl... I tried all the food that the guides were offering us. Next we walked on flat ground for maybe an hour to a small waterfall, where the guides made us bamboo cups and hot tea. It wasnt\t the sunniest day so no swimming for me. The last leg of the journey was another hour of so of a little up, a little down and lots of flat to a small hill tribe (Karen) village. We had lots of time to look around, take pics and buy goods, a little too much time. It was at this village that we stayed in a house on bamboo stilts with animals in the barn below us. There was no electricity in the village so after dinner the children of the village sang us songs then demanded we sing them sounds. None of us could think of any songs so we sang "row row row your boat", "a French song" and "twinkle twinkle little star". It was very very funny.

The village makes local rice whiskey so we had to sample it. We started drinking the whiskey at 4... And by 11 it was all gone. I wouldn't tell u how many bottle got drunk because they just kept showing up. By the time the singing was finished, we were all happy. A couple of us played cards... Memory is a very hard game.

There was a line up for the bathroom at 3am. The rooster had a competition at 3am to see who could be the loudest... So everyone was wake... Me and the Swedish guy had a 3am snacktime too.

Day 2 everyone but 4 of us went rafting. Our day started walking at 10ish - walked until 11:30ish. We had a 1 and a bit lunch break where the guide made bamboo cups, bowls, chopstick etc. Walked a little more iup and down through amazing forests and diverse landscapes. Everything was green, but there was so wildlife to be seen, except for a couple spiders, and one frog. At 3pm we arrived at the first campsite but the water level in the river was too low so we had to hike 30mins more to find a larger creek. I saw sad - to shallow for swimming.

it took the guides about 1h to find, chop and construct a shelter for us and start a fire. I am amazed at the food that can be made over a fire. As soon an darkest fell and the food disappeared the animals started to come out. It was scary....

I had the worst sleep the first night of the trek because of all the animals and the next night I didnt\t sleep much because we were in the jungle under a little bamboo shelter with only one wall. By the time we returned to Pai after the elephant rides, bamboo rafting and caving ... I was sooo over tired. That is how I ended up staying there for an extra 3 days.

Me and John decided to party the night away (after a short nap of course) because we ran in to the other ppl from the first day of the trek. We arrived at a bar called Bebop at 1"30pm and it was DEAD DEAD dead... Then guess who walks in... It was the English ppl I meet 2 week's ago in Vang Vieng while tubing. It is a small world. By 11"30 the bar was full full full. I danced, drank and had fun.

I was home in bed by 2am... Only because the bar closed at 1am

The next day was a joke. Jazz and Dave left. Me and john slept in until 10 - had breakfast - went back to sleep until 1"30 - had lunch - walked around - finally rented a motorbike (he drove, they scare me) - but 4:30 we were heading to a hot spring - we made it to the sign what says hotspring 600m and the bike dies. This army dude shows up, we trade him bikes and ride to the gate to the national park. The guard, the army dude and some other guy spend 30mins trying to fix the bike but can't get it to stay running so we called the rental place and they came to pick us up. We sat at the gate for over and hour doing nothing. No hot springs nothing. Instead we went for dinner and massages. We were going to rent a movie too, but nay... We went back to bed.

the next days much better. - john booked a bus ticket to Lao that left this night - so we both packed up - I changed rooms ( I didn't need 2 large beds for myself) - we had breakfast - bought snacks from 7-11 - took the motorbike *new one) to find a waterfall. We got soo lost, we took 3 wrong roads before we got the right one... We saw a canyon (had a nap at the canyon) ... Went for lunch and watched a movie - we shopped - chilled - and ate again. He left at 10 and I went to bed. I got more sleep and ate more food that I had in the last 3 days.

I was supposed to meet jazz and Dave in Chiang mai, but if u read they blog u will understand why they went straight to sukhothai. I caught bus at 8:30 in Pai was in Chiang mai by 12:30... Went into town and found out that my friends weren't in town, went back to the bus station at boarded a bus for sukhothai at 3pm. It was a long bus ride, about 6 hrs, but I did meet a German chick.. She was cool.. We shared a tuk tuk thing into sukhothai and ended up sharing a bungalow too.

