Sihanoukville, Cambodia and my final days in SE Asia...

I can't believe it's already December 9th! I guess it's true that time flies when you're having fun. I'm spending my last couple days in a city called Sihanoukville in the southern most part of Cambodia. It's definitely a place to end the trip of a lifetime. Sihanoukville is a small town with beaches and backpackers from around the world. Let me rewind a few days...we left Siem Reap for the capital city of Cambodia, Phnom Penh. Like I said in my previous post, Cambodia and especially it's capital city are still making there way out of the Khmer Rogue genocide. Much of the buildings are newer because the previous ones had been destroyed. I went to one if the killing fields that were used during the genocide. Pretty incredible that Cambodia is bouncing back from something so tragic. When we arrived in Phnom Penh a lot of the guesthouses were filled up but we finally found one thanks to our tuk tuk driver. It was a new place only about a week old. The owner invited Alec and I to play soccer that night at a park with some guys. Of course we played. A bit out of shape from traveling we both scored a couple goals. After a few days in the capital city we jumped on our bus to Sihanoukville. We've just been beach bumming it here the past couple days. They have a 24 hour cinema here owned by a California man from San Francisco. The cinema is different than from back home. He has about 6 small rooms where you can lay on the floor and pick from his list of thousands of movies. Pretty cool guy. I'm going to the cinema at mid night to have a beer and watch the 49ers game that starts here at 4 am. My time in SE Asia is coming to an end. I can't say enough about the countries I've visited and seen over the past 3 months. This has definitely opened my eyes to so many different cultures and lifestyles. I don't want to stop traveling just yet. I'm hoping to save up money back home and explore Central America in the next few months. The amount of stuff I've learned here is priceless. I want to see and learn more. I don't feel like I'm done yet. The world is too big. We are flying back home from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It was a lot cheaper than flying out if Bangkok. Another day in Vietnam will be nice to end the trip. One more day in a big city. Gotta go soak up some more sun before its gone. I forget to tell you, I got a pedicure on the beach yesterday haha. I'll put a picture up of it. Until next time...love

The 4,000 islands and Cambodia...

Traveling through Laos was much different than Thailand and Vietnam. Laos has a slower pace. The biggest city only has 200,000 people and most of the country is covered in dense jungle. We finished our time in Laos by visiting a place called the 4,000 islands. It's at the very southern part of Laos on the border of Cambodia. We stayed on a small island called Don Det. It was small, maybe 2 square miles. We rode bikes around the island during the day and went to a raggae bar at night. After a few days on Don Det it was time to cross the border into Cambodia. We took a bus into central Cambodia to a city called Siem Reap. Fantastic city. One of my favorites so far! The night market is filled with people and there is a famous pub street next to it. The first couple days we walked around and checked out the night life and grabbed some food. You can pay in dollars or the Cambodian currency called Riel. I got change back last night in both dollars and Riel. Today was a big day! We woke up at 5:30 to ride bikes down to Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat is a Buddhist temple from the 13th century. It's big. The biggest religious building in the world. I'll put pics up. Oh ya before I forget to tell you...we were riding our bikes around Angkor Wat and saw monkeys playing in the trees. We got off our bikes and walked towards them. It was the craziest thing. A couple of the young ones came right up to us. We biked around 15 miles today on old bikes we rented for $1. My butt hurts from the seat haha. But on a serious note Angkor Wat was the most remarkable thing I've seen in SE Asia. If you have a second you should google it. I slacked this last week on writing to you guys. But I'll keep it updated in my travels through Cambodia. I love this country. It's filled with so much pride and heart. If you don't know Cambodia has recently come out of a huge genicide called Khmer Rogue. It ended about 15 years ago. It destroyed the country. Led by a man Pol Pot who killed 1.7 million people. Google it. Very interesting country too visit. I'm not sure if we're leaving today or tomorrow. It's 9:30 am here and I'm going to grab some breakfast. An omelette sounds so good right now. I'm super excited its going to be Christmas time when I come home. My favorite time of the year! Love you guys and thanks to everyone who reads my blog and has followed me along my trip. Until next time...love

The Loop and Kong Lo cave...

