I'll finally be able to wear cotton again!

Well I leave Bangkok and Southeast Asia for good tomorrow and I thought I would have more to say on the subject for some reason I'm just drawing a blank. I've left plenty of locales probably never to return again and to my surprise leaving an entire region feels no different. I'm heading to a place every bit as strange as anywhere I've been so far and I'm actually quite excited for this one. You see, I'm flying to Japan tomorrow. It's the land of robots, talking toilets, video games and wacky game shows... all things that I would say I'm pretty interested in. Leaving a region where you cant drink the water or flush the toilet paper too go to a country where not only do the toilets lift their lids for you but they greet you as well will definitely leave an impression. So, expect some random musings in the future but for now in lieu of some sort of SE Asia recap or wrap up, here's Darren's short list of Vietnamese road hazards:

1. School children walking to school on the highway
2. Giant trucks that use the whole road on blind corners
3. Motorbikes carrying 50+ Jackfruits (they are spikey and are about the same weight and size as a bowling ball)
4. Motorbikes carrying an entire family of 5 (and their groceries)
5. Motorbikes carrying livestock
6. Motorbikes carrying other motorbikes
7. Traffic lights (because obeying them can get you killed)
8. Wheel swallowing pot holes
9. Daily thunder storms
10. etc...

So far as I can tell, none of those were out of the ordinary either... Just another day on the roads of Vietnam.

I've got all of my pictures from Vietnam uploaded to the flickr account and organized by city. You can click the collection entitled "Vietnam" to see all the sets I've made and then just go from there. Well I'll end up writing more once I get to Japan but for now, it's so long Southeast Asia, hello temperate climate (thank god!).

What a Long Strange Trip It's Been

Well the 3 month anniversary of my leaving was just yesterday and I think this is an appropriate time for some sort of retrospective. Three months may seem like a long time but really, it seems like I stepped off that airplane in Bangkok yesterday. I've been through all sorts of crazy experiences, things that I could have never imagined before leaving, especially not from behind a desk in DC. Many of the roads have been long and the destinations not always worth it but I've been really surprised how far a healthy sense of adventure can bring a person. Three months... wow, has it really been that long?

I stepped off that plane in February with an ounce of excitement and a pound of trepidation. Landing in a foreign place at 2am without any idea of where to stay and just a vague idea of a part of town was a real trial by fire. But, fear quickly turned to anticipation and like I've said before, the uncertainty of it all is a real catalyst for excitement.

So what all have I really done in the last 3 months? Here're a few things:

• Rode a motorbike out 70km to some crazy cave north of Chiang Mai, only to return to the city in the middle of rush hour.


• Rock climbed out on cliffs above the Andaman Sea until I got tired and then just jumped in the ocean near Railey Beach, Thailand.


• Had an absolute blast bartending in Siem Reap, Cambdia. Things can be just as much fun on that side of the bar for sure.


• Made a split second decision to accept an invitation to spend the night with a Cambodian I met on a bus. I bathed in the Mekong, ate cow stomach and drank with her entire family.


• Rode in a minivan into northeastern Cambodia that was completely full. There wasn't even room for my day pack behind the back seat but a man we picked up on the side of the road was able to fit 4 live chickens back there. They made so much noise as we rode down that bumpy dusty road.


• Lounged in a hammock at my bungalow on Don Dhet in southern Laos where there is only electricity between the hours of 6-10PM. There was no doubt that all the chickens running around were the same that ended up in your dinner.


• Rode 50ft rope swings in Laos where the closest hospital was at least 3 days away.


• Played a game of beach soccer with a bunch of Vietnamese kids that needed an extra player in Nha Trang.

It's crazy to think about how much has really happened in the last 3 months but at the same time I feel like I just left. Some of the longest days of my life have been on miserably hot and long bus rides but at the same time one can wonder where the day went while drinking a beer in an inner tube on the Nam Song river. The days are usually long but the months are short it seems.

I may have been gone for awhile but it still takes some pretty unique situations to bring everything into perspective and remind me of how special all of this really is. I took an overnight bus yesterday which was supposed to have air con but like most times it did not (or the driver just didn't feel like turning it on). As I sat there at 11 at night drenched in sweat and listening to my ipod while trying to nod off to sleep, a song came on randomly that I used to hear a lot while working late nights in DC. Music can really bring you back to situations that you may associate with songs and this particular one just reminds me immensely of sitting at my desk at 8pm doing telecom research. Haha, sitting on that bus on the way to Nha Trang, it seemed really hard to imagine a situation that was farther removed from all that song represented. And nothing makes me happier than knowing that I just as easily could have been sitting at a desk but instead I was on my way to one of the best beaches in Vietnam.

Well this is getting long and if you cant already tell, I could talk about this for hours. My trip is officially one quarter over and so much has happened, I could go home happy tomorrow. But I'm not, and there is plenty of open road ahead of me. I'm spending a few days here in Nha Trang before hitting the rest of the sights on the way to Saigon where I'll catch a flight to Bangkok and then another one on to Tokyo.

Lastly, you may have noticed that I added a small advertisement on the right side of this page. If the ad seems helpful, go ahead and click it... It may just help me travel for a little longer!

Time Out

Since I left, myself and others have called this trip a vacation but I've come to realize that that title is completely wrong.

The term vacation conjures up images of pina coladas on the beach or some alpine ski resort with hot tub and pool. What ever it is that I'm doing now is very, very far from that.

