This is a Long ONe

Hue

The bus ride from Hoi Ann to Hue was a scenic four hour journey along curving roads and rolling hills. We arrived in Hue around 6:00pm and it was rainy and cold. We quickly found one of the first hotels we saw and just chilled for the rest of the night. The next day I took a one day tour of the city while Omer stayed back. I ended up being on the same tour as Luc, the Australian I met in Mui Ne with Omer. It was another rainy and cold day but the tour was well worth it. We went to the Citadel, which was built by Emperor Gia Long in the 1800’s. It was used as shelter during the Vietnam War when the French and American’s bombed it destroying much of it. We also went to visit some tombs and pagodas as well. The tombs are in the middle of nature and are quite peaceful. It certainly makes a great place for a final resting spot. The best part of the tour was our guide, however. He had a wealth of knowledge and information on all the attractions and Vietnamese history that it really added a lot. At one point he even corrected another tour guide who had given a piece of misinformation. If I had visited these sites on my own, I wouldn’t have gotten close to the same amount out of it. Sometimes a guide can make a lot of difference, unfortunately many times you don’t get a great one or can’t understand them but this was one of the better ones I’ve had.
On our second and final day in Hue, Omer and I just walked around exploring the city for a few hours. We were on our way back to our hotel when we ran into a couple motorbike drivers that started talking to us. They asked us if we wanted to go with them to have some beers and talk politics. It sounded a little sketchy but I was intrigued and convinced Omer to go as well. This was either going to turn out really bad or good. We each went with a different driver on the motorbike and they took us to a local beer place. We had a beer and they started telling us about Vietnam and the war and such. One of them had relatives in America and one was imprisoned at the re-education camps during/after the war. It was actually an interesting conversation and we learned a lot. After a while they asked us if we wanted to go see Ho Chi Minh’s house. He lived in Hue for a few years when he was a kid. Again we were skeptical but decided to go ahead. We only had a few hours because we were catching a bus that evening to Hanoi. They took us to his house, which was a simple and basic Vietnamese house, and to a neighboring museum next door (if you can call it that). A local man had to open the lock on it and inside were just a bunch of pictures of Ho Chi Minh with his family and others. After visiting the museum the motorbike drivers asked us if we wanted to drive through the real Vietnamese countryside. We didn’t have much time but agreed anyway. I’m glad we did because this ended up being my highlight of Hue. We rode through local villages and wet rice patties. We really got to see typical Vietnamese life up close and personal and it was surreal. We passed water buffalo laying around, kids playing, and women working in the fields. It was really amazing. The drivers drove us back to our hotel and then asked us for money for showing us around. Now I knew they were going to ask for money because they weren’t just taking us to all these places out of the goodness of their heart but it still felt like we were getting taken. We gave them half of what they asked for and walked away. For only a couple dollars each it was definitely worth the experience but we learned a valuable lesson that nothing is for free and cost should always be discussed first. We got back just in time to catch the 12 hour bus to Hanoi.

Hanoi
We decided to take regular sitting bus this time and not a sleeper bus because the last sleeper bus was not the greatest experience. This bus ride wasn’t that much better. Terrible and loud Vietnamese music was playing during the whole trip making it impossible to sleep. After more than 12 grueling hours we made it to Hanoi. We walked around for over an hour looking for a decently priced room and finally ended up settling on something for $8 together. The room was a shithole but it was the cheapest we could find, accommodation in Hanoi is expensive. I immediately proceeded to clog the toilet and some poor Vietnamese man had to come up and fix it. We passed out for a few hours and for the rest of the day just wandered around the city. The old quarter of Hanoi is centered around a lake and it makes for a very beautiful and romantic spot. At night you see nothing but couples hanging out together around the lake. There is also a temple on the lake that looks really cool lit up at night. Another highlight of Hanoi is all of the Bia Hoy’s around. Bia means beer and Hoy is like draft. It’s basically the cheapest place to drink as you can get a glass of beer for something like 25 cents each. The bad thing about Hanoi is that everywhere shuts down at midnight. It is hard to find a bi ahoy or bar that is open past then. The second day in Hanoi I wanted to see the Ho Chi Minh Masoleum and Museum. We got up around 10:00 though and the Masoleum closes at 11:00 so we were frantically trying to find a motorbike taxi to take us there. All throughout Vietnam you are constantly harassed by these motorbike drivers that just come up to you and say “moto-bike, moto-bike, where yo go? You want moto-bike” yet the one time I actually need one there is not one to be found. So we settle on a cyclo who pedals frantically trying to get us there by 11:00. We make to the grounds at about ten to 11:00 and we run to try to get to the Masoleum but we go the wrong way and by the time we find it, it is closed. If we had just gone the right way we would have made it. I guess it didn’t really matter much though because Ho Chi Minh’s body wasn’t even there. For three months of every year his body gets sent to Russia for cleaning and upkeep. So we didn’t make it to the Masoleum but we did go inside the Museum, which was pretty interesting. Ho Chi Minh or Uncle Ho as he is still affectionately called certainly was and still is a hero to many in Vietnam. He was a very smart man and even used the same words from the American Declaration of Independence to try to get America to recognize Vietnam as a sovereign nation. One thing that did go right though was that after about a week of wet and cold weather the rain stopped and the sun came out. It would not rain again for the remainder of my stay in Vietnam which was perfect timing because I was going to Halong Bay the next day. After the museum we finally found a motorbike driver and hired him for $8 for the rest of the day. He took us to all the main attractions in Hanoi including the Ethonology Museum, Temple of Literature, B-52 Museum in which we were the only two people there and also the Hoa Lo Prison Museum (this was the prison where John McCain was a POW in Vietnam). The prison was especially interesting as there were very propagandist videos playing showing how well American POW’s were treated. That night we found a pizza place that had an all you can eat buffet which included pizza, pasta, rice, ribs, and some other local dishes. Me and buffet’s don’t go well together and I ate so much that I literally had trouble moving afterwards. It was nice to have some decent pizza and pasta but I completely overdid it. After that I went straight to bed.

Halong Bay
The next day we started a 3 day tour of Halong Bay. We took an extremely overcrowded bus for four hours to Haiphong and then boarded a junk boat. Omer and I paid $43 for the 3 day trip which was about the cheapest anyone paid. Somehow we got upgraded to the luxury boat where everyone else was paying $100 or more. Our guide pulled us aside and told us not to tell anybody how much we paid and we happily obliged. The boat was nice and relaxing and Halong Bay was beautiful. There are over 3,000 islands and they are everywhere. We first went to a cave, which is one of the top attractions of Halong Bay. The cave was pretty cool but after seeing the caves in Borneo, it didn’t excite me that much. After the cave we had a chance to do some kayaking in the bay, which was really cool. I can’t imagine a more beautiful place to kayak in, and the weather was perfect. It was sunny the whole time. Halong Bay is actually one of 28 finalists for the new 7 natural wonders of the world. After kayaking we set up anchor for the night and just relaxed on the boat. It was really nice being and sleeping on a boat/ship again and really made me miss Semester at Sea. It’s just so nice and soothing sleeping on the ocean. The rest of the group was made up of mostly older people so Omer and I just watched a movie and went to bed. The next day Omer, I, a Finnish guy, and 2 New Zelander girls left the rest of the group as they were only on a 1 day trip and met up with another one. We took a boat to Cat Ba, which is an island in the bay and went trekking at Cat Ba National Park. At the top of the mountain the Vietnamese somehow built an overlook platform, which contained great views of the valley below. After the trek we took a bus back to the hotel we were staying at for the evening. After eating some lunch we took a boat to “monkey island” which is supposed to be a secluded beautiful island that has monkeys on it. Sure enough we were welcomed by a group of monkeys eager to steal anything they could get their hands on. At one point a monkey had grabbed on to one guy’s pants without him noticing and he had to struggle to break free of the monkey’s grasp. They are cute creatures but don’t be fooled they will come after you and can be dangerous. Monkey island was quite small and we found a path so we decided to follow it to the other side of the island. After about 25 minutes going over steep and sharp rocks we reached what can only be described as paradise. There were bungalows on the other side with a nice beach and no monkeys. We jumped into the water and were having a great time when the owner of the bungalows came running out and told us it was a private beach and we had to leave. So we had to get out of the water and hike back to the other side of the beach after only spending about five minutes there. Those five minutes were worth it though as it was an amazing place. We went back to the other side of the island and hung out for a little while longer before our boat took us back to Cat Ba and our hotel. The rest of the day we just walked around Cat Ba and relaxed.
The next morning we got back on the boat and headed back to Haiphong where we had lunch. We had to wait for a while for our bus to arrive so our group of five, Omer, the Fin, Kiwis, and myself found a bia hoy place and started drinking. Before we knew it we were kind of drunk just in time for our bus to arrive. The rest of the bus must have hated us because we had to stop three times on the way back to go to the bathroom.