Did dinner at a street place, where we met another German guy ( I didn't eat at a single restaurant that day), with pancakes for dessert, found jazz and Dave then headed for the bar. We only had one beer each, but we were there so long we had to kick us out.

I found jazz and Dave and had a breakfast is the nicest restaurant... Yummy fresh French bread.

The germna chic, Jazz and dave filming in the background. This is the first rune of the day at Sukhothai
Then the German chick joined out and we had a long day biking around the old runes of the city. I will post pics. Next time I see runes... I am going early, mid day is too hot for me.

Jazz\s guesthouse had a pools so after a long hot sweaty day we all broke out the swim wear and lounged at a pool.

It was a good day until dinner. I had never had bad food on this trip until last night. Had noodle with a gravy sauce but there was more sauce then noodles and it had NO favor.... Bad bad food... Street stall food was 10x better.

The night ended with a visit to 2 different little bars, which brings us back to the beginning. I stayed out too late and slept in missing jazz and Dave and the bus to ayutthaya.

I am where I was supposed to be now so it is alll OK

good night... I have to get up early to actually meet up with my friends.

bye bye

I miss everyone and home very much.

Guess what... I am wearing the hat... see Karol

Running off to Sukhothai

The couple of extra days I spent in Pai, while Jazz and Dave travelled on were amazing. I will tell you all about them after I trek Jazz and Dave down in Sukhothai. I am in Chiang Mai... and Now I am off to the bus station again to see about a bus south.

Later

Trekking

I found a shesha (east Indian tobacco) bar in the hippy town of Pai. It was Jazz and Dave's first time.

First day of the trek, drinking tea from a bamboo cup one of the guides made us(check it out). And the water from the tea was boiled in a larger bamboo cup thing.
Sorry... too many pics to organize

Second night, 4 of the originally 11 ppl continued on trekking. We camped out in the jungle under this structure. It wasn't bad, but it was a little scary because all the jungle animals and bugs only started coming out after it was dark (mouse, rat, water buffalo, spiders, lots of ants, a praying mantis) .

The guides made everything from bamboo... bowls, cups, chop sticks, tent from bamboo. It was sweet.

Jazz and Dave on a 4 year old female elephant whos name I forget now. John and me rode on a 3 year old male elephant names Pee yang. On the third day of the trek, we visited a village, rode on elephant, went bamboo rafting, and toured through a cave. What more can u wish to do in a day, really.

Oh ya.. I am going to go for a sauna and a massage in a bit.


I am beginning to think that I ever want to come back to Canada. I can live here for less than 25 dollars a day and do almost anything I want

Its raining its pouring...

and I don't think its going to stop.

A pic from the parade. So many pretty women, and dazzling costumes.

I am not in Pai... Promised more like Pie, then bye. Just so u know. Its a little hippy town, the main income of the town is tourism... So there are a lot of white ppl here, too. I try to do something different, and I end up doing the same things as everyone else. jeeze.

Oh well, Last night I stole myself a seat on the curb and actually watched most of the parade for the Loy Krathong. It was a very religious parade with beautiful dollied up Thai ppl on lit up floats, ppl with lanterns. Very cool. It was a little dangerous watching the parade... Because people all over the city were lighting mini hot airballoons that symbolize bad luck leaving u, and encouraging good luck for the winter season (still 30 degrees here thou). It was dangerous because they are made of paper and occationally the lanterns would catch on fire, or they would break sending flames/fire to land on ppl's heads. I only had ashes land on me. :P
The pic on the right - millions of flower things like these were placed in the city moats and river in memory of loved ones and to bring good luck from the year to come. (I wonder who has the job of cleaning up all the flowers/candles)

Dude... you lets 5 year old children play with firecrackers, and fireworks. There was a continuous supply of firecracker, fireworks and other noise making things going off until the wee hours of the morning. Me and this Thai chick walked into some kind of firework... I lost my hearing for a couple of minutes.

People were everywhere, dancing, singing, etc. It was awesome and I spend the evening with my friend from the previous night. I was surprised to run into Dave and Jazz on a random street while trying to find the river.

Overall an awesome night. This morning was a different story. I slept in because my alarm didn't go off at 6:30... I rushed around packing my shit, and I had little time for breakfast because we thought the bus left at 8 am to get to Pai. It didn't leave until 9... I could have slept an extra hour. The bus we sat on for 4 hours was the smallest tinies bus in the whole station and the road to Pai were very very very windy.

