BootsnAll Travel Network



I finished!!!

June 18th, 2006

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One of the mantras of the independent traveler is “No Expectations.” It was with this in mind that I ran in and finished my second marathon. This time it was the Phuket International Marathon in Phuket, Thailand. It was a pitiful performance to say the least, but considering I’ve only ran 4-5 times since I left the U.S., and never longer than 3 miles, finishing was definitely an accomplishment. I crossed the finish line in 5 hours and 50 minutes, or over an hour and a half slower than the Portland Marathon last fall.

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Paradise Found

June 17th, 2006

As with most things, you get what you pay for, and paradise doesn’t come cheap. But it does go on sale every once in a while. I’m now staying at Bangtao Beach, on the northwest coast of Phuket. The Bangtao Beach Resort is part of the Best Western chain, and was one of the recommended hotels for the Phuket Marathon. It’s expensive by backpacker’s standards, but at $45 USD a night it’s still a steal. And I figured since I’m running a marathon this weekend, the least I could do is reward myself with air conditioning and a comfortable king-size bed. Along with the great room, the resort also has two pools, a spa, a great outdoor restaurant, and is about 20 meters from the beach.

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People unclear on the concept…

June 15th, 2006

I went for another run this morning, this time to the top of Phuket Hill. On the way back down the hill as I was heading back into town, a taxi driver actually honked at me. There I was, wearing nothing but shoes, shorts, and a watch, and this guy thought I might need a lift. I guess I did look like I was in a hurry…

Anyway, less than 72 hours until the marathon. I hope I make it. 🙂

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The other side of the tracks

June 7th, 2006

This morning I got up early (first time in a while) and went for a run around Hua Hin. The streets in Asia are narrow, some with sidewalks and some without. And if you find a sidewalk it is probably cluttered with vendors, scooters, and dogs. 🙂 So finding a place to run can be a challenge. The only solution is to pick a time when there’s not much traffic and run down the middle of the street. So that’s exactly what I did.

Aside from the main street in Hua Hin, most of the streets seem to be pretty short. I cobbled together a route that went from my guesthouse up the beach past the fancy resorts, crossing the main road and heading toward the train station where I had arrived into town. There wasn’t much going on at 7:15 in the morning, so the run was pretty easy going. It only took me about 7 minutes to get to the train station, so from there I had to make up the route as I went. I decided to cross the tracks and run toward the hills. Once I crossed the tracks was when I got a taste of the real Thailand. The homes were all quiet and there were much fewer vendors around. Cattle were roaming about, and I passed one bull that was nosing around in the roadside garbage can. The school busses were making their rounds and it looked pretty much like any other small country town. Except for the fact that I was the only westerner around. I did get a couple of curious looks, but for the most part the locals seemed to ignore the beet-faced and sweaty white guy running by. It was vastly different from the touristy beach side of town, with it’s open-air bars, shops, and massage parlors. It was a nice change of scenery. I finished my run back where I started, and walked out to the fishing jetty too cool off. There were several men out on the jetty searching the water for signs of fish, ready to cast out their nets. A couple of boats were launching out sea, and it made for a nice morning.

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Lessons on Life, Vol. 1

June 4th, 2006

After three months of traveling, I’ve come to the conclusion that what makes a trip really worthwhile has very little to do with the places you go, and has everything to do with the people you meet. Sure, I’ve seen and done some really amazing things, but take my time in Taiwan as an example. If you’ve seen one or two temples, you’ve pretty much seen them all. Some are larger and more spectacular than others, but when it comes right down to it, a temple is a temple. And I suppose a pub is a pub too, but the things I’ll remember most are talking with the Taiwanese rockers and playing Liar’s Dice with my new friends who spoke almost no English. Turns out, the things I’m enjoying most while traveling are the are the same things that make me happy when I’m at home: hanging out with my friends, hiking, listening to live music, eating good food, etc. I guess the difference now is that because I’m “on holiday” as they say, I don’t have to worry about making the time to do all these things. So I guess the lesson is, holiday or not, take the time to do the things you enjoy. Try leaving the office on time for once, letting the laundry wait until tomorrow, and enjoying today.

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Scooter craziness, Taiwanese rockers, and more bloody steps…

June 2nd, 2006

Well, I guess it’s been a few weeks since I’ve checked in. I’m in Hua Hin, Thailand right now, about 200Km south of Bangkok on the Gulf Coast. It’s a pretty nice town, very clean and tourist friendly. I came here specifically for the Hua Hin Jazz Festival that is happening this weekend.