Hanoi
We made it back to Hanoi that evening found a hotel and passed out for a couple hours. We had previously bought tickets to a water puppet performance that night so we woke up from our slumber and made it to the show. It was actually very cool, the puppet masters are behind a curtain and have these puppets on poles that you can’t see and are unbelievably coordinated. The puppets dance and prance around in the water while traditional Vietnamese music is played with it. After the water puppet show we met up with 2 girls who Omer had met previously in Cambodia and hung out with them for a little while.
The next day we didn’t have really much to do and just needed to kill time before our night bus left for Sapa at around 6:00. So we just wandered around the city some more. The nigh bus to Sapa was quite the experience though. First we got in a minivan who then picked up 6 more tourists and then drove us to a travel agency. From the travel agency we got our stuff and got in another minivan that took us to another van that we transferred into and just when we thought we could get comfortable the minivan took us to a bus that said Sapa on it. Finally we got on the bus that was actually taking us to Sapa and didn’t make it out of Hanoi till about 9:00pm. Once again we took a sitting bus but after watching a couple of movies I was actually able to get some sleep. We got to Sapa around 7:00am. Sapa is unlike the rest of Vietnam. It is up in the mountains and the majority of locals there are hill tribe people mainly consisting of the Hmong tribe. Another thing about Sapa is that it was cold. You could actually see your breath it was so cold. It is a beautiful town though. It is small and quaint. The whole town basically consists of a market selling fake north faces and the local Hmong’s selling local clothes and a row of guesthouses/hotels and restaurants. There are numerous villages surrounding the town and the best thing to do is go on a trek. The first day there we didn’t really do much just walked around the town and I bought some jackets to send home. Even though they are fake the quality is still pretty good and I paid about $40 for two northface jackets and a fleece that would have cost me about $500 for the real thing back home. The next day we rented a motorbike and just drove around the whole area. We drove through local villages and took winding roads overlooking cliffs. It was absolutely amazing scenery but a little scary at the same time. The only bad thing was that the whole area was covered in fog so you couldn’t see that much but what you did see was still beautiful. Then we drove to a waterfall that was pretty nice and hung out there for a little while. There were some locals selling tea and bbq meat, potato and like a bamboo cylinder with rice inside that they heat over the fire and out comes blocks of sticky rice. We got some food and heated up by the fire. After the waterfall Omer couldn’t handle the cold anymore so I dropped him off at the hotel and kept on riding to a local village. It is amazing how simple their lives are. The women go into Sapa town to try and sell their hand woven clothing and other things to the tourists many times taking the children with them while the men go into the mountains to hunt animals or grow crops. Their homes are as basic as they get, just wooden huts centered around a fire. The road to the village was pretty rough and there were a few times where I pretty much had to drive through a few inches of water. The whole time I was just praying that I wouldn’t get a flat tire or do something terribly wrong. One wrong move on the motorbike and you’re going over a cliff. The roads were extremely curvy in addition to rough so it was quite the adventure. I made it back in one piece though and Omer and I went out and had dinner at what had become our local go to restaurant. We were planning on leaving the next day or the day after but then we met two Israeli girls that night at the hotel who were going on a two day trek the next day through local villages and included a homestay at one of them. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go but decided that I would at the last minute. The first day we trekked about 18km just walking from town down a mountain passing different villages along the way. The most interesting part was stopping at a local school and seeing the children in class and singing songs. All of the tribal kids get to go to school for free where there is usually a local teacher from the tribe as well as a Vietnamese teacher. Healthcare and education for these minority tribes are provided by the government. The schools were the nicest buildings in the village probably because they are constructed by the government. At school the kids learn Vietnamese and all the tribes have their own indigenous language. We also got to see some girls put on a dance show in the village which was also a cool site. At about 5:00pm we got to the village where we would be staying that night. They had a makeshift pool table there so the rest of the night we just sat around drinking local rice wine and playing cards and pool. It was someone’s birthday in the group so the locals brought out a special apple rice wine that is only used for special occasions. It was much tastier than the normal rice wine. We had a group of 8 and as always when you are traveling people ask you where you are from. Somehow America came up and a Dutch guy an Australian immediately had bad things to say about America and Americans. When they found out I was American the Dutch guy even said no offense but I don’t like Americans. It’s really amazing how bad a reputation Americans have around the world. Some of it is warranted I guess but it’s easy to be neutral and peaceful when you come from countries like Australia and Holland but we have a huge role in the world and yeah we have made some bad moves but I like to think we have done some great things as well. It made me realize how American I really am. I love football and thanksgiving and even though I travel and am more knowledgeable about the world about most Americans I still have pride in my country. It’s crazy that people can generalize people from a country so much. But Americans certainly do have a different view of the world than the majority of others. Of a country of 300 million people I have met very few Americans on this trip. I do certainly think it would be good if more Americans traveled and saw other places in the world but I also feel the need to defend the so many good American people. Anyways I’ll stop ranting about that. The next morning after breakfast we trekked back to another village for lunch where we had lunch and then took a van back to Sapa. Omer and I met two Australians on the trip one mentioned above who really was a good guy who were on their way to Laos as we were. We figured out we were on the same bus to Dien Ben Phu which is the closest city in Vietnam to the border of Laos the next morning. The four of us got along pretty well and it was cool to have some new people because I was starting to get sick of traveling with Omer. We bickered and fought with each other like brothers and I guess in a way we were. On the rest of our last day in Sapa we met the Australians for dinner, we had some great local bbq on the street, and ended up going to one of the few local pubs for a drink. One drink turned into three and before we knew it, it was midnight. The Australians and Omer went searching for food while I went back to the hotel to get some sleep having no idea what was in store for us during the next three days.

Road to Laos
We woke up in a hazy state to catch a bus to Dien Bien Phu at 9:00. Dien Bien Phu is a town about 28 km from the border with Laos. Getting to Laos would be a two-day trip. The first day was an 8-10 hour bus ride to Dien Bien Phu and then the next morning we could take a bus into Laos. 9:00 came and the bus wasn’t there, then 9:30, 10:00, 10:30 and still no sign of the bus. We asked the people who worked at the guesthouse to please call and find out what was going on. They said the bus was “broken” but not to worry it would be here in half an hour. Well it wasn’t there in half an hour and the same thing continued for the next two hours, we would ask when the bus was going to arrive and they said it would just be another half hour. Finally at 1:00 the bus arrived with the Australians already sitting in it. I should say it was actually more of a minivan and not a bus and I will start calling it as such. The van was already pretty full when it picked us up and I was really hoping that we were going to be the last passengers but the Vietnamese have a great ability to fit as many people, bags, vegetables, chickens, etc… into a small space. Sure enough we picked up a few more locals on the way and just like a Tetris game they made everything fit. We probably had 20 people and just as many bags in a 15 passenger van. It was a little cramped to say the least but I was able to wiggle in some room for my feet and wasn’t in the worst position. The ride was a picturesque yet bumpy ride. Much of the road was unpaved and we were going about 20-30 km per hour for most of it. There were times that we would get stuck trying to go up a hill or over particularly rocky areas and the driver just backed up and tried again gunning the pedal until we made it through. Early in the ride when we stopped for a break, the van would not start and we had to all get out and push it a few meters to get it going and started. We passed through villages and mines and a few times we had to stop for 20 or 30 minutes while bulldozers worked on the road. Lonely Planet said in its 2008 version that this journey should take about 2 or 3 days so the roads must have improved a lot since then because we were able to make it in one. At one two or three hour stretch of the ride we were driving on the edge of a cliff and it was dark at this point as well. I was sure that any second we would go spiraling down to our death. Remarkably at about 10:30 we arrived in Dien Bien Phu. Dien Bien Phu is not much of a town at all with a few guesthouses and restaurants, we quickly found the cheapest guesthouse, which wasn’t really a room but more of a storage closet with 2 beds and passed out.
We had to get up at 4:30 the next morning to catch the 5:00 bus to Mung Khoa, which is the first major city in Laos. Sure enough the 5:00 bus didn’t leave until 6:00 but it was a real bus. I think there were more bags of vegetables than people on it though. A bag of garlic was under my feet as once again the Vietnamese will put things anywhere to make them fit. The whole bus was filled with onions, garlic, chillies, and other local fruits and vegetables that apparently were being transported to Laos. We got to the border without any issues in a few hours. Omer and I already had our visas for Laos, we had gotten them in Hanoi but still had to pay a 7,000 kip administrative fee. Luckily I had exchanged some dong (Vietnamese currency) for kip (Laos currency) with another traveler. I was the only one out of the four of us (Omer and the two Australians) who had any kip so I paid for all them as well. After crossing the border and another three or four hour ride through Lao villages we arrived in Mung Khoa.

Mung Khoa
None of us knew anything about Mung Khoa before we got there, it is not even mentioned in the Lonely Planet SE Asia edition which is all I had at the time. The bus dropped us off at one side of the Nam Ou river and again we had to pay a few kip to cross it, we finally settled on some Thai Baht and got to the other side. There was also a ferry for cars and motorbikes that was literally pushed by a boat to get the 10 meters or so to the other side. We got to the town and tried to figure our next step. It was about 1:00pm at this point. We quickly learned there were no ATM’s in Mung Khoa so the four of us were relying on my about $50 US Dollars worth of Kip until the next town. We sat down for some lunch and met a few other travelers that said there was a bus at 3:00 to Udomaxi, which is a bigger town with an ATM. From there you can catch a bus anywhere. During lunch we also met two Israeli guys who had just arrived from a 9 day canoe trip. They had bought a canoe at some other town up the Nam Ou River and canoed down to Mung Khoa after two days of practicing and learning from the locals. They would just camp or stay in local villages every night and canoe by day. It sounded like a really amazing experience something out of Into the Wild. We decided that we were going to try to catch the 3:00 bus to Udomaxi so we got into a pick up truck with benches in the back that are used as taxis and went to the bus station which was about 3km away. We got to the station at 2:00 but the bus was already full to Udomaxi and it was the last one of the day. We would have to wait until 8:00 the next morning for the next bus. After we missed the bus we decided we were going to be adventurous that night. We didn’t want to walk the 3km back to town with all our bags so we decided to camp on the banks of the river. There was a pretty steep drop off from the road to the river but we found a place to walk down near the bus station and reached the riverbank. Some kids had followed us and came down to see what these strange falongs (foreigner) were doing. We put on our bathing suits and went in the water for a little while and played with the kids. After that we started to plan things for the night. Tony (one of the Australians) and I were to go to town to find food and Omer and Red (other Australian, so called because of his red hair) were to make a fire. So Tony and I wondered into town where we saw the Israelis again. We offered them to join us and they said they had to sell their canoe first and then they might. We went around looking for food and a pot to cook it in and were debating if we should just buy take away from a restaurant. We got to the boat pier just as the Israelis had sold their canoe to a local. They were happy that it only took them a few hours to sell it. They also said they had plenty of food left and a pan and wok that would be enough for six. So we helped them carry their stuff back to our campsite and were greeted with a fire. While dinner was being prepared Tony and I again went on a mission for some beer, but with our limited funds ended up with Lao Lao or local rice whisky, which was much cheaper. We were wandering around the pretty deserted main street and ran into a sort of bar. That was my first introduction to “boon” which in America we call bocchiball. Apparently it was taken from the French and “boon” is now played on the streets everywhere in Lao usually for a few Beer Lao at stake. Also we were lucky because the SEA (Southeast Asia) Games were happening in Laos from December 9-18. The SEA games are basically the Olympics of SE Asia with much national pride at stake. Anytime Laos was playing soccer the whole country would be cradled around their TV sets. We brought back the Lao Lao and had a great meal of noodles and vegetables. We discussed life and traveling for the rest of the night and passed out. We got up early the next morning, packed our stuff, and huffed our way to the bus station intent on getting on the 8:00am bus, which we did. We arrived in Udomaxi after another very bumpy road and luckily they had an ATM there. Everyone got money and paid me what the owed. I had a decision to make, Omer and the Australians were going to Luang Prabang but I wanted to go to Luam Nam Tha, which is more North and supposedly really good for trekking. I decided I had enough of Omer and went to Luam Nam Tha. Raffy, one of the Israelis was also going there for a night to pick up his bike that had ridden from China.

