Michelle and Kevin Travel thru Asia Exploring Vietnam & Cambodia tag:travellerspoint.com,2008-06-11:/blog/?domain=charley08 2008-09-02T18:15:57Z charley08 img/travel-blog-feed.png Bangkok and Beyond tag:travellerspoint.com,2008-09-02:/blog/?domain=charley08&thisblog_entryid=14&entryid=126785 2008-09-02T18:15:57Z 2008-09-02T18:15:57Z One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster... Well Bangkok is the center of the universe when it comes to SE Asia, but our senses were surely shocked even before hitting that crazy place. When Michelle and I left Sihanoukville heading west to Bangkok our thoughts and emotions centered around the sad fact that our trip was coming to an end. Reminiscing about our long journey thus far, our bus stopped for our final land crossing of the trip. We ... One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster...

Well Bangkok is the center of the universe when it comes to SE Asia, but our senses were surely shocked even before hitting that crazy place. When Michelle and I left Sihanoukville heading west to Bangkok our thoughts and emotions centered around the sad fact that our trip was coming to an end. Reminiscing about our long journey thus far, our bus stopped for our final land crossing of the trip. We thought once we landed in Hawaii that our body and minds would be out of sorts after traveling through 3rd world countries, but walking into Thailand, one would think they were somewhat back in the States.

There are freshly paved roads, manicured shrubbery along the highway and after about an hour driving from the border, our bus broke down and stopped at a 7 Eleven. Shocking that our bus broke down, right? After another very, very long 14 hour bus ride, we were dropped off at Khao San Road, Bangkok.

For many of you who haven't been to Khao San I would safely say that it's the largest concentration of backpackers on the planet. At night, it looks like a mini Vegas strip all condensed in one city block. You can get everything from a fake college diploma, brass knuckles, tattoos and a double tall nonfat latte from Starbucks. When I was here 7 years ago, Khao San was a much different place. You couldn't go to a 24hr Burger King, get a foot-long sub from Subway or get a latte from Starbucks. It's now become a brand.

In Cambodia, Michelle and I decided we would actually stay in the center of Bangkok, away from Khao San. We soon realized this was a mistake. Our hotel was very nice, but the location and its surroundings were geared more to the chic tourists and not the mellow backpackers we've been used to. We really felt out of place. We already paid ahead of time for our three nights stay, but outside of sleeping at our hotel, we spent the majority of our time on Khao San.

Our time in Bangkok centered around drinking Chang beer, getting a Thai massage for Michelle and doing some last minute shopping for ourselves. Actually our last big purchase was a beautiful Thai pillow for our new apartment. We didn't realize at the time, this purchase would cause us problems.

Fast forward...Landing in Honolulu and going through customs, our pillow was confiscated due to the contents within. Customs cut the pillow open and showed us that the stuffing inside contains a particular straw that is dangerous to agriculture. Hawaiian agriculture and customs are sticklers for items coming onto the islands. 7 years ago, I brought one of these pillows home, although the customs agents in Los Angeles didn't bat an eye.

Other than this slight bump arriving to the States, our trip in Hawaii was a great place to decompress and reflect on the past 6 weeks of travel. We watched Justin graduate Magna Cum-laude in Information Systems from Hawaii Pacific University, hung out with my family and stared for countless hours from my dad's amazing view from his condo.

Michelle and I spent a week in Hawaii, although less than 24 hours from landing in LA, we got an emergency phone call from Sean, the person helping us find an apartment in San Francisco. He asked "how quickly can you be in SF?" But let me back up a few days...Imagine Hawaii, two days in, Sean calls about an AMAZING apartment in SF. The place allowed pets, totally remodeled, close to a dog park and in a neighborhood Michelle and I wanted to live in. Perfect...we want it. Unfortunately, the policy of the company that owns the building is that we must see the place first before we can sign the lease. Well this wasn't too convenient. For 5 days we went back and forth with phone calls, emails and faxes to see if we could get around this problem. This was way too much stress and anxiety for us to cope with having just landing in the states. Flying home was out of the question. So we left it to fate. When we get home, we would stick to the original plan of driving up to SF the following weekend and see the "fantabulous" apartment at that time, that is assuming, of course, that no one had snapped it up before then. Sadly, things don't necessarily work out the way you want them to.

Sean's phone call gave us less than 24 hours to get to SF, view the apartment and sign the lease, or else the apartment would be given to someone else. Michelle and I got into the car at 9:30p (we had been home for less than 24 hours) and drove north, 20 minutes outside of San Francisco, arriving at 3 am for a quick sleep at Motel 6. By this point the two of us were physically and emotionally exhausted. We saw the place early that morning, signed the lease and drove back home...

With the pressure of finding a place in San Francisco away, we are all geared up to start this next adventure in our lives.

Thank you all for taking the time to read our blog and following our journey.

Our home is always open in San Francisco to anyone that wants to visit. We have plenty of room:)

Bangkok and Beyond remains copyright of the author charley08, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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]]> Leave You Hanging? Never tag:travellerspoint.com,2008-08-25:/blog/?domain=charley08&thisblog_entryid=13&entryid=125697 2008-08-25T21:44:24Z 2008-08-25T21:44:24Z Phew! What a trip! Kevin and I are now back in Los Angeles after an exciting 6 weeks in Southeast Asia and 1 week in Honolulu (Congratulations Justin on your graduation). Unfortunately, the last entry we posted was on August 2nd and therefore there are 10 days we did not share...or capture in words. So, after Angkor Wat, we headed back to Phnom Phen for just a couple days. Both of us are really glad we did ... Phew! What a trip! Kevin and I are now back in Los Angeles after an exciting 6 weeks in Southeast Asia and 1 week in Honolulu (Congratulations Justin on your graduation). Unfortunately, the last entry we posted was on August 2nd and therefore there are 10 days we did not share...or capture in words.

