First week in New Zealand

Well I've already been here in NZ for a week now, and time has been flying by! It's been a pretty busy week. My first day in Auckland I met up with my buddy Patrick who I worked with when I was in Australia back in March '07. He's been here in Auckland pretty much since then and it was nice to go to a new city and know someone who lives here. He picked me up from downtown about an hour after I checked into my hostel and grabbed a few beers then went back to his place. From there the night got a bit out of hand... What was supposed to be a few catch up beers on a Monday night turned into drinking games doing shots of whiskey with his roommates haha. Patrick made an effort to go to work the next morning, but ended up coming right back home... and promptly made the rest of us do another shot of whiskey. I feel sick thinking about that.

The next day I didn't (read: couldn't) do too much of anything. Partly because it was raining and I had no idea where I was in the city. Eventually I found a map and walked back downtown to the hostel and did a little bit of exploring. That's pretty much all I did for the next few days, got my cell working, then just explored the city and checked out the hundreds of activities you can do all over NZ.

On Friday at 6 in the morning Terra flew into Auckland from Canada! She was planning on coming to NZ a few months down the road, but I guess somehow she knew that it was going to get insanely cold in Sask and came a bit earlier (-40 in Dec?? are you kidding me!). She thought the weather was great at +22 and cloudy. I am still getting used to it... I came from +35 and humid everyday in Thailand and it still feels cool to me. Terra's flight took 16hours from Vancouver and obviously a bit tiring, but she couldn't check into the hostel until 1pm. We ended up wandering around the harbour for a few hours snapping a bunch of pictures. We even came across Patrick's work and met up with him on one of his coffee breaks. After that Terra was able to check in and took a 4hour nap. The rest of the night we took it easy and just caught a movie at the Imax down the road.

Saturday afternoon we met up with Patrick and a few of his friends - Mike from South Africa, and Aaron (aka Moose) from NZ at a pool hall. After playing pool for a bit we headed off to Cornwall Park for a BBQ. It was a few of their Brazilian friends birthday party and they were throwing a huge bbq in this beautiful park. Now this was how you barbeque! We got there just after 2pm and they didn't stop cooking meat until 8pm when the sun went down! There was good music, dancing and some really nice people. There were a few guys manning the grill, and when a steak or sausage was done they tossed it up on the cutting board, chopped it all up and everyone would help themselves to the meat. It was great! They had all the meats of the rainbow, lamb, steak, pork, and I even ate a chicken heart! Try it once, but I wouldn't make it a weekly dish.

We had food and a few beers until just after 5pm. Me and Terra had lined up a few flats to go check out so we didn't have to stay in a hostel over xmas and new years. Aaron (Moose that is) offered to drive us back to the city and find these places. He was from Auckland and had a GPS system that took us right to these places in no time... also because he drives like a race car driver haha. These places we looked at were fairly sketchy, more than we had anticipated. The first one had basically a mattress on the floor and smelled a bit off. The second one was worse, the toilet was so tiny I'm not sure how you would shut the door if a person was in there! Plus to get to the shower you had to go out to the backyard then go under the house to this room with a tree in it... um ya. So as we were looking at these places Aaron was with us and was just as disgusted as us. He said that he had a spare bed at his place and we were welcome to stay there if we wanted. So he took us by his place to show us. I was in heaven, he has my dream pad haha! Its a really nice place with all the toys a geek like me dreams of. Big plasma TV, a huge surround sound system, dvd, playstation 3, a media center PC and some big comfy chairs and couches. All the goodies you could ever want. So it was either Aaron's pad, or the dungeon shower to choose from. hmmmmmm. Aaron just had to clear it with his room mate Jason before we could get the OK for everything.

After the flat decision was sorted out Aaron gave us a quick tour of the area and a few other places around Auckland. He was really helpful and had tons of great info for things to see and do all over NZ. We really lucked out meeting him! We went back to the BBQ in the park and had some more food and drinks for a few more hours.

Later that night Patrick, Mike, Aaron, Terra and me went down for drinks at a few pubs in Viaduct Harbour - basically downtown Auckland. It was so different at night, and very pretty and lively! We went to an Irish pub that had a live band playing all the classics. It was a good night, and as usual got a bit out of hand again. Patrick jumped in this circle of girls dressed up for an 80's party popped his collar and busted a few moves. It was another great night out, and a good welcome for Terra I think.

Sunday afternoon me and Terra met up with Aaron again so we could meet his roommate Jason. They took us down along the water front to a cool coffee shop in Mission Bay. We all got along great! Jason is a snowboarder too, so we chatted about that for a while and might even head for the slopes one of these weekends! Monday morning we checked out of the hostel and grabbed the train to our new pad at Aaron and Jason's! The next thing on the agenda is going to be getting the CV (resume) out there and find a job!

I'll let you know how that goes on the next update! I just added a bunch of pics of new zealand to the photo album too, if anyone wants to see more. I'll try and add some video's soon too!

I hope everyone back home is having a good Xmas season, I am a bit jealous of the snow I admit. It doesn't feel quite like Christmas without the white stuff around. Plus I really wanted to go to the Shaw staff xmas party, they never disappoint. So someone let me know how that goes! Oh and I am accepting any Christmas baking anyone wants to send this way! please?!?! ; )

Bye bye for now!

