I'm Just Here For The Food

The Fear of Fruit

2008-05-25T23:12:00.001-04:00

I was in Sunshine grocery store today, and was walking through the produce aisle and found myself surrounded by all this great looking fruit. Living in the Napa Valley, we get a lot of good produce, yet I bought nothing. Not a thing...just couldn't do it. The reason? I wasn't sure any of it was good.

I think people don't eat a lot of fruit for the same reason, we're just not sure if it's going to be any good, and for the price stores are charging, shouldn't we have some assurance that the peaches will taste like peaches? If you keep buying lousy peaches you're eventually going to come to the conclusion that peaches just aren't any good, and will just avoid them. Consumers these days don't really care about seasonality. They want what they want when they want it, and stores have found ways to fill this need. This means we can by nice red tomatoes all year round, but most of the time they taste like crap. they're picked green,and treated with ethylene to turn them red, but they don't ever develop any flavor. The same can be said for most of the fruit found year round. The fruit is trucked in from around the globe, and while it might look pretty, the taste is usually lack luster, and so people just tend to avoid them even when they are in season.

As Ferran Adria once said, a great peach is always better than an OK lobster. But how do we know we're getting a great peach? I had some incredible strawberries when I was living in Davis a decade ago, and long to try some again, but do I really want to spend the money just to be disappointed? There were some great looking white peaches in the store today, but who knows how they taste, and at $6 a pound, am I willing to take the risk?

One way to get good produce is to shop at farmers markets, but unfortunately the St. Helena farmers market is on Friday mornings when I'm at school. There is always Napa, but sometimes I don't feel like driving 30 minutes just for the hope that there is something good. There are some fruit stands around, but even these tend to truck their stuff in and who knows how far its traveled. I guess there isn't certainty in any aspect of life, and the chance that I will get a truly great peach is enough to make me take the chance.

The World's Ugliest Soup

2008-05-06T21:16:00.001-04:00

I've never had contempt for soup before, I mean really where's the point in that? But he soup I made the other night...sheer contempt. I detest that soup, this despite the fact that it tastes pretty damn good.

After school most days I work in the teaching kitchen, helping out, and helping prepare student meals for dinner. Usually we work with left over foods from production classes, and this invariably means that we get a mish mash of produce and meats that we have to some how combine together. Normally this is no big deal, I mean it's not hard to find a use for 20# of left over steak or chicken, and when all else fails we make soup. This job fell on me the other day, when I was told that I had to make soup with about 15# of left over red cabbage.

"But it's going to be purple" I kept saying, but alas that's what they wanted, so that's what I did. "Why can't we make Borsht?" I asked to anyone who would listen, "Well we have no beets" I was told. OK that's actually a fair answer. So I went and made the soup. This involved cutting up a bunch of carrots, onions and celery, and about 30 heads of cabbage. All the while in the back of my head I was thinking...why am I making purple soup? So after tending to about 30 gallons of soup for a few hours, I then had to blend the soup into a puree. This is when the contempt started. Not only was it a bit of a pain blending all this soup, but it was getting close to 7pm and we still had to cool the soup down, and then package it up, this takes some time, and at this point I just wanted to go home. The contempt was bolstered by the fact that I knew no one would eat this. Who would want to eat a bit bowl of Purple. But I stuck it out, and got to end up tasting pretty good, quite tasty in fact, but still it was a big ass mass of purple, and I have no idea who would eat it. I even ended up labeling the containers "Purple Soup", because who cares what's in it, anyone who saw it just said "Man that's one purple soup". So it's been a few days, and I still haven't dared going into the walk in to see how much of it is actually gone.

The DeCanadianization of Peter

2008-04-27T16:54:00.001-04:00

Today I am officially an American. I tried to fight it, but it's done. I've been assimilated. Resistance was futile. The last vestiges of my Canadianness are gone, and it goes back to being a hidden little secret. I guess I can finally stop spelling words with extra 'u's. It's not like I'm ashamed of it or anything, in fact I tried to recreate the Canadian flag on my knife kit. I guess observant people will be able to still tell whether it be from my pronunciation of 'out', my references to Degrassi, or my acceptance of people from other cultures, all of which definitely label me an non-American.

So why did this happen? No I didn't buy a gun...although that would have been my first guess too. Today I finally switched over to California plates. I guess this means my car is American as well.

So shall we try this again?

2008-04-13T21:21:00.000-04:00

OK so it's been a year since I last posted, have you missed me? Is anyone still even there? Doesn't matter.

I figure that with all the life changes that have been going on, it might be fun to document everything again, especially since what I'm now doing is directly related to the title of this blog, so why pass it up. I always planned to move back to Toronto, Lenox was really just a detour, and never really was supposed to be for the long haul. A year later it was time to go. I gave Chez Nous Bistro the news, but I couldn't figure out what to do next. Move back to Toronto, or something else? Well that something else turned out to be Culinary School.

So now I'm in Napa...about as far away from Toronto as you can get, attending the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone. I started in January, and am currently in skills one, which means that I chop a butt load of vegetables. Apparently learning to cut carrots into perfect 1/8" cubes is important. It is fun though.

Anyway I do plan on addign updates pretty regularly from now on, which I'm hoping will cut down on my email updates, and will hopefully help to put everything in perspective a bit. Plus you just know one of the posts in going to involve me chopping off a finger, it is me after all. I'm also hoping to figure out if I can do video blogs with my fancy new Macbook.

Real Men Don't Eat Quiche, but We Make It.

2007-01-30T00:29:00.000-05:00

Since I no longer have a real job (other than baking for Firefly), I’m working a bit more at my Mom’s inn. Since all I really want to do is cook I’ve decided that I’m going to go through some of my cookbooks, and attempt some recipes that I’ve always wanted to try. The first on my list was the Quiche recipe from Thomas Keller’s Bouchon cookbook, mostly because I could justify the time, if I served it for breakfast.

Now I hate rolling dough…that is to say, I totally suck at it. That’s why I served Apple cake at Firefly rather that apple pie, and why if I do make a pie, it usually has a crust I can just press into the pan (like the Bouchon nut crusts, which are insanely good). The crust for the quiche though was incredibly easy to make and even easier to roll, so it was no problem making two of them. That’s when things started to go wrong

My mother didn’t have enough beans to fill both pans for the blind baking, and I didn’t have a lot of rice on hand, so instead of baking them one at a time I split them among the two pans, and wished for the best. Well both kind of puffed on the sides creating some cracks. No problem I thought I’ll just use some of the extra dough to patch it up. Then I realized that in my over-zealous cleaning, I had thrown all of I away. The way Keller does Quiche, and apparently how quiche should be done, is making the quiche in a two inch high pan, so it’s quite thick. With this being the case any cracks could cause a large amount of filling to leak out. And that’s exactly what happened with one of them. Filling all over the place. Luckily I had put both pans on a larger sheet pan just in case, so it was more a pain to clean then anything. So one worked out well, and the other was about half the volume it should have been. Everything else though went pretty well, although cleaning cutting and sautéing 4lbs of mushrooms was a bit of a pain.

The taste though made it all worth it, and changed the very idea of a quiche for me. The filling was like a custard and cooked slowly to keep it some and silky. The crust was also pretty thick, so the egg didn’t soak through and turn it soggy. The guests seemed to rave about it as well, and my Mother said it was the best quiche she ever had. So over all I think it went quite well, and definitely something I would do again (and better). So far every recipe I make from this cookbook turns out incredibly. The recipes are finiky, but the extra steps really do make a difference in the refinement of the dish and really elevates the dishes to a different level.

Take This Job and Shove it...

2007-01-29T23:59:00.000-05:00

So my hours at Firefly are nearly non existent, so it was time to find another kitchen job. After visiting a few to some local restaurants, as well as some not so local, I realized that finding a new job isn’t so easy when it’s winter in the Berkshires, and the tourists are few and far between. I had a cook friend that worked at a local ski resort though, so I phoned him up and tried to see if they were hiring. He wasn’t there, but they did say they were hiring, so one Monday I had an interview, and I started on Tuesday. Wednesday I quit.

The place just wasn’t for me. I knew the tavern would be serving simple food, but I figured it would be at least a good place to get some basic cooking skills. Boy was I wrong. All they served was pre-packed frozen SYSCO food (purveyors of fine cafeterias everywhere). All I did was reach into a freezer pull out some food, and throw it into the three huge deep fryers we had. The fries were frozen, the fish was frozen, the chicken was that preformed patty crap with the grill marks already there, and the burgers were those burgers you buy for huge BBQ. I just couldn’t cook that stuff. It’s just everything I find wrong about restaurants. You could do almost every single dish on that menu, abut make it fresh, and it would be great. I’m not trying to be a food snob, I mean I love that type of food, but come on….make something! That combined with the fact that I had to wear gloves all the time, I just knew it wasn’t for me.

The place wasn’t actually a bad place to work. The people were nice, and it was well run, but it just wasn’t for me. Not the type of food I want to make. The entire time I was there I was trying to figure out when to quit. I even left the place on Wednesday night thinking of quitting the next day, but when I got to my car I found my car had been broken in to, and my iPod was stolen (although the robbers in return left me their huge flashlight). This pissed me off enough that I walked back to the restaurant and quit.

Live from New York it’s…The Daily Show

2007-01-11T22:03:00.000-05:00

After an unsuccessful attempt to get tickets to The View (I know). Ayla’s Mother got us tickets to see the Daily Show instead (WOOOOOO!!!). So a few weeks ago we headed down to NYC for a few fun filled days hanging out in the big city. The train ride went a lot better then my previous week’s trip to TARCon, where I missed the train by minutes (it literally pulled away, as I was running towards it). After trying to meet up with Ayla’s friend Hilary at Grand Central, while Hilary was trying to meet up with us at Penn Station, we eventually met up and went out for sushi with Ayla’s father. The dinner can be summed up in one word…Awkward.

After dinner we headed over to Queen’s and went for some drinks at Hilary’s neighborhood bar. The night started innocently enough, as we sat there chatting, while some regulars played some darts, but as the evening wore on, the locals took an interest in us, and we ended up drinking the rest of the night with them, and it was a blast. They were an unusual group of characters, but it was a great time (although my liver might disagree). The next night was even weirder as we ended up spending the evening drinking with this Icelandic guy we met on the Lower East side. Always a weird time in NYC.

Now it wouldn’t be a trip to NYC if I didn’t eat as much as I could. We got the standard awesomely crappy hotdogs as well as a street pretzel, but it doesn’t stop there. Now I would love to say that I got to eat at Per Se (Thomas Keller’s NYC version of The French Laundry, who is a personal idol), but that place is a bit out of my price range, I did get to see it though. Looks nice. They were featuring a truffle tasting menu that looked incredible. In the same building however, Keller did open a Bouchon Bakery which was more in our price range. I love the Bouchon cookbook, and cook from it quite a bit (the macaroons from ‘The Most Expensive Cookies Ever’ post were from there), so it was exciting to get to see even just a few things from the book, and I did get to try the macaroons.

On Tuesday we headed off to see the Daily Show, and the taping was awesome. The set looks a lot more bleak and small in person, but just seeing Jon Stewart up close was pretty amazing. The show was a good one, and it was interesting to see all the stuff he said which wasn’t written on the teleprompter. I wish I could show some photo’s from the taping, but we weren’t able to shoot in the studio, so oh well. The one thing I was amazed at was the fact that there were no screw ups; I figured there would be at least one. I guess at this point they’ve all pretty much gotten it down.

After the taping we headed back to our hotel room to rest up, but around 10pm we were feeling hungry again, so set out to look for some sushi. Now in Lenox, good luck trying to find a restaurant in Lenox that serves after 9 pm, so even having the option was a fun experience. We wandered around the Time Square area, and finally found a sushi place called Kodama sushi, which turned out to be amazing. It was pretty cheap by NY standards, but the fish was incredibly fresh and tasty. Highly recommended. They even had cool T-shirts.

The best meal we had though (at least for me), was at Momofuku, a noodle joint in the Lower East side. The place was incredible, and really elevated what a noodle shop could be. The steamed pork buns were tasty, and the pork was incredibly moist and tender. It has an open kitchen so it was fun to just saddle up to the bar and watch the whole process. The owner David Chang was voted one of the best new chefs of 2006 by Food and Wine Magazine, and he recently opened a new place on 2^nd Ave, which I’m going to have to try next time.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

2007-01-11T21:13:00.000-05:00

Working 65 hours a week that’s how. So sorry I haven’t updated lately (Ok, in like forever!), but the summer was pretty crazy, and then I just got lazy. But I swear I’ll be better from now on.

So I spent the summer working my ass off at Firefly Restaurant, working my ass off on the cold side (or as Garde Manger, if it was a fancier restaurant). This basically involved making all the salads as well as a few of the hot appetizers. I don’t think I’ve ever worked so hard in my life, essentially I was on my feet for 7-12 hours a day, but it was also the best job I’ve ever had. Sure I’ve worked 12 hours in the lab (or 36 hours that one time), but with all the coffee and internet breaks, that number drops considerably. But now it’s the winter, and we’ve done from doing 200-300 covers a day to somewhere in the 20-50 range (or less some nights). I guess that’s the fun of living in a seasonal area. I have gotten to work the line some nights, which is pretty fun. My hands have huge cuts and burns on them from grabbing hot sauté pans, but it’s still pretty fun. I’ve also been made the pastry cook, which means that I’m responsible for coming up with and making the dessert menu. Laura’s been pretty good about letting me have the freedom to do what I want, so it’s been pretty fun. Sure, she nixed my crème brulee napoleon since it was a little outside the norm, but over all it’s been good. The weird thing is, is that I’ve always considered baking to be my weakest cooking skill. Luckily my Mom is an insane baker so any questions usually go through her. I even stole her Apple Cake recipe, which was one of our best selling desserts (and according to one her guests, mine was a bit better).

Now that winter is here though, my hours are drying up, and it’s time to find another job. Unfortunately most of the restaurants here (or at least the ones that I would want to work at), aren’t hiring. I’m thinking of going to culinary school in the fall, but I think I need to get a bit more experience before I can seriously consider it. Stay tuned and we’ll see how it works out.

Firefly

2006-07-01T13:42:00.000-04:00

So for those of you haven’t heard I’ve had a bit of a career change. The whole science thing is on hold for a bit (forever?), and I’ve taken a job in Lenox working in the kitchen of Firefly . Most of you know I’ve always enjoyed cooking, but I was never sure if it was something I wanted to do as a job, or if it was even something I could do as a job. There is a big difference between making dinner for friends and working the line at a restaurant. Luckily, even though I had zero experience the owner Laura decided to give me a shot and gave me a job.

So far it’s been going pretty well, it’s definitely a change, but it’s kind of fun. It’s a pretty mellow kitchen for the most part, no yelling or screaming for the most part. Right now I’m working the cold side which means that I make all the salads, and some of the cold and hot appetizers. So technically the food is easy to prepare, it’s just the volume and the timing that I’m trying to get a handle of. You can’t believe the amount of lettuce I go through a night. Luckily everyone’s been pretty nice about everything while I get my bearings. Still not sure if this is something I want to do forever, but its been a great experience so far, and definitely a learning experience. Plus, I usually don’t have to work until 11am, so the no early morning things are great. Sure I usually don’t finish until 10-11pm, but late nights never bugged me. Plus after work the bar is just right there. I think one of the first things I leaned was to always be nice to the bartender, and they’ll take care of you at the end of the night.

I think the weirdest thing is just being in Lenox. This wasn’t really a place I ever thought I’d live in, and I still haven’t resigned myself to the fact that I’m living here now. Currently I’m staying at my Mom’s inn, but once the summer picks up I’m either going to have to find my own place or move to the couch in my Mom’s apartment. The town is pretty nice though…at least I believe it is, all I seem to do is work, and it’s raining constantly, so I really don’t get out much.

My Most Expensive Cookies Ever

2006-06-25T01:48:00.000-04:00

So one of my jobs at my Mom’s Inn is to make something for afternoon tea. My mother is pretty much happy not to have to cook anything for a change, so I can usually do whatever I feel like doing. So I use this opportunity to make something I’ve been wanting to try. The other week I starting making my own ice cream, and after success with Vanilla, I decided to try making Mojito ice cream. Now I can’t say it went over all that well, but it tasted exactly like a Mojito, so counting it as a success. I thin it might be better served on the side of something, or maybe the world just isn’t ready for it yet. I do want to try to replicate the Chili ice cream I had in Thailand though.

One of the things that has gone over well is my Lemon Tart, which I first made for one of Barb and Ferns famous BBQ’s (which I miss terribly). It’s a really nice lemony tart, with an awesome pine nut crust. Pine nuts though are expensive, so I don’t make this too often. It’s from the Bouchon cookbook, and they tend not to do things on the cheap. All of that was just to say, that there are these cookies in the cookbook, that I‘ve been dying to try, and they turned into the most expensive cookies I’ve ever made. I didn’t know that at the time, and since I had already decided to try it, there really was no going back.

First off they required 5 cups of Almond flour (about 2½ lbs). So I went to Guido’s and it turns out almond flour is like $15 a Lbs!!!! Luckily you can make your own by grinding up almonds into a fine powder. This took the better part of an hour, as it could only be done in some batches. The other expensive ingredient was real vanilla beans. Guido’s had two choices 2 for $10 or 3 for $15. That’s some fucked up shit. For Vanilla? Damn. Needed to be done though. So after grinding up Almonds, and tracing 40 2 inch circles on parchment papers, the cookies were actually pretty easy. It took the better part of the day (as you had to dry them for 3 hours before baking), and I made a total mess of the place, but the cookies turned out awesome. The cookie itself was like a meringue, all crisp on the outside and soft and chewy in the middle, and the vanilla butter cream was great sandwiched in-between two cookies.

Luckily I managed to snag a few before the guest got to them.

New York City

2006-05-31T01:11:00.000-04:00

So I went in NYC the other week for TARCon 9…and to get the hell out of Lenox, and I ate my ass off. I know NYC is chalk full of fine dining establishments, but there’s also the other spectrum; the cheap eats. While in South East Asia some of the best meals I had were on the street, or in some little shit-hole restaurant and NYC isn’t all that different. There are tons of options for some really good food for very little money.