So, after Angkor Wat, we headed back to Phnom Phen for just a couple days. Both of us are really glad we did it. We arrived there in the afternoon, and this time, rather than staying near the river, we decided to stay in Central Phnom Phen near the big central market (perfect for shoppers of course). After resting from the relatively uneventful travel day (this is one of the few bus rides that was "easy")
Anyhow, we had dinner at the Foreign Correspondent's Club (recommendation from a friend) where we had an awesome meal and tasty drinks and then headed out to the Heart of Darkness. For those of you who have not been to Cambodia, I am sure you are wondering "What is the Heart of Darkness"? If you look it up in the Lonely Planet, it is described as this crazy place where all the rich Cambodian teenagers hang out. The book mentions that these "kids" have a tendency to start "trouble" with the Western tourists that try to hang out there. If we had only relied on Lonely Planet we might never have gone but Jeff had recommended we check it out and so we did. At 10pm, we grabbed a tuk tuk and headed out for our first "party" night.

Well, to cut a long predictable story short, the Heart of Darkness was not nearly so sinister. The scene can be described as follows: imagine a bunch of western tourists (our age and younger) mixed with some older, fatter male western tourists and a few conspicuous Cambodian prostitutes, all thrown to together on a dance floor with a lot of loud dance music. So, I am sure that all of my friends are thinking, ha, Michelle must have loved that, a loud crowded dance club. Well, I did. I had a great night and Kevin and I danced until about 2am...yes, that is incredibly late for me.
Second day in Phnom Penh started late and with a bit of frustration. We woke up, with the intention of going to the central market near our hotel. We figured we would grab breakfast first and then go shopping. Of course, there was not one place near our hotel or the market that served anything resembling a western breakfast (a.k.a.fried eggs and toast). So after about 45 minutes, we got in a tuk tuk and headed to the "Russian" central market and finished all of our purchases...many dvd's for $2 and few other items. (It really is not worth detailing all our money spending adventures here).

About 2pm that day we took a bus from Phnom Phen to the southern beaches of Cambodia (SihanoukVille). I think Kevin really provided the best description. Sihanoukville is basically a very small beach town (it is actually made up of four beaches, we stayed at Serendipity beach) that is a little less "developed" than Hoi An with a kind of Western influence. In many ways, it is easy to see how this small coastal down in Cambodia has the potential to become a larger vacation destination for back packers given the town's hip, laid-back energy, but the rich Europeans will always be more comfortable on the coast of Thailand. Let me see if I can paint you a better picture. I will start with our hotel and go from there.

The hotel was owned by an older, biker from Montana. He had lived in Thailand before deciding to open up this little boutique hotel. The hotel has about 20 rooms, a medium size swimming pool and has a restaurant that served some of the best mexican food in Southeast Asia (it might be the only place in Southeast Asia that served mexican food) and a good size cup of coffee with tasty breakfast menu options (apparently westerners like to have baked beans with their eggs and bacon, who knew?).
Next store was a very yummy Japanese teppanyaki type restuarant and a few doors the other way was a little "movie" theatre where you could watch some great DVD's in a room similar to a cozy living room, cold beer, couch and all.

While the town could be described as small and quaint, it has a very "vibrant" nightlife. The "bars" stay open until late (4am) and if you are looking for some late night munchies there is a guy that grills hot dogs at a small "convenience" store conveniently located next to our hotel. (I should note that the town is not only good for drinking but other "mind" blowing activities). We also found a monthly newsletter that describes is sort of like a mini guide book for Sihanoukville visitors. It includes: "Things to do during the rainy season", "How to bargain with your tuk-tuk driver" and "ways to prevent dehydration...more than just water".

While we spent most of our time lounging and relaxing, we had a few interesting adventures. The first day we took a "crazy" ride down to Otres beach. (Let me qualify crazy by saying that the road that we traveled to get to this particular beach was probably typical of most of the roads in Cambodia; rocky, full of land mine "holes", and, because it was the rainy season, incredibly muddy). Our plan was to walk along the beach and hang out for a bit, but 30 minutes in a rainstorm, that can best be described as a monsoon, came through the area. We found shelter and food at a place along the beach and waited out the storm. We might have hung out there longer but we and our food were being "attacked" by flies.

The next day we went and walked through the main town and had a "blind" massage. (All the masseuses were blind....and it was honestly one of the best massages I had). The remainder of our time was spent being lazy and watching the Olympic opening ceremony (very cool except for the fact that the commentary was in either Chinese or Thai so aside from the procession of athletes we had no idea what was happening). We were in Sihanoukville for about 3 days total, until August 9th and then we headed off to Bangkok...and like a Jamacian from track and field, I will hand the baton to Kevin to provide a happy ending to this part of our adventure.

Leave You Hanging? Never remains copyright of the author charley08, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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]]> "Brillant" Bus Ride and Ruins tag:travellerspoint.com,2008-08-04:/blog/?domain=charley08&thisblog_entryid=12&entryid=122698 2008-08-04T09:26:22Z 2008-08-04T09:26:22Z Hi guys... We cannot believe that we are writing you this email on the 2nd of August (yes I know it is the 4th today but just pretend). Only 10 more days and our journey through southeast asia will be finished. We are certainly a bit sad but at the same time we really have had a wonderful time and we know there will be more travelling like this in the future. There is just so much of the world ... Hi guys...
We cannot believe that we are writing you this email on the 2nd of August (yes I know it is the 4th today but just pretend). Only 10 more days and our journey through southeast asia will be finished. We are certainly a bit sad but at the same time we really have had a wonderful time and we know there will be more travelling like this in the future. There is just so much of the world to see.