My head still hurts from all the noisy of last night, and I might be a little hungover. I am going to bed early tonight b/c tomorrow is trekking time. I will be off away from the internet for 3 or 4 days.

Later

I edited

After a game of pool, I ended up chillin with A Thai (Kin), and English (Heather), me, an English (?) and a Texas guy (Adam)was a random night of drinking games, pool and live music.

Nov 4 was the official start of the Festival here, there was a parade, lots of fireworks a lot with a beauty contest and hot air balloons.

I completed my first cooking course today. It was awesome, but leave me feeling way too full. When I first arrived, they served us freast bananas, pineapple and papaya, next a trip to the market where I learnt about the spices, chilies, and other ingredients of Thai cooking. But 10 am the cooking began. First I made spring rolls, then green curry, basil chicken ( I choose to not make it very spicy.. Some people put too many in and wow was it funny to watchh them eat it). We had a 30min lunch break. Jazz, Dave and I walked around the neighorhood in hopes to feel less full. After the break, we made papaya salad(In the pic on the right), Pattia ( I can't spell, its a noodle thing), fried banana and we munched on fresh fruit.

OVERALL, I have decided to never eat again. Just kidding, but I am very very full.

A day exploring Chiang Mai

Sorry, I did try to rotate. Me and jazz dressed up

Today was a wonderfully day that started later than most because I was out last night, clubbing for the first time in a really long time. I danced, I drank, I partied.

This morning, we finally decided on a cooking course (we are doing it tomorrow) called the Thai Chocolate school. We aren't making anything with Chocolate thou. damn.

Jazz, Dave and I charted a taxi for the day to take us to a small village, where we dressed up in traditional clothing. It was funny because other ppl in the village took photos with us. I didn't feel completely like a tourist, but a local for a few minutes. I almost bought new clothes at the market, but i remember that I had already owned too many clothes.

Next, the royal familys winter palace (I am posing in front of one of the may flower gardens), too bad it wasn't the season for Roses, the pics would hav been 10 times better. It was still awesome thou.

Last was the most famous Wat (temple) in the area with a look out over Chiang Mai. The gold stumpa was something to see.

Sorry, the computer is too slow, I did add a couple pics to the previous entry.

Love you all
See.. I have been seeing lots of water buffalo... they seem happiest in the mud. I don't get it

Back in Thailand...again

The Photo is me and the French women Gwen, and we are one the little wooden boat that I spend 2 days on traveling done the Mekong river. (it was alittle windy)

Next time I am flying. I have been on a boat for 2 days, with a night in a little village, and now a 6h bus to Chiang Mai. I am looking forward to chillin out there for a couple days.

Moving every morning to tough, and sitting all day makes my ass soar, however I have been catching up on reading. I am reading "A million little pieces" by James Frey. It is an amazing and graphic book. Wow

Meet my first group of Kiwi's and more english on the boat. I swear the english are taking over the world again .

I miss laos already. Only 2 days ago i was jumping off waterfalls and swiming in beauty rivers...

The pic on me jumping off the waterfall didn't work, so u see Marus jumping instead. I was so scared at first, but by the 3rd or 4th time... it was easy as pie.

i am off later

Last couple days in Laos

WOW...

I saw an elephant, black bears, a tigers, a little lizard... ad lots of bugs while we were hiking to the most beautiful 60m waterfall. The water was a pale baby blue and fairly cold. There were multiply pools, I swam in a few... and I even jump off a 2m waterfall into the water. I was almost too scared to do it, but my brazilian friend offered to buy me a beer it i jumped.. so i did :P

Did the museum thing this morning, and the ballet in the evening.

I am doing it all on less then 20$ a day.

It will be a couple days before i write again because i am taking a 2 day boat ride back to thailand then a bus to Chiang Mai.

In a couple days I will have more photos for u.... including me in the pics

Cheers

I have found Paradise in Laos

Sorry to lazy to edit.. have fun reading it

Laos is a different world, especially compared to the craziness of Bangkok. From the moment I stepped onto the train to Nagn Ki (spelling?) (12hrs north of Bangkok) I have felt like i am really somewhere else.

