THE ODYSSEY

i’ve managed to retrieve the photos from the hackjob and all is again well in cyberspace…for the time being.

after spending a night on a beat up old rickety local train from bangkok to chumpon, southeastern thailand, and then a 2 hour “fast” ferry (high speed catamaran, for those who are interesting in knowing the details: we cruised along at about 30 or 35 knots), i arrived at 9 am on the island of ko tao in the gulf of thailand 75 KM from land. my neighbors to the south are koh samui and kho phag ngan, the former being a high falootin classy resort type place, notably more expensive than some other islands, and the latter being the host island of the notorious and legendary Full Moon Parties. i may give samui a miss and take a peek at ko phan ngan now that the full mooners are gone and things are back to sane there.

as for ko tao, for 500 baht i’m living for the next who knows how long in a round concrete and bamboo structure, about 6 feet around with a conical roof peaking at about 15 feet, less than 100 feet from the crystal blue/green waters of the gulf of thailand. this particular spot does not suck. the place is called sunset bungalows. my first mistake was transferring from the pier to here via truck from the ferry pier. the road is TERRRRRRIBLE with potholes galore & ups & downs and i sat in the back of the truck that had, thankfully, 4WD. what may have taken about 10 minutes on a good road took about 30 (this island is only 21 KM around, to give you an idea of distance and sunset bungalows are probably about 5-7 KM from the pier). fortunately, the driver was very cautious and i never felt as though i’d be pitched out the back into the jungle, left to fend for myself (good thing i love coconuts if that has been my fate!).
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my shutterfly photo account was hacked somewhere in asia, probably hanoi or possibly phnom penh. last time i put photos up in an internet cafe was in cambodia, so it was sometime between siem reap and my last internet destination, hanoi. i suspect hanoi because you just can’t trust those f**kers with anything. i do take the regular precautions, clearing the histories and cookies and such, after i use these public computers, but occasionally – as i have just learned – those little dillholes get in anyway and wreak havoc on your humble narrator.
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greetings, dear readers, from hanoi. in case you never knew, hanoi rock – so much so that a heavy metal band named themselves this very thing, “hanoi rocks”. hanoi is in northern vietnam. it rained here today, the first rain i’ve seen since the first of february when i was in trinidad and the lights went out.

ahem…let’s go back to leaving luang prabang, shall we? yes let’s. so i caught a laos air flight to bangkok from luang prabang (nice, small, mellow airport not unlike huatulco’s) rather than deal with the treacherously long and winding road back south through laos to thailand or the other way over to cambodia and more, probably worse, roads. before all that happened, however, i have a sweet story to tell about some farm kids in laos, an iPod and a band called belle & sebastian.
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what does one do when one has seen all the deep fried pig heads and feet and frogs to eat in the night market and sampled the lao lao rice whiskey and gazed in amazement at the hand woven silk handicrafts? one goes elephant riding, that’s what one does. so that’s what i did.

i ran through all the regular touristy stuff here in luang prabang, including shopping and haggling and wat viewing and taking in a cultural performance of native song, dance and drama. only thing left, it seems, was to go for the elephant ride. so, i chose an outfit called XL (in association with Tiger Trail) that does sustainable tourism and guarantees that at least 25% of the cost to take tour s goes back into the community supporting the tour, such as the hill tribe villages you visit and/or the elephant care center where they provide the rides and mahout (elephant guides/trainers) training courses.

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sabaidy, dear readers, and greetings from vientiane, laos. we say “lao” over here, not “laoS”. ya gotta drop the “s” if ya want to speak like a native. anyhootie, after a very mellow few days in northern thailand, nong khai to be exact, i’ve arrived in lovely laid back and a little bit loco laos.

my first impression (granted, i’ve only been here for 4 hours so far): good! the folks seem genuinely nice and helpful, and not out to rip me off IMMEDIATELY, unlike in thailand (sorry thailand stokers. this was indeed my burden in thailand, mainly from those tuk tuk drivers. scammers all of them). to its credit, however, thailand does indeed have it’s fare share of wonderfully nice and sincere folks. bangkok was a bit busy and noisy and smoggy for my taste and, since i’m not into shopping, it didn’t have much to keep me there. if i were in the market for silk weavings of any kind, i’d drop big dollars there for sure. gorgeous work they crank out!

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ummm, yeah, i know it’s been awhile since i have updated ye olde blog. it’s taken a bit to get back into the blogging groove and, admittedly, i’m not all the way back in it yet. here is a brief update:

after spending 2 solid days in transit from havana to bangkok, i spent a night and most of yesterday doing rudimentary things like getting acquainted with crazy-go-nuts bangkok, getting ripped off by tuk tuk drivers, indulging in some of the finest nourishment i’ve yet encountered, and the most needed of all (besides cooling off with Tiger Beers), naps. i am jetlagged, still, but starting to get over that now.