Sabadee! (Hello in Laos). Wow so much has happened since my last post. Alec and I went on an adventure of a lifetime. It's called The Loop! The Loop is a motorbike trail that starts in a small city located in central Laos and takes you about 200 miles through remote villages and the most dense jungle in Laos. We left around 8 am from a city called Tha Khek and filled up our gas tanks. The journey begins! We stopped at a cool springs after the first 20 miles and swam for an hour...it was hot around 90 degrees. We continued on and explored a couple caves along the way. After driving through some beautiful mountains we arrived at a guesthouse in a village around 6 pm. It was completely dark. We had a good nights sleep and continued on the next morning. The next 35 miles were the rockiest/bumpiest roads I've been on while in S.E. Asia. I snake maybe 6 feet long crossed right in front of me.along the way. Pretty cool. Then came the jungle...my favorite part. My mind felt free and nothing else mattered at this point. This is what I came to see in Laos. It was unreal (picture). After driving through the jungle as well as several remote villages I understood how well off we truly are in the US. I thought about all my "worries" back home and realized how small they really are in this world. After settling down in another guesthouse along a river I fell asleep around 9 pm. I was exhausted. I woke up at 7 am and drove to a cave called Kong Lo cave. You must take a boat to see it because water runs through it. The cave is about 4 miles long (picture). What an experience! After being lead through the cave by a local we continued on back to our starting point, which was about an 80 mile drive. I ran out of gas with 20 miles left. Luckily I wasn't far from a petrol (gas) station. We returned around 6 pm that night and fell asleep early from the long ride. It was the best way to experience Laos and understand what the country has to offer. Beautiful mountains, rivers, caves, and jungles. The next morning we took a bus 8 hours to a city called Pakse. Ps...I've taken enough buses to last a lifetime. I'm still in Pakse about to take another bus (4 hours) to the most southern part of Laos called the 4,000 islands. It boarders Cambodia where I will be traveling next. I'm excited for Cambodia. Both Laos and Cambodia are among the worlds 20 poorest nations. It's been quite the journey/adventure whatever you want to call it. I just ate breakfast and read a quote I want to share with you. "If you are in a bad situation, don't worry it will change. If you're in a good situation, don't worry it too will change." I loved this quote. It tells me to roll with the punches and take things day by day. Don't get to high or to low. Things change. It is inevitable. Enjoy the journey. Well, it's time to walk to the bus station and buy a ticket to the 4,000 islands. Oh ya! I forgot to tell you, Alec and I stopped to get some food on our last day if The Loop and were invited to an after party of a Laos wedding. Of course we went lol. We drank a couple Laos beers and danced for an hour. Thought you might like that. I hope you enjoy my posts. I really miss my friends and family back home. Until next time...love.

Laos and motorbiking "the loop"...

Hey guys! Sitting around a fire pit in a city called Tha Khaek, Laos. We arrived here today around 4 pm. Wait wait! let me tell you about what I've been doing the past few days. I stayed in Luang Prabang for 5 days. It was town with a laid back vibe and a lot of rich culture. It was a bit touristy, not too bad. There were monks everywhere. On the last day I even woke up to see them receiving alms from the towns people. They wake up at 5:30 every morning and walk down the main streets at 6:00 am. Quite the experience. The night market in Luang Prabang was full of local hand made textiles. Laos is filled with pride. The people here are friendly and ready to help out if needed. We went to a bar called Utopia one night. Super chill place. Over looking the Mekong River on mats to lay on the floor. Before I ramble on anymore I have to tell you that most cities and towns in Laos have a curfew. Can't be out past midnight. I thought that was a fun fact for everyone. After saying good bye to Luang Prabang we jumped in a sleeper bus to the Vientiene, the capital. It's one of the more developed cities I've been to so far. I found a local gym in my travel book and walked to it from the guesthouse. I think it was $4 to use. It had a weight room, pool, and spa. Anyways, we left vientiene this morning and took a public bus to Tha Khaek where I am right now. We came here for something called "the loop." It's a trail that stretches about 200 miles through villages and dense jungle. We rented motorbikes for the next three days and are going for a ride! We're leaving at 8:30 tomorrow and are going about 45 miles to our first stop. We might do a home stay in the town. There's a famous cave called Kong Lo cave we're going to check out. It's about 3.5 miles long! I guess it has huge spiders in it too. We the next few days as well and have different stops along the way. I'm super excited for the loop. There's a few more pictures than usual on this post so I hope you like them. It's only 9 pm here and I'm feeling a bit on the sleepy side. It looks cold back home. Stay warm! Until next time...love

Crossing the border into Laos...