Crazy drunk English man in his 60s slept on the bunk above mine, he talked and talking and even spilt beer on me. The only way to get him to shut up was to put in ear plugs...hehhe

As we were getting off the train we met up with a Brazilian guy that shared a tuk tuk to the thai border... then a jam packed bus to the Laos side. None of us have visa, so it was a 1-2 hour process to cross the border. There were 8 travellers in line and they are all awesome people that had no idea what was going on either. A french teacher, the brazilian doc, 2 ppl from Japan, an american, the crazy british, and a very outgoing english women. We all ended up staying together for a couple days. We all bonded over a trip to get massages near a monk school. I met lots of monks my age that spoke suprisingly good english. They were amazed my my piercing and tatto, just as i was amazed by their lifestyle. It was a rewarding experience, i can't describe it. I learn about laos culture, their religion and ur lives. They are same same, but difference. ( the sauna was good... i didn't get the massage b/c i spent too much time talking to monks)

Vientienne was a quite town, with no nighlife which suited me just fine. I have been awake every morning by 6:30-7. The light wakes me up. I definitly don't waste the day any.

Dude the first hotel we stayed at in the capital was a 3 star hotel with an elevator, compy beds, and a real bathroom for 23$ (split between 3). Its funny b/c we downsized to a guesthouse for $5 (split between 3) and spend most of the days budget on fancy meals.

The sites were simple, but still very cool. A monk in one of the places practiced his english by depicting the Buddist stories. I helped him with his english hw too. :P

Things are simple here, and not busy busy. I am loving it.

Vang Vieng was a backpacker town 3 hours north on very very windy roads. We took an overpacked local bus (dave had a guy sitting on his lap for a while. I just had a guy sitting on my pack in the center) A monk had to tell us to get off, or we would have ended up somewhere else. Did I mention that monks are very friendly and speak good english. I feel safe with monks around.

The town didn't look like much b/c all u see at first in a couple houses and a large cement "airstripe". An army looking guy saw us looking very confused so he further directed us. Laos ppl are friendly and open ppl.

Vang Vieng's economy is sticky rice and tourism. Every house is a business, there are more restuarants then tourists it seems. Most of the restuarants are raised booths with lots of pillows and a television playing american movies or FRIENDS. It was a strange site to see 20-30 ppl all starring at a tv watching friends.

Beautiful country side, and mountains like I have never seen. Here we tubed down Nam Song (song river) and drank BEERLAO and jumped off rope swings. Totally amazing... meet a bunch of ppl from england.

One day we rented bikes and explored this one cave with 2 little kids as our guides. The cave paths kept getting smaller and smaller the further we went, at one point we had to lay flat and wiggle through. I was a litte scared that we would never make it out alive. After nearly getting stuck in the caves with BIG spiders we biked through 2 more villages and end up at a Bright BLUE lagoon. It was like nothing i have ever seen before, the color was amazing. Plus there was another cave, but biggers. I climbed in the cave for over an hour.

Biking allowed us too see the people of Laos, not just the tourists. There were animals, naked childerns running around, ppl farming.

The last day there... we took a tour of 2 more caves ( including cave tubing), swam, kayaked 17 km, jumped off more rope swings. FUN, but my arms are very soar. Meet 2 swedish girls on the tour and ended up having dinner with them afterwards. It was a random night that end with Jazz and Dave and an irish guy drinking SPECIAL tea (opium tea). Restuarants here have special menu... u can have mushroom or wee fruit shakes, or opium tea. Don't worry... no special food for me. I just drink lots of BEERLAO

Good times.

Today was a LONG day. Jazz and dave locked there key in their room about 15mins before we were supposed to get on the bus to Luang Prabang and the guesthouse didn't have another key. One of the worker ppl jumped out my rooms window on to the very slippery metal roof and gimmied the window open.

Lucky the bus left late. :P Laos is a slow paced place.

8hours lated I arrived in Luang Prabang

That was a long one.... I was too busy to find an internat cafe. sorry my bad

I miss everyone lots

Bangkok....

Guess what... i managed to find my way from the airport to Kho San Raoad... sat with a random aussie guy that has been living in southern thailand for the last 1 year or so... he gave some travel tips.

WOW is it hot here... u can't believe it.

