Cambodia

Today is my last day in Cambodia, tomorrow morning I leave and have a lay over in KL for 5 hours, then I get into Hong Kong about midnight, it will be a long day. I have enjoyed this vacation so much, and I can't wait till I can travel again, but for a longer period of time. This was way too rushed. I could have easily stayed over a month in each spot.

The weather today was thankfully a bit cooler than yesterday. It had to at least hit 100 yesterday, and today it was about 95, but there were some clouds that blocked the direct sunlight. Yesterday the sun was so intense, I got a horrible migraine, which made seeing the sites not so fun. But today was wonderful.

Overall the trip was amazing. We met so many great people, and there was not once where I felt unsafe. (we were still careful though). Almost every time we went on a tour with a guide, we made friends with them and then they took us out in the evening and showed us the local spots, it was great. At each place we also met great people who were also traveling; it definitely makes the experience that much more amazing.

I forgot to write about this the other day, but there is a local tradition to southern parts of asia called betelnut, basically it is a leaf of a betel tree, a nut of a aerca (sp?) tree, and then lime all put together an chewed. They have been doing it for over a thousand years. The combination of these three make your mouth bright red and you have to spit out the saliva. So I met a woman in a small village who had some, and she said I could have some, so I tried it. It tasted basically like I was chewing on bark, a leaf, and then a bitter gross taste (from the lime). It burned a little then my mouth felt a little numb. It stained my mouth and teeth a redish color for about 6 hours, and the right side, where I was chewing it actually was burnt! It must be some sort of chemical reaction when adding the three. Two days later and I can still feel it! It is said to make you feel more alert like a mild stimulant (compared to drinking a cut of coffee), but maybe because of the burning, I didn't really notice. It was neat to get to try it with some locals, but I won't be doing that again!

Southern Laos and Cambodia

Sorry, I am going to do this one pretty brief.

First I gave the wrong name for where we were in Laos, it is called Pakse. So we went on a tour to 3 different breathtaking waterfalls, and tea and coffee plantations and also got to hang out in a local tribe villiage. Laos is amazing, and I want to go back there, 2 days was no where near enough time.

I made it to Cambodia, and it is amazing. Angkor Wat is even better than I expected. Pictures won't do it justice. I can't believe how huge it is and how detailed all the stones and temples are. I only wish I could have seen in about 800 years ago when it was new! But this is really amazing. I have one more day left in Cambodia, where I will go back to Angkor Wat to see more temples becuase it is impossible to see them all in one day. Then sunday morning I fly back to Hong Kong. Iwill get all my pictures added to the internet once I get back to Hong Kong.

Vietnam to Laos

The sleeper bus to Hue was interesting. I had a very close call in the first 20 mins of the trip when i got stomach pains and felt very very sick. But luckily it was a short sickness and threw up once and then felt fine. Was worried I was going to be sick the whole trip, but very thankful I wasn't. I have been trying to wash my hands a lot more, but it is difficult traveling like we are to be clean. Didn't manage to sleep too much, but the beds were kind of comfortable. We got off in Dung Ha about 2 hours outside of Hue to eat breakfast and found out they did vietnam military tours there and decided to stay for a tour and get a ride to Hue later. It was a great decision. Our tour guide was a local to the area and was 11 years old when the American War started (as they call it). His family had to give up their restaurant during the war and move to the next town over because the town was turned into a military base. Dung Ha is on the south side of the boarder, out of the 65,000 American soldiers who were killed in the war, 12,000 were killed there. He took us into a field where American bunkers were and we got to see a few of them, also saw some unexploded bombs that were missed by the mine clearers and the locals just leave them because many people have been injured by trying to remove the bombs. There was a trail and we made sure to stay on it! We then visited a cemetery of soldiers. After that we made our way to the boarder of North and South Vietnam and walked across the bridge and visited the war museum. Finally he took us to the underground tunnels. The North Vietnamese near the boarder had to live underground because of bombings. The tunnel we went through housed over 400 people. There were 3 different levels, the first 12 meters deep the second 15 meters deep and the 3rd 23 meters deep, we got to go into each level. Families had their own living quarters which were about 4 feet by 5.5 feet for up to 5 people. The tunnels were about 3.5 feet wide and 5.5 feet high. They had designated rooms for kitchens, bathrooms, and medical care, all very small. It was very cool to get to go through them. I could not imagine living like that.