Now the first thing I did (as I usually do when in NYC), is go to the Museum of Natural History, which is like my most favourite museum ever. Unfortunately I only had a little bit of time, so after checking out the Dinosaurs (which was a stupid thing to do all things considered), I had no time left for anything else. I need to go back though, as there’s a Charles Darwin exhibit that I NEED to see.

Anyway after that I went to go check out a Tehuitzingo. This place is a Mexican Grocery store in Hell’s Kitchen (no not that awful TV show), but in the back they have a little kitchen with two little ladies cooking up some of the best taco’s in NYC. They had everything from Beef, pork and Chicken to the more strange tripe and tongue. I decided to play it safe and just get a beef taco and two spicy pork tacos. They were great taco’s, and sure beat the hell out of Hot Harry’s (although those do do well when the craving hits). If you like taco’s, and find the place, it’s definitely worth a visit.

After going to see some live music, I just happened to pass a White Castle on the way home, and bought a sack of burgers. Now I don’t know what it is about White Castle, but these are things I can only eat drunk. Sober, they suck, drunk…awesome.

The next day I went to probably my favourite place in NYC, the Shake Shack. The shake shack is a great burger joint set up in Madison Square Park, and they serve truly awesome burgers, and concretes. In this day and age where most places cook the hell out of ground beef, so it’s dry and crappy, this place will still cook it up nice and pink of you ask. Plus the park is a great place to grab a bite and just walk people. They even have a licensed part of the patio if you fell like a drink.

The next place I ate was Puglia’s in Little Italy for the TARflies lunch, and had some great Italian food, including Cannoli’s which you almost had to wrestle people over. For some reason, I didn’t eat much else that day, which was a big mistake given how much I drank. Jon and TJ went to Gray’s Papaya for a snack, and why I didn’t join them is beyond me. I first ate at Gray’s during one of my first trips to NYC back for TARCon 4. Darcie and I just happened to stubble into the place, and decided to have a Hot Dog, and I’ve been going back ever since. You get 2 dogs and a drink for something like $2, so it really can’t be beat.

After dragging my ass out of bed I headed down to China town, but not before stopping at the shake shack for another burger. Then it was off to Jin Fong’s for some tasty Dim Sum. There is no dim sum in either Kingston or Lenox, so I was happy to be back in place that actually had good Chinese food. The price can’t be beat either since I ate a ton of dumplings for only $10. Plus, the tea and water helped get rid of the hangover.

After Dim Sum; Kris, TJ and I went wondering around China Town and went to New Beef King which sells Beef Jerky, and only beef jerky, and holy do they do it well. It’s not that dry leather stuff you find at grocery stores. This stuff was still pretty chewy and meaty. I think I bought too much though, as I’m still eating it now.

The Ashtray Says, You've Been Up All Night

2006-05-04T12:27:00.000-04:00

So I'm back! So now what? I wish I could say life was good, and I'm settling down into a routine, but honestly life kind of sucks right now. It also doesn't help that I've been having a difficult time sleeping since I got back. At first it was just the jet-lagg and stuff, but now it's the everything else that's going on. There are a few things I'm trying to wrap my head around (well one main thing, and then a few other little things), and all it's doing is keeping me up. I wish I could just turn off the brain before going to bed, but other than knocking myself unconsious, I don't think that's going to happen. Oh well hopefully it will all work out soon.

It doesn't help that I just have no idea what I want to do now. Do I stay in Science, or try something else? I really like food, but I don't think I could ever be a chef, so what else is out there? Suggestions?

So as for this Blog, well I'm still here, and food is still here, so I'll probably just keep it going, and see what it develops into. I just wanted to thank everyone for the comments they made, and the emails I got on the road. It was pretty lonely out there sometimes, and the messages from home really helped that out. I tried to keep this Blog fairly positive, and like 90% of the trip was insanely amazing, but traveling alone for that long, was really wearing me down at times. At times I was just sick of meeting new people every few days, and having the same "Where you from? How long have you been traveling?" conversation. I got tired of meeting really reat people, and then having to leave them. I got tired of consantly deciding where I would have to eat, and where I would have to stay with out having someone to bounce ideas off of. Mostly though, I just got tired of me. Sometimes I would be trapped with myself for days, with no one else to really talk to, and quite frankly there were times when I would have walked out on myself if I could. I mean fuck, I just wouldn't shut up most the time. Give it a rest buddy, just let me eat in piece.

Honestly though, I had a great time, and met some of the greatest people I'll ever meet. So if any of you are out there reading this, thanks. You all made this the trip of a life time, and hopefully we'll meet again. The food was great, the sights were great, but it was the people, both travelers and locals alike who really made this trip for me.

36 Things to do in the Hong Kong Airport with a 14 hour Lay-Over

2006-04-23T21:35:00.000-04:00

1. Walk through heat sensing security check point to see how healthy you are.
Check periodically for updates.
2. Watch heat sensing monitor to check out fellow passengers
3. Smoke
4. Smoke more
5. Walk around the airport
6. Check out the cover of every magazine in the book store. Try to decipher the
one’s in Chinese
7. Play the ‘name the destination’ game for your fellow travelers
8. About time for another cigarette don’t you think?
9. Watch planes take off
10. Hate every single one of those people on the planes
11. Watch departure screen for flights leaving for interesting destinations
12. Watch the date change on your watch
13. Watch departure screen to figure out which planes are going to land before
you even leave the airport
14. Hate all of those people
15. Consider buying cheap Dim Sum magnets
16. Consider buying anything with Hello Kitty on it
17. Eat at McDonalds
18. Make themed play lists on your iPod which such themes as; Songs with airport
themes, songs with the word ‘waiting’ in it, sons you can only stand for 25
seconds
19. Watch the ‘now arriving’ video monitors for people you know
20. Anticipate the opening of the ‘Lost City of Snacks’
21. Go to the 7-11 to buy more cigarettes
22. Forget to buy cigarettes and instead buy the weirdest snack you can find
23. Go to the trash and dispose of said snack after taking one bite
24. Consider calling your mother collect ‘just to chat’
25. Ride escalator and have a conversation with the friendly voice telling you to
“Hold the hand rail” and “Watch your step”
26. Stop doing that after you hear her giving the same greeting to other people.
That two-timing hussy.
27. Actually buy cigarettes this time
28. Watch CNN and make up your own captions
29. Consider going to the prayer room just to have something to do. Consider
praying for your plane to leave early
30. Go to the bathroom
31. Consider buying pornography and masturbating in the bathroom
32. Not do that
33. Watch the airport for any signs of TAR contestants
34. Consider buying the sausage in the cellophane wrapper next to the candy
35. Not do that
36. Settle for a package of malteaserrs

McDonalds in Asia

2006-04-20T13:38:00.000-04:00

Ok I’m sorry. I said I wasn’t going to do it, but I did it. On my last night in Bangkok I went to McDonalds. I’m sorry. I feel like I let you all down. I did have a nice dinner at a Thai restaurant that night, but after spending the evening at a Muay Thai match, I was hungry for something quick. Plus, after Pulp Fiction I think we’re all curious about the differences between McDonalds in different countries. Do they call it a Quarter Pounder? Are there different menu ideas? I needed to find out. Damn you Vincent Vega.

Well they do call it a Quarter Pounder, and there were some unique menu items. There were spicy chicken nuggets, and my choice for the evening; The Sumo Pork Burger which is a lot tastier than the McRib. Other than that everything was pretty much the same. The fries were still tasty and such Blah, Blah, Blah.

To make matters worse though people I ate at McDonalds AGAIN! During my 13 hours at the Hong Kong airport. I had to eat again at McDonalds, and had the weirdest burger. I think it was called the ‘BeefTastic’ sandwich. It had sliced beef in this nice sweet sauce, but the interesting thing was that the bun was made of rice. It was almost like a rice cake, but not crispy. Not the best thing ever, but it was interesting.

So how about the Whopper? I don’t know I didn’t go to Burger King.

The Border Run

2006-04-18T13:10:00.000-04:00

Thailand will only give tourists a 30 day visa, but it’s free, so it’s not too bad a deal. This means that if you want to stay longer than that you need to extend your visa. This means high-tailing it to the nearest border, exiting the country, and then re-entering. Simple processes as long as you’re near a border. Unfortunately my Visa expired 4 days before I actually had to catch a plane home, and the fine for over staying is 500 Baht a day ($12). Fortunately Ranong is right across from Myanmar, and so doing a border run is pretty easy to do.

I don’t know why I got excited at the idea of a border run, but it just seemed so thrilling. Maybe I was just reminded of Cannonball run or something who knows. It just seemed to have this air of mystery that I found exciting. So I left Koh Chang, caught the boat to Ranong, and then went and talked to the pier workers about doing the Border Run. The guy exchanged bath for a crisp clean $5 which is what the border people want. If you don't have one, then it’s almost double the cost. After that he took me to the immigration office to get stamped out of the office. Then it was off to another pier to catch the boat to Myanmar. On the way we stopped by the Thai Border guard and then made our way to Myanmar. The boat trip was actually pretty nice as ther are statues and Wats on a few of the islands, and Myanmar seems to have a lot of Green to it. Once there I checked in at the immigration office, was offered cheap booze and cigarettes from a 9-year old, and then got back on the boat for Thailand. Then it was back to the immigration office to officially enter Thailand again.

All in all it cost around $10, and took about 1 ½ hours, 15 of which was in Myanmar. Was it thrilling and exciting? Kind of actually, but I think that mostly came from not knowing what the hell was going on. Plus, there is something exciting about borders. I feel like a drug mule no matter the crossing is like. Are the guards going to be tough? Am I going to have to bribe someone? Am I on a list somewhere? All these things go through my mind as I’m crossing. Not exactly sure why, but it does. Plus, now I have a Myanmar stamp in my passport, so that's kind of cool.

They Call Him Mr. Kai

2006-04-17T21:01:00.000-04:00

After Tonsai I started to make my way back to Koh Chang. I made it back to Ranong, but missed the last boat to Koh Chang, which meant I had to spend the night in Ranong, which turned out to be a good thing, as it was Songkran (Thai New Year), and it was quite the celebration. The celebration of Songkran involves the washing of the Buddha,, and this as evolved into a water festival, where people roam the streets with bowls of water, water guns or even a garden hose, and drench each other and passersby where. This wasn’t so great as I was making my way to the guesthouse, as I really didn’t need my pack getting soaked, but I managed to only get myself wet, and saved my pack. At the hotel I ran into a few people from the Dive Safari, and after checking in we hit the streets, and once again got a lot of water poured onto us. It was actually really fun, and since it was so hot, the water was actually pretty nice.

That night I tried to find the bar my friends were at, but as I was walking by on bar I got called over by this Thai guy and was asked to join this group for a beer. I tried to tell them I was looking for some friends, but they were having none of it, and after the guy made a comment about Canadians not drinking beer, I felt I had to save my countries honour and joined them for a few drinks. After that I found my friends just down the street, and continued to celebrate with them. The bar we were at wasn’t officially open, so we had to keep running to the 7-11 to buy more beer and Whisky.

The next morning I headed back to Koh Chang and man that place had really cleared out. The island seemed empty, but all the regulars were there, and it was a nice relaxing time. The reason I was returning to Koh Chang was to see Mr. Kai, the resident Bamboo tattoo artist. I’ve been wanting to get another tattoo for awhile now, and figure a traditional Thai tattoo was the prefect way to always commemorate my trip. Bamboo tattooing basically uses a bamboo stick instead of a machine and it was quite the experience.

First off, Kai is an interesting man. He has a hut set up on the beach, and you would be hard pressed to find a nicer man, or a nicer location to get a tattoo. I had visited him a few times to talk about the design, and it was a little hard to get my ideas across with my limited Thai (OK none), and his limited English, but he had a book of Thai art, and I showed him what I was kind of looking for, so I just pointed and hoped for the best.

It must be said that he starts to prepare for the tattooing, but smoking a bowls of pot form his bamboo bong, and then starts to prep the instruments. The bamboo stick looks an awful lot like a chopstick which he files down, and then attaches the needle, using string and wax. After that he spent a while drawing the design on my arm. Mr. Kai, when he’s drawing on paper isn’t really that good of an artist, but when he gets to your skin it all changes. His girl friend and him create a really relaxing environment with pillows, and coffee, and well bong hits if you so choose.

The tattoo I got was of a lotus, which Hindus associate the lotus blossom with creation, and with the gods Vishnu, Brahma, and Lakshmi. In Buddhist symbolism, the lotus represents purity of body, speech, and mind, floating above the muddy waters of attachment and desire. The lotus, as well, can have several meanings, often referring to the inherently pure potential of the mind. In the middle of the lotus I have a Buddhist symbol that offers good luck and protection. I took it from two pieces of art, depicting the Buddha which was part of the head dress worn by the Buddha. The middle part is a more stylized version of a traditional sak yan tattoo, which is usually done by monks as a form of protection for the wearer. I loved watching Kai work, and the man is a true artist. His precision and creativity with the bamboo was just amazing, and there was very little pain.

So now I have another tattoo (which I’m sure my parents will hate), and just seeing it not only reminds me of my trip and all the adventures I’ve had, but keeps serves as a reminder of how I want to be living my life.

The Island of Climbers

2006-04-16T14:28:00.000-04:00

After a day in Ao Nang, it was time to hit Tonsai Beach. Tonsai is part of the mainland, but due to all the rock formations it is only accessible by boat. It’s also connected to Railey beach which is more of the resort beach, while Tonsai is more of the budget accommodation place. I was told that Tonsai and Railey were the Mecca for climbing in Thailand, and they weren’t lying. The place is a climber’s paradise. There are 600 routes scattered around the area, and I think 75% of the residents on Tonsai were climbers. There is something amazing about being able to leave your bungalow, and be climbing within 10 minutes. The beach is full of good climbing walls and overhangs, and there are even places where you can free-solo (no ropes or safety devices), and when you’re tired you just drop down into the ocean.

So I figured that for my first day I should probably get a guide, and so I headed to Wee’s climbing school, since he was close to by Bungalow, he’s been climbing on the island for years, and he helped write the latest climbing guide book for Thailand. He convinced me that it was about time that I did some lead climbing, and for some reason I agreed. For those of you who know nothing bout climbing, there are basically two types of roped climbing; lead and top-rope. With top rope, the rope is already set up and the belayer takes up the slack so that if you fall, you only drop a few inches. With lead climbing you bring the rope up with you, and hook it through anchors along the way. This means that if you fall, you fall twice the distance of the length of rope between you and the last anchor, so if you’re just about to attach another anchor, you can fall quite a distance. I’ve always been afraid of lead climbing because the falling freaks me out. I have a bad fear of heights, and the only thing that lets me be able to climb is my trust in the safety equipment. Wee just said “Well you trust the equipment, now it’s time to trust yourself” and really who can argue with logic like that.

Well it was scary as hell, but it was also quite fun, and it was a good skill to pick up. My guide was awesome, and such a nice guy. The climbing though was amazing. It’s like all those Karsts and rock formation were put there just to be climbed. And unlike the other places I’ve been, when we got a little tired or hungry, we just went to the closest restaurant and had a drink or snack. And that’s pretty much how I spent the rest of my time in Tonsai. Wake up, climb a bit, eat, relax, climb some more, eat drink, bed. It was quite the life, and I’d return there again in an instant. The only sore point was that for the first time all trip I got a little sick and spent one day just throwing up every few hours, which kind of killed the whole climbing thing. Oh well at least I got a few days in. My last day I was still feeling a little ill, so I decided to head back to Krabi town early so I could try to catch a bus to Ranong the next day.

Behold the Power of Cheese

2006-04-15T20:36:00.000-04:00

One of the things I missed most from home was cheese believe it or not (the other one is a secret). I love cheese. Stinky cheese, soft cheese, hard cheese, fondues, I love it all. Heck even that processed cheese that you put on nachos I have this weird obsession with. I love that crap (although legally I don't think you can call it cheese). The cheese in South East Asia though is a little lacking. It's not their fault really though, I mean cheese just isn't a part of their culture. It's hard to find milk, and yogurt is a pretty new thing to find, but who can blame them, refrigeration isn't that common in most homes.

There is some cheese though. The unfortunate part is that it’s that crappy La Vache Qui Rit, or Laughing Cow Cheese. You know that crap in the foil wrapper that comes in a wheel? Yeah, you can get that anywhere, and I hate it. I did love it after Tet when it and a loaf of bread was all we could get to eat at 6am, but that was a one time only love. Again though, who can blame them, it requires no refrigeration, and its pretty conviently packaged.

This longing for real cheese though is why I completely flipped out in Na Trang when in a Super Market I found some Emmentaler. I bought a package and some crackers and rushed up to my room to eat the whole damn block. It was not the best quality, but man was it good.

Then as I strolling along the boardwalk in Ao Nang I spotted this:

A Swiss restaurant? In Thailand? Maybe they have Fondue! They didn't but they did have other Swiss dishes, and then I saw it: Assortment of Swiss Cheeses.....170 B. An assortment! Of cheese! Awesome! And that when the drool started. So I walked in, and ordered some, and received a plate of Appenzeller, Emmentaller, and some Edam (which isn't Swiss, but whatever). Man, I just stared at it for awhile before digging in. I have to say, I don't think I've ever been happier eating cheese. I mean I've had much better cheese, but this came at jus the right time, so it's definitely one of the best cheese experiences of my life. That right folks, I actually have cheese experiences which I keep track of. I'm Swiss, what can I say. I refuse to apologize for it. All that being said, if the restaurant did have fondue on the menu, I think I would have had am orgasm, so I think it's best for all involved that they didn't have it.

TAR Flashback #4 - Chicken Island

2006-04-11T14:28:00.000-04:00

After two days in Krabi Town, I made my way to Ao Nang, which I heard had some great beaches, as well as good snorkeling (since I could no longer afford any real diving). The town was your typical beach town (interpret that as you will), with lots of tourist stuff for sale, and a bunch of seafood restaurants, and lots of over priced accommodations. I ended up getting a cheap room in an alley, and it was kind of a hole, but the room was clean and the location good, so who cares if my view was a concrete wall and I had to share a bathroom.