Okay so where to begin.
Why don't we start with the bus ride to Phnom Phen. Okay that was a nightmare. Our journey began at 8am that morning. We boarded a boat to take us from our island to the main island. We got on a bus. We drove for 45 minutes and we stopped at a small shack on the side of the road only to realize we were at the Laos Department of Immigration. We submitted our departure card and then walked in between two gates (not Laos not Cambodia but no man's land). We found our second shack which was the visa office, the department of immigration and the bus stop for Cambodia.

During this process, our Laos bus dropped our stuff on the street and drove away. Another bus arrived and we drove yet another hour (it is now about 11am) to another town in Cambodia (strung treng)...it was apparently lunch time, for an hour and a half. Again our bags were taken out of the bus and we boarded yet another bus (only this one had no floor...i shit you not, a girls flip flops actually melted due to heat coming up from the engine or whatever below the minibus)

So now we are off (1:30 pm) on our way no more stops PP here we come. Not quite. at 3:30 pm we stopped again for another 1 hour. Our stop this time was in Kratie another Cambodian town. At this point we just wanted to get there already but instead we sat for another hour (mind you we had not really eaten anything substantial since breakfast). Okay so another bus arrives at 4:30 we board and then it was another 6 hours before we reach PP (so let me review we left at 8am and we arrived in PP at 10:30 or so with no hotel.
We learned quickly that hotels in PP do not stay open for 24 hours we ended up driving around in a tuk tuk and finally found a relatively cheap place to stay for a couple night.

So yes, the process of getting to PP was a bit painful but the city itself is actually quite cool. The next morning we headed off to the old Khmer Rouge prison. (It was a very very sad place.) Pictures of the dead adorn the walls and their skulls and torture chambers are still in place (we saw a movie prior to touring the site) I am not sure words can do the horror justice. It was terrible. Nearly 2 million Cambodians were exterminated during this period.
Then we were off to the Killing Fields (the place outside PP where they took the people to be executed) (Remember this atrocity happened between 1975 to 1979 so everything is still in place or remnants of the dead remain alive in this field (their clothing, bone fragments and skulls) It was again another stop I am not sure I can do justice to.
From there we had lunch (what our stomachs could handle) and then I went and rode an elephant (yes, me on an elephant.) It was practice for when we go to africa ;-) (for all of you wondering, Kevin wimped out...since I am entering this blog post I have the right to make fun of him)

Okay then to the central markets which is basically a maze of booths selling everything you can imagine (DVDs, food, kashmir scarfs, tea sets) all to be bargained for. It is bustling and hectic and if you spend too much time there you could go crazy)
So we finished up the day and had the plan set to head to Siem Reap and then head off to a Thai beach...but we changed our minds. We had enjoyed our day and we truly were rushing through Cambodia so we made the executive decision to eat (possibly...we are trying to dispute the charges) our 450 tickets to Ko Samui and are going to go back to Phnom Phen, explore a bit more and then take a ride down to the beaches of Cambodia for a couple days.
Today (August 2nd), we had our first of three trips to Angkor Wat. Unfortunately, the rainy season hit hard today so it was wet and muddy and definitely no so great for picture taking. Needless to say, we could still get a sense for the enormity and beauty of this ancient place. Again there are some sights that defy words or pictures but when we get home we will try our best. The bad news is that i slipped and fell and believe i sprained my foot. I refuse to not see Angkor Wat so we will be moving and hiking slowly through the temples.
So that is story for now.

Now I am fast forwarding to August 4th (no comments from the readers please) Today was/is our last day in Siem Reap. We saw 18 temples in Angkor Wat over our 3 days. All of them were spectacular in their own way. I am not going to speak for Kevin, but my favorite was this temple about 20 km from Angkor Wat called Bataey Srei. It was a small temple but the stone carvings that adorned the walls made it the most lovely of them all. I took over 200 pictures of Angkor Wat (which means Kevin took about 550 or so plus video), we will see how well my pictures come out...Kevin''s will be spectacular.

I seriously wish I could do this all justice in words but it is impossible to capture the scale, the intricacies, and the sheer manpower it would take to create these things over 1000 years ago.

We did buy a book to help guide us through the temples on our second day (which unlike the first was not nearly as rainy) and that helped. It was like a mini adventure in each temple trying to understand the purpose of each temple and the meanings and stories behind each carving. I guess that was the most magical part (for Michelle at least). Each carving was a story and had some significance. It was like reading a book with pictures carved in a wall.
In any case, after our 18 temples we are now chilling out for the next few hours and then will head off to dinner, sleep, wake up early and get back on a bus to head to Phnom Phen.
More adventures to come...
Kevin and Michelle

"Brillant" Bus Ride and Ruins remains copyright of the author charley08, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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]]> The 4000 Islands tag:travellerspoint.com,2008-08-04:/blog/?domain=charley08&thisblog_entryid=11&entryid=122696 2008-08-04T09:11:17Z 2008-08-04T09:11:17Z Amazingly we found an internet cafe on the 4000 islands. of course there is no hot water and electricity lasts about 4 hours each evening but yes there is internet...funny. So let me see if i can give you a brief summary of what has been happening here. So we left pakse on the 26th in the morning and took a 2 hour bus ride to the islands. While we did not really realize it at the time, it was going ... Amazingly we found an internet cafe on the 4000 islands. of course there is no hot water and electricity lasts about 4 hours each evening but yes there is internet...funny. So let me see if i can give you a brief summary of what has been happening here.