From Dung Ha we went to Hue and spent the night. The next morning we got a bus to Savannahket, Laos. During this bus trip I saw some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen; lush green jungle like mountains and rivers and small mountain huts. In Savannahket we walked around a bit, then saw a bar where people were playing a game outside so we went there. It is a game pretty much like bochie ball, with just little differences. We ended up staying there and playing the game with the locals till midnight, and then went back to the hotel to sleep, it was a lot of fun.

This morning we caught a bus to Pahket, Laos. This bus was a local bus and parts of the ride were on dirt roads. The local bus was a smaller version of a school bus with less comfortable seats and no air conditioning. It is probablly in the 90's here too. The bus would drive and when it got to a small town it would beep a lot and then locals would come out to the road and hop in. It was hot and uncomfortable, but really cool to experience.

Today is Wed, and our flight leaves Cambodia on Sunday morning, we we don't have much time left. Siem Reap is a day and a half bus ride, so I think we are going to take an hour plane ride to Siem Reap so we get to spend a full day in Laos. The coffee here is amazing! Tomorrow we might take a tour to the plantations and pick some coffee beans and try different fresh brews of Laos coffee, or we are going to rent motorbikes and head out 30Kilometers to waterfalls, still haven't decided yet.

Day 4 Vietnam

Just got back to Hanoi today from out HaLong Bay tour. It was a great tour. The drive there took almost 4 hours in a van with 14 people, but it was ok because we got to see a bit of the countryside. Our boat was a lot nicer than I was expecting. The bottom floor was rooms, the main deck was the dining area with couches and a tv with speakers. Then there was a roof. First we boarded the ship and ate lunch, then we sat up on the roof as the boat meandered through hundredes of little rock islands (and other tour boats...). Althought there were a ton of other boats, it was still one of the most beautiful things I have seen. Our boat then docked at one island where there was a massave cave. We got to walk through the cave, I have never been in one so hugh befor, it was probably 50 feet high, and very open. It looked as though there used to be a stream with a waterfall running through it, but there was no longer any water in it. After the cave we docked at a floating dock with kayaks and got to kayak around for about an hour. That was awesome, we got to get really close to the rock islands and explore a lite. The rest of the day we swam. We were on the boat with 11 other people and all of them were really friendly and fun. We had a great time jumping off the roof of the boat into the water. We ate dinner, and then drank some beers sang some karoake and went night swimming some more. It was fun, and very beautiful, so worth doing. Now we catch a 13 hour sleeper bus to Hue Vietnam, it is located in the center area of Vietnam.

Day 2 Vietnam

Today we rented motorbikes and road around Hanoi all day. It was insane. There are no lights or stop signs and there are motorbikes filling the roads, it looks very scary, but if you just keep going with the flow it is pretty easy. We road around, did some shoping (bought 8 Wii games for $9US), went to the Temple of literature (which is the oldest school in Vietnam, and it was beautiful!), hung out with some locals on the side of the road, met a friend who showed us around, went to a traditional puppet show (it was all in vietnamese so couldn't understand it, but it was all done on water and had like music, it was really interesting), and then got some dinner. It was a very long day and thanks to the motorbike we saw most of the city. Tomorrow we get up at 7am to go to Halong. I am really looking foward to that! Also, we have been picking up a lot of vietnamese words and phrases, after trying to learn cantonese, this seems so much easier!