I have been on alot of random transportation methods in the last 24 hrs. Airplane - bus - local bus - tuk tuk- taxi - river boat taxi - foot - i am going to take a trip on the sky train today later maybe...

We took the china town walking tour that was described in the tour book... we should haver read the describtion first, because wow.... picture a normal road... then half that, and half it one more time. maybe mabye 2m wide filled with people walking both directions, cart, and the occational motorbike with stores on there side selling anything possible. Toys, jewelary, raw fish, shoes.

Today, we visited the Grand Palace and it means Grand Fortress land.... there was 60 buildings or so with gold plated roof, small gardens, and lots or tourists. I actually had a conversion with Thai person... very exicted

Met a person from Calgary while munching on so patiya (spelling?) noodles food... it is a small world.

I have a ticket for a train to loas... we went all out with aircon and beds... the 3rd class train looks very scarey. :)

Cheers.

Singapore

DUDE.... I made it all the way to SINGAPORE so far.

I am only hre for a totaly of 8 hrs, but I am making the most of it. I met up with my Montreal friend for awesome amazing coffee at this outdoor food court thingie....he was off to go clubbing that night, but I decided to tag along. Boy and I glad. It was 4 hours of dancing to music by dj Damian Saint from in England.

I have only sleep for a totally of 4 hrsand it is now saturday morning 6am.

I am off to find a couch and have a little nap before my flight to bangkok... hopefully I don't sleep through my flight

Cheers.

I miss everyone

:P

Run for the Cure

I never run... never, well I started 2 weeks ago because my mom signed me up for the "RUN FOR THE CURE" breast cancer fund raiser.

I will let you know if i complete the race, wish me luck

Alisha

My week in Calgary

Wow it has been a long time since my last entry.

I have just been to busy or too lazy, I am not sure which is more correct. :P

I was working 2 jobs in Abbotsford for 3 months, but on Aug 28 I worked my last shift at the gas station, on Aug 29 I worked my last day at the Lab, but I also packed up all my stuff/cleaned and caught the 5:45 ferrie to Victoria.

I was so excited to get to Duncan. I hadn't seen my mom, Gorden, Olive, Katie in months. I was only in Duncan for a whole 3 days.

I left to Calgary shortly after arriving on the island. I missed Calgary so much.

Calgary was a blast, I partied every night I was there.

First with visited with family, football games with bro, his gf and friend... plus tailgate party with the uncle. Wings at my fav pub and then drinking games to end the night off. :P

There were meetings with my boss, time with friends, a visit to the zoo, the den, and the mall. All in only 5 days. As of friday... i ran off to edmonton to see colin. Dude that was a random weekend. I was in edmonton twice that sunday (my flight home had a stop over there).

Good times. Calgary to my favourite place because of the ppl there. I will be looking forward to repeating my adventures when I am back there in a years time. :P

Cheers.

Again, it has come and gone

The van wasn't the little engine that could... so 10 guys or some from the cars
all around us, got out to help push it up the little hill.

I just wrote an nice long e-journal about Shambhala....and I deleted it oops

I had a blast at Shambhala this week... it was so much better than last year... last year openned up my eyes to the possiblitily of what could be. Shambhala is what u make of it. This year I knew a lot of different groups of people. Hight school ppl, old raving friends, Uni friends, and plus all the new ones i made.

If you haven't been to a hippie-fest. then you probably wont understand... but I felt free. (CHECK ON THE NAKED BUM, ps the guy with the beige shirt and blue pant over his shoulder is half naked too) Anything goes at Shambhala. Nakedness, body paint, hippies, stoned, candy ravers, punk, gothic, preppy, skator... anything. People don't judge here and you are allowed to be what u want to be.

People share what they have and u give what u can to ppl in need. The airmatress I borrowed from a friend was destroyed in my truck on the drive up to Nelson, so while we were in line for 6 hours, I got ppl that had duct tape, packing tape and then a patch kit. While we were in line, I was given a handful of chocolate chip cookie cereal, a ice cold beer, a ride on a ATV to my friends that were 2 km behind us and back with some girls needed to turn around. I shared my massive rice crispie square with random ppl. It was a good time. After finally getting into the festival, we were looking for a good spot to camp, and I drove over a big rock. (Mom don't worry no marks or damage because some strong boys saved us. As well, after setting up camp, I was looking to borrow some duct tape (I found more holes in the air matress). I met a high school teacher that was awesome and very funny for a chem/physic/math teacher. All the ppl were very interesting... all in there own way.