So we left pakse on the 26th in the morning and took a 2 hour bus ride to the islands. While we did not really realize it at the time, it was going to be the people on the bus that would make this part of our trip.

We arrived on the island and found a guest house that is literally sitting right on the mekong. our balcony / deck or whatever sits on the water. it has two beds, a private bathroom, and a fan that only works when the electricity is on...it was totally nice compared to other options. (oh and it is only a cold shower) So as i was saying the best part of this portion of our adventures were the people we met.

There were a total of 7 of us.
pete; a british guy travelling on his own with a 'brillant' sense of humor
John and Greg: brothers from a town outside manhattan who bought bikes in Vietnam and have been riding the country side of Laos. (They were to youngest of our group 19 and 21)
mitch: totally unsuspecting guy from new york. he comes across as kind of sleazy but he is incredibly cool. he has travelled all over the world. teaches 5th grade kids. loves to compete in triatholons and climbs the crazy mountains you read about in books. he has been in africa (tanzania) mongolia etc.
John;: another british dude that has been teaching at international schools (history) around the world. (He spent a while in Africa and will end up in Hong Kong this year)
Kevin and Michelle (that rounds out the group)

Activity: not much to do here on the island. We took a bike ride the first day we were here. one i hardly remember how to ride a bike and two it was not the leisurely bike ride we were expecting...it was an experience that has to be told about in person.

We took two walks: one yesterday to see this waterfall that is the largest waterfall by volume in southeast asia (it was pretty cool) and today we headed over to another island (Don Dhet) to check it out, use the internet and figure out what we are going to be doing for the next two weeks, which changes constantly so i am not even going to bother writing it here...
Sorry for no updated pictures but the upload time is just freaking ridiculous. No comment invisman
Michelle and Kevin

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]]> Sabaidee from Laos tag:travellerspoint.com,2008-07-25:/blog/?domain=charley08&thisblog_entryid=10&entryid=121193 2008-07-25T13:18:20Z 2008-07-25T13:18:20Z So...On July 21st Michelle and I boarded a bus at 6a heading toward Savanaket, Laos. This bus ride like many of our long rides was pretty exhausting. The total time it took us to get to our final destination was close to 13 hours. Beyond the long ride, we did have some pretty nice memories. This was Michelle's first time doing a land crossing (Vietnam to Laos). I'd say this was the first land crossing I've seen where farm animals ... So...On July 21st Michelle and I boarded a bus at 6a heading toward Savanaket, Laos. This bus ride like many of our long rides was pretty exhausting. The total time it took us to get to our final destination was close to 13 hours. Beyond the long ride, we did have some pretty nice memories. This was Michelle's first time doing a land crossing (Vietnam to Laos). I'd say this was the first land crossing I've seen where farm animals are littered all over the place. Once we crossed into Laos, you can definitely see a huge difference between the two countries. Vietnam is certainly much more developed and in the 2nd world. Laos on the other hand is definitely 3rd world.

On the bus ride, Michelle and I were very fortunate to meet a very well travelled man from Austia, Gerhardt and his 11 year old son Julean. Once we arrived in Savanaket, all of us sat down for dinner together and heard about their travels.

After spending a night in Savanaket, we left early the next morning for Pakse, about 280k south. Another super long ride, but this time we were on a public bus. This bus ride we stopped constantly. No bathroom break, no food break, only breaks to pick up people in various villages. On one of these stops, the bus was overrun with people offering food of many kinds. I mean many kinds. Picture 30 people holding in each hand 20, 24" bamboo sticks consisting of a chicken, frogs and/or bugs. As hungry as I was, I grabbed one with chicken. When I say chicken, it's a whole fricken chicken. Claws, head, neck...you name it. The problem was, I didn't have a place to put the bones and other various parts I didn't eat. Not a great choice of food to eat on the bus.

We arrived in Pakse after about 9 hours, completely exhausted. We were in no mood to lug our backpacks around looking at multiple places to sleep. We settled on a place recommended to us from our Austrian friends. Not a bad choice at all, but more money than we wanted to spend in Laos.

Okay...so, from multiple travellers Michelle and I have spoken with that have taken a similar route as we are doing, they didn't have many good things to say about Pakse. For many, this is a place that people just pass through. We really feel differently. After spending the first night in Pakse, we rented a motorbike and headed south to see an amazing temple (or Wat). This place was pretty amazing! Built into the mountain, I can't really say how old it is, but originally it was built by Hindi followers. It has since become a Buddhist place of worship.

The next day Michelle and I packed up a little backpack with some toiletries and headed out on the motorbike. We drove out to the Bolvean Plateau, 80k northeast of Pakse. There we saw multiple stunning waterfalls. I might add that Michelle had never seen a large waterfall and over the course of two days, she saw many. Words can't do it justice.

After driving this first leg, we went on a different road heading north by another 60k. On this stretch of road we saw where all the Lao coffee is grown. I might add, on this ride, there really aren't any cars or motorbikes around. We passed through multiple villages, but the biggest hazard was the occasional slowing down for various farm animals crossing.

Our final destination on the bike was Tad Lo. This area has three different waterfalls, all epic. One in particular I really can't describe. Picture looking over a granite face about 400-500 feet, straight down. You are all alone here. No barriers. no signs telling you to be careful. If you are afraid of heights (mom), forget it.