Luam Nam Tha
When we arrived in Luam Nam Tha we had to take a pickup into town. We found a guesthouse and I was finally able to relax after a long last few days. It was cold in Luam Nam Tha but luckily I had some warm clothes including a jacket I bought in Sapa. It was a nice quiet small town with very friendly people. Everybody said Sabadee (hello) to you on the street as you passed by. The first night Raffy and I shared a roasted chicken with chilli sauce, which was delicious and I was able to shower and check the internet after a few days without it. I wanted to sign up for a trek but there were not many tourists in town and the treks were much cheaper with more people. Anywhere between 1 and 8 people can go but the price is substantially cheaper the more people you have. Basically there are four or five travel agencies around town that list all of their treks on a big white board and the number of people who have signed up for the next day and there was pretty much nobody signed up for anything when I checked the first night I was in town. The next day I decided to rent a bike for the day and hope to find people to go on a trek the next day. I biked to a waterfall that was nearby and also through some villages. It is amazing how simple life is in Laos. Much of the population live in villages. It is probably the most relaxing country I’ve been in which was a big difference from Vietnam. Nobody comes up to you to get you to buy something, they are content with just ‘chilling’. Life in the villages has very distinct roles for the men and women. The men go out and catch fish or hunt other food and take care of upkeep on the houses while the women wash the clothes, cook the food, and tend to the children. It is common to wander around a village and see men just sleeping in a hammock or on the floor. Laos definitely don’t take things too seriously. After my bike ride I returned to town to try to find some people to sign up for a trek. I met a French couple who had signed up for one the next day and at the last minute was able to find three other people who wanted to sign up as well so with me that made 6. So the next morning we were to depart at 9:00. It turned out everyone else spoke French in the group. Two French guys were traveling together, there was one guy from Montreal, and the French couple (the guy was actually from Belgium). Most of the time they would all talk in French together and I would just go and talk with our guide who was your typical 25 year old guy. The trek was for 2 days and the first day was not too bad. There were a few long uphill sections but most of it was pretty flat walking through the forest and valley. We stopped at a little bamboo hut for lunch, which consisted of sticky rice and some local vegetables. In Laos pretty much all meals are eaten with sticky rice. Also in Laos chopsticks are not used as they eat with their hands using sticky rice to help scoop up the other food. We got to the Akha (a hill tribe group) village where we were staying the night around 4:00 and Julien, Florian (the two French guys) and Dominic (the Canadian) went on a little adventure in the river. We walked/swam in the river against the current, which was hard work. We stumbled upon a rickety old bridge that was crooked and half falling apart and decided it would be a good idea to cross it. We made it to the other side and went exploring following a path. We crossed some local village boys with a harpoon and mask to catch fish, they learn from a young age how to hunt. Finally we ended up at a dead end and went back to the river to let the current carry us back to the village. The water level was very low though and the river was very rocky so we had to move carefully over the rocks and every few meters you would get a large rock hitting your ass or hips depending on what side you were on. Finally after about half an hour of this we arrived back at the village. We had another traditional Lao meal with chicken and vegetables, pumpkin and sticky rice. It was delicious. The rest of the night we sat around a fire discussing movies and music and watching the stars, which were truly remarkable. I haven’t seen that many starts in a long time. There was no light pollution, the village was pitch black except for everyone gathered around little fires throughout the village. There was separate house/hut made for tourists that we slept in for the night. It would have been cool to actually sleep in an villagers home but that wasn’t the case. The next morning after breakfast we started our hike back to the main road. First we passed through three more villages, one of the Lantern people who come from China and another Akha village who come from Cambodia. Each village has its own culture and customs and our guide told us that they had tried to combine to smaller Akha an Lantern villages but shortly after two members of the Akha village died and they returned to their former home. They believe a lot in spirits and things of that nature. After passing through the villages we had a very difficult walk through the jungle going over rocks and mud at times and the last bit of it was mostly uphill. It was a pretty tough trek but finally we made it to the road where a van was waiting to take us back to Luang Nam Tha. When we got back I found a guesthouse and got some food at the local night market. I had some laap, which is a traditional Lao salad with some sort of ground meat and garlic, shallots, coriander, mint, and chillies, and in this particular one buffalo skin. It was pretty good. I saw our guide sitting having some beers with one of his friends (another guide) and a few tourists and I joined them for the rest of the evening. Before I knew it I was a little bit drunk as they would just pour a little glass of beer and pass it to you and you had to drink it in one sip, they would go around the table and do this to everyone. I was planning on leaving for Luang Prabang the next day but changed my mind and decided to go to Nong Khiaw after hearing about it from the couple on the trek who said it was really nice. Julien, Florian, and Dominic were also planning on going there as well.

Nong Khiaw
The next morning I arrived at the bus station and because there were no direct buses to Nong Khiaw, it not on the main highway, I had to buy a ticket to Pak Mong which is a town about 33 km from Nong Khiaw. The bus was actually going to Luang Prabang but stopped in Pak Song. I met two women who were going to Nong Khiaw as well so we stuck together. Julien, Florian, and Domnic had chartered a minivan from their guesthouse along with some other people so they would be going directly to Nong Khiaw. After another long and bumpy ride we arrived in Pak Mong at around 4:00. The pickup driver wanted 30,000kip each to take us the rest of the way to Nong Khiaw but we would pay no more than 20,000. After waiting for an hour and a half we finally found a driver that agreed to 20,000. Reflecting back on it the difference between 20,000 and 30,000 kip is little more than a dollar so it really wasn’t worth the wait but I guess it’s the principal of the matter. Anyways we finally arrived in Nong Khiaw at about 6:00 and it was easy to see why it is a favorite destination for travelers. The town was centered on the Nam Ou river with guesthouses that had bungalows that overlooked the river. I found the cheapest guesthouse I could find and ate some delicious Indian food. I got up the next morning and saw the true beauty of the place. There was a morning fog over the town but it didn’t take away the beauty of the river and amazing limestone formations around it. You could see fisherman in the water and kids washing themselves in the river. There was a long bridge over the river that went from one side of town to the other and standing on the bridge you could truly get a great view. After much internal debate I decided to make it to Muang Ngoi Neua that morning. Muang Ngoi Neua was another town up an hour north on the river, which was supposed to be smaller and even more spectacular than Nong Khoi. It has developed a sort of cult reputation among backpackers as a great place to relax. There is one boat a day at 11:00 so I went to the pier where I saw Julien, Florian, and Dominic. They were heading to Muang Ngoi Neua as well.

Muang Ngoi Neau
The boat ride was a little over an hour and was a pretty cool although uncomfortable experience. There were no towns on the way. We met another French Canadian girl on the boat who knew of a cheap guesthouse in Muang Ngoi Neau so the five of us went there and got two rooms, 3 in one 2 in the other. The whole town was filled with guesthouses and at times there are probably more tourists than locals. It is a sleepy quiet town that only has power from 6-10 pm every night. The first day we just chilled and relaxed and got to know “Mama” who was the owner of the guesthouse of which the name was Mama banana. ‘Mama’ truly did become our mom for the next few days, cooking all of our meals and talking to us. Fanny the French Canadian girl quickly became a big fan of mama’s as she helped her cook when a big group of tourists came to eat. All five of us helped bring food out to their table and we felt like party of a family all helping out. ‘Papa’, ‘Mama’s husband’ was not feeling well so Fanny give him some medicine that made him feel better. The first night we didn’t eat until 9:00 because we had to wait until the big group had gotten their food but Mama made us some delicious Buffalo Laap and cooked vegetables. Mama was a one woman show. She did all the cooking herself and had only one assistant that helped with chopping vegetables and things like that. It was great getting to watch her cook in her small little kitchen with a wood burning stove. We just sat around the rest of the night listening to music. The next day started with some delicious if not extremely disgustingly fattening banana-chocolate pancakes cooked up by mama. I then played some volleyball with some local kids including mama’s 15 year old son. We were going trekking to some local caves and villages so mama made us some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches the only problem is she also put regular butter and a lot of it, which turned the sandwiches pretty gross. So we set off and passed some kids hunting rats (no joke) and many cows as well. The scenery was pretty insane. The path started out flat walking past farms and cows with mountains in the backdrop then we had to pass over a few streams and soon arrived at the first cave. The cave was nothing spectacular, I have seen enough caves on this trip that they are all starting to look the same. Then we walked a little further and arrived at a village. Apparently this village was known amongst druggies because we encountered a French guy who was stoned out of his mind and met a few others on the way who were nothing but skin and bones. There was a local with a crazy beard and sideburns that sold pot and opium to supply all of the tourists. We kept walking and ended up going through the forest. There were numerous forks in the road and we didn’t really know where we were going, we were just trying to stay close to and follow the river. At one point we crossed the river over some locally made contraption that felt like it was about to collapse at any instant but we made it. Finally Fanny and I got tired of wandering without knowing where we were going and turned around to go back while Julien and Florian pressed on. On the way back we quickly made it out of the forest and back to the main path so we were clearly not going the right way because we were weaving through the forest for an hour or two without finding anything. Relieved that we had found our way back to the main path, we stopped to talk with some village children and take pictures when we saw Julien and Florian coming back soon after. They said they went a little bit further but the forest was full of leeches so they turned around. We walked back to town and met up with Dominic who had turned back early in the trek and the four guys went to play some “boon”. The only time I had played this game was at a bar in Brooklyn and it was really fun. The locals take it very seriously and are very good. One of the locals asked if he could have some of my beer and he took a sip and spit it out onto his ball to polish it. There were two courts, the locals were playing on one and us farangs on the other. After a few games we went back to the guesthouse where mama made us some duck laap with cooked vegetables. It was very delicious and we quickly chomped it all down. At this point mama knew we were leaving the next day and was very upset. She gave us each a bracelet that she made for us. We relaxed the rest of the nigh. The next morning we got up early to catch a boat back to Nong Khiaw which form there we would catch a bus to Luang Prabang. We said our final goodbyes to mama, it was quite sad leaving her. It was the first time that I really felt part of a community. The previous night mama had showed us pictures of tourists who had sent her pictures and she also told us how a group of three tourists who had stayed at her place went to Luang Prabang to get menus made and lamenated for her restaurant and brought it back to her.