Nate.

Australia II

Hello again! I finally made it out of South East Asia and into an English speaking land again. I was really looking forward to having some of my favorite foods, using regular toilets, and getting some surfing and beach time in during my short time back in OZ. Because of the airport closure and being about 1200km away from an airport that could get me out of there, my time in Oz was cut down to only 4 days. I was going to have to get a lot done in a short time. My greeting back to Oz was a little harsh, and just short of a strip search. Karma would pay me back quickly for that, literally! After getting through customs I had to wait about 2 hours in Darwin for my connecting flight to Melbourne. I happened to be sitting at a table just across from an ATM. I noticed that there was a $50 dollar bill sitting in the tray! I started looking for the last people who had just taken money out when another person walked up and withdrew some money as well… they did their thing and took the money, but the $50 was still there! I thought maybe it was just a sticker or something… so I went and withdrew some money and reached up in the tray and pulled out a crisp $50 just for me!!

Friday morning (Dec 5th) I arrived in Melbourne and hopped on a shuttle to my hostel in St. Kilda, but as I was checking in I found out that it was completely booked up and could only have me for 1 night! I needed to find somewhere to stay the next two nights asap. I walked around to other hostels nearby, but they were all booked up too! Finally a few hours later I found one that had a bed for me for the next two nights. Problem solved. That night I went out with Wes, a guy from California I met in my hostel, to a pub called “The Espy”. It used to be a hotel on the beachfront and was converted into a pub. It had about 5 different rooms each with a different atmosphere and a live band or DJ. This place was packed and had some good band playing. I was mostly happy to try some of my favorite Aussie beers again haha.

The next morning I was up early to check out of my hostel and move to my new hostel down the road called the “Oslo”. As I was checking out I was told that there was a bed available for me that night if I wanted to stay. I had already booked the other place and felt bad if I had bailed on the new place, so I did the right thing and kept my booking at the Oslo and made the hike up the road. I checked into the new place and went to my room, hoping to get a bit more sleep in. I opened the door and was hit with a strong smell of sweaty dudes and stale beer, nice. The room was a horrible mess and I couldn’t even find a clearing to put my bag down. I said hi to everyone and just dropped my gear in the corner and went down the hall to take my morning pee. As I was coming back there was a girl walking down the hall and as she passed my room she made this horrible face like she was about to vomit. I figured it was the smell that caused this. As I turned the corner to go into my room the door was wide open and there was a dude lying naked in his bed… um “itching” himself. I thought maybe the door had come open just as the guy was changing or something and he happened to be itchy… maybe. I went into my bag to get a change of clothes, but the dude kept um, “itching” his man bits and was giggling away as his buddy watched. What the F did I just step into here? There was no way I was gonna sleep in the same room with these animals for the next two nights. I left my bags and raced back to my old hostel to see if I could get that room back! Too late, it was already gone; Fantastic. I checked a few other hostels close by and luckily I was able to get a room for the night. I went back to the Oslo grabbed my gear and checked out without saying anything to my new roomies. Luckily I got all my money back. The new hostel I found was great! Clean beds, huge kitchen and nice people. The next day I was lined up to go back to my original hostel which was great, cause I had already made some good friends there the day before.

The second day in Oz I went down to the beach and explored St Kilda a bit more and sampled some of my favorite aussie foods. I had a Mrs Mac’s meat pie for brekky, a huge burger right off the bbq with all the fixings, beat root, pineapple and lots of tomato sause. Delish. Later that evening me and Wes went into the city. He was there almost a week and didn’t even make it down town yet. I still remembered how to get around from the first time I was there so I showed him around a bit. We walked around for a few hours and ended up chilling out at Crown Casino and had a few beers. Wes is from Santa Cruz, California and had come to Oz to go surfing and skating up the east coast for about 5 months, but about 3 weeks before he was to leave he had a bad wipe out at the skate park and tore some ligaments in his knee. He could barely walk on it! So his great surf/skate trip in Oz was going to be sightseeing only… I was telling him and showing pictures about my Thailand trip and now he is thinking about going there for a month or two and chill out on the islands haha.

My last day in Oz I went to the beach with Eddie, Joanna, Rachael and Wes for a few hours. The sun was warm, but the wind was chilly, so the beach time was kept to a minimum. We went back to the hostel and had a huge bbq with all the perks - Burgers, sausages, hash browns, bacon, and eggs. While we were cooking this massive BBQ the bacon went missing! How do you misplace a full pack of bacon? Some sneaky bugger nicked our bacon! Rachael was devastated haha, she really wanted some bacon… she was really quiet the rest of the day, only bringing up the bacon when she spoke haha. We figured it was some sneaky frenchies who took it. We had a good laugh and it was a nice ending to my short trip in Oz, chilling out by the BBQ sipping some beers with some new friends.

The next morning I was up at 5am to catch my flight to New Zealand!
Stay tuned for some NZ stories coming shortly!

Bye bye for now!
Nate.

Escape from Thailand

Hello again everyone! Sorry, its been a while since I've been able to post anything... I've been on the road quite a bit, and my laptop isn't working at the moment. I still managed to upload some new pics though!

I'm not sure if everyone noticed, but the Airport in Thailand was closed for about a week by protesters. The day before I was supposed to leave it so happens... I'll fill you in on what I've been up to since the last post.