We ended up staying in Tad Lo which really is an oasis. It reminded me of the movie "The Beach." You're passing through all these villages, go down a dirt road for 4k only to end up by an amazing waterfall with a couple of guest houses. I can't beleive backpackers haven't found this place. We walked around a bit once arriving, which by the way, our asses were sore as all hell after riding for 5 hours. We ended up having dinner at a place called Jom's Restaurant. Now this is where the fun starts.

Jom, he's a great guy. Michelle and I were comfortably drinking our Beer Lao, sipping on some Lao Lao, when I got the urge to go to the bathroom. Turning the corner, there were four guys around a table, one holding a machette scrapping what I didn't believe he was scrapping. I pointed to the pig walking by, they shook their heads. I pointed to the dog next to the pig and they smiled. I saw a dog on a spit the last time I was here. Now here layed a dog dead on the table. I got out the video camera and watched them open the guy up and gut him. Holy shit. Jom asked if I wanted to try...I immediately said, "Fuck that, I've got a dog at home."

Fast forward, I went back to the table where Michelle and I ate dinner, all the while constantly checking out what was going on with the dog. So...I decided to do it. When in Rome right...I totally ate dog. I had this Dutch guy video tape me and all. Woke up in the morning feeling a bit guilty, thinking of Oliver. Jom told us how they got the dog. The villagers need money and they sell them. It's a delicacy. Foi Gras in Laos.

So now we're back in Pakse. We head out early in the morning for the 4000 Islands. There for about a week and head south to Cambodia. Not sure when or if we'll have email.

I love you all. We're thinking about everyone!

Kev & Michelle

Sabaidee from Laos remains copyright of the author charley08, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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]]> Last Stop in Vietnam tag:travellerspoint.com,2008-07-20:/blog/?domain=charley08&thisblog_entryid=9&entryid=120241 2008-07-20T13:14:45Z 2008-07-20T13:04:04Z Kevin and I agree that Hoi An will be one of the big highlights of our trip. When we first started researching this trip (and even during the course of our travels over the last three weeks) we were told that this was possibly the best part of Vietnam. It really is. It is really hard to paint a perfect picture of Hoi An. While it definitely is part of Southeast Asia, it has this incredibly unique energy. It ... Kevin and I agree that Hoi An will be one of the big highlights of our trip.

When we first started researching this trip (and even during the course of our travels over the last three weeks) we were told that this was possibly the best part of Vietnam. It really is. It is really hard to paint a perfect picture of Hoi An. While it definitely is part of Southeast Asia, it has this incredibly unique energy. It is basically a small beach town with a slight cosmopolitan feel. For those of you from California, it is like a slightly less affluent version of Carmel with a bunch of places to get clothing and shoes hand made for literally no money.

Without exaggerating, there are tailor and shoe shops every few feet. (Plus some really cool silk lantern shops as well). Basically you can walk into any of these shops, look at some pictures, pick out what you want, pick the fabric, the length, the stitch the buttons the yarn etc. and they make it for you within 24 hours. We did not believe it until we experienced it ourselves...yes BOTH of us experienced it ;-) We essentially spent the week travelling between two tailor shops. The first was a small family owned business. It was run by two very sweet Vietnamese ladies. I had most of my clothing made here. Kevin had a few pieces made but most of his new clothing was made at one of the upper end shops (Yaly) (Kevin was a super duper shopper...He had a very cool black suit made and some pretty awesome coats and shirts; Michelle purchased two very beautiful coats for the cool San Francisco weather) I will not go into the gory details of all the fittings and fabric selections but suffice it to say the experience was fruitful and exhausting all at the same time. It makes you wonder where we go wrong in the U.S. that it costs us $300 dollars and 8 weeks before we get anything we like. (oh and I did forget to mention we got 6 pairs of shoes made as well...again when I say made, we chose the design, chose the fabric, chose the stitch it was freaking crazy).

All this shopping began after a long day of driving on a motorbike to Marble Mountain (this crazy granite mountain that is basically full of caves and marble Buddhas carved into the mountain) and sitting on the beach under a straw umbrella on a chaise lounge.

Okay so as you can tell the shopping has clearly excited us but I think being at the beach and spending almost seven days has helped as well. We stayed in a hotel outside of town for the first two nights and then moved closer into town until we head out today.

A few more thoughts on Hoi An. Because we did spend so much time in this particular town, we had the opportunity to really explore and settle down for a bit. We found a very cute place for lunch that we visited everyday as well as a small Indian Restaurant that we had dinner at about 3 out of the 7 nights we were there. The food was very yummy and we definitely ate well the other nights as well. Kevin has made it his mission to figure out how to prepare some of these dishes that we really enjoyed. Beyond eating, Kevin became an expert motorbike rider. We went out together to Marble Mountain and Kevin went out by himself for a day. This skill should come in very handy when we head into Laos the 21st. (He met some pretty amazing characters on the road that we can share later (or in the next blog post). We did get to spend time at the beach and pool reading our books and relaxing.

So what is next.

Laos: We leave at 6 am tomorrow morning and head to southern Laos. Our journey to our final destination (the 4000 islands) will take a couple travel days but then we are planning to chill there for about a week or so. The travellers we have met seem to say that this is the perfect place to chill. We can sit in a Hammock, read our books, ride some bikes through the rice paddie fields and see where our journey takes us. From what we've heard there is only electricity there for three hours a night from a generator.

On a personal note: I am having a great time in Asia but I am also realizing how very much I miss my family (large coffee in the morning and Diet Sprite) in the states (oh did I mention clean bathrooms as well). It has been a great experience to get out of my comfort zone and experience some new things...it really does feel like my spirit is being cleansed. It has been a trip to meet so many different types of people. From the Vietnamese to the other European and Australian travellers, the people we have met so far are just fascinating.