in short, i had a wonderful time in trinidad and cuba. both islands had much to offer in the way of culture and history, albeit quite different considering they are only a few islands apart from each other. trinidad is vibrant with an afro-indian feel to it and the food rocks, especially the cheap street food – roti, doubles – that you can find just about anywhere for about $.50 and are filling, spicy and good. did a couple ecotours with my friendly hostess’ son stephen and learned quite a bit about the variety of flora and fauna on the island. good times. after the chaos of carnival and lessons learned in ecology and botany, respectively, i headed out to havana. in between were a couple uneventful days in cancun. this actually didn’t disgust me too much as i expected cancun to (sorry to those who dig cancun. it’s not my cuppa tea, really, with all the walmarts and mcdonalds and megacorporations flooded in from america) and i enjoyed a rather pleasant stay in a small hotel in the center of town near the bus station. i was really anticipating the trip to cuba, though, so was really biding my time there. arrived in havana and got to my casa particular relatively easily. my host, raul, had been recommended to me by friends who’d gone there years earlier and he did not disappoint in the least. nice, clean, friendly place in stunningly beautiful vedado. did the whole town in 3 days, walked miles and miles through all those streets, snapped all those pictures, ate all those chickens and beans and rice, and sipped down easily all those mojitos. my only regret is that i didn’t have enough time to explore all of cuba. three days was far too short a time, but at least i got a little nugget.
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i’ve booked the lodging and festivities package for Carnival in Trinidad, my first stop. i’m really psyched to get there and slather on the sunscreen. not so excited about slathering on mosquito repellent at the same time, but i reckon it’s pretty necessary.
anyway, i’ve tried to upload a picture of the costume i’m going to be wearing during the 3 days or whatever it is of Carnival. watch out Trini fellas!!! VA VA VOOOOM! i’m ready to do some SERIOUS liming.

the one i’m having made is the one second from left but with a smaller head dress as i’m really unsure about winin’, chippin’ and drinking all at the same time with a gigantic fan of feathers on my head. of course, i’ll look JUST like the model too. 🙂

my departure is a mere three and a half weeks away today. i have managed to avoid going back to work for nearly one week now and am just waiting to resolve a few final details there.

here is the list of preparations over the course of the last month or so:
1. packed up all clothes but what i’ll use on the road and for the time being before i go (which amounts to a couple pairs of pants, shoes, socks, unmentionables, shirts, sweaters, jackets for rain and dry)
2. dropped off car at parents’ house for safekeeping
3. survived the holidays with minimal stress
4. arranged to sublet condo through property manager
5. arranged a mover and storage space for my belongings
6. got all immunizations (SF adult immunization travel clinic – recommended), including shots for tetanus, polio, flu and yellow fever (those hurt like hell). then i received in pill dosage azithromycin for Delhi belly (The Trots/travelers diarrhoea), mefloquine for malaria and vivotif for typhoid. i declined rabies shots due to the expense and probability that i won’t encounter many mangy, rabid creatures along the way any more so than i encounter them at home.
7. arranged for a friend to take care of my pets next year. this was a big worry but i think it’s going to be fine.
8. purchased the gear
9. reviewed the Travel Insurance Policy (mine is with World Nomads)
10. set up auto pay for remaining accounts (phone land line, cell phone, utilities)
11. canceled US health insurance policy and registered the car non-op
12. canceled subscriptions to magazines
13. signed up for couch surfing services at Couchsurfing.com
14. consulted with friends who’ve been to where i’m going and gotten many, many good tips Read the rest of this entry »

PORT OF SPAIN, TRINIDAD February 1, 2008-February 11, 2008 11 days Carnival

CANCUN, MEXICO February 11, 2008-February 12, 2008 1 day

HAVANA, CUBA February 12, 2008-February 16, 2008 4 days

CANCUN, MEXICO/LA USA February 16, 2008-February 16, 2008 1 travel day

LOS ANGELES TO HONG KONG February 16, 2008-February 18, 2008 2 travel days

HONG KONG TO BANGKOK February 18, 2008-May 13, 2008 3 months in Southeast Asia

BANGKOK TO QATAR May 13, 2008-May 14, 2008 1/2 day travel day

QATAR TO ISTANBUL May 14, 2008-May 29, 2008 2 weeks in Turkey and Greece

ATHENS TO LONDON May 29, 2008-June 13, 2008 2 weeks in England/Scotland

LONDON TO MILAN TO CAIRO June 13, 2008 June 13, 2008 1 travel day
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well, i have purchased my flights through to india in august. apparently, you can’t book flights more than about 6-8 months out, so i’ve got as many flights booked as i could get.
i’m told i can book the rest of the flights anytime from the road through my travel agent. UPDATE 12/14/07: NICO AT AIRTREKS, YOU ARE A GENIUS! to anyone reading this, i would HIGHLY recommend consulting the fine folks over at Airtreks when planning your travels especially if they’re complicated with lots of pesky details like what is involved in Around-The-World planning and ticketing.
now that the tickets have been bought, there really is no turning back. my emotions are mixed. i’m about 10% anxious and 90% STOKED!
oh, also, i’ve eliminated south america from this itinerary. south america is a HUGE continent and there’s so much to see there. i decided that my focus will be on those countries further and more remote from my home for this trip. sometime in the future i would like to explore south america – machu picchu, the galapagos, easter island, the amazon, and beyond – for an extended period of time and feel that the continent deserves much time for exploration and focus on its own.