My last day in Chiang Mai (Nov 25th) I rented a motorcycle and ripped around town and explored the area for most of the afternoon. This city has about 200 temples in it and is smaller than Saskatoon. Every corner had some Temple, Pagoda, or Buddhist monument of some sort. There is also a moat that goes around the 'old city', and used to have a wall, but only a few parts of this wall are remaining. That night I had a big Thai meal (thinking it was the last) and even when for an hour long Thai massage to finish off the night.

It wasn't the happy ending I was looking for though. The next morning when I woke up I turned on the news and saw that 18,000 protesters had taken over Bangkok airport. No flights were coming in or going out. I was supposed to fly to Bangkok that morning and connect to Singapore. That wasn't going to happen it seemed, so I went online and moved my flight from Singapore to Australia back 4 days. That would cut my time in Oz down to only 6 days, which I was fine with, I've already been there before. I'm sure this whole airport thing will be over in the next day or two... thats what the news was saying too anyway. Bangkok airport is a huge, important airport not just for Thailand, its a major hub for south east asia. It cant be closed for long! (thats what I thought anyway).

So after 3 days of waiting for someone to take back control of the airport it looked like my only option was to get out by land. I happened to be in the far north of Thailand, the closest international airports were in Laos or Burma. There were no roads into Laos and took about 3 days to get there by boat. And the political situation in Burma was far worse than in Thailand, so there wasn't much point going there either. All the other airports to the south were booked solid until Dec 7th - a week of waiting!! no thanks. When I was walking around town I started to notice full military buse rushing by quite often. Because the PM couldn't land in Bangkok, they flew him here to Chiang Mai. My only option looked like busing out. On Nov 29th I hoped on a 9hr overnight bus to Bangkok.

I should have come to Bangkok sooner! Because there were about 60,000 stranded tourists standing around, the Thai govt were putting people up in hotels around the city for free! I was put in the Prince Palace Hotel (the name says it all, or look it up) and given a room bigger than most peoples apartments! All my meals were provided by the hotel too! It was nice to relax by the pool and be pampered a little, because the next evening I was on a bus to Singapore. I left Monday evening and would arrive in Singapore Wednesday evening, 36hrs later.

The bus ride wasnt as bad as I thought it was going to be. It was pretty much like being on a plane. A stewardess came by with water, snacks and blankets for everyone and the seats reclined. The only bad part was the organization of it all, which it typical of Thailand haha. The bus route from Bangkok to Singaproe is just something that was put together. Most sane people fly this route. We were told to be at the bus station at 6pm sharp, after 2 hours of standing around we finally got on the bus at 8pm and were heading out of the city. From bangkok we drove 12 hours to a city called Surat Thani and made a bus change, then 8 hours to Hat Yai where I hopped on a 2hr minibus to the border where we had to go through customs/immigration to exit Thailand and then through it all again to enter Malaysia. Then crammed 11 people +luggage in another minibus that barely seats 10. The ride was only 2 hours long to a city in Malaysia called Butterworth. We had to wait there for a few hours to catch the 10 hour bus ride to Singapore. The ride through malaysia to singapore was ok, but I couldnt see the Petronas Towers when I went through Kuala Lumur... I asked the bus driver if we could go by them, but he didnt speak english...

Once we got to the Singapore/Malaysia border it was the same process. Check out of Malaysia and then into Singapore. There was a group of 12 of us that had been travelling together for most of the trip and we had all became friends and kindof looked out for each other and made sure that we were all on the bus before the driver took off. This was working well until Singapore. I was one of the last ones to get through the customs area and when I went down to get back on the bus it was gone! Luckily I found 5 others that had been left behind too, only they were all going to the airport. I hoped in a taxi with them to the airport and then caught a train to the city center - only cost me $1.50! So it all worked out well in the end.

I had to wonder around town for about an hour because all the hostels were full. Finally I found one just as it started to pour outside. As soon as I shut the door I hit the bed and slept for about 5 hours. Sleeping on busses suck, and the bed was exactly what I needed.

Feeling refeshed after having a shower and a nap I went and wandered around town and explored as much as I could. The first thing I noticed was that its Christmas! In Thailand about 90% of the population is Buddhist and dont celebrate Xmas. I had nearly forgotten that it was coming so soon! Singapore is known for its shopping, and they were playing the Xmas card to the max. In Thailand you can buy t-shirts for about $3, they are nice and good quality, its just everyone has the same 12 t-shirts for sale. In Singapore its all about fashon. I was in a few shops and the t-shirts were going for $70 each! Luckily I had stocked up on t-shirts in thailand.

The next day (Thurs Dec 4th) I didnt fly out until 10pm, so I had the whole day to explore a bit more. The city is really pretty, but it started to rain in the evening, so I just went and caught a movie. I was really excited about travelling in a plane again and getting to Australia finally.

From Singapore I flew to Darwin - a city on the northern tip of Australia and had to go through customs there. They actually pulled me aside and grilled me about my travels; why I was in Cambodia for 3 days, Malaysia for 2 days, Singapore for 2 days, and then only 4 days in Australia... So they went through my entire backpack, X-rayed it a few times, swabbed some of my things for drugs and grilled me for about 15 mins. Welcome back to Australia. Fortunately I didn't have my daily serving of drugs and needles with me, so they let me go, but not without a stern warning for bringing in Claratin (allergy medicine) they said it can be considered illicid drugs... haha. I guess they had to come up with something for all their troubles. It was nice to be in a place where everyone spoke english again and eat some familliar foods again.