Please please comment and check the Flickr site as well. Kevin and I have (or will be) posting some pictures from our adventures.

We ran out of space on our Flickr site, but our wonderful friend Invisiman (aka Mikey), hooked us up on his account.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/organize/
Click on the tab Sets and Collections and select the "set" that is titled Michelle and Kevin Trip to SE Asia. Let us know if you have any problems accessing these...

Not sure how much computer time we'll be able to have in the remote areas we'll be traveling to next.

Until next time...

Last Stop in Vietnam remains copyright of the author charley08, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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]]> Harrassed and Tired, but Satisfied tag:travellerspoint.com,2008-07-12:/blog/?domain=charley08&thisblog_entryid=8&entryid=118866 2008-07-13T05:17:27Z 2008-07-12T11:39:03Z Hey guys. Just arrived back in Hanoi and we are completely exhausted. We have had an exciting ride these past five days. Where do I start... When I wrote last, Michelle and I just arrived from a trip up to Ha Long Bay. That trip was quite nice. We were sick of Hanoi with all the honking and craziness and needed to get away. The trip consisted of 2 nights and 3 days. Our first night we slept on the ... Hey guys. Just arrived back in Hanoi and we are completely exhausted. We have had an exciting ride these past five days. Where do I start...

When I wrote last, Michelle and I just arrived from a trip up to Ha Long Bay. That trip was quite nice. We were sick of Hanoi with all the honking and craziness and needed to get away. The trip consisted of 2 nights and 3 days. Our first night we slept on the boat with 10 other people. Oddly enough including us there were 6 Americans. Odd since we've only seen or at least talked to a handful of Americans. That first day we explored some caves and went for a swim. The swim was short lived since I got a pretty nasty sting from a jellyfish. It hurt like hell and blistered from my neck down to my chest. Thankfully the pain went away several hours later.

The next day we explored more of the bay from the boat and were dropped off at a large island that was full of tourists. We had lunch and then set off to another island called Monkey Island. It's a "national park" where supposedly monkeys live. I put national park in quotes since there was trash all over the place and very dirty. Nothing like national parks in the states. A few of us decided to go on a hike that pointed us up a mountain to find the monkeys. As soon as the hike started, Michelle was not having it. It began with a large climb up a cliff of rocks that you use a rope to get up. I pushed on, but soon regreted my decision. After the first initial climb, the group ran into sharp jagged granite rock as far as the eye can see. It was insane!!! After 15 min of walking on this, I turned back. I was really scared and could have hurt myself badly or died. I'm glad Michelle didn't go. One of the guys that was part of our group was a middle aged man that worked for the World Bank. His job is environmentally based with regard to carbon footprints and preservation. He had a lot of bad things to say about the way the government set up the hike/park. Totally messed up. Don't worry, we have lots of pictures and video of everything. The crazy thing of it all was once we were back on the beach, 15 min later the monkeys came to us and walked on the beach. A little too convenient I say...

We then arrived back to Hanoi the following day in the afternoon. After only four hours back, we hit the train up to Sapa. It was an overnight train with very nice amenities. Us foreigners spend the money to have better accommodations. We arrived in Sapa at 5am and took a taxi bus to town. As soon as we got out of the taxi, we were bombarded by people wanting us to stay at their hotel. After looking at a couple of places we settled on a place with an amazing view of the mountains.

One of the things I have noticed is that the Vietnamese people are in your face and it can be insane and annoying. Once you see past this, most are nice. One guy on our Halong Bay boat was one of the most travelled people I have ever met. He said that the people here are the worst he's encountered.

So...back to Sapa. Michelle and I decided on just going to explore the scene and decided not to shower or nap. We hired a couple of tour guides and went on a 7 hour hike. All around the town are tribe people that live in the mountains and make it their job to harass the shit out of you and ask you to buy things. They make clothes and work in the rice fields that cover the area. These people are relentless. On the hike, about 7 of them walked with us and were so helpful and sweet. Once we stopped for lunch, these same sweet, helpful people swarmed at us like a bunch of wasps asking us to buy stuff. I've never seen anything like it. Our guides couldn't even help. We bought a few things, but that wasn't enough. We finally got rid of them and picked up on their routine. For the rest of our hike, other villagers came up to us and said "NO" very forcefully. You feel badly acting that way, but it's the only way to get rid of them.

Along the hike there were definitely hairy moments, but Michelle kicked ass. She faced her fears and rocked. The tribe people helped Michelle along the way, made little animals with the foliage around among other things.That night we met a really nice Dutch couple in the room next door, had a beer and talked about our stories. We'll have to tell you more stories about the people we have met later. One thing they did tell us was about their motorbike adventures. We figured why not try something completely different and very far from our comfort zone. After 10 min, I caught on quick. Learned how to shift and just go. It was amazing, freeing and wild all at the same time. Now that we know how to ride the bike, we can do it in other cities. It's the only way to get away from the people and tours.

While we were riding we ran into multiple people from our boat trip at Ha Long Bay. Totally cool! Sapa was amazing. Once you got away from the town, the views were cleansing and somewhat emotional. All the hills around you are full of rice patty fields. These people live in primitive conditions, with rudimentary ways of getting electricity, their irrigation systems, but the engineering of how they farm is something to marvel at. But get this, they have satellite TV. What's that all about? Dad can't get GPS in Hawaii, but these people have satellite dishes. Oh and everyones cell phones here work EVERYWHERE!