I decided to do a four-island boat tour, which included a trip to Chicken Island, which was one of the places the teams had to go in TAR 1. As much as I hate to admit this, this was the sole reason for going on this tour. Oh who am I kidding, I’m not ashamed to admit that at all. The boat trip was rather fun though. All the islands were nice, and the snorkeling was actually pretty good. There were corals around and a few Anemones so it was almost like diving, except there was the added fear that the boats were going to run you over at any moment, but dangers fun right? The beaches and views (both Flora and Fauna….OK, the karsts and women) were great, and it was a pretty fun day. I have to say, Chicken Island actually did look like a Chicken. We ever got to see Pai Plong beach which was the Pit Stop on leg 10. It was at this point in the race that the Frats and Guidos effectively got screwed out of race. The only weird thing about the race was that there was this Asian guy, who I swear was trying to pick me up. It was the oddest thing, and not just because it showed his complete lack of taste in men. When he walked by me he would grab my arm, and not in a “Oh excuse me let me squeeze through” kind of way but he would actually grab my arm and squeeze it a few times. Then on the last leg, he changed his seat and sat right next to me, and kept on grabbing my leg. Finally after my millionth WTF look that I was giving him he stopped, but man what a weird thing to do. Oh well at least it past the time.

After two days in Ao Nang I finally went to Tonsai and Railay Beach, which was the location of King Climbers, another task on TAR. I did go climbing, but not with King, so I’ll save that for another post.

TAR Flashback #3 - Tiger Cave Temple

2006-04-09T14:00:00.000-04:00

So after spending a few more days in Ko Chang, I decided that it might be time to move on. I mean I loved Koh Chang, but really, there wasn’t much to do there, and you can only read, and play volleyball for so long, before you feel that it’s time to see some more of Thailand. I had heard that there was some good climbing in Krabi, so I took the boat back to Ranong, and headed to the bus station, where I found out that I had missed the last bus to Krabi, and would have to spend the night in Ranong. Now if there is very little to do in Koh Chang, then there is even less to do in Ranong. They do have a really good market, so I wandered around that for a bit trying various foods from the stalls. All the signs were in Thai though, so I just had to point to things and pray for the best. More often than not it was damn good.

The next day I got onto the bus for Krabi town, and spent the night in the Chan Cha Lay guesthouse that was one o the nicest I’ve been too. It really reminded me of a Cape Cod kind of guesthouse, with the whole place done up in whites and blues, and the people were super friendly. I went for dinner at one the most beautiful restaurants in Thailand, and had an amazing seafood meal. The place was a bit out of town, but definitely worth the walk.

The next day it was off to the Tiger Cave Temple, which was the pit stop in leg nine of TAR. The Place was amazing. We never really got to see it on the show, but it was one of the most beautiful Wats I’ve been to. It’s in the woods, and there are paths all through out the jungle, with caves to explore, and some of the weirdest trees I’ve ever seen. The Highlight (or low light maybe) was the statues on the top of the mountain that you access by climbing over 1300 stairs. In 45-degree heat, I was sweating like crazy by the time I got to the top. Along the way there are a bunch of monkeys, and signs warning you that the monkeys steal things. And they do! One little bastard tried to steal my water bottle out of my backpack, and let me tell you it freaked me the fuck out, since I didn’t see the bastard coming, and then just felt a tugging at my pack. The climb was really nice though, and the view from the top was well worth the effort. You could see all of Krabi Town, and since it was a clear day you could even see the ocean. Even the Buddha statue on top was great.

One of the only bad things was the lack of respect the other tourists were paying to the Wat. In all of South East Asia, the dress at Wats and Royal places is supposed to be respectful. This means long pants, covered shoulders, and no sandals (although this isn’t such a biggie). Heck in the Royal Palace in Bangkok, they usually have to give clothes to people to fit the dress code. Yet all over the place there were people breaking these rules, and it’s really a shame. The monks hate it, and really consider it disrespectful to what they do; yet usually they are too nice to say anything. The rules are clear, and they’re in any guidebook you see so there really isn’t a reason to break them, except that people just don’t seem to care. Heck in the tiger cave temple I saw people walking around without shirts on which is just ridiculous. I mean would you go to church with your shirt off? I know it’s hot, and everything, but come on at least try and respect the culture.

Amazing Race Flashback #2

2006-04-07T06:58:00.000-04:00

Remember that awesome fast forward in season one. You know the one where Momily and The Guidos faced off in Bangkok, that eventually led to the demise of both teams. Remember how nerve wracking and tension filled that fast forward was? Well guess what I got to do? I didn’t even realize it was the same place until I walked into the room and saw this huge reclining Buddha, with a row of pots that people were putting coins in. Let me tell you the Buddha is impressive. It’s massive, and really beautiful. I mean the thing just dominates the room, and it even has the most impressive souls you’ve ever seen on anyone’s feet.

So after staring in awe for some minutes, I donated some money and got my own pot of coins, and began reenacting the fast forward. Now of course I give it at a much more sedate and respectful pace, but it was still quite fun. Wat Pho itself (of which the reclining Buddha is just a part, is one of the most beautiful Wats I’ve visited so far. There are statues everywhere, and was a really nice place just hangout and relax, especially amongst the hustle and bustle of Bangkok (and considering this was the day I got lost). What made it even more relaxing was the fact that Wat Pho has one of the foremost Thai massage schools in Thailand. So after wandering the Wat for awhile, I went to get a relaxing herbal massage (1 hour for only $4). You know I could really get used to getting a massage every week.

After that I went across the river to Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn), which was the site of Kevin and Drew getting screwed by the good old hours of operation. That Wat was insane as well. It was much smaller, but so unbelieveably intricate. I mean the detail was astounding. I was again in awe. I may have been Wat’ed out before I got to Bangkok, but these were too amazing not to get through my cold bitter heart.

A Tale of Sunglasses

2006-04-07T06:51:00.000-04:00

So I scratched the shit out of the pair I brought, although I think most of the damage was done long before the trip. Anyway, I couldn't wear the things. So in Bangkok I bought a pair of "Oakleys" for $3. I had them almost a whole two days, before leaving them on the Bus in Ranong. So in Ranong I bought a new pair for $3. I had them a whole 2 hours, before they slipped off my head while getting off the boat in Koh Chang, and got taken away by the waves. Now I'm in Krabi (AMAZING RACE FLASHBACK COMING SOON!), and bought another pair, and nearly lost them within a day after leaving them in my Guest house bathroom.

Yeah, never let me watch your kids people. Gee, I just don't know where I left little Billy?

UPDATE: Yeah, so I lost that pair too. Left them on another fucking bus, in the exact same location as last time. So I went out an bought two pair this time...just in case

The Life Aquatic

2006-04-07T05:52:00.000-04:00

Now I've always wanted to go diving. Those Jacques Costeau (sp?) films were always so amazing. However, Diving in Ontario...well kind of sucks. The water is murky, and what are you really going to see in Lake Ontario? Oh, a Bluegill....Oh a Pumpkinseed...Wow, an old beer bottle. So why shell out hundreds for certification just to freeze your ass off in polluted waters. Then I came to Thailand.

I had heard about Aladdin Dive Safari from my tree mate, Ede (can I tell you how much I love saying treemate). He was going to Little Koh Chang for a 4 day diving excursion to the Similan Islands, and suggested I go. Luckily by the time I made up my mind there was still room, so after hitting Bangkok, I made my was to Ranong to catch a boat to Koh Chang (This by the way for all of you following along in the atlas, is Koh Chang on the Adaman Coast, not the one on the other side of Thailand). Well I should say I tried to make my way to Ranong, the bus company had other ideas. I had bought a "A/C, direct bus" from Bangkok to Ranong, but instead ended up in Surithani, which is 3 hours south of Ranong, and on the complete other side of the peninsula. So this meant I had to backtrack 4 hours to get to Ranong, then catch a boat to finally make it to Little Koh Chang.

Once there I was told I was a little late for the prep course, but if I was willing to watch 3 hours of video, and read 3 chapters and do three tests I'd then be caught up. So that's what I did my first day in Koh Chang. The second day? More studying. The third day we finally hit water, and did some dive training. The next day we left for the Similans. Now Koh Chang is an amazing place and I knew that I would love it since nobody I talked to before hand had even heard of the place. The Beaches aren't great, and the water is murky, but it has such a great vibe. You live in these bamboo huts, and there just aren't very many people there. In total I didn't wear shoes for almost two weeks.

The Aladdin people were also amazing. My instructor was Phil, a former Brit who splits his time between Thailand and Alberta. My other instructor was Estaban (who looked at me weird the first time I laughed at his name, and I had to explain that it was because of 'The Life Aquatic', which he had never seen, so I have to get it for him), who is a fellow Swiss and one of the best guys you will ever meet. His girlfriend Poo was equally amazing, but she got pregnant near the start of the season so she can't dive any more and didn't go on the trip unfortuneately. Honestly, I can't tell you how much I loved these two, they're just about the best couple ever. There were also 5 other people taking the open water course, so it was fun not being the only new diver.

So now I'm just going to skip to the diving. First off breathing underwater is weird. On our first open water dive at Richilieu Rock, as we were descending to 18m I couldn't understand why I was getting short of air. Then I remembered to actually breath (I'm an idiot), and all was well. So diving....IS FUCKING INSANE!!!!!! At the start of the dive I was like "I wonder if we'll even see any fish" We only saw about a million of them. It's like a whole different world. The water was clear, the coral was so many different colours (OK all coral is white, it's the algae that makes it colourful for those nitpicky biologists among you), and the fish. TONS OF FISH. Schools just swim by you, sometimes you can't even see the coral for all the fish (I seriously doubt though that "You can't see the coral reef for the fish" will ever replace "You can't see the forest for the trees" anytime soon though. If it does catch on though, I want credit in Bartletts or Websters or whatever.).

So the first dive was amazing, but I soon learned that I'm a complete hoover with my air supply. Oh well what can you do? After that it was back to the boat, and off to Koh Tachai, which was equally amazing. I'm trying to get pictures from the trip form the few people who took their underwater cameras, but they'll have to wait. So just to sum up the way the trip worked so that I can just move on to the highlights is this. First Day: two dives. Second day: 4 dives (including night dive) Third day: 4 dives (including Deep dive to 30M). Forth Day: Two dives. So in total 4 days on the boat and 12 dives. So now the highlights.

1. MANTAS!!!! we first saw a Manta on our third day, it was jumping, almost flying out of the water. When we arrived at Koh Bon, the Mantas appeared before we even got into the water. Now supposedly Mantas are rare, and the dive instructors were flipping out, because not only did we see one Manta, we saw at least three. They Are the most amazing creatures. They're so graceful an elegant, it was just to much to see. One swam right towards me before arching up and swimming overhead. The thing was huge too, at least 5 m. I still relax and picture them swimming in my head.

2. Sharks!! We saw a Leopard shark, and a nurse shark, and man the rush of seeing a shark. I know they're not going to attack, but there's this little survival instinct in your head that goes off everytime you see a shark.

3. Finding Nemo! We saw quite a few Clown fish and other anemone fish. I couldn't resist shouting Nemo! everytime I saw one. Yes I'm 12 shut-up. They were fun to watch, because you can see the anemone from a distance and then as you swim closer you can see a few fish just living in the thing. It was mesmorizing.

4. Sleeping on the top deck of the boat. For some strange reason only Nadine and I did this the whole trip. It was like the best place to sleep ever. We just lay there and talked looking up at the stars, while all the other people were down below in cramped quarters. Sure as soon as the sun rose you were awake, but it was so nice and relaxing. It was also nice to get to know Nadine, since we hadn't really got a chance to talk much in Lao.

5. The Night Dive. This was incredible as well. Just diving down in the dark with only a flashlight. The conditions weren't the best, but the experience was too much fun. We even turned our light off at one point so we could see the Sea Lightening (Phosphorescent Plankton). It was erie at times, but so different than a day dive.

6. Barracudas. These things are BAD ASS, and I think they know it. It's almost like they strut through the water in packs, going "just try to fuck with me...I'll cut ya" They really should have BMF tattooed on their bodies.

7. The rest of the trip. Honestly from start to finish the drip was amazing, and definitely one of the best things I've ever done. Now I'm hooked on the Manta Juice though, so I guess I'll be returning to Thailand every year.

The only down side (other than the fact that the trip had to end) was all the course work we had to do on the boat for the advanced open water diving course. It seriously cut into nap time, and that nap time was sorely needed after a few dives.

A trip to the Dentist

2006-03-25T04:47:00.000-05:00

So guess what I did on my last day in Chiang Mai? That's right I went to the dentist. Sounds fun and exciting doesn't it. It was though. It's been years, and was desperately needed, and a cleaning was only $12. That's right $12. CRAZY! It wasn't like the dentist out of Marathon Man (Is it Safe? Reference for the older folks) or out of Alias (reference for you younger, and much geekier folks). It was clean, and modern, and man it was good. They wanted to do a sealing treatment, but I didn't have enough cash, so I passed. Honestly in you're in Chiang Mai, work the dentist into the travel plans you won't be sorry.

After that it was a trip to the proctologist...just kidding. I actually went to the blind massage school, and had an amazing hour massage for just $3. Those blind really know what they're doing. They can't see a thing, so they just feel all the trouble spots right away. It was a good thing they were blind though sicne my pained expressions could then go unnoticed. After that if was off to Bangkok, where 12 hours on a bus did away with any comfort I actually had from the massage. Well done Bangkok.

PRIZES!!!!! A TINY BUDDHA STATUE FOR THE FIRST PERSON TO NAME THE SOURCE OF THIS POSTS TITLE. NO GOOGLE CHEATING.

The Quest For Chicken

2006-03-25T04:01:00.000-05:00

Now I can be a stubborn man. I'll give you a second to recover from the shock of that statement...Oh, done already? We'll move on then. This manifests itself when I'm traveling as an overriding desire to find places that I can't seem to find. If I want to get there, come hell or high water, I'll find it. The longer it takes the less likely I am to ask for directions, and it becomes a matter of honour, and my belief that I'm an excellent map reader (a skill that might come in useful on The Amazing Race I hope). Now this trip I've been a rock star at navigating. No matter what the city, after the first day or so, I'm usually good without a map I don't know where every street is, but I know areas, and how to find what I need. Bangkok however, KICKED MY ASS THE OTHER DAY.

So I set off to go to Wat Pho, since I didn't have enough time the other day. But I knew where it was, and was close by, so I left Khao San Rd, and started walking. Well I got lost. WAY LOST. So lost that I couldn't have told you what direction I was even heading in. I was also using the LP maps which were spread out over 10 pages, and I didn't even know which one to look at. That's when I became determined to find my way no matter what. It's not as easy as you think, since Bangkok has the worse signs ever. I eventually did find my way, and didn't get lost on the way back. Dignity tarnished, but salvaged.

Now all of that was a prelude to my quest for chicken. Lonely Planet kind of sucks, but their food recommendations are almost always bang on. So it was with that that I decided to dine at Soi Polo Fried Chicken. The best fried Chicken in Bangkok it said. I love fried Chicken...I mean love it, and I must admit, I made a damn tasty fried Chicken...damn tasty. So I was off to find chicken. The place however was pretty far, and a cab ride was out, as was walking. This meant braving the Bangkok bus system, and then taking the sky train, then walking a bit. The bus was easy enough, and the stop I wanted was near the MBK mall (which had awesome A/C so I just had to walk around there for a bit), so it was hard to miss. After that I figured out the Sky Train, and while I did miss my first stop, it was easily corrected. Then I exited to the street. I had no idea where I was.

I was dark so I couldn't navigate that way. The streets weren't labeled, and I had no clue where to go. So I figured I just walk to the next cross street and figure it out. Well the blocks aren't as close as in NYC, so I walked for 15 minutes before I came to a cross section...which had no signage either. So I turned and walked. I did see a big park, which was good, since the place I was looking for was around Lumpini park. I just had no idea what part of the park is was. So I continued walking. Now it turns out that when you're walking the streets of Bangkok, and see a big sign for an upcoming intersections the street on the sign isn't the street at the intersection, but the street that you're on. WTF? Who knew. Needless to say I walked around nearly the whole damn park. I was walking for at least an hour. It was getting late I was starving, and I'm lost at night in Bangkok. Time to swallow the pride and ask a taxi. They didn't know where it was either. I asked two drivers. No idea. They couldn't even speak English (despite the sign that says "Yes we speak English"), so they couldn't even tell me what street I was on.

So summoning all my navigatory ability (What? It's a perfectly cromulent word). I used the park,and the direction of traffic and all other little clues and was able to pinpoint exactly where I was. I was actually on the right street, but had walked about 15 minutes past Soi Polo. So I headed back. Now you might think that it's a bit of Thai humour that they have the best chicken on Soi Polo, I mean I did, I thought it was hilarious. Did they do it on purpose? Well it turns out the Bangkok Polo Club is on that street, hence the name. I don't know if that makes the joke better or worse, I'll leave that up to you. So I finally found Soi Polo, now I just had to find the restaurant (which I had been searching for for about 80 minutes). I was convinced that the place would be closed, but I was determined. Sure I passed a few places that looked good, but I wanted Chicken damn it.

Then I saw it. A cartoon roasted chicken in the window, a place packed with people. This was it. So I walked in. I was the only non-Thai in the place. They led me to my seat, I ordered a half-order (which LP said was enough for two), ordered a well deserved beer,and waited for the glorious meat. Now I was getting some stares. Lone white guy in a room full of Thai, I kind of stood out. I didn't care though, they didn't know what I had been through, they didn't know the lengths I went through to get here. Then the chicken came.

IT WAS SOOOOOO FUCKING GOOD

I mean it was insane how good this chicken was. Golden and crisp on the outside, moist and juicy on the inside. They even fry up garlic bits and pour it on top. And then there's the dipping sauce. Spicy, yet a little sweet. A really good Thai BBQ sauce. So I ate, and ate. After that plate was finished ordered another half order and eat that all up. All the while the Thais were getting drunker and drunker on 100 Piper Scotch (which made me kind of miss Piper. I miss my Dog). The dinner was amazing, and worth the journey. It took me all of twenty minutes to find my way back to the Skytrain by the way.

