Rompingground

Pictures posted from Laos and a few more from Cambodia.

Smiling Statue

Current Location: Savanakhet, Laos

My time here, in Laos, is shorter than I had anticipated due to circumstances out of my control, to some extent. My first impression of this place can simply be put as, relaxed. Crossing the border took something along the lines of 2 hours, something I’m used to taking less than an eighth of that time. Due mostly to the Laos side of the border things move a shade slower than Hawaii. This is something I’ve heard about from all the travelers who had been through already and had been looking forward too after the crazy that is Viet Nam.

My first few days here in Laos has really been nice.  Wandering through the streets you don’t even get touted at, instead you may get a friendly Sabadee (Hello) and a wave.  There isn’t much to see in this particular town, but it’s just nice to walk around and not be shouted at or bothered really.  I’ll head to Vientine and from there hop back into Thailand to collect Homer and run through Cambodia all over again.  Homer having recently quit his job has a few weeks off before starting the new job, is interested in seeing Angkor Wat and since I’ve already been there he enlisted my help.

I added the last of the Viet Nam pictures.

Flying through the Water

Current Location: Hanoi, Viet Nam

I went to Hue for two simple reasons.  Fist is that it’s on the backpacker circuit so I figured there must be something there worth seeing.  More importantly Fatty’s mom said I should go see what is there.

In the end I’m really glad I went, more than the citadel the genuineness of the people there are what sold me in the end.  I met up with a couple other backpackers on the bus from Hoi An and we decided to split the cost of a room and hang out for a few days.  On our first night in the city we wandered outside of the backpacker area to look for some food.  We ended up finding a bbq meat stall that smelled amazing, they could sense our hesitation and offered us some meat to sample. After that we were sold, it was probably one of the best dinners to date in Viet Nam.  They were incredibly friendly and kept looking our way.  Luckily I learned to kinda say delicious in Vietnamese which I find comes in handy.

I’ve found that the best experiences come when I get out of the tourist area and into the real city.  I relate it to other people like a bunch of zoo animals escaping from their cage and the natives are mildly amused that the animals have wandered into their area.

On another occasion we wandered further away from the area to find a stall next to the river and sat down.  We were then invited by a bunch of guys to eat and drink with them.  After a minutes hesitation we decided we couldn’t refuse their offer and sat down with them.  We ate some delicious meat and drank heaps of beer with them all the while we had a stilted conversation about ourselves.  Lots of beer and laughing make up a great dinner here in Viet Nam.  They then paid the bill and left, leaving Jergen and I a little dumbfounded.

I kinda skipped through Hanoi on my way north to Sapa figuring I’d be back through on my way back south.  I met up with some guys I met down in Hoi An and we went to pay our respects to Uncle Ho.  Side note, why do communist leaders always put themselves on display after they are dead?  So far I’ve visited Ho Chih Minh and Mao Zedong, I only have to visit Lenin to get a full set of communist leaders on display.

I made it to Sapa only to be enveloped by the clouds for the entire day.  Quite a disappointment after seeing pictures of the area that are absolutely stunning.  The second day was a bit better but still half of the day was spent in the clouds.  Found some other backpackers heading into the hill tribe area on their own and wandered around with them.  The scenery is amazing to see, it must take tremendous amounts of effort to shape the hills into rice paddies and maintain those fields.  The costumes worn by the hill people are very colorful but I still couldn’t bring myself to take pictures of them, though I did see people unabashedly shooting to their hearts content.

We had a few conversations between us on what the area would look like in 10 years.  Construction of homestays is furious in the area and I wonder how focused they are on rice production any more, it seems they are far more interested in selling trinkets and clothes.

Now that I’ve made it all they way to the North of Viet Nam it’s time to go all the way back down to Saigon.  Fatty’s mom will be here in a few weeks time for a wedding which I’ve been invited to in Saigon.  Also coming is Ray and Sonya on a cruise a few days later so it’ll be nice to meet up with people I know.    I expect picture taking will slow down as I’ll have visited most of the areas already.

On that note I posted a few pictures from the last few days.

Cute

Current Location: Hue, Viet Nam

I must say that I didn’t set out to do a six day trip by motorcycle upon entering Da Lat but the one day tour around Da Lat was a lot better than I could have imagined and he gave me a price that was better than I had expected so I figure I’d spend mom and dads Christmas gift on something that would take me off the beaten track.  As I often bemoan the typical backpacker circuit this would be a surefire way to get off the path and see some things authentically Vietnamese.