We left Sapa that night after the ride and took the taxi to the town with the train station. This is where we got fucked in the ass. Our tickets were sold to someone else. After about an hour haggling and dealing with everything, another travel agent got us some tickets on the super posh train. We had to pay an additional $120 US to get on. We will get a refund of $60 for our tickets, but too little to late. The stress and anxiety wore me out. We finally got in this morning at 5, took a taxi to the hotel we've been using as a home base here in Hanoi and take a bus down to a town called Hue tonight at 6pm, then to a town called Hoi An a day later. From what we've heard from people along the way, Hoi An is a place to relax. Jeff mentioned the same thing before we left. We need to just chill. The beaches are close to Hoi An which is nice. The funny thing is that the beach close by is China Beach. The one the US GI's went to. I always heard of that beach. We'll see. After Hoi An we head west to Laos.

Oh...the food has been really nice. We've had the opportunity to have some western food because the Vietnamese cater to the tourists.

We miss and love you. So many more stories to tell when we see/talk to you. Check out our Flickr page since we just uploaded some new pictures

Kevin & Michelle

p.s. You lean how to live dirty here. The conditions of Vietnam are wild. Amazing in it's own right, but not the health standards of the states.

Oh and Mikey...Set us up on your Flickr account.

Harrassed and Tired, but Satisfied remains copyright of the author charley08, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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]]> Lets Put Some Pictures behind the Words tag:travellerspoint.com,2008-07-05:/blog/?domain=charley08&thisblog_entryid=7&entryid=117630 2008-07-05T12:09:30Z 2008-07-05T12:09:30Z Hi all If you want to see some of the photos that we have taken during our trip you can click on the link below. Just so you all know there are a bunch of storage limits on both the blog and the flikr account we have set up (we are also too cheap at this point to upgrade our accounts, any donors are much appreciated. We take dong) We will do our best to update our photos but we would ... Hi all
If you want to see some of the photos that we have taken during our trip you can click on the link below.

Just so you all know there are a bunch of storage limits on both the blog and the flikr account we have set up (we are also too cheap at this point to upgrade our accounts, any donors are much appreciated. We take dong) We will do our best to update our photos but we would rather spend the time enjoying asia and sharing all these with you when we get back.

so here is the link and we will write another entry when we post new photos...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28298094@N04/?saved=1

Lets Put Some Pictures behind the Words remains copyright of the author charley08, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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]]> 3 Days in Hanoi tag:travellerspoint.com,2008-07-05:/blog/?domain=charley08&thisblog_entryid=6&entryid=117624 2008-07-05T11:17:07Z 2008-07-05T11:17:07Z It is safe to say that Hanoi is easily one of the most humid place we have ever been. We are constantly sweating. Beyond the weather, the city and its energy are amazing. If we had to define Hanoi it would be motorbike city. Not only are they everywhere, but there are no traffic laws or stop signs. It is almost like a dance the way the motorbikes, the taxis, the rickshaws and the few cars ... It is safe to say that Hanoi is easily one of the most humid place we have ever been. We are constantly sweating. Beyond the weather, the city and its energy are amazing. If we had to define Hanoi it would be motorbike city. Not only are they everywhere, but there are no traffic laws or stop signs. It is almost like a dance the way the motorbikes, the taxis, the rickshaws and the few cars move through the streets. There is not gridlock traffic and we have yet to see one accident.

What has been going on the last few days. Our first day we spent touring the city. We just walked and explored. It was an exhausting day and we were lost about 95% of the time but it was helpful just to get a sense of the city. Each street is named for the products sold in that particular area. So there is one street where all the silk shops might be and another where all the art galleries will be located.

Yesterday, we spent the morning at the temple of literature which is this beautiful ancient temple honoring Confuscius. Following that we went to have some lunch and found our first and most likely only grocery store that seemed to cater more towards the western influence...From there we headed off to the Hanoi Hilton. We will have to tell you about this place when we get home but suffice it to say that the pictures on the walls of the prison make it seem as though the American pilots that were held there were staying in a resort as opposed to a prison...(ex. there are pictures on the wall of the americans decorating their cells for christmas...)

We did a little bit of art shopping yesterday and discovered that we could get artwork reproduced here for minimal cost. So we have bought 3 paintings and some awesome asian inspired cards that we will frame and put on our walls in our new apartment.

Today was a little bit more mellow. We went and visited Ho Chi Minh's dead body (Yes, his truly preserved dead body). The area in Hanoi that honors Ho Chi Minh is absolutely stunning. It is lush, peaceful and might be the only area in Hanoi where you cannot hear the honking horns of the motorbikes. There are guards scattered throughout the complex...no bags, cameras, talking or arm crossing is permitted when you enter the mausolem. We chilled the rest of the day and prepared for the next leg of our journey.

Tomorrow, Sunday July 6, we will be leaving for a 3 day tour of Halong Bay. We leave the hotel at 8 am, take a 3 hour bus ride to Halong Bay and board a boat to tour the water (there should be time to swim, kayak and chill the f out). We spend the night on the boat and take a trek the following day. We stay an additional night in a hotel and head back to Hanoi the following day. We are in Hanoi for 5 hours and then take an overnight train to Sapa. Beyond that we are not exactly sure what we will be doing. What we do know is that we will come back to Hanoi and then head south in Vietnam and then into Laos.