Mui Ne, Nha Trang, and Hoi Ann

After Saigon and the Mekong Delta trip, I took a bus to Mui Ne which is a small beach town. Basically Mui Ne just consists of one long road along the beach with a bunch of resorts/guest houses and restaurants on it. A lot of the restaurants and resorts had signs in Russian because there are a large number of Russian tourists and also workers in oil. Mui Ne is also a world famous kite boarding destination, the best place in all of Asia. I met some of them and they are like a small cult, they live to kite. I considered taking a five hour class but the cost was a steep $200 and even after 5 hours you can't really do much, couple that with the fact that I don't know when I'll be in a place that I can kite-surf again so I decided it wasn't worth it. The first day I rented a bike for $1 a day and rode up the coast to some sand dunes that Mui Ne is also known for. I arrived at the sand dunes and there was an entourage of kids offering their services to me. The kids let you use a plastic sheet they give you and help you pack the sand on it. I picked a boy that had shown me how to get to the dunes and with him another girl about 13 came along with a younger girl and boy both about 10. I had my own personal crew of 4 kids that would get the sheet ready for me after each slide down the dunes. I went feet first, head first, and I tried to stand on it like a snowboard but every time I got down to a particular point the sheet would stop moving and I would fall over. I also got sand everywhere, in my shoes, all over my clothes, in my hair, in my underwear. Sand was absolutely everywhere. The dunes were fun for a little while but they weren't that big and it was scorching hot out and I had sand all over my body so I left after about half an hour. I paid the kids the agreed upon price but they kept haggling me to give them more, they asked for a tip. They did really help me a lot but we agreed on a price so thats what I gave them. On the way back the thing that holds the chain on the bike broke and I had to walk the bike back to my guest house which was about 7km away. It wasn't fun but I got to walk through the town and the local fishing village which was really cool. At the fishing village you can see hundreds of boats out in the ocean and local fisherman with nets bringing in the days catch. It was a beautiful spot to watch the sunset. I met an Israeli and Australian guy at the guest house and have been traveling with them ever since. There was a poker tournament at a local bar that night so we went to that and had a pretty good time. I should have made the last table but got beat on the river when I was all in. The next day I rented a motorbike to drive to another set of sand dunes which were farther away and were supposed to be bigger and better than the first. It was a spectacular ride along the coast about 25km long. When I got near the dunes I wasn't sure exactly where I was supposed to go but luckily there was a jeep tour heading there so I just followed the jeep over a dirt road for about 500m and reached the dunes. Again I "rented" a plastic sheet from a local kid and went out to try it. Unfortunately these dunes weren't that much better than the first so I didn't stay very long. The scenery there was very beautiful though. There was a kind of lake next to the dunes and you could also see the ocean in the distance. On the way back I picked up an old local woman who needed a ride and dropped her off a few km down the road. It was pretty cool being able to help someone after all when you are traveling you are constantly relying on the help of other people. I made it back to town in one piece and met up with Omer the Israeli and Luc the Australian for some drinks. My last night in Mui Ne was quite interesting but inappropriate material for this blog so you will have to ask me about that personally. Omer and I caught a night bus at 1:00am to Nha Trang, our next destination. I was able to sleep most of the way and we arrived in Nha Trang at about 7:00am.

After walking around for a while we bargained our way into a really nice room for $7. Overall accommodation has been a little bit more expensive in Vietnam than Thailand or Malaysia but when you are traveling with two people it makes it a lot cheaper. We really didn't do much our first day in Nha Trang, we just kind of walked around and explored the city a bit and walked down to the beach which was nice but nothing compared to the beaches in Thailand or even Malaysia. The next day we rented a motorbike and explored some of the sites of the city. We went to the Cham Towers. The Cham were the local indigenous people in parts of Vietnam many years ago. We also checked up the local market which was enormous. Just about anything you can imagine can be found at this market. Then we went to a Pagoda overlooking the whole town which was really nice. The most interesting part though was driving the motorbike, somehow I got nominated to drive and it was my first experience driving a motorbike in pretty heavy traffic. It is as crazy as it looks, now Nha Trang was nothing compared to Saigon but there were roundabouts and traffic going in all different direction and I was in the middle of it all. I pretty much only made right turns because I was afraid of turning left. As we were leaving the Pagoda it was getting dark out and it was rush hour but I got us home in one piece. Our nights in Nha Trang consisted of walking around for an hour or so deciding on where we were going to eat. Most of the restaurants catered to tourists and had Italian or Western menus along with Vietnamese food. One night I had a craving for pizza and pasta but was sorely disappointed with what I got. Western food, especially Italian food was just not the same so I vowed to stick with the local food. On our final full day in Nha Trang we went on a boat trip to some of the islands around Nha Trang which pretty much turned into a booze cruise. The crew drank more than any of the passengers and we ran out of beer pretty fast. I tried snorkeling for about five minutes but the masks and snorkels they provided sucked and there wasn't much to see anyway so the rest of the trip we just relaxed and talked with other travelers on the boat. They set up a little "floating bar" at one of the stops which basically consisted of a tire in the ocean with a board over it and one of the crew pouring out cups of wine. At the end of the trip the crew member who had clearly been the drunkest just hopped on his motorbike and drove him. At first I was appalled but then I realize that it is just a normal part of life here so I guess I had to be ok with it. On our final day in Nha Trang the weather turned sour. It was windy and rainy all day, the annoying kind of rain that just drizzles all day and doesn't go away. We walked around some more and stopped at a roadside barber for a shave and trim. There are barbers that just set up a chair on the street with all of their tools. They use manual clippers and no water during the shave and after about a weeks worth of facial hair it felt like I had each small hair being ripped from my face but I toughed it out and had a nice clean shave when it was all done. We took a night bus to Hoi Ann which was about 12 hours of trying to sleep but waking up every few minutes after hitting another pothole or crack in the road. Not only that but the bus was absolutely freezing so I only managed a couple of hours of sleep at best. Tired and disheveled Omer and I walked around for an hour before we finally found a hotel that was reasonably priced $8. Hoi Ann is a charming little town with a lot of history and character. It was like a breath of fresh air, gone were the sounds of motorbikes zooming everywhere. The whole town can be walked in 30 minutes but I liked it so much I stayed 3 days. It is a UNESCO world heritage site and there are many old buildings and temples all over the town. The Japanese and Chinese both had a heavy influence in Hoi Ann. Now it is best known as a tailors town. There are over 200 different tailors there and it is a great place to get shirts, suits, and jackets made but I skipped on that this time. I already had 3 suits made in Saigon 3 years ago. The part I liked about Hoi Ann the best though was the food. It was absolutely amazing. In fact I would say most of my time there revolved around food. Where was I going to eat, what was I going to eat? These were the most important questions of my day. I ate and ate and ate and ate until I couldn't eat any more and then I still ate more. There was fried wontons and wonton soup and co lau which is a noodle dish served with croutons, lettuce, and pork or shrimp. The noodles can only be made in Hoi Ann and are delicious. The bad weather followed us to Hoi Ann so it was rainy every day. Because of the weather I also ate a lot of Pho which was delicious. Also because of the rain it was like an excuse not to go out and do much so I could just eat more. Another specialty of Hoi Ann is white rose which is kind of like a shrimp dumpling but smaller. It was delicious. Hoi Ann itself is dissected by a river with the charming old town and all the restaurants all within a few blocks of the river. At night when it rained the river would flood and the street overlooking the river was impassable. Another highlight of Hoi Ann was the local market which again has to do with food. On one of the few occasions I wasn't eating I bought ten knock off polo shirts for about $3 each and went to the post office to mail home. The shipping charge was about $20, not too bad. The other best part about Hoi Ann was the nightlife. For an old quite town I wasn't expecting much of a nightlife and I guess with the exception of a few places there wasn't really but Omer and I had a bit of a unique experience. The first night we were in Hoi Ann we were just walking around when we ran into a Swedish guy who was going to a bar that he said had free rum and cokes from 9-12. We thought that sounds pretty sweet so we went along. This bar is the perfect definition of dive bar. There was markers for people to write all over the walls and a pool table in the middle and sure enough there was free rum and cokes from 9-12, the whole night I paid for one drink and it was less than a dollar. The next night Omer and I went back obviously and saw a sign on the wall that said: "Wanted 2 Westerners to help with the bar," or something like that so naturally we inquired about it. After talking with the owner he said if we passed out flyers and helped play music and dj we could have free drinks all night and free something else as well. So we said great we started right then and there. The owner drove us to his house gave us some flyers to pass out showed us where we could get free food the next day if we wanted and then drove us back to the bar. From there he gave us his motorbike to use and we went driving off passing out a flyer to any Westerner we saw. I made the mistake of walking into a competitor bar and passing out flyers there before quickly getting a talking to by the manager or something. We managed to convince a group of middle aged men and women to come and it turned out to be a really fun night. We got a ride back to our hotel by one of the employees at the bar and got up at noon the next day nursing hangovers. That day we went out to pass out some more flyers, we had a mission to fill up King Kong Local Bar as it was called. The problem was it was out of the backpacker area and kind of hard to find. You had to pass a bridge to get to the other side of the river which few tourists ventured to. But passing out flyers gave us a great reason to talk with other tourists and we developed a bit of a reputation amongst the locals as well who all knew who we were by the end of the day. That night we got a decent turnout although not as great as we would have hoped and actually went back to the hotel pretty early around 1:00AM. We said goodbye to the owner and other people at the bar as we were leaving the next day and once again one of the employees/motorbike drivers drove us back to the hotel. It was pretty damn cold out and raining and although it was only a 20 minute walk or so it would have sucked to make it. We were hungry though and our driver took us to probably the only place that was open at 1:00AM, which happened to be a pho place. Our driver waited as we gulped down our food were overcharged because we were tourists but it was so good we didn't care and drove us home. It was a great 3 days in Hoi Ann. I will miss the food but if I stayed there any longer I might have left obese.