Whether I'm trying to get across Bangkok to catch a night train or looking for shelter after hitting the ground in Ban Lung, this is a lot of work. Additionally, covering large distances in short time frames (a scenario which has become almost routine for me) is extremely exhausting. For example, 2 days ago I got on a bus in Phnom Penh at 6:30AM bound for Bangkok. After arriving in BKK at 9:30PM, I had to negotiate a fair price to the train station hoping that I would be able to get a sleeper berth for the 12 hour train to Ubon Ratchathani leaving at 10:30PM. As is often the case, things didn't go according to plan and every seat was full on that train. There were non-air con seats available on the last train of the night at 11:50PM and after weighing my options, I decided this was the way to go. A miserable 12 hours later, I had to find shelter in Ubon.

Next to my backpack, my closest companion these days is uncertainty. You never know if there will be enough seats on the bus or if it will make it to the destination in time for you to catch the next leg of your journey. Contingency plans are a must and almost get used as often as they become unnecessary. The huge question marks looming at the end of any day really do add a whole level of stress to this life that I didn't even consider before leaving.

Of course all the transportation worries could be avoided with 1 direct flight and though affordable shelter can be hard to find, there is always an abundance of hotels and nice rooms available which is where a budget comes in. For the same amount of money, I could travel for 1 month or 1 year and neither path would intersect. Those who knew me in DC knew that I was a slave to my budget to save for this trip and not much has changed. I spend around $30/day on average including all transportation, food and shelter costs. I am also constantly looking for places to cut corners. The other day I walked into a store that sells music to put on your ipod and convinced the owner that their selection was worse than the one down the street and it would be a good business decision to trade music with me and expand his collection rather than just sell it to me. That saved me about $5 (which is a night's stay).

Enough bitterness, I wouldn't still be out here if it wasn't worth it now would I? Despite all the tribulations, there are extremely rewarding moments throughout. Though transportation is stressful, getting to my destination a day and half earlier than I should have is endlessly gratifying. And travel in general gets easier the longer you do it. I have come back to Thailand and feel like I'm returning to an old familiar friend. I know how much stuff should cost, I know how their transportation system works and I know quite a few words in the local language. Though I leave this country soon, the open road isn't nearly as scary as it used to be.

Uncertainty has changed from a stressor to a source of excitement and spending 30 hours in transit gets easier with every passing excursion. No longer new and exciting, this transient life is finally familiar and I wouldn't have it any other way. I head to Laos tomorrow because I'm already restless having spent 2 days in this town. I've finally hit my stride and don't plan on slowing down any time soon. And why would I? When moments like this make it all worth it.

"I wasn't always cargo"

It's been 3 weeks since Pat got here and we moved so fast that I barely had an opportunity to write anything much less communicate with the western world. I've uploaded plenty of pictures to my Flickr account with long descriptions so I'll spare everyone the details. I will however describe what is involved with covering large distances in a short time without the use of air travel.

We spent 4 nights in the Thailand's second biggest city and northern provincial capital, Chiang Mai. That city was awesome and we managed to do a lot in our short time there. On the 5th day, we boarded an overnight train to Bangkok at 4:30PM.

Traveling great distances via a second class sleeper train really is the way to go. For about 800B, you are given a large chair to sit in during the daylight hours which faces another chair of the same type directly opposite. A table is placed between the two chairs for food or whatever use you may have. As night comes, the table is removed and the chairs turn into one bed while another is pulled down from the ceiling. You can easily close the curtains and sleep your way across the country.

So anyways, we boarded our train at 4:30pm and just chilled for awhile. Apparently, Pat learned of an amazing trick for making train travel even more pleasant than it already is. I wasn't sure of the specifics but know that it involved 700ml of Thai whiskey and a liter of Coke.

Bringing our own alcohol made us no friends on that train. The ladyboy waiter/train attendant was not very happy at all since he/she was not going to get any beer sales off of us. He even went so far as to hit Pat several times with a menu and then pout his way down the aisle. Unphased, we were even able to acquire ice for our drinks with the help of a couple of Aussies in the berth across from us. The rest of the train ride was pleasantly drunk and resisting the advances of the mustached ladyboy got more fun as the night went on.

We arrived in Bangkok's Hualamphong train station at around 6:30am. We killed some time, got some breakfast and boarded a 9 hour train to Surat Thani. This town offers mainland access to the islands of Koh Samui, Koh Tau and Koh Pha Ngan, the latter of which was our eventual destination. We were hoping to catch a speed boat there straight from the train but after hitting the ground in Surat Thani and taking a public commuter bus to the pier we quickly realized that we were too late to make it to Koh Pha Ngan that night.

Koh Pha Ngan is the home of the infamous Full Moon Party which occurs monthly on Had Rin (the beach's name) and plays host to thousands of travelers in one night. Finding reasonably priced shelter near the beach around the full moon can be very difficult or impossible depending on how late you are. Knowing this, we planned to be on the island several days before to get a bungalow in a good location and every day lost made it much harder.

After considering all options we decided to take the overnight ferry even though we had already been traveling for over 24 hours. A description of the ferry and pictures are located on my Flickr page so I wont get too far into it but suffice it to say, it was a boat filled with cargo and tons of backpackers all with the same goal as us.

The ferry pulled into Koh Pha Ngan at 530AM and we hit the ground running seeing every other backpacker as opposition in our goal to find the best/cheapest place in a good location. After several hours, plenty of running and hearing repeatedly “sorry room is fool,” we finally found a livable bungalow and a bed to lay down on after 31 hours of travel.

It's funny how your budget increases the longer you walk around and the hotter it gets. Oh well, I guess you have to make compromises sometimes.

That's it for now, be sure to check my Flickr and Youtube pages for updated content.