My visa had run out and it was time to catch a bus to Luang Prabang, Laos (central Laos, it's a landlocked country). I bought my ticket from the people at my last hotel in Hanoi. $49. The people I bought it from said it takes about 18 hours. I knew that was a bit shorter than I expected because I read a few blogs saying it's more like 24-30 hours. I was picked up at my hotel in Hanoi by a guy driving a motorbike at 5:30 pm. He took me to a minibus and then I took the minibus to the big bus. We left at 6:30 pm and drove for two hours then stopped for a break (10 min) and then drove until the Vietnam/Laos border. We got there at 7:30 am. Applying for our visas and doing all that took about 2 hours. Then we walked across the border to the bus waiting for us (picture). We drove another 2 hours into Laos and ate lunch in a town I didn't know. Then it was the long haul...we didn't stop until arriving in Luang Prabang at 11:30 pm. It was about a 29 hour bus ride. The last couple hours were rough. my iphone battery died and i just wanted too jump out and run around. No bathrooms on the bus either. We took a taxi into the town center and grabbed the only guesthouse that was open and crashed out for the night. The last few days I've had the chance to look around and try out some of the Laos cuisine. They have a heavy French influence here in Laos. They have excellent sandwiches on the street and delicious fruit shakes too. I had a papaya-mango shake and a pineapple-papaya shake today. We walked up this long hill in the city and could see across the whole city. I took a couple pics that ill post from it. Tomorrow I'm going to a huge waterfall that is the most beautiful thing you've ever seen. You can jump in and swim in it too. Yesterday was my Dad's birthday. I heard the family went out to Kobe's for dinner. That's awesome! Happy birthday pops! You know how much I love ya! Until next time...love

The beautiful Ha Long Bay...

I can't believe it's already November 10th. Time flies. My Vietnam visa is up on the 12th and I'm been trying to decide what border into Laos would be the best to cross. Once I get to Laos I'm thinking 2 weeks there and then moving down into Cambodia for 2 weeks. Anyways, I've been in Hanoi the past few days. It's the capital and has a population of about 7 million people. A couple days ago Alec, the Norweigen girls, and I visited Ha Long Bay. We took a mini bus (3 hours) to the bay and boarded our boat (picture). There were 16 people on the boat. Lunch was prepared for us when we arrived and then it was off to explore. We sailed to a beautiful cave (picture) that was found in 1993 and walked around it for a bit until it was time to move on to my favorite part of the cruise...kayaking (picture). The weather was calm and cool and the water was glassy. I kayaked for an hour and then returned to the boat. After dinner the sun began to set and everyone moved to the top deck of the boat for some drinks and to chat it up. It's always fun talking with other travelers about where they have been and where they plan to go. We shared a couple bottles of Hanoi vodka and it was off to bed. Morning came sooner than I wanted but if you wanted breakfast it was at 7:30 sharp. After goofing around for a couple hours on the boat we sailed back to land, ate lunch at a local restaurant and headed back to Hanoi. It was definitely a highlight of Vietnam and something I'll never forget.
I'm sitting outside my hotel on the busy streets writing this thinking about the past 4 weeks in Vietnam. I've definitely stepped outside my comfort zone. I've visited maybe 8 or 9 cities here. The less touristy cities are where I have experienced the most. I remember walking down the streets of Can Tho and being starred at by everyone I walked by. I'm guessing because I'm white and they were probably thinking why is he here. Not to mention I'm taller than 99 percent of everyone. Opening a menu and seeing zero English is also quite the experience. I've learned there is a risk you take when a local Vietnamese person asks where you are from. Saying the US, America, or the states is an experience in itself. Often times the response is nothing at all or very little. Animosity towards the US is still alive and well in Vietnam. I don't feel unsafe here but I make sure to observe my surroundings wherever I go. The past couple days I've tried an experiment to prove my point. When I've met someone, say at a food stall or in a restaurant I say I'm from somewhere else...I've used South Africa, Australia, and Canada. You can laugh. Sometimes they were the first countries to pop into my head. The responses and conversations were much more enthusiastic and welcoming than if I would have said the US. This is not the case with everyone here, in fact most of the Vietnamese people I come in contact with are friendly and helpful...thank god because I've been lost a few times.
On a side note, milk is impossible to find in Vietnam. I love milk and I've found it twice since I've been here. Anyways, I'll put some pictures up with this post as usual. Sorry there won't be any of my booty this time haha. I miss all my family and friends back home and can't wait for Christmas! My favorite time of the year. Until next time...love