Singapore and Vietnam

When you think of Singapore, you imagine a clean and efficient city that sticks out in Southeast Asia like a sore thumb and for the most part it is true. Singapore is the business and financial heart of Southeast Asia. It is made of of majority Chinese although there is a large population of Indians, Malays, and Westerners as well. The official language is English and its clear to see English is quickly becoming the worlds language. It was nice to be in an actual city again. The subway system was extremely efficient and overall the city was very clean. Every time you bought a subway ticket you had to pay a $1 deposit and you could redeem it after your trip by putting the ticket back in the machine, a great way to minimize waste and recycle. I was lucky to find a Japanese guy living in Singapore on couchsurfing for my whole 4 day stay. Kuni, my host is really an incredible guy. He is softspoken and quiet but has traveled to over 100 countries including many in Africa. He lives in a luxurious but small studio/ 1 bedroom apartment and hosted 4 people every night. In fact he says in the last few years, rarely a night has gone by where he hasn't hosted at least one person. He truly lives for couchsurfing and I think for many middle aged men especially couchsurfing gives them a community to feel part of. You can never feel lonely with new people staying at your place every night but I don't know if I could do what Kuni does. He just moved to Singapore a week or so before I arrived and was already hosting people. I owe him a great deal of thanks. Not having to pay for a room made me able to enjoy Singapore a little more and not be so concerned with my spending. I booked a hop on hop off bus/boat tour and was able to use it for 2 days. So I hopped on and went around the city. I learned many interesting things, for one it is extremely expensive to buy/own a car in Singapore. You first have to pay for a permit just to be allowed to buy a car and then taxes are insane as well. It's something like $10,000 just for the permit. They do this to minimize traffic and pollution in the city and it definitely works. Singapore reminds me a little bit of San Antonio as all the action is on the riverfront. However the buildings in Singapore are a lot bigger and I would say the river is a little nicer.

I visited Chinatown which was just another Chinatown, nothing special, every big city has one and also the Asian Civilizations Museum which was very interesting. There are exhibits on the history of Southeast Asia as a whole and Singapore in particular as well as specific exhibits on Chinese and Indian history and the influenced they have had on SE Asia. It was a very interesting place but after a few hours your brain is on overload and you can't retain any more information. I also visited Sentosa Island, which is kind of a mini island with a bunch of attractions and amusements on it like an aquarium, different 3-d shows and other things. They only thing I wanted to do was the luge which is basically just this go cart type thing and you go rolling down a road. It was pretty fun but was over quickly. They also have beaches on Sentosa but it is not much. They ship in the sand from elsewhere, and it is not really paradise as there are many oil tankers in the ocean. I did, however, visit the southern most point in mainland SE Asia, which was on Sentosa. This too, however, was not very interesting, just basically a platform to overlook the ocean.

The next day I wandered through Little India which was right by Kuni's place. It was actually pretty interesting and authentic. I had some delicious chicken briyani and definitely want to learn how to cook Indian food when I get home. There was also a pretty neat Hindu Temple in the middle of Little India which reminded me a lot of India itself. Everyone inside was making offerings to the deities or something and there was a lot of music and gathering. I'm not really sure exactly what was going on, Hinduism is the one religion that confuses me most. For the rest of the day I just relaxed at Kuni's and that night I went out with Sven who was a Hungarian guy also traveling at Kuni's and about 20 other couchsurfers that we met. We went out clubbing in Singapore and I would say at least half of the people at the club were white. I lost Sven halfway through the night which sucked because I was relying on him to get us back to Kuni's. I like going to clubs now and then but overall it's not my thing. I have to be either really drunk or with good friends to enjoy myself and I was neither so I was ready to go home by about 2:00 AM. Unfortunately cabs are very expensive at that time so I ending up staying out with everyone till around 6:00 when the metro started running. Although Singapore is known as a clean city, when I left there was trash and beer bottles all over the place. The area we went out was called Clarke Quay and it is basically an area on the river with a large concentration of bars and clubs. It's actually a really cool area and a cool spot to go out because everything is close to each other, I just would have preferred a cool bar with maybe some live music. I made it back to Kuni's dead tired and luckily was able to get inside the gate as someone was leaving. I got inside and passed out on the couch and got about 4 hours of sleep before I had to get up for my flight to Saigon.

Saigon was the first place on my trip that I had been to before and I was curious what that would be like. Would I remember the streets at all? I first came to Saigon on Semester at Sea but when I got there this time it was completely different. I went right to the "backpacking district" and there was many hotels and restaurants catered to backpackers all over the place. I definitely didn't see this the first time I was here. It is very interesting because on SAS we mostly stayed on the ship so we avoided the main backpacker areas which was cool because it made things feel less touristy in a way. I didn't quite expect the amount of backpackers that I would encounter in Saigon. In addition to backpackers, there were many older tourists in Saigon as well, a much older crowd than Thailand or Malaysia for instance. I walked through the city trying to recognize streets I had probably been to before. I finally found a familiar spot when I saw a statue of a man on a horse and a kind of grassy park area near by. I had remembered being in that area the first time I was in Saigon. The first night I just wandered around and walked to Apocalypse Now, a bar/club that I had fond memories of. I found the club after walking around for about half an hour but everything seemed so different. I certainly don't remember seeing so many nice stores and buildings. Saigon has all the latest stores and even has a Louis Vitton. There was an opera going on in the opera house and a row of motorbikes lined up outside watching on a screen which was pretty cool. One thing I do remember about Saigon is the crazy traffic. There are really no street signals and there are hundreds of motorbikes going in all different directions. There are no crosswalks and to get across the street you just start walking and hope the motorbikes avoid you in time. I met up with another couchsurfer the first night, an English DJ/model type that seemed to have a lot of amazing couchsurfing experiences but who was not the type of person I would typically be friends with. Nice as hell but a little bit to into himself. We ended up at a club and I didn't feel like doing the club thing 2 nights in a row so I left early. I will so the girls in Saigon though are absolutely beautiful. I can see why so many westerners come here to teach and find themselves a nice Asian girlfriend. I don't know if I could do it and respect myself though. I had a lot of conflicting emotions and thoughts about the whole thing, my latest gf being Vietnamese and all.

The next day I visited the War Remnants Museum which I didn't get a chance to do the first time I was here. It was truly a powerful experience and the whole time I felt myself shrinking inside as an American. We really did some terrible things in the Vietnam War but it is really interesting because the Vietnamese that were for the South feel very grateful towards America, many escaped and lived there after the war but many old Vietnamese probably still hate Americans. The young people in Vietnam seem to hold no grudges against Americans though. My tour guide for my Mekong Delta trip which I will go into said Vietnamese have three prevailing opinions of Americans: 1) They all want to learn English so they think America is good, many want to go there 2) They just want all the world to live in peace now, and 3) The American military men had no choice of where they went, they were just following orders so most like Americans but don't like the American government which is perfectly understandable. The War Remnants Museum was very interesting with some graphic photos of the terrible affects of Agent Orange. There were also many photos of all the countries around the world protesting the war. I really don't know much about the war and the world opinion at the time but I am interested now to read a lot more about it. After the War Remnants Museum I visited the Reunification Palace which was the home of the President of South Vietnam during the war. Unfortunately it has not been taken care of very well and much of it was dirty and falling apart and overall it didn't really have an impact on me. The rest of the day I just relaxed and walked around and booked a 2 day trip to the Mekong Delta leaving the next morning.

On a sidenote, being in Vietnam, I definitely had to step up my bargaining compared to Malaysia and Thailand. In Thailand bargaining is friendly and cordial, they get offended when you get upset, in Malaysia there is minimal bargaining as everything is fixed price but in Vietnam if you don't bargain hard you will get taken advantage of. The prices they quote you are five to ten times the actual price you should pay so you have to bargain hard and usually if you walk away they will come chasing after you and agree on your price. The Vietnamese of made copies of pretty much every Lonely Planet book that exists and hundreds of novels as well so you can buy copies for cheap prices which is nice if you want a book to read and get rid of when your down but which wouldn't last for any prolonged amount of time. But the accomodation in Vietnam, at least in Saigon, is much more expensive then any other place I've been so far. Maybe it's because the high season is starting but I had to bargain hard just to get a single room for $10, most places wanted $15 or $20 which is a lot for this area. I hope other parts are cheaper.

Back to the Mekong Delta trip. First of all there are many different travel agencies in Saigon, I went to about five or six of them looking for the best trip but it turned out to be a complete wast of time because they all are the same. All the travel agents use the same company and everyone is on the same trip. So about twenty of us got on a bus and started our tour. Our first stop was My Tho and Unicorn Island an Island on the Mekong River where we saw a bee farm and had some honey and then saw locals making coconut candy. The candy was pretty delicious but pretty much the whole island had been set up strictly for tourists. There were merchants selling T-shirts and souvenirs and I felt like a cow just being herded from one activity to the next. We took a boat and went through some canals but it was all pretty touristy. The best part of the day was after lunch we were able to take bikes and explore the area on our own which was pretty cool. Then we got back on a bus for many hours and eventually on a ferry. The bus ride was pretty bad because half the people on it were just complaining about how long it was taking. I just wanted to punch some of them in the face. This is not Germany or Canada people, you're in SE Asia and you have to go with the flow. I was glad that I had signed up for the homestay option for $10 more because when everyone went to the hotel I was whisked away on a motorbike by my host. After about a half hour ride on the motorbike I arrived at my homestay. The place had been set up to host tourist about three years ago. There were separate rooms for tourists to stay and hammocks laid outside in the common area overlooking the river. Nonetheless, it was an authentic experience. The dad was the only one there for a while and I spoke to him for a while. He was a high school Chemistry teacher and had a 14 and 19 year old son. They came home a few hours later along with one of their friends who heard their was a foreigner staying tonight and wanted to practice his English. So I talked with him for a while and tried to help him with his English. He was trying to study in Singapore and had to pass exams to test his English and was having trouble. English was the way out for so many of these people in these countries the way to study in other countries and to make something out of their lives. Everybody wants to learn English these days, I guess I should be thankful that it is my first language. In Asia, with knowing English comes opportunity. You can work as a tour guide or in tourism in some other way. Everybody wants to know it. Kids and adults alike will walk up to you on the street just to practice. I could see myself teaching English for a year or two when I'm done traveling to try to help these people out. I realize that teaching English is really giving people opportunities and it would be a cool thing to be a part of. The maid or housekeeper served me a feast for dinner which could have easily fed five or six. The next morning Viet, my host lent me a bike and I biked up and down the path that he lived on. There was basically one long path with houses on either side and a river behind one side. Viet's house was right on the river. I rode to the local market and passed many houses on the way, I was able to observe real Vietnamese people in real life and see their houses. Nobody spoke English and I ended up sitting with a group of men having tea for a while which was nice. After my bike ride the maid drove me back to meet up with the rest of the tour group. The rest of the morning we took a small boat and was able to witness the largest floating market in Vietnam and maybe all of SE Asia. This market was as real as it gets, sure there were tourists there watching but the buyers and sellers weren't there for the tourists. The farmers come from all over the area and bring their fruits or vegetables by boat to the floating market. Our guide said if they were lucky they would sell everything in 3 days and then go back home and come back a few days later and do it all over again. Sometimes it took as long as a week to sell everything. Some farmers specialized in one thing, maybe pineapples or potatoes while others grew a few things. To let the buyers know what they were selling they put up a giant stick on the front of the boat and tied the fruit or vegetable they were selling to it. A very basic system of wholesaling. These farmers live on their basic wooden boats while they are waiting to sell their supply. It is a very basic life but a respectable one. Most of the Vietnamese men and all the farmers are in perfect shape because they are doing physical labor all the time, they all have six packs and perfectly proportional bodies. They know how to use their hands and build and fix boats, all things I will never know how to do. I respect their ability and almost envy them in a way. I could definitely live of the fresh fruits and vegetables that people in Vietnam and all over SE Asia by from their local market every day. After touring the floating market we visited a rice noodle factory and rice husking mill, both interesting places. They are pretty much small family owned businesses that just make the rice noodles and rice for that region. After lunch we returned to Saigon on a bumpy ride and after bargaining and checking out 6 or 7 hotels finally settled on one for $10 which was more than I wanted to pay but the best I could do. Tomorrow I go to Mui Ne which is supposed to be a nice beach town with world renowned Kite boarding and cool Sand Dunes. I am excited to explore the rest of this country with so much history and to talk to the people to learn more about the feelings about the current situation in the country.