I'll tell you more about Australia on the next post. This one is getting novel sized...

Well, thats all for now!
Come back soon for more!

Nate.

Trekking in Northern Thailand

I made it out of the jungle alive and well! I have never sweat so much in my life! It was insane! I took some cool photo's if you wanna check them out... you know the drill.

When I arrived in Bangkok from Cambodia I explored the city a bit and found the most amazing mall ever. ever. First thing I found was a food court, not just any food court, this one was different. You walked into an area and are presented with a card. Then there are about a dozen stalls with different kinds of food, Japanese, italian, thai, etc. You pick out what you want to eat and they just swipe your card then when you leave you just pay for everything you had. It was great!

Then I walked around the corner and found a geeks heaven. This mall has 7 floors, each floor is the size of a walmart and dedicated to one type of product. The first floor I found was the electronics floor. There were hundreds of stalls selling every kind of cell phone, video game, ipod, and burnt movie imaginable. And all for incredibly cheap. I wandered around drooling for a few hours and ended up buying a sweet as cell phone for cheap cheap. I was tempted to pick up an iPhone, but I already have an iTouch and would be a tad over the top in geekness if I was carrying both around haha. There were other floors that had only clothing (i bought a pair of deisel jeans for $15!!) The top floor had a sweet movie theater with couches, lazy boy chiars and you could order food and beer/wine! I didnt have enough time to watch a movie... so I'll have to do that next time.

I took an overnight train from Bangkok north to a city called Chiang Mai. It was a 14hr trip, and I slept like a baby! I met 3 Thai ladies that were teaching me some more thai words to help pass the time. They thought I was crazy travelling alone so far from home haha. I finally arrived around noon and made it to my guesthouse. They filled me in on what I needed to bring for the trek and spent most of the day exploring and getting ready to take off. I'll tell you more about this city later...

The next morning the tour group picked me up and we headed north for about an hour to our first top at the Elephant camp. There were 2 adults three teens and two baby elephants. You really feel weak and small standing next to them. We had a ride for about an hour and took them down to the river for a drink; the smallest ones went for a swim. It was hilarious, they were just like kids playing in the mud.

After the elephant ride we started our trek up the mountain. By this time it was just past noon and the hottest part of the day. An excellent time to start hiking haha. There were 12 of us going up the mountain, and one Australian couple - Kristian and Celia just arrived in chiang mai and didnt have time to pack a seperate bag for the trek. So Kristian had to carry this 40lb pack all the way up the mountain! I have no idea how it managed not to die on the way up, because I have never sweat so much in my life! I drank 3 litres of water and didnt have to pee once! My shirt was completely soaked and water was dripping off my face. Two times during the climb we came across elephants! I'm not sure if they were wild, but there were no people anywhere nearby. It was really impressive to suddenly come across this huge animal, completely oblivious to us. We walked for about 3 hours and climbed 1400 meters before reaching the villiage at the top of the mountain. We arrived just in time for sunset, and the hard work was worth it to see that view. I couldnt take the grin off my face! It was so rewarding seeing that view and knowing what we had just accomplished. What made it even better was a nice cold beer.

After the sun went down we had supper by candle light since there is no electricity there. After that our guide Bond (as in James Bond) and his buddy Jack (Sparrow) played the guitar and sang some songs. Everyone chilled out on the balcony watching the stars and Jack had some mind games with sticks. OH My Buddha! and Sorry No! were his favorite sayings and soon became ours for the rest of the trip. It felt like it was around midnight when everyone went to bed, but everyone was fast asleep just after 9pm. It was a long day...

The next morning we were awakened by a Rooster sounding off at about 5am. Again the view from our hut was beautiful! The morning mist was pouring over the mountains and flowing through the valley. We had breakfast on the balcony and watched the view for a few hours before our group was split up. Some people were only doing a two day trek and had to head back down. There were only 5 of us that continued on... We had a one hour hike to our next stop at a huge waterfall where we could cool off and go swimming.

Going down the mountain was even harder with tired legs but again we were rewarded with this huge waterfall. We stayed there for about 2 hours to play and eat. The water crashing down from this waterfall was so powerful! When we went under we had to cover your head and hope you still had clothes on when you came out the other side! If you look close at this picture here you can hardly see me under the fall!

After resting here we headed further down the mountian criss crossing the stream sometimes by balancing across a log or jumping from stone to stone. We came across another waterfall that was crashing down a solid rock face wall. It would have been perfect to do some absailing down! Next time I bring a rope. Another hour of trekking and we reached our second camp along the stream. Our guide took me, Kristian and Celia upstream a little to do some fishing. We didnt catch any fish, and the only bites we had were from minows the size of your finger. Luckily we had some cold beers along, so all was not lost. After supper the remaining 5 of our group - Kristian, Celia, Anne (from London) and Javier (Spain) and I sat around the fire drinking beers* and Bond played us some music with only 4 strings on his guitar. I slept great again that night, and this time no roosters to wake us up!