Being Taken For A Ride

2006-03-25T03:29:00.000-05:00

So I was walking the streets of Bangkok, on my way to some Wats, when this kid approached me and asked where I was going. I said the royal palace, and then Wat Pho. Oh, they're closed for lunch, you should go around two. Now this didn't seem so far fetched, that happened in Vietnam and Cambodia all the time, so it had a ring of truth. Then he told me that the tuk-tuks with a certain number are government run, and therefore cheaper, and then pointed to a few places on the map I should go (most of which I was planning on seeing the next day, since I had just arrived in Bangkok that morning. He also told me I was in luck since this week there wasn't any entrance charge, and today was the last day. OK HERE IT COMES, IT'S ALWAYS THE LAST DAY WHEN THEY WANT TO SCAM YOU. Then he also names a place where I can get cheap clothes made. AND THERE'S THE SCAM! Low and behold one such Tuk-Tuk pulls up, and the kid talks to the driver and tells him where to take me all for 40 baht ($1). Now I know this is a scam. I've read about this scam. They take you somewhere, then take you to a jeweler or tailor, and they pressure you to buy over priced stuff. I've seen it before, but since I have no money, I usually get a cheap trip to a bunch of sights, so I actually like the scam. So we go to one Wat, and it was a really nice Buddha. NOW THIS IS HOW WELL THEY HAVE THE SCAM WORKED OUT. As I'm looking at the Buddha, this older man walks in and starts chatting. He asks where I'm from, and when I say Canada, he says he too lives in Canada, and is back in Thailand for a few months visiting family. He says he works for the Canadian consulate or something. He then tells me I'm lucky, because today is the last day of bale, bale,bale. And if I go to the tailor I get a special price and become a member, and can then order more stuff from back in Canada. MY GOD, THEY'RE ALL IN ON IT. He then says if I go to a specific travel place I'll get student rates which are much cheaper. This is one hell of a well designed scam.

So I get back to the Tuk Tuk, and the driver wants to take me to the tailor. I say no just to see what would happen, and that's when he tells you he gets gas coupons for bringing customers in. At least they're upfront about it. So I go. I'm led upstairs and we talk suits. Then it comes to price $280. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME. I just laugh and ask if it looks like I can afford a $280 suit. So I leave. The driver kind of says I wasn't in there long enough to get him the coupon, but what could I do. After price is mentioned I can't say much without misleading the guy. So he take me to another Wat, this one with a 50 Ft. Buddha or something. It was quite amazing. Then it's back to the Tuk-Tuk ,and now he wants to take me to a jeweler. NO. Come on he says pretty much pleading. So I go. This is the last one he says after this two more sights and then to the palace. Well the jeweler was more than the tailor, so out I walk,and the driver's not happy, but he takes me to another Wat. This one was OK. So I walk out, and the driver is gone. No where to be found. Turns out though that I'm a 20 minute walk to the palace (which is only about 5 minutes further than when I started). So I basically got a free ride to a few wats I was going to see anyway, and it cost me nothing.

Hats off to the Scammers of Bangkok though, that was one well planned scam. On the way back from The palace (which was insanely beautiful by the way), I was once again offered a cheap ride. This time I elected to walk though, you can't scam the scammers twice in one day can you?

Crazy Horse Buttress

2006-03-22T03:04:00.000-05:00

I arrived in Chiang Mai with a little bit of trepidation. I mean Lao was incredible, and I had heard that Thailand was pretty jam-packed with people, and I wasn't sure I was ready to take that. I don't think I could handle Vietnam right now, that's for sure. Thailand however was kind of the reason for this trip, so I was looking forward to seeing it, but was afraid that I was about 10 years too late, and the Thailand of my dreams was a thing of the past.

After leaving Lao, I took a boat across the Mekong to Chiang Kong, and from there took a bus first to Chiang Rei and then to Chiang Mai. I was traveling with Cat, a girl I had met on The Gibbon Experience, and who was gracious enough to allow me to follow her to Chiang Mai, sine I had no idea what I was doing. She had been in Thailand for awhile working for a Thai non-profit in Chiang Rei. She was working on a Thai citizenship project, working to get Minority Hill-tribes, Thai citizenship. So at this point she was pretty familiar with way Thailand worked, and it was pretty convienient to follow her lead along the way. Turns out that I shouldn't of worried about Thailand. Sure it's full of people, and chain stores (including McDonalds and Starbucks, boooo), but it still has charm and relaxed atmosphere that is unmistakeably SE Asian, and therefore quite a nice place. It's like any other city in some ways, but unique, and quite a place to spend a few days.

The first night we went to the Night Market which was huge, and soooo touristy, but still a sight to see. I just can't sem to get enough of markets no matter what they are. The next day I went sight seeing, and that's when I realised that I still have had it with sights. It's still Wat, Wat, Wat, statue, Wat, Wat, Wat, and I've had enough. Sure they're all nice and beautiful and incredibly serene and such, but I need to DO something. I need to experience things. There are numerous treks available, but they're all so over done, that you're not really seeing the real culture, you're seeing the Epcot center version of Norhtern Thailand. One trek had you riding elephants, rafting, visiting a temple, and two villages all in one day, with lots of other tours, where is the adventure in that? You're supposed to be in a remote hill tribe and ther are more tourists than Thais.

So what should I do? Well, I went climbing again. It was even better this time than in Lao. Me, along with two Americans went in the morning to Crazy Horse Buttres, and proceded to climb some of the most fun and challenging routes I've ever done. The two guides were excellent climbers, and both were on the National Climbing team. They just kept setting up routes until we just couldn't do them anymore. They kept doing harder and harder ones, finishing with a 5.13, which totally kicked my ass. I managed to get up it, but it was hard. Jos and Jen know how much I suck at climbs with a lot of small holds, and this one was full of them. It was still totally amazing though, and a great way to see some of Thailands natural beauty. We finished off the day with a 65 m rappel into a cave that was filled with little stone tower things, they kind of meminded me of Inukshuks (which I obviously have no idea how to spell). I was much more fun then seeing a bunch of Wats again.

The Gibbon Experience

2006-03-18T04:53:00.000-05:00

I was sitting at a bonfire in Muang Ngoi, talking about the possibility of doing some treks before I left Lao, and one of the people there mentioned The Gibbon Experience (TGE). It's a conservation effort to maintain the habitat of Gibbons, specifically the Black-Cheeked Crested Gibbon, which is endangered. They've built a network of treehouses accessible only by ziplines. Being the good Biologist that I am I left the next day to head to Bokeo. The trip there was rather uncomfortable as the speedboat seats are more like a box, and you ride for 6 hours with your knees around your head. It was damn fast though.

I got to Houeisai (Way Sigh, in case you care to pronounce it properly), but there wasn't a tour for the next two days, so I had to wait a bit in the border town, and there was nothing to do. It's pretty much just a stopping point to cross over to Thailand which is just across the Mekong. I had now followed the Mekong from Vietnam to Cambodia to Lao, and in a few days to Thailand. TBE sounded amazing though. It's just in its second year, and its really only heard about through word of mouth, since its so new,and not in any guide books yet. It's a three day trek with two nights in the tree houses, and lots of walking in the jungle. I went for option two which involved more hiking, but also more wildlife. There were only 6 of us in the group, so we wouldn't be seeing anyone else. The other option was to stay in the first treehouse and just hand out. There were only 6 people in that option so in total there were only 12 of us in the whole place. This could only happen in Lao, anywhere else and there would be wall to wall people.

The first day started with a 3 hour drive on some of the most dusty and bumpy roads I had ever been on. Once at the camp we had to hike 40 minutes to the fist village to gear up, and then zip over to the first treehouse. IT WAS AWESOME! Zip lining is the most fun thing ever, but man is it scary at first. Once there we were given a rundown of the trip and the aim of the project. The goal is to not only protect the gibbons, but they also use the money raised form the project to train villagers to be guides and to act as rangers, which hunt the poachers which are killing the wildlife. They're goal is to make the project totally Lao run in a few years, thereby providing income and jobs for the remote villages, which are mostly comprised of minority tribes. For the three days we would be split up into two groups. The four girls went in one with me, and a German named Eddie in the other group. We would switch treehouses the next day. Once the guides bring you to the treehouse, then they leave you only coming back to drop off food and supplies. So you're basically on your own in a treehouse in the middle of a Lao forest. That could never happen in North America.

The first zipline from the treehouse was a 100m crossing between two off the mountains, with a drop of over 100m. It was a spectacular view, but nerve wracking as well. Then we did a few more zips and a bit of hiking to get to Tree House 3. We started settling in, and unpacked our trunk of food, and in it were all kinds of snacks, and the most amazing thing, a carton of cigarettes and a bottle of Lao Lao Whisky. They let you get drunk and give you unlimited access to ziplines! I love these people! Truly only in Lao. So Eddie and I settled in, and give some more zip-lining, and then it was time for dinner, which the guides brought up and then ate with us. Their English was Ok, but it was quite fun trying to communicate with them. I had to break out my note book a few times to draw pictures for the point to be made. At about that time the sun went down and the view from the tree house was spectacular. Then it was time to break out the Lao Lao, and do some more night zip-lining. We even did it with out flashlights for a bit, which was insane. We then passed the time telling tales of our trips, and Eddie convinced me to take a SCUBA course in Southern Thailand. The only sounds you could hear were from the wildlife, and it was quite peaceful. There was a full moon, so the surrounding Mountains were outlined,and we just sat and watched while playing cards.

Then we heard some rustling in the trees and the next thing you know there was this big cat on the railing on the treehouse. It looked like a Mercat, but it turns out it was a Civet Cat. The Civet Cat is probably most famous for eating coffee beans in SE Asia, which are then collected after passing through their digestive system, and t's supposed to be the best coffee ever. I'll eat a snake, but I'm not drinking poop coffee. Maybe I'll bring some home for Dad though. We watched the two cats which were climbing around for 40 minutes, before they finally got pissed at us and left. There was a nice piece of poop on our railing the next morning though, to thank us for the evening (no coffee beans though). After the visit from the Civet Cat the only visitors were insects, which wasn't to much fun. Falling asleep to the sound of birds and bugs was quite relaxing though, especially the 'I-go-you-go' bird (that's what he call sounds like).

The next morning we had breakfast in the treehouse. There is something incredibly amazing about drinking a good cup of coffee while hundreds of feet in the air, sitting in a treehouse. We got to do some more ziplines (which I was just told are also referred to as flying foxes, which is a much cooler name to tell you the truth), and then headed for a 3 hour hike through the forest (jungle?) to tree house 4. About 30 minutes into it we heard a rustling through the trees, and that's when we saw it...A fucking Gibbon!!! Now there are people that have worked at the place for 2 months that haven't seen a Gibbon, so we were pretty amazed. It passed by really quickly, and man can those things swing fast. I wasn't able to get a picture of it though, although we then stood there for 20 minutes hoping more would come. We did see a few other animals including this huge bird, but unfortunately that was our lone Gibbon experience.

Tree House 4 is by the river, so along the way we did some swimming, while the guides caught some fish. There was also a waterfall near TH4, so that was kind of neat. The view from TH4 isn't quite as good as TH3, but it was still pretty awesome, and this time the guides stayed with us which was pretty fun. We were going to teach them a few card games, but they were pretty tired. The next day we hiked back out to the village, and then caught a lift back to Houisay. We might not have seen too many Gibbons (but the other group saw none, so HA!), but the experience and solitude made the trip so worth it. Definitely one of if not THE highlight of my trip. If you're ever in Lao, GO! Heck even if you're not in Lao, book a damn ticket and go.

The Perfect Place

2006-03-13T02:44:00.000-05:00

Muang Ngoi Neua. That's the perfect place. When you decide to travel to SE Asia you imagine remote villages, with no roads full of friendly locals, where you can relax and enjoy the natural beauty of the area and eat some good food. Then you get here and its just tourist everywhere, with modern conveniences and that little dream dies a bit. Then you go to Lao and your heart perks up a bit. Then you take a bud up to Nong Kiew, then take a boat to Muang Ngoi Neua since there are no roads connecting teh two, and then you've found the perfect place. Muang Ngoi is about 6-7 hours up river from Luang Prabang. It has one main street and only has power from 6:30-9:30. After that its just up to the moon and your flashlight. There are no roads which means that there are no cars or motorbikes, and therefore no Honking.

The bus ride was interesting, in Lao they seem to be able to fit as many people as needed on the public buses, so if you want a good seat, you better arrive early. We waited in Nong Kiew for a bit, enough time to chat with some fellow travelers, and have a BeerLao. I met up with two Swedes named Petter and Christina, A Norwegian named Petter (I know we had a Peter and two Petters, crazy), an English bloke named Paul, and this crazy German named Rafael. So we crammed onto the boat and headed to Muang Ngoi. Now the only accommodation is these Bamboo huts, and they run about $1 a night. The town is tiny. Once settled into my hut on the riverfront, I heard some familiar voices, and realized that this Canadian couple I had met in Nha Trang was in the Bungalow right beside mine.

The first night we all just hung out, and when the power went out we ate by candle light. The moon was a waxing gibbous moon, so it was bright enough to see by, and I just sat in my hammock and watched the stars and mountains before heading to bed. The next day some of us went tubing, but unlike Vang Vieng there were no bars along the way. Just us, the Mountains, and the water, you couldn't ask for a more serene atmosphere. After a bit we were afraid the guy had taken us too far upriver and that it would be hours before we got back, but we managed to reach home in 2 hours so that was kind of nice. We celebrated our journey by going from street stall to street stall trying all these different dishes. One of the best was this girl making Papaya Salad, and man it was the best Papaya salad I've had to far. Catherine had brought a bag of peanuts which we asked to be added, and the girl said if we came back tomorrow she's bring some peanuts for us (which she did). We then had some hammock time, and then a nice dinner before heading down to the bonfire at the beach.

The next day was probably the best of all. We walked out of town to go towards the caves. No one was at the caves so it took us awhile to find the right entrance. WE had to wade into the water a bit, and then try to discover the right path, as there were no markings anywhere. I'm still shocked they let people into that place alone. A lot of the time we were walking across slippery rocks with 10 ft. drops on either side. The cave eventually ended with an 8 ft drop into the water below, but as there was no discernable way out, we decided to head back. That's when we got lost. Turns out we were walking in circles, and after realizing this tried to find another path. We went up one way, and finally saw a crack of daylight off in the distance. I have to say we were all a little relieved. I wouldn't say I was afraid, but we were all getting a little nervous. We went for a quick swim in cave entrance, and then walked to the next village for some food.

The next village was about 30 minutes away, and in the middle of some rice paddies. You have to wonder how they get their supplies, since the path we took is the only route, and it's not on the river. After lunch we wanted to see the waterfalls, so we walked to Ban Ha village which was another 30 minutes away. We soon reached the village only to be told that the water fall was 60 minutes away! We walked around town a bit and then found some local kids playing in the stream, and they took us to a smaller waterfall where we could cool off. We ended up hiking for over 6 hours, but it was nice to be able to do it without a guide, and without really any plan, but then that’s what makes Lao so great. We were all pretty tired, so we bought a few (5) bottles of Lao wine, and drank the lot by the moon light.

After that active day we decided to just lounge around the next day, so we went to the beach and swam the day away. We then went to the bonfire and there were a group of Lao kids playing the guitar and singing Lao songs, it was quite a night, and it wasn't even ruined by the free Lao Whiskey they were passing around. I was leaving the next day, while Petter, Raf, and Paul were going to try and go further North. It was tough to say goodbye to them, as they were really fun travelling partners, but unfortunately they just came from Thailand, and that's where I was heading next. It was also tough to leave Muang Ngoi, but I was getting itchy feet to start moving again, and I had heard about this Gibbon Conservation area, so I wanted to check that out before heading to Thailand.

I AM Just Here For The Food

2006-03-11T05:46:00.000-05:00

So I figured if eating Lao food was great, well then why not try cooking it. A restaurant down the street was offering cooking classes, so I signed up, and got hungry. Now I haven't cooked anything since I left my Mom's inn, so I was a little nervous about the class. I ended up taking it with this older French couple, and they were a lot of fun. The women, Sylvie, had been to Lao before and knew a few dishes, but Jean-Pierre hadn't really cooked South-East Asian food though, but you could tell they were both really into food.

The class started with us gathering around the recipe book choosing dishes to make and drinking tea. After we had chosen, one of the cooks took us to Phousi Market, and gave us a tour. It was really fascinating. I mean I had been to markets before, but with a guide you got to really learn what all these weird things were, and man were there some weird things (the oddest being big blocks of solidified blood). If your at all into proper food hygiene though, then don't go to the market, the amount of flies that were on the meat, probably would had turned you vegetarian (unless you are vegetarian already, Hey Lisa!). So after wandering around the market it was back to the restaurant to learn about Lao food.

First the chef sat us down and showed us the basic ingredients in Lao cooking. If you don't have these she said, then you can't cook Lao. She then showed us a few other ingredients that we probably wouldn't ever find at home, since they usually are only found in the jungle. Me being the smart guy that I am had chosen a recipe that will be impossible to replicate at home since it contained quite a few jungle ingredients including this special kind of wood, which you soak and then throw into the stew. Where the hell am I going to find spicy wood in Canada? I just don't think Maple will cut it. She then told us the proper way to make sticky rice and sticky rice powder, which was really interesting. So after the lesson, we went to our cutting boards and the chef taught us how to properly chop garlic, shallots, lemon grass, and Galangal (which was really tough to cut). After that it was off to the kitchen.

The cooking part was really fun, except, again I chose the wrong damn dish, and spent most of the time stirring the stew, and breaking up sticky rice while the other two were stir-frying their asses off. We did eventually switch though, so all was good. The smells coming out of the kitchen were amazing, and we were just getting hungrier and hungrier. Finally we finished everything and sat down to eat. Below is a description of each dish along with a picture.

Mok This dish, which is a little different than the Cambodian Amok, is a coconut milk/curry based dish which is then steamed in Banana Leaves. It was pretty tasty, but not my favourite. The steaming of the coconut milk gives it an almost custardy texture which I wasn't a fan of. It was good though, and fun to fold into the leaves. Ours was made with chicken, but you could easily substitute fish. I think I like the Cambodian Amok better, as that is more of a stew served in a coconut, and while the taste is the same, I prefer the texture of Amok.

