Jeff's Mid-Life Crisis goes Round the World (RTW)

Today is Saturday, April 23rd (two days before my 42nd birthday) and I am writing this blog entry from my office in Southeast Indiana. This is my final blog entry in this series.

I have struggled for the last couple of weeks to try and find the words and to put my feelings into words in order to describe what my trip has done for me and my reasons for ending it earlier than expected. It is very important to me to put the proper closure on this experience and express in words my feelings and thoughts. It’s important to me for personal reasons and important to me that I adequately explain to you guys (my readers) who have read my thoughts and ramblings over the last four months or so and supported me with your comments, encouragement, thoughts and prayers.

But first I want to let everyone know what I’ve been up to the last few weeks since leaving Scotland.

I left St. Andrews after 11 days of heaven. The golf, the weather, the people and the town were just magnificent and will forever be in my heart and in my soul. St. Andrews and Scotland will be places I will go back to many, many more times in my life and I will eagerly anticipate each new return.

I took a train from the Leuchars station to London on a fine Saturday morning. The train ride was excellent and once more I want to say that train travel is a great way to go from place to place, the views of small towns and the countryside are much better than from a car or a bus. I arrived in London in the afternoon and took a few Tube rides to the southwest part of the city where my hotel was. I am good at riding the Tube now and am now a much bigger fan of subways and mass transit!

I found a cheap (by London standards) hotel southwest of central London and thus shouldn’t have been surprised by the quality of the lodgings. The hotel was clean and in a so-so part of town but the room was quite small with barely enough room for a small, single bed and the bathroom was tiny. Anyone even a bit bigger than me would have had a very uncomfortable time sitting on the toilet as there was barely enough room for my knees as they jammed against the wall (I really don’t know what someone with longer legs would have done – draw yourself a mental picture… - maybe used it like a squatty potty!). I mention this small room because it was such a contrast to my previous room in St. Andrews in the Auchterlonie suite at The Dunvegan. One of the really neat things about this trip are the contrasts between everyday things we all take for granted at home change dramatically from place to place when you are traveling. So this is definitely not a complaint, the unknown can be fun and it is one of the things I loved about traveling!

Anyway, I was in London for a couple of days and used the time to do some more sightseeing and walking about. The weather was much nicer this time with temperatures in the 50’s and no rain. It was fun being a tourist in a very tourist-friendly city. I retraced previous steps around Big Ben and Westminster Abbey, cruised around Hyde Park, spent some time again at Piccadilly Circus and even saw an anti-war (anti-American, anti-Bush, anti-Tony Blair) rally at Trafalgar Square. It was a very nice and relaxing final two days away from America.

While at the tail end of my time in St. Andrews I decided to book a flight back to the west coast. I flew Northwest Airlines on an 18-hour journey from London’s Gatwick airport to Las Vegas (with a stopover in Detroit). Fortunately I was able to use my World Perks miles to upgrade the flight to Business Class. I was definitely spoiled on the long haul flights I made on this trip, I flew all the way around the world in Business Class (Memphis to Bangkok, Hong Kong to London and London to Las Vegas) and that’s a great way to travel.

I didn’t think about it at the time but I actually did make it RTW (round the world) as my journey began in Memphis and I continued going west and ended 3 ½ months later in Las Vegas. I obviously did not see many of the places I intended to see or wanted to see but that’s okay because I am still relatively young and will have more travel opportunities in the future.

I decided to end my journey early and return to the United States for many reasons…. Those reason are best described in the answers to a series of questions:

1. What did I learn about myself?
2. Best experiences?
3. Worst experiences?
4. Regrets?
5. What would I have done differently?
6. Did I achieve my goals and Purposes?
7. Am I glad I did it?
8. Did I learn anything else about myself?

What did I learn about myself?
I don’t enjoy being by myself as much as I used to or thought I did.

My biggest personal revelation: I want to find a nice woman and settle down and get married. To write that and to publish it is a huge thing for me as I was never ready to say such a thing or even admit it to myself that I wanted or needed another person in my life. I’ve always been a bit selfish and unwilling to share my life with someone else when I had this overriding desire to travel and felt unsettled. I was scared to start up a relationship that I could not finish. I didn’t want to hurt someone else and did not want to again feel the pain of a broken relationship.

But now, I think I am past that and finally have arrived at a time in my life where I am able and willing to have a partner. Now the hard part – where to find her!! Not an easy task I know, so if anyone out there knows someone that would like to hook up with a guy who is somewhat adventurous, loves to travel and experience new things, 42 years old, kinda quiet, receding hairline, about 10 pounds overweight (but committed to losing it and maintaining somewhat of a healthy lifestyle), lives in Southeast Indiana and has a great job then e-mail me at jeffmichie at yahoo dot com.

Best Experiences

Tough one! I had so many great experiences, most of which I was fortunate enough to be able to relay in this blog. The most memorable are the ones that come directly to my mind as I reflect on this trip. They are:
First few days in Bangkok – I was juiced and excited about being in a new country and everything was so foreign and exciting.
The Slow Boat – A great two days floating down the Mekong River in Laos. An adventurous and somewhat dangerous way to travel in one of the poorest countries in the world.
Phnom Penh – The spirit of a people and a culture who have survived one of the most brutal histories in the last 40 years. More than any other place, this city made me realize how fortunate I am in this world and what the human spirit is capable of. Material goods and a comfortable lifestyle are not nearly as important to me now as are friendships, love and a sense of community and togetherness. Also in Phnom Penh I had a great time hanging out at the California 2 with two great guys, Frank and Thom. An unforgettable experience and the one place that truly changed my life.
Siem Reap – The home of the Temples of Angkor. The magnificence and the history of these sites, many built over 1,000 years ago, was truly awe inspiring and gave me a great appreciation of the culture and history of not only the ancient Angkorian Kingdoms but those of other ancient civilizations in South and Southeast Asia.
St. Andrews – I have written a great deal about my love for St. Andrews as it is a place that has touched me deeply. Plus, I played great golf at the Home of Golf. Anyone who visits St. Andrews must make sure to spend time at The Dunvegan!

Worst Experiences

Another tough one because every place I visited had its own charm and uniqueness, at least to me. I guess my least favorite place I visited was Hanoi, Vietnam and that was likely due to the lousy weather and quick culture shock coming from laid back Laos. I would definitely visit Hanoi again and encourage anyone else to do so.

My most difficult experience was dealing with the in-your-face poverty, begging and human deformities and amputations I saw in Cambodia but, as discussed above, these difficult experiences also were also the most enlightening and life-changing for me.

Regrets
I don’t live my life reflecting on regrets or what if’s, at least not for any long period of time. It is pointless to do so because you can learn from most every decision you make. One of my most poignant realizations from this trip (and one that helped me make my decision to come home early) was that when making any choice or a decision that has life-changing ramifications it is entirely possible and even likely that the final decision can turn out positive regardless of what you decide to do. Decisions are not a black or white / good or bad scenario. If you stay or go, if you turn left or right, if you continue to travel or come back to a great career opportunity, if you buy this house or that house – the decision not made can be entirely as good as the decision made. Does this make sense? I’m not sure I’m explaining it too well but it really does make sense to me. Maybe it’s just an attitude and maybe what I’m saying is just obvious but it was a neat realization to me thinking of the vast gray-areas out there in the world and that there are many, many forks in the road we all have to negotiate and that we need to make our choices with confidence and a positive attitude and not regret the road not taken.

How’s that for some preaching? I do like the message though and I hope it makes sense.

What would I have done differently?

The biggest thing I would have done differently would have been to not have made the trip alone. There are many pros and cons to solo travel and while I enjoyed the freedom of making the many spontaneous decisions I got to make I really think the whole trip would have been even more enjoyable if I shared it with someone special.

This is an interesting conundrum as it would have been very difficult to find someone who was in the same phase in their life as I was at the time I made the decision to travel and to find someone with the means and opportunity and someone who could have put up with me on the road. It likely would have never been possible for me to find that person.

That aside, there were countless times that I was awed and amazed and overwhelmed by what I saw and experienced and to have someone next to me that I could have shared those moments with would have made them extra-special. I was fortunate to be able to take decent pictures of things and to have the ability to write about my experiences to my readers of this blog and that was a great help to me. My Mom wrote to me and said something particularly poignant “That I am not truly alone in my travels as I have chose to share my experiences and feelings with those who read my blog”. I truly appreciate the comments and advice I received from my friends and readers and to have the opportunity to inspire and entertain people was a neat experience and a new experience for me.

Another thing I would have done differently would have been to broaden my research beyond Asia. I read a lot about this area of the world and was somewhat comfortable going from country to country but was not so comfortable with the thoughts about other parts of the world and I think that might have been a big part of the reason why I did not travel to other parts of the world that I have a very strong interest in, including East Africa, Israel and the Middle East and Eastern Europe. I see this as a learning experience and an opportunity for future travel. Anyone want to go with me next time??

Did I achieve my goals and Purposes?

I did a blog entry on December 16th entitled “Purposes” where I laid out that I thought the difference between a Traveler and a Tourist is that a Traveler had certain Purposes for their trip. While I struggled throughout the trip with the Traveler vs. Tourist distinction and what it really means (not much as it turns out), I do think it is important to have goals or purposes in mind when traveling for an extended period of time. These goals or purposes were very personal to me. These are the purposes I wrote about in that blog entry:
· Exploration of my limits
· Exploration of my potential
· Broaden my mind and my life experiences
· Introduction to other cultures
· Exploration of the world
· Explore and better understand my religious beliefs and those of other cultures
· Get off the tourist/traveler track as much as possible to explore each country
· See sights that I have only read and dreamed about
· Become more extroverted in my dealings with people

Did I achieve them all? I would say Yes but not all in the depth that I envisioned. Some of these goals are quite esoteric and their achievement has so many levels. I think that to continue to try to achieve these goals and have them serve as purposes in my now, more settled, life has a lot of value to me.

If anyone wants to ask me for more details on any particular purpose and my thoughts on achieving any enlightenment on them please e-mail me and I will attempt to discuss my thoughts further and in greater detail.

Am I glad I did it?

Am I glad I took this trip? Without any doubt, uncertainty, regrets or anything like that, an uncategorical – YES!!!!!!! I am a better person for having taken this trip.

This was one of the great experiences of my life and a chapter in my life was I will always remember and fondly recall. A confluence of events that I was able to manufacture that allowed me to take this chance and live this totally foreign, unsettled and uncharacteristic life.

Did I learn anything else about myself?

Certainly. I realized how much I missed certain friends. Being away from people you see and talk to everyday and people you care about and care about you is hard, much harder and more difficult than I realized, even with e-mail available almost everywhere. I appreciate so much those of you whom I maintained constant e-mail contact with, letting me know what’s going on and keeping my thoughts close to you and to home. That meant more to me than any of you will ever know!!

I learned how much I enjoyed living in Southeast Indiana – This is a great place to live and work.

I learned and realized how much I missed working in the casino business – who’d have thought that??? I missed the day-to-day interactions with people who cared about a business. I missed the structured lifestyle of coming to work, I missed being a part of a business and influencing people and events beyond my own.

Life is a journey and many times that journey is a circle. I believe in the circle of life and I believe that life can be a circle. There are places in this world that are special to everyone and we constantly migrate back to those places as timing and circumstances warrant. I have experienced that in my life previously when I had the opportunity to live and work in San Diego 12 years after leaving that wonderful place. I only lived there about 18 months that time but to me it showed that the pull of positive memories and experiences of a place would always draw me back to it. St. Andrews and Scotland are a part of my circle, so is Lake Tahoe (where I lived for 6 years and where my Mom lives – I love it there!). Monterey (where I hope to live someday) is also part of my circle.

So, how did I get to where I am today?

I am now the Senior Director of Finance and Administration of Belterra Casino Resort and Spa in Southeast Indiana. Belterra is about 25 miles south of where I previously worked at Grand Victoria Casino in Rising Sun.

Talk about a circle!!

The opportunity to come back to a place I consider home, to a business I love, a boss I enjoy working with and for whom I have great respect was too enticing for me to refuse. I truly believe I made the right decision and I spend many day and nights (and beers) pondering the decision before I made it. I also believe that I would have been just as happy to continue traveling and visiting more of this great big world. I now have that to look forward to someday in the future.

People often ask me if I got the traveling Jones out of my blood and my answer is that for the time being, yes. A rather unemphatic yes though because I doubt that anyone who has traveled or has a strong desire to travel ever gets it out of their blood. I am here and grounded and happy and comfortable (not numb anymore though!) and do not have a desire to take off and go. I’m committed to making a life here and being the best damn Director of Finance I can be (and I know that’s a pretty good one!).

I’m a different person than I was back in December and I love it that I have changed by attitude and outlook on life and people so much in such a short period of time. Life on the road is being inundated constantly with new and different experiences and that can’t help but change you and make you a different and better person.

So, I am going to sign off on this blog and begin a new chapter in my life. This entry puts closure to a trip and a time in my life was truly exceptional and unforgettable.

Thank you everyone who read this blog and supported me emotionally with your comments, e-mails, thoughts and prayers.

The End

I left off my Edinburgh entry after spending two lovely days in Scotland's capital. The weather had started to turn warmer (warmer in Scotland during March is a very relative term - the temperatures climbed from the low 30's into the mid 40's) and the sky was a beautiful blue. The countryside was turning green although I imagine it's always green in Scotland!

I was so close to the Home of Golf that the itch to head north to St. Andrews was overwhelming so I bought a train ticket and hopped on the morning train heading north for the one hour trip to Luechars which is about 7 miles outside St. Andrews.

St. Andrews is such a comfortable place for me, I fell in love with the town many years ago when I first read about it's history, people and the golf.

My first vist here was in July 2001 during a 2-week golf in Scotland trip I took with two good friends Greyson Prinzing and Steve Batte. We drove all around Scotland sampling golf and golf courses, as well as the haggis, ales, lagers and beers throughout the country. This trip included three days and nights in St. Andrews. It just whetted my appetite for more!

My second visit was in August 2003 with Greyson, Steve and our Canadian friend Scott McCarter. This time we stayed the entire 12 days in St. Andrews while sampling the many golf courses (and lassies) nearby.

The town of St. Andrews is about an hour north of Edinburgh in the Kingdom of Fife. It's population is about 15,000 of which approximately 6,500 are students at the University of St. Andrews. Included in that number of University students is Prince William, the first born child of Prince Charles and Princess Diana and heir to the throne of England. Other interesting facts about the univeristy is that about one-third of the students are American and of the 6,500 students, 3,600 (or 55%) are female. Too bad I'm not a little younger than I could have been more aggressive trying to pick up college girls :-)

In spite of its small size, the picturesque royal burgh of St Andrews is famed far beyond the borders of Scotland. The seat of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, the game's foremost authority, St Andrews is the spiritual home to golfers everywhere and over the years the famed Old Course has played host to the world's best players at many different championships. The town boasts several fine courses, most of which are open to the public so every golfer, regardless of experience can savour the unique atmosphere of playing here.

But St. Andrews is renowned for more than the game it gave to the world and evidence of its long and at times turbulent history can be seen everywhere. It is an ancient seat of learning, being home to Scotland's first university. Founded in 1412, the elegant, ivy-clad buildings and delightful quadrangles and gardens have seen a procession of famous graduates. For centuries St Andrews was also at the centre of the religious life of the nation and its now ruined cathedral was once the largest in the country. At the adjacent church of St Regulus, you can climb the spiral staircase to the top of an 108-foot tower for magnificent views of the town and its surroundings. St Andrews Castle, perched on its promintory overlooking the sea, was the dramatic stage for several of the most notorious episodes of the Reformation.

Saint Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland and the Cross of Saint Andrew today is the Scottish flag.

Here are some pictures of the town taken from the south when I was hiking on muddy trails!

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Check these out, Scotland has beautiful sand beaches! There wasn't anyone laying out on the sand when I was there this time but I hear that in the summer time there are quite a few people who try to suntan on this beach and others on the north side of town (adjacent to the Links at St. Andrews). I doubt very much that Scots tan very well as most are quite pale due to the long winters and Scotland's high latitude. The pale look is quite sexy on the girls! My kind of people (I do have Scottish blood) as I do not tan very easily at all!

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For alot of reasons St. Andrews was a comfortable place for me to be at this time in my travels. Every other, town, city, village or country I visited was new and unfamiliar to me and it always took a few days to get comfortable and figure things out. This uncertainty was great fun most of the time and certainly added to the excitement and intrigue of my travels. But I know St. Andrews and know where most of things are in town and that was a great feeling being there, like coming home.

I got into town about 10 AM after taking a taxi from the train station and had the driver drop me off right next to the 18th green of the Old Course. This was on a Tuesday. I had made reservations at a cool B&B called The Hazelbank about 1/4 mile away on The Scores overlooking the North Sea. It was a beautiful, sunny day with temps in the high 40's. I took a deep breath and had a big smile on my face as I put my backpack on and walked to the hotel.

That first day I spent walking around town and reacquainting myself with St. Andrews, I also did some hiking outside of town. A great, relaxing day. I also found a set of golf clubs to hire for my trip. These golf clubs were very important and I was really happy to get a set that was very similiar to my clubs at home. I got a Titleist 983 driver with a stiff shaft, Titleist 804 irons and a Scotty Cameron putter. In the afternoon I took the clubs to the St. Andrews Practice Center to hit balls and practiced. I hit them well and began to feel really good about my game despite not playing much recently.

I stopped at the Dunvegan hotel and bar for a drink in the evening. The Dunvegan is a well known bar, restaurant and small B&B situated 112 yards from the 18th green at the Old Course. My friends and I have had many pints in this pub and I have always enjoyed it. It is a golf-related place (duh!) with many, many pictures of professional golfers, many of them taken with the owners, Jack and Sheena. Jack is a Texan and Sheena is a Scottish Lass. They are great people, fun to hang out with and very, very friendly. I asked Sheena that evening if they had rooms vacant and they did so after 2 nights at the Hazelbank I moved a couple of blocks over to the Dunvegan.

March in St. Andrews is not a very busy time for tourists as the weather is a bit iffy. Tourists and golfers are missing out though. The hotels have vacancies, the room rates are lower and there is availability of tee times on the great golf courses. I ended up staying 9 nights at the Dunvegan, drank many pints in the bar and ate some fine meals prepared by their chef. Not to mention the great, hardy and filling breakfasts every morning!!

One of the great things about the Dunvegan is their "Power Showers". Showers in Scotland are not known for their water pressure. I was reading something about Scottish showers one time and I recall it going something like this:

American: (talking to a Scotsman) "The shower I took this morning felt like I was being peed on"
Scotsman: (longingly) "Aye, only if it was as warm"

Anyway, the "Power Showers" at the Dunvegan are great and feel awesome after a round of golf in the cold. These showers were probably Jack's idea (being from Texas) and are a big hit with their clientele, many of which are repeat customers. I will be a repeat customer there someday, for sure!

One last thing about the Dunvegan, I was just hanging out there with no definite plans on when to leave when Sheena told me that she had pre-booked all their rooms and I would need to move out of my room. No big deal for me but I knew I would miss this place. Instead she offered me the use of their Auchterlonie Suite which is a 3 bedroom flat across the street (on top of Auchterlonies Golf Shop). This suite is generally rented out to 6-8 golfers and is plush!! The rooms are big, the TV is big (another thing you rarely see in Scotland) and the bathrooms are huge. It normally rents out for 390 pounds (about $750) per night and is a bargain if you have 6 or more staying there. I stayed there for 2 nights and I was in luxury, a great way to finish off my Scotland adventures.

The golf, I almost forgot... one of the main reasons I came here was to golf. I played a total of 7 rounds, 3 at the Jubilee, 2 on the New Course and 2 on the Old Course. Each round I just showed up at the starters booth and was teeing it up with a 2 ball or 3 ball within 15 minutes - this is why golfer need to come to St. Andrews in March!!! It is certainly not this way in the summer but a single always has a better chance of getting on than multiple golfers (even in the summer).

I played some of the best golf of my life and enjoyed the golfing experience as much or more than any of my many, many of my life's golf adventures. The enjoyment was due to the fact that I played really good and consistent golf, I was very relaxed the whole time, I was experiencing extremes of weather and I was in St. Andrews. There will probably never be a confluence of events quite like this in my life again.

My scores were 76, 77, 81, 81, 86, 89 and 95. Quite a spread but the spread was mostly due to the weather. The wind blew everyday and it ranged from a 10 MPH breeze to a 45 MPH gale. Playing in a constant 40 MPH wind is hard, especially on a links course but it was challenging and FUN. The temperatures ranged from the low 30's to the low 50's. I played in a ski hat most of the time and that kept my ears and the top of my head warm.

My playing partners were Scots, Welshmen, a few Americans and some Englishmen. Everyone liked to bet a few pounds on the match and I mostly beat them and collected a few pints at the end of each round. Golf is a great way to meet and talk to people.

Back to the town:

There are many, many old buildings made of local rock and stone all over St. Andrews. Very similiar to Edinburgh and many of the towns throughout Scotland. This is one of the reasons why I love this country so much. The architecture and the design of the churches, stores, homes and castles is really cool.

Here are a few pictures of some buildings in town.
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A "Wynd" in Scotland is a small street or alley. I have always meant to take a picture of this sign while in St. Andrews. This Wynd is just off one of the main roads in town near the University of St. Andrews.

I needed a haircut while I was here and didn't know where to go. My hair is short so all I needed was someone with clippers to give me the once over. I saw this sign outside a barbershop and decided to take advantage of the offer as a shot of whisky is always a good thing on a cold afternoon. Also, this sign and offer made me think about marketing and how businesses differentiate themselves when they sell very similiar goods and services. They can compete on price, on service and/or on value-added services (kinda like the casino business, huh??). I'm a sick boy, even in Scotland I can't get the casino business out of my mind...

Here's a picture of a car I saw parked on the road, cars and trucks are smaller than in the the U.S. due to narrower roads and smaller parking spaces, among other considerations. These small ones crack me up though, I've never driven in one but it must be scary to drive in one!

Alas, I decided to leave Scotland and head south to London for a few more days of sightseeing. Leaving St. Andrews was tough and I could have spent much more time there but I guess it's in my blood to keep moving while I'm on the road - whether that's a good or bad thing I have yet to determine.

I will never forget this leg of the journey. For so many reasons (beyond the golf) this stop was one of the most memorable and I will always cherish the 11 days I spent in St. Andrews and look forward to visiting this place many more times in the future.

Dear Readers:

I want to give a quick update to let you all know what's going on, many of you already do know...

I am back in the USA having arrived about a week and a half ago from London. I came back to pursue a few career opportunities that were presented to me. I will discuss more on this in a later blog entry as I have made no definite decisions as to my future.

I am fortunate enough to be able to base myself at my Mom's in Lake Tahoe while I have traveled around the USA over the last week talking with two different casino companies. My Mom is an awesome lady and I really really appreciate her support and love and I have nothing but love and respect for her!

I do have more entries for this blog and will write them next week as I will be away once again this weekend. I will do an entry about St. Andrews and then another one about London that will include pictures.

Depending on what the future holds for me on the immediate career front I will prepare a Closure entry. I understand if people do not want to be a part of this blog anymore now that I am back in the comforts of America and not out on the road and I appreciate your reading this and your support over the last 4 months. I will need to complete this blog and put closure on it for my peace of mind and for posterities sake.

Thanks and God Bless!

I must apologize for the time it’s taken me to update this blog, it has been too many days as I have been so kindly reminded by my friend's Phyllis and Linda! I have not been in one place long enough to find the time to do a proper entry as I have traveled many thousands of miles and have been in many cities and a couple of countries since the last update.

Where did I leave off? Oh yes, leaving London for Scotland.

I decided to spend some time in Scotland because it is one of my favorite countries in the world. I may get some flak from a Brit or two calling Scotland a country as it technically is not a sovereign nation despite many wars and attempts by it’s citizens to free itself from British rule. Actually, Scotland has some degree of independence with its own Parliament and certainly an attitude of being separate and different than the folks down south in England. There are many cultural differences between the Scots and the Brits and the people in the north try very hard to maintain their separate identity.

It is a point of pride in being a Scotsman (or Scotswoman?). I was given some advice by an English guy that if you are unsure if someone is English or Scottish always err on asking him if he is Scottish. If you ask a Scotsman if he is English he’ll get mad at you (especially in a pub) and take the misunderstanding as an insult but if you ask an Englishman if he is Scottish he will only kindly correct you and not take offence.

To get to Scotland I decided to take the train. The trip from the Kings Cross station in London to Edinburgh is supposed to take about 4 ½ hours. However, they were performing some maintenance on the track in Northern England and we had to take a bus from Darlington to Newcastle, which delayed the trip by a couple of hours. No big deal as the scenery and the train (and bus) were great. I mentioned previously how much I enjoy train travel. It is generally a comfortable and stress-free way to travel and to sit by a window and watch the countryside go by is quite enjoyable. The English and Scottish countryside is so beautiful, full of rolling hills, small towns and pastureland. There was plenty of green (especially in Scotland) even during the winter.

I alighted at Waverly Station in Edinburgh on a cold, crispy and sunny Sunday afternoon. I had a hotel reservation nearby and some vague directions on how to get there so I put my backpack on and headed out onto the street. I had been to Edinburgh only once previously for only an evening so I didn’t know the town very well. I did know that the Edinburgh Castle dominated the skyline and saw it immediately as I left the station.

Here are some pictures of the city of Edinburgh and the outlying areas:
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A quick note on wearing a backpacking in cities: I have spent quite a bit of time walking through cities, towns and villages with my backpack on my back going from guesthouse to guesthouse or to various forms of transportation or just being lost and trying to get from place to place. In most places no one gave me a second look, as it may not be common to see backpackers it certainly is not unusual. The place I got the most stares and funny looks was in Hong Kong. The Chinese usually mind their own business and never really stare or gawk at others unless they see something very unusual. I guess a guy wearing a 25-pound backpack walking through the crowded streets of Hong Kong qualifies as unusual. It was very amusing to me coming out of Southeast Asia to be such an object of curiosity when there were so many other strange things happening around me. London and Scotland have a large backpacking culture and I spent a bit of time hoofing it around in London, Edinburgh and St. Andrews and no one really gave me a second look.

I only stayed in Edinburgh for 2 days and nights, which was enough time to see and experience the Old City section. Edinburgh is the second largest city in Scotland (behind Glasgow) and there is so much more to see than I actually experienced. It is a beautiful and ancient city with much history and great people. It sits on the Firth of Forth and the North Sea on the eastern side of Scotland. Edinburgh was the site of many ancient battles with England as well as with various invaders from mainland Europe. It was also the seat of the Scottish government on and off for hundreds of years (and is the current site of the Scottish Parliament called Holyrod).

The city is dominated by the Edinburgh castle, which is on a hill overlooking the entire city and cannot be missed. This castle was built over a thousand years ago and has undergone many changes, periods of destruction and restorations over the years. It is great for me to see structures this old in the western world and compare them to those I saw in Asia of similar or older vintage, particularly those I saw in Angkor Wat. This castle is well preserved mostly restored using modern techniques and has been well taken care of and never abandoned over all the years. The Tower of London and its restoration and use as a tourist attraction is another example of the east versus west method of old temples, ruins and castles and their use as tourist attractions.

Here are some pictures of the Edinburgh Castle:
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Personally, I liked the ruins and temples in Asia more so than in England/Scotland as they seemed more authentic and less fabricated. In the west, the governments take many more precautions with visitors so many of the old places and relics must be restored in order to make them safe to see and visit (imagine the liability should someone get hurt) while in Asia the ruins and ancient places can be very unsafe places to walk around and the utmost care must be taken or you could really hurt yourself and there would be no one to sue if you got hurt (Asian countries believe in personal responsibility – if you get hurt, too bad for you, you should have been more careful or not been there in the first place. Deal with it but don’t come to us looking for a settlement). The other factor, of course, is money. Western governments generally have the funds to restore ancient places while Asian counties do not.

The two days I spent in Edinburgh were spent exploring the Old City section of town. The weather was nicer than it had been in London with clear, blue skies, no rain but cold (temperatures in the 30’s and low 40’s). The Royal Mile is a street leading to the castle and is quite famous in a historical sense. All the buildings are made of stone, the street is cobblestone and is has a nice, ancient feel to it. There are cathedrals and shops and pubs lining the way. The commercialism is a pain in the butt but it is not obtrusive and is to be expected in an area that attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists a year.

Here are a few pictures of some sites along the Royal Mile:
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As during my days in London I enjoyed seeing the sites of Edinburgh without the multitudes of tourists that visit in the warmer months. I was there on a Monday and Tuesday and there were not many other travelers or tourists about.

Here are a few pictures of some sites around Edinburgh and cityscapes. There are so many beautiful sites in this city that it is fun to try to capture a few on film. I think I got a few good pictures.
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The other main reason I only spent two days in Edinburgh is that the weatherman said that the temperatures in Scotland would get into the 40’s and 50’s soon and I got the itch to go golfing! I was so close to St. Andrews and have such a love for that place that I just had to get there as soon as possible!!

Oh, one thing to remember if you ever go to Scotland (and the rest of the U.K. too) is to not believe the weather forecasts (even more so than in your local area). The weather is so variable, volatile and quick changing here that it just seems silly to try and predict what it will do in any localized area and it seems that most people disregard the weather people and come up with their own forecasts based on looking outside, walking about, sniffing the air or feelings in their joints and bodies – all just as effective in predicting weather as the satellites and atmospheric gauges and expertise used by professional forecasters.

This picture reminded me of my friend Mark Hemmerle and his love of whiskys. There are many opportunities to taste different whiskys and take tours of various distillerys in Scotland. I haven't really developed a taste of love of whisky but that didn't stop me from a wee dram every now and then in order to keep the chill off!

When I saw this bar in Edinburgh I immediately thought of my younger brother Matt Michie. I have no idea what "Seek Ye the Salmon of Knowledge" means but it must mean something to someone. Matt is an avid fisherman.

That's all for this entry. Next will chronicle my golfing adventures during my 11 wonderful days and nights in St. Andrews, the Home of Golf!!

Hello everyone! Today is Friday afternoon, March 18th and I am still in St. Andrews, Scotland. God's Country and the Home of Golf!

Alas, I will be leaving Scotland tomorrow and head to London after playing some of the best golf of my life, but more on that later!

I titled this blog entry "From Traveler to Tourist?" with a question mark to highlight a chance in my traveling habits as I left Asia and headed into the western world.

I'm not sure if I have made the switch from traveler to tourist or, really, what it means, if anything. In a prior blog entry I did discuss this difference and really never came to a conclusion whether or not there is a distinction and if there is, whether a traveler is a better than a tourist.

It is easier to be a traveler in Asia, at least for me. Asia is more exotic than the U.K. (duh) and has an infrastructure designed for people traveling the road. London (and Hong Kong) are designed for business people and tourists and while it is relatively easy to figure things out you do so with hordes of other people on the same tourist trail. Things are obviously more expensive and the accomodations can be great, good or marginal but not as condusive to meeting other travelers.

It just feels different, not better, not worse, just different. It may be that I spent most of my time researching Asia and not so much Europe and the U.K. so I am not as familiar with the traveler infrastructure here. Who knows... these are just random thoughts that have gone through my mind as this trip matures and transitions into areas and places for which I did not plan.

I purposely left open my itinerary so I could and would make quick decisions on where to go next so some uncertainty is always with me as I go from place to place.

Anyway, am I just a tourist now or am I still a traveler?

London!!!

I flew from Hong Kong to London on a whim. When I was in Hong Kong I was trying to decide where to go next and nothing hit me or turned me on. Of course I had many, many choices but I had nothing prepared mentally to hit some of the more exotic places I still want to visit so I said "what the heck", get out of Asia, go to London and from there figure out the next move. London is very central and people from the U.K. are big time travelers so there is are many resources here to help me plan.

The Hong Kong to London flight was not too exciting. It took just over 24 hours in total as it stopped for an hour in Bangkok and I changed planes in Bahrain and had a layover of about 4 hours. I flew Gulf Air which is owned by the country of Bahrain. It is an interesting airline, all the flight attendants wore Arab-type clothing, there were many Arabs on the flight, they served traditional Arabic food (along with more western fare) and on the movie screens they had a image pointing in the direction of Mecca so that the Muslim faithful would know which direction in which to pray. Very interesting and different.

The best part was being upgraded to first class on the Bangkok to Bahrain leg. They asked me and my seat-mate (a Brit) on the stopover in Bangkok if we wanted to move to first class as we were the only people left on the plane after the short hop from Hong Kong. It was nice up there but the seats didn't quite fully recline. First class had its own chef on board who came out and designed meals personally for each passenger - a nice touch for sure! It was also nice using the first class lounge in Bahrain for the 4 hour layover. I got to use a computer, took a nice hot shower and relaxed with some good food.

The Brit I sat next to was a cool guy. We got to talking about sports and the 6-nation rugby tournament currently going on (England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France and Italy). I knew nothing about rugby so he explained the game and the rules and after a while it made much more sense to me. That would be important as I watched alot of rugby over the next couple of weeks as the tournament progressed.

I tried to get him to explain to me how Cricket works but he wouldn't and apologized to me that England had propogated such a stupid game onto the world - I agree with him in that I could never figure out what they do, how they score and why they play that dumb game!

I landed in London at about 8:00 AM local time and took a train to the station near my hotel. I was staying in the Paddington area which seemed kinda dicey when I got there, kinda on the edge of a bad neighborhood but it turned out okay. Fortunately I was able to check in early and took a shower. To beat jet lag you have to quickly assimilate to your current time zone which means waking and sleeping at your normal times. This being 9:00 AM I couldn't take a nap so I had to get out and explore.

It was COLD!! The first few days I was in London the temperatures were anywhere from 28 to 38 degrees with wind and snow. Having just come from Asia with a limited supply of clothes in my backpack I was not prepared for cold weather, all my stuff was for warm and hot weather like the 100 degree days on the beach in Phuket.... Sorry , I was day dreaming and remembering Kacey's comment, something about me being stupid going from the hot beach to cold London :-).

I did have one long sleeve shirt, a fleece jacket and a rain coat and wearing all three I was still freezing. The first thing I bought was a ski hat and some gloves and a long sleeve t-shirt. After that I was pretty much okay except for the cold wind blowing on my face.

London is a great tourist town. Many of the things to see are concentrated on the west side of town in the central district and are easily accessible on foot, the bus or the Tube. The Tube is way cool. It is the subway, it has dozens of different lines and is easy to use. Not as clean and efficient as the Hong Kong subway but I doubt any subway anywhere is as nice.

Of course to enjoy London and the U.K. you have to put up with the Brits and their strange ways, some of which I've mentioned previously. They drive on the wrong side of the road, they walk all over the sidewalks, their toilets are in very inconvenient places - generally down or up lots of steps, roundabouts on the roads and they talk funny. But there are many, many thing about the U.K. and the people that make it appealing to. The people are unfailingly polite and orderly, London is very diverse, the signage is easy to understand and logical (Give Way instead of Yield, Tube instead of Subway, Way Out instead of Exit and Toilet instead of Bathroom) and there is a pub on almost every corner - really.

I stayed in London for 4 nights on this visit and packed in the tourist stuff. There is so much to see and 4 days is really not enough to take it all in properly. Generally the attractions and the Central London area are very crowded with tourists. The fortunate part of the bad weather is that things were generally uncrowded for these 4 days - great for me as I acclimated to the poor weather quickly.

The first thing I did after checking out the guidebook and the map was take the Tube to the Westminster station (on the River Thames) and took a ride on the BA London Eye. This is a huge Ferris Wheel on the opposite side of the Thames that give a great view of the whole area. Even with the rain and clouds it gave me a great acclimation to the area and showed me where places I wanted to visit were in relation to the Eye. The best way to start out!

I saw Big Ben, The Houses of Parliament, St Margarets Cathedral and Westmister Abbey - all four of these places are close. Then an afternoon at the National Gallery which is a huge art museum and I was pooped. Back to the hotel on the Tube, a couple of pints of ale and asleep by 8:30 PM. The jet lag had definitely kicked in!.

The next morning I was feeling good as I watched it snow outside my window. Snow might be a pain in the ass but it sure is beautiful, It coats the streets, the sidewalks and the buildings and seeing London under a small blanket of snow was breathtaking. Luckily the snow melted by noon and while it was still cold all it did was rain/snow mix for the next few days, no ice.