We left Da Lat promptly at 8:30a and proceeded to hit the countryside stopping as we went along to see what people were up to.  It took me a while to get used to this as I feel like we were intruding but it genuinely seemed like people were happy to sit and talk for a while to the guide and stare at me for a while. I met tons of locals at parks and things who were keen to have their picture taken and share a little rice wine or fruits as I walked along.  Not much else is said besides “Hello, How are you?” by both sides but it’s still fun and they usually get a kick out of saying anything in English.

This experience was very similar to the one day ride I did through the countryside of Battenbong where kids would smile, wave, and shout hello as the bike zoomed by often with me waving back.  It’s quite charming to see them all smiling on the side of the road.  My favorite experiences were those that felt fairly organic, often he would stop the bike and I would walk a kilometer or so just to stretch out my legs and I would often run into people on the side of the road, we’d both motion to each other and ‘converse’ as much as we could… I left each of these encounters smiling.

It’s nice to take a break after 6 days of running around Viet Nam on the back of a motorcycle.

I spent a few days resting in Hoi An and really enjoyed the place.  It’s easy to see why it has UNESCO World Heritage status with all of the old buildings down by the waterfront.  They shut down traffic at night and it becomes walking streets and you can almost pretend that you are back in time at that point, you just have to ignore the hundreds of tailor shops that inhabit Hoi An.  Other than that they have some wonderful regional food there that was extremely cheap and you could always find people to chat with.  I spent quite a bit of time wandering around the back alleys that wind their way past houses and have the occasional well driven in the middle of the path.   Definitely a must if you make it to Vietnam.

Last thing I did before leaving Hoi An is to visit the Marble Mountains, a suggestion given to me before leaving New Zealand by Terry.  It was worth the trip as the area isn’t heavily tourist and it’s basically left out of the Lonely Planet. Huge caves and lots of sculptures in there make it a neat place to visit, that along with being able to climb to the top of the mountain for a great view was awesome.

I’ve posted the first set of Viet Nam pictures

Christmas Decorations, Vietnamese style

Current Location: Unknown, Viet Nam

A quick note to wish everyone a merry christmas, I’m not sure where I’ll be when this posts so I’ll leave it up to your imagination.

I’ll be in the middle of doing a 6 day motorcycle tour from Da Lat to Hoi An through the central highlands of Viet Nam.

Last thing, I posted the remainder of the Cambodia pictures.

Temple Guy

edit: So I thought I could be fancy and schedule when this would post, but that didn’t work as planned… oh well.

Added a couple of pictures of Angkor Wat.

Long Hall

I haven’t moved from Bangkok yet for reasons I’m not entirely sure of. I think one good possibility is that while in New Zealand I became accustomed to staying in one place for long periods of time (about 1 month.) The only problem with that here in Thailand is that I only have one month I’m allowed to be in the country before having to move on, this is mostly due to the fact that I planned my trip into Thailand poorly and didn’t apply for the 2 month visa which I wanted to do.  The good thing is I will probably come back to Thailand since it is a major airport hub which would mean it’s cheaper to fly out of here than elsewhere.

The nickname for Thailand is the Land of Smiles in case you were wondering, often abbreviated as LOS when reading about it online.  At first I thought it was some sort of marketing for Thailand and didn’t really believe it but since getting here I have come to see why it’s called the land of smiles.  I don’t think you’ll find service like this anywhere else in the world and such genuinely happy people.  A good example of that is the person who might be opening a door for you to a mall or a hotel, they look really happy to be of service you can’t help but smile with them.  When I look into the eyes of these people I see actual mirth behind them, it’s quite infectious.

I went on what will probably be my one and only tuk-tuk ride the other day, it turned out to be a practice in patience.  I went to two tailors, one travel company, and one jewelry shop mixed in with loads of more Temples (wat) and all I really wanted to see was the Palace.  I knew it was going to happen this way and I figure everyone that comes to Thailand has to at least do it once so it was an experience.

I decided to get out of here on up to Chiang Mai by train tonight, 14hrs on a train when I hear you can do it 6 hours shorter by bus but I figured it would be kinda neat to go by train at least once, and it comes with a bed.