Vietnam

Arrived in Vietnam yesterday! Spent an hour at the airport waiting for the bus to fill up - but three vietnamese girls who worked for the shuttle bus were very friendly and taught us some key phrases, which has helped us out a lot. They then showed us where to get off the bus to find cheap hotels. Walked around the Old Quarters till we found some hotels. $7 a night per person with a nice clean room, internet, airconditioning, breakfast, and a view! The hotels here are also travel agents, so all the planning we didn't do before we came, we got taken care of for the next few days, for cheaper than we were finding online. Today we are going around the city on motorbikes and exploring some temples and attractions. Tomorrow morning a bus picks us up at our hotel and takes us to Ha Long and Cat Ba. look them up, it looks awesome! We go on a boat form there and go on a 2 day 1 night boat tour with kayaking breakfast lunch dinner and swimming. We get back on the 3rd around 5pm and then catch a train to Hue at 7pm. We will arrive in Hue the next morning. So that takes care of travel and stuff till the 4th. Then we need to figure out Laos, and Cambodia.

Dinner was great last night. Had beer with pineapple, it was in a red tomato sauce that was sweet and loaded with garlic. It was nice to get an asian meal that wasn't so spicy!

Things are going good. Will write again when I get the chance.

by clicking on this link you can see a satellite view of where I have traveled throughout the days! My friend Adam who is coming with us on our trip has a gps system that hooks up to a website and tracks on a map where you are, and I think depending on satellite signals it can update as much as every 10mins. So if you want to see how my trip to Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia is going check here. If you see the track go anywhere else besides those three countries, then you may want to start to worry and call a US embassy. Also the gps has a emergency button to press, so if anything should go wrong not only will someone know but then they will also know where to find us! does that make you feel better mom? I leave Thursday April 30th and coem back to Hong Kong Sunday May 10th.


http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0NF3eAPf4uCLTr4hLqQNcAOiCg1SJamDx

I have been requested to start writing in my blog again. HEre is an update. I have been working very hard to plan surf camp for this summer. I am working with Quiksilver (one of the largest surf companies in the world, they sponsor us), to do all the marketing for the Surf Camp. Quiksilver designs the posters and brochures, and I write all the content for them. I have been writing press releases for publications in the area to advertise our surf camp, as well as put on a VIP party for all passed surfers to come and register for a discounted price. Here is an invitation to this party.


It has been a lot of work, but it is really neat to be able to do.


I leave tomorrow on vacation. I am going with James and then this Adam guy we work with. We are flying into Hanoi, Vietnam then going down the coast, crossing into Laos, and then going to Cambodia, going to Angkor Wat, and then flying out of Siem Reap. It should be a lot of fun! I am very excited. Will write about it when I get back.

Arrived in Hong Kong

I have arrived in Hong Kong safely! I started work on monday. been pretty busy at work. The new staff come in this monday so I am working on getting the training going and then we have a bunch of camps in march which i have been planning. Things are going good so far.

The weather is perfect. It is in the mid 70's and not very humid. No waves on the beach yet though.

Shawn and I went to Sai Kung, Big Wave Bay for a surf this weekend. It was amazing. It is clear on the other side of Hong Kong, takes about 4-5 hours to get there from where I live. From where I live we have to take a bus to the ferry then the subway then a bus then a taxi. The taxi drops you off at the top of a mountain where there is a hiking trail, then you have to hike about 1 3/4 hours to the beach. Unless you rent a speed boat for $80US thats the only way to get there. There is a little villiage called Ham Tim there and there is a restaurant that also rents boards and stuff. The waves were cranking! They were so big and strong, two of my surfer friends camp with us and they said they haven't seen waves that strong there before. The one beach where the waves are usaully a lot bigger Shawn and I couldn't even get passed the wave break, we just kept getting pounded and smashed by the waves, so we went over to the other beach just a 5 min walk away. The waves there were still huge and strong, but I was able to get up on a few. Had a few really nice rides. It was the coldest weekend yet... Only about 50-55 degres, and we were out in the water for a few hours. Everyone else had wetsuits, Shawn, Kristian, and I didn't. It was kinds cold. It got into the mid 40's at night when we were camping.

My flight to Thailand was canceled. So Shawn and I are looking for somewhere else to go.