Another great thing about the Brits (and Scots too!) is their love of breakfast. The English breakfast is a meal! If no one is cooking for me I will generally settle for a brekfast bar or donut or bowl of cereal and some coffee. Not here! They serve up a huge breakfast of eggs, sausage, bacon, baked beans, toast, tomato, mushrooms and coffee. A great way to start a day, especially when it's cold and you are heading out for a long day of being a tourist! I have started out each day while here in England and Scotland with a huge, delicious and filling breakfast, maybe not good for the diet but it sure tastes good.

My other three days in London consisted of Piccadilly Circus, The Tower of London (which was awesome), the British Museum (the largest museum in the world and worth a couple days of exploring rather than the 1/2 day I spent there), London Bridge, Trafalgar Square and the River Thames to name just a few. I also figured out how to walk as much as possible for the exercise. Oh - I forgot to mention street signs, when I first started walking I couldn't find any! I was pissed, how could such an orderly society not have good street signs? Then after a few hours (okay, I'm kinda slow) I noticed them up on the sides of building, mostly way above eye level. Once I figured out their system I was okay but I like traditional street signs (sign posts on the street!!) better. Also, I saw the play Phantom of the Opera which was awesome, theater in London is quite an experience and maybe I was wrong about Seth and Linda singing those duets as Seth adamantly denies his part while Linda is curiously quiet...

I didn't hit Greenwich, Buckingham Palace or St. James Cathedral letting those places wait until another visit.

Once again there is so much to see in London but you need to pace yourself and not try to see everything at once or you will just see the surface and get get burned out.

I don't know how one would do this as a budget traveler as this is a tourist town and it costs alot of money to see and do things here. The darn Dollar to Pound exchange rate is about $1.92 meaning that if something costs 1 Pound it translates to $1.92 for my money, almost 2 to 1. In all practicality things here cost double what they would cost in the USA as the price in Pounds that you pay for something here would be roughly equivalent to the price in Dollars you would pay for something in the States. Also, coming from Asia where things are often less than 1/4 what they would cost in the States, the prices and costs here were quite a shock.

The culture shock coming from Asia back to the western world was strange for me. Just like coming back home (except for the oddities of the Brits). Set pricing of goods and services, no feeling that you were being set up or looked on as a mark and you could drink the water out of the tap! No more brushing my teeth using bottled water - it's the little stuff that sometimes makes the most difference. Of course London is not as exciting or exotic as places in Asia and there is no real "edge" here that I felt all over Southeast Asia. No real danger and a real lack of despair here. I know there is poverty and danger here but it is certainly more well hidden then in Asia where it is always prevalent. Ah, I miss Southeast Asia and the real life drama and humanity there.

After 4 days in London I got an itch to head north to Scotland, Edinburgh in particular. Scotland has always been in my heart and is a place I love. Being so close to it I couldn't not visit God's Country so I got on a train and headed north.

Back to the title "From Traveler to Tourist?" I think I've always kinda straddled the line between the two. I am not a hard core traveler staying in hostel dorms everynight and wandering from place to place with no idea where I would spend the night trying to get by on $10-20 a day. I generally knew where I would spend each night and have stayed in the upper end of the cheap places. I've traveled by airplane as much as by bus and train. I do enjoy some comforts while traveling and that may be due to my age, those comforts mostly include a quiet and somewhat clean room and bed, a glass of red wine on occasion and most of all some certainty of what I'm doing and where I'm going. I enjoy the touristy areas as they are where you can see the history and architecture of a city, country or region. Not hard core but certainly not packaged tourist life.

Anyway, I love it here in the U.K., particularly in Scotland and my time in St. Andrews was clearly a highlight of this trip (including 7 rounds of golf and shooting a 77 on the Old Course) - more on that in a future blog entry.

Sorry for no pictures, I do have some to share about London but this Internet place does not allow uploading off my camera, UGH!

Thank you for reading this. I hope to make this blog both interesting and entertaining. Please post a comment and let me know your thoughts, observations or counsel. Hearing from readers and knowing I have an audience is a great motivator and will be a great morale booster during down times on the road. Don’t forget to bookmark this site and tell a friend! Please feel free to e-mail me at “JeffMichie at Yahoo Dot Com”

I was just checking some statistics on my blog. I have written 37 blog entries and have received 217 separate comments!! Thanks everyone for their comments, I read them all and greatly anticipate them and do take to heart the thoughts and suggestions. Once again, thanks and keep 'em coming. There is no such thing as a stupid comment.

Today is Sunday afternoon, March 13th and I am in St. Andrews, Scotland. St. Andrews is the Home of Golf and one of my favorite places in the whole world. I feel very comfortable and at home here. This is my third visit to this city and it feels very familiar to me. It is so nice coming into a new place and knowing where things are and how to get around and find the places I need to find. It is especially nice after 3 or so months going from unfamiliar to unfamiliar places with the stress and anxiety attendant in doing so. There was no anxiety at all coming here.

Oh, I also love the Scottish accents of the women here. It really does something for me!!

And the golf is awesome and I'm hitting the ball great eventhough it's been in the 30's and low 40's with winds from 20-40 mph. Real Scottish golf, laddies and lassies.

Another U.K. related question for Patrick since he answered so eloquently the reason why the Brits drive on the wrong side of the road: Why don't people in the U.K. consistently walk on the left hand side of sidewalks? In America most people walk on the right hand side of a wide sidewalk facilitating the proper flow of pedestrians especially on a busy sidewalk. Here in the U.K. it is hard for me to stay consistent when walking around, I try to adhere to walking on the left side but get no cooperation from the Brits as half of them walk and the right and the other half walk on the left. It drives me nuts!!

Hong Kong!

I left off the last entry with getting on a flight north from Bangkok to Hong Kong. It's a 2 1/2 flight and an easy one to manage through the highly modern and efficient Hong Kong airport where all flights in and out are international flights.

North is not always a good direction to travel during winter time in the northern hemisphere. There is always the risk of colder, wetter weather the further you get away from the equator and the further you get away from tropical Southeast Asia.

Hong Kong is an amazing and incredible city. It is like no other city on earth and a place where the East collides with the West. Look at a map and find Hong Kong and you will find it's a small appendage (a very small one) just off the coast of China. It consists of a few islands, with the main one being Hong Kong Island and an attached territory of the mainland, primarily Kowloon and the New Territories.

Hong Kong is part of China but that was not always so. In 1842 Great Britain signed a treaty with China giving them territorial rights to Hong Kong and Kowloon for 150 years. That China ceded her territory to a foreign power tells of the relative balance of power and military might in those times. Despite it's huge size and population advatages over Great Britain they were at a substantial disadvantage in terms of military might and economic strength. Thus England took over Hong Kong as another one of it's colonies, one is wasn't destined to lose (as she lost all her other ones as her military and economic strength waned in comparison to the rest of the world) until the treaty with China ran its course.

On June 30, 1997 Great Britain officially handed over control of Hong Kong to China. There was great fear amongst the citizens of Hong Kong, most of whom are Chinese. Hong Kong was an economic powerhouse with a history steeped in capitalism while China, of course, is a Communist state with it's recent history steeped in socialism. How could the two vastly dissimiliar cultures, lifestyles and economies exist within the same country? Many thought that the huge Chinese state would just swallow Hong Kong and demand that it change its ways to conform to the communist model.

Fortunately wiser heads prevailed as the Chinses leadership recognized the economic powerhouse Hong Kong had become and realized that it would be detrimental and bad to force a change, there were too many economic positives for China as a whole in keeping Hong Kong a capitalistic society

Historically the astute Chinese have almost always chosen money over political ideology and this was the case here.

As part of the agreement signed with England in handing over Hong Kong, the Chinese pledged to allow Hong Kong to retain its pre-handover social, economic and legal systems for 50 years after 1997. Hong Kong as a "British-administered colony" would disappear and re-emerge as a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China. The Hong Kong SAR would be permitted to retain its capitalistic system after 1997 while across the border the Chinese would continue a system it labeled socialist. The Chinses catch phrase for this was "One Country, Two Systems". A very Chinese (and very effective) compromise!

Now Hong Kong has over 7 million people in a very small area. Most live within an area of about 200 square kilometers! In fact, one district in Kowloon is the most densely populated place on earth with 51,000 people per square kilometer!! All this is just nuts when you are trying to get around, there are just so many people on the streets, in their cars, on the buses and on the subway.

This is me on Victoria Peak on Hong Kong Island:

There is no sense of personal space because there are so many people in the same place. It is cultural for the residents here and for Chinese in particular in large cities. You are constantly jostled around, run into, stepped in front of and treated quite rudely (by western standards) just walking along the sidewalks. No one says "pardon me" or "excuse me" or "I'm sorry" in English or Chinese and they rarely make eye contact even when you run into each other.

At first is pissed me off a bit but then I observed that everyone does this so it's every man (or woman) for themselves and if you knock someone out of the way on your way somewhere it's okay. So, once I learned the rules I had an advantage since I am taller and bigger than most Chinese. You just have to head straight for your intended destination no matter who is in your way because if you hesitate someone will knock you out of the way. It's been enlightening and fun!

Here are some Hong Kong skyline pictures. The quality is a bit poor as the weather did no cooperate with good picture taking.
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As I mentioned before Hong Kong is a very prosperous city and had done well under British leadership (despite the British leadership :-) ). By Asian standards it is a highly educated society with a literacy rate of 93%. Education is free and compulsory for 9 years. This is in vastly different than any other Asian country and helps explain its relative affluence and prosperity.

In a city so compressed and crowded it is important to have good mass transit and Hong Kong surely does! It's subway system (MTR) goes most places in the territory and does it quickly, efficiently and effectively. I rode it numerous times in my 6 days and never waited more than 3 minutes for the next train. It is fast, clean, on time and crowded. On some of the trains there was no need to hold onto a pole or strap because you are wedged in so tightly you can't fall down.

I read in the newspaper there about a recent increase in groppers on the MTR. It seems people are taking advantage of the packed trains to anonymously "cop a feel" on unsuspecting riders. I can see how easy it would be to do so on the MTR but can report that I was never violated in this way nor did I ever take advantage of the situation.

The coolest thing about the MTR was how they integrated it with the airport. There is a special rail line that takes people to and from the airport and, combined with buses, takes poeple to and from most of the hotels in the territory. It is a quick, inexpensive way to get to and from the airport. But the best part of this service is that you can check your luggage with your airline at an MTR station in town before getting on the train for the 30 minute ride to the airport. No dragging around your stuff and standing in line at the airport. Just awesome and what a great model for other progressive cities in the world. I just wish more cities had the vision and leadership to copy Hong Kong's model.

I spent most of my 6 days walking around Hong Kong Island and Kowloon checking out the tourist attractions and seeing the museums. I stayed 2 nights on the Island and 4 in Kowloon but went back and forth on the MTR on a daily basis depending on what I wanted to see that day. The weather was much different than anything I had been used to on this trip. It was foggy and overcast most of the time with temperatures of about 65-70 degrees (compared to the 85-100 I was used to) and it rained or sprinkled most of the time.

One of the difficulties I encountered in Hong Kong while walking around when it rained had to do with umbrellas. When it rained thousands and thousands of umbrellas came out as you would expect (although I never carried one - traveler don't carry umbrellas!). The difficulty came into play due to my height relative to the average Chinese. Since I am taller the side of their umbrellas comes to the height of my eyes and since most of the umbrellas had metal tips I felt the risk of getting poked in the eye a constant threat. It never did happen though!

One day I decided to visit Macau. Macau is another Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China. Until December 31, 1999 it was a colony of Portugal. Macau is technically a separate country from Hong Kong (not sure why) and I did get a new stamp in my passport from the trip. It was an hour long ferry trip south from Hong Kong and, unfortunately, the seas were a bit rough and the scenery not as good as it could have been.

Macau is mostly known for its casinos. They are the only legal ones in China and do a tremendous business. Chinese and Asians in general love to gamble, it is in their mindset and in their culture and Macau is the closest place for many to play legally in a casino. Until last year a fellow (a very rich fellow) named Stanley Ho had a monopoly on casino ownership in Macau. This monopoly came under Portuguese governance and I'm sure there were no kickbacks, bribes or anything else that was typically paid to do business in Asia :-)

Anyway, Stanley Ho opened up a dozen or so casino-hotels in Macau that are very unlike anything we see in the U.S. There are very few slot machines, many private rooms, lots of smoke, no ventilation, low ceilings, poor service... But crowded and very popular.

The Chinese took away this monopoly and two American companies won rights to build and operate a casino there. The Sands (same company as The Venetian in Las Vegas) recently opened its casino and it is very, very Las Vegas-like with slots machines, buffets, entertainment, high ceilings and a service culture. They were really crowded when I was there and is making a ton of money (based on public documents). Steve Wynn is opening up a similiar resort next year.

Here are a couple casino pictures from Macau:
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Spending the day in the Macau casinos reminded me of my time at Harrah's Skagit Valley Casino in Northwest Washington State. Our primary clientele were Hong Kong residents visiting Vancouver or first generation Chinese immigrants to Vancouver. The people, their behavior and their gambling habits really brought back good memories for me!

Once again, the Chinese love to gamble and it is projected that by 2007 Macau will overtake Las Vegas as the highest grossing (revenue) gambling destination!!

Back in Hong Kong the most amazing thing to me after the hordes of people was the shopping. Shopping, shopping, shopping EVERYWHERE. Every brand name store in the world is here and people come from all over the world to shop in Hong Kong. I just don't get it! Consumerism rules and it is boarderline obscene in how it is marketed and in your face everywhere in Hong Kong. But it works and must make the people, business and the government tons of money.

Even in downtown Hong Kong you see stuff like this:

After six days here I decided to leave Asia for now. I just felt it was time to go somewhere else and on a whim decided London was the place. One day later I was on a plane to take the 24 hour trip (with layover in Bahrain) and I'm glad I did!

Here is the picture I discussed in the last blog entry of me in London at the Phantom of the Opera:

Thank you for reading this. I hope to make this blog both interesting and entertaining. Please post a comment and let me know your thoughts, observations or counsel. Hearing from readers and knowing I have an audience is a great motivator and will be a great morale booster during down times on the road. Don’t forget to bookmark this site and tell a friend! Please feel free to e-mail me at “JeffMichie at Yahoo Dot Com”

It is Monday morning, March 7th and I am in Edinburgh, Scotland - God's Country! I got here yesterday after a 6 hour train trip from London through the heartland of England and southern Scotland. What a beautiful ride and a very relaxing way to spend the day, trains are a great way to travel.

Being in the "Mother Country" makes me miss my friend Patrick as the limey accent is, of course, everywhere and it makes me homesick for a bar stool at Applewoods tipping back a beer or two with Jason, Leo and Patrick. When you travel you really learn to appreciate the contribution of England to the world as colonizers. The thing I don't like about their influence is that they drive on the wrong side of the road and have taught many countries in the world to do the same. This is dangerous for a guy like me that walks around alot and can't seem to figure out to look right first rather than left before crossing the street!

The Scottish, though, don't seem to like the Brits too much!

On another topic before officially starting this blog entry, I feel I have made an important breakthrough in international relations between Europeans and America. Its been very apparent for the last couple of years that much of the world is unhappy with the decisions made by the U.S. government concerning the invasion of Iraq. There is even some dissent amongst Americans although I personally agree with he decision. Anyway in the three months or so that I've been on the road I have sat at a number of bars and discussed American foreign policy with a alot of people in various states of drunkeness. Most had strong opinions that led to some heated arguments.

Now recently though I feel the attitudes changing into more acceptance of U.S. policy. I think my bar stool mates and I have come to an agreement that maybe the U.S. invasion of Iraq was wrong but the current (and end) result justifies the invasion. What do you think about that Seth????

I wonder if President Bush or his advisors read my blog, if so, this bit of intelligence will be good for them to hear!

Now, back to the blog entry. This entry covers the time I left to Phuket and headed to Hong Kong.

Alas, all good things must come to an end so I had to leave the paradise of Phuket after 9 lovely days and headed back to the central hub of Bangkok and Khao San Road.

This time I upgraded my accommodations a bit and stayed at the D&D Inn right in the middle of the madness of Khao San Road and paid 750 baht (about $19) per night. This time I got a TV in my room (although it only had a few English speaking channels) which was a good thing as I had to spend much more time in my roon during these 4 days in Bangkok than normal due to my illness.

As I related briefly in a previous blog entry, I got very sick on my first night back in Bangkok. I am almost positive it was from the whole Red Snapper I ate that night. It was probably spoiled sitting out in the sun or a few days old before they cooked it up for me.

This, unfortunately, is typical of how things are in Thailand around the heavily traveled areas. Thai's struggle to make money and there is no effective regulations or laws to protect buyers. They seem to have a general disregard for foreigners and a constant attitude and lifestyle of hustling and generally trying to rip people off. This leads to all types of disregard and led to my, and many others, illness.

I was up most of that night running to the toilet and by morning was pretty beat up and severly dehydrated, feverish and generally feeling horrible. After showering I walked across the street to a 7-11 and got some bread, orange juice and water and struggled back to my room. For the next few days I was mostly successful in keeping food down as long as it was plain and bland (not typical of Thai food). All kinds of scary thoughts were going through my mind during this time, most of them revolved around being alone in a crappy guesthouse in Bangkok and having Malaria or Dengue Fever or some other exotic, tropical disease. I did not relish having to spend time in a hospital in Southeast Asia! I did try to go to a local clinic but the only one that I could find close by was actually closed, good thing probably as there was no English lettering anywhere on the door or other signs.

In spite of the illness, my runaway imagination and that stupid fish I got well rather quickly which surprised me due to just how bad I felt that first night. I was back to normal two days later. I am thankful for that and I think it's also a testament to good, clean living and being a healthy person.

I mentioned previously the constant hustling and haggling every traveler must contend with in Asia from vendors to tuk-tuks to taxis to motos to prostitutes, I've also touched on this in previous blog entries. It is part of the lifestyle out here but that doesn't mean that I always have to like or accept it. So often it is annoying and maddening. Bargaining is no problem, happens all the time and can be fun as long as both parties do it in the spirit of cooperation and commerce. It should not get personal but it sometimes does when the attempts to get a price out of you are so outrageous that it is a joke and then they actually get mad at you for not paying the price or whine that they need the money for any of a thousand reasons. I'm very sensitive to the plight of people in Southeast Asia but also know when I'm being played.

I know that I almost always pay too much when I bargain even after almost 3 months here. I'm just not a very good bargainer, I guess I don't have the stomach to eke out the last baht/dong/riel from someone. But I do generally know what the right price should be (within a range) and am usually okay paying more because relative to the price it's still a good value to me.

I will refuse to bargain or deal with someone who starts at an outrageous price or refuses to bargain in good faith thinking I must be stupid, that really annoys me and pisses me off. I will just give them a look and walk away, not saying what I am thinking...

I may be overly sensitive to these encounters right now after my time in Asia but it just seems like my last week or so in Thailand had many more negative interactions with people blatantly trying to rip me off than in the other 10-11 weeks combined. It does get to you constantly being on guard and suspicious of anyone who trys to be friendly.

Please don't get me wrong, I love it in Asia and enjoyed most of the people I have dealt with. Most are friendly or at worst, indifferent. Bargaining and hustling are just part of life and the culture here. By deciding to visit Asia that's what you sign up for and the need to smile and keep a good attitude is essential to have a rewarding trip. You just need to stay on guard and always be aware that locals will try to take unfair advantage of you in hundreds of different way and that they are very, very good at it!

One of my best tonics when I get annoyed with the locals is to watch other foreigners interact with vendors and touts. So often you see them get upset and you see how silly they look doing so. This never fails to bring me back to reality and bring a smile to my face and gives me the proper attitude adjustment.

I got sidetracked there, sorry...

I decided to leave Bangkok and head to Hong Kong. Why Hong Kong? No real reason except it's another place I've always wanted to visit. Hong Kong has held a special fascination for me ever since my Mom and Dad visited there in the late 1970's and told us stories and showed us pictures of their visit.

Also, several books by James Clavell, notably "Noble House" and "Tai Pan" were set in Hong Kong and were fascinating books with much history and culture within their pages. Anyone who has read James Clavell novel's (Shogun, Gai Jin, Whirlwind, King Rat) knows they are great stories and are filled with detailed historical facts and context that make them page turners. I have read all his books at least twice and loved them all.

Also, it is quite easy and relatively inexpensive to get to Hong Kong from Bangkok. It's only a 2 1/2 hour plane trip so when I got back to feeling normal I bought a ticket and was gone from Bangkok once again!

My next blog entry will be about my time and observations in Hong Kong.

Once again, sorry about the lack of pictures, the Internet Cafe I at here in Edinburgh doesn't allow USB hook ups to get my pictures transferred.

I wanted to put up a picture here of me in London in front of a poster for the Phantom of the Opera. It shows how cold it was there. I saw the play and really enjoyed it. Theatre in London is awesome and not to be missed.

The other reason I bring up the Phantom of the Opera is that I heard that Linda and Seth sing the duets of Christine and the Phantom after hours back in cube city.

Thank you for reading this. I hope to make this blog both interesting and entertaining. Please post a comment and let me know your thoughts, observations or counsel. Hearing from readers and knowing I have an audience is a great motivator and will be a great morale booster during down times on the road. Don’t forget to bookmark this site and tell a friend! Please feel free to e-mail me at “JeffMichie at Yahoo Dot Com”

Today is Wednesday, March 2nd. At the end of my last blog entry I said I was doing something unexpected and taking a bit of a long journey. I didn't mean to be overly dramatic or to worry anyone (sorry Mom!) because all I did was leave Asia and go to London, England.

That's right, I'm in beautiful (and cold/snowy) London after over 24 hours flying and layover time from Hong Kong. I'm writing this as I'm jet lagged trying to get used to crossing 8 time zones going backwards.

I decided to leave Asia after 12 or so weeks there to change things up and try something different. Not sure what my plans are after London but I will hang out here for a while and be a tourist.

This blog entry is about my time in Phuket.

I originally planned to only spend 5 days in Phuket but ended up staying for 9. I spent the first 6 fun days and nights at the Sunset Beach Resort and managed to keep busy and see most of the local area, get alot of exercise and even got some sun. It was hot everyday with mostly cloudless skies and temperatures in the 90's during the day and the 70's at night. Most of the time there was gentle breeze blowing - in other words PERFECT!

The final three nights I decided to take advantage of another great internet special for the 5-star Novotel Resort in Patong. The rate was 3600 baht (about $90) versus the normal rate of 7000 baht. This was definitely a plush and cushy place with a great pool and spa and awesome views of the bay and the ocean.

As Patong Beach faces west the sunsets are just incredible. They remind me so much of the sunsets in San Diego (minus the pollution that can turn Southern California sunsets pink). A good sunset is an event in Patong Beach (as it should be) with people stopping on the beach or sitting in the sand watching the sun slowly disappear into the ocean. You can hear a collective sigh from people as the sun finally goes down over the horizon and is no more for the day.

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How did I spend my days on Phuket? Good question... Everyday I walked back and forth from my hotel to the center of town at least twice. I spent a couple of afternoons laying on the beach - did you know that you can still get a sunburn even if you lay under a beach umbrella? Who knew? Well, I do now!

I played golf twice which was awesome - Jason, is it golf season yet in Rising Sun? I played Phuket Country Club and another equally nice place but I forgot its name. I had to rent clubs (obviously) which is always a crap shoot. I partially blame the rented clubs for the 94 I shot my first round. The second day I played I shot a 39 on the front nine and a 49 on the back (for an 88). I was hitting the ball pretty good just dumped three balls in the water on the back nine and couldn't putt for a lick. The golf courses are top end for Thailand but would be middle of the road courses back in the USA. Also, caddies are mandatory, which is okay especially since it was very hot, and all the caddies are Thai women.

One day I took a boat trip to the Phi Phi Islands to see the sights and do some snorkeling. Phi Phi (pronounced pee-pee) is about a 90 minute boat ride from Phuket Town on the eastern side of Phuket Island (Patong is on the west side of the island). The main resort area of Phi Phi Don was severely damaged by the Tsunami and has yet to recover. It was a sobering sight to see all the destruction still visible 2 months after the event.

We stopped at one of the island, Phi Phi Ley, to do some snorkeling. The cove we anchored in was where they filmed the movie "The Beach", an adaptation of a book by the same name which starred Leonardo DiCapprio. "The Beach" is a renowned backpacker book about an ideal society away from the mainstream on a hidden island in Thailand. It represents the perfect society to many of the scruffy, world-drop-out vagabond types you see all over Southeast Asia as well as many other travelers. They lived off the land in a tropical paradise and the land and ocean provided everything they needed to survive. They lived in a collective society where everything is decided for the good of the society rather than the good of the individual. Anyway, it was a great book and a so-so movie. The ideal and the scenery are beautiful and the island is breathtakingly serene, natural and awesome.

Here are some pictures of Phi Phi Ley. They just don't do justice to the true beauty of this island!
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The snorkeling was great too. I hadn't put on a mask and snorkel in probably 20 years but I picked it back up real quick. The water was very warm and very clear and there were tons of tropical fish and lots of pretty coral. It was like swimming in my Mom's saltwater fish tank.

When we were floating around in the water someone on the boat threw some potato chips into the water and soon we were surrounded by hundreds of tropical fish. It was so cool just floating there seeing and feeling all these beautiful, multi-colored fish swimming around me eating the chips. It was a weird feeling though as some of the fish wanted to taste me, I could feel little nips on my legs and arms probably where some chips had fallen on me.

There were two little girls from Denmark (about 8 and 10 years old) snorkeling with their Dad and it was so cute to see them smiling and giggling as they were surrounded by the fish. They got a little scared after a while and got out of the water but their eyes were as big a saucers as they told their Mom what happened to them!

While on the boat trip I was spent some time talking to these little girls' Mom. They live in a town outside of Amsterdam in Denmark. She was asking me about my travels and my travel plans, what I've been doing and where I plan to go. She encouraged me to visit beautiful Denmark and invited me to stay with them! That was so friendly and awesome to me to get such an invitation from a family I'd only known for a couple of hours. Stuff like that just doesn't happen in the U.S. (at least not to me).

Here's a picture of me on the boat:

Another day I rented a motorcycle (a small one - 125 cc's) to further explore the island and see some new and different views. Driving in Thailand is scary but it's not so bad on Phuket as opposed to Bangkok but a motorcycle is always a risk. There is an anything-goes attitude on the road here so you need to be constantly aware and careful.

I had a great time and that motorcycle was quite fast, especially in the hilly, twisty roads away from the resort areas and away from any car traffic. It's been alot of years since I rode a motorcycle and it was fun. I got to see some of the real island life I would never have seen had I been in a car or a tour bus.

Here's a road sign that you don't see too often!

And a couple more pictures taken away from Patong Beach while on the moto:
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On my last day Ex-President's Bill Clinton and George HW Bush were in Patong Beach on a tour of Tsunami affected areas throughout Asia. They are special envoys representing the U.S. and the U.N. making sure that donations are being spent wisely, that donations pledged by countries are actually sent and to make sure that people of the world know that further help will be needed. Having two such high profile people involved will help assure that the rebuilding effort stays in the forefront of people's minds and in the international media.

I don't have all the exact facts and figures but the official toll of the Tsunami is over 270,000 dead and well over 100,000 missing and presumed dead!!!!! The vast majority of those missing will never be found or identified. Millions more are directly affected through the loss of their homes, business, livelihoods and loved ones.

This was the greatest natural disaster in the history of the world and many, many people continue to suffer. Please remember these people and pray for their well being.

That's it for Phuket, it was time to leave paradise and head once gain back to Bangkok!

This is me in Cambodia after a little too much Mekong Whiskey :-)

Thank you for reading this. I hope to make this blog both interesting and entertaining. Please post a comment and let me know your thoughts, observations or counsel. Hearing from readers and knowing I have an audience is a great motivator and will be a great morale booster during down times on the road. Don’t forget to bookmark this site and tell a friend! Please feel free to e-mail me at “JeffMichie at Yahoo Dot Com”

It is Monday morning, February 28th and I am in Hong Kong! After leaving Phuket I just couldn't hang out in Bangkok any longer and needed a change of pace from Southeast Asia so I decided to fly up here to beautiful and mysterious Hong Kong, the gateway to Asia and the gateway to China!

After seven days in Phnom Penh it really was time to leave. My friends Frank and Thom were departing and I thought it was time I do so too.

The life in Phnom Penh was almost too relaxing as I found myself spending too much time sitting on my butt and drinking beer at the California 2. Not a bad way to spend time but not real healthy either.

So I decided to head back to Bangkok since it was relatively close by in order to figure out my next move. The great thing about Bangkok is that it's a central hub in which to travel practically anywhere in the world. Plus Bangkok is so easy to manage (compared to other Southeast Asian cities) and seems to be made for travelers, particularly the Sukhumvit and Khao San Road areas.

I tried to stay at my old hostel, the Suk11 (in Sukhumvit) but they were actually full! I couldn't believe it, my oasis in the insanity of Bangkok was full, oh well.

I decided to hit the famous backpacker paradise of Khao San Road where I knew I could find decent and cheap accommodations. I mentioned Khao San Road in a previous Bangkok blog entry. This road is about 1 kilometer (1 Km = .62 mile) long and the backpacker area includes some of the surrounding streets and alleys. It is full of bars, places to eat, shopping, travel agents and Internet places. Everything a traveler needs! Costs seem to be higher here than in other places in Bangkok and Southeast Asia but are still a bargain compared to any other western country.

I found a decent guesthouse, the New Siam 1 (not to be confused with the New Siam 2) for 600 baht a night (about $15) for a room with a bed and a shower that was relatively quiet at night (only needed my earplus occassionally).

A few days on Khao San Road and in Bangkok is more than enough as I had already spent 7 days here back in December and saw most of the main attractions and got a pretty good feel for the city. I did go back and see the Golden Palace again in a bit more depth than I did previously and that was fun. But now I had to decide where to go next...

My first night walking around Khao San Road I ran into my friends Ryan and Michele from Canada. I don't think I've mentioned these two before, I first met them in early January on the Slow Boat in Laos. We are on similar routes it seems. Ryan and Michele are from Calgary, Canada, are married and in their mid to late twenties (I think). They are taking a break from life and spending 5-6 months in Asia. Ryan runs a hotel and Michele is an Accountant so we have alot in common.

The odd, but fun, part is that we keep running into each other. Once the Slow Boat got into Luang Prabang we ended up staying at the same guesthouse. I left Luang Prabang before them and went to Vang Viene where we also crossed paths at the same guesthouse on the night before I left to go to Vientiane. In Vientiane the same thing! We all ended up at the same guesthouse. Similar tastes and budget I'm sure but there are literally dozens of places to stay in these areas.

I took off for Hanoi, Vietnam and guess who I ran into a few days later in an Internet place? Yup, Ryan and Michele. And now I see them over a month later in a bar on Khao San Road. A very happy series of coincidences as I enjoyed their company and enjoyed the times we spent drinking beers, eating dinner and takling. I wish them the best of luck and happy traveling!!

I had thought (and wrote) about the Cambodian beaches of Sihnoukville while I was in Phnom Penh so I guess the surf, sand and sea were on my mind when I decided to head south to Phuket Island.

Phuket is a large island with many towns and many places to stay and hang out. The western side of the island has the great beaches and resorts and is on the Andaman Sea. It is also one of the areas hit hard by the December 26th Tsunami. I decided to stay in Patong Beach, the resort town on Phuket that was probably the hardest hit by the Tsunami.

Patong has a reputation as a rowdy place full of nice resorts, beautiful stretches of beaches and ALOT of bars, it certainly did not disappoint. Oh Jason - I never did find those 2 ugly girls for you but I did see hundreds to really pretty ones!!

The visitors to Patong Beach were mainly European. If any of you have been to a European beach you will know that there are at least 2 things they do that are much different than American beaches - Men in speedos and women topless.

Now I don't know what you ladies think about men in speedo bathing suits but I think it is disgusting, everything hangs out (if you know what I mean) and many of these guys are fat. Seeing a big belly hanging over a speedo swim suit is really quite a sight!

Now, women sunbathing topless is another thing. Unfortunately it is tinged with irony. Of all the women I saw going topless there were only a few that looked good topless (but, oh boy, those few were awesome). The irony is that the women you wished would go topless don't and those you wish would not go topless do.

:-)

Anyway, I digress... I got a great rate at a cool resort about 2 kilometers north of the main town called Sunset Beach Resort. This resort suffered minor damage from the Tsunami but like the rest of the Island is now suffering from lack of visitors. The high season here is from November through March and normally the resorts are 90-100% occupied. When I was there it appeared that occupancy was maybe 30-40%. A little Internet research resulted in a rate about 50% of normal so I was livin' large relatively inexpensively. The room and the pool were top notch and WAY better than anywhere I had stayed previously on this trip (Shelley - you would be proud!).

It was a pity that I was by myself as the resort, the town, the beach and the luxurious room would have been better served if I had shared it with someone special.

Of course, this being Patong Beach, there were plenty of options to find a temporary "special someone" at one of the bars in town for about $25 per day (and night). It appears that many, many western men had done so (the same fat, ugly men I saw with beautiful women in Bangkok).

I was talking to a local guy about the prostitution industry in Thailand and all of the bar girls and he told me that the vast majority of the girls were from Eastern and Northeastern Thailand who moved here to make money. Apparently in those regions poverty is more extreme and widespread and there is a lack of economic opportunities compared to the southern part of Thailand. The local girls rarely participate in the bar girl scene and tend to look down upon the girls partaking in this activity.

He also told me that the HIV infection rate amongst prostitutes in Thailand is well over 25%. No matter how safe you are those odds are not very appealing to me.

Sorry about the lack of pictures in this blog entry, I know you all enjoy them (probably more so than my writing :-) ). It's weird that Hong Kong is one of the most wired cities in the world but it is hard to find Internet access here. When I have found access it is either very expensive or no USB hook ups for my camera. I will either post pictures in this blog entry at a later date or in a subsequent Phuket entry. I have some awesome sunset pictures from Patong!

As usual, I am behind in keeping this blog up to date. I'm leaving Hong Kong tommorrow and have at least 3 blog ideas and outlines written out that I need to type. It may be a few days at least until my next entry as I am doing something a bit unexpected when I leave Hong Kong, I am making a long journey. Updates to follow!

Thank you for reading this. I hope to make this blog both interesting and entertaining. Please post a comment and let me know your thoughts, observations or counsel. Hearing from readers and knowing I have an audience is a great motivator and will be a great morale booster during down times on the road. Don’t forget to bookmark this site and tell a friend! Please feel free to e-mail me at “JeffMichie at Yahoo Dot Com”

Today is Tuesday morning, February 22nd and I am back in Bangkok after spending 9 wonderful days on Phuket Island. I could have stayed there much longer, the beaches are so beautiful, the water is as warm as a bath, the sand feels so nice on my feet and between my toes and the weather is always warm with a little breeze. It's a small paradise down there.

As soon as I got back to Bangkok I got sick, big time. I'm pretty sure it is just food poisoning from the fish I ate the first night back here in the city. At least I hope that's what it is, I don't relish any long term illness here in Southeast Asia. I've been laid up in my cell-like guesthouse room for a few days working through this illness form both ends and it sucks. I think I'm better this morning though as I am able to keep breakfast down. I've been sick a few times on this trip but NOTHING like this!!

This blog entry is about Phnom Penh and PARENTAL GUIDANCE IS SUGGESTED based on discussion of prostitution and drugs.

I left Siem Reap early in the morning (got up at 6:00 AM which is WAY TOO EARLY for me!!) to catch a bus to Phnom Penh. It was a pleasant 6 hour trip over decent roads. Roads in Cambodia are generally terrible with potholes and lack of pavement but this road was mostly good. The views of the country side and the people made the trip go by quickly. One quirk was there was a video screen in the bus playing Cambodian karaoke. The music actually grew on me and I started to enjoy listening to the tunes in the Khmer language although I didn't understand a thing. The bus was about 50/50 foreigner to Cambodians.

When I first arrived in Phnom Penh I was struck by the terrible things I'd seen and the misey that was so apparent and right in front of your face. I wrote the following e-mail to my good friend Michelle Smith after being in the city for a day:

I'm in Phnom Penh, Cambodia now and so far this must be the most sad and evil place I can imagine.

The sad: There are countless beggars and poor people living on the streets. The number of amputees I see on the streets caused by land mines is staggering and even worse, the deformities of people born without limbs, or hugely disfigured body parts is absolutely horrible. I really can't describe the sights and the feelings I get when I see these people just struggling to stay alive.