The last day of our trip started with more hiking... It was another hour down the mountain when we reached the white water rafting stop. Before long we were on the water and hit our first set of rapids, then waited for the rest of the rafts to get on the water. The next raft ended up getting stuck on a rock for about 10 mins, then a few seconds after they get free they hit some rapids and completely flip over! First rapids and there is already a rescue trying to collect everyone floating down the river. They didnt have a great start. We hit a few more sets of rapids and got a few waves in the face. It was a good rush hitting these rapids for about an hour. After the rapids were finished we traded our rubber raft for a traditional bamboo raft and floated down the river for another 30mins. The thing with these bamboo rafts is that with the amount of people we had on it the raft was about 4 inches underwater! It was a lot of fun and was the end of our journey. We came to the last stop where they fed us some delishous pad thai for lunch before they took everyone back to our hostels and where our group all headed our seperate ways....

Today I am going to see if I can rent a motorcycle again and check out the city a bit before I leave. Tomorrow is my last day in Thailand... I fly to Singapore tomorrow and have a few days there before I go to Australia! I have 10 days that I'm going to spend around Melbourne before I fly to Auckland Dec 6th,

I'll talk to you all again soon!

Nate.

Cambodia

Hey Hey! I’m back from Cambodia safe and sound! Since most people didn’t even know that I was in Cambodia, I’ll get you up to speed. My last day in Khao Lak was spent chilling by the pool with the Wicked DMT’s. Chilling by the pool turned into a pool party as the sun went down, more beers were cracked, and more friends joined in! It was a blast, and the guys had me convinced that I should miss my flight to Bangkok and just stay in Khao Lak for the rest of my trip. I was seriously considering it, especially the next morning; I did not feel like waking up and going to the air port at all. I decided it wouldn’t be travelling if I didn’t see more of Thailand and Cambodia… At the moment I’m wishing I had stayed in Khao Lak. It’s only been a few days and I miss the ocean and the familiar faces. Now I’m sitting in a cramped room and don’t know a soul. Hopefully that will change soon.

So I left Khao lak and headed to Bangkok as planned. Right away its apparent that things are much busier here. On my way from baggage claim to the bus stop I was bombarded with people asking if I wanted a taxi. First prices were 700Baht for a taxi, and as I got closer to the bus stop it was down to 400B. Then I started to hear from people saying that the bus was closed today… riiiiight. Finally I got to the bus stand and bought my ticket for 150b. The bus was pretty nice too! Leather reclining seats and AC, and it dropped me off right in front of my hostel!

I wandered around town a little and started going into travel shops to see what my options were for Cambodia and other things to do. I ended up booking a trip to Cambodia that left at 7am the next morning. So next morning I was packed up and on a bus to Cambodia! This is where things started to get a little sketchy. After 4 hours of driving we pull into a restaurant and suddenly have people there yelling at us to get out. I guess it was our stop. It didn’t seem very organized and they didn’t seem to have a good idea about who was going where or who had paid for the visa already The next thing I knew we were filling out Visa applications for Cambodia and handing our passports over to these people. They told us that the visas would be ready in 30mins once we walked to the border. Wait, walked? Yep. We had to walk about a half a Km with all our gear to the border check where we were handed our passports back. We went through the Thailand border, had to walk another half Km to the Cambodian border check, then another 500m to our ride. It was +30 outside and I had a 40lb pack on. I was a little warm.

I was buddied up with 3 young American guys and another driver who didn’t speak English. First stop was for gas. For some reason it took 3 of them to fill the tank which happened to be in the trunk with all our luggage… One of the American guys got out and kept an eye on them. Ahead of us was a 3 hour drive on one of the crappiest roads I have ever seen. It was like sask roads in spring only with more gravel and mud. I tried to sleep, but every few mins we hit a huge bump or have to swerve to dodge a cow/person/car/dog/giant hole and your head slams against the window. After 3 hours of this we finally reach the city Siem Reap.

Eventually we arrive at the hotel and I meet my guide Mr. Seyha who is going to be showing me around the next few days. The first thing he asks me is if I want to go out to a restaurant for supper or to his friend’s wedding reception instead! I couldn’t turn down the chance to go to a Cambodian wedding reception so I said ya! After a quick shower he picked me up and off we went to this wedding reception. There were about 500 people there and I was the only white dude so I stood out a little. I kept getting the look “who the F is that guy?” Now this wedding was very fancy, more than I had anticipated. I felt like a tit for wearing flip flops, but It was so hot out! I guess I was expecting something a little more 3rd world. I’m new to Cambodia, gimme a break. It wasn’t long before the beers were being cracked and everyone loosened up a bit. Cambodians love to do ‘cheers’, so every minute someone at the table would yell “cheers!” (in Camboian) and everyone at the table would have to take a big drink. Food was brought to the table on a large plate that everyone would take from…. Using chop sticks… awesome. I’d have to show off my chop stick skills too. I’m alright, but no master by any means. I managed ok, and everyone at the table watched me with a huge grin as I attempted to get the food from the center of the table to somewhere near my plate. I think they were pleased that I tried and did alright haha. Everyone started to loosen up and they would talk to Seyha to get him to translate to me. I found out later that it is very good luck to have a foreigner at your wedding. Just before we left the drunk people started coming out. There was live entertainment and one lady had gotten up on stage and was trying to steal the mic away so she could sing, another guy was out busting a move on the dance floor. One guy at our table was yelling at the waiters, I don’t speak Cambodian, but I could tell it was very slurred. It was hilarious to see that weddings weren’t that much different here than back home.

