Judgement Day

I think it's dead, Jim.

Day Whatever - New plans

Quick update, new travel plans.

The next few months of my life should look as follows:
Cambodia
Thailand
Malaysia
Indonesia
East Timor
Australia
New Zealand

I have no idea when I'm coming home.

Day One Hundred Fifty - Five Months and First SEA Update

Hey folks!

Sorry about my lack of activity on the blog. I did warn ya, didn't I? I haven't been on the internet too much since I arrived in Asia, I've been trying to stay away from it mostly. It's quite nice to be disconnected.

Today marks the five month mark since I have left home. It certainly doesn't feel that way. Since I have been in Southeast Asia (SEA) I haven't been thinking about home as much as before. That could be attributed to two things: the excitement of being somewhere new and my disconnection from the internet. A nice side effect of not keeping up to date with all of you back home is that I don't miss you so much, or should I say, I don't think about it as much and therefore don't get bummed about being away from friends.

My six month goal is fast approaching. I had no idea it would come this quickly. It doesn't feel too long ago that I was drinking in Irish pubs at the beginning of my trip. I have a really skewed conception of time now. Time is measured very differently when I am traveling.

Thailand is a little different from what I expected; it is way more tourist oriented. I knew that tourism is a big industry here but I guess I underestimated how much business it created. In some cities you can't walk five meters without passing a tourist agency. This is made worse by the fact that I have not had a lot of chance to get out of the main tourist circuit. But the country is extremely beautiful, I've never seen any place that is more green in my life! The people are also quite nice most of the time and they have a great sense of humor. I just wish I could speak to them a bit more, I have been pretty lazy with learning the language and because of this have only picked up simple greetings. I am going to give it more effort from now on though.

Here is a quick summary of my time in Thailand:
I spent a few days in Bangkok. This place sucks. If you're ever in Thailand leave Bangkok as soon as you can and DON'T stay on Khao San Road where all the other backpackers stay. It's a shitty place to be that is extremely commercial and touristic to the point of making me sick. After Bangkok I went to Phitsanolouk, which is a regular Thai city virtually devoid of farang (the Thai word for foreigner, they use it all the time even when speaking to you). It was nice to see a genuine Thai city but there really was nothing to do there. I then went to Chiang Mai which is city I enjoyed a lot more than Bangkok. It's a lot smaller and the people are a lot nicer. I spent five days here trying to figure out what the hell I wanted to do, I still wasn't sure what I wanted to do while in Thailand and I had been here almost a week. I rented a motorbike for the first time in Chiang Mai. It wasn't anything sexy or fast, only a 125cc city driver, almost like a moped. It was a bit nerve racking riding one for the first time, especially in the city, but I quickly got the hang of it and was enjoying myself immensely. Once I left Chiang Mai I went to Pai to chill out for a few days which turned into a week because I liked the place and met some cool people there. In Pai I rented a motorbike again and checked out the nearby waterfalls and a really awesome cave called Tham Lot. This cave was incredible and exploring it with the only light coming from a gas lantern was awesome. Originally I was going to head to Burma after Pai but I met a German guy named Andy that I got along with well and we decided to go to Lao together.

So here I am in Lao. I have only been here for two nights, this being my first night in Luang Prabang, one of the bigger cities. I took a two day boat ride down the Mekong River from the Thai border, it was pretty fun. It's a cool way to meet some people since everyone is stuck on this small boat for two whole days. So far the Lao people have been extremely nice; my friend Andy is feeling a bit under the weather and when I told the guy at our guest house he went upstairs to check on him. We have no idea what we are going to do in this country, we know of only a few places that sound good to visit. We have a month here so we should be able to find some interesting stuff to do.

After Lao we should be heading for Cambodia. From there, I don't have a clue what will happen. The monsoon rains will probably be really heavy in a month or two so traveling in this area may not be so fun if I can't even go outside without getting drenched. When that time comes I will have to make the decision of staying or leaving, going home or going somewhere else. Australia, perhaps? I've entertained the idea and especially since I could work there with my Aussie passport it would be really easy for me. We'll see what happens. For now, I'm going to try and learn some Lao.

Yours truly,
Vance.