Cambodia is a very poor country with an ineffective government that relies on foreign aid and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO's) for any sort of social welfare. The poorest of the poor do not have access to any welfare or social services and must rely on the generosity of others just to live.

The evil: Phnom Penh is a paradise for drunks, perverts and pedeophiles. I had no idea what this place was like before I got here but I got a quick education after talking to some folks and witnessing things. The sex trade here is booming with countless instances of slavery and underaged prostitution. The number of western men here just for that purpose is morally reprehensible.

I don't know how to help anyone here except by giving money to many of them, especially the mothers with kids and the people with deformities and by future support of organizations that help the poor. I just think that if I could help just one person in a meaningful way I could make some sort of difference but without knowing the culture or situation I just can't throw money at someone. It's frustrating and sad.

Those were my impressions after a day and frankly I was ready to leave soon, the place was that depressing.

Luckily I stayed at a cool guesthouse called the California 2. This place is owned by a guy named Jim from San Diego in his mid 40's who about 3 years ago decided to move to Cambodia, run a guesthouse and live the life of an ex-pat. Interesting choice and an interesting life especially in a country as volatile as Cambodia. The California 2 has a good location across from a scenic grass boardwalk fronting the Tonle Sap River near where it meets the Mekong River. There are many guesthouses and hotels in this area and there are many, many homeless, beggars and vendors selling things.

There is a patio outside the California 2 which is a great place to sit and drink beer and talk with other guests and the staff. You are right in the middle of Cambodian life out there as it goes past and as the people come up to you for various reasons (mostly because they know you have money). I spent a great deal of time in this patio area and got to know some of the Cambodian staff and a few of the guests really well. It helped me get to know that while my first impressions of Phnom Penh were correct there is a heart and soul to this city that leaves me hope that life has the possibility of improving for many in this country.

Here are a couple of pictures of the view from the patio:
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Not to dwell on the negatives but there a few more bad things I didn't include in my e-mail to Michelle. Drugs seem to be popular here and I guess that shouldn't surprise me as the vices of drinking, prostitution and pedophilia probably go hand in hand with drug use. I didn't witness much of it except seeing a bunch of people smoking pot around town. Also, as I mentioned in my Vang Viene (Loas) entry, there are numerous pizza places that serve "happy pizza" with varying levels of mushrooms, pot or hash on your pizza. Right out in the open too from a signage basis, incredible!

Also, the crime level in Phnom Penh is very high with strong arm and armed robbery a common occurrence. I personally witnessed two robberies from my perch in front of the California 2 and came up upon a few more after the fact. Jim, the owner of the California 2, gave good advice on where to avoid and what to do and not to do, especially at night.

In my 10 weeks+ in Asia I haven't felt any real fear but in Phnom Penh I felt strong anxiety because I knew the general lawlessness of Cambodia and that a tourist from America would be an easy target and no one here would really care. I was mostly careful and took smart precautions when I was by myself.

I did walk one of the bad areas at night with a couple of friends to see some of the raw Cambodian life after dark and it wasn't pretty. The time I was the most anxious was on my final two nights in town I stayed at a different guesthouse about 1000 yards from the California 2 (California 2 was pre-booked those nights so I had to move). I still hung out on the patio but when it was time to go to bed (after midnight) the walk was a bit scary.

One day I was walking around town and passed a elephant cruising through the city led by his keeper. I just thought, "cool elephant" and snapped a few pictures not thinking how extraordinary it is to see something like that. It just feels ordinary here!
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I was warned of "beggar fatigue" before I got here and didn't really understand what this meant even after spending time in Siem Reap. But now I understand the term and what it means. In Phnom Penh beggars are everywhere and a part of life. I've discussed previously that I felt giving to beggars just reinforces that behavior and could keep them from finding employment or money in a more value-added way. It is hard to feel that way now.

I needed to have a strategy to deal with the barrage and decided that giving to mothers with little children, children carrying around their siblings, amputees and the deformed were people I would give to. I really have to credit my Mom, Bobbie Michie, with helping open my eyes to the plights of mothers with children and that I needed to help these people. She reminded me in an e-mail how difficult it was to raise a child in poverty but try to imagine raising a child while living on the street where there is no governmental or social fall back to help these people. So, thanks Mom for helping keep my head straight!

I didn't get many pictures of people begging as I didn't think it was appropriate in most cases. Here are a few though:
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The saddest part is probably seeing the children living on the street and wondering what their lives are going to become. It is impossible to imagine. I did not know how to effectively help the people. They have so little and, by comparison, I have so much.

I hung out while in Phnom Penh with two guys. One, Frank, who I met at Earthwalkers in Siem Reap, is from England and the other, Thom, is a Californian (one of the few Americans I've met out here).

This picture was taken before the Mekong Whiskey (I think)!

Anyway, these guys were cool and fun to hang out with. We all seemed to have similar takes on life and a caring for the people. We shared many beers together on the patio and talked alot. There were many, many vendors who came by while we were on the patio selling everything from candy, food, guessing your weight (one little girl got mine within 2 kilos thus winning a bet from me!), shoe shines (I had one little kid who cleaned my sandals every day while I was there whether they needed it or not), books, roses and a myriad of other items. We "adopted" a few of them to take care of every day by buying whatever they were selling. It was mostly kids doing this and they all spoke excellent English (one benefit of that lifestyle). They were mostly fun to engage and acted like kids when you talked to them bargained with them or teased them. They smiled and giggled like kids everywhere and it was fun to see.

Here are few pictures of the kids selling stuff:

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One night around 9:00 PM Frank, Thom and I decided to feed a bunch of the kids hanging around. There was a street vendor nearby selling chicken and vegetables with some tables and chairs on the sidewalk. We rounded up about 6 kids and bought them food. Somehow the word got out very quickly and we were soon surrounded with over 20 seemingly desperate and aggressive kids wanting to eat. It was simply heartbreaking and honestly impossible for us to control. The lady cooking the chickens helped as we kept ordering more and more food from her. As we fed more, more people kept showing up including adults. I really saw the raw and most basic side of life (survival) while trying get order out of the chaos we created. I think we finally got most of the kids fed and gave money to the adults after about an hour. I know we did a good thing but it was so disorganized and I know some got left out (the smaller ones) and some came around and got seconds and some were very aggressive and mean, it was hard to walk away feeling we did it right.

The next few nights we "prepaid" dozens of dinners with the chicken lady (who was only a few feet from the California 2) and sent kids over there throughout the night where they got fed after a signal from us.

In Cambodia it is the people that make it special. The government is corrupt and inefficient. The social and cultural organizations cannot handle the poverty and destitution of the people. The demographics of the country are working against its future prosperity and the recent history of Cambodia is as sad as any country in the world. But the people can be seen smiling and interacting and living life and it is fun to see and be a part of.

Here are some pictures of people I came across:
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One of the cool things about staying at the California 2 was meeting the staff. There were 6 or 7 Cambodian girls who staffed the place. They were very nice, sweet, pretty and friendly (in a non-monkey business way) and it was great to get to know them. One of the girls was having a 24rd birthday party and she invited Frank, Thom and myself. That was great honor to me and I was looking forward to it.

We went birthday present shopping with one of the other girls, Akee, who took us to one of the markets. We then followed her around the womens clothing section looking like dorks as she haggled and looked and touched and felt clothes just like women all over the world. It was fun and we ended up buying the birthday girl some nice outfits. We also bought some clothes for Akee and a few of the other girls at the guesthouse. Stuff was so inexpensive (to us) but was a great treat for them. Their smiles were awesome to see!

The birthday party was on a boat out on the Mekong River and went from about 10:00 PM until 1:00 AM. Jim, the owner of California 2, supplied the booze and there was food for everyone and singing and dancing and more drinking, it was great to interact in a Cambodian way even if everyone drank too much.

Here's a picture of the birthday girl:

Here's a picture of Jim, he's the guy in the middle:

Here are some more birthday party pictures:
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One day Frank, Thom and I decided to get out of the city and see some countryside. There are a series of Islands about 40 kilometers (1 KM = .62 miles) outside town called Mekong Islands. This is where much of the silk items are made by hand and it's a real rural, off-the-beaten-path type of place. Frank and I rode out there on the back of motos while Thom rented a 250CC dirt bike as he was planning on cruising through the temples of Cambodia in his bike after leaving Phnom Penh.

It was a grueling and bumpy ride first through the city and then over the dirt roads. We took a river ferry to the Islands and it was calm but I was reminded of the numerous ferry accidents that happen all over Asia as they are often overloaded, go in rough water and/or get hit by other boats (see the recent accidents in Bangladesh).

Here's me on the ferry:

Here are a few pictures of life on the Island and some of the weaves they use to make their silk products. It is amazing the color and the quality of their silk stuff and that they do it all by hand. An age-old skill I know but I had never seen anything like this back home!
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But, once again, it's the people that make it special!
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That's it for Phnom Penh. It was a fun, interesting and enlightening 7 days and after the initial shock I came to better understand the city and its people and I am a better person for the experience. Prostitution and sex tourism are very obvious here but they do not define the city, the people do and the vast majority of people are trying to live and survive for themselves and their families.

Here are a couple of food pictures that I liked:

That's it for this blog entry. I miss you all and miss the good ole United States and Southeast Indiana. Take care!

Thank you for reading this. I hope to make this blog both interesting and entertaining. Please post a comment and let me know your thoughts, observations or counsel. Hearing from readers and knowing I have an audience is a great motivator and will be a great morale booster during down times on the road. Don’t forget to bookmark this site and tell a friend! Please feel free to e-mail me at “JeffMichie at Yahoo Dot Com”

Today is Wednesday afternoon, February 16th and I am still on Phuket Island in Thailand. I've been here 5 days so far and have decided to stay here at least 4 more days. This place can be a true luxury resort depending on where you stay and there are a wide variety of places to stay all hurting for business as tourists are still staying away either in fear of either another Tsunami or out of respect for the many who died here. The vast majority of Phuket Island is okay and there should be no worries for tourists here. They need your business so get over here and relax and have fun because there are lots of opportunities do do both here!

A friend of mine, Shelley W. e-mailed me and suggested I was a cheapskate for staying in lower priced guesthouses when there were luxury and 5-star resorts around to stay at. So when I got to Patong Beach here on Phuket I said to myself "I'll show her! I'm going to stay at a real luxury place!!" so I did and for my last 3 nights here I'm moving to an even more luxurious, upscale place. So there!! :-) (I'm just teasing Shelley!).

Back to Siem Reap and Angkor. This blog entry will complete my trip there and discuss my last three days in town.

I think I finished the last entry with me having a cold Angkor Beer at Earthwalkers guesthouse after a long and tiring day of templing. I mentioned in another entry how interesting it is to me that a noun like temple is changed to a verb - templing, over here.

On day 3 I went to see more of the temples with Wie, my moto dude. After having had a guide the previous day and seeing the most popular temples I was looking forward to seeing some of the more outlying and smaller (but just as spectacular) ones. We plotted our course in the morning (leaving at 10:00 AM so I didn't have to wake up too early) and drove out. Wie isn't allowed into the temples since he is not an official guide so he drove me from place to place, dropped me off, told me what he knew of each temple (quite a bit) and waited for me as I explored and took pictures.

Part of walking around the temples is dealing with the locals. Most of them are trying to sell you things and some of the little kids will beg or try to get money from you by being friendly and cute. The kids, especially, are very cute. Most of them go to school in the morning and in the afternoons try to sell stuff to the tourists and they are very good at it too. Most of the kids speak excellent English, having learned it a bit at school but mostly through dealings with English speaking people. Kids pick up languages better than adults.

The police try to control the vendors and the kids as best they can. They are not allowed past a rope put down about 20 feet in front of their stalls so you can avoid the constant pressure to buy if you stay far enough away. The vendors will yell to you from a great distance trying to sell water (which is a necessity up there!), books, postcards, shirts or other souvenirs. At the more outlying temples the vendors don't adhere to the rope line and they will come up to you in the temples or on the streets with their stuff. It's a bit of a hassle but if you keep a good attitude it can be fun.

Alot of the kids are really smart and have picked up a great angle to get your attention and then get you to buy something from them. Here's an example of a conversation I had with a 7 year old girl.

Girl: "Mister, where are you from?"
Me: "America"
Girl: "Where in America?"
Me: "Indiana"
Girl: "Ah, Indiana - Hoosier State, capital is Indianapolis, population is XXXXXX"
Me: "WOW, you are smart"
Girl: (smiling) "Buy a book?"
Me: (giving in) "How much?"

and the bargaining began and I'm sure she got the best of me :-)

The kids really are amazing. They know the capital of every country that has visitors here and the populations of those countries. Many (like the girl above) know about specific States in the U.S. or places in other countries. They study and recall this stuff because they know it will help them sell stuff but they are very smart and wise.

A couple of other conversations I recall with a smile:
This one was when I was negotiating to buy another book:
Girl: "6 dollars" Note: Everything is priced in US Dollars here
Me: "Too high, 2 dollars.."
Girl: "Today I give you discount, 5 dollars, lowest I can go"
Me: (scrunching up my face) "Too much, I give you 3 dollars"
Girl: "No, too low, book cost me 3 dollars, I have to pay policeman 1 dollar so that is only 1 dollar profit for me"
Me: (just having fun, not being a hard ass) "No, book cost you 2 dollars so I give you 4)
Girl: (knowing she had me by this time) "No, you wrong, book cost me 3 dollars and I have to make 1 dollar profit to pay to go to school tomorrow!"
Me: (smiling and laughing) "Here's the 5 dollars"
Girl: (with a big smile) "Thank you"

They do have to pay for school every day before classes start, I doubt it's a dollar a day but it might be. These kids are great negotiators and know how to make a sale once they get your attention and get you into a conversation. Also, I believe it is true that the police up there (and probably others) shakedown the vendors and beggars for a cut of the revenue - a real life lesson in the corruption endemic in Cambodian society at the earliest age!

Another one:
Girl: "Want to buy a shirt?"
Me: (pointing to my shirt) "No, you want to buy a shirt from me? 5 dollars!"
Girl: "No, you're shirt no good, you buy mine - 6 dollars"
Me: "No thanks I already have a shirt" (pointing to mine)
Girl: (pinching her nose) "You're shirt stink, you buy mine, 5 dollars"
Me: (almost falling down laughing along with Wie) "No, sorry"

She didn't get me to buy this time but she tried everything.

I enjoyed these interactions and many more almost as much as I enjoyed the temples.

Here are some pictures of some of the kids:
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Depending on the time period in which each of the temples was built and the particular religious influence that was prevalent at the time, each temple had either a Hindu or Buddhist influence. Cambodia is now a Buddhist country but in earlier times the influence of the Indian subcontinent and it's dominant Hindu religion was high throughout this part of Asia. At various times 800 AD (when the temples in Angkor were beginning to be built) through the Khmer Rouge times the temples here were attacked by neighboring armies, defended and sometimes sacked by the victors. (In fact the Angkor Wat temple still has many bullet holes and mortar hole from the Khmer Rouge days when they attacked government troops holed up here in the late 1970's). At other times throughout history the temples were raided by thieves and priceless relics were carted off to be sold.

Temple thievery was very prevalent from 1950 - 1980 when Cambodia was in constant strife and turmoil. Thieves took advantage of lax security and indifference to make off with many statues and artifacts during this time and smuggled them through Thailand and into private collections around the world. Unfortunately many of the treasures of Cambodia have been lost to the country and its people and are sitting in someones home or estate elsewhere in the world. Of course, the ransacking of treasures is an age old problem, how many ancient Egyptian or African relics are in private collections? It doesn't make it right though but seeing the wanton destruction and theft firsthand really pisses me off.

Here are some pictures of beheaded statues (there were hundreds more like this - the heads are much lighter and easier to smuggle than the whole statue - but many were missing altogether):
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When either the Hindus or Buddhists won a battle and took over a temple they often defaced carvings or statues that depicted religious figures contrary to their own beliefs. You see many statues like this:
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There are many lions that look this this:

The lion statues are placed in entrances to protect the temples from certain evil spirits and all of them have this hole on their butts. I finally asked why. When lion statues are carved they were all given bronze tails. When sacked or raided over time the first thing the bad guys did was take all precious metals including the lion tails so all the lions now have holes in their butts.

Here are some more temple pictures:
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This picture is of an Apsara:

Apsara's are female dieties and are carved throughout the temples at Angkor and come in many shapes and sizes. She is revered throughout Cambodian culture and many dances and festivals revolve around her.

The many Apsaras are different looking because of a unique physical feature on the carvings, her boobs. The boobs come in many shapes and sizes depending on what the carver likes (or wishes he had at home :-) ). On these carvings throughout the temples the Apsara boobs are all polished and smooth due to the constant rubbing they get by tourist hands. I guess some men just can't resist (I only touched one set just to see what they felt like).

That was it for day three, I was templed out (another verb usage of the word temple) and ready to see some other stuff around Siem Reap.

Wie suggested we go see the floating village abuot 20 kilometers outside town. The floating village is on Tone Sap Lake and is just what is says: A village that floats and migrates with the tide and the rise and fall of the river dependent on rain and run off for its water level. The village can move many miles thoughout the year as currents and water levels dictate.

The poverty leading to this village and what I saw on the river and on the lake was heart breaking. The relative affluence around the temples and Siem Reap does not flow down this way and it is in such stark contrast that it is amazing. These two world do not meet despite being so close.

I like this picture:

Here are some more pictures of the village and surrounding areas:
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The poverty here is just so all encompassing, especially the last few pictures. Writing this now brings it all back and makes me very, very sad.

When Wie and I were getting on the boat to head to the floating village a little girl about 4 or 5 years old came up to with her hand out. I try not to give money to kids because it just reinforces this behavior and perpetuates their existence. In this case I said "no" and she said "when you come back then?" and I said okay thinking I'd never see her again as the port was busy, a mess and there were hundreds of people around.

When we got back a few hours later she found me right away and had a big smile on her face. I looked at her and could not resist and gave her a dollar. That was huge for her and she was very happy and ran towards home. It was a mistake for me to give her the money so openly because many other little kids saw this and quickly converged on me (I would make this mistake a few more times while in Cambodia).

I asked Wie to meet me about a mile up the road as I wanted to walk and take in this village. As I walked I was like the Pied Piper with a dozen kids following me begging for money. I wasn't going to give them any because if I did there would be dozens more. I kept walking and the kids kept following me with a few dropping off every so often. By the time I walked about a mile there were still 2 little kids in tow behind me, not begging or being obnoxious, just hanging out and walking alongside me. I debated whether or not to reward them for their perseverance knowing that if I did it would strongly reinforce this behavior. I could not resist and I gave them each 2000 riels ($0.50) and they were very happy, said thank you and turned around and ran towards home.

That night at Earthwalkers they had a barbeque and an Apsara Dance Show put on by a local orphanage. The owners and employees of Earthwalkers support one of the (many) local orphanages by donating time, effort and 10% of their profits. A great thing to do and another reason why I liked Earthwalkers so much.

The Apsara Dance show was cool. The kids tried really hard, were in Apsara costumes and were so very cute. All the guests loved it.

Some of these pictures are quite dark:
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On my last day in Siem Reap I decided to ride a bicycle around to the temples and other sights close to town. Earthwalkers has a few bikes for their guests to use. I hadn't ridden a bike in many, many years but it was easy once I got my balance. I rode it most of the day and put alot of miles on it. After the first hour or so it was tough, many of the roads I was on were dirt. Plus my butt hurt really bad from that darned bicycle seat. It was fun though!

I went to the Landmine Museum. I described this place in my "Cambodia" entry of a few weeks ago. It is an enlightening place and very sad what man has done to man.

I also went to the Siem Reap Zoo. Not many know there is a zoo here and it's not on many agendas but I love animals and love good zoos. The zoo here should not exist and I don't know why it does. The weather is almost always hot and the conditions for the animals were terrible. The staff cares and tries to keep the place clean and in good condition but it looks like the funding just isn't there. The habitats for the animals were poorly laid out and very small. It was sad.

This river otter had a very small round pool to play in and a very small living area. He just kept going round and round in his little pool probably dreaming of cruising up and down a real river and being free.

Here are a couple more zoo pictures:
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This sign was at the zoo, I didn't see the snake they were referring to in the cage, he might have been hiding. If true, this would be a zoological phenomenon and in the Siem Reap zoo nonetheless...

Here are some cute kitties I saw at the Landmine Museum:

And finally a few pictures of me:

That's it for Siem Reap. The next morning I boarded a 7:00 AM bus for Phnom Penh.

Thank you for reading this. I hope to make this blog both interesting and entertaining. Please post a comment and let me know your thoughts, observations or counsel. Hearing from readers and knowing I have an audience is a great motivator and will be a great morale booster during down times on the road. Don’t forget to bookmark this site and tell a friend! Please feel free to e-mail me at “JeffMichie at Yahoo Dot Com”

Today is Saturday, February 12th and I am in Patong Beach on Phuket Island, Thailand. Many of you will recall that Phuket Island was particularly hard hit by the Tsunami on December 26th. I got into town yesterday afternoon and the Tsunami's damage was immediately apparent. All along the beaches of Patong I could see areas where hotels and homes and shops used to be and my driver pointed out other areas of devastation that were a long way from the ocean. All the beachfront structures were ruined.

The construction in the area is incredible. Everywhere you go along the shore you see people trying to get Patong back to the way it used to be. Patong is a very famous beach resort area and is reminiscent of Hawaii but with bit of an edge (this is a third world country despite the beauty). This place is very, very beautiful and a great place to relax.

This entry is about my visit to the town of Siem Reap in Cambodia primarily to visit the temples and palaces of Angkor. I'm breaking this adventure into two parts.

Angkor is the area outside Siem Reap in which the thousand plus year old temples are situated. The temples here were built by the great Khmer kings between the years 800 AD and 1200 AD.

Angkor literally means "Holy City" or "Capital City" and Khmer refers to the dominant ethnic group in modern and ancient Cambodia. Angkor was the capital city of the Khmer Empire between the 9th and 12th centuries. The temple ruins in the area of Siem Reap are the remnants of the Angkorian capitals and represent the pinnacle of the ancient Khmer architecture, art and civilization.

At it's height, the Age of Angkor was a time when the capital area contained more than a million people (compared to around 25,000 now), when Khmer kings constructed vast waterworks and grand temples and when Angkor's military, economic and cultural dominance held sway over the area of modern Cambodia and much of Thailand, Vietnam and Laos.

The temples are now designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO (same as Luang Prabang in Laos - see Luang Prabang entry). The Angkor Archaeological Park encompasses dozens and dozens of temple ruins whose artistic and archaeological significance and visual impact put them in a class with the Pyramids, Machu Picchu and the Taj Mahal.

Unlike many other world class monuments, the ruins of Angkor are not yet spoiled by over-development, although that is changing fast - there are many 5-star type resorts in Siem Reap and a lot more being built.

That's enough history, I wanted to let my readers know a bit about what Angkor is and some history. It's tough to do in a few short paragraphs because the entire history of this area is so detailed and so fascinating. If anyone has interest in learning more about Angkor and the temples go to Google.com and type in Angkor Wat.

Much of this blog will be pictures as visuals are the best way to experience the wonders of this place and I will intersperse the pictures with the story of my five days in Siem Reap.

I flew into Siem Reap from Saigon and stayed at the Earthwalkers Guesthouse a couple of kilometers outside the city center. I chose to stay there because I liked the name of this place and it was recommended on a couple of traveler websites. Earthwalkers (click on for weblink) is a small guesthouse owned by Norweigans and was a perfect place to stay and I would recommend it to anyone who goes to Siem Reap and wants an authentic guesthouse experience. I paid about $11 for my room and it included air conditioning and hot water. The range of what you can pay in Siem Reap is from about $5 up to over $1,000 a night depending on where you stay. The staff was excellent, the food was good the beer was cold (Angkor Beer is one of the national beers of Cambodia) and I met some real fun and interesting people hanging out in the common area. Plus, there were no TV's anywhere which was cool.

I got to Siem Reap in the early afternoon and got a motorcycle ride to Earthwalkers from a guy named Wie. Wie is a 21 year old Cambodian who speaks English very well (although, like all Asians, has a hard time with many English words and interpretations). He is a single guy, which is unusual for a Cambodian male of his age. He says he likes American and European women and that Cambodian women are too bossy. Plus he wants to save up money to buy a tuk-tuk and he knows if he gets married his wife will spend all his money. He told me it would cost about $500 to buy a good used tuk-tuk that he could pull with his 100 CC moto. $500 is ALOT of money here, Wie told me that on a good day hustling for fares on his moto he'll make $5.00. I adopted him as my moto-dude for the days I was there and he gave me alot of good advice and good ideas on where to go beyond the Angkor temples. I took care of him, bought him meals and paid and tipped him well in excess of what he'd normally earn in a day. He is a great kid.

Wie is from the country and only moved to Siem Reap a few years ago. He has an arrangement with Earthwalkers and few other guesthouses whereby he is on call for them as a moto guy they can trust. He told me when he first came to the city the owners of Earthwalkers bought him some clean clothes, coached him on hygiene and cleanliness and got him a cell phone. This happens regularly throughout Siem Reap and what a great thing for these people!

One of the cool things to do at Angkor is to visit the temples at sunset and at sunrise. The beauty is supposed to be unmatched seeing the sun move up or down against the various temples and watch them change colors as they are hit by various angles of the sun. A sunset over Angkor is a magical sunset indeed and one of the most famous in the world. Sunrises are supposed to be equally good however I felt it extremely unlikely that I would get my butt out of bed at 5:00 AM and head for the temples (although I hear many people do...) so I thought to make sure I hit the sunsets, plus I love sunsets!

Wie took me out to the temples about 5:00 PM my first day. The temples are about 10 KM outside Siem Reap. Obviously I wasn't he only one who had the idea of seeing the sun set this evening as their were hordes of tourists doing the same thing. There are just a few prime places to see the sun set and Wie took me to the edge of a hill and pointed up and said follow those people.

I looked up and it was huge hill to climb with a dirt path. I smiled and headed for the hill knowing I'm in good enough shape to get up it with no problems. The tough part was that it was still very hot (about 95 degrees) and there were hundreds (thousands?) of others heading up the hill. Now I can't really explain the hill and didn't get a good picture of it but it was loose dirt, steep with many rocks to be used for steps. There were alot of older and fatter men and women trying to climb this hill and the toughest part was trying to stay clear of them as I jogged up the hill. I didn't want to be below one of these guys when they fell. I do have to hand it to many of these clearly out of shape people who trucked up the hill. Oh, there was an option of an Elephant ride up another path for $25.

After getting to the top and working up a good sweat there was another climb, this time up a temple ruin.

For me the climb up the hill and up the temple (where the stairs were very steep and narrow) wasn't bad, I quite enjoyed it despite having sweated through my clothes by the time I got to the top). Unfortunately the evening turned hazy and we did not get to see a proper sunset that day, only saw the sun set into the haze.

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Going down the temple and the hill in the twilight and then the dark with all these other people was another adventure!!

For the next day I decided to hire a guide so that I could get the most out of the temples and would surely learn more details than I would wandering around with just a guidebook and some history. Earthwalkers set up the guide and a tuk-tuk for us for the day. We got a bright and early start at 10:00 AM (I'm not an early riser when I'm on holiday!). The cost for going to the temples is $20.00 for one day, a 3-day pass for $40.00 or a 7-day pass for $60.00. I chose the 3-day pass as I knew I would be templed out after 2 or 3 days. I actually purchased my pass the day before as we rode up to see the sunset.

I definitely made the right decision in getting a guide. He (I can't pronounce or write his name) was a smart guy who spoke good, understandable English as long as I looked at him when he was talking. Guides are well trained and must pass a rigorous test for temple and historical knowledge and English to become certified. It costs $1,000 to take and pass the course (a fortune in Cambodia) but they get $20-$25 per day plus tips as guides. That is huge money here. The high season which lasts from December through March is the busiest and my guy said he worked just about everyday during this time period. The other eight months of the year are slower due to the extreme heat from April through July (often in the 100's and humid) and then the rainy season from July through October. So it's not a year round wage but it is something that many Cambodians aspire to become.

This day was full of temples. We started at the most famous one: Angkor Wat and that was simply amazing. Some of it has been restored through ongoing and time-consuming efforts by government and non-governmental agencies from all over the world under the auspices of UNESCO. Restoration efforts strive to bring portions of the temples back to their earlier grandeur and also serve the purpose of shoring up unstable and/or unsafe parts of the temples (most of these are over 1,000 years old remember so they are quite crumbly as you'll see in some of the pictures). The restoration efforts are by no means all-encompassing meaning they are not trying to fix up all the temples. Not only would that be historically the wrong thing to do but it would also be an impossibility based on the vast number of temples and their respective conditions.

The following pictures are of Angkor Wat and a couple of the surrounding temples. Some of the detail that you'll see is amazing in that it is still easy to see what the initial purpose of the carvings or buildings were all about. The temples and their interiors were all carved out of sandstone from quarries sited up to 100 kilometers away. Imagine people in 800 AD moving all these huge rock such distances!! It took thousands and thousands of laborers, artisans and architects to build each of these temples and it took thousands more to service and maintain them once completed. These kings were powerful indeed to have brought these enormous and complicated structures to fruition.

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Awesome stuff, huh?

These next pictures are some of my favorites. The were taken at Ta Prohm, a couple of kilometers from Angkor Wat. Ta Prohm is significant in that it is being left to nature and no attempts are being made for restortation, only for safety purposes as this temple is the second most popular behind Angkor Wat. You'll see what it means by being left to nature as the jungle has been encroaching here since ancient times and the combination of trees and the ruins is stunning.

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As it began to get dark my guide steered us back to Angkor Wat to see the sun set in the reflecting pools. I think the reflecting pools were built for just that purpose oh so many years ago as there is one that catches the sunset during all seasons and one that catches the sunrise during all seasons.

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I was tired when this day was over. We saw so much and walked through so many temples it was amazing. I loved it. It was nice to get back to Earthwalkers and relax with a few Angkor beers afterwards!

I really like this picture. The experience of the guide framed the photo.

Angkor is amazing and a site everyone should aspire to see. If any of you out there want to come out here and see it I would love to go with you and see it again. Siem Reap is easy to get to via Bangkok, it's a painless trip to make. ANY TAKERS??? Anyone?, Anyone? Buehler??

This sign is here at Patong Beach and it cracked me up. Jason - There are two girls here in Patong that would love to meet you. Or should we set these two up with Leo??

Thank you for reading this. I hope to make this blog both interesting and entertaining. Please post a comment and let me know your thoughts, observations or counsel. Hearing from readers and knowing I have an audience is a great motivator and will be a great morale booster during down times on the road. Don’t forget to bookmark this site and tell a friend! Please feel free to e-mail me at “JeffMichie at Yahoo Dot Com”

Many of you will know that the title of this blog entry "Changes in Latitude Changes in Attitude" is the name of a song by the great Jimmy Buffett. Jimmy Buffett sings many songs about a fantasy life of sun, the sea, margaritas and relaxation and I love his music. I mentioned in my Hanoi entry that I really didn't enjoy that city partially do to a not-so-great attitude when I was there.

I flew to Saigon (a 2 hour flight on a Boeing 777!) and immediately felt great when I landed there. It was at night but I immediately felt good about this city. It was warm, the streets were wide and there were palm trees. It just felt good and my attitude immediately changed and I thought of Jimmy Buffett.

Today is Tuesday, February 9th and I am back in Bangkok to figure out my next stop. I didn't go to the beach in Cambodia as I planned rather I stayed in Phnom Penh instead and had some great experiences interacting with some of the Cambodian people.

Saigon (or officially Ho Chi Mihn City but no one calls it that) is the home to over 7 million people (compared to 8 million people in New York City). This place is huge! I also read that Saigon has over 2 million motorcycles. There are motos everywhere on the road and they out number cars by about 4 to 1. I was talking to a taxi driver and he explained to me that a very small car costs over $30,000 because of the high import duties charged by the government (another example of a silly economic policy of the Vietnam government - high taxes stifling progress). The price of a car is way outside the reach of 99% of Vietnamese people.

Motorcycles cost anywhere between $400 and $7,000 depending on quality, size and where they were manufactured. Most are made in Japan or China, the Chinese ones being the least expensive. Big motorcycles don't seem to be allowed as all the ones I saw were between 90 and 125 CC's. Even the least expensive moto is out of reach for many to pay cash but there are lots of "moneylenders" that will help finance the purchases at high interest rates but that's the only way most of them can get motorized transportation.

Anyway, back to why I liked Saigon so much. The traffic was just as heavy and crazy as Hanoi and based on the relative sizes of the two cities (Hanoi has about 3.5 million people) there is more traffic in Saigon. However, the streets are wider here and seem much cleaner. The buildings are colorful and set back off the street and much of the city just seems cleaner. Best of all Saigon is in the tropics and it is always warm here. In it's recorded history the coldest Saigon has EVER gotten is 55 degrees! That the coldest and most of the time it is in the 80's or higher. Once again, I think my friend Kacey would love it here!!!

Here are some street scene pictures.
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I spent one afternoon on the Saigon river taking a cruise in a junky wooden boat. It was neat to see the life of these people so close to the skyline of Saigon. There were parts of this boat cruise that reminded me of scenes from the movie "Apocalypse Now" with the river banks and jungles closing in on the river, it was cool. This very rural life is indicative of how 90%+ Vietnamese live.

Here are some more pictures of the river area:
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As you can see Saigon has some very impoverished areas. What really struck me about this place was the vast contrast between poverty and relative affluence. The city center of Saigon rivals any that I've seen in Asia and many I've seen in the U.S. There are large skyscrapers, 5-Star hotels, nice restaurants, just a solid business district. I've visited many markets since I've been in Asia and the market I saw near downtown has one of the best selections of fresh meat, fruits and vegetable that I've seen anywhere, including in the U.S.

First World meets Third World is how I thought about this and gives me hope that Vietnam has a real chance to fight out of its vast poverty in the next generation or two if the policies and regulations that brought Saigon this affluent area could somehow work through the government and the economy down to the level of ordinary people.
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I had lunch one day at a street side stall and was the only westerner there. Since I've had some, ah, stomach problems a few times lately I was being careful of what, and particularly where, I ate and the street stalls are a hit or miss proposition. But there were very busy and the food looked fresh so what the heck. I sat down and in a few minutes I was joined by a Vietnamese family.
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The kids were cute and their Mom was very nice. They didn't speak English but they ordered for me and I made faces at them and they laughed at me and showed me the proper way to eat. They seemed to enjoy having lunch with me and I really enjoyed their company.

As most of you know from reading my blog I love to walk around the places I'm visiting rather than taking buses, motos or other transport. Walking gives me a feel for the area, the people and the buildings plus it's great to be outside and get the exercise. Walking around Saigon you see so much and I want to comment on the toilet habits of many of the people here. Every so often I would get a smell as I walked from block to block (this is similar to most Asian cities) and it would assault my nose. I guess there are few places for ordinary Vietnamese to go to the bathroom so they just go on the sidewalk. I also think that many of the people in the city grew up in country where you just went in the fields when you needed to "go". I saw countless men and women peeing on the sidewalks or on buildings (and many doing #2), mostly on less busy streets but very much in the open. I know this isn't healthy and it isn't a sight I wanted to see but it happens everywhere and is just part of the experience.

I also visited the Saigon Zoo. It was a great respite from the urban environment of Saigon and great to get away from the constant barrage of the moto taxi drivers, tuk-tuk drivers and other vendors (another constant in all Asian cities).
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The third picture above is of a regular kitty that was hanging around the deer. The last picture is a baby monkey that got out of his cage. The bars weren't close enough to keep the babies in so they wandered about outside until their Mom's yelled at them to come back in.

I visited the Cu Chi Tunnels one day. The Cu Chi tunnels are about 50 miles from Saigon and represent a huge network of underground tunnels built by the Viet Cong during the American War. These tunnels were brilliantly designed for the VC to live in and hide from the American and South Vietnamese Armies in a place very close to the capital. They were designed to withstand conventional bombings, napalm and other methods of destruction. Toward the end of the war the Americans began using 500 ton bombs on these areas and that was most effective in collapsing the tunnels.