Shawn arrived on Thursday morning (Thanksgiving). It was perfect timing for everything. We had a big camp going on that week, but on Thursday the kids went with their teachers to the Ng Ping and Tai O, so they were gone the entire day. Shawn and I arrived back to my work around 12:30, and my boss bought us Turkeys, and some of us prepared some dishes and we had a huge Thanksgiving meal for everyone at work. I made the green bean dish I like so much, but they don't sell the crunchy onions here, so I used dry stuffing and it worked great! There were a lot of people who never had Thanksgiving or the type of food we are for it, so it was nice to introduce it to people. After lunch we all hung out on the beach and played American Football (Shawn and mine team won of course). The weather was beautiful and we had a great time. Although we did not have home made pie; mom, I missed your apple pie.

I showed Shawn around the city and cheung chau a bit. We also went out to the bars on saturday. It was a good time. We had 2 BBQ's since he has been here, one on our roof and the other at Franz's house. Franz is the South African who is really intense and a crazy outdoor man. We had to walk through a jungle just to get to his house! It was awesome.

This weekend Shawn and I are going to Sai Kung and doing some surfing and camping on the beach! I can't wait, I haven't surfed in like 2 months, i miss it!

I was looking at plane tickets today for either the Philippines or Thailand. I am leaning more towards the Philippines, but after talking to some people I found out that Manila isn't the best place to travel, and Bangkok would be better. My bos also suggested taking a train ride to Laos, it leaves at night and get there first thing in the morning and private sleeper bunks in the train are only $20US. Sounds pretty sweet. So I bought tickets for Shawn and I to Thailand. We go the 15th and come back the 20th.

We have a camp in this week and we did an adventure race today. I was stationed in the speed boat so I collected kids in the boat when they came down from repelling off a cliff and then brought them over to kayaks that they had to take back to Treasure Island.It was pretty chilly for the kids and me, it was about 60 and I was getting wet all day... But other than that is was great.

The Monday Night Bills game finished about 12:30pm our time, so I got to get the live news feed on ESPN website. I was so angry..... So much for them having a really good season, they have been losing a lot lately..... wish I could actually see a game tho.

The weather has finally started to change here. The humidity is way down, and the air is crisp. It got down to 60 degrees over the past 2 days and with the wind it feel pretty chilly. It is the type of weather where the sun is still hot, but the air is cold, so when your in the sun you feel really warm, but once in the shade you want to put on along sleeves. The nights are chilly, last night I slept with my window open and this morning I was very cold and did not want to get out from under the covers. There is no heating in any houses here, so although the weather does not get too cold, when it gets into the 50's there will be just a constant chill... I am planning on buying some more sweaters here.

What a great week it was. Celebrations all over the world for Obama. I was very surprised at the amount of people in Hong Kong who took great interest in the US Election. The kids at camp this week asked us about every half hour on Election Day who won, and they also were really informed about all of it, they were 12 years old. I was on the small island of Cheung Chau on election day and I was worried that I would not be able to get updates because the island is very Chinese and no one speaks English, but in every shop that had a tv the news about the election was on; In Cantonese, but it had a graph and the number of votes so it worked. My French boss Philippe gave the Americans a really nice French bottle of champagne and even though we were at camp, once the kids went to bed we could have it to celebrate. I do not think I ran into one disanointed person in Hong Kong about the turn out of the election. I did hear a lot of comments about how impressed they were that so many Americans voted for Obama.

I added more pictures to my webshots site if you want to have a look. The address is in one of my old posts.

Halloween was awesome. I have never seen so many people in one place and one time. Blocks and blocks and blocks of people were everywhere. Most the roads were shut down in the bar areas and I don't think we even got within a block of a bar. But it didn't matter because people were everywhere, you can drink in public, and there is a 7 11 that sells drinks on every street. So we drank beers form 7 11 and roamed the streets.

It cooled down a ton today, it was only about 73 degrees today, and I had to wear pants and just put on a light jacket.

