Holy Kathmandu... This city is chaos. The tiny roads are bustling with honking cars, trucks, vans, bicycles, rickshaws, pedestrians, dogs, cows, goats going this way and that. I think they're supposed to drive on the left side of the road here, but pretty much it's just where ever they can fit and the honking never stops. There are beggars all over, mostly women and children (who are often huffing glue), the men hassling you to buy their goods, book a trek, ride their rickshaw, take their taxi, crazy. I was wandering around in this alone for a few hours before running into a girl I recognized from the Bangkok airport. Thank god, it was such a relief to share the shock with someone else and not alone.
We ended up having an awesome time together here our first couple of days. She was from England and had buddied up with a tour guide from her hostel and he ended up being a really good person to have. He invited us to his friends wedding reception where we were welcomed with free food and drink and lots of traditional Nepali dancing and got to talk to and learn about the natives. The next day we did a bit more wandering to some of the sites before meeting up with the guide again and he took us and a few others from the hostel to a Nepali restaurant where we ate like the locals, with our hands. Think rice and lentil soup with a few several different vegetable sides with your hands, it was a mess but once you got the technique down it was quite enjoyable.
As the city is powered by generators when there is going to be electricity is anyones guess. Apparently they can expect to have it anywhere from 8-16 hours/day but different areas get it at different times and even in the same hostel some rooms may have power while others may not. Their is a government enforced curfew at 11pm where police make sure the restaurants and business stops. It's quite nice b/c thats about my bedtime anyway and you don't have to worry about where a noisy hostel. The city is very intriguing and I am really enjoying my stay here after getting past the initial shock.
Day one of my trek was today. I was really nervous about it for some reason, but was relieved when I finally met the others. There are 5 of us and a guide and then plenty of sherpas and porters to carry our gear (a nice catered trek for me). There is a couple in their 50’s from somewhere in England and then another guy and girls (friends, but not a couple thankfully) from London. Today we just took a tour of the city. There are some amazing temples and places of worship (Buddhist and Hindu) on the outskirts and in the center Dubar Square (Old Town) has beautiful old buildings and squares. I leave the city tomorrow to carry out the rest of the 14 day trek and am sooo excited to trek through the countryside and see the Himalayas!!!
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
Farewell Thailand
My final few days in Bangkok...
After spending the night in Bangkok on Khao San road... loud obnoxious backpacker/partying mecca I was ready to leave the big city. I headed down to Hua Hin, enticed by nice beaches and a cool national park. The town itself was nothing special... at all. Lots of resorts and older men and families go there on vacation, or to hook up with young Thai prostitues. It's really sad and I saw it all over the place. But the beach was nice and the park was quite the expedition! I rented a motor bike in order to do a self guided tour of the park and actually see the whole thing rather than pay a bunch of money and only see portions of it. My first stop in the park was to a look out point. 2 minutes up the trail a group of 3 people were hurrying down because they had just been attacked by mean monkeys. They had their water bottles stolen and warned me not to go ahead, especially by myself. I went another 20 yards and saw the monkeys and even worse heard their viscious growling. I quickly rushed back down myself.
My next stop was at the first of three caves. I parked the bike at the bottom of the desserted trailhead and started hiking up. No one else was on the trail or anywhere nearby and at the entrance sure enough the monkeys were lingering about. I risked it and ran past them, I hadn't hiked all the way up there for nothing. The entrance to the huge cave allows some sunlight in but soon after that it becomes pitch black. It was so dark, dead silent and quite scary. Luckily I had thrown my headlamp in (the guidebook says there are lamps for rent and the bottom, but there was absolutely no one around) so could see my footing in front of me and used my camera to take pictures with the flash and then I could look at the photo and see what lay ahead. After much hesitation and careful stepping I eventually made it to the end. It was huge and full of amazing limestone stalactite/mites... I felt so proud of myself for making it to the end but rushed back out as quickly and carefully as I could. Past the monkeys and back down the hill. Cave number two was a much more popular attraction. And quite a sight! So beautiful! And the third was much like the first but even darker though not quite as long.
My last day in Bangkok was spent trying to figure things out for the rest of my travels. I was able to find a family whos organic farm I am going to be working on in Austria about 100km W of Vienna, for 3-5 weeks depending on how it goes. It sounds really great, a couple with two daughters (11 and 14), lots of farm animals, gardening, making cheese, teas, herbal remedies. I'm excited about it! And it's a huge relief as I was getting quite nervous about whether or not i'd be able to afford 3 months in Europe, this should help a lot.
I wandered about see some more of Bangkok I hadn't visted yet, I spent some time wandering around China Town and my lungs started feeling horrible from breathing the gross Bangkok air and made my way to Siam... the shopping district. I found refuge in a huge air conditioned mall... not exactly what I want to spend my time doing, but scored some new contacts (no prescription necessary) which I really needed because I only have one extra pair and I have been having lots of problems with these. So I got another years supply for $25.
Thailand was great...
Next stop: Nepal
After spending the night in Bangkok on Khao San road... loud obnoxious backpacker/partying mecca I was ready to leave the big city. I headed down to Hua Hin, enticed by nice beaches and a cool national park. The town itself was nothing special... at all. Lots of resorts and older men and families go there on vacation, or to hook up with young Thai prostitues. It's really sad and I saw it all over the place. But the beach was nice and the park was quite the expedition! I rented a motor bike in order to do a self guided tour of the park and actually see the whole thing rather than pay a bunch of money and only see portions of it. My first stop in the park was to a look out point. 2 minutes up the trail a group of 3 people were hurrying down because they had just been attacked by mean monkeys. They had their water bottles stolen and warned me not to go ahead, especially by myself. I went another 20 yards and saw the monkeys and even worse heard their viscious growling. I quickly rushed back down myself.