Day two started early and we were off to see the temples of Angkor. We stopped at about 10 different ruins and Seyha told me the history about each one, when they were built and by who, which religion, when they were found and even the country that was funding the restoration. He also talked about the war in Cambodia and how 3 million people were killed in 3+ years (1975-79) and how there are still 6 million land mines unaccounted for in the country. It was amazing how many details he knew. So many of the temples were really amazing with the detail they still had. Many were built in the 9th century and were being destroyed by huge trees that were left to grow for nearly 300 years. I watched one group doing restoration for about 10mins. It took four men using a wagon to move a single stone into place; I was imagining how much effort and manpower it would have taken to build just one of these temples. The trees looked like huge snake bodies curling around each building crushing them with their immense weight. Our last stop was Angkor Wat. This is the most famous of all the temples here and also the largest religious building in the world. To enter you cross a huge moat along a causeway that is 250 meters long and come to the “third gallery”. A building with 5 entrances one for the king, one for elephants, one for horses, one for generals, and one for common people. After this building was another causeway that was 350 meters long leading to the “second gallery”. This building had a wall about 100 meters long with thousands of detailed carvings about a story that progressed as you walked along the wall. It was really amazing. After this building you enter the main area where the 5 main towers are. It was very impressive, and a very tiring day.

One thing that I thought was annoying was all the children trying to sell you crap as you entered each of the sites. As soon as you get out of the car there are three of them selling you something. One had a book, one had postcards and another had bracelets. It was the same three things at each one and by the end I was getting really annoyed. One child followed me the entire way as I climbed up to the peak of one temple asking me to buy postcards. I was hoping to enjoy the scenery and the moment but it was hard with this kid asking me every 30 seconds to buy something. Eventually I agreed to buy her postcards if she would take a picture of me at the top… finally she left me alone and I could look around a little.

That night I wandered around Siem Reap and explored the city a little before I headed back to Bangkok in the morning. The way home was almost identical to the journey there. Confusion, long sweaty walks, and rough roads. We got stuck in traffic about two km from the border. It had rained the day before and turned the roads to mud. There were trucks stuck everywhere and people falling off their motorcycles into the mud. It was kind of funny watching everyone as we sat there for 30mins waiting for people to get sorted out.

Tonight I leave Bangkok on the overnight train and go north to Chaing Mai. This is mountain and jungle country. I’m going to be doing some trekking, rafting and elephant riding for the next 3 days. So stay tuned for more!
There are more pics in the photo album of many of the temples if you want to check them out…

Until next time!

Nate.

Finished Liveaboard #2

Hello Again! I’m back from the second liveaboard trip, and again it was a blast! This one was a little different than the first. Of the 9 dives we did 6 were different than the first trip out, and since I was finished all my training I was able to see even more of the Similans. We did another night dive and it was even better than the first! We followed a huge octopus around that would change colors when it touched different rocks to camouflage itself, and saw a bright red coral crab hiding in the coral. While we were out on the trip there was a Thai celebration called Loy Krathong. They make a small raft made of flowers and burn incents that they push out to the sea to ask forgiveness for the water they have spilled and unintentional pollution of the sea. The crew had prepared a bunch of these rafts for us to push out so that we could take part in the celebration with them!

The last dive of the trip was a wreck dive called the Boonsung wreck. It was very different than all the other dives, the visibility was only about 10 meters and there were fish everywhere! I saw dozens of poisonous lionfish, giant pufferfish and a few honeycomb moray eels. It was really cool to navigate around the wreck making sure you didn’t get caught on anything or bump into one of the lionfish hovering around. It was a bit more challenging and exciting compared to doing a reef dive where you just relax and cruise along.

After seven days I already have 18 dives under my belt and an advanced open water cert! So now I can do wreck dives, night dives and deep dives. I can’t wait to get a chance to go diving in different parts of the world. I also got some great underwater pictures from the DMT’s on the first trip so you can see some of what we’ve been looking at down there. Just check the photo album…

Since I’ve been back on land I’ve been working out where to go next. There are still so many more things I’d like to see and do, but it’s hard to fit it all into two weeks. My plan has changed about 5 times in the past 16hrs, but I think I’ve got it worked out. I wanted to go south to Krabi and check out more islands, but that’s all I’ve really seen of Thailand so far… not that that’s a bad thing! But I’m fairly sure there is more to Thailand than jaw dropping beaches and islands. So instead I was going to go to the northern tip of Thailand and see the mountains, but this wouldn’t leave me much time to get to Cambodia. I’ve come to a compromise…go to the middle! I’m off to Bangkok since it’s near the gulf coast and a good base to do trips up north and east to Cambodia.

Here is a quick story for everyone – last night I was sitting in front of the wicked shop when this giant cicada bug started buzzing around and flew into the shop. No problem, 4 guys should be able to take this bird sized bug out. I admit I remained safely outside the shop (you know, to make sure no one else came in…) So Paul went to go whack it with a broom and this bug let out a scream you would only hear in horror movies!! After a few more swipes with the broom it started screeching and buzzing Paul’s head. That’s when everyone bailed out of the shop, this thing sounded pissed right off! We need a bigger broom… (Jaws… get it?) Eventually it flew out the back door and everyone was back to business. I managed to get enough courage to get close enough and take a picture of the bug, but if it had moved an inch I would have let out a man scream.