This is going to be long.

Sorry for the length but nobody is really reading these anyway so here goes.


Well it has been a while, sorry about that I just have been so busy traveling and having fun that I have been to lazy to write anything, so I apologize in advance for this being such a long post.

I guess I should jump right in. I last left you in Kuching, I awoke the next morning to catch a boat to Sibu and then from Sibu to Kapit and then onward to Belega hopefully. I had got many conflicting reports about if it was possible to get to Belaga. You see if the river is too low then boats can’t get from Kapit to Belaga. Unfortunately in this part of the world the only way to get the real answer is to just show up and see what happens. In the morning I met Thomas, a 39 year old avid German motorcyclist who had been recently laid off from his job and was traveling for a year before heading back to Germany. Thomas and I had a similar plan so we ended up traveling together for a number of days. We arrived in Sibu without any hitch and asked there if it was possible to get to Belaga from Kapit but nobody there knew anything so we just decided to get on a boat to Kapit and figure it out when we got there. The reason why we wanted to know if it was possible to get to Belaga is Belaga is known as a great place to stay in a longhouse for a day or two and also from Kapit to go further on you have to take a boat back to Sibu, so you have to backtrack. Well we finally arrived in Kapit around 4:00PM and soon found out that no boats were running to Belaga anytime soon because the river was too low. We were not to come all this way for nothing though, so we quickly found a hotel in the town of about 8,000 and I asked the receptionist if he knew of anybody that could set us up to stay in a longhouse. He quickly called his friend who hopped over on his motorbike and said that there were two options for longhouses we could stay in. The first was farther and much better, it would be a more “authentic” experience with the longhouses still constructed out of wood (most of them know are made of concrete) or a second cheaper option at his Uncle’s newer and more modern longhouse. After much negotiation we settled on a one night stay at the more traditional longhouse and were to leave the next morning.

In the morning, the ‘Chief’s’ son-in-law came to pick us up in a minivan and after about an hour and a half of driving over very curvy and rocky roads we arrived at the longhouse. It looked much the way you would picture a longhouse to look like, all made out of wood with many improvements necessary. Some planks were missing and some were clearly on their last legs. There were chickens everywhere as well as dogs. Inside the longhouse there were skulls hanging apparently of enemies killed about 100 years ago, head-hunting is no longer allowed. Some of the older members of the longhouse still had traditional tattoos all over their body but this practice does not really go on any more. Inside the longhouse there is just one big long common area and individual rooms or apartments for each family. There were about 20 rooms in total with about 100 people. We met our host family had the rest of the day basically just to chill and explore the house. There were kids running around everywhere which made it nice, I later learned that all the kids go to a school a few km’s away and live at the school during the week so we were lucky to be there on a weekend. The longhouse was an Iban (one of the local tribes) one and they still live a very simple life. It is quite sad though that much of life at the longhouse revolves around the TV. All the women after cooking and cleaning and any other duties just sit around with the kids and watch TV all day, and I mean ALL DAY. They really like Bollywood movies and know all the hit songs from America. The men in the longhouse go and pick fruit during the day and fish when it’s possible. They were climbing way up in trees picking longan’s (fruit that is a ball with a shell that you peel and inside kind of tastes like grapefruit but not quite as sour). The members of the longhouse then go sell the fruit and vegetables they grow at the market in Kapit. Thomas and I went down to the river to play with some of the children who were swimming and splashing around. The locals also all wash themselves and brush their teeth in the river. They take buckets filled with all of their toiletries to the river and do everything they need to do. The sad thing, though, is that they throw most of their trash in the river. You can see plastic wrappers, bottles, and everything else floating down the river or on the river bed. It is quite sad that people who live off the land do not treat it well. This is the problem with bringing things into the longhouse without proper education. The Malaysian government is doing a pretty good job compared to other countries to protect its little remaining jungle and natural environment but it takes education of the local villagers to really make sure that the environment lasts. Another interesting thing that happened while we were at the longhouse was some guys that worked for a power company in Malaysia were visiting the longhouse to take some measurements or something. They were trying to figure out how to connect the longhouse to the grid or if solar power was a better alternative. The government is actively involved in affairs at the longhouses.

That evening Thomas and I finally found a man who spoke English who told us a little bit more about the longhouse and the Iban people. We also found out that the longhouse has to accept tourists who want to visit but only get a little bit of the money. The government helps provide food and repairs to the longhouse and in return the longhouse has to accept tourists. However, travel agents who book tours get most of the money and only pay a little bit to the locals. Also we found out that it works on a rotating basis in the house meaning that each time a tourist comes to stay the next family or room is in charge of hosting them. Most of the longhouse people seemed happy to host tourists but it still seemed unfair that they were required to. The government is also trying to take the smart kids out of the longhouse and give them proper education and then put them back in as Chief of the house. The problem, though, is that when these kids see the real world many of them don’t want to go back to the longhouse as they can get jobs and live in modern life. The not so smart ones are left at the longhouse with the women and old ones. The modern longhouse is certainly not what it was like 50 or 100 years ago but life is still very simple and consists of old women weaving bags in the common area and the men gathering around at night to discuss the days activities.

The next morning we bid adieu to our hosts and went back to Kapit where we caught a boat back to Sibu. From Sibu Thomas and I took a night bus to Miri ,which was probably one of the worst experiences of my travels so far. For some reason I still can’t comprehend on any bus in Malaysia they turn the AC on full blast to the point it is absolutely freezing and it’s not just the tourists who are freezing all of the locals are as well. If you don’t remember to wear a sweatshirt you are in for an absolutely miserable time and even with one it is still very cold. So I tried to sleep while holding myself but needless to say I got very little sleep and was very happy when we finally made it to Miri.

We got to Miri about 6:30AM and waited about an hour for the local bus to come. The bus driver told us where to get off and we headed towards Highlands, a guesthouse recommended in Lonely Planet. Little did we know what we were in for. I had only one day in Miri as I was flying to Mulu National Park the next day so I wanted to make the most of it. I wanted to get to Niah Caves, which are supposed to be one of the highlights of Borneo. In these caves, a lot of archaeological discoveries were made including the remains of the first homosapiens in southeseat asia. The guesthouse had a trip going there and I asked the receptionist/owner about it. She told me the details and I said I would probably want to go. She asked me a short while later if I was still planning on going and I said I was thinking about it at which point she said there was no longer a trip leaving that day and I should take a local bus. She also yelled at me for eating toast for breakfast as my free breakfast was the next morning and not that one. She was the most unhelpful guesthouse worker/owner I have ever met. She would tell you wrong information and treated you like a child. Everyone I met at the guesthouse had the same experience with her as well. She was like the soup nazi of guesthouses, the guesthouse nazi if you will. Anyways since she was going to be no help, Thomas and I went to the tourist information center to get more information about Miri and how to get to the caves. We figured that it would actually be cheaper if we rented a car so that is what we did. I called a local car company and after a little negotiating we managed to get a car for 24 hours for 120 Ringgit which would have been the same cost as taking a bus and taxi to the caves but a lot more convenient. Better yet we found an Austrian girl, Lisa, who wanted to go with us so the cost was split three ways. The car was manual so Thomas had to drive because sadly I still don’t really know how to drive manual. It was so nice to have a car. We didn’t have to worry about which bus to catch, how much a taxi was overcharging us or what time we had to be back. We were on our own and could take as much time as we wanted. The drive to Niah Caves took about an hour and a half. The caves itself were pretty cool. We saw locals with a huge pole trying to get birds nest out of the cave which is considered a Chinese delicacy and goes for hefty prices. The caves were pretty impressive but I was unable to grasp how historic they were. One thing that I’ve found out on this trip is that I am actually really interested in history but only recent history, like the last few hundred years maybe a little more but ancient history dating back to BC I find very boring because I just have no grasp of it. I can’t put that kind of time into perspective. The caves were huge and one was called painted cave which had a few symbols painted on them. Somehow I was not very moved or enthralled though. We drove back to Miri after the caves and a stop for some dinner at a Malay food court kind of thing which are just different stalls of food. Malay food usually consists of either rice or noodles (mee) with chicken or seafood or fish of some sort and vegetables. It is pretty simple but good but I have found myself more often eating Indian or Chinese food in Malaysia. The diversity of food is really great. Because there are so many Chinese and Indians in Malaysia you an find the food pretty much anywhere. We arrived back to Miri and after a few drinks went to bed. I was unable to explore Miri much but it seemed like a pretty cool town with a surprising number of bars and karaoke spots.