Tuk Tuk Thai

Current Location: Auckland, Aotearoa

Where to begin when it all comes to an end?  The list would be too long to name everyone to thanks who I’ve met and has helped me along the way here in New Zealand, which isn’t to say that I’m not thankful for I truly am to everyone.  The people I’ve met have made this trip for me without doubt.  While New Zealand is naturally quite beautiful the people make it a magical place to be.  I’ve done so much this trip that trying to list it all would be quite the arduous task which I’ll not bore anyone with, suffice to say that it wouldn’t have been possible without the wwoofing hosts.

Someone found this webpage using the search term “is wwoofing a good idea?”  I would have to answer with an emphatic yes.  I have had nothing but good experiences and good times with the people that have opened their houses and lives to me.  I wrote once about making yourself at home in a strangers house, an idea I still find wonderful.  Living the life of a hosteler you are somewhat removed from the true kiwi experience while the life of a wwoofer you are immersed in the kiwi way of life, if you let yourself go.

A sometimes added benefit of wwoofing is getting to really meet other travellers.  I’ve spoken to some people about the transientness of hosteling, always having the same conversation over and over again with each new roommate it sometimes gets tiring.  While wwoofing really allows you a false sense of permanence which allows you to really get to know your fellow wwoofer.  Without wwoofing I would never have met Alex, Anne, Jack, and Elizabeth for which my life would be poorer.

I think I love New Zealand, it wouldn’t take much to get me to move here.  I find it very difficult to say goodbye, more so than when I left Hawai’i.  Probably because I knew that I would return there soon, if the future holds New Zealand for me I can’t say.  I’ve already considered coming back on a tourist visa but only half-heatedly just to soothe my mind.  Doing New Zealand by bicycle was my way of doing this uniquely which is what scares me about SE. Asia which I take on the title of backpacker.  I read an article about backpacking recently about how nothing is unique anymore, it’s like legions of lemmings all armed with their lonely planet guide books all doing the same things, staying in the same places.  Where is the sense of adventure that existed 40 years ago?  I left my lonely planet guide book back in Christchurch in favor of getting lost where possible and the chance to ask random people for advice when I needed it instead of relying on a book.

I’ve done over 8000km in New Zealand.  My bicycle computer broke around Wellington, the second time around, and I couldn’t be bothered to fix it.  I know what my average speed is so I know how long each days cycle ride should be which is good enough for me.  Most people are gobsmacked when I tell them how far I’ve ridden or what I’ve managed to accomplish in New Zealand.  To which I reply that what I’ve done is nothing special and there is no reason they can’t do the same thing.  It’s something I truly believe at this point, it only takes the will to finish something, the body will follow where the mind goes.  I’m not sure anyone believes me when I tell them this but anyone can do this, it’s that simple.

Wwoofing has me thinking a lot about the intersections in life and where the road takes you.  Superman posed the question “2 years ago, did you have any idea you would have been doing something like that right now?”  In all honesty I would have to answer no to that question, I had no clue what my last 18 months would have held for me.  I’ve tried to stick to the philosophy that I take any opportunity that presents itself to me and I think it really has done me well.  I’ve enjoyed staying at wwoofing gigs for an average of 3 weeks each place, it gives us the opportunity to really get to know one another, which is good and bad as it makes leaving all the harder each time.

I leave with a list of random things regarding New Zealand.

Favorite Cities in New Zealand:

• Big City: Christchurch
• Mid Size: Rotorua
• Little: I’ve liked most of the little towns but I’d have to say that Pongaroa was the most charming.  Good people abound in the small towns

Favorite Place: Up until a month ago it was the Coromandel Peninsula but my time in the Bay of Islands was simply amazing.

Favorite Camping: Fantail Bay, Coromandel Peninsula.  Incredible place.

Things I Won’t Miss:

• Sandflies: good riddance to them
• Magpies: attacked twice, Damn birds.

Most Unusual Item I’ve Seen a Backpacker Carry: A compound bow, by a hunter crazy canuck.

Favorite Hostel: Purple Cow, Wanaka.  Immaculately run and a great view.

Favorite Stretch to Ride: Caitlins, South Island.

To sum up New Zealand, “Sweet as, bro”

edit: last batch of pictures added for New Zealand.

Empty Alley

Added pictures of our day out at sea.

The Big One

Just a quick note to say that I managed to get pictures up.

Still looking for a place to wwoof for a few weeks, hanging out in the meantime.

End of the Line