One of the worst duties for an American soldier was having to go into the tunnels in pursuit of the enemy (called a tunnel rat). The tunnels were very narrow and small and the Americans were often too big to fit and move in them effectively while the Vietnamese are much smaller and agile and able to maneuver down there. The tunnels and their effectiveness in war are very much a part of the history of this period and were quite effective in helping the North achieve their victories.

Part of the tour was the option of going through the tunnels. It was about 100 meters long with 2 bailout point along the way. I made it to the second bailout point before I had to get out. It was dark and dank and crawling and crouching was very hard work.

Part of the network at Cu Chi (and many other places throughout Vietnam) were booby traps places by the VC and North Vietnamese to maim or kill anyone who fell in the traps or hit a string or wire on a trail or in the jungle. These booby traps were insidious but effective in slowing down the enemy and creating fear. Most were some sort of camoflauged hole with sharpened sticks. It was eeerie and weird to see this displayed so dispassionately.

I was asked if I felt any anti-American sentiment while in Vietnam and I really hadn't except during this trip out to Cu Chi. The guide was born in Vietnam and actually served for a time in the U.S. military in the mid 1960's. He was very anti-American in his tour and in his opinions and I was the only American on the tour (out of about 25 people). He clearly did not like America or its people and was quite derisive. It was very interesting to hear his opinions and although I didn't appreciate or like his opinions I respect his right to have those opinions (that's the key difference between our countries).

It's tough to take pictures here that are meaningful but here are a few:

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Here is the anti-American guide:
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At the end of the tunnel tour they had a firing range where do $1.00 per bullet you could fire an M-16, and AK-47 or a variety of machine guns or handguns. Not my scene but it is a great way for this place to make some money, it was loud and many of the visitors were out there firing the guns.
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One of my favorite museum experiences was a visit to "The War Remants Museum". This place was just recently renamed from "The Museum of Chinese and American Atrocities". It was changed so as not to put off the growing number of Chinese and American tourists. As the former name attests the museum had thousand of displays and photographs graphically showing the effect of the American War from bombs, napalm, torture and weaponary. Most of the photographs and many of the exhibits were American or donated by Americans.

This place seemed to tell a true story without the blatant propaganda and revisionist history so apparent in other Vietnamese museums. The museum told a story about the horrors of war and the atrocities commited in the name of war. The pictures and exhibits were meant to show how bad the Americans and Chinese were to the Vietnamese as they attempted to conquer their country and did not show any Vietnamese atrocities that occurred all too frequently. But overall, the place was very effective in getting the message across that war has many victims and that we should not forget the actions of the past.

Here is some Snake Wine. These are actual Cobras inside a bottle of wine and is sold in the more out-of-the-way places. I tried a glass and it was kind of nasty but the bottles are cool. I wanted to buy one but didn't want to carry it around and have it break in my backpack. Just thinking about one of those snakes in my backpack.... Plus, I think there would be some problems with U.S. Customs bring that back!

One of the many lazy dogs hanging around!

Here's a picture of me with a Cambodian woman taken on a boat trip out of Phnom Penh.

Word to the wise: If someone says "Let's drink some Mekong Whiskey", say NO! This stuff will mess you up :-)

That's it for now! I'm off to explore more of Bangkok.

Thank you for reading this. I hope to make this blog both interesting and entertaining. Please post a comment and let me know your thoughts, observations or counsel. Hearing from readers and knowing I have an audience is a great motivator and will be a great morale booster during down times on the road. Don’t forget to bookmark this site and tell a friend! Please feel free to e-mail me at “JeffMichie at Yahoo Dot Com”

Hanoi, Vietnam! I think I mentioned in a previous blog entry that coming into Hanoi from two weeks Laos was like getting a punch in the face. It is jarring and busy and chaotic especially when compared to laid back and easy-going Laos.

Before I go on I want to answer a question from the comment section. David and Linda asked if I still plan on being out on the road for a year. I've thought alot about this in the 9 or so weeks since I left Indiana and my answer is that I doubt I will stay out traveling for the entire year. Solo travel is tougher and lonelier than I anticipated. But I'm still having a great time and seeing and experiencing things that I never would have in the U.S. so who knows what the future will bring!

Back to the blog.

The traffic is amazing beginning at dawn (not that I out and about too often at dawn - I like to sleep in!) until after midnight. Cars, taxis and motorcycles compete with people and animals and road side shops for limited space on often very narrow roads.

Hanoi was one of my least favorite places I visited so far.

I was in Hanoi for six days and spent most of my time walking around the city and seeing as much as I could on foot. The only transportation I took was a taxi to and from the airport. There are thousands of motodops (motorcycle taxis) and Rickshaw drivers (bicycle-pedaled taxis) that are so obnoxious and in-your-face every 10 feet that I just couldn't bring myself to use them even when I was tired or lost a long way from my guesthouse.

Picture of a rickshaw:
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I realize that they are just trying to make a living in a very competitive business but it only takes 10 minutes in Hanoi to dislike these guys. There are often 2 or 3 of them right next to each other and as you walk towards them the first guy will jump up and put his forefinger in the air and say "moto?" and I would say either "no" or "no thank you" and then the guy right next to him would then jump up and say "moto?".

I got so annoyed one time when this happened that I said to the second guy "Why would I go on your moto when you just saw me shake my head and say no to this guy's moto?". He just looked at me and said "moto?". I smiled and shook my head and just went on my way.

Whenever I got too annoyed with these guys I would just remember to smile and remembered where I was and not to take the situation or myself too seriously. There is nothing I could do about these guys so more often than not I would smile at them and shake my head.

These guys will try anything to get you into a conversation and once they do they'll try to figure out a way for them to be your moto driver for the day or for your trip. A good strategy for them. A walker like me doesn't need one of these guys but they don't know that. They'll ask "Where you go?" and "Where you from?" If you tell them where you're going they'll say "Me take you there!". What I started saying to these guys when they asked me "Where you go?" is to point in the direction I was walking and say "That way". This frustrated many of them as they got me to respond verbally, which is their intent, but could not figure a good comeback to my response. I had to have my fun too!

Another thing that really got these moto guys going was when they saw me looking at a map during the multiple times I got lost while in Hanoi (this is a confusing city!). Seeing a westerner looking at a map was to the moto dudes like flys on honey. They all rushed over to "help" and ask where I was going so they could take me there. I either ignored them or told them where I was trying to get to to see if by any chance one of these guys would actually assist me rather than saying "Ï take you there for 10,000 dong".

I had another interesting interaction with a moto guy. I was at a museum looking at a map trying to figure out how to get to my next place.

Moto guy - "Where you go?"
Me - "To ****** museum"
Moto guy - "Ï take you there"
Me - "No thank you, I like to walk, get exercise"
Moto guy -"Too far to walk"
Me - (trying to ignore him) - "No thank you, I'll walk"
Moto guy - "I save you money if you come with me"

That did it for me!!, I just cracked up and decided to engage him. His statement that he would save me money by me paying him to drive me rather than walking for free just begged for a response and I couldn't resist!

Me - "Okay, how are you going to save me money when I could walk for free?"
Moto guy - "You are busy and important man, if come with me you see more than walking, I save you money by saving you time"

I didn't have a good response because what he said was so funny and actually would have made sense if I had limited time to see things while in Hanoi.

Me - "Good one dude! That makes sense but I'm going to walk anyway"

I smiled, shook his hand and walked away with both of us laughing.

In reality these moto guys do have it tough, there is so much competition and they may spend an entire day without a fare. On a good day they might make $5. Its a tough way to make a living and they have to be aggressive in order to make a living. Sad and obnoxious but true and very much a part of Southeast Asian life.

The constant and dense flow of traffic in Hanoi was amazing and posed the very unique problem of how to cross a street. As in the U.S. drivers drive on the right hand side of the road (in this regard, among others, I appreciate the French influence much more than the English!), however in reality they drive where ever they want, where ever there is an opening regardless of side of the side of the street they are on. Traffic lights are at main intersections but are routinely ignored, especially by the motos (and stop signs do not exist). It is quite common for a car to make a right hand turn from the far left hand lane, no matter who or what is on his right (blind side). I saw a few accidents but no one who was seriously hurt.

I became very adept at crossing streets here. As a walker I crossed them all the time wherever I wanted, not just at intersections. You have to be bold and resolute and just step out into traffic and walk slow. Let the motos adjust to you, they will manuever and go around you. They won't try to hit you like they seem to do in Bangkok. Don't, ever, make a quick move or run across or you will be hit. Remember the video game called Frogger? That is exactly what it is like crossing streets in Hanoi and Saigon.

One more thing about the traffic. The horns. This street sign has to be the most ignored ever!

It is sooo annoying hearing horns beeping ALL THE TIME. All cars drive with their hands constantly on the horn and the motos are the same and the buses scare the crap out of you they are so loud. The horns are just part of the urban pollution and the urban environment. Horns are beeped so often that they really seem to be meaningless because you don't know who is beeping at who and why. I swear that horns are programmed here to beep every 10 seconds whether or not the driver hits the button. Surprisingly you get used to it after a few days and it just fades into background noise.

Shopping is a big deal in Hanoi. The narrow streets in the Old Quarter are filled on both sides with shops.
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Anyone who has been to Asia knows that conterfeit good are sold everywhere and are cheap (inexpensive and of questionable quality). There are no copywrite protections seemingly at all, both from in country brands and names and certainly not from western brands. There are so many cafes, travel agents and hotels that have the exact same name or names so close that you can't tell the difference. It seems that when one place does a great job, gives great service and get recognized for it a bunch of other yahoos rip off the name as a way to scam tourists. You see signs in windows of the original joints that point out where the rip off joints are and what their scams are. It makes it hard to know who to trust.

Even trusty McDonald's gets it here!
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Back to the shopping. the Old Quarter of Hanoi was originally the province of 36 guilds. These guilds were each made up of craftsmen that specialized in one particular product or service. The streets in the Old Quarter then separated by product type and were named for the guild operating on that street. What this means is that you walk down a street and you see dozens of shops on both sides of the street selling the exact same stuff. There is a street for shoes (a big street as I guess Vietnamese love shoes). There is a street that just sells sunglasses, coffins, leather goods, headstones, shirts, toys, etc. There are occasionally other goods that creep into a street as zoning in non-existent but it is quite a scene and a shoppers paradise. I'm a backpacker and not a shopper so I did not buy anything despite being hassled by many, many vendors.

I don't know how they all make a living selling the same stuff as dozens of other shops. Again, it must be a numbers game or it could be a syndicate that owns all of these places so it wouldn't matter who sells what just so long as a sale is made.

I found the vendors in Hanoi to be much more aggressive, obnoxious and annoying than any other place I've visited. Many of the women sell stuff by carrying two baskets supported by a long pole balanced on the back of their neck/shoulder. A tough way to make a living for sure but many of these women would stop in front of me and literally block my way with the long poles trying to sell me something. Although I would never do it, there were a couple of times I wanted to shove one of them away from me they were that annoying.

Unlike Thailand there are not food vendors everywhere. You actually have to search to find a place to eat. The food was always fresh (it has to be as very few have refrigerators or freezers), mostly bought from the markets each morning or during the day as needed. Many of the places don't keep an inventory of food to make stuff off their menu. I saw numerous times that after ordering something the waiter would run to an outdoor market (there is always one close by) and come back with the product needed to make my lunch or dinner.

Heres some good stuff:

Some other food/market pictures:
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The museums in Hanoi were very interesting. Many of the exhibits were about the rise of the people overthrowing the capitalist dogs and installing the shining light of communism on a country previously ran by puppets of the decadant west. That seemed to be an over riding theme. Many of the museums glorified Ho Chi Minh the leader of North Vietnam who died in 1969. He was the person who spearheaded the country from it's overthrow of the French colonialists to the attempt to consolidate the country by fighting the South and the Americans. His image is everywhere and there are countless statues to "Uncle Ho" as he is affectionately known. Ho Chi Minh is a revered figure in Vietnam (at least in the North). His body is entombed in a mausoleum and can be viewed through a procession that walks past his clear coffin. This is the same situation as the bodies of Mao in Bejing, China and Lenin in Moscow, Russia.

Here is the outside of Uncle Ho's place of rest. Pictures are not allowed on the inside, I think if you tried they would shoot you.
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The Army Museum was interesting. It's exhibits included airforce jets and missles and bombs as well as a recreated sight showing the damage of a B-52 crashing after being shot down by the army.
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The Ha Loa Prison or "Hanoi Hilton" is a name with which many of you may be familiar. It was a prison in central Hanoi that was originally built by the French to incarcerate (and torture) Vietnamese and during the American War it was used by the Vietnamese to jail captured/shot down American pilots POW's. It is now a museum.

The slant of the exhibits is interesting. They document very well the brutal nature of the French as it relates to their treatment of the Vietnamese. Including a guillotine (I don't think I spelled that right) and the shackles and abhorent condition of the cells. On the other hand the stories they tell of their treatment of the American pilots makes it sound like they were in a country club and were never mistreated. I don't know the whole truth but I wonder how the American pilots who come back here to visit feel about this propoganda. Many of the pilots were POW's here for over 7 years before being released after the signing of the Paris Peace Treaty in 1974.

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Here is a picture of John McCain's flight suit. John McCain is now a Republican Senator from Arizona and spent many years as a POW at the Hanoi Hilton.
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I mentioned at the beginning of the blog entry that I like Hanoi the least of all the places Ive been so far and I've thought often of why. It may be a combination of culture shock coming out of laidback Laos, the annoying traffic and vendors, the fact that I was sick for the first time on my trip and had to make sure to not stray too far from a toilet and that the weather sucked for the last few days I was there (it rained and was a little cold - in the 60's and I had to wear a jacket!). Hanoi is probably a great city but my attitude was not at its best while I was there.

Here's a picture of me at an Angkor ruin in Cambodia:

That's it for Hanoi. I'm heading to the beaches of Cambodia, to a town called Sihanoukville on Saturday and will spend Chinese New Year there laying on a beautiful sand beach.

I miss Southest Indiana but probably won't next week as I try to get a tan (but will probably get sun burned).

Thank you for reading this. I hope to make this blog both interesting and entertaining. Please post a comment and let me know your thoughts, observations or counsel. Hearing from readers and knowing I have an audience is a great motivator and will be a great morale booster during down times on the road. Don’t forget to bookmark this site and tell a friend! Please feel free to e-mail me at “JeffMichie at Yahoo Dot Com”

Once again I'm taking the liberty of writing a blog entry out of the chronological order of my travels. This entry is a general one about Cambodia, it's recent history and some discussion and pictures of some atrocities perpetrated in the late 1970's by the Khmer Rouge. I'm writing this out of order so that I can be sure to record my thoughts and feeling while they are fresh in my mind.

I've been in Cambodia for over a week and in the capital of Phnom Penh for a few days. I've read alot about this country both before my visit and during my visit and the thoughts and opinions expressed here are based on what I've seen, heard and read and likely only scratch the surface of the psyche and recent history of the Cambodian people. I am by no mean an expert and some of what I write is opinion rather than fact and any moral outrage I may profess is based on my opinions of what I have seen and what's been presented to me.

PARENTAL GUIDANCE IS SUGGESTED on this entry, particularly the last section of this blog entry that deals with the descriptions and photographs of the genocide and killing fields of the 1975-1979 period. Some of the pictures are heart breaking and are quite graphic.

Cambodia is just emerging from over 30 years of war, civil war, and repressive regimes. Most of what the western world knows about Cambodia is the media representations of war, atrocities, poverty, refugees and tragedy. Unfortunately for the people of this country these representations as fact have defined their lives for a long time and continue to be a driving force in a country trying to come to grips with its past and grow and prosper as a stable nation in the future. Whether they can do so is heavily dependent on a government that while currently stable has shown a propensity in the past to screw up the positive things happening here and erode economic gains and prosperity.

Cambodia is a poor country by any measurement. Per capital income is approximately $260/year (compared to Vietnam at $300/year). Foreign aid makes up over 50% of the countries budget meaning that even its current, barely functioning government, infrastructure and marginal social services would not exist without the support an goodwill of other countries (it would be scary to see what this country would be like if somehow foreign aid was drastically reduced). Tourism is the biggest industry and it has only been safe to travel in Cambodia for the last 7-8 years.

The population is approximately 14 million with 50% of its people under 16 years of age. Let me repeat that: 50% of the population is under 16 years old. Think of what that means for this country in the very near future as all these adults attempt to work and support a family in a society and economy that cannot currently support a much smaller number of adults. What this will likely mean is a greater imigration to urban areas which today hold about 15% of the population. Having only spent a few days in Phnom Penh I can see that an influx of population will lead to an even greater number of homeless and street people and there are already a large number here.

Some other facts: For every 100 females there are 93 males - a testament to the wars of the past (but cool for the Cambodian guys looking for chicks). Infant mortality is 73 out of 1,000 births and 1 out of every 10 child dies before their 5th birthday. Poverty, malnutrition and disease are common and the biggest killer of children is diarrhoea and that is a sad, sad fact. Life expectancy of the average Cambodian is 55 years old (versus I think about 75 in the U.S.).

Cambodia is bordered by Thailand on its west, Laos on the north and Vietnam on the east. Despite being surrounded by historically strong countries (Thailand and Vietnam), the small-sized Cambodia has managed to retain its Khmer identity and cultural traditions. Modern day Cambodia is the successor state of the mighty Khmer empire which during the Angkor period (9th - 14th centuries) was the cultural heartland of Southeast Asia (more on this in a future blog entry).

Now the country is showing up on the tourist trail as a destination for tourists and travelers alike. The increasing number of tourists will inevitablty change the culture and well-being of many Cambodians because not only will tourists bring money that will fuel growth in infrastructure, taxes and jobs it also leads to more corruption in an already corrupt government. Tourism also greatly expands vice and its attendant evils and from what I've seen so far the lack of effective governmental and societal control has allowed this dark side of tourism to flourish (again this will be a topic of a future blog entry).

Cambodia has so much going for it. A peaceful, stable government with well regulated controls will allow the country to take further advantage of a wealth of resources including the incredible temples of Angkor, the natural beauty of the countryside, a vast coastline with many empty and magnificent beaches reminicent of Thailand 40 years ago, many National Parks and the incredible Mekong River.

Cambodia is a beautiful yet still troubled nation.

Some details of the recent history of the nation give clues to why the country is its current state.

The French ruled Cambodia as a colony from 1864 - 1953, similar to its colonial rule of neighboring Laos and Vietnam. Cambodia achieved independence from France in 1953 under King Sihanouk who was on the throne starting in 1941 at the age of 19 and through many coups and abdications finally gave up the kingship to his son in late 2004. This long running monarch was present or in exile while all the tragedies and bad things happened to this country during this time. I am not saying he is to blame because I simply do not know enough about what was really going on here during this time period but this King is the one constant throughout and must bear some of the burden of responsibility.

The were many military and civilian coups and civil wars between 1953 and 1975 and the history is very interesting but too detailed to be included here. From 1975-1979 the country was under the repressive dictatorship of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge (more on that later).

From 1979 until 1989 Cambodia was a puppet regime of Vietnam after they overthrew the Khmer Rouge (see my January 30th blog entry on Vietnam). After the Vietnamese pulled out the country was administered by the United Nations which appeared to do an surprisingly adequate job of pulling disparate factions together (despite civil war and the still-present Khmer Rouge as both a guerrilla faction AND a party to the elections) leading to general elections in 1993 and the establishment of the Kingdom of Cambodia under a Constitutional Monarchy form of government with none other than King Sihanouk as its titular leader.

The period of 1993 through 1997 was of gradual reform and growing knowledge and documentation of the Khmer Rouge atrocities. There was a military coup in 1997 but since then there has been relative peace and growing popularity as Cambodia became an active part of the community of nations in both Asia and the world.

A continuing effect and problem from the years of wars and civil wars is the presence of unexploded ordinance in the country (UXO) and millions of land mines that were placed all over the country and still remain active.

There are warnings in all the guidebooks and the countryside saying "Do not stray from well-marked paths under any circumstances". This is due to the presence of UXO and landmines. Much of the UXO is leftover from the American bombing of Cambodia as the U.S. military attempted to dislodge the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong armies from the bases and supply routes in Cambodia.

Land mines are another huge problem here. It is estimated that between 4-6 million mines were planted by the Americans, Vietnamese, the Khmer Rouge and the Cambodian Army. Many of these are still in place waiting to explode. It is a sad testament to mankinds ingenuity to develop and deploy such a hideous device like the many types of landmines invented and placed in service.

These pictures were taken at the Land Mine Museum outside of Siem Reap. This very rough musuem created and run by an incredible man (and his staff) by the name of Aki Ra. Aki Ra is the foremost landmine disabler in Cambodia and is often at the museum when he isn't in the field or helping children affected by the landmines. The museum is dedicated to teaching about landmines and their attendant affects on Cambodians, continuing the process of finding landmines and best of all, providing a home and education for children disfigured by landmines and/or for children who have lost their parents to landmine disasters.

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There are currently numerous international groups and individual Cambodians working on mine clearance in Cambodia. Some of you may recall the late Princess Diana of Great Britian and her quest to bring the facts of minefields and their attendant human damage to the forefront of international attention in the West. She did a great job publicizing this issue while she was alive and it led to an international treaty to ban land mines.

In 1997 more than 100 countries (including Cambodia) signed a treaty banning the production, stockpiling, sale and use of landmines under any circumstances. Some important nations in landmine production including the UK, Italy and France signed the treaty. However the world's major producers of landmines - China, Russia and the U.S. have refused to sign the treaty and I think that is appalling that my government won't sign and adhere to this document.

A few more facts on landmines in Cambodia: Over 40,000 Cambodians have lost a limb to a landmine. That's 1 out of every 275 people that are amputees! This number is growing still by 40-50 per month.

THE KHMER ROUGE

As mentioned above the Khmer Rouge regime under the leadership of Pol Pot controlled Cambodia from 1975-1979. This regime was heavily supported by the Chinese government and attempted one of the most radical and brutal restructurings of a society ever attempted. They wanted to transform the country into a Maoist-peasant dominated agrarian cooperative where all society's structures including family and village life would not exist and life would be dominated by the needs of the cooperative and the needs of the people would be secondary. As a kinda stupid aside - for all those Star Trek fans this sounds like the Borg.

Immediately upon assuming power the Khmer Rouge ordered everyone in urban areas (including children, the sick and the elderly) to the countryside to work in slave labor type camps for 12-15 hours each day. Any disagreement or disobedience meant instant death.

The Khmer Rouge systematically arrested, tortured and/or killed anyone they could find in Cambodia who was educated, had a moderate viewpoint, was in a previous leadership position or whom they just did not like.

The exact death total are unknown and the subject of some debate. There are Killing Fields found (and probably still to be found) throughout the country that are just pits full of bodies of the people executed under the policies of the regime. Most were bludgeoned to death in order to save bullets. The best and most accurate estimate of deaths by the Khmer Rouge is around 2 million people (out of a population at the time of 10-11 million). 2 million Cambodians (1 out of 5) were killed under official government policy from 1975-1979. This is genocide.

What's amazing to me is that this happened without any international interference. Of course recent history is rife with examples of genocide happening without international deterence either knowingly or unknowingly (depending on the particular instance and any conspiracy theories you prescribe to). Examples include the Holocaust in Germany during WWII and various Pogroms in the Soviet Union targeting Jews, Gypsies and other minorities deemed unworthy. Other even more recent acts of genocide have occured in Rwanda, Sudan and Bosnia. The International War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague seems to be more active in investigating and prosecuting war criminals recently and tha is a good sign that there may be accountability for actions even if they are deemed official goverment policy.

I don't know what countries knew what was happening in Cambodia during this period although the Chinese certainly knew. After the Vietnam War the international community and particulaly the United States virtually ignored this region, fatigued as it were with the last 20 years of war and conflict. It was the right time for the idiots and psychotics of the evil Khmer Rouge to take control and unfortunately they were able to perpetuate their atrocities without international interference until the Vietnamese overthrew their government. Quite ironic!

In Phnom Penh there is a museum designed to preserve the Cambodian Genocide History in order for all of mankind to learn about the atrocities of the past so that they are not repeated. It is called the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and is located in a former Khmer Rouge prison called Tuol Sleng, or more commonly S-21. It was here that the Khmer Rouge systematically arrested, tortured and killed over 13,000 men women and children during their reign. In fact they killed every prisoner brought to this place was murdered with the exception of 7 individuals who were rescued when the Vietnamese army overtook the city.

Many of the bodies of people killed here were dumped in a Killing Field 15 km outside of the city.

The Khmer Rouge kept detailed and extensive records of the activities in S-21 (much like the Nazis) that included the photographs, biographies and deaths of everyone in the prison. Included with the photographs are many of the prisoners after they were executed. Many of the people killed were children placed in the prison when their mothers were arrested.

This place is heart-wrenching and difficult to go through. It is graphic and to the point. It is a testament to the crimes of the Khmer Rouge.

The following pictures include faces of some who were killed here. They also include pictures of mass graves and other difficult to view scenes. There are pictures of artists renditions of torture.

I am not being ghoulish publishing these pictures or telling this history. It affected me strongly and I want to keep these thought in my mind as I go forward with life and I want to give details to any of my readers who desire to learn more about one of the worlds greatest recent man-made tragedies.

There were some paintings and pictures that I would not even take a photo of, much less publish in my blog as they were too disturbing and are the cause of nightmares.

The following pictures are of people who were executed in S-21:

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The following pictures are very disturbing and are of photographic evidence taken at various Killing Fields across Cambodia.

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The following pictures are the most disturbing of all as they depict acts of torture in S-21:

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Thank you for reading this and I hope this entry disturbed you to read and view as much as it disturbed me to write. I look forward to your comments and thoughts.

Hello everyone! It's Sunday afternoon (January 30th) in Siem Reap, Cambodia and the temperature is a balmy 85 degrees. It's actually quite cooler today than it was the past three days when temperatures got into the upper 90's. The humidity is up a bit but not too bad. I've worked up quite a sweat being outdoors and walking around Angkor so you can all feel sorry for me as I know the weather has been beautiful in most of the places people live who read my blog :-).

The last few days have been spent "templing". It's amazing the number of nouns that can be made into verbs! The temples and palaces of Angkor Wat have lived up to their hype and description as one of the Wonders of the World. This area is simply amazing and spectacular and grand. I'll look forward to writing the blog entry and posting some of the hundreds of pictures I've taken.

As I am in Cambodia, technology hasn't fully caught up here. I found an Internet Cafe with DSL (I think it's the only one in Siem Reap) but it doesn't allow USB connections thus no uploading of pictures. I wouldn't even want to try uploading pictures at some of the other Internet joints I've seen here!!

This is a general blog entry giving some information and history of Vietnam and will not include pictures. I am hoping that my next stop (Phnom Penh) will have better Internet but who knows?

Vietnam is a fascinating country and I didn't spend enough time there. I only went to Hanoi and Saigon and missed everything in the middle. I do plan on doing separate blog entries for both Hanoi and Saigon and, as usual, I am behind on my writing and need to catch up!!

Vietnam is a large country and home to over 80 million people making it the 13th most populous country on earth (versus the population of the U.S. at approximately 300 million) and is one of the poorest countries in Asia with an estimated average per capital income of just over $300. Think about that, the average Vietnamese makes only $25 US dollars PER MONTH!

The country has a young population, approximately 65% of the people are under the age of 30. Life expectancy is 66 years (high by Asian standards) and an infant mortality rate of 48 per 1,000 births (scary high!)

Most of the population lives outside cities and depends on agriculture and hunting and gathering for their livelihoods. Hanoi has a population of 3.5 - 4.0 million and Saigon has about 8.0 million people. There are a number of other cities in central Vietnam but none over a hundred thousand in population. The remainder live in small villages throughout the vast expanse of the country.

The currency is the Dong and the conversion ratio to the U.S. Dollar is about 15,700 dong = $1 dollar. This odd amount makes it a bit difficult to figure out what things cost there in dollars and the huge numbers of dong involved in each transaction is staggering but kinda fun. It's always neat to be carrying around a million of the countries currency. In the south many places also price goods and services in U.S. Dollars as well as dong but when paying in dollars you seem to get a little ripped off on the conversion (you end up paying more) although the difference is usually just a few cents.

It's funny, I find myself getting a bit warped when looking at prices and bargaining for goods and services. In Laos the exchange rate was 10,000 kip - $1, Vietnam was 15,700 dong = $1 and here in Cambodia it's 4,000 riel to $1. It's hard to keep track of what things are really worth when dealing in these large numbers and sometimes I just step back and pay the extra 1,000 dong/kip/riel because it really doesn't matter to me but it really does matter to them. I enjoy thinking and working with these odd numbers and different currencies, maybe it's the finance guy in me but it is fun, entertaining and a new and different experience with each country I visit.

Vietnam is now a communist country. North Vietnam gained its independence from French colonial rule in 1955 (after being occupied by the Japanese during WWII and fighting the French beginning in 1946) and at that time South Vietnam became a separate country under a military dictatorship with heavy support from the U.S.

As most people know Vietnam and most of Indo-China became a battleground in the Cold War and a place the U.S. felt it had to be involved in order to stop the spread of communism throughout the world. The domino-theory prevailed within successive Presidential Administrations from Eisenhower to Kennedy to Johnson through Nixon. They all thought that the fall of South Vietnam to the communists would faciltate a fall of many other nearby, teetering countries to this evil.

History books, novels, movies and television shows have all documented the Vietnam War (or the American War from the Vietnamese perspective). This period of war actually lasted from around 1946 through 1979 for the Vietnamese while America's involvement was heaviest from the mid 1960's through the pull out after the Paris Peace Treaty was signed in 1974. Prior to heavy American involvement the Vietnamese fought to French to gain independence then the split between the North and South resulted in constant fighting between these two sides leading up to the Americans siding with the South and Russia and China aiding the North (primarily through military hardware and the presence of "advisors").

After the American departure in 1974 the U.S. government greatly decreased it's monetary and miltary support of the regime in South Vietnam (breaking many commitments due to constant pressure from the general US population and the Congress). The North and the South remained at war and in 1975 the North overran Saigon and won the war. This led to reunification of the country and the renaming of Saigon to Ho Chi Minh City.

North Vietnam won the war and Vietnam became a communist country. Many former South Vietnamese government officials and military officers were either killed or sent to "re-education" camps as the communists attempted to force their way of thinking and living upon a part of the country that was more free-thinking and entrprenurial than the North.

While Vietnam was trying to consolidate their new country and rebuild after the devastation of the war the country was being harrassed by the Khmer Rouge controlled government of Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge held power in Cambodia between 1975-1979 and were one of the most repressive and evil governments in the history of the world (this will be the topic of an upcoming blog entry). While the Khmer Rouge were systematically killing every educated person in Cambodia they were also militarily active on the Vietnam-Cambodia border.

This pissed of the Vietnamese and on December 25, 1978 they attacked Cambodia and drove the Khmer Rouge out of power (where they would subsequently be active as a guerilla movement up to 1999) and installed a puppet regime in Phnom Penh. The international community did not realize it at the time but the Vietnamese did Cambodia a huge favor by over throwing the evil regime of the Khmer Rouge. They saved many, many lives and this allowed Cambodia to spend the last 25 years moving forward to grow and stabilize a country that had been in turmoil for many, many years. It is doubtful that the Vietnamese had such altruistic motives for taking over Cambodia but the end result was a very positive one for the world.

As Vietnam took over Cambodia, the Chinese got upset. China had been a supporter of the evil Khmer Rouge government (and thus bear a great deal of responsibility for the genocide that occured) so in early 1979 they attacked Vietnam across the border the two countries share. There they fought a brief war lasting 17 days after which the Chinese withdrew. Vietnam has mostly been at peace since.

The American War still looms large in the Vietnamese minds despite it ending over 30 years ago. There are many monumnets and musuems dedicated to this war and their interpretation of it (to the victors go the right to interpret history - revisionism!). As the population who fought in the war ages and dies off the war will fall further from the minds and hearts of the people and their government - the same as in the U.S.

Some facts (from American sources) about the war. 3.14 million Americans served in Vietnam (including 7,200 women). The number of Americans dead or MIA was 58,183 (twice as many as in the Korean War). 3,700 airplanes were lost and almost 5,000 helicopters were lost. the U.S. military expended 15 million tons of ammunition and spent $165 Billion on the war effort. There are still over 2,000 Americans officially listed as Missing in Action.

It is estimated that over 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers were killed and while no reliable statistics exist, over 1 million North Vietnamese soldiers died. Worst of all, over 4 million Vietnamese civilians were killed or injured (10% of the population at the time).

The price of war and its consequences were ghastly and huge for Vietnam and I understand why it is still foremost in many minds as they move forward and build a strong country and growing economy.

Often the American view is that we "lost" the war. In reality, although the U.S. did not achieve its objective of a non-communist Vietnam and lost over 58,000 lives, the loser in the war was Vietnam and it's people who lost a couple of generations fighting to keep their country free of foreign involvement.

I personally don't agree with their form of goverment or the way the run their economy and treat dissenters but I respect their right to run their country how they see fit and I respect and admire the recent steps the country has undertaken to loosen economic controls and internationalize policies and laws so that the country, its economy and people can raise the standard of living and be a worthwhile contributor to the world. This country has much to gain and the world has much to gain from the gradual opening up of Vietnam. The people, the culture and the beautiful country are all assets that Vietnam is now sharing with the world and I feel fortunate to have seen and experienced the small part of Vietnam that I did.

That's it for now. Again, sorry for the lack of pictures but I do have many for subsequent blog entries.

Many of you may have strong feelings about the Vietnam War and its outcome and effect of American culture, people, goverment and history and I would be very interested in hearing them. Please post a message with your thoughts or e-mail me.

Thank you for reading this. I hope to make this blog both interesting and entertaining. Please post a comment and let me know your thoughts, observations or counsel. Hearing from readers and knowing I have an audience is a great motivator and will be a great morale booster during down times on the road. Don’t forget to bookmark this site and tell a friend! Please feel free to e-mail me at “JeffMichie at Yahoo Dot Com”

This will be my final Laos entry for the blog.

After a couple of days in Vang Viene it was time to leave that place and head south to the capital of Laos, Vientiane. Vientiane is located in central Laos on the Mekong River. Across the Mekong River from Vientiane is Thailand. The capital has a population of around 140,000 people making it, by far, the largest city in the country.

Just south of town there is a bridge spanning the Mekong that connects Thailand and Laos called the Friendship Bridge. I'm not sure of its exact history but this bridge is significant in that it is only about 10 years old, most travelers can get a Laos visa upon arrival to the bridge (whereas all other border points need a visa issued by a Laos embassy) and it is the only bridge in Laos that spans the Mekong. The opening of the Friendship bridge approximately 10 years ago signalled to the world that Laos was ready to join the world community and expand international relationships after years of consolidating power under the communist regime.

Vientiane is a 4 hour bus trip from Vang Viene. It was a nice trip and the roads were decent and not so windy as my previous bus ride. The countryside was very beautiful with occasional villages and towns on the way. As we got closer to Vientiane there were many more signs of civilization as well as higher degrees of infrastructure and relative wealth.

Vientiane has a French feel about it, much like Luang Prabang but it is larger and more cosmopolitan. The streets are wide and there are many signs of prosperity.

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I stayed in town for 4 nights at the Dragon Lodge. A nice guesthouse about 1/2 mile from the river. I guess you would call it the upper end of the budget places as I paid $12 a night for a fan room with a warm (not hot) shower and a 10" TV that actually got a couple of english language channels (ESPN Asia and BBC). It was a nice place and very quiet, I didn't need my ear plugs here and there were no local roosters!

There isn't a whole lot to do in Vientiane. It's a relaxing place with nice river views and great outdoor places to eat right on the river banks. The vendors set up an outdoor grill, have refrigeration for Beer Lao's and have plastic tables and chairs set by the river channel. It's a nice setting and a great place to watch the sunset over the river while drinking a Beer Lao.

The people are friendly here but not as much as in other places in Laos and that makes sense since this is a bigger city and it's not small town or village life.

This picture is of a lady sweeping dirt in the streets. There are many such people that do this work and it's an endless and fruitless task. It is funny in a way but it's also a job that she gets paid for that someone decided added value to the municipality.