Until next time! Take care everyone,

Nate.

Oh, and just as a side note, its +32 today and I'm sitting by the pool with the DMT guys as I write this up... incase you were wondering... :)

I'm a certified Diver! - Similan Islands

I'm back on dry land!! The first 3 day liveabord is finished up and I am now a certified diver!! I have to complete one more test on my next dive and I'll have my advanced open water certificate too. I have a few more pics uploaded to the photo album if you want to check out the what the islands look like.

I made the 3hr bus trip up from Karon beach in Phuket to Khao Lak and managed to find the dive shop. Its a little scary knowing when and where to get off the bus when no one speaks english, but I made out just fine. The guys here at Wicked Diving have been great. They hooked me up with an amazing place to stay when I got here and made sure I felt at home.

The next day I was up at the crack of dawn and down at the dive shop by 7:30am and we collected all our gear and headed to the boat. The Similan Islands are about 75kms away from mainland so it took us a little over 3 hours to get there. My dive instructor Filip went over some test questions and reading that I had done the night before, and made me watch some video's about safety and skills. Before I knew it we were at the islands and getting ready for the first dive!

I have to say the water was crystal clear and a beautiful green. Filip had me practice a few skills - how to recover my regulator (air supply) in case it comes out of my mouth, how to clear my mask, and swim without a mask, do an emergency ascent, and take my BCD off (inflatable jacket that makes me float). I got them all completed with no issues at all, and Filip was very impressed. After that we went down a little deeper and checked out the reef a bit. It was absolutely amazing! The water was so clear it seemed like I could see for miles. The visibility was about 25 meters (90 feet or so).

We did another dive in the afternoon just after supper and again it was stunning. The cabins on the boat were super tiny! two beds and just enough room to stand or change haha. The crew on the boat was great. We had two dive engineers who filled all our bottles and helped us gear up and get in/out of the water. We also had two Thai cooks who kept us very well fed! They made some of the best meals I have had so far in Thailand.

Day two on the boat started with a dive at 7am! Again I had to learn and practice more skills before we went off and looked at the huge granite boulders. We did 4 dives that day, including one night dive. We stoped and explored a few beaches during breaks between dives, the views were amazing! I seem to be using this word a lot... The last dive of the day was one of my favorites. It was about 8pm and we went down to about 18meters and saw tons of lion fish, plus many other fish sleeping! I have never seen fish sleep before, but it was hilarious! some would wedge themselves in a hole or crack with just their tale sticking out. It was a totally different perspective from diving during the day. it was really great.

Day three had 3 dives in store for us. Again we were up a the crack of dawn and in the water. This first dive would be the start of my advanced course. We were doing the deep dive. I went down to 27 meters! (thats about 100 feet) There was a strong current at this site and was one of the hardest dives for the whole trip. We saw a leopord shark and a few sting rays on this one. The best thing about the morning dives was coming up to the surface and your first breath of fresh air is that of breakfast cooking. We did two more dives after this one and were much easier. We saw two more leopard sharks, a poisonous scorpion fish, a giant barracuda and a huge Napoleon Wrasse fish.

Once we got back to land most of us went out for supper at a local steak house. The steak there was one of the best I have ever eaten, and it was only $7. Man I love Thailand!

The three days on the boat seemed to fly by! I made some new friends and am going out again for another 3 days/9 dives tomorrow morning! I'm hooked!

So I'll talk to everyone again when I get back to land and even upload some more pictures from the underwater cameras.

Phi Phi Islands

Hello again everyone! What a day yesterday! I went to Ko Phi Phi for some snorkelling and sight seeing early yesterday morning so I didn't get to watch the all the election coverage, although the only english news channel here is Fox News (cant stand them). Anyway way to go Obama!!

Back to Ko Phi Phi. These are the islands where they filmed much of the movie "The Beach". The views here was stunning! I was blown away again and agian. I uploaded a ton of pics of this place in the photo album too!! The tour I went on was great. I upgraded to the "deluxe" tour, which was smaller, on a speed boat (the islands are 40kms off the coast), it was all inclusive and they took us to some spots where no one else can go. All this for $100. Money well spent!

They picked me up from the hotel around 8am and took us off to the boat where we had some breakfast on the way to the first Island for some snorkelling. It had sheer walls all around that went straight into the ocean. I actually swam around the whole island in about 15mins.

Next we toured around a near by island before heading to their secret spot on another island for lunch on the beach. This spot was a sliver of an opening in the rock face walls that opened up to a little cove with soft icing sugar sand. We had the place all to our selves.

After lunch we went to another island for some snorkelling. This spot was great! There were so many soft corals and many fish. I even saw 3 black tip reef sharks!! It was amazing, they were only 10 meters away, but when I tried to get a closer look they went out to deeper water... I'm sure I'll see more when I go diving at the Similan Islands...

After the diving we headed back to Phuket and saw some jumping dolphins along the way. One cleared 8 feet out of the water! It was a nice ending to a great day.