Fried Rice Salad This was probably my favourite dish. You take left-over steamed rice and mix it with beef and herbs, and seasoning, then roll it into balls, coat it in egg, and then fry it up until its a dark brown. Once that done you then break up the balls into little bits, and mix in more herbs and a fish sauce based sauce. It's darn tasty. It has soft bits and crunchy bits, and the flavour was incredible. This is one recipe I'm definitely trying at home, so if you want some come on over. Most south east Asian cuisine is a balance between Hot, Salty, Sweet, and Sour, and this dish does it really well, throwing the change in textures in there for good measure.

Luang Prabang Stew This was the dish I chose, and the reason I chose it was because the original dish I picked was coconut milk based and we already had two of those. This one had a long list of ingredients, so I thought it might be fun. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a pain in the ass, and I can't make it at home, but it was pretty tasty. The pain in the ass part was that after slightly roasting a ball of sticky rice you then have to break up the ball into little bits, since that's what thickens the stew. Well sticky rice is well...sticky, and it was hard to break it into little bits. Plus then I had to stir it for 30 minutes which was quite exciting let me tell you. It did use a bunch of jungle leaves, spicy wood, and jelly mushrooms so that was kind of neat. The taste was good, and it had a kind of earthy taste to it. So I'm glad I picked it, but there were better dishes to be had.

Ginger Chicken If you like Ginger, you'll love this dish. It starts by caramelizing sugar and water until it's a dark caramel colour, you then stir-fry the aromatics, and then add the fish. If I was making this at home I would have added more fish, but I could see them not wanting to give you a lot of fish for the class. It had a really sweet taste along with a strong ginger taste which kind of balanced out both. The sauce it pretty sticky, and coats everything really well. If you don't like ginger, well then move along. This one was a great one to watch being made since at each step you had to add the ingredients at the right time. The sauce had to be just the right colour, you had to stir-fry the onions, garlic, and ginger just the right amount before adding the fish so that the former wasn't burned and the latter wasn't under or over cooked. I'd say this was my third favourite dish of the day.

Coconut Milk SoupThis was probably my second favourite dish, and I think it's because it actually reminded me of the amok I was talking about earlier. It was basically a chicken soup (although you could add fish or tofu) in a coconut based soup. It smelled amazing and tasted even better. The chicken which is stir-fried first with aromatics like onion, galangal and garlic, was really tender, and the consistency was great. If I was making it at home I would probably cut some of the tings into smaller pieces. The jelly mushrooms were a bit big, and the odd texture made it a bit weird to eat, but it was a tasty soup.

So fun was had, food was eaten and I learned a lot about Lao cuisine which is something I knew zero about before coming here. Sure I had made Lap before, but I thought it was Thai. At the end of class they gave us a cookbook full or recipes, so if anyone wants some Lao food when I get home let me know.

BEST. SANDWICH. EVER!

2006-03-06T08:30:00.000-05:00

Ok, remember when I told you that the sandwich from Can Tho, was the best sandwich, well I was sniffing glue, because the sandwich at PVO in Vientiane is clearly the best sandwich in the world. I honestly don't know what's in it. A lot of weird stuff it seems, but damn was it good.

First off, the Baguette was really good bread. Most sandwich places in South East serve an OK baguette, but usually they're too airy, and there is nothing to them. This one though, had just the right amount of bread and crust for a sandwich. Now onto the fillings. For veggies there were Green Onions, Cilantro (my most favourite herb ever, for those keeping notes), Tomatoes, regular onions, and Cucumbers. The meat is a little more difficult. There was definitely a salami like meat, although the spices were south-east Asian. Then there was the 'Pate', which is usually more akin to Spam, than pate. This one though was really good. I have no idea what's it's made from, and frankly if it's that good who the hell cares. Then they put on this spicy sauce which seems to have the flavour of Sambal, with the consistency of Aioli. All those things together....one hell of a sandwich.

The only negative, was that I didn't try it until my last day, so only got the one. I tried to get one in the morning, but the bus was coming too early. Fuck. There really wasn't much in Vientiane, but that sandwich made the trip worth it. It's funny though because you run into other travelers and ask what they thought of Vientiane, and they all say the same thing "It was kind of a dull town, but did you try the sandwiches at PVO?" Then you both get this glazed look in your eye as you try to remember the taste, and you can just tell that both of you wish you could get your hands on one right that instant.

Climbing Lao

2006-03-05T00:16:00.001-05:00

I haven't been climbing in months pretty much since the beginning of summer and man do I miss it. So as I was walking the streets of Luang Prabang, I noticed an eco-tourism place was offering a climbing excursion the next day. I've never climbed outside before, so why not start in Lao. Man it was funner than hell. There was just me, and a French couple along with a guide, and we just climbed all day. I could tell I hadn't done it in a while though, because it was tough. Climbing the side of a mountain in Lao is highly recommended though. The view as you were climbing up was amazing, and just hanging off those rocks was a thrill. I miss climbing. I also missed Jos, Jen and Tomas though, you just can't find better climbing buddies than those three.

Sure later that day my hands were aching, and my legs were sore, but it was totally worth it. Guess what I got to do the next day to relax....

Potato Chips of South-East Asia

2006-03-05T00:16:00.000-05:00

Now I love Potato Chips. I have this weakness for them. I'm more than happy to eat a whole bag of BBQ chips, and call that dinner. Going to South East Asia though, I thought I would have to find another snack somewhere. This I actually did, when Evan, the kid from the Halong bay trip introduced me to these sweet sesame peanut candies, which I instantly became addicted to. I needed the salt though. I was craving potato chips. Luckily Potato chips are everywhere here. In Vietnam, Pringles reigned supreme. They were everywhere. Every corner store, every sidewalk vender, there were Pringles. Now I hate Pringles, but I guess they ship well, and they seem to have caught on. So they made do for a while. In Vietnam you could also find other chips, but only in little small bags, that just wouldn't do. Cambodia was a bit better. They had larger bas and an interesting assortment of flavours...along with Pringles. The Potato Chip Mecca of South East Asia though, is Lao. This place is freaking awesome. They have Lay's here, and some other brand, whose name I can't decipher, and the flavours are endless. They have the regular BBQ, and Sour cream and Onion, but they also have Chicken Curry, Crab Curry, Nori Seaweed, Salmon Teriyaki, and my current favourite, Grilled Lobster. I kid you not, the chips taste like grilled lobster, and it is good! Now I just have to figure out a way of getting case home without crushing it.

Em & Alyssa were right, it is the Happiest Place on Earth

2006-03-05T00:15:00.000-05:00

In Emily and Alyssa's excellent blog, they mentioned that Vang Vieng was like Disneyland, but in Lao, and they weren't far off. The whole place is just filled with tourists and there are fun rides everywhere. Of course there are no rollercoaster’s or bumper cars, but there is rafting, kayaking and tubing, and plenty of other ways to lounge the day away. Vang Vieng is fun, and that seems to be he only reason it's there. Now some people may consider that a bad thing, but if you hit it at the right point in your travels, then it's a magical place. After weeks of seeing sites, and going from place to place, it was nice to find a place that really just let you do what you wanted to do. It also could be called the Happiest Place on Earth just due to the abundance of 'Happy Pizza' places and 'Happy Shakes', which is pretty much just pizza and milkshakes laced with Pot or Magic Mushrooms.

After spending the last few weeks visiting Palaces and Wats, it was nice to get to a place where you can relax and enjoy nature. I met a Dutch guy named Quoc on the bus, who, along with being a fashion designer/artist, was also of Chinese/Vietnamese origin, and it always surprised people that he was from Amsterdam. We decided to share a room, and found a nice place overlooking the river. The first night we just walked around a bit, and that took all of 15 minutes. Vang Vieng isn't a big place. It was on this walk that I ran into Tiffany from the Snedden lab. It was really weird to see a familiar face from home.

The next day Quoc and I went tubing which was really fun, you basically rent an inner tube, they drop you off, and then you just float down to the end. Of course along the way there are a bunch of bars, where you can get some Beer Laos, and relax in the sun. A stressful day it was not. They even have these huge rope swings that you swing on and then land in the water. It's a rough life. Quoc and I took a little too long at the pit stops though, and had to paddle fast towards the end to make it back by sundown. To relax at the end of a long day, we ate at this organic food restaurant, and then went to one of the many TV bars which show Friends non-stop. You just relax on these couch like things, drink beer, and just watch episode after episode of Friends. Don't like the season they're playing? Then just go down to the next place which is probably showing a totally different season. There were also bars showing Soccer, Family Guy, and Simpsons, so take your pick (by the way as I type this I'm sitting next to a young monk, who is checking his email account. Lao is a strange place).

The next day we decided to rent bikes an explore some caves. It was a nice 15 km bike through the country side, and of course when we get to the caves there was a tent set up serving nice cold drinks. Perfect! The caves were amazing. The fist one, Elephant Cave, had a Buddha statue and a stalactite in the shape of an elephant. The next cave, which we needed a guide and head lantern for, stretched for over 2 km, and ended in an underground lake. After sweating from the long hike, the cool clean water was amazingly refreshing. We then went on to the next cave, which wasn't as big, but was huge. It was supposedly used during the Vietnam War, and the Lao war, to house refugees, and protect people from bombings. They were pretty nice digs too. After the trip, we went to give our guides a tip and, then they said that it was $10 for the two of us. Now no one told use the price before hand, and we had to pay admission to get to the caves, so we thought that included a guide, which they make you take. We tried to say, how they should have told us upfront, but the guy wasn't getting it. We finally got it down to $5 for the, and despite the underhanded way, it was well worth the few bucks. The last cave we went to was all filled with water, and we had to rent tubes as well as headlamps to enter. It was spectacular though. We just floated into the cave, and soon we were in total darkness. The cave went on for a fair ways, and then we hit a sandbar, and decided to investigate the rest on foot. After walking about 75 meters we found a long dark tunnel which was submerged, and I (channeling all the curiousness of Tomas), swam to find the end. We had left our tubes further back, and I was afraid of getting electrocuted by the headlamps which were powered by what looks like car batteries, so I left mine on the rocks, and Quoc shone his down the tunnel so I could see. I swam about 200 meters, and the tunnel was narrowing, but at this point I couldn't see a damn thing, and decided to head back. Then we just chilled in the tubes, and enjoyed the sounds of the cave. It was an awesome experience.

Quoc had never been kayaking before, so we rented some, and a guide and went for a 20km paddle. The rapids weren't that great in the day season, but it was a lot of fun, and definitely quicker than the tubes. We did end up on the same route, and it was nice to stop on the shore for some beer and water swings. I tried towing some tubers down the river, but having 10 people in a chain attached to your kayak, made for some hard paddling, so eventually they detached, and I was exhausted. That night after watching a few more episodes of friends, and having an amazing Indian meal (honestly, best Chicken Tikka Masala I've ever had), we went down by the river, where thee are some after hours bars. The night before there weren't many people there, but this night it was hopping, and we stayed up till about 5am drinking buckets of coke mixed with Lao Whiskey. Along the river they had fires going, and like bamboo huts to relax in. Once again, it's a hard life in Vang Vieng.

Quoc and I spent another day or so in Vang Vieng, and then parted ways. Me heading to Luang Prabang, and Quoc, heading back to Vientiane, so that he could get back to Bangkok, and get a flight home. He was a great traveling companion, and hopefully we'll meet again one day, when he comes to Toronto to visit his cousin. Vang Vieng was great, and the perfect rest I needed before heading back to other cities. Sure it's a tourist place, but sometimes, that can be a good thing. I'm glad every place isn't like that, but it's nice to have a place where you can do a lot or do a little, and it's always a good time.

Vientiane

2006-02-26T00:17:00.000-05:00

Entering a new county just doesn't have the same thrill anymore, at least not like it did when I fist landed in Vietnam. I think it's because when you enter a new place, especially by plane, it all looks the same. The excitement isn't from just being there, but it now comes fom what I experience there. I mean when I got off the plane in Hanoi, I know I was somewhere else, it was jsut so different then whee I had been. All of this is to say, that when I landed in Vientiane Lao, I wasn't eally excited to 'be in Lao', but by the end of the day all that changed.

Everyone I had talked to about their travels always said Lao was one of thei favourite counties. I was only planning on spending a week here, but eveyone's opinion made me think differently, maybe I thought, I should give it more time. We'll see. I'm in no rush. I have just under two months to go, and Lao and Thailand are really the only counties I have left to visit (Sory Malaysia). So with that, I took a flight from Siem Reap to Vientiane, a city I was told, that just wasn't worth a lot of time. Further North is supposedly better.

In a lot of ways people turned out to be right about Vientiane, it is rather dull, and only worth a few days, but it has its charm, and I think it was a good introduction to Lao. The first thing you notice in Lao, and which is a little off putting at first is that no one really pays attension to you, they just kind of ignore you, but not in a rude way. At first you think there is something wrong, and then suddenly it clicked for me. Lao is the country I wished every county was like. There are no people trying to sell you stuff every few feet. If you say no to one tuk-tuk driver all the rest don't harass you for rides. Lao just kind of lets you be to do your own thing. If you need a tuk-tuk you know where to find them. IT'S AWESOME. You can actually catch your breath, open a guide book, and not suddenly be surounded by kids. Lao might just be the best country in South East Asia.

It also might be the best county because of two other things: Beer Lao, which is definitly the best beer in South East Asia, and I can't wait to try Beer Lao Dark. The other is Lap (or Laap, Larp, Larb). This stuff is awesome. I've made Larp at home, but never knew what it was supposed to taste like and now I do. Larp is so good, that I think I might have to dedicate an entie post to it, so you just have to wait fo pictures. I'm also going to see if thee is a cooking course so I can learn it myself. Lao is geat. Might be time to look into that Visa extension.

So how did I spend my first day in Lao? Well I went to a Buddhist monestay out in the woods and got an herbal sauna and an hour massage all for $4. It was quite the experience. You enter the gates of the monestary and walk a path until you reach this bamboo stilt house. There you undress, put on a sarong, and go sit in a sauna infused with herbs, and just sweat your ass off as the herbs penetrate your skin and lungs. It was crazy hot in there, and at times you felt as if you couldn't breathe. After getting out you sit there and have some tea while you cool down, and wait for your massage. The massage itself was unlike any other. They bent me in ways no should be, but it felt great, and after a long day of travelling it was a great stess relief. You look beside you, and there's a monk just being manhandled like you just were. It's very cool. Not a bad way to begin in Lao, not bad at all

In the Shadow of Angkor

2006-02-22T10:38:00.000-05:00

I really just don't know how to describe the temples of Angkor. I took countless pictures, and while I do think I got some cool shots, I don't think any of them do it justice. It's like as soon as you but a border around it, it just loses its...oh I don't know impact? No that doesn't seem right. Grandeur? Presence? Someone help me out here. What the pictures just can't tell you is the scope of the place. It's massive, and so detailed, you can either get a far shot, and lose the detail, or take a close up and lose the context. Does that make any sense? I think it's really like the Grand Canyon. You can see countless pictures, but you can't really get a sense of the enormity of it until you're actually there. You have to see it to believe it, for lack of a better cliche.

I spent my four days in Siem Reap with Miles and Catherine, and I couldn't have asked for nicer travel partners. How they put up with me all those days I'll never know. I felt like a third wheel at times, but there was no point where they ever MADE me feel like I was. So anyway we arrive in Siem Reap (me by cheap bus, they by speedboat, which was supposedly awesome), and decide to try some of the local cuisine. Now I've eaten at Cambodian Village (Cambo)at least one a week for about 3 years, so I was curious to see what real Cambodian cuisine was like. There were a lot of similarities to Cambo, but not a lot. The curries were similar, and such, but there was a lot different as well. Cambodian cuisine is a lot like Thai food only less spicy. The two dishes that seemed to be on all the menus, yet never seen at home are Fish Amok, which is a yellow curry dish served in a coconut, and is damn good. The other is Lok Lak, a fried beef dish that is served in a oysterish type sauce along with onions and tomatoes. That too was pretty tasty.

The next day we woke up early (well Miles and Catherine got up early, I overslept and almost missed the sunrise) to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat. We then spent the day traveling from temple to temple. Miles was having a grand old time scambling up the stairs, and it was pretty fun to watch. The Angkors wanted to play with perception so the entryways are rather small, and the steps are huge and steep. You feel like a 3 year old trying to climb those things, and coming down is worse. WE saw a lot of temples, but I think my favourite was Ta Preach, which the archaeologists left almost like they found it, so it's over grown with trees and plants. The trees are growing on the temples, so its really a cool sight. The Bayon was also pretty cool, since there are about 200 faces staring at you all the time.

One of the other things that stick out are the kids. They're everywhere, and they are always selling you something. They're so cute though, you can't help but want to buy something. The thing is is that if you buy from them all, the day would cost $200. I kid you not, that's how many ask. The cold drinks are hard to pass up, but three wooden flutes for a dollar never really interested me. I felt sorry for those kids, you wonder what they did wrong to get stuck selling that crap. "Oh sorry Timmy, you're just not cute enough to sell Soda...here's a flute, good luck". One kid who totally suckered me was the one selling little metal deities. He was "1 for $2" and they were kind of neat so I said "3 for $5?" "where you from?" "Canada" "If name the capital of Canada you buy 4 for $6" There was the set-up, and I knew I was being set up, these kids take money seriously. I still went for it. "The capital of Canada is Ottawa" What can you do, the kid was good. How can you not reward knowledge like that. Catherine, Miles and I talked about it later, and thought of countries to stump them. I thought of Malta, but then I would have no idea either. We figured since Katherine and miles were form the UK, we would try Wales next time. "The capital of Wales is Cardiff" DAMN IT! The kid got us again, that's two days in a row. The kids know how to work it. Is it wrong that I bought a Ganisha statue purely because of Apu in the Simpsons? Homer, please do not offer my god a peanut.