The next morning Lisa, the Austrian girl, and I happened to be on the same flight to Mulu. I had booked accommodation at the dorm inside the park but she had heard from someone else you could do a kind of homestay for half the price outside the park so I figured I’d just do that with her. We arrived after just a 30 minute flight (you can only get there by boat, but it is a long and grueling journey and actually more expensive then flying). We found the homestay and had our own room which was nice. We also met a nice Dutch couple and helped them find a room next to us. After getting settled we went to the park headquarters and they pretty much set our itinerary for the next 2 days. Unfortunately in Mulu every cave has to be visited as part of a guided tour and there an influx of tourists, mostly package ones. Because of the amount of package tourists and the fact everything has to be part of a guided tour it seemed as though backpackers were avoiding Mulu. Although I also don’t like it when you have to go as part of a guided tour I think many people were making a mistake by missing Mulu. That afternoon we went on our first tour to Great Cave and Deer Cave. There really was no reason for a guide. The walk is a simple one over a plankwalk, one in which anybody can do. The caves were very impressive though, in my opinion much more than Niah. There were cool formations everywhere and one that looked exactly like Abraham Lincoln. The park was incredibly well maintained. Throughout the cave, there were little posts with information about the cave and species living within it. After visiting the two caves we sat in a waiting area waiting for bats to migrate out of the cave which usually happens around 5:00 or 6:00pm. Sure enough at around 5:30PM bats started coming out from the mouth of the cave in droves. They were flying together in a snakelike formation and for the next half hour to hour there was just a nonstop flow of bats. It was really a site to see.
There was absolutely no night life in Mulu so we had some dinner and went back to our room to watch a movie (don’t worry no hanky panky) and for some good conversation. Lisa had just finished med school in Austria and was traveling around for a while before starting work. It made it very helpful traveling with a doctor, one of my eyes had become all red and she gave me some cream to fix it up. The next day we went on another tour to two more caves, which were even more impressive then the first two. There were stalactite and stalagmites everywhere and water was running through the bottom of the cave. The cave formation process is really crazy, thousands of years ago a rushing river had formed the cave but once again it happened so long ago that I can’t really visualize the concept. After the caves we went on a Canopy Skywalk through the jungle much like the one with Teman Negara, this time with no camera crew though. It was cool to walk through the jungle and get a perspective about 20 meters high. Although we couldn’t really see much wildlife our guide explained a lot about the trees and plants that were in the jungle and how the compete for space to get sunlight and survive. After the skywalk Lisa and I went to check out a waterfall, this we didn’t need a guide for. It started pouring when we got there and we jumped into the river. It felt like a scene out of a movie, it felt pretty amazing. The waterfall wasn’t much but just swimming around the river felt great.

I left Mulu the next day and flew back to Miri while Lisa had a later flight to Kota Kinabalu. One very important thing I forgot to mention is that a few days earlier in Kapit, Thomas had told me about this mountain climbing competition on Mt. Kinabalu. Mt. Kinabalu is the tallest climbable peak in SE Asia, a little over 4,000 meters above sea level and is usually tackled in two days. The first day you climb about 6 km to base camp and the next morning you get up early to make it to the top before sunrise. It is a grueling and tiring climb. However, because the mountain is owned by a private company, it is extremely expensive to climb. After all fees for permits, guides, lodging, etc… it costs about $200 to climb. I really wanted to climb the mountain but didn’t want to pay $200 to do so. Thomas presented a perfect alternative. There was a race on the mountain on the 25th of October and only cost $35 to enter. The race was called the Kinabalu Climbathon and was part of a series of mountain races. All you had to do was go online and register so Thomas and I decided to do so and then we also told Lisa about it and got her to sign up (the women’s race was a day earlier). So we all agreed to meet again at Mt. Kinabalu for the race. I arrived in Miri about 1:30PM and had to figure out a way to make it to Brunei that night. I was tight for time because I had to make it to Mt. Kinabalu by the night of the 24th for the race. There was a local bus at 3:30pm to Kuala Belait in Brunei but then no further bus to BSB (the capital) where I needed to get to. There was also a bus at 4:30 to a different and new bus station straight to BSB but nobody seemed to know about this bus or station. I decided to risk it and try to see if this bus existed. The problem was there wasn’t a local bus running there until about 3:45 which would really be pushing it close. Taxis were charging hefty prices though so I decided that I would have to risk it. I got a local bus and explained where I wanted to go. The whole trip I kept starting at my watch hoping we would reach the bus station in time and hoping that there would be a bus. I finally arrived at the bus station at 4:20 but there was no bus in sight. I went over and talked to someone there who told me in limited English that the bus had left at 4:15, SHIT! I thought. What was I to do? I asked if there was any chance the bus could turn around but she said no, I finally was able to get someone to drive me to where the bus was for 20 R (6$). When we caught up with the bus, I got on and realized there was nobody else there. I was the only passenger. This bus was going to go all the way to BSB (4 hours) with nobody on it and they couldn’t turn around to get me! I was frustrated because I had to pay an extra 20 R but was able to get to BSB so that night which was the most important thing. I arrived in BSB around 6:00pm and found a place to stay for a quite expensive $22. There is not much to do in Brunei at night, alcohol is not allowed to be served anywhere so I took the opportunity to relax and buy some movies for a couple dollars each. The next morning I visited the royal regalia museum which was pretty interesting because it basically has a whole biography of the Sultan’s life as well as all of the gifts he has received from other countries. It also shows videos of his silver jubilee (25th anniversary as Sultan) which was quite extravagant. The Sultan of Brunei is one of the richest men in the world and for such a small country Brunei is very well off due to its oil reserves. I left Brunei later that afternoon on a boat for Paulau Labuan which is an island en route to Kota Kinabalu. I missed the last boat from Libuan to KK so I had to take a speed boat to another town and from there a bus to Kota Kinabalu. The bus to KK was an interesting one. The front of the bus had a huge TV and I had just bought a bunch of movies so the driver let me put one in. I chose Soul Men. At first it was just me and this other half Indonesian/American guy but then a flood of locals came on the bus and I felt bad because the movie had a lot of bad language and the driver was frantically trying to fast forward past the sex scenes. It was actually quite a funny experience. None of the local seemed to mind the movie to much and some even came up front to watch it.

I arrived in KK around 7:00pm and found a guesthouse. The next day I was going to the mountain so I wanted to get my rest. I chatted with some travelers in the guesthouse and told them about the race, they had all just hiked Mt. Kinabalu in two days and told me I was crazy for entering the race. They said it would take at least 7 hours to climb to the top. I was beginning to wonder what I was getting myself into. The next day happened to be the Governor of Sabah’ (Malaysian Borneo consists of two states, Sarawak and Sabah) birthday and there was a massive celebration on this huge field which was cool to see but I didn’t have much time to sit around and watch, I was on a mission. I caught a share taxi to the mountain and got there around noon. The receptionist at the guesthouse said that Thomas and Lisa were already there and had saved a bed for me. The day arrived was the day of the women’s race so I went to the park and just as I arrived Lisa was finishing the race. I found Thomas there as well. Amazingly Lisa had reached the top of the mountain in about 3 hours 40 minutes and finished 41st overall amongst the women, an amazing accomplishment. I soon realized what I got myself into. The majority of the competitors there were triathletes, ultra marathon runners, or compete in mountain climbing competitions. I was just an ordinary tourist wanting to climb the mountain because it was the cheapest way of doing it. Another dagger was that I found out that for the men if you don’t make it to the top in 2 and a half hours then you would have to turn back. The women got 3 and a half hours to the top which is how Lisa was able to manage up. They do give you a little wiggle room so they let Lisa continue because she was almost there. Thomas has arrived to the mountain a few days earlier and as a competitor was able to ‘train’ on the mountain for free so he had already climbed up the mountain once and it took him about 4 and a half hours to the top. I was beginning to realize there was no way I was going to make it up in the time limit, even professional competitors were worried they may not. I had nothing to lose though so I was going to give it my best shot.

Race Day

We woke up about 4:00AM, ate some breakfast and caught a shuttle bus to park headquarters and from there to the starting line. The race started at 7:00am. Most guys there were decked out in spandex shorts/pants, all looking very professional. They had special shoes, water holders, knees taped, the whole nine yards. I had on a T-shirt, some basketball shorts, and hiking shoes. There were about 170 men in the race and maybe ten of those were tourists like Thomas and I that were doing it just because it was the cheapest way to climb the mountain. The climb was 8.7 km to the top of the mountain, the total race was around 21 km because on the way back you have to come down a paved road an extra 4 km or so to the finish line. I was given a number to pin on, number 121, and just laughed inside. I felt like I was about to run a marathon with no training whatsoever which was pretty close to what was about to happen except this would be uphill the whole way for 8.7 km. The race started and I took a deep breath and started walking, I kept up with the pack for a little while and then people started to separate. The first 2 km were the toughest. I think I ate too much chocolate before the race and it hadn’t settled in my stomach. I was trying to keep a steady pace and not stop, my heart was beating faster than I have ever heard and it seemed like it was going to jump out of my chest at any moment. There was a marker every half km and you would reach the next one and think to yourself that was only a half a km, fuck! The climb was pretty much straight up the whole way with just a few places of leveling off allowing you to somewhat catch your breath. After about 2km I started feeling a little better and kept a constant pace, I passed some people who had passed me earlier but I was racing against time. There was no way I was going to make it to the top in 2 and a half hours. When I was about 5.5km up, I saw the first competitor come flying down the mountain. I mean he was literally flying running down the mountain as fast as he could, one wrong step would be serious injury. I reached 6.5 km at about 2 and a half hours and they made me turn back, I was able to get up to almost 7 km but there was a gate and they would not let anybody else pass it. I was extremely disappointed and pleaded with them to let me keep going but it was to no avail. To be honest I don’t know if my legs could have taken me any further. I started walking down the mountain just as it started drizzling, it stopped after a little bit but not before it had made all the rocks pretty slick. I was somberly walking down the mountain disappointed that I had come all this way but was unable to reach the top. But who was I kidding, did I actually expect to make it to the top in 2 and a half hours. I had no experience, no training, and was grossly out of shape, I should have been happy with how far I got but wasn’t. After sulking for a few km’s down I decided that I had to finish the race strong so I started running bits of it down. I saw people running past me with blue wrist bands (what they give you when they reach the top) and got a sense of motivation. I tried to run down as much as a I could and when I got to the paved road I ran the last 4 km’s to the finish line. I thought my legs would fail me at any moment but I made it in one piece. I found out later that the winner made it up and down the mountain in 2 hours and 40 minutes and only about 50 of the 170 entrants actually reached the top so that made me feel a little better. There was an awards ceremony after the race with a free buffet so that was cool too. Speaking to some of the competitors who do this sort of thing regularly most of them said that it was the toughest race they had ever been in and many of them said they were not going to do it again. These guys were incredible shape, some had calves the size of tree trunks. It was a community of people that all see each other at competitions like this or marathons. Just being around these people really motivated me to get into shape and start exercising more often. I also start an exercising routine but am never able to keep it up but I am determined to one day come back to Mt. Kinabalu and compete in the Climbathon again, this time reaching the top. Exercising is quite difficult to do when traveling but I will try to do as much as possible. I do walk a lot and go on hikes and treks through the jungle but will make a more deliberate effort to do so. Something about the race just started a fire in me. Looking back on it now I am proud on how far I was able to go. I really pushed myself to my limits, there was no way I could have made it to the top, I was in no physical condition for that but hopefully someday I will be. (By the way Thomas did not make it to the top either but there were a couple tourists who did, obviously they were in much better shape than I was).