Aren't I hot, blue and all. I have completed painted blue... except my neck and face. As soon as the sun goes down... it gets very very cold... so i had to cover up :(

I can't wait to go again next year...

Did I mention that i gave a ride to a guy from india living in New york city working for GOOGLE, and a nelson guy that was living in Nepal for the last 10 months. It was a random drive.

SHAMBHALA is coming

Wow, a month has past and I have nothing new to say.

I am working hard at 2 different jobs, the lab job and shell gas station. I enjoy both for different reasons. The house is awesome, we just got a new roommate, Sarah that used to work on a cruis ship. The way she talks about the ship, it makes me want to go work on one too. Maybe one day. Jaylene is still ranting about being on strike and not making any money. Carely is less stressed because she dropped on of this sumer classes. Cat is looking for a new job and is never home. The house is clean most of the time, 10X better then the calgary house, no offense.

I have been to the Richmon night market, mission, mill lake, Cultis Lake, walked up Sumas mountain, been shopping, eaten sushi and watch the entire 5 sessions of Charmed.

Chris was down for a visit and at the same time i got to say goodbye to David (hes in Japan/ Signapore)

Smiles

I have too much time to think

I have all this time on my hands. I have been trying to get another job and I am meeting people, but I think I am starting to appreciate Abbotsford and it's influence its having on me. Moving away from my friends, my family, and my house... I am realizing that having a true place to belong is important. All I wanted to do was leave it all behind and live some adventurous lifestyle filled with drama and mystery. I am going to need to find away to satisfy both wants... because jumping on or out of a bus/plane/car is not always going to keep me entertained.

For now I am loving the lifestyle and enjoying it... but when I get back in to Calgary next September. I am going to settle down and stay put for a while. Finishing my degree is important... but after that.... i am still unsure... I don't want a master/PhD because that is more research in labs behind closed doors. I want to work with people... so maybe doctor (need higher marks), maybe a nurse, maybe drug company.... I haven't figured it out... but I am trying.

Loving life...

In 4 months....

(this is me exploring the unknown)
... I am off to explore a little more of the world. 4 months is not a lot of time to save up, plan and get organized. But thanks to Jazzmine and Dave, a lot of the planning has been done. The route is set.

For now I am worrying about saving all the money I can, while still having a little fun.

Guess what... I have a house party to attend this weekend... its going to be a blast.

Until next time...

Me

Abbotsford... a new city yet again

( indoor mini golfing with my new roommate)
Hey,

I have been in the city of Abbotsford for a week now, but I am still unsure of what I think of the city. I haven't had much energy to explore because I have started my new research job and I am busy watching all the sessions of CHARMED. I finished the first session in less then a week.

I am loving work. Really I am. I have an half an hour walk to the barn building and about the same home, excpet I recieve 3 rides home this week. I like the lab because the people are awesome, a few students my age I can really talk too, flexible work times, and its laid back. ITs a better atmosphere then last year, which i hated. I am also doing actual lab work this year.

I am testing Caribou blood samples for a set of diseases and then retesting the blood found on paper samples to compare the results of the test. And from there we will be able to conclude that using filter paper collection will work for caribou samples. It is a lot easier to collect filter paper samples then it is to collected serum samples because of the extreme weather.

I am happy here... missing friends, but I am happy.

I have realized that I want to settle down when i get back after my year abroad.

Later

3 days 5 cities

Safe at last in Canada.

I made the journey back to the Western lifestyle with both Dave and Trevor in one piece with almost all my belongs and more. Once in Toronto, trev and I were apparently placed on drug suspision, but lucky i left all my drugs in Lima... heheh just kidding. Although I really wanted to bring cocoa leaves back. They made amazing tea, but its unfortunitely illegal in Canada.

The airport, even in Lima, brought me back into the western world of structure and order. Wine was no longer 3$, it was 20-100$. The expense of the western developed world is high because luxury is a nessesity.

I long for the unfamilar... so that is why i am moving to abbotsford for the summer to work.