One other highlight was the Omelet lady. Seriously, best omelet I've ever had. Miles and Catherine raved about them, but I had ordered Pho the first time (which was also excellent), so out last day we had to go back. The lady was so nice! She remembered us, and even gave us the menu with local prices instead of the tourist menu. She even gave one of the kids crap, for trying to rip me off on cigarettes. Truly a wonderful lady. I guess the same is true everywhere, if you show appreciation for someone's food, you'll win their heart, and this lady knew how to cook, so it was easy to show appreciation. Oh and I hope she appreciates the fact that since my Mother owns a Bed and Breakfast, I'm totally going to be disowned.

The last day after eating the omelet, we just hung out at Angkor Wat and soaked up the atmosphere. It was quite nice to sit on some hundreds of years old building and read a good book, and hang out with good people. It was a nice way to finish my time with Miles and Catherine. Later that day, they left for Bangkok, and were then flying home, and I was leaving the next day for Laos.

Olympics! What Olympics?

2006-02-22T10:31:00.000-05:00

I've seen none of it. I want Hockey damn it, but no, everywhere you go all you see is Soccer. Fuck Soccer! I was walking around Phnom Penh and heard some sports broadcast, so I went to check it out, and it was the WWE Royal Rumble. You have got to be fucking kidding me.

I crave Olympic hockey. I'm also going to be missing the start of The Amazing Race for the first time EVER. This...doesn't tick me off so much. Why watch, when you can experience right? I can't experience Olympic Hockey though, so damn you SE Asia, damn you and your no snow tropical climate to hell.

I'm going to go get a tan now.

Goodnight Vietnam

2006-02-21T09:13:00.000-05:00

So after a month of traveling, I've left Vietnam for Cambodia. I thought this would be a good time to reflect of Vietnam as a whole, as so far all I've really done is try to give a snapshot of the cities themselves, and my experiences there.

Top 5 Things about Vietnam

1. The Food- It was cheap, it was tasty, and I couldn't stop eating it. Every region seemed to change the style a bit, and there were regional specialties, but everywhere you went whether it was eating on the street, to fine dining the food was great. The highlight was definitely the spring rolls and the Pho, it's just not the same in North America, no matter how hard they try. The best meal was probably in Hoi An, but the dinner with the Tay family in Ban Ho Village was truly the best dining experience in Vietnam. Just to sit in this ramshackle kitchen watching her prepared 7-10 dishes all on this open fire which was being feed with bamboo, was truly an awesome sight. I wish I could have shared photos of it with you, but those were the pictures that were lost with the camera.

2. Bia Hoi Bars- Go to a street corner grab a plastic stool, and join the people cramped together drinking their $.10 beer. The stuff isn't just cheap, its also quite drinkable..well in most places anyway. It was really just an enjoyable experience, and really let you know you were in Vietnam.

3. Sapa- Of all the places I saw, be it the Karsts of Ha Long bay, or the beautiful pagodas and temples, nothing touches Northern Vietnam. The moutains went on forever, and all of them had these rice paddy terraces carved into the side. It truly was a magical place, and a place I would go back to in a heartbeat.

4. Motorbikes- TOO MUCH FUN!!!! I need one of those badly. There was nothing like speeding through the streets of Hanoi dodging cars left and right, and feeling like you were seconds away from eminent danger. Then I got to Hoi An, and saw that while riding on one is great, driving them is infinitely better, it also was great just to have your own ride, and the freedom to go anywhere at anytime.

5. Australians- TOO MUCH FUN!!! Anywhere I went as long as there were Australians, I was bound to have a good time. If they're that much fun when they're away from home, I'd hate to think of what they're like back in Australia.

Top 3 Worst things about Vietnam

1. The lack of respect for space- I don't know what else to call it really. Except for the physical space you're directly occupying, the Vietnamese will try to occupy all other space. Orderly lines don't exists, and the sidewalks are pretty much just parking lots for motos. All that doesn't really bother me, but in Canada, people will give you the space you may soon be in, and this just doesn't happen in Vietnam. I was walking along the street in Saigon, and this guy pulls his motor in front of me, and instead of waiting for me to clear the area, and then parking his bike, he just pulls it in front of me and parks it. Now on either side of me were vendors, so I had to turn around and walk back a ways to get around. It really is a little thing, but it's constant and got on my nerves in the end.

2. The Honking- They are horn crazy over there, and the cites are just a constant drone of horns.

3. The Buses. The seats are small, the AC doesn't work, the drivers are rude, and the trip takes 10X longer than it should. Those two 12 hour bus rides were some of the worst rides of my life.

Now I didn't include the Vietnamese in any of those lists, and I'm not exactly sure where to put them, and I don't think you can classify a nation that easily. Well you can, but you wouldn't be doing them justice. I met some rude Vietnamese, and I met some of the nicest people I ever expect to find anywhere. Sure you're constantly harassed everywhere you go to buy something or take a ride, but you have a lot of money (you could afford to travel to Vietnam), and they don't, so you just have to take it. Doesn't mean you have to like it though. Sometimes I just want to pull out a map, get my bearing and carry on. I don't need people as soon as I stop trying to sell me postcards, or take me to where I want to go, and make it so you just have to leave, and you never get your bearings. Friends of mine were spat on my Hmong girls for not buying enough stuff, that's just not right, no matter where you are.

That being said I loved the Vietnamese, and after awhile you kind of just get used to it and go with the flow. One thing that always stayed with me is just how good the Vietnamese sense of humour is. They laugh constantly, and they're very easy to joke around with, as long as you don't bring irony and sarcasm into it, but I don't think it's because they don't get it, it's because thier English isn't good enough, or I guess I should say YOUR Vietnamese isn't good enough. The adults laugh, the kids laugh, and they just know how to have fun. They know how to Play, and I think a lot more Westerers could learn something from that.

Phnom Penh- The Good

2006-02-21T08:36:00.000-05:00

Phnom Penh started out pretty well, as I had made friends with a girl from Toronto, and we went looking at some places around the lake. That night we just sat on the patio and enjoyed the view of the lake, and chatted about our travels. Meagen was near the end of her trip, and was soon to meet her father in Nepal so they could do some trekking together which was kind of cool. The lake district of Phnom Penh is basically a Backpackers enclave, with nothing but Guesthouse, internet cafes and cheap restaurants, and it was great. I kind of like when everyone is grouped together like that. Reminds me of the student ghetto at Queen's. You're always running into people you've met from other places, and its just a nice place to relax after visiting the sights of Phnom Penh.

The next day I went to the Lazy Gecko cafe, and had one of the best breakfasts of my life. Now I love Pho, but man can not live on noodles alone. They served a full English breakfast with eggs, beans, toast, fries, bacon, and sausage, all with your own bodum filled with good coffee. One thing I haven't mentioned yet is that in Vietnam if you order "Milk Coffee" you get a cup of coffee with a little metal thing above the cup where the water filters through. The milk...sweetened condensed milk. It makes for some seriously sweet coffee, so it was nice to get regular coffee for a change. Megan walked by, and joined me, but she couldn't go see the sights because her friend was meeting her in a day or so, and she promised to wait to see the major ones with her. So after the hearty breakfast I left to go see the sights of Phnom Penh.

At the killing fields I ran into Thomas, Miles and Catherine form the boat tour, and they invited me to join them for dinner at the Foreign Correspondants Club that night. I tried to find Megan to get her to come with me, but I couldn't find her. It was too bad, because I never ended up running into her again. Now the FCC is exactly like you would expect it to be, a French looking place filled with tourists and Ex-pats, and it was quite a nice setting for dinner, because sometimes you really just need a good burger. Don't worry I did eat some Khmer cusine from a street vendor for lunch, so I haven't totally reverted back to Western eating. After dinner we went back to their guesthouse and just shat the shit by the lake, and drank too much beer. It was really a good time, becaue at that point we had gone through all the regular traveller getting to know you stuff, and could actually have real conversations about things. I've met a lot of people on my trip so far, but I don't think I've enjoyed the company of people, as much as I have those three. Miles and Catherine did stand Thomas and I up for breakfast at the Lazy Gecko though...turns out they were a little too hungover for get out of bed on time.

Phnom Penh is a fasinating city, but you kind of have to did deep to find the charm. It's kind of an anything goes kind of place, be it guns, drugs or prostitution but that's not really a bad thing. The Cambodian people are incredibly nice, and always have a smile for you. Sure they're always trying to sell you something, but they aren't nearly as pushy as the Vietnamese, and they do try to be genuinely helpful. All I had to do was walk the street of the backpackers ghetto, and you would be greeted by everyone you met, be it the lady that sold you cigarettes, or the moto driver you had two days ago. I really wasn't expceting to like Phnom Penh, and it does have its flaws, but if you're looking for a ncie place to chill out and relax, its definietly a place to do that.

Phnom Penh - The Bad & The Ugly

2006-02-21T07:01:00.000-05:00

I wasn't really expecting much from Phnom Penh. I had heard that there wasn't much there, it was really poor, and pretty much to pass through on the way to Siem Reap. Well there isn't really much to do, it is insanely poor, but the place has this weird energy, that I really got into, and wish I could have stayed a bit longer. There really aren't that many sights to see, and the city is so spread out that you can't really walk it, like you could the Old Quarter of Hanoi. The Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda are pretty nice, and it was good to see an architectural change from the Vietnamese. The two main attractions, if you can even call them that though, are Tuol Sleng Museum, and The Killing Fields, both haunting reminders of the devastation that Pol Pot delivered to his own country in the 1970's. My first stop was the Tuol Sleng Prison (S-21), and as soon as you enter, you just want to leave. What used to be a school, was then turned into prison by Pol Pot, and thousands upon thousands were tortured and put to there death. The museum contains photos of bodies that were found there, killed in the final days of Pol Pot's regime, and there are also cells that held the captives. One of the major displays however is the hundreds and hundreds of photos taken of the prisoners upon arrival. It's just walls of pictures of men , women and children, and it's just impossible to imagine what they went through, although nearly all were fated for death. It was just too overwhelming.

The next stop was The Killing Fields, which was the final destination of most of the prisoners of Tuol Sleng. They were put in mass graves and buried, and the land is covered with overgrown holes where the bodies were buried. In the center is a memorial Stupa which houses the skulls of those bodies that were found, and then later given a proper burial. The craziest part of all that, is that there is a shooting range across the street where for various amounts you can fire pretty much nay weapon of your choice, be it AK-47 to a rocket launcher. Supposedly you're allowed to fire a rocket launcher at a live cow if you so desire, but you would have to be one sick fuck to do that. The weird thing is ,is that your moto driver with offer to take you to both, without a trace of irony in their voice. That should tell you something about Cambodia.

Life on the Mekong

2006-02-19T21:50:00.000-05:00

It's only about a 7 hour bus ride to get from Saigon to Phnom Penh Cambodia, but to tell you the truth I was sick of bus rides. You either travel at night and can't see anything, or you travel by day passing beautiful places, that you can't really appreciate since you're driving by so quickly. With that in mind I decided to do a three day boat tour of the Mekong Delta. It was great. The fist boat kind of sucked, but the people were nice, and the views were great. We also got to stop in villages along the way, and see various stages of rice production. From harevesting, to the making of rice paper, and Vietnamese Rice Krispies treats. It was insanely touristy, but there were always free samples, so I wasn't about to complain.

Once again, just like the Halong Bay tour, there were quite a mix of people, but most were great. There were a few overbearing tourists, but they were easy enough to avoid. The group shrank after the night in Can Tho, as the three dayers went on to Chau Duc, and the two dayers went back to Saigon, so that was kind of a bit better. We then went to a floating market which was cool, and all the boats, have tied to their masts, what it is they're selling, so you kind of cruise along till you find what you like, or they find you. We got found by a pineapple boat, and I think we made their day. We all must have bought 20 pineapples (all cut the way I described in the Hoi An post). After the floating market we headed back to Can Tho to change boats.

This gave us some time to tour the city a bit, and I found this guy selling the most amazing sandwiches on the street. It was a bagette spread with an herbal pesto (maybe cilantro based), and then he put in a few skewers of Vietnamese sausages. This was then topped with sauted onions, and picked carrots and cabbage. Hot sauce and fish sauce were then added, and all this for 3000 dong (about $.20). Why I didn't buy 10 is beyond me. I did have an ice cream cone though, and that was pretty great as well. Then it was on to the new boat. This, was the best boat ever! It had a roof top deck, and beer, what more could you ask for. The boat trip was a few hours and we got to see the sun set on the Mekong. Boats really are such a nice way to travel. So much better then the bumpy potholed roads of south-east asia.

We spent the night in Chau Duc, and the bugs were insane. The mosquitos weren't that bad, but the Gnats or whatever were everywhere. The next day we were off to the Cambodian border, and dispite the fact that I had forgotten another passport photo. We all got through without a hassle, and unfortuneatly we got on a crap boat that took us to Phnom Penh, because the fast boat had been impounded by the police!

Over all the trip was great, and I met some amazing people. I even met a girl who had graduated from Queen's a few years ago (although we figured out that I hadn't TA'ed her), so we passed the time talking aobut Kingston, and the south-east asian food there. I alos met an English couple (Katherine and Miles) who were on their honeymoon, and a German guy (Thomas). We all got along pretty well, and ended up hanging out in Phnom Penh, and then Siem Reap. The best part of the trip though was definietly the view, I also kept getting this Apocalypse Now vibe while tooling up the Mekong, which was also pretty fun.

The Sketchiest Night of my Life

2006-02-13T10:09:00.000-05:00

I'm 33, I've had plenty of sketchy nights. I've seen friends get chased with Tire Irons, been threatened with a knife, and surrounded by a bus load of pissed off Huskies fans after the Vanier Cup. And those are just the night I care to mention, I mean my Mom's reading this. The other night in Saigon though...Sketchiest night of my life.

It started in the Pham Ngo Lao region of Saigon which is the main backpackers area. The German guy I was hanging out with, Greg, who is hearing impaired, and has a bit of a speach impediment, along with a German accent, has this weird obsession with finding a Vietnamese girl. We see all these Western people with Vietnamese women, and he's like "How do they get them? Are they all being paid?" It's like he thinks that every single one of them just landed here like he did, and were handed a Vietnamese girl on arrival. So needless to say, he feels his missing out. He doesn't want to pay a prostitute, but he wants to hang out with one it seems. Great people I find while traveling. So we're sitting in the GO2 bar, and Gregs getting more and more pissed off. "There must be somewhere else everyone is going, we need to find that place". Whatever, I'm just along for the ride, and I feel like beer, so I could care less. Of course the idiot hasn't looked in the Lonely Planet or anything for good night clubs, so I'm not about to tell him about Apocalypse Now, which is supposedly a happening place. So we finish our drinks and start walking the streets. Greg goes off to look for something and a moto driver asks if I want women or something, and I say no, just as Greg walks up the driver mentions Apocalypse. FUCK! Greg wants to go, and since I'm in the mood for beer I reluctantly agree. So we hop on and head there. The place is pretty packed, and looking good, so we settle down for a drink, but After 20 minutes Greg wants to leave. WHAT??? Turns out there were too many gays there (who the fuck am I hanging out with) At this point I just want to go home, but Greg on a mission, and I feel I'm along for the ride. So we walk out side and find our moto drivers and he says he'll take us to another place. DAMN IT! Well the next place is empty, and I'm getting a bad feeling about this. WE ask where everyone is. "Upstairs." is the answer. OK time to leave the place is a brothel. Next place, same thing. I just want to get back to Pham Ngo Lao, and go home. Luckily Greg agrees and we go back. On the way to the hostel we pass the Guns and Roses bar, and Greg wants a drink. At this point, I need a drink, so we go in. The place is full of drunk Westerners,and prostitutes. Great!

Now I have no problem with prostitution as a career choice. Not conceptually anyway. I even think it should be legalized, so that more control will be handed over to the girls. That being said I want nothing to do with sleeping with a hooker. It might be the best sex I've ever had, but that would be the end of sleeping with girls back in North America. It's not so much that I think the girls are dirty, but I can guarantee that the guys are. They've probably slept with hookers all over the world, and I ain't touching that shit. I can understand why the girls do it though. All of the ones that I've talked to are doing it to support their family, and you can see why. Vietnam pays like crap. A tour guide, just to pick a job that also deals with tourists, probably pays only a few dollars a day, maybe a little more. A hooker charge $70 a night, and since they don't appear to have pimps, they get to keep all that. That's a ton for these families, so I can see why they make the choice. It's sad that they do have to choose that, but I can see why they do, especially if they don't have an education, which most don't. Plus, most of the one's I've talked to say that the Westeren men treat them better than the Asian men, so I guess that's a plus. Now that that's out of the way, back to the sketchiness.

So we go into the bar, and start talking with these fat Americans Business men who are out for a night on the town. They're looking for a friend who seems to have disappeared, and they have no idea where. Off in the alley, off with a girl? They have no idea. Greg is enjoying the show, and I have to admit so am I. It's just such a weird scene that I can't help but enjoy it. I mean I know how I'm getting home, so there is no worry for me. Greg on the other hand is starting to look interested. Some girls come over to us, and one of them wants to trade Earrings and nose rings with me. I try to tell her that hers wouldn't quite match the look I'm going for, but she just finds that funny. These girls know how to work the charm. I mean there is now of that "Me so Horny, me love you long Time" stereotypical crap going on. These girls are nice, and superfreindly. Again, these girls know what they're going, and they do it well. It's working on Greg.

Greg and I extricate ourselves from the girls, and head over to the bar where this young Vietnamese guys invites us over to chat, and to help him finish the bottle of Tequilla he has. Now if you know me (and if you don't, Hi, I'm Peter, nice to meet you), you know my feeling on Tequilla, so I passed. The guy is nice, and we're just shooting the shit, watching the girls and guys do their thing when the girl beside us goes off to buy this guy a pack of smokes. While she's gone, we ask him how its going, and he's like "She keeps buying me drinks, but I'm not going home with her, so I don't know why she's doing it" RIGHT! Whatever dude. He might actually believe what he's saying butthe way he acts with the girl, tells the room something else. The girls name is Lan, and she starts talking with us about stuff, and she starts to make catty remarks about the other girls. "That girls boobs are fake, that one's really a guy..." It's getting weird, but funnier than hell, and I'm at a loss for what I've gotten myself into. Lan then starts showing us pictures of her family and friends, and she had two damn cute kids.