3 Days in Hanoi remains copyright of the author charley08, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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]]> We're on Our Way tag:travellerspoint.com,2008-06-30:/blog/?domain=charley08&thisblog_entryid=5&entryid=116734 2008-07-01T01:45:55Z 2008-07-01T01:45:55Z Hello all. We leave for the next leg of our trip in less than 12 hours. Although we wrote in our blog yesterday of our adventure up to PDX, we wanted to write a final goodbye. Michelle and I had a wonderful time visiting friends and exploring the city. We want to thank Annie for opening up her home, hosting the get together with friends and watching The Lord (aka Oliver). It's off to SE Asia. Ciao...Michelle and Kevin ... Hello all. We leave for the next leg of our trip in less than 12 hours. Although we wrote in our blog yesterday of our adventure up to PDX, we wanted to write a final goodbye. Michelle and I had a wonderful time visiting friends and exploring the city. We want to thank Annie for opening up her home, hosting the get together with friends and watching The Lord (aka Oliver). It's off to SE Asia. Ciao...Michelle and Kevin

We're on Our Way remains copyright of the author charley08, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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]]> Could a short flight to Portland be more stressful? tag:travellerspoint.com,2008-06-29:/blog/?domain=charley08&thisblog_entryid=4&entryid=116468 2008-06-29T18:58:51Z 2008-06-29T18:58:51Z I think the first thought that ran through our heads when we finally landed in Portland on Thursday June 26th was "Thank God that is over" Yes, it is true, our flight to Portland can best be described as a 5 hour nightmare. We arrived at the United terminal at LAX around 2 pm for our 3:47 flight so that we could get to our gate with little hassle. Apparently this was incredibly wishful thinking. Our first task was to ... I think the first thought that ran through our heads when we finally landed in Portland on Thursday June 26th was "Thank God that is over" Yes, it is true, our flight to Portland can best be described as a 5 hour nightmare.

We arrived at the United terminal at LAX around 2 pm for our 3:47 flight so that we could get to our gate with little hassle. Apparently this was incredibly wishful thinking. Our first task was to check in our luggage...sounds simple enough. However, when we arrived at the United skycap it turned out that the one guy who knew how to charge us for our extra luggage was not working that day. (As a side note, it astounds me that United would impose a $25 fee per extra bag but would not teach their employees how to actually execute the announcement).

So after checking two free bags, we headed inside to check and pay for our second bag, easy enough. We got into line and walked up to a self serve kiosk only to discover that we could not self check our luggage; an agent was required. However, with all of the recent labor cuts, there were only three agents for approximately 100 people...so we waited and waited and waited.
Close to 25 minutes later our luggage was checked and we easliy passed through security...shockingly. After arriving at our gate, we decided to purchase a magazine for the 2 hour flight. (This might be a good time to mention that Oliver, Kevin's Golden Retriever was traveling with us as well). While waiting for me out side the "store", a women asked Kevin "What would your dog do if I stepped on his tail?" (Yes, someone actually asked this question). Kevin replied, "He would do nothing but my girlfriend might come after you"...Mikey, this might be a good target for Invisible man...

Finally, it was time to board, on time I might add. Another important side note. As a requirement for traveling with Oliver on the plane our seats need to be in bulkhead so that the dog has enough room to lay down. In order to make sure this is the case, we had to book our tickets over the phone to make sure.

Well, as I am sure you can guess, when we stepped on the plane, we were sitting in row 11, not the bulkhead. To make matters worse, it turns out the bulkhead seats are actually for Economy plus customer, who pay more for their tickets than the "lowly" regular fliers. So, for someone to switch seats with us they would actually be sitting in seats that were "worse" than what they had paid for. After waiting outside the plane for about 15 minutes, two men were found who agreed to switch seats with us...and finally we were off on our journey. Icing on the cake. When the stewardesses were serving drinks on the plane we were the only ones not served.

At 6:30pm we had landed and at least we knew that the rest of our time in Portland would be 1000 times better than our flight up here.

Could a short flight to Portland be more stressful? remains copyright of the author charley08, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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]]> How do I know when you create a new blog entry? tag:travellerspoint.com,2008-06-12:/blog/?domain=charley08&thisblog_entryid=3&entryid=113517 2008-06-12T07:17:16Z 2008-06-12T07:17:16Z It is simple. Just click on subscribe and enter your email address. When we post, you will get an email. ... It is simple. Just click on subscribe and enter your email address. When we post, you will get an email.

How do I know when you create a new blog entry? remains copyright of the author charley08, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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]]> A Short Airplane Ride from La la land to Portland tag:travellerspoint.com,2008-06-12:/blog/?domain=charley08&thisblog_entryid=2&entryid=113515 2008-06-12T07:06:36Z 2008-06-12T07:04:06Z [map=152539 lat=37.5833333333333 lon=-118.083333333333 zoom=10.8] ...

See the itinerary of this trip, and details about each destination.

A Short Airplane Ride from La la land to Portland remains copyright of the author charley08, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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]]> 14 Days and Counting tag:travellerspoint.com,2008-06-11:/blog/?domain=charley08&thisblog_entryid=1&entryid=113511 2008-06-12T06:15:36Z 2008-06-12T06:15:36Z It is June 12th, 2 weeks before we begin the first leg of our trip in Portland Oregon. This is going to be a busy two weeks. Not only are we celebrating Michelle's graduation from UCLAAnderson business school and the launch of Kevin's incredible website, but we are also packing up Michelle's apartment, buying some last minute travel items and saying goodbye to family and friends. Our first entry will be from Portland Oregon on June 27th. We hope you ... It is June 12th, 2 weeks before we begin the first leg of our trip in Portland Oregon. This is going to be a busy two weeks. Not only are we celebrating Michelle's graduation from UCLAAnderson business school and the launch of Kevin's incredible website, but we are also packing up Michelle's apartment, buying some last minute travel items and saying goodbye to family and friends.
Our first entry will be from Portland Oregon on June 27th. We hope you will enjoy reading this blog as much as we will enjoy sharing our experiences with all of you.
Kevin and Michelle

14 Days and Counting remains copyright of the author charley08, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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