In the last couple days I have gone from Lima, Peru to Toronto to Calgary to Abbotsford to Vancouver. I spent only 7 hours in Calgary visiting with my Calgary friends. It is funny after being away for a month then coming home, u can tel who ur friends are. Some we willing to down their plans to see me briefly and others were like sorry i cant no time. It makes u wonder. Dani, Joel, Leah and James are close amazing people that I will consider my true friends regardless of what happens.

I slept at my grandparent house and got a chance to visit with my Cousin who is pregant with a little baby boy. I havent truely visited with my cousin in a long time. It was good. My grandparents volunteered to transport my shit and me to abbotsford, without them I dont know what i would have done. They were patient with all my travel plan changes.

We safely arrived to abbotsford on June 1st in time to move into my new house. It is beautiful and clean. The restaurant we ate at was located just around the corner from my new house next door to a sushi restaurant.

I unpacked and met the new roomies.

I just couldnt wait to get to vancouver to visit Jasmine and Dave, they are the my traveling buddies for asia. I havent seen Jazz in 6 months. And the greyhound ticket roundtrip to vancouver is only 16$ so i can visit her lots and Amy too.

So in 3 days i was in

Lima --> Toronto --> Calgary --> Abbotsford --> Vancouver

who knows maybe seattle tomorrow

Lima is an awesome city regardless of the rep

weI just got home from learning to surf on the coast of lima. The hostel we are stay at is a block away from the ocean. I am just giddy. I dont know what it is about the ocean but it makes be strangely happy. Me and trev took al short walk on the beach yesterday morning... i went wading and i was surprised by the warmth of the water. It wasnt too bad.

It was a lazy day yesterday. We were all in a little better moods after we realized that there was no reason to be upset by the transportation mix up. I was the first one up which gave me time to read my new book ( THE BEACH, awesome book) plus I caught up on watching english TV. The last couple movies I have seen we all in spanish so i have very little idea what was going on. I consumed an awesome standard breakfast and just relaxed. After everyone was dressed and showered and interneted out... we headed out to explore the area around up. With no guide book in hand we set out to the main streets. There was a small festival in the center square with handicrafts and interesting foods. We were set on munching down on a Peruvian style hamburger... not america... the burgers came with french fry like foods on the patties, as well i got guatamole, colasol, tomatoes as fixings.. so it wasnt that western. Plus the drink that came with the meal was a juice made from corn. I didnt like the juice it had a very distinct and bad after taste. After lunch we admired the homes and building in the neighboring street. We are know staying in one of the richer neighbors of Lima. I feel safer here, more so then in central lima. The girls that directed us to this part of the city we smart ones.

We all have been craving a homecooked meal for the past couple days, so we decided to make pasta at the hostel instead of eating out again. It took 3 trips two 2 different stores to get all the necessary goods to cook with. We bought noodles, tomatoe sauces, bacon, garlic, red peppers, onions, eggs (for breakfast), a bottle of wine, bottle of rum, and 4 liters of coke. once at home, the hostel we settled in to a very serious game of asshole followed by a game of backgammon. I royal kicked trevors ass... but then he kicked mine at chess. I have never before played that game before so i didnt want to play the game in the first place. Trev is too serious of a chess player to bother explaining why we does the moves that he does... so i didnt learn the game, i just got my ass kicked. I think i will stick to games we both know.. then the games are more fun.

Trev and Dave love playing video poker at the casinos here... because it only costs 10 centesome to play and u dont loss to much money at one time. So far we have been lucky because we all leave the casino up. I suggested playing real poker in our room because we had a litre of rum to get through. It was a good night because i won 2 out of the three poker games we played. DAVE lost them all.... it has to be said because he has been bragging that he an awesome player, but the drunk girl won instead.

Another today was a lazy day as we recovered for the alcohol from the night before. We all slept in, had an awesomre breakfast, then headed to the air canada office to sort this airplane issues out. As it turns out, there is nothing he can do to really help us. The flight for tuesday is closed meaning that we cant buy tickets, but there may be some tomrrow (tues) so we have to go back at 9am. But we have tickets booked for the flight home on june first, but that is too late for me.. so i am still holding out hope for tickets for tomorrow. I will write move later. I need to get the salt water out of my hair.

night.