So the evening is weird, but I'm having a good relaxed time, when I feel a tap on my shoulder. I turn and their is this English guy inches from my face. "You good?" He asks. Yeah I'm good. "So you're OK?" Yeah I'm fine, thanks for asking. "Are you good I ask" Yeah I'm good he replys. The whole time he's just staring at me, and I'm not sure if he's just trying to focus, or if he's trying to get into a fight. Great I think, I'm going to get into a bar fight in a hooker joint in Saigon. My Mother is going to be so proud." He asks me again if I'm OK and this goes on for minutes. He then asks if Greg and I want a drink which I decline, and Greg accepts. The guy makes no move to get the drinks, and we just keep staring at each other. I'm not goign to turn my back on this guy, and I just keep getting a bad feeling about the whole situation. Finally I offer him a drink, which he accepts. Now if there is one thing I've leaned over the years it's that if there is one thing a drunk likes more than fights, it's another drink. This bit of info has served me well over the years, and if the guy still wants to fight, well then he's that much drunker, so it's really a win-win situation.

Fianlly the guy goes away, and I turn to Greg, that we need to get the fuck out of there now. He's just ordered a drink though, so it looks like we're stuck, since there is no way I'm leaving by myself. Some more girls come over and chat with us, but leave when I say I don't pay. We start chatting with Lan again, and I can tell Greg is into her. He's also pretty drunk at this point, and in true German fashion, it also means he's getting more agressive and confrontational. He keeps pulling Lan over to ask her the stupidest questions, and now he's just pissing me off. Lan makes it clear that she's with that other guy, and buys us a round of drinks, which we politely accept, I mean it was a no strings attached drink from a hooker, how can you say no. To make matters worse the drunk English guy comess back to say that no one likes my kind. MY KIND???? It's like the scene in Star Wars where Luke enters the Mos Eisley Cantina, and that guy goes "My friend doesn't like you....I don't like you either" Yeah it's just like that, but with a smelly English guy as opposewd to Aliens. Americans he means. "American? I'm Canadian, everyone likes us" I say. Now that wasn't really a lie, but it wasn't totally the truth though, but I'm not about to give this guy the satisfaction of telling him I'm American. "Canadians are the same as Americans," he says. Now those are fighting words. Fuck this guy, he just really pissed me off. Then I make some commnet about how Canada at least has a mind of its own, and how GWB's hand is so far up Tony Blairs ass, it's not even funny. This makes matters worse. At this point though I could really care less, this guy is bugging the crap out of me and I've had enough. A few minuites go by, and then he asks "So are you OK" Fuck what is with this guy and that damn stupid questions. Finally the guys leaves oddly enough with the missing guy from earlier. Lan leaves with the Aussie guy (told ya!), and at 4am, we finally leave. I have never been so happy to get to a hostel in my life. Honestly though it was a pretty fun night, and I talked with a lot of interesting people.

P.S. Two night later, the night before I'm leaving Greg and I go out for a few more drinks and ran into Lan at the Go2 Bar. He greets us warmly, and tells us she's heading to Apocalyse Now. Greg wants to go later, but I have to get up early for a Mekong Tour. While we were walking to another place I run into the Two Isreali girls from the Nha Trang post. They want a drink, Greg wants a drink, I want to go home, but two Israeli women and a German are pretty strange bedfellows so I go for a drink. I left with Greg trying to get the girls go to Apocalyse. He never made it home that night. I hope it was a good night rather than bad and that everything turned out OK.

Nha Trang

2006-02-12T05:21:00.000-05:00

Sorry if these posts seem more like Blahgs than Blogs, but I keep falling behind on the posts so always feel like I'm cramming in too much. I'll try to be better about it, but honestly I'm heading to the Mekong Delta and then up to Cambodia in the next few days, so it will probably get worse. Now that that's out of the way, on to Nha Trang.

There is really only one thing in Nha Trang...The Beach. Well two I guess, but the other one's water, and really they're kind of the same thing. I mean what's a beach without water? A desert that's what, so really, still just one thing. That being said I didn't really go to the beach, but I did go in the water. So I guess you can have water without beach, but not the other way around. And no I'm not drunk, I'm just rambling, sorry, I'm just really tired.

So after arriving on Nha Trang at 7 am, and still a little woozy from the sedative I took on the bus (Yay, Vietnamese no-prescription pharmacies!)(Don't do drugs kids...drugs are bad), I decided to book a boat tour of the islands surrounding Nha Trang. The trip seemed fun, and you got to go snorkeling, so why not. I had just enough time to shower and grab a bite before heading off on the tour. The first Island we went to was Hon Mun, and we got to do some snorkeling, but it wasn't all that great since the visibility wasn't that good, and there didn't seem to be that many fish either. It was nice to be in the water though, and I met two groups of Canadians, one of which was born in Ha Long Bay, and immigrated to Canada. So we hung out and then went off to Hon Mot. There we ate lunch which was pretty tasty. We even had Sea Urchin soup which was mighty fine. I'm always impressed that these stupid little tour boats have such good food. After lunch things got weird....Really weird.

The cook brought out a home-made drum kit, and the skipper brought out a guitar, and the tour guide and another person did the singing. They then played a selection of songs,and it was freaky. Then they started going around asking people where they were from, and then playing songs from that country. The first country...Canada. Then the tour guide said "Canada, same-same as England right?" Well no, but apparently close enough for him,as he broke out a Beatles tune. The guy knew a German tune (not 99 Luft Ballons though, much to my disappointment), an Israeli tune, and even a Danish tune...Canada though gets the fucking Beatles. I'm just glad he didn't do Celine Dion though, because no Canadian tune is still better than Celine Dion, or that Bitch Ann Murry too. After the music it was time for the "Floating Bar", which was just one of the crew sitting in a life ring with a case of mulberry wine on his lap. That being said we still dove in like crazy, and drank the stuff. It was actually a bit of work since the current was pushing us away from the boat, and therefore the booze, since he was tethered to it. That part was actually a lot of fun, and it was nice just floating there talking to different people. Honestly, the islands didn't hold much to see, so this distraction was much needed or the tour would have been a snooze fest. We also went to Hon Ton, and Hon Mieu, where there was a pretty cool aquarium. I even saw one of those little round basket boats from The Amazing Race, you know the one that no one could paddle, and Flo and Zach had to get help and then got penalized...yeah that one. It should be noted that I probably got that all screwed up, and all the other TARFlies, are going to be bombarding me with what really happened, and I'll never be invited to another TARCon again. Supposedly we could have rented them ourselves to try out, but I don't remember ever being offered, and therefore my TARFly status should be revoked anyway.

That night I finally got a chance to tour around Nha Trang, and yeah, I return to my original statement. There is really only one thing in Nha Trang(or two things, but I'm not starting that again!). I knew that some of the people I roomed with in Hoi An were in town, so after dinner I went looking for them. After awhile I decided to give up and head back to the guesthouse. Then I head a Vietnamese girl shout "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie" and familiar voices going "Oy, Oy, Oy" I turned to look and there they were across the street. So I went over and joined them in the middle of their pub crawl. They were on bar 3 of seven, and by bar 4 some of them were looking a little rough. In fact one of them proceeded to throw up beside her. She was taken home, and our numbers continued to dwindle as we went from bar to bar. 19 year olds..what rank amateurs. I did the math though and realized that these kids were 4 then fist time I puked from drinking too much (Hi Mom!). Our last stop of the evening...The Castle Argggggh, our quest was at an end...or the Nha Trang Sailing Club whatever you want to call it (I can guarantee that my parents read that last sentence and have the biggest WTF [that's What the Fuck, Mom] look on their face right now). Buy that time we were down to five, but soon it was just Tosh, Anna and myself, and Anna and I just danced the of the night, since we both had no need for any more drinks. Then I saw these two Israeli women that I first saw on the bus from Hanoi and Hoi An. Ever since then I've seen them all over the place, no matter what city I went to. I go to Cafe on Thu Wheels, there they are booking a tour. I saw them in Hoi An, and even on one of the other Tour boats in that morning. They're everywhere, and I've never said a word to them, because they've always come across as pain in the asses. I don't know why I felt that way, but it was a sense I got (well I do kind of know why, but I really don't feel like typing it out). Well, anyway, I was drunk, and I felt I just had to talk to them, or it would bother me the rest of my life. Turns out they were pretty nice, and once I told them I was Jewish, we were fast friends. The night soon ended, and so we said good-bye, and I went and joined Tosh and Anna on the beach for some mellowing out time.

And that was basically Nha Trang. I went to the beach the next day, but it was pretty cloudy so it wasn't all that good. The next day was my flight to Saigon, and it was storming so it was a good day to leave. Except that the storm caused our plane to be delayed 5 hours, so that kind of sucked, but it was still better than the bus.

Hoi An

2006-02-09T22:05:00.000-05:00

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Hoi An. Hoi fucking An. I'm not sure why I had built this place up in my mind, and I'm not sure why I was dying to get here, but after all that build up, Hoi An actually turned out better than expected. On the bus from Hue, I ran into a few backpackers I met in Hanoi, so we decided to join together and try to find a place to stay. Sure the bus let us off in front of a nice place, but it must be some backpackers code, that you just can't take the first place that offered, you have to shop around. And booking ahead? That's just cheating. We tried to find a place that Lonely Planet recommended, but neglected to give the address for. Thanks Lonely Planet. We must have walked for about an hour before finding the place, and later we found out it was a 5 minute walk from the first place we went too. The Green Field Hotel was OK. Cleanish, cheap, had a pool and free internet. What clinched it for us though was when the guy said "free drinks". Our ears perked up, "how many?" we asked. "As much as you can drink he laughed". There had to be a catch, and of course there was. We asked how many, but neglected to ask "How long?" Turns out it was just for Happy Hour. Honestly though, the drinks were strong and nasty, so you really didn't want to drink them for that much longer.

I ended up sharing a room with Rachel and Jasmine, since the triple rooms were a queen bed and a single, and non of the guys wanted to share a room. I felt that I was kind of imposing, but we had all slept in the same dorm, so it really wasn't that different. After a dip in the non-heated pool, we decided to rent some motorbikes. The guy we were renting them from ran out however, so he ended up lending me his. We negociated a good price, and then he said he wanted to take us to his Aunts shop, so we can get some clothes made. Always a catch. Now Hoi An is famous for its tailors. They can copy anything, and have it done in a day including a few fittings. There are shops all over the place, and you can get a new suit made for like $50. So we went to his Aunts shop, and she started trying to sell us stuff, we tried to tell her we just wanted to know the location, since we weren't trying to buy stuff until tomorrow. So after that if was off on the motor bikes.

If there is one thing more fun than sitting on the back of a motorbike, it's riding one. Those things are fucking awesome. Sure it took me a bit of getting used to, and in the mean time nearly killed a few people, but still, too much fun. Hoi An isn't that big, so we just cruised around for a while, and met up with some other people and had dinner. Hoi An has some culinary specialties, which make it unique. One of them is Cao Lau Do, which is a noodle dish that can supposedly only be made in Hoi An, since the water used in the dish comes form an ancient Cham well in Hoi An. Aficionados can supposedly tell the difference, but since this was the first time I had eaten it, what did I know. The other thing that you only seem to find in Hoi An is Fried Won Tons. No idea why, but they're on all the menus...and they're good. They're usually topped with some kind of fruit salsa, and that makes them much tastier than the crap you can get in Chinese restaurant in North America.

The next day it was time to hit the beach. After the cold and rain of the North, it was nice to actually put on a pair of shorts and just sit in the sun. How 8 people can go to the beach , and all forget sunscreen is beyond me though. We're all fricking morons. Eventually Rachel went back to get some, but I still got a little burnt. The beach was too much fun. You can get anything there. Cold drinks, fruit, massages, pedicures, and this weird string-leg shaving thing, that apparently works, but I just don't get. We were buying so much stuff that at one point we had more hawkers than travelers. One of the coolest things, was what they did to pineapples. If you ordered a pineapple, they would take off all the leaves and making of a stem, then they cut away the outside, and did these diagonal slashed to remove the nasty woody bits. What you're left with in a pineapple on a stick, and you just eat it like a candy apple or something. I think I about 3 just so I can watch them make it. I've got to try it at home, but I know I'll just butcher it.

After the beach it was time to do some clothes shopping. All the pants I had brought are heavy cotton, and they're just too hot, so I figured I'd get some light pants made, and some 3/4 length pants. One of the other girls we were with, took us to the shop owned by the sister of the hotel owner she was staying with, but I felt I had to be loyal,a and go to the bike guys shop. I ran into him there as I was looking through catalogs, and he asked where my friends were, I said I didn't know, but he eventually saw them in another place, and he wasn't impressed. He started lecturing me about it, and how dissapointed he was, but I explained that I had known these people for a week or two, and therefore had zero control over what them did. I was there like I promised and that was all I could do. He eventually got over it, but it ruined any chance I had at negociating a good price.

Later at the hotel, I ran into another group of Aussie girls from Hanoi, and we hit the poolside bar for happy hour. Those drinks were nasty, but it don't stop us from pounding them back. I don't think I've seen a group of women that can drink as much as Australian women. Those girls are hard-core, and if you want a fun time, where ever you are, then find your nearest Aussie. If you have trouble finding one, just yell out "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie", and then head in the direction that the "Oy, Oy, Oy" came from. We ended up drinking all night, and it just got worse when they found out they had missed my birthday. We ended up shutting down the bar, taking some for the road and then cleaning out the hotel mini-bar. Then for some reason we thought it would be a good idea to head to the beach. That actually was a pretty good thing, because it was a nice clear night, and I think it was the first time I had seen a load of stars since landing in Vietnam.

The next day was a little rough. Did get in some sightseeing though. Hoi An was barely touched during the American War, so it still has this old French feel to it, that is then mixed with some cool Chinese buildings, and it makes for quite a beautiful place. Some of the streets are even closed to motorized traffic, which makes it even better. There were also some really cool markets by the water with a wide assortment of weird foods, and crazy fruits and vegetables. After walking around a bit, I headed back to the tailor to pick up my clothes, and on the way back, ran into the bike guy, who needed his bike back. We agreed to meet at the hotel in 20 minutes, and after we met, he never even asked for any money. He then offered to drive me the 50 km to My Son to see old Cham ruins. This was going to cost me I thought, no one can be that nice. Turns out one guy can. He took me for free,and even bought me breakfast and lunch. Every time I tried to pay, he would refuse and kind of turn away. At the end of the day I tried to give him $20 bucks, but he just said no and drove away. I was starting to feel a little guilty about not buying more clothes. I still am in shock over how nice that guy was. After that anytime he saw me on the street (and Hoi An is small, so you run into everybody at least twice a day), he would stop to chat. Totally amazing guy. The Cham ruins were pretty neat, but I think I was expecting more. Very interesting place though, and it just made me all the more excited to go to Ankor Wat.

I hung around Hoi An another day, and tried in vain to get on a train to Nha Trang, unfortunately they were all full, which meant I had another god damn 12 hour bus ride to Nha Trang. Learning my lesson though (finally), I did buy a plane ticket from Nha Trang to Saigon. Just the thought of a long bus ride made me ill. Plus the flight was only $35 bucks so how can you go wrong. I hadn't quite realized that my time left in Vietnam was rapidly coming to a close, so if I want to tour the Mekong, I really need to start moving. It meant missing Dalat, but oh well, I'll just have to come back. On my last day in Hoi An, everyone I knew had already gone so I decided to treat my self to a nice meal. I went to Hoi An Hai San, an amazing seafood restaurant run by a Swedish Ex-pat. The food was insanely good. It started with Steamed clams, then fried Calamari, then these huge grilled prawns, and ended with this grilled Tuna skewers. It definitely was one of the best meals I've eaten in Vietnam (the best being the dinner in Sapa with a Tay family...which I just realize I still haven't written about). For desert the guy homemade homemade passion fruit ice cream, which was a nice cool down after being in the Vietnamese sun all day.

The cherry on top of my trip to Hanoi, was that the bus wasn't full, so I got the whole row to myself. Me and this other Canadian were the only ones to get that, and every time the bus stopped we just prayed no one else would get on. So Hoi An....go there you can't have a bad time. Shopping, food, beach, Aussie girls (but not in that way, you pervs)....it's like paradise.

Hue

2006-02-01T06:29:00.000-05:00

Truthfully when I got off the bus in Hue, I just wanted to climb back on. The town looked like a dump, and the rain wasn't helping matters. Hoi An seemed like a far off dream at this point, and I just wanted to be transported there. The pain throughout my body, and the cold sweats from just thinking about getting back on the bus, finally made me reconsider. Plus, I only had to stay a night. I needed a bed...and a shower. Walking the streets looking for a place was made ever so enjoyable by the numerous hawkers who constantly pester you to ride their cyclo, or take you to there hotel, where they'll get a commission for bringing you in. I learned to ignore these in Hanoi, but my mood didn't make these people any more bearable. Finally I found a nice little guesthouse that Lonely Planet recommended, and while it looked a little shabby, it did have hot water and a nice balcony overlooking the street. All that for only $5. After washing the bus ride off me, it was time to see what Hue had to offer.

Not much it seemed. Hue isn't a gorgeous city, but since a lot of emperors lived in Hue, the surrounding area had a lot of Tombs and Palaces. Mark and Kate, from my Halong Bay trip had recommended Cafe on Thu Wheels for a good tour of the area, so I headed there after eating some breakfast on the street. Cafe on Thu Wheels is run by Thu, a women whose size is inversely proportional to her presence. Thu is amazing. She's one of those people that you meet that within seconds you would tell her all your darkest secrets if only she would ask. She just draws you in. I booked a tour for the next day, and I would still have time to catch the 2:30 bus out of Hue for Hoi An. Except that the bus was full already. Oh well, I guess it's two nights in Hue.

As I mentioned Hue was home to Numerous Emperors of Vietnam, and across the Perfume River from the city of Hue sits the former Royal Palace, which is a shadow of its former self due to the destruction during the French and American War. Hue lies just on the outskirts of the Demiliterized Zone, and was therefore bombed heavily. Restoration has occurred though, and the walls surrounding the city are still intact. While walking the Forbidden Purple City (which is now mostly ruins and grass), I ran into a guy I met in Hanoi, so we toured around together. Hue was actually starting to grow on me. It helped that the sun had finally come out. The palace was pretty amazing and it was hard to believe that just a few hundred meters away there was a sea of people and motorbikes honking away.