After a very long week of camp, we tried to go out on Friday night after the kids left. I got to the city and had one beer and fell asleep, so went back home to bed. The next day on my day off I didn't even get out of bed till 3:00pm. I woke up about eleven, then just watched movies. We had a goat party on Sat. They went out at midnight to buy the live goat, then the guy they bought it form killed it and then they brought it home. They had to cut it up, but they didn't do it too gracefully, they just chopped the thing into bits right through the bone and everything so you had to eat around bones the entire time. It was ok, but the experience was cool. IT was very tough and gamey.

Today at work I was on the eco stuff. So me and 3 others went to the garden and worked the fields with the 80 year old grandma who speaks no english. It was awesome, Adrienne told me she was saying I was doing a really good job. After farming me and dave who I work with had to get the bio gas generator going. What we are doing with that is making methane gas out of buffalo poo. So we had to go out with shovels to collect buffalo poo and then find a way to squeeze it into the small mouth of a big water jug. So I came up with the idea of mixing it with some water, then putting it in a plastic bag with a hole in the corner and squeeze it in like cate decorating frosting. It worked ok, but was pretty messy. We had gloves on, but it was nasty.

Now we have medititation on the beach at 6:30, then acupuncture at 7:30.

I am coordinating a camp this week. It is a lot of work. I have to do the logistics, and then plan everything out right then make sure the staff are following the schedule and the activities are going well and then also keep the teacher who came with the kids happy and talk with them. I just run around all day fixing problems and trying to prevent them from happening. It is tiring. Today I had to be to work at 6:30am and I just got home now at 11pm. I also have to be back to work by 6:30am tomorrow. I do get to sleep in my bed though and not camp which is good. But I am ready for the week to be over.

The weather has been so hot the last two days. It started to cool down to the low 80's, but it was back up to the 90's today and yesterday and the sun has been so hot. My face is pretty burnt and i put on loads of sunscreen and even wore a hat. The heat also makes it hard for camps because the kids get too hot and don't want to do the activities.

Better get to bed, only get a few hours of sleep between my workdays.

Lately I have been very busy. This past week we had 3 camps at the same time with a total of about 350 kids. It was crazy and hectic, but the kids all left and I have tomorrow off. Tomorrow I am going to take Kryn to the Big Buddha and show her around Lantau. Next weekend Kehm, the nepalese guy is hosting a goat party. I guess it is like a tradition to have goat parties around this time of year. Basically he buys a live goat, and back home he kills it and cuts it and then barbecues it, but I think what we are doing here is buying a live goat, then taking it to get cut and then having a bbq. It sounds awesome and I can't wait! I guess he uses pretty much everything from the goat, so that should be interesting.

Just wanted to write so everyone knew i was alive and everything is going good.

Sorry my entries are becoming so spaced out. I have been working all week to get the office set up in our apartments since all the offices have gotten wiped out. Three of the six computers work! I was very surprised that they worked. The new office is starting to look nice, and I can wake up at 8:45, and just walk downstairs in my pj's for work at 9am. It's kind of like being in college.

My friend Kryn is coming this saturday! Work really needs help these next two weeks because there are so many camps (500 kids in one week), so i got her to come out for two weeks to visit Hong Kong and work. I am excited to see her.

Last night me and a few people went for a walk down the trail behind our apartments and there is a part after the last house before the hill that there is kind of high grass on the side, and while we were walking I heard some thing so I stopped. I turned on my cell phone flashlight and right in front of my feet was a huge snake, it was black and yellow stripes. (I'll add the pictures I took later). We weren't really too sure what kind of snake it was, but seeing there are about 6 deadly snakes i our area we didn't want to take our chances so we slowly retreated from our walk. I checked this morning and it turned out to be a Banded Krait, which has the most deadly venom in the world. The venom is so deadly that one bight worth of it could kill 12 full grown men. At the same time they are usually pretty mellow snakes and rarely bite humans, but they do say at night they are way more active and are seen as more dangerous at night time. American soldiers in vietnam called it the "two step snake" because (exaggerating ing a bit) when someone gets bit by it they are dead within two steps. There is also no antivenin for it. I am glad that we had enough sense to just leave it, because we didn't know what it was. But I happy I got to see it, because they are rare in Hong Kong,