After the competition I went with Lisa to some hot springs that were about an hour away. On the way we picked up some alcohol to enjoy that night. The baths at the hot springs took painfully long to fill but we were able to get some decent soaking time in which felt great on our sore muscles. We missed our ride back to Ranau (middle point between the mountain and hot springs) so had to pay a little more on the way back and then caught a bus a few minutes later back to the mountain. The bus ride was pretty scary. The road from Ranau to Mt. Kinabalu is quite dangerous especially at night. There are no streetlights and there is a one lane road going each way. Our bus driver would speed up to the car in front of it and then pass it on a blind turn. We passed by a pretty bad accident on the way but it did no deter our driver in the least bit, he kept passing trucks and cars 5 at a time. We finally got back to our guesthouse after what felt like a 3 hour ride (it only took half an hour). We enjoyed some drinks and celebrated the competition being over. The next morning I said goodbye to Thomas as we were going in different directions and along with Lisa and a Polish guy we met, Tomek boarded a bus for Sandakan. Tomek had arranged to stay with a guy from couchsurfing that night who said it was all right if Lisa and I stayed with him as well. Gordon, our host, picked us up from the bus station and took us out to lunch on him. After hanging out at an internet café for a few hours Gordon picked us up and drove him back to his place. We each had our own bed and it was so nice to not stay in a guesthouse for a night. Gordon was the best host you could possibly ask for, he left us alone in the house, let us do our laundry, which was much overdue for me and then took us out to a great dinner on the waterfront. I spoiled myself with some delicious chicken and lamb, which was a quite pricey $5, and we had a great dinner. This time we all chipped in to pay for Gordon’s dinner. The next morning Gordon bought us breakfast and drove us all the way to the Sepilok Orangutan rehabilitation center one of four in the world. Orangutans are a native species only to Borneo but are endangered because much of their natural forest has been cut down and logged for palm tree oil plantations. Also many of the local villagers take baby orangutans as pets and lock them up in cages, again going back to the lack of education. The orangutans come to Sepilok and they rehabilitate them so that one day they can go back into the wild. This process can take up to ten years or more. We got a chance to watch the orangutans at feeding time and saw three of them. They are so cute you just want to go up to one and hug them but they are quite strong. An adult male orangutan is four times stronger than an adult human male. I got to talking with one of the volunteers there who said that for a 2 month volunteer program he paid 3,000 pounds (about $5,500) and there was a 2 and a half year waiting list. Pretty crazy. It was really cool seeing the orangutan but there were so many tourists there with their cameras taking pictures it felt like a bit of a zoo. One very interesting thing I learned is that the word Orangutan is actually a Malaysian word that means “man of the forest”, “orang” means man and “tan” means forest. It never occurred to me that it was a Malaysian word but it makes sense because that is where they are found. There are less than 20,000 orangutans left in Borneo. I wanted to do some kind of jungle trip to see wildlife and Uncle Tan’s was supposed to be the best budget option. They have a 3 day 2 night wildlife camp with different river safaris and treks and is supposed to be good to see wildlife so I decided to do that. Lisa and Tomek had less time so they went to another town to try and do a 1 night jungle trek/safari. Gordon dropped Lisa and Tomek off at the bus station then took me back to Uncle Tan’s which was close to Sepilok. I can’t say enough about how wonderful Gordon was as a host. He is everything that is right about couchsurfing. He said that everytime he couchsurfed he had such a great experience so he felt it was necessary to treat his guests well and to show them around too. It really is a great pay it forward concept. He drove us around Sandakan showing us all the sites, took us to Sepilok even though he just waited outside and paid for our breakfast and lunch. He also let Lisa and Tomek keep their bags at his house for a few days. He was really the perfect host and I was very grateful to him. I left Gordon and joined the tour group at Uncle Tan’s there were about 17 of us.

After a 2 hour ride through the jungle and past palm-oil plantations we arrived at the Kinbatangan river (spelling?) and went on an intro river safari where we saw hornbills and kingfisher birds, long tail proboscis monkeys, macaques, and some other smaller animals. The accommodation was very basic huts but I didn’t mind. Some people could not sleep but I passed right out each of the 2 nights we were there. Over the course of 3 days we did 4 river safaris and 2 jungle ‘treks’. I wouldn’t really call them treks as we just walked a few hundred meters in the jungle but over the course of those three days we say an orangutan in the wild, a crocodile, a lot of insects and spiders, an owl that looked really cool, and a lot of monkeys and birds. It was pretty cool but also with such a large group felt like such a package. At no point was the experience really exhilarating. I would have liked to go deeper into the jungle and done a true trek but that just wasn’t possible. I’ve heard in Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo) there are much less tourists and you can do multiple day treks into the jungle with a guide on your own or with a few people. It was pretty amazing though to see that much wildlife, so amazing in fact that after a while you get tired of seeing monkeys. It is really cool to watch the monkeys jump from branch to branch and to watch sleeping birds perched on a branch at night not moving no matter how many pictures with flash are taken. I have seen things that most people would be so excited about but it is kind of like a catch-22. I have seen so many amazing things in my life and have been so lucky that only the most amazing things seem to really impress me and get me excited. I need to learn how to appreciate and be grateful for all the amazing things I am doing. I mean I saw an orangutan in the wild, how many people get a chance to see that? Not too many, it would just be more cool if it wasn’t part of a guided tour but what am I going to do, go trekking in the jungle by myself? The fact of the matter is that much of the natural habitat of many large animals is being destroyed by logging. The reason it was so easy to see an orangutan is because there is not much jungle for it to roam around in. The jungle is now in between palm-oil plantations which are visible all along the drive from Sandakan to Semporna. The only true primary forest left in Malaysian Borneo is in the Danum Valley which is very expensive to get to. However I think that would be more interesting to see. One thing Uncle Tan’s did have going for it though was the food. The food was amazing and was buffet style so naturally I ate way too much of it. French Toast in the morning, crab the first night for dinner, and food available pretty much all day long. All this eating finally caught up to me on the last day as we were leaving the jungle. I was in a truck with three others on the ride through the dirt roads back to the main road from which I could catch a bus to Semporna which was my next destination when my stomach started hurting real bad. I knew I had to shit because I hadn’t for the last two days (you wouldn’t either if you saw the bathrooms at Uncle Tan’s). I didn’t know how much longer I could hold it and my stomach was really starting to hurt so I asked the driver to pull over and proceeded to run into the jungle, squat down and take a huge shit. Luckily I had brought some toilet paper with me so I finished my business and put it in a plastic bag. I was gone for quite a while so naturally the rest of the car knew what I was up to which was quite embarrassing but I was never going to see these people again so I didn’t really care. We reached the junction and I caught a bus to Semporna when my stomach started acting up again. Once again I asked the bus driver to stop and went out to shit all over the jungle. I stayed there till everything came out and when I got back to the bus (minivan) everyone had moved away from me. I couldn’t help but laugh. I felt bad but I didn’t care because my stomach felt so much better and I passed out the rest of the ride.

People go to Semporna to dive on Sipadan which is an island about an hour from Semporna and is supposed to be one of the best places in the world for diving. Sipadan is a protected area with nobody allowed to sleep on the island and only 120 permits a day issued for scuba diving. They say you have to book weeks in advance to be able to dive on Sipadan but I arrived without any reservation. When I arrived in Semporna I walked in the wrong direction looking for a guesthouse and hordes of local kids came up to me and started asking my name and practicing their English it was really cool. They really like talking with tourists. When I finally found a guesthouse I walked around to all the SCUBA companies seeing if any had any open spots to dive Sipadan. Luckily I had found one who had an open spot the next day because someone had cancelled. The only catch was I had to take their name and sign in using their name because it was the one the permit was registered to, not a big deal. So I went to bed early and got up the next morning for 3 dives in Sipadan. I just completed my open water certification a few weeks ago and hadn’t done any diving since then so I was a little bit worried because I was going with more experienced divers but it worked out fine. Sipadan was truly amazing. Everywhere you looked underwater you would see a giant turtle or white tip reef shark. The first dive I probably saw at least ten different turtles and eight different sharks along with schools of barracuda and many other fish. You could see turtles just perched in a whole in the coral and could swim right up next to them, it was truly amazing. I haven’t dived at many places but I would imagine you would be hard pressed to find a place where you see more than Sipadan. Literally everywhere you look there is something amazing. By the third dive you were actually tired of seeing turtles and sharks, somebody would point to something and then you would be like oh its just another shark. By the end of the third dive though I was exhausted. I went out for dinner and ran into Lisa and Tomek who were diving Sipadan the next day. Here I am today the day after diving Sipadan. Today I am just relaxing and catching up on my blog which is long overdue. Tonight I am catching a nightbus to KK and then from there flying to Singapore on the third.


My time in Malaysia is almost at an end. I am truly going to miss this place but am ready to move on at the same time The people here are incredible friendly and accommodating. Nobody really tries to rip you off which is nice. Before I arrived in Borneo I pictured local indigenous people living in longhouses with tattoos and immense jungle with wildlife. Borneo is not quite what I had imagined as it is an incredibly modern place with cities and a lot of money from palm and fish oil but still has a lot of charm. I think Kalimantan is more of the Borneo that most people think of. Malaysian Borneo is now full of package tours and tourists and is well on the backpacking trail.