I later met up with Steve for dinner where we went to this restaurant that was built in this huge garden. Once again sheltered form the noise of the city we were able to enjoy a great meal, accompanied by some traditional Vietnamese folk musicians. It was a little touristy, but the food was good, and I was just happy not to be alone on my Birthday.

The next day one of Thu's drivers picked me up at my Hotel, and then proceeded to take me back to Thu's for some breakfast (which wasn't included in the tour price). It's a darn fine racket that lady runs. Coming with me on the tour were a few other people including a guy from Montreal. We then proceeded top leave Hue (Yay!), and follow the perfume river. We got to visit a nice Japanese covered bridge, and then on to the Thein Mu Pagoda. The pagoda is home to over 65 monks, and these were the monks that traveled to Saigon and set themselves on fire. Luckily they don't do that any more, but we did get to hear some great chanting. Supposedly they sometimes chant Bob Marley, but either I didn't recognize it, or it just wasn't done this time. Either way, the chanting was good, and had great beat.

After the Pagoda we once again followed the Perfume River to some Tombs. The best one was the Tomb of Tu Duc, who ruled in the mid 19th century. This guy likes it elaborate that's for sure, since the grounds went on for ever, and was just stunning. I guess it really was what you would expect for an emperor who had 104 concubines, and demanded that his tea be made with the dew that was collected off of the flowers in the morning. The peace and calm of both the pagodas and Tomb areas, was a welcome calm from the noise of the city.

Overall the tour was great, and it was fun to just be on the motorbikes all day. It turned out to be a good choice since a guy I met the next day, had done the boat tour, and said it was a rip off. All in all Hue was nice, not the Jewel of Vietnam, but the countryside more than made up for the city. That being said it was nice to finally board the bus for Hoi An, and luckily this one was only 4 hours.

The Longest 12 Hrs of My Life

2006-01-31T04:46:00.000-05:00

So I needed to get the heck out of Hanoi. Great place, and I had a good time, but it was finally time to start heading south. However, because of Tet this wasn't as easy as it seems. The train was booked solid until tomorrow, so the only option was the bus. Big mistake. It was more like a meat wagon then anything else. Honestly they were 12 horrible hours, and I'm so glad its done. Unfortunately I'm now in Hue for my Birthday, and, this place kind of sucks. It's nice enough I guess, but really not much to see or do. I can now take pictures of all this excitement though, as I did buy a new camera before leaving Hanoi. Anyway more on the excitement that is Hue later. This computers space bar sucks, and I'm getting sick of re-spacing everything.

Haircut in Hanoi

2006-01-30T04:06:00.000-05:00

So my hair was getting a bit shaggy, and with time to kill in Hanoi, I figured it was time for a cut. I was asked if I wanted a cut and wash or just a cut. What the hell, I could use a shower, so why not. Then everything turned weird. They sat me in the chair and put on the shampoo. Now at this point my hair was bone dry, so I didn't know what was going on. She started working the shampoo into my head while squirting water over my head at the same time. After I was all lathered up, she then took me to the sink to wash it all off. That's when things got good. She started giving me a scalp massage, and then spent 10 minutes washing and massaging my face. After that it was back to the hair which she washed again, well actually violently assaulted my hair would be a better way of putting it. She washed scrubbed and then vigorously scrubbed my hair, and used her fingers as Q-tips. After that it was another wash, and that was that. Honestly my hair has never been cleaner...like ever.

after that she gave me a pretty spiffy new haircut, and not I don't feel like such a shlub. The massage itself was worth the $5 it cost me. I almost wish I needed another haircut just to do that again. It was a great way to end my visit to Hanoi.

FUCK!!!!!!!

2006-01-28T02:29:00.000-05:00

So my camera got stolen. Or I lost it on the train....Either way FUCK!!!!!!!! GOD MOTHERFUCKING DAMN IT!!!!!!

FUCK!!!!!!!!

The Train to Sapa

2006-01-27T23:18:00.000-05:00

After getting off the bus in Hano from Halong bay, it was time to try and book a trip the Northern Mountains of Vietnam, mainly Sapa and the surrounding villages that are home to the numerous hill tribes of Vietnam. I was hoping to leave that night on a over-night train, as that would give me time for three days of hiking, and still allow me to make it back to Hanoi for Tet. The first place walked into told me there was no way they could get me on a train until the 1st of February. Well Fuck, there goes that schedule. It doubly sucked, as with Tet approaching, the train to Hue or Hoi An would also be pretty full. So it looked like I was stuck in Hanoi for another week, which wasn't good considering I had pretty much seen everything I wanted to see.

Dejected I walked back to the Hanoi Backpackers Hostel, and told Barry at the desk my plight. He was quickly on the phone with the train station checking availability. Turns out he could book me a trip leaving the next night and returning the mourning of Tet eve. Perfect. It also turned out that there was another backpacker heading to Sapa on a two-day trek, and I could join him if I wished. So perfect. Not only would I get the trip to Sapa that I wanted, but I'd also have company. It seemed almost too good....

The next day as the time for departure drew closer, there was still no sign of the other guy.He had been on a tour of Halong Bay, but was scheduled to return around 4pm, and it was almost 8pm. By 9pm, there was still no sign of him, and I had to get to the train station, so it looked like I was going to Sapa alone. This also put the Hostel in a awkward position as, normally the trip would be more expensive singly, and they had already got the other guys train ticket. Luckily, since it was not my fault, the hostel decided not to charge me extra, and I was soon motoring to the train station. I was booked on a hard sleeper as opposed to a soft sleeper which meant the mattress was thinner and there were two more people (6 in total) in the cabin with you. I eventually found my cabin, and saw 4 pair of Asian eyes staring at me. Damn, I thought, this is going to be one long quiet train ride. Once again my fears were proved to be pointless, as one of the ladies spoke English. It turned out her and her friend were from Singapore, and while her friend only spoke mandarin, she could speak both. The other two people were young Vietnamese boys returning home to Sapa for Tet. The Boys left to go walking around the train, and me and the Singapore ladies started chatting and we shared a few beers. The lady had just had a few bad experiences dealing with the Vietnamese, so she was a little bitter and was glad I was there as she was a little leary of staying in the cabin with the boys.

Eventually the boys came back and we soon found out that one of the kids was studying in China, and knew Mandarin, so it turns out we could all communicate pretty well. With mandarin being the main language, and the boy translating for his friend, and Helen Translating for me. It actually turned out to be quite fun, although I did feel bad for the boys since Helen and Lois spent a lot of the time teasing the boys about studying hard and avoiding the ladies, so as not to waste the parents money. I tried to tell them to go for the girls, but then I think you all know where my priorities lie.

So all and all it was quite the fun train ride, and I met some interesting people that I wouldn't normally have met. Helen even offered to let me stay at her place in Singapore!

Ha Long Bay

2006-01-27T22:55:00.000-05:00

Sitting in the minibus waiting for the other passengers to be picked up, I started to feel a little nervous. The fist people picked up were an American family with a kid, and then an older couple who turned out to be from Darwin. This tour group wasn't looking to be the funnest group of people I've ever seen. The last people picked up were a young couple, so my concern was at least dissipated a bit. It turns out I couldn't have been more wrong, the people on the tour were awesome, and some of the nicest I've met while traveling, and even as I type this I still feel bad that I even had a moments bad thought about the tour.

The trip up to Halong City was long, but everyone was in a good mood, and the time passed pretty quick. The weather was the only sour point, as the haze that clung to Hanoi seemed to be even stronger in Halong Bay, and it was also joined with a cold wind that made enjoying the boat deck a little hard. The view though, made freezing worth it. I don't think any pictures can do justice to Halong bay, and its just something that has to be seen. The karst system is spectacular, and it just seems to strech forever. After a great lunch on the boat, Binh (our tourguide), took us for tour of Surprising Cave, which was an expansive system of caves with spectacular rock formations (including penis rock), and stalactites.

We then got to go kayaking in some secluding coves so that we could investigate the rocks a little closer. The water was as calm as a lake, which was just weird for the ocean, but I wasn't going complain. It made the Kayaking easier, and kept the sea sickness at bay. We paddled to one of the mountains so we hike to the top and get a view of the bay, but the fog made the view somewhat limited (but nothing like in Hong Kong).We then went back to the boat for another great dinner, and lamented the fact that it was such an overcast night, and would therefore see no stars.

The next day we unfortunately had to say goodbye to Emily, Lea, and Jane, and the rest of continued on to Cat Ba Island to do some hiking. The hike wasn't that hard, but the rocks were sharp, and since I'm a total Klutz, I managed to scrap up my leg and cut my hard. Everyone else managed to make it through relatively unscathed. As we ate lunch just off of Cat Ba anchored to a small fishing shack, the sun finally came out, and we decided that it was time for a swim. The water was ass cold, but it was great to be able to finally swim. We then kayaked a little more before heading to Cat Ba town for our final night of the tour. We checked into the hotel, and had a nice hot shower (well everyone but me, my water for some reason was luke warm, the bastards). Feeling a little beat, and needing a drink Mark, Kate and I headed to the nearest Bia Hoi bar, for some of the best 15 cent beer you'll ever find. After dinner we headed to another bar after a fruitless quest to find a good bottle of rice wine that Binh wanted to treat us to. I guess none of the bottles passed the mustard, because we had to wait until the next day when we returned to Halong Bay to try some.

After a night in Cat Ba, we again boarded a boat to take us back to Halong Bay. It turned a bit cold again so we all sat in the cabin and Binh taught us some Vietnamese card games. Again Halong bay is stunning, but it was really the people that made the trip. The group was diverse, but all had great respect for the country, and I was able to learn a lot, not only about other places in Vietnam, but also about a group of people I wouldn't have had the opportunity to normally meet. I think one of the greatest things to see was how Evan, who was 10 years old, handled everything. He had been traveling with his parents for a few months, and he's just the best kid I've ever met. I remember how I was when I was 10, and there is no way I could have handled a trip like this. My parents would have had to have packed a suitcase just filled with peanut butter, because I never would have eaten most of this stuff back then. There are many hotels that strech from Ho Chi Minh to Hanoi, that owe Evan a percentage of their profits because anytime we asked about a place to stay in certain city, he would produce a card or brochure from great place.

So then it was back to Hanoi. The next destination was to be Sapa...but that's a whole other story.

Breakfast in Hanoi

2006-01-27T21:59:00.000-05:00

There are really two ways to eat breakfast in Vietnam. There's the Vietnamese way, which is usually Pho Bo(A noodle soup with beef and vegetables to which you add chilies, herbs, lime or whatever), and then there is the Western way. Eating Pho usually means grabbing a little stool on the street sitting down and just digging in with the locals.The French presence in Vietnam history has left an mark on the cuisine, and you can get some really good baked goods and pastries anywhere you go here. Usually I choose the Vietnamese way, since the Pho is amazing, and really gets you going in the morning. Plus, a big bowl costs around a dollar, so it really can't be beat.

That being said there is something special about sitting in a cafe in Vietnam sipping coffee, and eating some french toast and a bagette. You can't help but feel a little colonial, like you're a french gentlemen coming to Vietnam to teach the savages how to be civilized, despite the fact that anyone who has been to France can tell you who really needs to teach who some civility. After a 9 hour train from Lao Cai in a cockroach inhabited sleeper, it was a nice to feel a little bourgeois. So I sat in the cafe read some Marquez, and tried to regain a little bit of calm amongst the hustle and bustle of pre-Tet Hanoi. It was a welcome feeling, and not one I really thought I'd need on this trip. The feeling was short-lived however, as 10 minutes later I was seated on the street corner eating a bowl of Pho Bo amidst the constant honking of the motorbikes

Indecision 2006

2006-01-25T01:58:00.000-05:00

It was time to leave Hanoi, and head over to Ha Long Bay. This would normally be an easy thing to do. You either take a bus, or book a tour at the countless number of travel agents throughout Hanoi. This however, didn't keep me from taking over two days to make a decision. You have to watch out about some of the tour groups you see, since due to the non-existent copyright laws in Vietnam, new places can open out and steal the name of more established and legitimate places. This was easy enough to get past though, as the ever-handy Lonely Planet makes find the legit ones easy. The problem I was having was with what tour to actually book. It's really the people that can make a tour, and traveling alone, who wants to spend three days at sea with 10 60 year old German tourists? So the hunt was on to find a tour not only that I liked the schedule of, but also that had the right mix of people.

Asking around the Hostel made the choice even harder as three girls who were planning on going, were postponing a day to wait for their friend to recover from the Laotian "Happy Shakes". So I could delay a day, but that would have thrown things off a bit with Tet fast approaching. There were two people going the same day, but they were taking a luxury tour, which was a little out of my price range, I was starting to panic. Luckily as the zero hour approached I ran into three awesome Kiwi girls who were going on a two-day tour with the travel company I like the best, so off we went to see if the first day of both tours were the same, and that way I would of least have a few nice people for the first day. Luckily it all worked out, and the tour was booked.

I never really thought that I would mind traveling on my own, but this day really highlighted one of the problems I might have in the future. I really have to make my own choices, and if I make a mistake, I've got only myself to blame. And those choices can seriously affect the enjoyment of my trip. That being said, a bad day in Vietnam is still better than Canadian winters.

What's the ONE thing to do with one day in Hong Kong?

2006-01-25T01:47:00.000-05:00

That's what I asked the guy working the desk at the shit-hole of a hostel I was staying in. I had just flown into Hong Kong the night before and had a few hours to kill before catching my flight to Hanoi. I had already walked the streets of Causeway bay and eaten some octopus on a stick, and now that it was morning I was looking for the essential thing to do with a day in Hong Kong.

The answer was "The Peak"

The Peak is a mountain top look out, from which you can see the whole city of Hong Kong laid out before you. Excellent, seems like a great choice. I took the ubber clean and efficient MTR to central station (they even have TV's in the station on the walls of the tracks so you can watch while waiting for the train). I then took the Funicular (how Swiss!) up to the top of the mountain. This was the view I saw from the top.

Hong Kong it appears is all grey even the buildings. Honestly you couldn't see 6 feet in front of you due to the fog. It was actually really fun just out the the complete absurdity of it all. So in the end I went back down and checked out the Botanical gardens and Zoo. That was actually kind of neat, and I even got to see some Flamingos which reminded me of Miri and my Ultimate team.

A Driver Named Doan

2006-01-20T08:31:00.000-05:00

So after a morning running around trying to find out information on tours to Ha Long Bay and Sapa, I made , my way over to Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum...which was closed, but the museum was opening again at 2pm, so I figured why not walk around The Temple of Literature, and then grab a bite while I'm waiting. The Temple was really cool, and was a nice calm place in the heart of Hanoi. Back at Uncle Ho's I found out the museum was open, but the mausoleum was closed for the day. I figured I would just come back tomorrow, since if you're going to see a museum about Ho Chi Minh, you might as well pay a visit to the man himself, right?

So as I stood there looking in my Lonely Planet for something to do, a xe om driver approached and offered to drive me around. Now these drivers are everywhere, and normally I would have just brushed him off and head on my way. There was something about the guy though, plus he spoke perfect english, and had the worst breath, so I was intrigued. He offered to take me to a few spots including the Museum of Ethnology and the Hanoi Hilton, which I wanted to see anyway, so I figured why not. Plus he said he'd be my tour guide, so again, why the hell not. Now the museum was great, but it turns out the guys version of 'guide' was pointing to the english signs, and then making some random comment. Now this wasn't really a bad thing, because again..worst breath in the world. He then took me to this little back alley pond which had the remains of a B-52, shot down in the American war, sitting in it. It got a little weird when he got me to take a picture of the crash, with a school in the background. "So the new generation can lean" he said. O....K.... Then he took me to a Bonsai garden/old weapons park, so it was just getting weirder. Then it got truly strange.

"Have you ever eaten Snake?" Now I've eaten a bunch of weird shit in my day. Bear, Moose, Horse, Frog, Snails, Alligator...but snake, that might be too much. That being said, I did call this blog what I did, so could I really back out? So we drove out of Hanoi so I could eat snake, and my Driver could snake a free meal so to say. Now the thing I didn't quite realize was that they kill, gut and drain the thing in front of you...which was actually kind of cool. And then I did something I didn't think I'd ever do.

I ate the still beating heart of a fucking snake.

Mixed with its bile and alcohol of course. It ...wasn't so tasty, but not so bad either. They then proceeded to bring out 10 different courses, all containing my snake. Most of these dishes were pretty tasty to tell you the truth, some were awesome in fact. There was only one that really made me kind of gag, but that also could have just been from the shots of snake wine Doan kept pouring. To tell you the truth it tasted a lot like chicken. I came on this trip for experiences, and I have to say sitting in Hanoi eating snake while chatting for hours with this Vietnamese man definitely was an experience. Then he mentioned a friend of his that ran a brothel, "Nice and clean and safe!" Yeah...no.

So Why Are You Going to South-East Asia?

2006-01-19T11:25:00.000-05:00

I never got asked that question in Kingston. The States though, that's another story. I think I've been asked it too many times to count right now. I'm not sure if it's a USA thing or just an age thing, as the people asking were usually guests at the inn. It seems like the Vietnam war still lingers strong in their minds, and totally erases everything else about this area. Like 10 years out of thousands should ruin it forever. I got asked this question enough, that I came up with the trite answer "I'm just going for the food", it was simple enough, and not actually too far from the truth. But honestly, why do people ask this? Is it really that weird? I mean why go to Italy...the architecture? SE Asia's, got that. The culture?...got that too. The food?...maybe Kingston spoiled me, but I eat at Cambodian Village and Wok-In a heck of a lot more than I eat Italian. If should be noted though, that Vietnam Airs idea of Beef with noodles, was spaghetti with meat sauce, so maybe the two countries are somehow linked. Right now I just landed in Hanoi, so there isn't much to say. Although I have been approached by a few prostitutes, so there is that I guess.