My next stop was at the first of three caves. I parked the bike at the bottom of the desserted trailhead and started hiking up. No one else was on the trail or anywhere nearby and at the entrance sure enough the monkeys were lingering about. I risked it and ran past them, I hadn't hiked all the way up there for nothing. The entrance to the huge cave allows some sunlight in but soon after that it becomes pitch black. It was so dark, dead silent and quite scary. Luckily I had thrown my headlamp in (the guidebook says there are lamps for rent and the bottom, but there was absolutely no one around) so could see my footing in front of me and used my camera to take pictures with the flash and then I could look at the photo and see what lay ahead. After much hesitation and careful stepping I eventually made it to the end. It was huge and full of amazing limestone stalactite/mites... I felt so proud of myself for making it to the end but rushed back out as quickly and carefully as I could. Past the monkeys and back down the hill. Cave number two was a much more popular attraction. And quite a sight! So beautiful! And the third was much like the first but even darker though not quite as long.
My last day in Bangkok was spent trying to figure things out for the rest of my travels. I was able to find a family whos organic farm I am going to be working on in Austria about 100km W of Vienna, for 3-5 weeks depending on how it goes. It sounds really great, a couple with two daughters (11 and 14), lots of farm animals, gardening, making cheese, teas, herbal remedies. I'm excited about it! And it's a huge relief as I was getting quite nervous about whether or not i'd be able to afford 3 months in Europe, this should help a lot.
I wandered about see some more of Bangkok I hadn't visted yet, I spent some time wandering around China Town and my lungs started feeling horrible from breathing the gross Bangkok air and made my way to Siam... the shopping district. I found refuge in a huge air conditioned mall... not exactly what I want to spend my time doing, but scored some new contacts (no prescription necessary) which I really needed because I only have one extra pair and I have been having lots of problems with these. So I got another years supply for $25.
Thailand was great...
Next stop: Nepal
Monday, February 16, 2009
A long overdue update
Hello, Hello!
Things are going well here in the land of Thai! I had a great, awesome, amazing time with Kenny here. After a day of sightseeing in Bangkok by a personal guide, my buddy from college Travis Guy (which was crazy that we met up here because we couldn't manage to do to it back home when we were only one state away), we boarded a night train down to the south and made it to Tonsai beach where the backpacker climbers hangout.
It was a rough start with both of us getting quite sick but after nursing illness for a few days we managed some good climbing and beach fun, though became a bit paranoid of the food and some of the beach water (made filthy by the loud longtail boats). The beaches were beautiful with the limestone cliffs in the backdrop. Our illness and the scorching hot weather limited the time we spent climbing but we realized the stalactites and stalagmites were just as appealing gazing up at them from the sand and water as they were when hanging from them praying they wouldn't break while supporting your entire body. Thankfully, though we're both big and buffed... we definitely weren't the biggest and buffest out there so if they could hold the other folks we felt pretty comfortable of their ability to hold us.
For a change of scenery we headed back north to Kanchanaburi which is just west of Bangkok and home to the famed Bridge Over the River Kwai. It was a nice small town which welcomed us with a hearty selection of real ice cream treats! We had long been desiring it! From this town we rented a motorbike (lots of fun to ride, though hard on the bum) and rode to Erawan National Park which has a beautiful 7 tiered waterfall and is a really fun scramble to the top, (despite a hard slip and fall where I landed on my head I think and cracked my elbow open, but managed to keep my camera and bag from getting wet!) and you can swim and cool off at just about all 7 of the tiers. We checked out the bridge which was pretty cool and ate some ice cream.
We finished off Kenny's vacation with canal ride through Bangkok and a Thai massage (the best of the 3 I've had) and a sad final farewell. It was great having him here though!
Things are going well here in the land of Thai! I had a great, awesome, amazing time with Kenny here. After a day of sightseeing in Bangkok by a personal guide, my buddy from college Travis Guy (which was crazy that we met up here because we couldn't manage to do to it back home when we were only one state away), we boarded a night train down to the south and made it to Tonsai beach where the backpacker climbers hangout.
It was a rough start with both of us getting quite sick but after nursing illness for a few days we managed some good climbing and beach fun, though became a bit paranoid of the food and some of the beach water (made filthy by the loud longtail boats). The beaches were beautiful with the limestone cliffs in the backdrop. Our illness and the scorching hot weather limited the time we spent climbing but we realized the stalactites and stalagmites were just as appealing gazing up at them from the sand and water as they were when hanging from them praying they wouldn't break while supporting your entire body. Thankfully, though we're both big and buffed... we definitely weren't the biggest and buffest out there so if they could hold the other folks we felt pretty comfortable of their ability to hold us.
For a change of scenery we headed back north to Kanchanaburi which is just west of Bangkok and home to the famed Bridge Over the River Kwai. It was a nice small town which welcomed us with a hearty selection of real ice cream treats! We had long been desiring it! From this town we rented a motorbike (lots of fun to ride, though hard on the bum) and rode to Erawan National Park which has a beautiful 7 tiered waterfall and is a really fun scramble to the top, (despite a hard slip and fall where I landed on my head I think and cracked my elbow open, but managed to keep my camera and bag from getting wet!) and you can swim and cool off at just about all 7 of the tiers. We checked out the bridge which was pretty cool and ate some ice cream.
We finished off Kenny's vacation with canal ride through Bangkok and a Thai massage (the best of the 3 I've had) and a sad final farewell. It was great having him here though!
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