The city is growing as Laos attracts more tourism and foreign investment. Here is a massive, 5-Star hotel on the banks of the Mekong just outside the town center that looks very out of place in this country.
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There are quite a few nice wats and other monuments in town, here are some pictures:
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Here's an example of the French colonial influence on a building. This is some sort of government office.
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I have an interesting story that brought back to me where I am and reminded me that I'm traveling in a foreign country. I sought out and walked by the American Embassy one day, feeling a bit homesick and wanting to see the Stars and Stripes and maybe stand on American soil for a moment. It was cool to see our flag waving. I stopped to take a picture of our flag but before I clicked it a Lao Army guy came running over to me blowing his whistle and then yelling at me in Lao. Scared the crap out of me, I was about to try to run inside the Embassy. I guess you're not allowed to take pictures of the embassy for some reason, he grabbed my camera and I had to prove to him that I didn't actually snap any pictures. Then I walked away, kinda eerie...

I don't like to take no for an answer so I walked around the block to see if I could get another view of the flag away from these army guys and I did and I took a couple pictures that didn't come out real good. I showed them though, no one is going to keep me from taking a picture of my flag!!!

I went to a Lao history museum in town and it was interesting. The best parts for me were the exhibits describing the Vietnam War and Laos' position throughout the conflict. Laos was technically neutral in the war but was used as a base by the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong and thus attracted a lot of American military interest. I wrote in a previous blog entry about the bombing of Laos and how it became a communist country, patterned after Vietnam, in 1975.

Communist propaganda is alive and well in the museum exhibits. The pictures and exhibits were mostly written in Lao, French and English and described the Americans and South Vietnamese variously as "imperialists", "puppets" and "running dogs" among other insults and descriptions. This was my first experience with revisionist history in Asia and I have seen it to a much greater extent in Vietnam (to be discussed in a later blog entry).

Revisionist history is twisting reality and actual events into history that is more favorable and suitable to the current leadership. I can't fault the Lao government for doing this as it has happened the world over since the beginning of time. To the victor come the spoils and the victor gets to record history as they see fit. The beauty of the modern age is that they cannot change the historical record as recorded in other countries.

In a thousand of years there will be some person (or some alien from outer space) struggling over the conflicting historical accounts of the Vietnam Wars in the 1950's through 1970's wondering which accounts to believe. I know the "facts" recorded by the United States concerning this war are not 100% accurate and have been altered based on someone's perception of reality or by outright deception and the same with the Laos and Vietnamese versions. The truth is somewhere in the middle.

A funny exhibit in the museum shows a bunch of antiquated rifles and small arms with all the captions saying something like this: "Here is Comrade Tran's pistol that he used to shoot down an imperialist American A-1 (or helicopter of F-111) and saved the village from the puppet imperialist army". It was amazing how many American airplanes and helicopters were downed by villagers with pistols and old rifles. Those must be some sort of pistols!!

Part of my last day in Vientiane was spent at Buddha Park.

Buddha Park is about 30 kilometers outside town and cost 120,000 Kip ($10) round trip to get there in a tuk-tuk on a bouncy road. This park was created by some weirdo who sculpted and/or got ahold of a bunch of disparate Buddhist and Hindu statues and placed them in this park. Many of the statues need restoration but the park is well kept up. The creator of Buddha Park left Laos soon after the communists took over and went to live in Thailand where I heard there is another strange park similar to this one.

Here are a bunch of pictures of Buddha Park.
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It's funny at time to read signs with English translations. Many phrases in Asian languages just don't translate well into English and it's amusing to see when they try.

Here's another picture of me. I'm in Buddha Park.

That's it for Laos. I love this country and am going to miss it. In America we hear next to nothing about Laos, as if it doesn't exist. I feel priviledged to have spent two weeks here. I have been exposed to the most friendly, down to earth culture I have ever seen. I hope my blog writings have helped bring some of Laos to life and gave my readers some history and knowledge of a country that is mostly invisible to the western world.

Thank you for reading this. I hope to make this blog both interesting and entertaining. Please post a comment and let me know your thoughts, observations or counsel. Hearing from readers and knowing I have an audience is a great motivator and will be a great morale booster during down times on the road. Don’t forget to bookmark this site and tell a friend! Please feel free to e-mail me at “JeffMichie at Yahoo Dot Com”

Tonight is January 25th and I am still in Saigon. I have decided to leave Vietnam for now and head to Cambodia and tour around the Angkor Wat temples near Siem Reap. Angkor Wat is one of the most unique places in the world, it is a series of temples of the ancient Khmer Kingdom with many over a thousand years old. Angkor Wat is on many "top ten in the world" sites along with the pyramids of Egypt, Macchu Picchu and the Taj Mahal (for example...)

So I am excited about spending a few days checking out the area and am excited about going to Cambodia, especially with it's very recent history of war, unstable governments and genocide. Cambodia is safe now but only just recently became a place where travelers were comfortable going.

This blog entry is about a crappy little town in Laos called Vang Viene. I'll explain below why I think the place was crappy. Also I want to do a PARENTAL WARNING on this entry as there is mention of drugs.

After five relaxing and fun days in Luang Prabang I figured it was time to leave and head south. I really didn't want to leave and could have easily hung out a few days longer but I got the itch to see more of Laos so I set up a trip to go to Vang Viene.

Vang Viene is just too convenient for any traveler in Laos who is going between Luang Prabang and Vientiane (either way, north-to-south or south-to-north) as it is about half way between the two towns and going straight though without stopping in Vang Viene means an 11 hour bus ride which is no fun.

I left Luang Prabang on the 9:00 AM bus (be there at 8:30 AM just in case they told me) and we left promptly at 10:15 AM. It was a 6 1/2 hour trip over about 140 kilometers (kilometers to miles conversion is 1 mile = .62 kilometers) or 87 miles. Now take the 87 miles and divide that by 6 1/2 hours you get approximately 14 MPH as an average speed. To be fair this included a toilet break and a quick food stop.

The road was VERY WINDY and STEEP and went up and down many, many mountains. The views were spectacular ad would have been even more special after a rain storm or with less "slash-and-burn" agriculture (as discussed in my previous blog entry). It was, unfortunately, very hazy. The slow pace of the bus was dictated by the many hills and hair-pin curves as well as the constant need to slow down to avoid big chickens, baby chickens, pigs, piglets, cows, water buffalo, dogs and people (cats are too smart to be wandering near this road). Also, the road is not in great shape. It was only recently paved and much of this pavement is full of pot holes and many sections are "works in progress" and are still dirt roads.

There were many villages along this highway (Highway 13) and most were perched literally on the edge of the cliffs with the doors to their homes and stores within feet of the roadway. These villages are a long way from any town of size and therefore must be self sufficient in all that they do. All had farmland and such renewable resources like pigs and chickens. The farmland was incredible. This area of Laos is mountainous and the mountains are steep. I think they all grew rice (and probably other stuff too) but their fields were all on the sides of hills. They have been doing this for centuries so they must know what they are doing but that has got to be the hardest, least efficient and most dangerous way to farm I have ever witnessed.

I was talking on the bus to some other travelers, remarking on the villages and their lives and one person said something we were all kind of thinking, "What do these people do for a living?" Once I thought about it I felt stupid trying to put western thoughts into Laos culture. What these villagers do for a living is live. They spend their days not trying to get ahead and save money or figure out new investment or business schemes, they work for food, clothing and shelter and for love and the betterment of their village. These are the basics of life and are the focus a sustinence existence that is prevalent throughout most of the world. What we do in the west is by far in the minority of how life is lived in the rest of the world.

Another interesting thought occurred to me on this bus trip. There are soooo many chickens in Laos and they are everywhere and they have lots of baby chickens and they are everywhere too. These chickens like to hang out on the roads. As the bus barrelled through villages he just kept his hand on the horn and slowed down a bit for the animals and I thought for sure he was going to nail some of the chickens. I kept looking back behind us after each close call expecting to see a dead chicken on the road but never did. I asked the bus driver later if he'd ever hit a chicken on the road. He said very, very rarely do they get hit, they are very quick near the point of impact and always just manage to escape. I figure if one did get hit then it would be dinner for some family that night.

Another interesting thing about Highway 13 between Luang Prabang and Vientiane is the occasional presence of bandits and anti-government guerrillas that operate in the area. Most of this activity has been stopped but every bus does have a gun-toting rider along to dissuade any bad guys.

That's enough of the trip to Vang Viene. I enjoyed it, the scenery was cool and the glimpse of village life was priceless. The windy, bumpy, slow road.. well that's part of traveling in Asia!

So we make it to Vang Viene, a town of 25,000 to 30,000 people set in a beautiful valley next to some spectacular mountains and a nice river. The area I stayed in was the backpacker area in the center of the small town where the bus dropped us off. There must be much more to Vang Viene than I saw but what I saw was crappy.

The Lao people are smart to take advantage of the traveler's dollars and have created something that may be a backpackers paradise if you are into that thing. The center of town is really only a couple of small dusty steets (half paved, half dust) with dozens of surprisingly nice (and cheap) guesthouses and an equal number of places to eat.

The guesthouses were mostly in the $3-$8 range with a few higher end ($20+) places on the river. The place I stayed was $5 and included a warm (not hot) shower and a clean comfortable room and bed. The bed was hard though but I am now used to that (an occasional massage works wonders!).

The restaurants in town were so similar that at first it was funny. They are all open-air, have a bar, have tables where you sit on the floor on cushions (not chairs) and all had TV's hooked to DVD players. While some showed bootleg movies there were about 6 or 7 places that all played a DVD of the TV show "Friends". It was surreal walking down a street in Laos and hearing Chandler, Monica, Pheobe, Rachel, Ross and Joey talking and carrying on (all the volumes were on high). I love Friends, it's a great show but to see it on numerous TV's in restaurants (different episodes - at first I thought they might all be connected to the same DVD player) is just weird.

The other thing I noticed was a bunch of scaggly guys and girls laying around inside of these restaurants sleeping, vegging, drinking or just staring into space. I would figure out why later.

The restaurants all had virtually the same menu and very similar signage out in front. All served some sort of pizza and the guy who manufactured the pizza signs must have made a few dollars. Everything was western food with some Lao food possible to find at the back of the menus.

I didn't figure this out until I left town and was talking to a few people on the bus to Vientiane but each of these restaurants served food (mostly pizza and shakes) laced with pot, hash and/or "magic" mushrooms. I was shocked. I'm not naive, I've been around this activity before and maybe if I was traveling in my early 20's I would have partaken in these activities. Now I guess I'm getting old and less hip because I didn't even realize that this was going on when I was in town. I do recall at dinner one night seeing a sign that advertised Mushroom Shakes and Extra Mushroom Shakes and all I thought "that's gross, who would drink a mushroom shake?" and really didn't give it much more thought until it was explained to me.

Once I realized what was going on the whole town made much more sense to me. The people vegging out, staring into space and sleeping in the restaurants.... Also, I was told that there is quite a bit of opium available here too and some sort of Lao speed. The things you see and learn on the road!!!

The lifestyle many backpackers lead is not for me and if they choose to take drugs that is up to them. But buying and taking drugs in Laos just seems crazy to me. Taking drugs and vegging out in front of a television and eating pizza is probably what many of these people do at home, why come all the way to Laos and do the same things you do at home?

What also amazes me (in retrospect) is how open this drug use and drug selling (by businesses!) was. This is Laos, not Amsterdam. Laos is a communist country with strict laws and behavioral expectations that are enforced by a diligent police force and army. How does this happen in Vang Viene????

That's mainly why I think Vang Viene is a crappy little town.

Now for the good parts and there is alot of cool stuff here. I only spent 1 1/2 days and 2 nights here but did get to see some of the country side. The two main things to do here (other than getting stoned) is to hike to the caves and tube down the river. The river was bit low (and cold) so I didn't do the tubing thing but I did go on a great hike to various caves around town.

The pictures here (and my photgraphic skills) just can't do the beauty of this country side justice. The mountains look like Yosemite, it is that spectacular. The caves were a miles from town so it was nice walk. In one of the caves I took a nice spill that had me on my butt sliding down some rocks. That hurt but I was okay until the next day then the stiffness set in and stuck around for a few days. Cool bruises too!

Here are some of the better pictures of the mountains and country around Vang Viene:
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I gotta go, it's dinner time and I'm hungry!

Thank you for reading this. I hope to make this blog both interesting and entertaining. Please post a comment and let me know your thoughts, observations or counsel. Hearing from readers and knowing I have an audience is a great motivator and will be a great morale booster during down times on the road. Don’t forget to bookmark this site and tell a friend! Please feel free to e-mail me at “JeffMichie at Yahoo Dot Com”

Today is Sunday. January 23rd and I am writing this entry from the tropical and beautiful Saigon (officially it's called Ho Chi Minh City by the communist government of Vietnam but it's Saigon to everyone else). I love Saigon, especially when comparing it to Hanoi. Saigon is warm, open, not as obnoxious as Hanoi and generally a much more fun place to hang out.

I've been here a couple of days so far and have enjoyed my walking tours of the city. As in Hanoi, I got lost a few times and there were plenty of motorcycle taxi jerks ready to "help" me but I figured it out by myself and always got to where I was going.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. This entry will finish off Luang Prabang and then I can finish my Laos series talking about Vang Viene and Vientiane.

There is not a lot to do in Luang Prabang beyond enjoying the scenery, the town and the people (and relaxing!) but there are a few places to go outside of town that are generally worthy of the time and expense. There are plenty of tuk-tuk drivers and travel agents that will set up a partial or full day series of trips.

I decided to spend a day seeing the Pak Ou Caves and the Waterfalls. These are the two main out of town things to do. I hired a tuk-tuk for the day for $20 with the driver Sine-kow. I didn't get a good picture of him but he was a nice guy, avoided as many bumps on the road as possible and didn't speak much English.

First thing in the morning we headed north to Pak Ou caves.

The tuk-tuk took about an hour to get there, most of it over dirt roads with lots of potholes. These tuk-tuks are 3-wheel vehicles with 10" rims, very small suspensions and not at all made for bumpy dirt roads.

These caves are on the Mekong (we passed them on the way in on the Slow Boat) and have some historical value to the Lao people as both a place of worship and a place where the Luang Prabang monarchy would come during certain holy times. There are two caves and both of them are filled with Buddhas. Big Buddhas, small Buddhas, wood Buddhas, metal Buddhas all sorts of Buddhas, worshipers to the caves used to bring Buddhas and drop them off (apparently before it became a tourist attraction) and the caretakers of the cave probbaly picked the best Buddhas and placed them all over the place. Not to be disrespectful at all but it looked like a big, haphazard pile of Buddhas.

We did make it though and the thought of the ride back was not appealing. We parked on one side of the Mekong and I had to take a long boat across the river (10,000 kip or $1.00 round trip).

The bottom cave is closest to the water and easily accessible. The top cave was up about 200+ steps and the steps were steep! I'm in pretty good shape, especialy after all the exercise I've been getting on this trip but it was a hike to get up to this cave and it is so anti-climatic once you get up there it almost pisses you off. The cave was really nothing, just a hole in the granite (or limestone..) and another big pile of Buddhas.

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Here's a picture of a couple of Lao kids hanging out at the caves.

They were singing together in hopes of getting tips from the tourists. At least they weren't just begging like so many others I've encountered. I feel bad for anyone who has to revert to a life of begging and it is so hard to see everyday and not get hardened to it or just ignore the suffering. All the advice you read is to not give money to people begging as it just reinforces their behavior, especially kids. I have yet to give money to begging kids but do confess to giving money in times of weakness mostly to mothers with little kids. I know they may purposely look pathetic to get more money and some probably borrow kids to enhance their chances but it's hard to be cynical when I have so much and they have so little.

Here is another Mekong River picture taken near the caves.
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When I finished looking at the caves and all the Buddhas I met a nice young lady who is an Italian tour guide in Laos. She had just said goodbye to a group who was heading up river to Thailand and needed to get back to Luang Prabang. Me, being the gallant sort of guy that I am, offered her passage in my long boat across the river and my tuk-tuk into town. She was pleased with my offer and proceeded to try to give me money to share the expense. I, of course, refused as doing a good deed for a lady in distress was payment enough.

Part of what tuk-tuk drivers do on these tours is to take you to various local villages and encourage you to buy stuff and they then get some sort of commission. This behavior amongst tuk-tuk and taxi drivers is common in every country, city and town I've been in so far in Asia. I always make it apparent up front that we WILL NOT go to their factories or shops or in this case when I was interested in seeing the towns and crafts I was not going to buy anything.

I am embarassed that I don't remember the Italian ladies name, she had a very sexy (to me) Italian accent and spoke English well enough for us to communicate. We ended up hanging out for a few hours and I was happy for the company. As she was a tour guide she showed me around a couple of villages. One of them was a Whisky Village, a place that many made the local rice whisky commonly called Lao-Lao. Lao-Lao comes in both clear and amber colors and is CHEAP even by Laos standards. You can buy a 750 ML bottle for under $1.00 and while not real strong, the way it is drank here (shot after shot after shot) it will mess you up (at least that's what I heard :-) ).

By the time we got back into Luang Prabang and dropped off my Italian friend (who I didn't see again :-( ) it was afternoon and Sine-kow and I headed south for the hour drive to the waterfalls. This hour drive covered about 15 kilometers but was once again over rough terrain.

The waterfalls were beautiful, even during this time of the year when it hadn't rained in a few months. I can imagine how this place would look in the summer during and after the rainy season, it would be incredible!

Here are some pictures:
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There was a path up the side of the waterfall that went up to the top of the mountain. It was a great climb although I had my Chacos on rather than sneakers. The Chacos and my legs held up fine and I made it to the top of the hill where only a few other travelers were. The valleys and trees were so pretty up there and it was so peaceful and quiet! On the way down I remembered that climbing up a hill is lots easier than climbing down so I wasn't quite so cocky heading down thinking that I was a long way from civilization and one false step and I would've been in big trouble. I doubt Sine-kow would have came looking for me if I didn't show up back at his tuk-tuk!

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Remember Phet the Tiger? This is where she lives. Phet is a five-year old female tiger who was found with two of her siblings when her mother was killed by hunters. Phet is the only one of the three baby tigers that survived. She is taken care of by a handler and is fed raw meat brought in daily from Luang Prabang. Her food, medical treatment and habitat are paid for by donations. This was a cause I felt good about donating to. These pictures show her in a cage but the cage was just where she was hanging out that afternoon. Phet has a huge enclosed area in the jungle outside the cage where she can wander around and be a tiger.
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One of the most enjoyable afternoons I have spent so far on this trip was on my last day in Luang Prabang. I went directly across the river to a small village on the far bank of the Mekong. There were a couple of wats out there but no big deal and not much to attract many of the tourists. I took a longtail boat across and just started walking through the village and outside of the village. It was a beautiful, warm day and a great day to be outside and a great day to be alive.

It was obvious that not many westerners go through that village as I got stares and gestures from many people, particularly the children. Yells of Sabaii-dii (hello) came from many of the kids and I always smiled and sabaii-dii'd them back which always made them smile and giggle and me smile and giggle even more.
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Here's a picture of a little boy who was my guide in one of the wats. He was 8 yrs old (I think) and just attached himself to me as I walked up the steps. He spoke good English and was a good kid. Great way to make money too, a value-added tour of the wat!
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Here's a Man and his Buffalo cruising through town. Water buffalo are quite common in Laos and are seen wild (or at least un-fenced) in lots of areas - including the roads where they seem to enjoy hanging out!. They are probably partially dommesticated and "belong" to someone who uses them to help plow fields, for milk and for meat.

On my last evening I climbed up Mt. Phousy in Luang Prabang to see the sunset. The is a wat on top of the hill and it's a good, steep climb with about 300 steps. I thought the climb would keep many of the tourists away but that was not the case as the sight is just too beautiful to miss. There were probably 70-75 people up there angling for the best view and picture but it was still an incredible sight, very beautiful and quite memorable.

One of the unfortunate aspects of Laos is one of their methods of agriculture - their practice of "slash and burn" farming. Slash and burn farming is where people burn down fields and forest through controlled fires in order to create farm land. They then farm the land hard for a few years and when it is barren they go on slashing and burning the next field. Not only is this not economically sustainable as it is poor land management, it creates a substantial amount of pollution and subsequent haze in the atmosphere.

I guess it's easy for me to say this is bad (and it is bad for the future of the Lao people as they are ruining good land that with proper management could be productive for many more years) but to people who are just trying to live for today and feed their families it is the easiest and best way for them to farm. They are not concerned with the future.

The consequences for future generations are not their concern but it should be a concern to the government as governments are tasked for providing for the future of the Lao people, their health and well-being and the sustainability of its natural resources.

I will now get down off my soap box.

Here are some of the sunset pictures I took from Mt. Phousy (I may have shown some of these in a previous entry and if so, I apologize but sunset pictures never get old!):
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That's it for Luang Prabang! More on Laos coming soon.

Thank you for reading this. I hope to make this blog both interesting and entertaining. Please post a comment and let me know your thoughts, observations or counsel. Hearing from readers and knowing I have an audience is a great motivator and will be a great morale booster during down times on the road. Don’t forget to bookmark this site and tell a friend! Please feel free to e-mail me at “JeffMichie at Yahoo Dot Com”

Today is Thursday, January 20, 2005 and I am in Hanoi, Vietnam. Tomorrow, after five days in Hanoi, I'm heading south to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City if you are a Vietnamese government official, Saigon for everyone else). It's a bit cold and drizzly here with temperatures in the 60's, it will be nice to go somewhere a little warmer and I think Saigon will be just the place with temperatures in the 80's or 90's.

I haven't had to worry about air conditioning since I left Bangkok almost a month ago and that's been nice but it's been too long since I've had warm days and some sunshine. Not that it's too cold or anything, its all relative. Today was the first day I've had to wear a jacket since being on the slow boat and I only wore the jacket because I was out walking in the drizzle.

You will note that this blog entry restores the chronological order upset by the previous entry called "Update". I'm going to break up Luang Prabang into two blog entries.

Coming off the Slow Boat at night into Luang Prabang was interesting. There were 60 or 70 of us travelers on the boat all anxious to get off after two days cruising the Mekong. Also, everyone needed to find a place to stay (I doubt anyone made reservations) for the evening so there was a mad scramble up the river bank into the hands of the local touts and tuk-tuk drivers. Most people had guidebooks or some reference with listings of various places to stay within their respective budgets and either tried to walk and find them in the dark or got into a tuk-tuk for a short ride to their chosen guesthouse.

The challenge was to find a place within your budget that actually had rooms available. Most of the better places (places with hot water and in-room bathrooms costing $8-$12) were full leaving only the cheap and the expensive places. Fortunately I found a decent place rather quickly for $5 that was en-suite with a hot shower, the only drawback was that it didn't have a door only a shower curtain. I'm not sure why and didn't feel real comfortable leaving my stuff in an unlocked room but it was relatively clean and cheap. Also, the lack of doors made it very noisy and let mosquitos into the room.

It was only for one night. The next morning I found a much nicer place (next door) for $12. This guesthouse, The Mano Guesthoue, had a very nice restaurant, clean rooms, satellite TV (with only 2-3 English speaking channels) and was somewhat quiet at night.

Quiet at night is relative to what you are used to. Night noises in Asia are ever present, just different in different countries. In Laos there is very little street noise or partying noise at night but there are thousands of roosters (I think chickens are the national bird) and they are everywhere. I always thought that roosters only crowed at dawn and maybe that's just American roosters. Laos roosters start crowing about 2:00 AM and the neighborhood roosters then alternate their crowing until well after dawn. The worst ones are the stupid roosters outside your guesthouse windows! It's worse than a roommate who snores. Thank goodness for ear-plugs.

Luang Prabang is a great place and I thoroughly enjoyed the 5 days I stayed there. I could have very easily hung out for longer as it is a very easy place to hang out, quite relaxing.

Here are some pictures of Luang Prabang taken in various places around town.
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Luang Prabang is in North-Central Laos and is situated on the Mekong River. It is the capital of an ancient kingdom and actually housed a monarch all the way up to the Communist take over in 1975. The "official" Laos government propoganda denies the lineage of the Luang Prabang monarch past 1959 saying he was never officially crowned. Whether or not he was crowned the Communist government that took control saw it fit to imprison the King and his family in a "re-education" camp in far northern Laos where the everyone died within 5 or so years of malnutrition and lack of proper medical care. These facts aren't publicly recognized by the current goverment. Of course, victorious governments throughout history of the world have utilized revisionist, or re-written, history to alter facts that serve to make current regimes look bad. The winners always seem to think they have the perogative to alter history texts and keep their people in the dark as they see fit and all goverments throughout history in the world have done so.

Enough of that! Luang Prabang is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. UNESCO is an acronym for United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization. What this means is the U.N. recognized Luang Prabang as one of the few places where French colonial architecture and design have survived. By making it a World Heritage Site, Luang Prabang becomes eligible for UN assitance to preserve it's colonial architecture and rebuild many areas to certain specifications.
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The French colonial feel to the town is very apparent, mostly in the buildings and the food. Most Lao's don't speak French anymore as the colonists exited the country by 1975. The second language of choice for Lao's is definitely English (as is true with most SE Asian countries).

The buildings are taken care of by the UNESCO bureaucracy but the food had a real French feel. It was weird to see, smell and taste fresh bread, croissants and hot baguettes everyday!. Pastries and sidewalk cafes were common.

It had a really neat Night Market on the main street. The street was blocked off at dusk and vendors lined the street for about a mile selling stuff.
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One thing to remember, in Laos everything is hand-made, no mass-produced machined items. Many of these vendors make the stuff they sell themselves so there is a lot of pride in their merchandise.
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Luang Prabang has many wats as would behoove a mostly buddhist country. Wats in Laos are not as prevalent as in Thailand although the people in Laos worship as fervently as they do in other countries. The relative lack of religious imagery has more to do with the Communist rulers. In 1975 the Pathet Lao leaders attempted to decrease the Buddhist influence on the population (hoping of course to replace the Buddhist influence with their ideological influence). This was not effective and served to alienate much of the population so the government wisely backed off on this policy and open Buddhist worship is now more common though somewhat restrained as people do not want to bring governmental attention to themselves.
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Here are a few of the many monks seen around town.

Here's another sign that I liked:

Monkeys are quite common in Laos and unfortunately some are captured and kept as pets. I don't think monkeys make good pets and they certainly can't be happy on a chain. Here are a couple of pictures of one cute, small monkey I saw. I wanted to unchain him and let him go!
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I'm not quite sure why these are bottled up like this and what they're for. Some sort of medicine or exotic potion...

Rice is a very common food in all Asian countries and is a staple in the diet of most everyone. This is the first time I've seen a cat eat rice though!

That's all folks! More on Luang Prabang and Laos is forthcoming.

Thank you for reading this. I hope to make this blog both interesting and entertaining. Please post a comment and let me know your thoughts, observations or counsel. Hearing from readers and knowing I have an audience is a great motivator and will be a great morale booster during down times on the road. Don’t forget to bookmark this site and tell a friend! Please feel free to e-mail me at “JeffMichie at Yahoo Dot Com”

It's Tuesday morning, January 18th and I am now in Hanoi, Vietnam.

When I first got here on Sunday night I said to myself (since no one else would understand me) "Wow, I'm in Vietnam! I never thought I'd be here". Most of what Americans know about Vietnam is from the war and subsequent movies and books. So it was with a bit of apprehension that I landed here, especially at night.

This blog entry is out of order based on the sequence of my trip. I am falling way behind on this as I haven't even completed my Laos series and still need to write about the interesting and laid back fun and adventures of Luang Prabang, Vang Viene and Vietiane. I am taking notes and taking pictures to keep things fresh in my mind so when I find decent Internet I can write clear and entertaining blog entries.

Anyway, this entry is just a catch up on my first days in Vietnam and some pictures and comments on the past few weeks.

I'd like to tell a brief story about my first few hours here in Hanoi. I wrote this to a very, very good friend of mine in an e-mail and thought I'd share it with my blog readers.

I flew into Hanoi, Vietnam last night and what a shock it was!! After two weeks in laid-back Laos it like getting smacked in the face driving into, and around, Hanoi. Especially since I had no idea where I was, it was dark and the people drive like nuts.

I thought of it as coming from Rising Sun and getting dumped into New York City. That is the difference in life style and craziness!

Last night around 8:00 PM (after getting settled into my hotel) I took a walk around to find something to eat. I generally have a great sense of direction and can figure out how to get around and how to find my way back after walking. Not last night though! After eating at a roadside noodle stand (awesome food for 11,000 dong, 15,000 dong = $1.00) I walked around a bit more then decided to turn around and head back to the hotel. I thought I knew exactly where it was but could not find it. I think this was the first time in my trip I was even a little apprehensive (not scared though!). The streets of Hanoi (at least the part I was in last night) criss-cross at weird angles and there are many trees so it's hard to get a bearing plus all the shops looked the same.

I walked around looking stupid for a while and there are a bunch of motorcycle taxi guys around and they fell on me like vultures, sensing I was lost. I resisted their rides but did ask if they knew where my hotel was. I asked 4 or 5 of these guys and they all pointed me in some direction or another, nothing consistent, I think they were all messing with me. None of them spoke English. After about 45 minutes of this I asked a Security Guard at a building and he got me in the right direction then I found a woman who spoke some English and she got me the rest of the way. What a relief when I found it! It was pretty close to where I thought it would be but a few streets over.

I also got propositioned by two women, they wanted to come back to the hotel with me, even offered me rides on their motorcycles. I must be attractive to Vietnamese women (or they could have been hookers...) :-)

That was my excitement for the evening and it was quite enough!!

Hanoi is a crazy, crazy place. Everything is noisy and hectic, in-your-face and crowded and hardly anyone speaks English. The only Vietnamese people who under me (or whom I understand) are at the guesthouses I've been staying at. For me this is the biggest culture shock of this trip, even more so than the poor villages of Laos. The traffic is just as bad as Bangkok and crossing the street and walking on the street is an exciting adventure. It's hard to describe exactly what this place is like.

This is just one picture of a very typical street scene in Hanoi. This picture is tame compared to most of the streets here (at least in the Old Quarter where I'm hanging out).

Oh, after a month on the road I finally got sick! I figured I would at some point due to the total change in lifestyle, eating and living. I've been pretty careful on not drinking the water (although I think it's easy to swallow water in the shower) and drinking alot of bottled water (and Beer Lao) but have taken chances on food. You just never know how things are prepared or how stuff is washed. I've witnessed so many places where raw meat and veggies are covered with flies and out in the sun and I know this is where some of the food places get their food.

I guess I've been lucky until now although I am taking a multi-vitamin and vitamin C everyday and am getting alot of exercise and fresh air. I'm trying not to let it get me down and don't feel too bad or sick and am drinking lots of water so I don't dehydrate. Also, I need to know where the nearest toilet is when I'm out walking around. I have seen and used some pretty interesting (and very disgusting) squaters here in Hanoi! A little Peptol Bismol and some bland food for a day or two and I'll be back to "normal"!

Here's a dartboard portrait of me!

This is at a place called Buddha Park outside of Vientiane, Laos

I have a bunch more Buddha Park pictures that are very interesting and will post those in the near future.

This may be the meal that got me sick, fried rice with pork. It looks decent and tasted good but it was at a roadside stand and the food prep area was right out front and there were flies EVERYWHERE. I probably shouldn't have eaten there but I was hungry and didn't see the flies until after I ordered.
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Here's a picture of a food market. This may be tough to see but this is raw meat out on a counter. It's chicken and beef and those dark spots you see are flies.

Here are a couple more sunset pictures taken in Laos. This was from the top of Mount Phousy in Luang Prabang, the site of a cool Wat.
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Here are a couple of resting kitties from Laos. Cats are the same worldwide!

That's it for now!

Take care and talk at ya soon!

Thank you for reading this. I hope to make this blog both interesting and entertaining. Please post a comment and let me know your thoughts, observations or counsel. Hearing from readers and knowing I have an audience is a great motivator and will be a great morale booster during down times on the road. Don’t forget to bookmark this site and tell a friend! Please feel free to e-mail me at “JeffMichie at Yahoo Dot Com”

Sabaai-dii means hello and is a standard Lao greeting and is pronounced "saba-dee" and is often said by Lao's in a sing-song type lilt stretched out and sounding like "saaabaa-deee". It is the first Lao word that most foreigners learn and often the only one. I also know kwawp jai (pronounced cup chai) which means thank you and kwawp jai lai lai which mean thank you very much. There is a Lao word for toilet (suam) but everyone understands toilet. Oh, one very common word is BeerLao, the very tasty national beer that is served everywhere and is quite inexpensive.

Sabaai-dii is a great greeting and almost always accompanied by a smile. Little kids, especially those in the small villages, love it when you say sabaa-dii to them and they all say it back and giggle or hide in their Mom's skirt. It is so cute. When a bunch of kids are together and they all say sabaai-dii to you your heart just melts!

They say Thailand is "The land of a thousand smiles" and it is true that Thai's are very friendly but in my admittedly limited experience I think the Lao people are much more friendly, nice and smiley. I have heard the same comment from many fellow travelers who have visited both countries.

It's amazing to me that the Lao people are as friendly and open as they are considering the economic and political state of their country and its history of a society constantly attacked, conquered and torn apart. Maybe it shouldn't be that amazing to me because material wealth and all that it brings is no substitute for a loving family and a community and society that takes care of its members. While most of the Lao people are quite poor by any standard it does not appear that many go without the basics of food, clothing, shelter and love.

Laos is one of the 10 poorest countries in the world with a per capita income of $263 (in 2001). It has a 60% literacy rate (meaning 40% of the people in the country cannot adequately read or write).

Laos is a landlocked country surrounded by ancient adversaries and fellow communist countries. A military dictatorship and a constitutional monarchy make up the governments of it's neighbors. Its neighbors are China, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar (Burma) and Thailand. Laos borders are quite mountainous and thus it is not easily entered. It has a land mass similar in size to Great Britain but a population of only 5.5 million (versus 60.0 million in Great Britain).

Laos also has the dubious distinction of being the most bombed country ever in history based on tons of bombs dropped per capita. The bombing of Laos came primarily during the Vietnam War between 1964 ad 1973. While not officially a combatant in this war (it was in fact officially neutral), Laos, due primarily to its proximity to North Vietnam and its geographic borders, was used as a staging ground and travel route by the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army. Once this was recognized by the United States the US military undertook a decade-long and unofficial campaign to keep the VC and NVA out of Laos. They attempted this through massive bombings, defoilants and the use of landmines and covert human operatives.

By the end of the war the Americans had let loose over 1.9 million metric tons of bombs in Laos, that's 10 tons per square kilomenter and over 1/2 ton for every man, woman and child living in Laos. This is a fascinating and very scary statistic!

Since 1975 Laos has been under communist rule. The leadership and ideology has primarily been directed by Vietnam. Laos isn't necessarily a puppet state to Vietnam but its ideology and politics are very similar to and most of the governments leadership were educated in Vietnam. Laos official name is "Laos Peoples Democratic Republic" or Laos P.D.R. Typical communist propganda as there really are no democratic institutions in this country, no alternative political parties and no public dissent is tolerated.

So far I've visited five cities/towns in my 2 week Laos visit (I only received a 14 day visa for the country) and each one is quite distinct, as you would probably expect since they are all pretty far apart. The towns are Huay Xai on the Thailand border, Pakbeng on the Mekong (both briefly discussed in previous blog entries). I also spent 5 nights in Luang Prabang which is a great town and subject of my next blog entry. The next stop was the crappy town of Vang Vieng where I thankfully only spent 2 nights and 1 day and finally the capital city of Vientiane where I'll spend 5 days and 4 nights before heading off to Hanoi, Vietnam on Sunday, January 16th.

Some general Laos observations:
- The people are great, very friendly and much less pushy than those in Thailand
- The children are cute, friendly, playful and always look happy. Any society that nurtures kids in this way is doing something right!
- The food is decent and healthy but not as tasty as that in Thailand
- Service standards generally suck but that's in comparison to western standards. You just can't be in a hurry in Laos and if you are then be prepared for frustration. Things happen when they happen, the menu will eventually show up at the table, the Beer Lao will get served and it might be cold, you will get your check when you ask for it (never proffered for some reason) and the food will get to your table and it will be prepared well.
- The beds are all hard! I don't know why but it makes my back sore. I'm getting used to them though and an occasional massage definitely helps!
- Beer Lao, the national beer is served everywhere. It generally comes in a 22 ounce size glass bottle (although you can get it in a can or smaller bottle but these are uncommon), is fresh and tastes great and costs anywhere from 5,500 to 10,000 Kip ($0.55 - $1.00). Jason - You would enjoy Beer Lao!!!
- It is very uncommon to find a comfortable chair anywhere! Padded chairs are not the norm.
- Rarely do things happen on-time or on schedule.