I spent much of the last few weeks in Taichung hanging out with Kristen, my friend from Eugene and one of the people I traveled to Borneo with. She’s been living in Taichung and teaching English for the last year. She was awesome enough to let me crash on the floor at her place for two weeks, and it was nice to take a little break from the traveling and chill out in one spot for a while.

The first thing that struck me about Taiwan was that almost everyone drives a scooter. When I arrived in Taichung at 12:00 in the morning, Kristen came and picked me up on her scooter (me and my forty-plus pound pack). The scooters outnumber cars in Taiwan. Several times, I saw an entire family on one scooter: mom, dad, two kids, and some times a dog. It was pretty funny. But given the amount of traffic, it really makes sense, as it is much easier to get around on a scooter, and it’s much easier to park. The scariest thing I saw was the guy driving around with two large propane tanks strapped to the back of his scooter. (Just like most other Asian countries, Taiwan also has a lot of food stalls, and I imagine that all of them use gas stoves to cook on.)

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Mt. Kinabalu Pictures

May 25th, 2006

My pictures from Borneo and Mt. Kinabalu are now up. Visit my photo page to see them.

Gan Pei!

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Welcome to the Jungle!

May 17th, 2006

The week in Borneo was awesome! We really had a great time and packed a lot of stuff into the few days we were there. Our base was Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Sabah. (Sabah is one of the two states in Borneo Malaysia.) Our first order of business on Monday morning was to sort out accommodations for Mt. Kinabalu National Park and our climb up the mountain. Aside from going to Mt. K, we also wanted to go to Poring Hot Springs, and we decided to go to Poring first so we could do the canopy walk there before climbing the mountain the next day. So we booked Monday night at Poring and booked a night on the mountain for Tuesday night. In order to get to Poring, we had to get a bus from Kota Kinabalu up to the National Park and then hire a driver to take us to Poring. By the time we got everything sorted we had just enough time to pick up some groceries, check out of the hotel, and catch a cab to the bus station. Upon arriving at the bus station, we were immediately approached by the touts wanting to take us to the mountain. One guy offered to take us in his taxi for $200 MYR, or about $55 USD. However, we were finally able to find a bus service that would take us there for $10 MYR each. The bus ride took about an hour and a half and was pretty comfortable considering the bumpy roads. Thankfully the bus had A/C, and Kristen and I had the exit row so we had a lot of room to stretch out our legs. The TV on the bus was playing some Chinese war movie, which was pretty entertaining even though I couldn’t understand a single word being said.

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It’s not the heat…

May 7th, 2006

I’m definitely not in Kansas anymore. I left yesterday morning from Darwin for my four and a half hour flight to Singapore. The flight wasn’t very full so I had an entire row to myself and was able to lie down and sleep through most of it. The Changi Airport was very nice and luxurious, with tons of shops, restaurants, internet terminals, etc, so my four-hour layover went very quickly. I was surprised by the fact that getting through customs in both Singapore and Kuala Lumpur was much, much easier than in was in either New Zealand or Australia. It helped that I didn’t have anything to declare (in NZ I had to declare my hiking boots and in OZ I had some food with me), and they barely even looked up at me when they stamped my passport.

One of the first things I noticed in Singapore was the humidity. The second thing was the squatter toilets in the bathroom. Thankfully, there were also “regular” toilets as well. I know I’ll have to deal with the squatters soon enough, but at 8:30 in the morning after a couple of cups of coffee and a four hour flight I didn’t think it was the best time. One of the coolest things about the Changi airport was the indoor orchid garden and Koi pond. I’d never seen anything like that in an airport before. They even had regularly scheduled feedings for the Koi. It was pretty cool.

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Doing Nothing in Darwin

May 5th, 2006

I’m beginning to really like Darwin. For a town of only 120,000 people, there is a lot to do here. I’ve been told that Darwin and Palmerston are the fastest growing cities in Australia and it’s easy to see why.

I spent most of my first two days here doing nothing but lounging around by the pool. But last night I met up with Kellie, a girl I met through Couchsurfing.com. She gave me quick tour of the town and then dropped me off at Mindil Beach. Every Thursday during the dry season is the Mindil Beach Sunset Market, a large open air market with lots of arts and crafts and tons of food. Last night was the opening night of the season and there were thousands of people there.

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