Last night I went to my fav restaurant and said my goodbyes to the waitresses (they have been teaching me a little Thai - very nice people). Then on the way home I ran into my tuk tuk drivers Dim and Pop. They actually bought me a beer and we sat outside their little post and talked for about 2 hours!! I had to buy a round too... : ). We had to shut it down when Pops wife came to drag him home haha. Probably a good thing she did cause I woke up this morning with a pretty good headache.

This morning I'm checking out of the hotel and catching a bus up to Khao Lak to start my diver training. I'll be off on the boat for 3 days then back to land for one day, and then out again for another 3 days. So I'll update more then!

I hope everyone is doing well! Talk to you later!

Nate.

Still alive and well in Thailand

Hello Everyone! I'm still alive here in Thailand! I uploaded some pics to the photo album if you want to check them out too!

I guess I should start at the beginning of this trip...

First off, 27 hours of traveling is just what i remembered. not so much fun. The Korean Air ladies saw it was my birthday and upgraded me to Business class! I got an OK seat and a little care package. It had socks, an eye over, and a single use toothbrush with toothpaste haha.

After 18,000 kms and 3 long plane rides I finally arrived in Phuket around midnight. Thankfully my backpack made it too! My hotel had arranged for a driver to pick me up and was supposed to be out front with my name on a sign.... but he was no where to be found. There was a thai local out front who helped me, he called the hotel and found out that they thought i was arriving the next day (I arrived at midnight) So he arranged for a taxi to take me to my hotel. It was only $15 for a 65km trip. not bad for a taxi.

My first day I decided to take a stroll along Patong beach. I forgot what it's like to be a tourist. Everyone is trying to get you to buy something. I couldn't walk 15 feet without someone asking if i wanted a beach chair, go jetski, wakeboard, or parasail. I doubled back and walked along the beach front and it was the same deal there. "You want massage? you want buy t-shirt? you want taxi? you want a nice suit? you want come eat?" repeat these questions every 50 feet. Just a tad annoying. The place reminds me of Waikiki beach if the carnival came to town. Every shop is trying to lure you in just like a carnie would. I did go in and buy a few t-shirts though. I bought 2 Diesel shirts and board shorts for $15! So, day 1 complete and still alive!



The second day I went for a swim on Karon beach - the beach close to my hotel, much different than Patong. Very laid back here, no one selling you things every 15 feet, and only a few dozen tourists around. Perfect. The water was crystal clear and 27 degrees. After my swim I took a tuk tuk (a taxi, only it looks like an adult hotwheels car) up to see the big budda on the hill. Its 45ft high and you can see it from all around the island. The tuk tuk driver (Dim) showed me where to go and pointed out all the beaches to me. Such an amazing view from there, the pics dont do it justice. After his little tour he gave me, I went out for supper and ended up eating with a couple from Australia. They were lots of fun, and it was nice not to eat alone haha. The food here is amazing! Its so tastey and cheap! I had prawns with curry and veggies, steamed rice, a beer, and a sunday for less than 180baht (about $5). On the way back to the hotel I came across a man walking a baby elephant down the sidewalk! You could feed him for 20baht (about 80 cents)

Day 3 - another hot day... I went for a swim at the beach again, and bought some new shorts on the way home ($6 for billabong cargo shorts - I needed something with zippers haha). Its so hot out that walking anywhere turns you into a sweaty mess. I had put on about 30kms wearing flip flops the past few days, now it was time to get mobile. I rented a motorcycle (more of a scooter really, but i didnt want to explain the difference to them...) and went exploring. I had a map with me, but most of the roads dont have signs or are in Thai, so its not going to be much help anyway. Phuket is an Island, so I figuired I couldnt get that lost, plus I could see my budda buddy from almost anywhere on the island. The thing about driving here is there arent really many "rules of the road"... the solid yellow line is mostly a suggestion, and most of the time people drive on the left. Red lights have a 5 second rule., just keep on going if it changed... And dont get run over. I ended up riding around for about 7 hours! I was zig zaging up and down roads all along the coast and saw some amazing views. I even ran into two Canadian guys (I spotted the one with a Molson shirt on) we ended up chatting for about 15mins about thailand and CFL football haha.

I found some really nice area's that were off the main tourist strip, which was a welcome change... a fish market, a free aquarium with a sea turtle hatchery, some kind of elephant shrine, and I saw 4 adult Elephants just off the road doing some kind of yard work haha. Seriously, one was clearing tree's in the front yard! It seemed like he was having a good time throwing things around. At the end of the day I found a reggae bar high up on the side of a hill. You could sit at the table with your feet dangling over the edge. So I had a beer and another tasty thai dinner and watched the sun set into the ocean. That was one of the best days I've had in my life.




Today I am burnt to a crisp. My nose are forearms are a bright red. I guess sunscreen doesnt last 7hours. I've got a few things to do today, not quite as adventurous as yesterday, just going to book a hostel in Phuket Town, take my laundry in for a wash, line up a snorkel trip to Ko Phi Phi (where they filmed "the beach") and get in touch with the company I'm doing the scuba cert course with.

There are so many more little details I wish I could add, but I dont want to ramble on, and some things are rated a little 18+.(ie many clubs with thai girly-boys dancing on the bar and the men watching with big grins on their faces) I'll have to tell you about those stories in person or make another blog for that sort of thing.

So long for now!
Nate.