Sorry for not posting any pictures today. The story I am telling did not lend itself to pictures. I promise to include them on future entries and if I find some that are applicable here I will go back and add them and let everyone know.

Thank you for reading this. I hope to make this blog both interesting and entertaining. Please post a comment and let me know your thoughts, observations or counsel. Hearing from readers and knowing I have an audience is a great motivator and will be a great morale booster during down times on the road. Don’t forget to bookmark this site and tell a friend! Please feel free to e-mail me at “JeffMichie at Yahoo Dot Com”

The slow boat to Luang Prabang. This trip is part of backpacker legend and the subject of many stories, rumors and good and bad times. On the Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree site and on Bootsnall.com (amongst many more, I'm sure) there are many queries, answers and stories of traveler's adventures down the Mekong. I don't plan on breaking any new ground here or covering anything that probably hasn't been covered elsewhere on the Internet but I will talk about my particular trip and all the good stuff involved.

I also took ALOT of pictures while on the boat, some of which I'll publish here. I don't know if the beauty and tranquility I witnessed can be adequately described in either words or pictures but I will try to bring this to life for my blog readers.

Huay Xai in Laos (across the border from Chiang Khong in Thailand) is a major entry point into Laos, particularly for travelers planning to head south to Luang Prabang by boat. There are two main ways to travel the river, the fast boats and the slow boats.

FAST BOAT

SLOW BOAT

The fast boats are for crazy people. They are six-passenger speedboats that make the trip to Luang Prabang in 6 hours (versus 2 days on the slow boat). Sounds great until you hear the stories of accidents and actually see the things. The fast boats crash quite often and it is a hairy ride. Most of the passengers (and the driver) wear helmets and life vests and do not look like they are enjoying themselves. You see many of these things pass you (going both up and down the river) while on the slow boat. These boats are incredibly noisy and very bouncy and must be extremely uncomfortable. There are many tales in print of fast boats hitting sandbars or tree limbs or floating logs and capsizing. I don't know what happens to the passengers or if people die but that sort of traveling is not for me or for most people.

It's hard to get a good picture of the fast boats in action as they move so darned fast. Here's one that's a bit fuzzy.
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The slow boat is a two-day voyage on a boat that you would never choose to take it you had a choice. They don't look particulaly welcome, river worthy or comfortable. Looks do not deceive in this case because they are worn, faded, felt unsafe (more on that later) and were definitely not comfortable. There come in many shapes and sizes and they are put into use depending on the number of people buying tickets on any given day. They do attempt to maximize (over-maximize actually) the utilization of the boats each day, much to the displeasure of any passenger who travels in the busy period.

The trip south (with the current) takes two days including a stop for the night in Pakbeng. Day One takes about 6 hours and day two takes about 8 hours. These times as well as departure times each day are not reliable as stories abound on how long each cruise actually takes. There are many factors that effect this including the amount of water running in the Mekong, time of the year and the number of stops the boat makes on the way. I suppose these boats are supposed to leave and arrive places on a certain schedule but there seems to be no attempt by anyone in charge to keep any semblance of a schedule. This was the cause of much discussion on the boat and much good-natured humor as almost everyone realized that things would happen when they happened and that there was no use getting upset. This may be the motto of Laos.

The Mekong is a mighty river that meanders through many countries. It's headwaters begin in Tibet and it flows south into China where half its overall length resides. It then flows in Myanmar (Burma), through Thailand and Laos then into Cambodia and finally empties into the South China Sea from Vietnam. The river provides much for the people on its shores, it provides food, water and other sustinence as well as means of transportation, trade and power. It is an important, historical and vital through-way through Southeast Asia and very, very important to the Lao people. I was fortunate to witness from the boat a way of life that is so very different from what we lead in the West and it was a cool experience, even at arms length.

Back to the chronicle of the trip.

DAY 1

As mentioned previously, the departure from Chiang Khong to Laos was very organized, the entire guesthouse industry in Chiang Khong is geared toward getting people across the river and heading south. They sell you the ticket, they take you to the border checkpoint, they'll pack your lunch and give you advice. It makes the unknown of Laos much easier plus you're with dozens of other clueless travelers just doing what you're told. No one really wants to mess with the Laos government or police.

Here's a picture of Thai immigration as I crossed the border
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Both the Thailand border exit and the Laos immigration were surprisingly efficient and not thorough. I suppose they have no fear or need to fear western tourists and clearly the Laos government enjoys the hard currency that tourists bring to the country.

Speaking of hard currency, the money exchange booth is right next to the immigration counter and is the next step all new entrants make. The Laos currency is called the Kip and it's exchange rate flucuates wildly but is currently around 10,000 Kip = $1.00. The Kip is not a convertible currency which means that it is useless outside of Laos, you cannot exchange it back to another currency anywhere. In fact you cannot even exchange left over Kip for dollars or baht or anything else when you leave the country because the Laos government wants to keep as much hard currency within the country as possible. This helps lower their current accounts deficit with the rest of the world and allows debts to be repaid since no other country or institution will take Kip in payment of debts, rather they demand dollars or euros or baht.

It was funny to watch everyone getting a pile of money from the exchange. It is a bit overwhelming. I exchanged $100 and received 1,000,000 kip and the largest note they have is a 20,000 kip note so I got back fifty 20,000 kip notes. It is like monopoly money and it fills your pocket full!

Once in Laos we went to the ferry dock and waited around. Someone came up to us and said they needed our passports which we all handed over (scary!). It would have been a great scam if the person didn't work for the government (which thankfully she did) because I think we all would have been stupid enough to hand over our passports to anyone who looked official.

There were 60-70 people heading south on the slow boat that morning, which I am told is typical in the high season. They first tried to cram all of us onto one boat that is designed to hold maybe 50 people and at that number it would be very tight. They unexpectedly brought another boat into service when enough people complained so most people had a hard wooden bench seat to themselves rather than crammed two to a small hard wooden bench.

We left at 11:10 AM versus a scheduled departure of 10:30 AM. I was to learn later that this is the same as an on-time departure in Laos where nothing happens on schedule and multi-hour delays in transportation schedules are the norm.

It was COLD that morning on the boat as the fog was late buring off and there was a bit of a wind chill. Many of the passengers had shorts and no jackets and most of the backpacks for our boat were put in the other boat to even out the weight. I had my gore-tex shell jacket and pants on so I was okay. Kacey would have froze though had she been here!

Here are some Mekong River pictures:
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It was a great group of people on the boat and a very diverse group. Many couples, a few solo travelers, 99% were non-Lao. There were a few people from the USA, a bunch of Canadians, people from Israel, Russia, England, Australia and many other countries. The camaraderie was great as we all knew we were stuck with each other for a few days so everyone made friends and talked and read and ate and shared food and drinks.

The seating was very uncomfortable. We sat in unpadded wood bench seats that after a time seemed to became harder and harder. There is alot of advice on the Internet on these slow boats and the biggest piece is to bring a seat cushion. That's great advice but who carries a seat cushion in their backpack? I am surprised some enterprising Thai or Lao doesn't sell them at the dock and/or enroute and have someone collect them at the end of the trip for resale. Almost everyone would buy one and most would leave them on the boat at the end of the trip. Maybe if a local reads this he'll start that business, if so please e-mail me for my address to send a finders fee!

It was a six hour cruise the first day and we docked at the town of Pakbeng at 5:00 PM where everyone got their stuff and scrambled to find a guesthouse for the evening. Pakbeng is a small town with one main drag that has numerous guesthouses and restaurants. This town is extremely fortunate in that the all the slow boats (going both north and south) stop here for the night. A captive audience. The guesthouses have great variety and charge between $2.50 and $90.00 a night with most between $5.00 and $15.00. There are a bunch of restaurants that looked quite nice. I had a great Indian food meal that night.

I paid $10.00 for my room here:

I felt extravagant paying $10 for the room but the owner said it had hot water and I really wanted a shower. Unfortunately there was no hot water in the morning. They said something was wrong with the power but I think he BS'd me upon check in. Oh well, it's not like I'll be back again. A cold-towel bath was all I got in the morning after sleeping on yet another HARD mattress (another Laos theme).

DAY 2

After a good nights sleep (another theme on this trip so far - traveling can be tiring, sitting on your butt for 6+ hours is tiring and makes for good sleeping) I was ready for another day on the river.

No one could say definitively when the boat was supposed to leave in the morning. A guy on the crew said 8:00 AM, another guys said 9:00 while the guesthouse guy said 8:30. Not wanting to be late and always a stickler for being on-time, I hustled down there at 8:00 AM. Most of the other travelers were there also at that time - no one wanted to get stuck in Pakbeng!

Of course we didn't leave the dock until 10:00 AM.

The second day was a bit more interesting and much less comfortable. During the night one of the slow boats left and they crammed everyone from two boats into the bigger of the two that left Huay Xai the day before. This boat was bigger but more uncomfortable.

What was funny (in retrospect) was why it took so long to get going in the morning. The captain and some crew members needed to get a count of all the passengers. The had the number of people who cruised the previous day plus the few who bought tickets in Pakbeng for today then counted the number of people on board and, I guess, could not reconcile the two numbers. They must have done a headcount 20 times and probably came up with different numbers each time. It would have been funny except we were just sitting there waiting to leave. Finally they brought out a manifest of names and started to check passports to check off and see if there was someone who hadn't paid.

This was going to take another hour or two, at least, when finally some guy (an American) stood up and asked how much they were off, meaning how much would it take to get the stupid boat going. One of the crew said they needed 300 baht ($7.50) to balance. We took up a collection and 3 minutes later had the 300 baht and were off. I don't know if this was a scam or not. If they were off 300 baht it probbaly came out of someone's pocket but it was also a good way to get a bit of extra cash from impatient foreigners.

So we were off on the second day, the boat was packed beyond whatever capacity might be normal due to not only consolidating two boats but the addition of at least a dozen Lao's from Pakbeng. After about an hour we stopped at a village and picked up about 20 more people. This was nuts and a bit scary. Many of the Lao's went back to the engine room area and some Lao and some travelers went onto the roof of the boat (the Lao did not interact much, or at all, with the foreigners).

Here are a few interior pictures of the boat:
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We stopped at intervals during the day at various villages, dropping people off and picking up others. About half the trip was spent with a guy in the Laos Army and his AK-47. I don't know if he was there for protection or just heading home. There are many instances in Laos of insurgent behavior amongt groups opposed to the current Communist regime although they rarely mess with foreigners.

Here's the AK-47 guy:
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Here are some pictures of a village and villagers:
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About four hours into the day the boat started listing pretty heavily to the right and the captain kept trying to get more weight to the left the counter-balance the listing. He was only partially successful, after he overloaded the left side the boat still listed but not as much. I think there was a partial leak in the boat.

Here are some more Mekong River pictures:
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A little bit later the people on the roof started moving around a little and the roof started cracking, it made a big noise that everyone heard over the engine and scared the crap out of us all. The captain must not have known people were on the roof. He stopped the boat and stepped up on his window and saw the dumb-f&#@'s moving around up top. The movement up top (it was all foreigners by then) had greatly unstabled the boat (simple physics tells us that weight transfer higher up off the base of something has a greater effect on the stability of that object). The captain yelled at the guys and they came down, I thought he was going to throw them overboard!

A quick mention needs to be made about the safety standards of these boats. If a boat like this was in the USA or Europe or any other regulated country it would have capacity constraints and some flotation devices. From what I've read and now seen capacity means how many people can you squeeze in without the boat going under and I did see two or three small intertubes (flotation devices?) in the toilet but that's all. Despite the listing, the overcrowding and dumb asses on the roof it really never FELT unsafe but I did at times judge how long it might take to swim to the shore and how swift the current was... Clearly there would be fatalities if the boat did capsize but it never seemed to come close despite the captain's anxiety towards the end of the trip.

Once again, the combination of the previous days boats resulted in a fun group of people, many of whom I would run into over the next week (and probably longer as some are going to the same place I plan on going). However, there were a few knuckleheads smoking pot on the boat. Pot is a big deal amongst Southeast Asia travelers and you can find it, or it is ofered, everywhere.

We arrived in Luang Prabang at 6:00 PM, eight hours after leaving Pakbeng. Everyone was ready for this trip to be over plus we all had the anxiety of trying to find a place for the night (in a crowded town), especially since it was dark by the time we docked on the beach.

One final funny story. About 1/2 hour before we got to Luang Prabang we were coming around a curve in the river and saw the most beautiful sight:
SUNSET ON THE MEKONG

Upon seeing this incredible sight (it was off the right side of the boat) nearly everyone grabbed their camera and leaned over the right side of the boat to take pictures. Naturally this transfered the weight quite dramatically and greatly unbalanced the boat. This was the closest we'd come to capsizing. The captain immediately stopped the engines and came back and yelled at us in Lao. We didn't know what he said but could understand his gest.

Off topic: Here's me petting a cow outside of Vang Vieng on Tuesday afternoon (1/11/05):

Thank you for reading this. I hope to make this blog both interesting and entertaining. Please post a comment and let me know your thoughts, observations or counsel. Hearing from readers and knowing I have an audience is a great motivator and will be a great morale booster during down times on the road. Don’t forget to bookmark this site and tell a friend! Please feel free to e-mail me at “JeffMichie at Yahoo Dot Com”

It's Sunday morning in Laos and I am still in Luang Prabang. What a great relaxing place this is. So laid back, so beautiful and right on the edge of some great wilderness and jungles. It can be so comfortable and urbane here one moment and in another it is obvious that you are in an impoverished third world country. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

This blog entry will be my last of this series of Thailand entries and may not be as interesting as some others (it is hard to follow up the Toilet entry, everything else seems dull by comparison). This entry is necessary, however, to put an end to Thailand, chronicle the journey and transition into Laos. I'm sure I will be back in Thailand sometime before I'm through because there is much more to see in that country and the two weeks I spent there is a short amount of time.

My plan was to leave Chiang Mai and take the classic backpacker route through Chang Khong, Thailand, cross the border to Huay Xai in Laos and take the slow boat to Luang Prabang. The slow boat seems to be a necessary journey in order to get your backpacker merit badge.

I got out of bed in Chiang Mai about 6:00 AM on Monday, January 3rd. It was the first time in my travels that I've had to get up this early, 8 or 9 AM being the norm. It was COLD that early in the morning, who knew? After breakfast I flagged down a tuk-tuk to take me to the bus station outside of town. Tuk-tuks are open air, 3 wheel, stinky, noisy vehicles that are everywhere in Thailand and are a great, low cost, way to get around. They are always available and always try to overcharge foreigners. Bargaining with them is part of the fun but it's also a pain in the butt at times and I always kinda feel like I paid too much.

The only real way to "win" is to not care and be able to walk away (just like buying a car) and then you can often get what you think is a good deal. Only once has a tuk-tuk driver driven away from me after cursing at me when I stuck to a price I thought was fair and wouldn't budge. That was okay though because I got a ride a few minutes later for the price I was willing to pay. If you're in a hurry though then you'll always pay more, these guys can sense it and they are professional bargainers!

When you stand back and think about it though the difference in what you pay to maybe what you could have paid is usually less than a dollar and that dollar is much more valuable to them then it is to me. You just gotta have the right perspective and bargaining can be fun. I don't always have the right perspective though but I'm learning!

Anyway, the ride to the bus station was quite cold (it was probably in the high 40's at the time) and I only had on my usual short sleeve shirt. The ride took about 20 minutes and I was glad when it was over so I could warm up.

The bus station was very interesting and a great cultural experience for me. The public buses seem to be primarily used by Thais as there were very few foreigners around. I would learn later that most foreigners who go to Chiang Khong take a mini-bus and not public transportation. That's too bad for them because the Thai bus system seems quite organized, relatively comfortable and very punctual - not the norm in Asia!

Most of the signage was in Thai and I had no idea where I was going but a few questions and key words got me in the right direction and to the right bus. As it turned out I was the only white guy on a full bus, the rest of the passengers were made up of rural Thais who were very nice and pleasant. Plus, it is also nice to sit next to a Thai as they are small and don't take up much room or encroach on your seat like a fat westerner might. The seats were relatively comfortable but are made for Thai people and thus are a bit smaller than western bus seats.

The trip was scheduled for 6 hours and cost 218 baht (about $5.50) with many stops along the way, both at official bus depots and unofficial stops in the middle of nowhere to drop off and pick up passengers. At the official bus stops I was never quite sure how long we were staying as no one spoke english, I would just get out and stretch, use the toilet, buy some food or water and get back on and wait. I read alot and looked forward to the great Northern Thailand scenery. The scenery was somewhat obscured by the fact that the bus windows probably hadn't been cleaned for years but it was neat to just stare out the window and watch the country pass.

The bus was a normal 40 passenger one and seemed a bit old. At the first stop about 1-1/2 hour into the trip the bus driver got out, found his tool box, crawled under the bus and started wrenching on something. It didn't give me much confidence but no worries mate, the bus ran like a champ. The hills were a bit steep and the bus had to shift way down and at times crawled at about 5-10 km/hr but this all seemed normal and was factored into the scheduled time as the trip took almost exactly six hours.

When we got to Chaing Khong there were only a couple people left on the bus and I didn't know where we were. There is a town short of Chiang Khong called Chiang Kham and I thought for sure that's where we were. So I was sitting on the bus looking at the driver and asking "Are we in Chiang Kham or Chiang Khong?" of course to my ear these places sound exactly alike and to his ear too as he just looked at me and said "Chiang Kh&%^%". I was lost and feeling stupid just sitting there sure we were in Chiang Kham and not at the final destination yet. The bus driver kept staring at me and I finally figured out we were probably in Chiang Khong when he got out of the bus and I saw him throw my backpack out on the sidewalk. I got the hint so I got off the bus with a sheepish grin, said thank you and retrieved my backpack.

Chiang Khong is a small town on the Mekong River at one of the few official border checkpoints with Laos. There really isn't much to recommend this town and its primary existence for travelers is to expedite a journey to Laos and onto the slow boat. They are very good at that. Most people spend one night (or a maximum of two if they didn't get their Laos visa before hitting the town). The guesthouses all sell the slow boat tickets and really a "door-to-door" experience from the guesthouse in the morning to the slow boat in Laos. The cross border communication and execution is awesome and very surprising that it works as efficiently as it does. You pay for everything at the guesthouse in Thailand and it gets you on the boat a few hours later, pretty much hassle free.

The guesthouses give great advice, lots of opinions and even pack a lunch for you to take on the boat. The increasing popularity of this journey for travelers is a great boon for this little town and brings a substantial amount of revenue to this area and Thais, in their industrious way, take full advantage of this opportunity.

The guesthouse I found was rather spartan but was only 100 baht a night ($2.50). The shower and toilet were outdoors, the bed was HARD (I would learn that hard beds are the norm in Laos) and it was cold at night. Oddly, the window in my room wouldn't close so I slept in full gear and still was freezing. They said they had hot showers so in the morning I trudged outside to get a shower and wake up. Alas, there was no hot shower as I learned after sticking my head under the water. I didn't stay in there more than a minute as my teeth started chattering. The place was right on the Mekong and it was quite beautiful so it really didn't matter and I don't think I smelled too bad.

Here are a few pictures of the guesthouse.
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Here's a neat view of the Mekong from the guesthouse and a couple of other river pictures.

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I did spend some time walking around Chiang Khong as it was a beautiful day and I had plenty of time to kill. Here are some pictures of a few local Wats and homes that I found interesting.
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That's it for Thailand. The next blog entry will chronicle the very cool slow boat trip down the Mighty Mekong River!

Here's a picture of me petting Phet, a 5 year old female Tiger in the jungle outside Luang Prabang. More details and pictures of this beautiful animal are forthcoming.

Thank you for reading this. I hope to make this blog both interesting and entertaining. Please post a comment and let me know your thoughts, observations or counsel. Hearing from readers and knowing I have an audience is a great motivator and will be a great morale booster during down times on the road. Don’t forget to bookmark this site and tell a friend! Please feel free to e-mail me at “JeffMichie at Yahoo Dot Com”

Before I start this entry I want to begin a new policy with this blog. As some readers are sharing this blog with children (btw I think that's way cool) some things discussed in these pages are probably not appropriate for kids but best discussed and read on an adult-to-adult basis. I will place a warning at the top of any blog entry that I feel may not be appropriate for children. Of course each adult will use their disgression as to whether or not the entry is appropriate for their children. My goal is to keep this blog family-friendly but I will add spicier or more adult content at times when a good story is available.

That being said, THIS BLOG ENTRY MAY NOT BE APPROPRIATE FOR CHILDREN.

This entry is about toilets.

Not restroom, little boys room, little girls room, mens room, ladies room, potty, crapper, but toilets. In Asia and probably elsewhere in the world, if you ask anyone where something is using any of these names they'll just give you that blank look of not understanding because a toilet is a toilet. Very straight forward and understood almost universally.

Why am I writing about toilets? For a couple of reasons.
(1) It's an easy laugh - toilet humor never really seems to get old but maybe that's just my juvenile sense of humor
(2) It's an easy blog entry, kinda like the newspaper columnist writing an easy column in order to make a deadline
(3) Asian toilets are a big topic amongst travelers here because each toilet is seems so different from the other. Is it a squater? Is it a semi-squater? Is it clean? Any toilet paper or just water? How do users of squaters without toilet paper not walk around with wet stains on their butts? (okay I've never heard that question from others but readers of previous blog entries will remember that I wondered that). Toilets and their peculiarities are a source of speculation, conversation and angst.
(4) We all use a toilet at least once or twice a day (after a meal I had last week I had to use a toilet much more often than that for a few days but that's another story)

I'm going to quote liberally from a Lonely Planet guidebook for the following toilet discussion.

In many Asian countries the squater is the norm except for hotels and guesthouses that are geared towards tourists and international travelers. Instead of a modern, western toilet we are all familar and comfortable with the squater tends to sit flush with the surface of the floor with two footpads on either side of the toilet. Although some I've seen are about 12-18" off the ground - not sure why.

I won't go into the male and female perspectives of the squater because each of you can use your own imagination. Suffice it to say that it's better to be a guy than a woman when using toilets in Asia (at least half the time).

If you've never used a squater it takes some getting used to. An interesting fact I read (and a good one to keep in mind when you're cursing this method) is that people who use squaters are much less likely to develop hemmorroids than people who use sit down toilets. I don't know who studies these things, maybe the good folks at Preparation H???

Next to a typical squater (and many western toilets) is a bucket or cement reservoir filled with water. A bucket usually floats in the water. This water has 2 functions. First, toilet-goers scoop water from the bucket (with their left hand) and use it to clean their, uh, private parts after they are done and while still squating over the toilet. In many toilets (both squater and western) I've seen there is a spray gun like you see on some sinks for this use rather than using the bucket. This is similar to European toilets and can give you quite a jolt (sometimes pleasant) when the water pressure is too high or it is too cold. The second use of the water is to pour a couple of scoops (or more depending...) in order to flush the toilet. Their are no mechanical flushers.

In some rural areas the toilet consists of a few planks over a hole in the ground - no foot pads!

In many places where there are western toilets the plumbing may not be designed to take toilet paper. This is the case with all squaters too (except the ones that are just holes in the ground). In such cases there is generally a waste basket where you are supposed to place used toilet paper. It doesn't take much imagination to see that this is a less than pleasant sight when sitting or squating over a toilet!

Here is a repost of a few pictures previously posted on this blog as they are the only toilet pictures I've taken.

Suffice it to say that people in Asia do not linger long in toilets and they certainly do not bring anything in there to read!

I'm not obsessed with toilets, really I'm not. I only wrote this to amuse and educate and I do not make it a practice to take pictures of toilets. How many times did I write toilet in this blog entry anyway?

Thank you for reading this. I hope to make this blog both interesting and entertaining. Please post a comment and let me know your thoughts, observations or counsel. Hearing from readers and knowing I have an audience is a great motivator and will be a great morale booster during down times on the road. Don’t forget to bookmark this site and tell a friend! Please feel free to e-mail me at “JeffMichie at Yahoo Dot Com”

Today I am writing from Luang Prabang in Central Laos after a 3-day trip from Chiang Mai, Thailand using bus and river transportation. Of particular interest was the 2-day "slow-boat" down the mighty Mekong River from Huay Xai to Luang Prabang. There will be an entry on that in a few days as I struggle to catch up the blog.

This blog entry is titled "Exotic or Ordinary?" and is made into a question to elicit feedback from my dear readers. This question popped into my mind while taking a one-day excursion out of Chiang Mai on New Years Day to see the following:
1. Elephant Camp including an elephant show and riding an elephant
2. Ride on an ox-cart the way people in rural Thailand still travel
3. Visit to a Hill Tribe village
4. Bamboo rafting down a river through the jungle
5. Visit to a Snake Farm and watched a snake show

I enjoyed myself immensely. It was an interesting and informative day where I learned alot about the flora and fauna of Northern Thailand. It was also a great way to get out of the city for a day and breath some clean air and see some beautiful scenery, mountains and jungle.

The exotic versus ordinary debate is based on the nature of the excursion and the obvious tourist oriented set up of the camps. The cost of the day long tour was 800 baht (about $10) and included a nice lunch but there are so many ways they get into your wallet during the day it was almost comical.

If the day was exotic I suppose it means that I saw things and experienced things that I would never have back in the States. The elephant camp was quite large with probably 100+ elephants. These camps are a way for Northern Thailand to maintain part of its cultural history in regards to these awesome animals. In Thailand the elephant is revered for its size, religious significance and its practicality in helping build the early infrastructure of the country. Elephant symbols are everywhere and are part of many ancient wats, paintings and carvings going back thousand of years.

Elephants have been trained throughout history to do the heavy lifting, moving logs and other heavy objects, stacking logs and helping build roads, houses, temples, etc. They were also used during war time to transport troops and supplies and to intimidate opponents. The elephant was a partner to men and men took care of elephants. When modern technology (dynamite, bulldozers, etc.) reached the area there was no longer a need for the elephants and many people think that elephants need to be productive in order to live happy lives.

These elephant camps (there are dozens in Northern Thailand and in Laos) are a way to do research on elephants, care for the sick and elderly ones, attempt to keep an ancient cultural tradition of elephant training intact and provide a strong revenue stream from tourism. Win-win? I'm not sure. It seemed a bit to me like exploitation of the elephants for the tourists and in a way, sad.

I don't know if that's the case and it does seem like the camps are doing a good thing in taking care of the elephants but to see the trainers with sharp metal hooks to use on misbehaving elephants really turned me off especially the times I saw them use the hooks on the ears of the elephants. If I was the elephant and I got hooked in the ear I'd step on the guy!

I don't want to be too negative because it was an interesting show and fun to ride Megan the elephant by myself and I have never seen so many elephants in one place. All sizes and shapes and the babies sure are cute.

Here are some pictures of the elephant show (the 4th one down is a little elephant playing the harmonica):
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We then took an oxcart out to a Hill Tribe village
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Note the lack of back support. The ox carts were not real comfortable and the oxen didn't seem to go out of their way to avoid the many ruts and holes on the path.

The ride was beautiful though. We circled through some fields and villages and got a good close up glimpse of rural life.
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The oxcart dropped us off at a Hill Tribe Village of the Liso people.
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The Hill Tribe culture of Northern Thailand is fascinating. There are dozens of separate and distinct tribes each with their completely separate language that is not understandable to each other or native Thai speakers. Some have constant interaction with Thais and tourists and some have less. Tourism and the lure of money has destroyed much of the indigineous culture and traditions of these people as many are exploited by the Thais for the benefit of travel groups and not to the benefit of the tribal people.

This particular excursion to the Liso Tribe was solely for them to sell us stuff. The handcrafted goods were cool and colorful but the whole process was sad and exploitative to me and to the tribe (in my humble opinion). There was no real interactions beyond hustling for sales.

Here is a picture of a pretty Liso girl in Tribal Dress - children are more effective sellers of goods as it's hard to say no to them, they are persistent and awful darn cute!

After going through the vendor mill with the Liso tribe (I did actually break down and bought 2 small hand-carved elephants) we were picked up by elephants for a one hour or so ride through the jungle and streams. They all had seats for 2 harnessed on each elephant.
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As I was the odd man out in our group I rode Megan the elephant alone. After a few hundred yards my guide jumped down and had me take over riding while he walked along beside us and kept Megan on the path. It was fun but hard riding like this. I tried to keep my feet out of Megan's face and there was nothing to hold onto as I was riding on her neck. All I could do was squeeze my thighs together and hold onto her head and whisper to her that she was a good elephant - all in the hope that I wouldn't fall off (it's a long way to the ground from an elephants head!). Elephants are not elegant and bounce around alot. Walking downhill into streams was especially hard as I thought I was going to be catapulted over her head and stomped on! It was great fun and a great experience and would love to do it again.
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Along the route, conveniently placed, were 5 or 6 treehouses with people selling bundles of bananas and sugar cane for 20 baht. Megan was a big pig and made a beeline to each of these tree houses and wouldn't go on until I bought her snacks which I gladly did as she was a cool elephant. It is a good scam though as they get the tourists to pay to partially feed their elephants.

Next we had lunch and then went on a bamboo raft cruise down a river. It was nice as the day was hot and it was a cool cruise seeing some pretty scenery.

Here's the standard cruise wear!

Here are some scenes from the raft trip:
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After the raft ride we got back into van and drove to the Snake Farm where we saw a snake show. It was great fun, they put on a cool show. This is where the picture of me with the Python around my neck in the prvious blog entry was taken.

Everyone loves snakes! Did you know that there are over 30 species of snakes in Thailand, including the King Cobra? I didn't and probably would have been more careful in the jungle had I known, I really don't like snakes too much!
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What do you think about this?

Once again, the experience for the day was great but could I have had this experience elsewhere without coming to Thailand? Is this just an ordinary, but very good, series of exhibitions and things to see and do or was it an exotic adventure in the jungles of Thailand? I have some misgivings on the exploitation I witnessed and the treatment of the elephants but I really don't know if it is a bad thing. I imagine that there is truth in both and the answer may lie somewhere in the middle.

EXOTIC OR ORDINARY?

Thank you for reading this. I hope to make this blog both interesting and entertaining. Please post a comment and let me know your thoughts, observations or counsel. Hearing from readers and knowing I have an audience is a great motivator and will be a great morale booster during down times on the road. Don’t forget to bookmark this site and tell a friend! Please feel free to e-mail me at “JeffMichie at Yahoo Dot Com”

I have been in Chiang Mai since Monday, December 27th and have really enjoyed the change of pace from Bangkok. It isn't as exciting or as wild as Bangkok but it certainly has a charm of its own. Chiang Mai is in Northern Thailand, about 700 kilometers from Bangkok and is the second largest city in the country. The population of Bangkok is apx. 6.0 Million while Chiang Mai has roughly 200,000 residents.

Northern Thailand is distinctly different from the southern parts of the country. This is due to the history, culture and population of the region and the fact that going far back in history the various political borders of all the neighboring countries shifted often as a tribe or government won various battles and wars and imposed its rule on the conquered subjects. This has occurred many, many times in the recorded history of this region. Currently Northern Thailand borders Burma (Myanmar) and Laos with China and Vietnam very close.

To quote a bit of history I am going to para-phrase Lonely Planets "Chiang Mai and Northern Thailand". Gotta give credit where credit is due plus I would be plagarising if I didn't... Hope I don't get in trouble by the LP folks!

Nothern Thailand straddles the most important historical cross roads of northern Southest Asia, a vast region of mountains, valleys and rivers where people from China, Laos, Burma, Vietnam and Thailand have long traded goods and ideas in a fusion of cultures. The blend has been further enlivened by the presence of tribal societies whose ethnic heritage knows no fixed political boundaries.

Long an important trading area due to its position along caravan routes from China's Yunnan province to the port of Mawlamyaing in Burma. Northern Thailand rose to prominence when local Thai princes consolidated power and asserted cultural dominance over the region in the 13th century. Two Northern Thai kingdoms in particular, Lanna and Sukhothai , came to the fore and are widely recognized as the original sources of Thai nationhood. Lanna's main capital, Chiang Mai, became known as the most important religious and cultural relay point for this area, especially after the convening of the eighth world synod of Theravada Buddhism in 1477.

Enough history.

As I mentioned above I have been in Chiang Mai since Decemeber 27th. I decided to fly up here rather than take the train. I kinda feel like a sell-out for flying rather than taking a train or bus but I decided to do this for a couple of reasons. The flight only cost 1,400 baht (about $33) and took less than an hour. The day train (the one I would have liked to take in order to see some scenery) took about 16 hours for the same trip and cost apx. 850 baht for a 2nd class, A/C ride. The night train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai takes about 12 hours as it's an express train but I saw no real scenic value traveling by night. So I opted for ease and expediency and took the plane.

I am staying at the Lanna Palace Hotel, the only place at which I could get a reservation when I made my travel plans in Bangkok. Many Thai's and many foreigners travel to the country over the New Years holiday and it can be difficult to get a place to stay through the busy weekend. The hotel was okay but not as cool as some of the guesthouses I've seen and I probably paid to much, oh well! I maybe could have just dropped into town and looked for a place to stay at a guesthouse but I chose not to take the chance with the busy holiday. With the disasters down south many vacationers changed plans and came north instead leading to even fewer vacancies so I think I made the best decision.

I was thinking of a way to describe Chiang Mai to this blog. I was thinking about using another drug analogy such as Chiang Mai is like Bangkok on valium but decided not to do so as this is a family-friendly blog with only mild tales of sex, toilets, cockroaches and drugs. I think the best way to describe this place is if Bangkok is New York City then Chiang Mai is Cincinnati. Hectic and strange in its own right but no where near as hectic, polluted or crazy as Bangkok.

The city is spread out in a valley surrounded by beautiful mountains. Unfortunately it is so hazy during the day from what I suppose is air pollution that the mountains are almost invisible from the city eventhough some are within 10 miles of the city center. Most of the backpackers, travelers and tourists stay near the Old City. This area is surrounded by a moat and is a perfectly square community with hundreds of wats, bars, guesthouses and shops. A relaxed area without high pressure vendors and lots of laid-back people.

The roads around the Old City and along the perimeter inside the Old City are all one-way roads and are like NASCAR races with no let up in the traffic and no stop light or stop signs. Everyone just drives around really fast and changes lanes at the slightest opening to veer off onto side roads or stop curbside. Crazy and very difficult at times to cross a street.

Chiang Mai is also the home of many western ex-patriots. There is a sizable community of apx. 20,000 foreigners, primarily Brits and Aussies with a few Americans thrown in. Many bars in the Old City and elsewhere cater to this crowd. There are also many Air America veterans living in the area. As some of you may recall Air America was a CIA sponsored air group performing covert (and often illegal) missions in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War period. Chiang Mai was a popular place for these guys during the war and many either stayed here or migrated back over the years.

This picture is one of the entrances to the Old City

Here are some other pictures of Chiang Mai and some pictures of various Wats.
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There are probably more Wats per area in Chiang Mai than anywhere else in the country. They are on almost every street in the Old City and its outskirts. It's hard for me to understand the relative historical and religious significance of each of these Wats and most of the signage is in Thai but many of these Wats have beautiful Buddha's and beautiful sanctuaries. Also, Wats historically provide food and shelter to stray dogs and cats and some ask for donations to help take care of these animals. This is a cause I was pleased to help.

I mentioned in a previous blog entry how Thai's seem to take good care of dogs and cats as well as all living things. One of the main reasons for this is that one of the core beliefs of Buddhism is reincarnation. When someone dies they come back to life as another life form. Depending on how you led you life determines what you come back as. Your mean old mother-in-law or mean boss might come back as a cockroach or a rat :-). I think Thai's take care of animals because they may be a dead relative or friend reincarnated. Oops, I shouldn't have just swatted that fly...

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I went to the Chiang Mai zoo while in town. The zoo is about 7 miles west of the Old City and is a pretty cool zoo. It is also very confusing to walk around. The animals are spread out over a very large area and their are many hills and valleys and most of the animal areas aren't well marked. Also, the "You Are Here" signs were misleading causing me to end up in places of the zoo I did not intend. All the exhibits had alot of Thai writing but the only English signage says what the animal is. It was an exhausting walk, the zoo is probably best seen by golf cart or tour bus (both of which were everywhere) but I decided to walk and take it at my pace. It was good exercise! The zoo is clean and well maintained and even has 2 Pandas on loan fron China. The Pandas are a big deal. Also, as one would expect, the animals looked well cared for in thoughtful living quarters.

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That's about it for this blog entry. I have a bit more to write about Chiang Mai, especially my visit to an Elephant Camp and a Snake Farm (there are over 30 species of snakes in Thailand, many of them poisonous - including the King Cobra!).

Oh, here's another sign I found:

For those who don't read Thai or English there is an image to the right that should properly explain what the sign means :-)

Also, I had a request for pictures with me in them so here are two. I have a few others I'll post later.

This is me with a 10 foot Python. A cool snake. Pythons are native to Thailand jungle regions.

This is a picture of me on my Elephant. Her name was Megan and she was a nice elephant. I got to ride her through the jungle for an hour. Riding an elephant is hard work!

I will be away from this blog for a few days. I'm leaving Chiang Mai to head to Luang Prabang in Laos on Monday. The journey will take the better part of three days including a two day boat trip down the Mekong River in Laos.

Happy New Year and love to everyone!

Thank you for reading this. I hope to make this blog both interesting and entertaining. Please post a comment and let me know your thoughts, observations or counsel. Hearing from readers and knowing I have an audience is a great motivator and will be a great morale booster during down times on the road. Don’t forget to bookmark this site and tell a friend! Please feel free to e-mail me at “JeffMichie at Yahoo Dot Com”

It is New Years Eve Day and I am still in Chiang Mai. I'll be here until next Monday (January 3rd) when I head off to Laos (more on that leg of the trip later). I want to use this blog entry to complete my Thoughts and Ramblings about Bangkok series and so I can then then get caught up with this week's adventures.

Previous entries on Bangkok have looked at Wats, food, the women of Bangkok, The Golden Palace, transportation in the city, fried cockroaches, toilets as well as a variety of other topics. I think the rest of the Bangkok series will just be a catch-all of my remainig thoughts and pictures.

This picture cracked me up. I am on the lookout for unusual signs that would be seen as odd in the U.S. and I think this qualifies.

I don't think there is any way to misunderstand this sign!

The sign above is posted at the entrance to the Chatuchak Weekend Market, I spent part of the day last Sunday December 26th cruising around this market.
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It was difficult to get any sort of picture of this place as it is so immense. This particular market is huge and sells everything from home furnishings, marble stones, flowers, clothing of all kinds, many different animals from tropical fish, fighting cocks (cock fighting is legal in Thailand and had a large following), all types of birds, puppies and kittens. Also for sale is the usual crappy stuff you see in roadside vendors all over the city. Of course there are also hundreds of food vendors everywhere. There are thousands and thousands of booths.
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The best way to describe this market is a huge swap meet, 10 times bigger than any I've seen in the U.S. There are myriads of alleys and aisles and it was real easy to get lost (which I did). These types of markets appear to be where normal, everyday Thai's shop. All the goods a household needs are available. I don't know about the prices because I didn't buy anything (except lunch) and I have no real basis for comparison but I would bet that many Thai's make weekly shopping trips here instead of the more expensive malls or regular stores.

The number of shoppers was amazing and unlike at the malls there are very few foreigners in relation to the locals. What I liked best about this market is that there are no pushy vendors (diametrically opposed to the street vendors!). The market is quite orderly and efficient (again, unlike the street vendor scene). It was pleasant to browse and not be pressured to buy something.

The other thing I noticed that really didn't register for me before was that I am tall compared to everyone here (Leo - You would be tall too!). I walked in huge crowds all through the market and to and from the Sky Train and could consistently see over everyones head! I think that the average Thai woman is 5 ft to 5'2" and the average Thai man is about 5 ft 6 inches.

In contrast to the Chatuchak Weekend Market there are a few upscale shopping centers, particularly the one in Siam Square. I've never been to the Mall of America and Siam Square probably doesn't compare but it is immense and has all sorts of upscale stores and boutiques in an indoor, air-conditioned, clean upscale environment. Many foreigners here, lots of kids and wealthy Thai's.
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Shopping seems to be a big deal in Bangkok!

Outside the mall on Siam Square is a Buddhist Shrine. Similar shrines are everywhere throughout the city, of various sizes, magnitudes, shapes and placements.
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Here are some various street scenes around the city. My purpose for these is to show the hectic nature of everything in Bangkok, from the traffic to the stores, the markets and the street scenes and stores in general.

This particular picture is of Khao San Road, the famous backpackers mecca in Bangkok. The road is only about 3/4 mile long but has more bars, guesthouses and scraggly looking westerners than probably any place on earth. You can buy just about anything here.

Here are a couple of pictures of Soi 11, the street off of which I stayed while in the city.
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MASSAGE ANYONE?

I really liked the highrises here, they are in such contrast to the rest of the city and in stark contrast to the many sections of poverty I witnessed, some (as mentioned before) right at the base of these skyscrapers.
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Beer is very popular here (quite a surprsie, huh??). I've sampled a bit of it but not too much. I drank too much my last month or so of work that I'm cutting back (for now). These are some of the local brands.
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Here are some cat pictures.
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That last picture is actually my Mom's two kittens, Scruffy and Muffy and they live at Lake Tahoe and are very cute and cuddly. (I wanted to see if anyone gets to the end of these blog entries!!) :-)

That's it for Bangkok. I was there for 7 days and it's quite an introduction to the Asia leg of this trip. I stayed at a great place that was a great value (Suk 11) and really helped ease me into this traveling life. Whether or not the traveling life is really something great is still up in the air... This multi-dimensional, multi-cultural city is so dynamic and stressful and wonderful all at the same time. I would encourage anyone who wants to visit Asia to visit Bangkok, it has it all!

Take care everyone.

Happy New Year. In with the old and out with the new! I hope that 2005 is a positive and eventful year for all of us. Be happy and Make Smart Decisions (MSD)!

Thank you for reading this. I hope to make this blog both interesting and entertaining. Please post a comment and let me know your thoughts, observations or counsel. Hearing from readers and knowing I have an audience is a great motivator and will be a great morale booster during down times on the road. Don’t forget to bookmark this site and tell a friend! Please feel free to e-mail me at “JeffMichie at Yahoo Dot Com”

I've been in Chiang Mai for a couple of days now and I need to finish my Bangkok blog entries while the thoughts and rambles are still in my mind and so that I can do some Chiang Mai entries. Up here in the north is not as exciting or exotic as Bangkok and really not quite as interesting (yet).

I ended the last entry with pictures and discussion of the Wat Pho and the food. One more thing on the food - it is amazing that there are so many places to eat everywhere, not just the street-side vendors but there are all types of restaurants all over the place. Half the life here is cooking and the other half is eating and I have yet to see a fat Thai person. They are mostly quite slim and in good shape, especially the women.

The women in Thailand are generally very beautiful and seem to have a distinctly feminine nature about them. Most take very good care of themselves and dress quite well. Evening and business dress can be quite revealing yet not overtly sexual or trashy.

I mention this not only because I think Thai women are very attractive but to discuss something that is very common here. There are many, many couples throughout the city made up of older white men and younger Thai women. It is very prevalent. The more interesting observation is that the men (mostly European) are really quite ugly and the women are young and beautiful. It is such a contrast that it is impossible to ignore. These couple are seen everywhere, walking along the streets, hand-in-hand, on the Skytrain and in restaurants and bars.

I guess there are a couple of explanations for this phenomenom:
(1) Thai women really like fat, ugly western men and thus it is easy for these fat, ugly men to meet and hook up with these beautiful women somewhere.
(2) These girls are the daughters of these men having sired them while stationed in the area during the Vietnam War era.
(3) Prostitution is alive and well in Bangkok.

I imagine that #3 is the most plausible reason. Like any big city, prostitution in Bangkok happens and there are several "red light" districts in the full of "go-go" bars and other places where it might be possible to find the woman of your dreams or at least a woman for the night. Some of these places are known for different levels of depravity of which Bangkok is famous.

I am sure most (if not all) of these women are paid to be in the company of these men and it does not seem to create any type of problem or stir up or bother any of the locals. It is accepted here as long as the girls are over 18.

Personal Disclaimer: I did not visit any of these bars or "go-go" clubs while in Bangkok but did stroll through a few of the areas during the day to check out the scene. I am not one of those fat, ugly westerners with a beautiful Thai woman at his side. I am not passing judgment of what people of free will choose to do as long as no one is getting hurt and the girls involved are of age, there is no exploitation and they are willing participants.

Enough of that.

Thailand has been an independent nation since AD 1238 and is the only country in South or Southest Asia never colonized by a foreign power. Since 1932 the government of Thailand has been a constitutional monarchy inspired by the British model. Freedom on the press and open voting are hallmarks of this society however the professional military keeps a strong hand in the running of the government and the Prime Minister must work with this constituency.

The king and Queen of Thailand are revered universally and it it against the law to deface or show disrespect to any image of the King. King Bhumibol Adulyadej is the ninth king of the Chakri dynasty and has been in power since 1946. His face is everywhere, on billboards, in shrines and supporting countless business initiatives and economic development opportunities throughout the country.

I spent part of one afternoon visiting the Golden Palace. This palace is where the royal family lives and is a huge tourist attraction. There is wat with an Emerald Buddha and a bunch of beautiful sights. Most of the indoor sights did not allow pictures.
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Here's a picture of some of monk's at the Golden Palace. Monks in their orange robes are a common site throughout the country.
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I was there when a group of school children were touring, here they are in a group picture. Kids in every part of the world do goofy things when getting their picture taken!
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Bangkok does provide alot of familar sights and brands to the westerner. Many of the signs are in both Thai and English (thank goodness!) and it is rather easy to get around. English is spoken by a few and most of the people who deal with westerners understand a little bit.

Here are some familar signs:
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My personal favorite:

Ronald McDonald in a traditonal Buddhist "thank you" pose. This gesture is seeing everywhere and one I have picked up when saying goodbye or thank you to Thai's.

Here are some random pictures that I liked.

These 2 are a stark reminder of how many Thai's live. These were taken in the middle of the city from a Skytrain station and are surrounded by wealthly homes, upper class shopping and skyscrapers. A testament to the great disparity of wealth in Bangkok.
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I got some good advice from someone to always carry toilet paper in your backpack (most important for the women) because in areas where non-westerners are there is just a hole in the ground and a bucket of water. I honestly do not know what you are supposed to do with the water except clean your left hand after wiping (always use your left hand and never eat or touch another Thai with your left hand!). If you use the water to help "wipe" then one would think that your pants would get wet when you pull them back up and I have never seen anyone with big wet spots on their butts. So I'm still confused about all this. Anyway, if you forgot TP here you can buy a couple pieces for 2 baht. People laughed at me when I took this picture - me a typical tourist!
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Here are a couple of Thailand cats. They don't speak english because when I said "here kitty kitty" they just looked at me funny.
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That's it for today. I think I may have the material for another Bangkok entry in the near future.

Thank you for reading this. I hope to make this blog both interesting and entertaining. Please post a comment and let me know your thoughts, observations or counsel. Hearing from readers and knowing I have an audience is a great motivator and will be a great morale booster during down times on the road. Don’t forget to bookmark this site and tell a friend! Please feel free to e-mail me at “JeffMichie at Yahoo Dot Com”

It's Tuesday morning, December 28th and I am in Chiang Mai after spending 7 days in Bangkok. I thought it would be a good idea to do a couple of catch all entries about my time in Bangkok, my observations and thoughts and, best of all, post some pictures.

One thing that was very intriguing to me about the people of Bangkok is how they observed me and what they thought I was doing. I spent most of my time in that city going somewhere, mostly by walking from place to place. The Thai people must really think that I am out of shape and that I need some sort of Physical Therapy. Why do I think this? Well, on literally every street corner in Bangkok (and I walked by hundreds of them, some more than once) I had the following conversation:

Jeff: walking, looking around and minding my own business
Person hanging out on the Corner: "Taxi, Tuk-tuk?"
Jeff: (politely) "No thank you"
Person on the Corner: "Where you going?"
Jeff: (trying to ignore him) "Just walking"
Person on the Corner: "Tuk-tuk!, Take you anywhere, 10 baht"
Jeff: (still polite) "No"
Person on the Corner: (lowering his voice and looking around) "Massage?"
Jeff: "No"
Person on the Corner: (takes out a brochure with girly pictures) "Massage 200 baht (apx $5), pretty girl"
Jeff: (shakes head and keeps walking)

I literally had this same conversation hundreds of times. I don't know why the all the Thai guys that hang out on the corners think I need a ride somewhere. I'm a fairly fit guy, it wasn't too hot or humid and I wasn't sweating or wheezing or anything. Also, I don't think I look like a guy who needs physical therapy or a massage. I am in good health and walk upright without limps or any obvious physical pain. Maybe that's how I appear to them, who knows?. But I really do appreciate their concern for me!

As I mentioned above, I spent much of my time in Bangkok exploring as much of the city as I could using a guidebook and recommendations form people of what to see and where to go. It was quite easy to get around as the trains and river taxi systems are easy to figure out and use.

One day I went to Wat Pho. There are lots and lots of Wat's (temples) in Bangkok and all over Asia for that matter. The culture is ancient here, going back thousands of years and the wats celebrate Buddhism and are used to protect or signify a particular statue, event or reign. There are wats everywhere!

Wat Pho is home to the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. This Buddha is apx. 50 feet in length and 17 feet in height,

It is the oldest, largest and most architecturally spectacular temple in Bangkok. Wat Pho was built in the 16th century during the Ayutthaya period and expanded by King Rama 1 and later by King Rama III.

Here are some images of Wat Pho and more of the Reclining Buddha. You'll notice many different Buddhas in a variety of poses, shapes and sizes:
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All wats seems to have guardian statues to protect against evil spirits:
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That's enough of Wat Pho. It is an amazing temple with so much history and a very sacred place for the people of Thailand.

In addition to touring around and seeing the sites I had fun sampling the cuisine in Bangkok:

Kacey - I took these pictures especially for you.

The giant cockroaches tasted good, a bit crunchy and the legs tickled my throat as I swallowed it. If anyone is interested I'm sure I could post you some of these - let me know!

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Most of the food vendors on the street sell excellent, good quality, safe food. I ate lunch and dinner from different food vendors most days while in Bangkok. Most don't speak english but understand basic terms and I can't speak or understand any Thai so I just point to what they have and they cook it up right in front of you. I don't always get what I thought I was getting but it all tastes great and they don't spice it up too much knowing I'm a foreigner.

I haven't really got sick yet (I did have an afternoon with a mild upset stomach after eating at one place I really shouldn't have - It was kinda gross). As long as you can see them cook it and the ingredients look somewhat fresh and you see others eating there you can feel relatively safe that the food won't make you sick. I've been lucky so far!

The water in Thailand is not drinkable for westerners and you need to be careful about ice (I haven't had any yet) and produce that needs to be washed (rather than peeled) like lettuce as well as the sanitary conditions of the plates and utensils (this seems kinda shaky as you can see the street vendors washing the plates and forks and it looks a bit unsanitary). Bottled water is available everywhere and is quite inexpensive (5-9 baht in stores, 10-15 baht from the vendors - the exchange rate is apx. 40 baht to the dollar). I am drinking about 2 gallons of water a day as it is important to stay hydrated.

This is all for this entry today, I will post follow up Bangkok entries in the next few days.

Thank you for reading this. I hope to make this blog both interesting and entertaining. Please post a comment and let me know your thoughts, observations or counsel. Hearing from readers and knowing I have an audience is a great motivator and will be a great morale booster during down times on the road. Don’t forget to bookmark this site and tell a friend! Please feel free to e-mail me at “JeffMichie at Yahoo Dot Com”

I am sure all the readers of this blog are aware of the horrible tragedy that struck South Asia yesterday (December 26th) at apx. 8:30 AM local time. The earthquake that struck to the west of Sumatra registered at least 9.0 on the Richter Scale. This earthquake is one of the largest ever registered in the world.

At this time it is estimated that over 15,000 people have died as a result of the earthquake and the resulting Tsunami's. There are also thousands of people missing. It is probable that when the missing are all accounted for and the clean up is complete the death toll will rise above 15,000. That is an incredible amount of suffering and really beyond my comprehension that so many people are now dead as a result of this natural disaster.

The geographic spread of this disaster is remarkable. The Tsunami's hit and killed people as far away as East Africa. I challenge all you readers to go look at a globe and see the scope of this disaster. People died in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, The Maldives, Myanmar, Bangledash, India, Sri Lanka, Somolia among others.

The power of nature is immense and what was a beautiful morning in an incredible part of the world turned into a nightmare for thousands and will have a profound effect on the lives of thousands more for a long, long time. Many areas in this part of the world suffer regularly from disasters, caused by both humans and by nature. I don't know the scope of the media coverage beyond what I see here in Asia but please realize that the area of this disaster is huge and that many people are now dead, suffering from the loss of a loved one or are homeless as a result of the flooding or the quake.

Disasters often bring out the best in people as they strive to help those who are less fortunate and I hope this is the case here. I want to make a challenge to any and all readers of this blog. Let's collectively make an effort to donate money to this disaster relief effort. I will match up to $500 in donations pledged by readers of this blog - Please leave a comment with your donation and the group you are donating to.

I don't have any specific information of particular donation relief groups as I am a bit isolated up here in Chiang Mai but the Red Cross is one group that I know will be helping out. If anyone knows of any other groups needing donations please let me know.

I was in Bangkok having breakfast at the time the quake hit but it was only felt in the high rises as they swayed with the jolt. I feel very fortunate to be where I was because I could have so easily been down on the beach in Western Thailand like so many other vacationers and foreigners. I met quite a few people in my first few days at the hostel who were heading south to the beaches of Thailand for Christmas and Boxing Day. Many of the missing and dead in Thailand are foreign vacationers and backpackers. It really makes me think and wonder...

Please keep the victims of this disaster in your thoughts and, most of all, your prayers. They all need help through prayer and through any other assistance you can provide.

Thank you for reading this.

It is Christmas morning as I write this. I have no pictures for this particular blog but have a bunch ready to publish in the next few days and will endeavor to get them up as soon as possible.

Christmas is not celebrated in Thailand, at least not officially. Today (Saturday) is a normal, weekend day with only the normal business closures. The religion of 95% of the Thai people is Theravada Buddhism, Islam makes up 4% of the population and the remaining religions including Hinduism, Sikism, Animism and Christianity make up the other 1%. Christmas is a Christian (and primarily western) holiday that has no comparative in Buddhism. Although I have noticed alot of little kids with presents and things with pretty wrappers on them. I think this is an opportunity for the Thai people to give their kids gifts and the kids, obviously, love them!

One thing I have noticed in my short wanderings is the love the Thai's seem to have for children and animals. There is desperate poverty here and I have seen things that really tugged at my heart strings and make me very sad but the children seem to be a priority and are taken care of as well as possible by the adults and society. There are lots of stray cats and dogs around the city and while they tend to look a bit mangy and skinny I see many people feeding them and taking care of them, I like that!

Back to Christmas. With the significant media influence and the very high number of western foreigners in Bangkok there is an industry that is trying to market Christmas here. Thai's are a very industrious people and see the marketing opportunities, particularly in the city districts with the most foreigners. I hear occasional Christmas music and see vendors selling Santa hats and Christmas-type stuff. Some bars and restaurants are serving Christmas meals.

So, it obviously dosn't feel like Christmas to me and I do miss the season and the good feelings it brings out in people. I didn't think I would miss it as much. Also, it's hot and sunny, unlike most places in the USA (particularly Rising Sun - as I look at www.weather.com I see that the current temperature there is 1 degree!) and that is very un-christmasy.

The hostel I'm staying at is having a Christmas dinner tonight and small gift exchange and that's very nice. The majority of the people staying there are westerners and I bet most of us miss our loved ones and miss the Christmas spirit, although most people I've talked to say otherwise. Many people out on the road are escaping from something...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all. I miss the USA and I miss Rising Sun and miss my family and friends.

Love you all!!!

Thank you for reading this. I hope to make this blog both interesting and entertaining. Please post a comment and let me know your thoughts, observations or counsel. Hearing from readers and knowing I have an audience is a great motivator and will be a great morale booster during down times on the road. Don’t forget to bookmark this site and tell a friend! Please feel free to e-mail me at “JeffMichie at Yahoo Dot Com”

It is Christmas Eve Day as I write this blog entry.

Bangkok is a fascinating city and it is a city of constant surprises. It is so diverse and so huge that it would take years of exploring just to have a clue about what makes this place tick. I will only be here for about a week so I’m just seeing such a small part and such a limited variety of the spice of this city. It is so overwhelming.

I’ve only been to a couple places in the few days I’ve been here and I have seen so much variety and so many strange and wonderful things. In order to put some organization to this entry I’ll describe what I’ve been doing the last few days, give my thoughts on Bangkok and include a bunch of pictures.

I arrived at the Suk 11
at around 2:00 AM on Tuesday morning (Dec 21st) and fortunately there was someone there to check me in. I was worried about that. She showed me to my room
and I threw my backpack down and went walking around up and down Sukhumvit Road. Sukhumvit is one of many, many busy districts throughout Bangkok with a huge variety of stores and its very multi-cultural. At 2:00 AM there were hundreds of sidewalk vendors selling their wares, food stands still open, taxis looking for fares, bars still open (although they are supposed to close at 2:00 AM it doesn’t appear that this rule is universally followed) and many, uh, ladies of the night around making indecent propositions to me. I walked around for an hour or so, still wired up after the long flight, and went back to the hostel. There were a handful of people hanging out in the common area and I sat down and talked with them for a bit, had a beer with them and then went to bed.

The Suk 11 came highly recommended on some of the travel websites I use, particularly Bootsnall.com. It is located on a side alley on Soi 11 about ¼ mile off Sukhumvit Rd. It is truly an oasis in the insanity of Bangkok. The rooms are clean but somewhat Spartan and the showers have plenty of hot water. There must be 100+ rooms from dormitory style with 6 beds to single, en-suite rooms and everything in between. The common areas are where people hang out, there is a large open-air area on the ground floor with tables and chairs that is quite nice except for the mosquito’s that come out each evening. There is also a TV room with videos that doesn’t appear to get much use.

There are an amazing variety of people that come and go at the Suk 11. I have seen and met people of dozens of nationalities and people from 18 years old to 60 years old. It’s probably a 50/50 ratio of men to women. Some stay just the night, others stay longer. I had dinner last night with an Italian guy in his 20’s who has been staying at the Suk 11 for seven months. I had breakfast this morning with a guy in his 50’s from Florida who has been here for 6 weeks and is looking to move to Bangkok permanently. People come and go all day long and it is fascinating to hear all the languages and accents. It truly is a microcosm of the people I’ve seen so far in Bangkok.

The weather here is quite nice, topping out in the 90’s during the day and getting down to the 70’s at night. The sky is mostly clear (as clear as it can be in pollution-choked Bangkok) and there has been no rain. There is a bit of humidity but it is not overbearing and a gentle breeze most of the time. Air conditioning in the room and on the trams and buses is very welcome though. November through February is the best time of the year (temperature-wise) in southern Thailand and I am told that the other 8 months of the year can be miserable due to extremely high humidity and/or monsoon rains – I should be long gone by then! In other words, great weather here. One reason I am writing about the weather is to contrast it with the weather right now in Rising Sun, Indiana and the neighboring midwestern areas. I got an e-mail this morning from my friend Kacey Hayes and a blog message from my friend and favorite cat person, Linda Perin telling me about record snowfall in Rising Sun and the miserable cold temperatures. Although they will have a beautiful, white Christmas the folks in that area generally are not prepared for snow, many are scared to death of driving in it and most of the area literally shuts down until the snow and ice are cleared or it melts. I wish I were there with you guys!!!!

The vendors and touts here are quite persistent but not overly pushy or rude. The all ask for your business or attempt to entice you into their store, taxi, tuk-tuk, etc. and I find I spend most of my time politely telling them “no thank you” and just keep walking. If you slow down or show the slightest interest in what they are selling then they really get interested and become quite persistent.

The best analogy I can come up with to describe the streets and scenes of Bangkok (at least what I’ve seen so far) is “Tijuana on Acid”. Anyone who has been to TJ knows about the street selling and aggressive vendors and touts selling anything and everything. (Just to note: Tijuana has cleaned up over the years). Bangkok just seems much more immense and much more intense than I imagined. The multitude of vendors selling many similar items is the same as TJ and preponderance of same type stores that sell quality, hand-tailored men’s suits and clothing, massage parlors as well as bars is very amazing. How can so many people and places sell virtually the same product or service and remain in business? It must be purely a numbers game in that there are so many foreigners here and many with lots of money (especially compared to the Thai people) that it just takes a few sales per day to make enough money to survive.

The traffic in Bangkok is horrendous, I would never, ever, ever drive in this city, it is plain nuts! There are lanes of traffic but no one uses them, there is a constant flow in and out of side streets and in between lanes with the always-present horn noises. For me (and others from the USA) it is more confusing in that they drive on the left side of the road and on the drivers seat is on the right side of the car (exact opposite of what we’re used to). Crossing the road takes some getting used to in that I’m used to looking left first but if I do that here then a car in the close lane will hit me from the right…. You must be constantly aware when walking the streets, the drivers have to be aggressive or they would never get anywhere. When crossing busy streets it is best to cross when the locals cross and do what they do, that has helped me get around and probably kept me from getting hit!

The main forms of mass-transit in Bangkok are the taxi View image, tuk-tuks (small 3-wheel motorcycles) View image and motorcycle taxis View image. They all appear to be useful in getting around and you just have to trust the drivers to get you where you are going in one piece. Amazingly, I have yet to see an accident on the road but there must be many that happen.

Here are some other pictures of various things around Bangkok. Here is a long boat taxi on the river. View image
The river is a main transportation route through part of the city with many long-tail boats and busy river-taxis View image
plying the dirty waterway surrounded by homes View image,View image
and high-rise hotels View image
and buildingsView image
. Also, I used my first squatty-potty View image,View image,View image while exploring near the river. There is a guy that charges you 5 baht to use the toilet, I don’t know if it’s official or if he just hangs around to scam guys like me who need to go and won’t argue.

That's it for this blog entry. Everyone have a Merry Christmas. Lots of love from me here in Bangkok!!

Thank you for reading this. I hope to make this blog both interesting and entertaining. Please post a comment and let me know your thoughts, observations or counsel. Hearing from readers and knowing I have an audience is a great motivator and will be a great morale booster during down times on the road. Don’t forget to bookmark this site and tell a friend! Please feel free to e-mail me at “JeffMichie at Yahoo Dot Com”

Well, it’s Thursday morning, December 23rd and I’ve been in Bangkok a little over 2 days. It sure seems longer to me for some reason, maybe it’s the jet lag, maybe it’s the foreignness of the place or it could be just getting used to being away from the good ole USA! It will take some getting used to living like I am and it will take some time, I’m sure.

The trip to Bangkok was slow, not too exciting and rather comfortable. The entire trip from being dropped off at the Memphis airport by Andy and Amanda (my brother and sister-in-law) on Sunday morning to clearing customs at approximately 1:00 AM local time in Bangkok was about 30 hours. 30 hours in the air going from Memphis to Detroit, Detroit to Tokyo and Tokyo to Bangkok.

This is the route from Detoit to Tokyo. Bangkok is about 3,000 miles (7 hours flying time) south of Tokyo.

Readers of previous entries to this blog will recall that I was fortunate to be able to use World Perks miles on Northwest Airlines to upgrade to First Class/World Business Class for the entire flight. I am sooo glad I did that. During the flights when I walked around and stretched I walked through the entire plane and was glad I didn’t have to ride back in steerage but was fortunate to be in relative comfort in the front of the planes.

When I was on the planes I was trying to think of a way to describe the flying experience. Flying 30 hours in first class/world business class is kinda like hanging out in your Lazy-Boy chair in your living room for 30 hours, it’s that comfortable! Of course when you are hanging out in your living room you can watch TV, watch movies, listen to music, read newspapers or books and eat and drink and occasionally get up to stretch and go to the bathroom. The same think on the airplane except that a very nice and attractive lady brings you food and drinks, including beer, wine and bloody mary’s. She also brings things for you to read and gives you refreshing hot towels to wipe your face with before meals. A very pleasant experience really. So, I guess a long, international flight is similar to lounging around at home except a flight attendant takes care of you rather than having someone (wife or girlfriend) nag you and you have to stay reasonably dressed and not scratch yourself because you are in public.

When I landed in Bangkok at 1:00 AM I was surprised at the number of people in the international terminal, it was quite busy and I guess a lot of flights get in late. The customs process was very, very quick and efficient. I had 3 people in front of me and it took about 5 minutes to get my 30-day visa and be allowed to enter the Kingdom of Thailand!

My backpack was already on the baggage claim when I got there and as I had nothing to declare I walked through the final checkpoint with no one stopping me or asking any questions, like I said quite efficient and quite different than my previous experiences in Scotland and subsequent returns through US Customs. They could learn from the Thais!

The adventure now was to get to my Hostel, the Suk 11. Since it was so late a cab was my best solution. As soon as I stepped out into the main concourse I had touts come up to me and had the following similar conversation with 5 or 6 of them as I walked through the terminal:

Tout: Where you going?
Me: Hostel
Tout: What hotel?
Me: Suk 11 in Sukhumvit
Tout: Where is that?
Me: I don’t know
Tout: You no stay there, I have better place, my Uncle (friend, Uncle’s friend, etc.) owns, he give you good deal
Me: No thanks (as I keep walking)
Tout: Your hotel no good, I take you to my Uncle’s
Me: No thanks (as I keep walking and stay polite)
Tout: I take you to hotel
Me: How?
Tout: Friends Taxi
Me: How much?
Tout: 1000 Baht
Me: Way too much (as I laugh)

I kept walking as the touts tried to negotiate with me but I thought I knew better and walked to the Taxi line and eventually they all stopped following me. I definitely had a sign on my back: white foreigner just flying in, money in my pocket and ready to be fleeced. My goal is to keep the fleecing down to a minimum although I know that it will happen.

I think I actually was ripped off a bit on my taxi to the hotel. First, the guy spoke very little English and it was difficult to get him to understand where I was going particularly since I really didn’t know myself. Once I was kinda satisfied he knew how to get to the Suk 11 (I really had no idea but he nodded and looked confident that he knew where to take me), he tried to hustle me into the taxi. I knew better tha that, we needed to settle on a price BEFORE getting into the taxi. He said 600 baht, I had read that a taxi ride to the hostel should only be about 300 baht. I said that and he laughed and said “How much you pay?” and I stupidly said 500 baht and he immediately said okay, that’s when I knew I overpaid (I wil need to work on my negotiating skills!). By the way $1.00 = 40 baht so if I over paid by 100 or 200 baht that equals roughly $2.50 to $5.00 for a 30 minute cab ride. So I wasn’t too upset.

Unfortunately, I've already had a couple of problems: When I cleared customs I went right to an ATM to get some Baht (all the time being followed by those touts) and the ATM ate my card - said it was no good and to contact my bank, it didn't even give me my card back. This is an ongoing saga with my bank, trying to get my ATM cards straightened out. Now I have to hassle it from here and try to get things resolved, and it pissed me off, expecially since this is the first thing I did when I got into Bangkok and it went bad! Fortunately, I had contingency plans to get cash by using my credit card. The other problem is a stupid thing I did - I left my toiletry bag on the plane! All my vitamins, meds, toiletries, etc. Definitely a stupid thing, and I did so much planning to bring the right stuff and sizes. Now I gotta reload with Thai branded stuff!

One other thing that takes some getting used to: I watched Monday Night Football on Tuesday morning live on ESPN International (I can't believe the Dolphins beat the Patriots!) and watched the Tangerine bowl yesterday morning and the GMAC Bowl this morning. Being 12 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time is weird!

Here's a couple of pictures of the Suk 11 from out front.View image, View image

The next blog entry will have more pictures of Bangkok taken during the first few days of walking around.

Thank you for reading this. I hope to make this blog both interesting and entertaining. Please post a comment and let me know your thoughts, observations or counsel. Hearing from readers and knowing I have an audience is a great motivator and will be a great morale booster during down times on the road. Don’t forget to bookmark this site and tell a friend! Please feel free to e-mail me at “JeffMichie at Yahoo Dot Com”

What to pack? What gear to bring? Since I first made the decision to go on this journey the decisions about what to bring with me began. There is so much advice on this topic out on the Internet, both formally, in articles written and books published and informally, in chat rooms and forums that it can become overwhelming – sooo many opinions with some conflicting. I really think this topic is one of the most discussed, considered and worried about by travelers.

So much of what you bring is determined by where you are going, cold weather, warm weather, rain, sun or snow or some combination of all these things. Money, travel style, age, comfort thresholds, time on the road and ego are also primary drivers of these decisions.

I made countless lists based on research and reading and really sweated the details on everything from the right backpack, shoes vs. boots to toiletries. One great piece of advice heard from veteran travelers is to lay out all the stuff you think you need on a bed, cut it in half and take twice as much money as you think you’ll need. Good advice, although I didn’t follow it precisely. I made so many lists that I mentally pared everything down before making the final cuts.

Most of the stuff I am bringing I had to buy as my day-to-day, pre-travel, life didn’t include many of the items I’ll need or weren’t the type of things that I would take for long-term traveling. Also, except for good shoes and good backpacks, most of the stuff I’ll need for traveling can be purchased at the places I plan to visit. If I forget something or some piece of clothing isn’t right or if I need anything additional I can always buy it somewhere. That thought got rid of lots of anxiety.

Planning what to bring and what I’ll need was part of the fun of planning this trip. Reading and researching brought the trip to life in my mind and really got me motivated. I hated the actual shopping part but did manage to get a lot of the stuff I needed online. My favorite shopping experiences were at REI, that’s an awesome store, both physically and online!

One confession I have to make it on pack size. I really wanted to bring the smallest pack possible and tried to fit all my stuff into an Eagle Creek Continental Journey Backpack with zip off daypack. Its total size is approximately 62 liters or 3800 cubic inches. The beauty of this pack is that it meets carry on requirements on the airlines (with the zip off pack detached). It’s a comfortable, small pack. I just couldn’t get everything I needed comfortably into this pack, I could stuff most of my gear in but it was almost bursting at the seams and some of the things I would have had to leave behind worried me.

I decided to upsize my pack a bit and bought an Eagle Creek New World Journey Pack with zip-off daypack. Its size is approximately 79 liters or 4800 cubic inches. My gear fits in this pack quite easily and leaves plenty of room so I’m not filling it up. The total weight of this pack, with the daypack is 30-32 pounds. One thing I don’t like about this pack is that is too bulky in the back, especially with the daypack zipped on, I anticipate some hassles getting on and off buses and trains with this pack on my back.

I feel sorta feel like a wimp not making the decisions necessary to comfortably fill the smaller pack and leave some stuff behind. I’ll get over it but may regret the decision down the road when I find out I really never will use the Shortwave Radio or Sleep Sheet. I can adjust on the fly and can always get rid of stuff I don’t need/use and just have a lighter pack as a result.

Here is a picture of the stuff I’m bringing :

Here is the list:
· Eagle Creek New World Journey Pack with zip-off daypack. 79 liters or 4800 cubic inches
· Merrill cross-training shoes (I decided against boots for comfort reasons)
· Chaco sandals
The items of clothing include the one I’m wearing (ex: 4 pairs of underwear = 3 in the pack; 1 on my body)
· 4 pairs of pants, including one pair of convertible pants with zip-off legs to make into shorts
· 4 shirts – one long sleeve, one black t-shirt, one blue travel shirt and one grey shirt, all moisture-wicking
· 1 T-shirt to sleep in
· 4 pairs of Ex-Officio nylon underwear
· 5 pairs of Smart Wool socks – I brought one extra pair of low ones to wear with shorts
· Fleece jacket – light weight, zipper front
· Gore-Tex jacket
· Travel towel
· Silk Sleep Sheet for those sketchy guesthouse beds
· 3 bandannas
· Short Wave Radio – I love the BBC!
· 6.31 Mega-pixel digital camera
· Blow up travel pillow for long train, bus and plane rides – quite comfortable!
· Standard toiletries
· Meds: Immodium Pepto-Bismol, Pepcid AC, Advil, band aids, mole skin, antiseptic cream, aloe vera lotion, DEET
· Multi-Vitamins and Vitamin C
· Small thing of hand sanitizer
· Sink stopper for doing laundry in sinks
· Travel washing line (clothesline)
· Condoms
· Money belt
· Small flashlight
· Small calculator
· 1 guidebook
· 1 reading book
· Pad of paper and pen
· Padlock/wire lock to lock pack to bed, post, etc.
· Eagle Creek packing organizers – a great way to organize a pack and keep things together
· Deck of Cards
· 12 extra passport photographs for visa on the road
· Zip-loc bags of various sizes and quantities (one of the most recommended things to take)

Things I chose not to bring that many do bring:
· Sleeping bag
· Lap Top
· PDA
· Music or music player
· Boots
· Umbrella
· Mosquito nets (although I may buy on the road)
· Iodine tablets and/or water filter (I’ll drink bottled water)

The list above is long with many small items. Small items can, and do, add up to take up space and weigh more than you’d think. I’m sure I forgot something I’ll really need and I bet some of the stuff I bring I won’t use. Live and learn!!

Thank you for reading this. I hope to make this blog both interesting and entertaining. Please post a comment and let me know your thoughts, observations or counsel. Hearing from readers and knowing I have an audience is a great motivator and will be a great morale booster during down times on the road. Don’t forget to bookmark this site and tell a friend! Please feel free to e-mail me at “JeffMichie at Yahoo Dot Com”

I don’t know if it is necessary to have a purpose or purposes for the trip that I’m planning and discussed in detail during the pre-trip portion of this blog but I have decided to keep in my mind a select few overriding themes and reasons (purposes) in order to stay focused and stay in the game when/if things get overwhelming and I want to turn back.

There is a stupid debate sometimes heard in the travel community as to what makes up a Traveler versus a Tourist. Some people who consider themselves “Travelers” deride “Tourists” as wanna-be’s and somehow not worthy. A Tourist is someone who takes packaged tours, rides around on a bus with 45 other Tourists and a guide and has everything planned out for them. A Traveler figures out independently how to get from place to place. A Tourist goes from destination to destination only looking at the sights and not experiencing the people and the culture, there only real interactions with locals are those in the tourist industry. The Traveler might see some of the sights but is more determined to have a “real” experience with the locals. Tourists have wheeled suitcases. Travelers have backpacks.

Everyone who chooses to take a trip (particularly overseas) has to make a number of decisions; chief among them is there level of confidence in navigating the details of their chosen destinations. Many factors influence these decisions including travel companions, health, money, abilities, age and travel experience. Other factors include level of research and most of all TIME!

I want to be a traveler, not a tourist and one of the biggest turn-offs for me is being on a tour bus for an extended period of time. A half-day bus trip to get the lay of the land in a new city is fine but if I were ever stuck on a package tour with 40 other people and a guide I would scream and probably die.

A bit of an overreaction, perhaps but anyway, back to the debate and where I fall. It seems that many independent travelers get an ego about their trips and their adventures and attempt to separate themselves from others on the road based on their unique (read: better) experiences. I hope I don’t turn out that way; I don’t want to go to a country or city just to say I did, just to get another stamp in the passport, just to make my list bigger (because bigger is not always better). I want to experience the life and culture of many of the countries I visit. I want to touch people’s lives and be touched by them.

I won’t kid myself, the experiences I will have with people and places in many parts of the world will be on the tourist-backpacker trail and most of the people I do come in contact with will be people in the tourist trade. It will be my challenge to get outside that track and try to see lives as they are really led. This is a purpose.

Also, I plan on seeing many, many “tourist” sites in every city, town and country I visit. I will be one of the hordes checking out the Louvre if I get to Paris, I will definitely be visiting Temples, Wats, Museums and other points of interest that thousands of other locals and tourists/traveler will be visiting. This is a purpose.

Anyway, as I said, it’s a stupid debate. I will be a traveler who will do some tourist things.

The main reason I went into such detail on this topic/debate is to set up this Purposes blog entry (some of my readers will probably now say to themselves “It took Jeff this long to set up this stupid blog entry???”).

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A TRAVELER AND A TOURIST IS THAT A TRAVELER HAS A PURPOSE FOR THE TRIP.

Since I decided I am a traveler, I had to then define my purposes; they are, in no particular order:

· Exploration of my limits
· Exploration of my potential
· Broaden my mind and my life experiences
· Introduction to other cultures
· Exploration of the world
· Explore and better understand my religious beliefs and those of other cultures
· Get off the tourist/traveler track as much as possible to explore each country
· See sights that I have only read and dreamed about
· Become more extroverted in my dealings with people

Quite a broad range, some are more objective and some are more subjective. I didn’t realize there would be so many until I put them down on paper. These purposes aren’t very organized and some could become sub-bullets of the another but it’s probably not worth the time to analyze and organize these in a more concise manner, it’s just important for me to keep these thoughts and purposes in mind as I travel and wander and think. I hope the thought of these will keep me on track when things get tough or if I get bored, lonely or sick.

I’m not going to talk about each of these individually because I think I probably touched on each of these items in previous blog entries in one way or another. Any thoughts from my readers or other purposes you can suggest would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you for reading this. I hope to make this blog both interesting and entertaining. Please post a comment and let me know your thoughts, observations or counsel. Hearing from readers and knowing I have an audience is a great motivator and will be a great morale booster during down times on the road. Don’t forget to bookmark this site and tell a friend! Please feel free to e-mail me at “JeffMichie at Yahoo Dot Com”

I am going to take some artistic license with the How entry of this blog. The literal sense of How I plan to take my trip doesn’t make a lot of sense and I have struggled a bit to define the concept. As the author I choose to define How a bit differently. I will write about how I will get from place to place and how I will live but I also want to write about my fears and set up the next blog entry which will discuss the Purposes of this trip.

I have spent so much time and effort over the last 6 to 8 months thinking about this trip and planning it and talking about it and wondering about it and being afraid of it that it has almost taken on a life of its own. This trip, this adventure, has gained a life of its own, it has its own momentum that is bringing it inexorably to reality. In order for this trip to happen and to meet its Purposes so many things had to come together and get accomplished in a relatively short time frame that, looking back on it, would seem very unlikely to occur. But, everything has so far fallen into place, so much so that it is scary. Scary though it may be, everything has happened as planned and in 4 days I’ll be on a plane to Bangkok.

How am I going to travel around the world? Planes, Trains and Automobiles!! I thought a mention of the great movie starring the late John Candy and Steve Martin was appropriate. In addition to planes, trains and automobiles I imagine other forms of transportation will include buses, taxis, tuk-tuk’s and walking.

I am most excited about the prospect of walking and hiking around all the areas I visit. I love to walk and can go long distances on my feet. I want to walk through cities and towns, hike rural areas and generally be out amongst the locals as much as possible. I would love to walk from place to place with my backpack and find lodging each night in a new town. Most of my walking will have a “home-based” approach in that I will settle into a guesthouse for a period of time and set out from there on daily or overnight adventures with just my daypack. All the walking and time outdoors will be great for my body, mind and spirit as well as great exercise. I’m hoping that a combination of healthy eating, minimal drinking, lots of walking and maybe even that travelers malady – diarrhea will result in losing a bit of weight and getting into better shape. I look forward to seeing the progress as the trip unfolds.

Transportation will be one of the big challenges. Day-to-day transportation within an area that I am staying will not too difficult, I’m confident that I can figure out the buses, taxis, tuk tuks, etc. to get where I want to go. I’m okay with getting lost and figuring it out, that’s part of the challenge and part of the fun.

Transportation between cities, towns and countries is another story. I imagine the confusion in a train or bus station with multiple departure areas and signage that I can’t read. There may be lots and lots of people around and many long queues that I will be standing in. (Queues are lines and a common term in counties outside the US. I love the word queue for some reason, I must be weird). In these cases I will depend on prior advice from fellow travelers, hope my guidebook provides concise information, and, most likely, depend on the kindness of the locals to help me if I am lost. I am sure this blog will have many transportation related entries, stories and comments.

I am hoping to avoid plane trips as much as possible. I love airplanes and the excitement of air travel but the best way to see a country is on the ground. Airfares in Asia are now so cheap that it will be a temptation to take the 2-hour flight from Bangkok to Chiang Mai rather than the 13 hour bus or train ride. I hope to resist the temptation as much as possible in such circumstances. I won’t be in a hurry to get anywhere most of the time and the interactions with people, places, tastes and smells will be so much more interesting on the ground rather than in the air. Airplane trips will be necessary for longer range, intercontinental journeys such as Asia to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania or Africa to the Middle East, etc. When there are large land masses to travel over and where those land masses are difficult to travel overland on (Afghanistan, Iraq, Northern and Western Africa, etc.) air travel will be a necessity. Another thing to consider when taking short flights in some countries is aviation safety – few countries have the safety regulations that we take for granted in the US. It would still be awfully bad luck (statistically) to be in a plane crash though.

One final transportation thought, or I’ll call it a goal for the trip: I don’t plan on being a driver of a car (motorcycle – yes, car – no) during my entire trip. The last time I drive a car before returning home will be Saturday, December 19th!

A friend of mine, David Gignac, gave me some great advice in a recent e-mail “Remember – getting to a place is half the fun”. I like that attitude and look forward to the challenges of getting around and traveling in non-english speaking places.

I plan to live quite simply on this adventure. Hostels and guesthouses will be my primary lodging choices. They will be great places to meet fellow travelers, to exchange stories, get advice and make friends. I don’t plan on staying in dorm-style rooms, most of the time I’ll have my own room en-suite or with a shared toilet (a compromise to age). The relative comfort and quality of my various lodgings will vary greatly, I’m sure. But that’s okay, in fact, it’s what I want. The last thing I want to experience on the road is a series of cookie-cutter, Holiday Inn type of lodging.

Finding good places to sleep will be fun. I won’t make many advance reservations unless I am getting into a place late at night. With the help of fellow travelers, guidebooks and even touts, I’ll find good places to stay as I move from place to place. The challenge of doing this alone, in a strange city/town with a backpack is to not settle on a sketchy place for convenience sake. As with other aspects of this trip I will get more comfortable with the process of finding a place to stay as I get more experience.

I now want to discuss some of my fears. Many people have asked me if I’m scared or worried about this trip, especially now that it is so close. I’m not scared but certainly do have some anxiety. Anxiety is caused by the unknown and everything about this trip is an unknown to me. Despite all the planning, reading and thinking, I am heading way outside my comfort zone and this is bound to cause me worry and make me a bit anxious. I know this trip is the right thing for me to do at this point in my life and that keeps the fears to a minimum but here there are, nonetheless:

1. How will I hold up physically? – I have been exercising (inconsistently) over the last year and have lost some weight (from 210 to a current 185). However, my recent exercise regimen has not been good. Living in a hotel since the end of October (when I moved out of my house) and the many going-way parties has not been conducive to good physical fitness. Also, I have a bit of a bad back that really floored me almost a year go (January 2, 2004). That scared the crap out of me as I was in pain and almost immobile for 4-6 weeks. I took many months of mild exercise and chiropractic care for my back to feel normal again. I still don’t have total confidence that my back will hold up to the rigors of travel, hiking, backpacking and sleeping in strange beds but feel that I have done the best I could to get it into shape to take this journey. It’s a risk but I’m okay with that. Also, I’m 41 years old, not old but not young like most of the other independent travelers on the road.

2. Will I be lonely? – Yeah, I imagine there will be times of loneliness. But that’s okay. I plan on staying in hostels and other lower-priced lodgings where I will be more likely to meet fellow travelers. I will be older than many of them but that will be interesting as it will broaden my mind to other perspectives beyond my own – After all isn’t that what traveling is all about? My personality tends toward introversion and a big challenge for me will be to step outside this personality trait in order to engage people. This is one purpose of my trip and one that may be very difficult for me.

3. Will I Be bored? – At times, yes. On long flights, long bus and train rides and waiting in airports or terminals, I will be bored. But these times will be exciting too: If I’m on a plane/bus/train I will likely be going somewhere I’ve never been before, somewhere I’ve only dreamed of going, with many adventures ahead. If I’m stuck somewhere or bored in a place with nothing to do it will still be in a foreign (to me) country and a new experience, culture and people for me to observe and get to know. Plus, I’m a voracious reader and am always comfortable with a book, magazine or newspaper to keep me busy. Also, if I am bored in a place or don’t like where I am, I’ll just move on to somewhere else!!

4. What will I do when this trip is completed? – A big fear and cause of some anxiety because this is fraught with the unknown. Where will I live (I have no home)? Where will I work, who will hire me? Do I want to go back to the same career and lifestyle I am currently running away from? How will I know when this trip is completed? Will I want to go RTW again in the future (probably)? I don’t have answers to any of these questions but am confident that the answers will be an adventure in and of themselves. These unknowns are scary to me but they are part of the reason I am taking this trip, to get some uncertainty in my life.

There will certainly be other fears and anxieties as my travels progress, things like sickness or injury but I’m prepared to deal with them as best as possible and to be flexible in handing situations that I’ve never dealt with before.

This concludes the How portion of this blog and brings to close my Who, What, When, Where, Why and How thought process. I hope these blog entries have been somewhat interesting to you and have given those interested a glimpse into my mind and rationale for undertaking this trip. Writing these words has certainly helped me better understand myself and my motivations. Putting thoughts into words is a great way for me to express myself and a great way for me to clear and clarify my mind.

Thank you for reading this. I hope to make this blog both interesting and entertaining. Please post a comment and let me know your thoughts, observations or counsel. Hearing from readers and knowing I have an audience is a great motivator and will be a great morale booster during down times on the road. Don’t forget to bookmark this site and tell a friend! Please feel free to e-mail me at “JeffMichie at Yahoo Dot Com”

This next pre-trip blog entry is Why as in Why am I doing this?

The previous entries on Who, What, When and Where are about objective things and tangible ideas and seem to be easier to write as they were more fact-based. The Why and How portions of this blog are much more subjective and esoteric and more difficult to write. However, these thoughts get closer to the heart or Purpose of this trip and thus they make up for the relative difficulty in putting these two entries together. Having Purposes for this trip is important to me, they will give the trip more meaning and keep me focused when things get tough. The Purposes will be a topic for a future blog entry.

“I Have Become Comfortably Numb” is one reason why I’m hitting the road. I went into this reference in more detail in my first pre-trip blog entry. I am (was) very comfortable in my life and career and I now want to shake things up a bit (okay – a lot) and challenge myself to get way outside of my comfort zone and do something different.

Due to the significant planning and thought I’ve put into this trip, I am scared not to take it now. That may seem kinda stupid but it is part of what drives me. I had a thought a few months ago about what I would feel if I (for any reason) did not take this trip. This thought made my blood go cold and I knew not going would be the wrong decision. I have a lot of confidence and trust in my gut feelings and I use my “gut” to help me know if a decision is right or wrong. It’s only through experience that I’ve learned to trust my feelings. I’ve made too many wrong decisions in my life and I know how those decisions have made me feel. I think I have a heightened sense of right and wrong, these two words of course being subjective and defined by upbringing, learned morals and, unfortunately, the media. Anyway, I seem to know when I make a good, or right, decision and vice versa.

Taking this trip, going around the world and all that this entails is the right decision and that is Why I am doing this. When I wrote this I smiled and felt good, giving me some reassurance over the doubts that occasionally creep into my mind.

Why does someone in his early 40’s with a great career at an excellent company, good friends and a house on a golf course in beautiful Southeast Indiana throw it all away for a vague plan to travel? There are so many downsides to doing this! I’ll deal with (and write about) the downsides in the How entry but I am focused on the many, many upsides and positives this trip will bring to my life.

Let’s think about the upsides or positives.

Sometimes I think too logically and try to break down complex thoughts and reasoning into smaller bits to help me explain and help readers understand what I am trying to get across. This definitely helps when writing a business memo and may help me organize my thoughts on this blog. I really don’t want this blog to sound like a memo or position paper I would write at work, I want it to be a free-flowing expression of my thoughts, ideas and observations. It will be my challenge to combine the science of memo writing with the art of interesting blog writing and I imagine that my style will ultimately be some combination of the two. Once again, I digress, now back to the logical sequencing of the positives or upsides: I want to break these down into three parts:

1. Opportunity
2. Means
3. Ability

The opportunity to travel and see parts of the world I’ve only read about is so exciting. I read a quote once that goes something like “Life is a book and those who don’t travel live only a few chapters”. I don’t think I got it exactly right and I don’t want to sound egotistical in that I will lead a better life than those who don’t travel because that’s not true and I don’t feel that way. Many of my friends and co-workers have said they would like to do what I am planning and I really appreciate their thoughts and kudos but I also admire their lives, being settled in a good, comfortable life and community with family and kids – that is a life to admire. For many different reasons the path of my life has not included a wife and children or much continuity in setting down roots in any one place. This gives me the opportunity to so something like this, to explore other parts of the world and see what I am missing in this book of life. I sometimes think that planning and taking this trip is in God’s plan for my life and that I am meant to do what I am going to do.

I have the means to undertake a traveling plan of this magnitude. I have been very fortunate in my career to make decent money and to save a bit of it over the years. A couple of good investments have also helped and have, for the most part, made up for some of the poorer investment decisions I’ve made. The stock market is a great gamble and I appreciate gambling in all its forms but being a disciplined investor in both bear and bull markets over the last 10 years has paid off. I think it was Benjamin Franklin who extolled the benefits of compound interest and he is right in that philosophy. Also, don’t overlook the benefits of dollar-cost-averaging in investing for the long term. A disciplined approach of buying mutual funds for a set amount of money once or twice a month regardless of share price is a great mechanism for saving money and growing your net worth. I think I sound like Suze Orman but it is good advice. What this really means is that I have the means to quit my job, travel around the world in virtually any style I chose (although I will be a budget traveler) and be able to come back to the real world (if I so chose) and take my time to decide where, and for whom, I want to work in the future.

The ability to travel… What does that mean? To me it means physical and mental ability. I’m in decent shape for a guy my age. I won’t be climbing Mount Everest or walking across the Gobi Desert but I may climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and walk the Galilee. I will need to understand and respect my physical limitations and will learn as I go what I can’t (or shouldn’t) do and what I can do. Injury and/or illness are a big deal and a real risk and I respect these risks. I am particularly concerned about my back and my history of back pain – more on that later. The mental aspects of long-term travel are real and need to be thought out and dealt with as much as possible prior to heading out. There are so many things about long-term travel that can’t be anticipated and that will hit me by surprise, both good and bad, that I need to be mentally prepared to deal with. By definition, the unanticipated can’t be anticipated with a series of thought out responses. Mental preparation comes from research and good, old fashioned reading. There are so many great resources in the bookstores and on the internet that information overload becomes a concern but through these resources can come a comfort and partial understanding about what I may face on the road. The best resource for me has been http://www.bootsnall.com (this host site) with its Member Forum and other blogs. The people who contribute to this site, who run the site and the writers of the blogs have been a great inspiration to me and have helped prepare me mentally for this trip. I feel strongly that I am physically and mentally prepared for this journey and I will report back to this blog and my dear readers over time to see if this is true.

To bring this WHY blog entry to a close, I wonder if I have sufficiently explained to you the reasons why I am doing what I am doing? It is very clear in my mind that what I am doing is the right thing to do for me but I don’t always have it in my mind in an organized way to properly explain it to people I know and love and to those who stumble onto this site who have no idea who I am.

I am going on this trip, this adventure for the reasons explained above and for this simple reason: I WANT TO!
I’m excited and I can’t wait to go. Writing this journal, this blog only feeds the fire of anticipation and makes me think of all the wonderful and fun adventures of the future.

Thank you for reading this. I hope to make this blog both interesting and entertaining. Please post a comment and let me know your thoughts, observations or counsel. Hearing from readers and knowing I have an audience is a great motivator and will be a great morale booster during down times on the road. Don’t forget to bookmark this site and tell a friend! Please feel free to e-mail me at “JeffMichie at Yahoo Dot Com”

WHEN am I going and WHERE am I going?

When and where, ah the heart of the plan and the basis of the adventure.
1. When am I leaving?
2. When will I go to different places?
3. Where will I go?

When am I leaving? – Here is my plan, such as it is: My last day at work is December 3, 2004, I am flying from Cincinnati to Reno, Nevada on December 6th to visit my Mom in Lake Tahoe. It’s the right thing to do to visit your Mom before you go overseas for a long period of time and attempt to reassure her that you know what you are doing (probably a stretch) and that you are going to be safe (there are many risks on the road and taking some risks is one of the reasons I am traveling – but there are risks everywhere in life, even in a Comfortably Numb life, but I will try to convince her that I will be safe) plus I want to see her and spend some time at her home in Tahoe and hopefully see some snow in the beautiful Sierra Nevada’s.

I’ll be in Tahoe for a week, fly back to Cincinnati, pick up my car and drive south to Horn Lake, Mississippi (just south of Memphis, Tennessee) to stay with my brother Andy and his wife Amanda for a few days. Then on Sunday, December 19th I get on a plane in Memphis with my one-way ticket to Bangkok, Thailand.

Unfortunately, I likely won’t be able to visit my brother Matt and his girlfriend Kristy who currently live in Colorado and I may not see my older brother Stewart who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. I’m particularly bummed that I won’t be able to attend a graduation party for Stewart on December 18th, you see he is graduating from the University of San Francisco with a degree in Information Systems. What a great accomplishment, I am very impressed, Way to Go Stewart!!!

My flight to Bangkok will be fun and long. Fortunately I was able to use some frequent flyer miles to upgrade the entire trip to first class. Ah, the luxury of wide seats, better food and service and all the alcohol I can drink. I’ve never been on this long of a flight and I suppose I need to stay sober, stay hydrated and think about jet-lag so maybe I won’t drink too much, but then… I can always drink a lot of water as well as tanqueray and tonics plus who really cares about jet-lag, I don’t have to worry about losing a day or two to grogginess – I have plenty of time in front of me. So, I’ll just enjoy myself on the planes.

My flight itinerary is on Northwest Airlines: Memphis to Detroit – 2 hours, a 1 hour layover in Detroit; then Detroit to Tokyo – 14 hours in a 747-400 jumbo jet where I get to sit in the upper-level first class section, I’ve always wanted to sit on the upper deck of a 747, now I get to. I have a 2-hour layover in Tokyo and then it’s short little hop down to Bangkok, another 7 hours. I arrive in Bangkok (BKK) at 11:50 PM on December 20th, local time, 26 hours after I boarded my original flight in Memphis. I’ll need to figure out the time difference Bangkok and various time zones in the U.S., I think Bangkok is 12 hours ahead of eastern standard time (EST) but I get confused since I am traveling East to West where it’s earlier but then I’m crossing the International Date Line… so, I get confused but I’ll figure it out when it becomes necessary.

Since I get into BKK rather late local time and by the time it will take to clear customs and change some dollars into Baht, I’ll likely need to take a taxi (rather than the bus) to the Suk11 hotel. The Suk11 comes highly recommended by a number of BootsnAll members and I hope to meet up with a few Boots travelers while staying there. I plan on staying at the Suk for about a week, which will include Christmas, that will probably feel weird – Christmas in Bangkok! Spending 7 or so days in Bangkok seems like the right thing to do, overcome any jet-lag (especially if I have a few drinks on the flights in), get used to being on the road and spending a few days in the traveler and backpacker-friendly confines of Bangkok. Bangkok is a great cross-road in Asia and a place I will likely return to often as I traverse SE Asia.

After Bangkok I plan to travel north to Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai is the second largest city in Thailand (after Bangkok) and is in the northern part of the country. From what I have read and heard, Chiang Mai is much more laid back than Bangkok and much less intense. It will still have lots of travelers, backpackers and tourists as this time of the year is high season for tourists (and travelers and backpackers) in Thailand but that’s cool. My plan is to spend 2 or 3 weeks in Chiang Mai taking Yoga classes. I really want to learn the mental, physical and spiritual components of yoga. I believe it will help strengthen me for the places I will go to next. I have no real experience with yoga and don’t know quite what to expect but plan on doing some research prior to getting there. This also means I will be spending New Years Eve in Northern Thailand – that will be fun and interesting!

After Chiang Mai I have no definitive plans at this time.

The exciting and uncertain part of this journey is deciding where I want to go and when I want to be there. As Paul Otteson says in his awesome and inspiring book “The World Awaits: How to Travel Far and Well” – YOU CAN’T SEE IT ALL. This simple phrase will be a mantra for my trip. There are so many cool, beautiful, fun and interesting places in this world that even a year+ of flexible, independent traveling will not come even close to allowing me to see everything I want to see. I really would love to go to Antarctica but probably won’t this time!

Not having any definitive plans or itineraries past Chiang Mai is a purposeful decision. I will be flexible and open to possibilities as they are presented and as my imagination allows. Having said that, some of the places and countries I want visit include: China, a huge country but particular interests there are southeastern China, Shanghai, the rougher northwest part of the country – away from other travelers, Macao and maybe Hong Kong. I want to visit Cambodia, particularly the temples of Angkor Wat, near Siem Reap and possibly Phnom Penh, it’s likely that I’ll hit Cambodia after Thailand.

Weather will be an important factor as I decide where and when to travel. As a general rule places close to the equator are temperate and comfortable year-round, in the northern hemisphere it is best to travel north as the year progresses into April through September and be further south in the winter months. Of course, everything is the opposite in the southern hemisphere (I’m looking forward to seeing the counter-clockwise flushing of the toilets when I head south of the equator!). Avoiding the Monsoon and the sweltering heat and humidity of SE Asia in the summertime will also influence my decisions.

Bangkok is roughly 13 degrees north of the equator and thus quite warm year around. (For comparison sake: roughly the same latitude as northern Venezuela, Nicaragua and Somalia while Cincinnati, Ohio is apx. 39 degrees north while San Diego is about 33 degrees north). This is why high season is December through March, this is when the humidity it less intense.

It really is amazing the percentage of landmass on Earth that is in the southern hemisphere versus the northern hemisphere. My best guess is that than only 20% of the land on our Earth is in the southern hemisphere. I love geography!

Anyway, back to Where I want to travel. While in the general vicinity of Asia, in addition to Thailand, Cambodia and China, I want to go to Laos, Vietnam and possibly India. After Asia I will head to Africa. I love the thought of visiting Africa, it is such a vibrant continent with so many problems and issues. There are many countries in Africa that are quite dangerous at this time so I’ll likely limit myself to the eastern and southern countries including Kenya and Tanzania and possibly Rwanda, Zambia and South Africa. In addition to my desire to see toilets flush counter clockwise, I want to go on Safari. I really want to see the animals of this continent in real life and in their native countries. I want to see the migrations and hang out on the Serengeti. I may even climb Mt. Kilimanjaro while in Tanzania.

I will also go to Israel. This is a definite for me. I have always wanted to visit this country and can’t wait to be in Jerusalem and walk around the Old City. I also want to walk and wander through the Galilee. The politics and emotions of this country are so fascinating to me.

Other countries and places on my radar screen are Egypt, Iran, Eastern Europe, Great Britain, Scotland and Ireland. But remember: “You can’t see it all” so what I don’t see this time I may see next time.

Thank you for reading this. I hope to make this blog both interesting and entertaining. Please post a comment and let me know your thoughts, observations or counsel. Hearing from readers and knowing I have an audience is a great motivator and will be a great morale booster during down times on the road. Don’t forget to bookmark this site and tell a friend! Please feel free to e-mail me at “JeffMichie at Yahoo Dot Com”

Who am I and What am I doing?

In a nutshell, I am Jeff Michie and I am going to spend the next year or so traveling around the world.

Nuff said? Nah, I love to write and I may get a bit long winded at times and at other times I will probably get a little esoteric (especially if I write my blog entries after having a wee drink or two)… So, I gotta provide some more details or this particular blog entry would really suck!

I am combining Who and What because they obviously go together plus I didn’t think I could effectively make them two separate blog entries.

Who am I (I’ll repeat a bit of the previously written info): I’m Jeff Michie, a 41 year old single guy who lived in Lawrenceburg and Rising Sun, Indiana up until December 6, 2004. These two towns are on the Ohio River and are southwest of Cincinnati, Ohio. I’ve lived in this area a little over two years and moved here in order to work at Grand Victoria Casino & Resort in Rising Sun. I was the Director of Finance (CFO) at the casino. I quit my job at Grand Victoria on December 3rd to begin my new life and my adventures. I’ve had a great career in the casino business and have been fortunate to work for some great organizations, work for some smart and caring people and live in some cool areas around the United States.

I’ve reached a point in my career where I am making very good money with very good benefits. I am fortunate to work in an industry that is fun and exciting and that offers opportunities to work in many areas of the U.S. as well as many other parts of the world. I feel that I am a very good CFO. I’ve had excellent mentors in this business, I care about the people that work for me and that I work with and I strive to make the experience we provide our customers a positive one. I’m proud of the work I’ve done and my personal accomplishments and am particularly proud of the many team accomplishments I’ve had the good fortune to be a part of during my years in this business.

Grand Victoria Casino and Resort is a great place to work. The people here are fun, talented and supportive. Most of them really care about doing a great job and helping the business grow. I had a great Assistant (Kacey Hayes) and I am going to miss her alot. I am going to miss a lot of people at Grand Victoria, they are people who are my friends and who have touched my life and touched my heart. Michelle Smith has the best H.R. team I’ve ever worked with (plus she’s a cool chick)! I have great admiration for the management and leadership of this company and this property. The people at Grand Victoria will always be in my mind as I travel and I hope I will maintain relationships with many of them through my adventures and later in life. If any of you guys read this – Make sure you leave comments for me on this blog and/or write me at my e-mail address, I want to know what’s going on and I care!

The reason I am writing about Grand Victoria and my career is to set up a segue into the What portion of the blog, as in What am I planning? or as some have asked me (as I have asked myself:

“Why the fuck are you throwing all this away? It sounds like you have it made”

I have been quite fortunate in life. I love and care about my family (although we don’t talk or see each other as much as we should). I have loved and lost some great women. (You know it really is true – only in retrospect -, that old saying “It is better to have loved and lost than to never to have loved at all”). I have a great career that has enabled me to save a bit of money to finance this trip and its afterlife.

I’ve lived in some beautiful and interesting places, including: San Francisco Bay Area (Danville), San Diego, Lake Tahoe, Northwest Washington State and Mississippi. I’ve traveled a bit in the U.S., been to 39 of the States. I’ve spent time in Mexico and Canada. I spent a couple of long summers in Alaska working in canneries and fisheries – that was long, hard work but good money for a college student in the 1980’s – a great experience. I’ve attended 10 U.S Open Golf Championships (between 1988 and 2000) with my friend Greyson. I’ve been to Scotland twice for golfing adventures with my buddies Greyson, Steve and Scott, these Scotland excursions have been the greatest trips of my life thus far.

But anyway, back to the question of What I am planning? (I will answer the Why part in the next entry). I am trying to stay true to my literary intent and not stepping on future blog entries of When, Where, Why and How…

This is where I really get goose bumps! I am going to travel, I am going to travel around the world, that’s what I am going to do. I have no set itinerary. I’ve sold my house, I’ve paid off my debts, I’ve consolidated all my assets, I’ve quit my job, I’ve put all my stuff in storage, I am loading a backpack with 3 changes of clothes and other various items (more on that later) that will weigh 20-25 lbs and am hitting the road for what I hope will be a year+ of adventure, fun and enlightenment. That is What I am doing.

Thank you for reading this. I hope to make this blog both interesting and entertaining. Please post a comment and let me know your thoughts, observations or counsel. Hearing from readers and knowing I have an audience is a great motivator and will be a great morale booster during down times on the road. Don’t forget to bookmark this site and tell a friend! Please feel free to e-mail me at “JeffMichie at Yahoo Dot Com”

“I Have Become Comfortably Numb”: Most of you will recognize this quote as a song title by Pink Floyd. It’s a great song and a classic but it also describes one of the main reasons that I am doing what I am doing. What am I doing? Well, as the title to this blog attests, I am going ‘Round the World (RTW)!!!

When I write that I am going Around the World it gives me goose bumps and makes my heart beat a little faster, kinda like the feeling you get when you see or hear from someone you love (or want to love!). Anyway, I have a very loose plan to travel the world and:
· See places I’ve only dreamed of seeing
· Hear sounds and people that are completely foreign to me
· Smell smells that would likely repulse me at home
· Taste foods that I would never have thought I’d have the courage to try
· Touch things that maybe shouldn’t be touched (although I will “No Touch Monkey” – a plug for Ayun Halliday’s great travel book that is both humorous and encouraging)

Being “Comfortably Numb” is not always a bad thing and I really think that many, many people go through life feeling like this (whether they realize it or not). I could easily continue along my same path of life and live a comfortable, if unexciting, life but for one very good reason: I DON’T WANT TO! One of my greatest fears in life is to look back at my life in my later years and have regrets about things I should have done and wanted to do but chose not to do. I have wanted to travel and see the world since I was a teenager and now I am going to do it. I will talk about some of my other fears and motivators as this blog goes along, maybe it will serve as a psychological catharsis for me as I put my thoughts, dreams and fears down as paper along with my observations.

The purpose of this blog is threefold:
1. Memorialize this adventure so that when I’m too old to travel I can look back and reminisce about all the exciting and stupid things that I did
2. Communicate with family and friends and hopefully entertain my readers at the same time
3. Because I made a commitment to #’s 1 & 2, above it will force me to keep disciplined in writing and updating this blog – Lame, I know but often in life when there is no accountability things fall along the wayside and don’t get done

Some may be asking themselves after reading the title to my blog: What does Jeff mean in saying his mid life crisis goes RTW? (Assuming of course that anyone other than my Mom will even care to read my ramblings). I suppose a brief introduction is in order, my name is Jeff Michie and I am a 41 year old single guy currently living in Rising Sun, Indiana. Rising Sun is a great, little, friendly, midwestern town along the banks of the Ohio River and is about 45 minutes southwest of Cincinnati, Ohio. I have quit my job, sold my house, paid off all my debts, got rid of most of my stuff and put the rest in storage, found a good home for my Kitties (Kramer and Pumpkin) with my friend Linda, put my career on hold and am going to travel around for the next year or so. The following blog entries will go into greater detail on some of this stuff.

Is this a mid-life crisis? I don’t know since I have never had one before. When men in their 40’s have such a crisis don’t they generally buy a sports car and/or date (marry?) a young woman in her 20’s? While that certainly sounds appealing, I wouldn’t mind having a convertible Porsche with a young blonde (or brunette or redhead) sitting beside me as we drive along curvy country roads. But I digress, that Porsche and blonde thing can wait until (if?) I get back – only one mid-life crisis as a time! Is this a crisis, am I nuts or am I just a guy trying to live out a dream? Maybe all three and if this blog does its trick then maybe somewhere along the road of this adventure the answer will become clear to me.

I really believe that this trip is a combination of a guy following a dream and a spiritual path that is being placed before him. I hope to explore the spiritual aspect of the world’s people to help me understand viewpoints vastly different than those that I have heard through the biased media. (Where did this paragraph come from?)

The next few blog entries will be in the form of a more detailed introduction. I am going to use the time-honored literary method of Who, What When, Where, Why and How as a basis for this introduction, to set some background and to let the reader know a little bit more about me before I get on the road. I'm going to attempt to combine Who with What and When with Where and keep Why and How separate. I think that sound like an Abbott and Costello routine.

Thank you for reading this. I hope to make this blog both interesting and entertaining. Please post a comment and let me know your thoughts, observations or counsel. Hearing from readers and knowing I have an audience is a great motivator and will be a great morale booster during down times on the road. Don’t forget to bookmark this site and tell a friend! Please feel free to e-mail me at “JeffMichie at Yahoo Dot Com”

My name is Jeff Michie, I am a 41 year old single guy currently living in Rising Sun, Indiana. I have quit my job, sold my house, got rid of all my stuff, packed my backpack and am embarking on a year+ long journey 'round the world as a budget and independent traveler.

I will begin my travels in Bangkok on December 20th when my one-way plane ticket delivers me to this fun and exciting cross-roads of SE Asia. Where I go from there, who knows??

This is a brief bio as my future blog entries will give much more detail on who I am and what my plans are.

I am really looking forward to this journey and year of focusing my life on traveling. This blog will be an important part of my life while I'm on the road as it will be a means of communicating with family and friends and will give me a life-long written memory of this chapter in my life.

Please read on!

Thank you for reading this. I hope to make this blog both interesting and entertaining. Please post a comment and let me know your thoughts, observations or counsel. Hearing from readers and knowing I have an audience is a great motivator and will be a great morale booster during down times on the road. Don't forget to bookmark this site and tell a friend! Please feel free to e-mail me at "JeffMichie at Yahoo Dot Com"