TravelStream™ news feed for member easyread on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/easyread en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 22 Jan 2007 06:17:28 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/easyread/chasing_the_sun/1081599360/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/easyread/chasing_the_sun/1081599360/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/easyread/chasing_the_sun/1081599360/tpod.html Mon, 22 Jan 2007 06:17:28 -0500 Bora Bora to Bangkok: Chasing the sun in search of fun, friends, and a little knowledge.

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Bagan/Kalaw, Myanmar

OK, so Yoshi and I found our bus at 8pm. We weren't prepared for what we found, though! It was an old (50's/60's) Japanese clunker that was filled beyond capacity with boxes and bags of random stuff. Yoshi (being the more experienced of us two at this sort of thing) found our seats and raised hell until the boxes were cleared out of our foot-space, and then we settled in for our 9-hour ride. As soon as we got our seats, the bus was packed with locals who promptly laid down on the sacks and boxes - filling every square inch of breathing room on the bus. Luckily we had the two seats in front of the door, so we could kind of stretch out (on top of people)... but the ride was still uncomfortable at best. I was sort of amused by the whole thing (thanks, i-Pod!), but poor Yoshi didn't get a wink of sleep. At about 4:30am the bus stopped, and the few foreigners (um, us) had to get off and pay $10 to enter the Bagan Archaeological District. That was OK; the bus stopped 30 minutes later at its final stop in Nyaung U, which is the closest town to Bagan. I stumbled up to the Eden Motel and found a great room for US$4/night - including A/C and private hot water bath (when the power worked). Predictably I slept through most of Wednesday, and then set out to explore Nyaung U by foot. I found some great pizza at San Kabar Restaurant, and then proceeded to the nearest sight: the Shwezigan Paya. My longyi came in handy for touring the old stupa, and afterwards I walked down a dusty trail to the banks of the Ayeyarwaddy for a river-side stroll and some good photo-opps. The kids in the villages by the river were especially friendly, and they enjoyed listening to tunes on my i-Pod. For better or worse the songs that popped up were all old 80's classics, so the local kids have a warped idea of what's popular in America now... someone should ring up Ian McCulloch and let him know that there's a big demand for old Echo & the Bunnymen tunes in the under-priviledged youth sector of central Myanmar!On Thursday I rented a bike and rode out (in the 95-degree heat) to the ruins of ancient Bagan. It was an incredible (but very sweaty) day of exploring Buddhist temples from 800 years ago. The whole plain has an eerie feel to it, as there are literally thousands of deserted ruins scattered around the dusty terrain. I biked through Old Bagan, "New Bagan" (the government relocated thousands of locals to their new homes), and the surrounding towns and temples, until the sun started to set and I decided I should head back to Nyaung U. On the way I stopped at a riverside temple to climb up and watch the sunset; while I was there I bumped into a few friendly Americans and a German couple who I recognized from the Moustache Brothers performance in Mandalay.On the way back to the bike-rental shop, I stopped at a corner and watched a lizard running through the dead leaves... it turns out the lizard was being pursued by a long-nosed vine snake, which was of course very exciting (to me). As soon as I started snapping pictures, though, I realized how tough snakes have it in Myanmar. A local guy came up, grabbed the snake by the tail, and hurled it into the brush with a laugh. Some tourists told me that their pick-up truck stopped en-route to Bagan because there was a snake in the road, and that a guy jumped down from the truck to hack its head off. I guess it makes sense, since Myanmar has an incredibly high rate of death-by-snakebite, and the locals wear nothing for protection aside from a glorified tablecloth and flip-flops... but still, i was horrified, and vowed not to point out any more snakes to the people around me.I spent Friday wandering around Nyaung U (it was too hot to rent a bike again), and I met up with Yoshi for lunch and dinner. He lives in Bangkok at the moment, so hopefully I'll see him again sometime soon. I made the decision that on Saturday I'd have a big adventure (I had days to spare): I'd try to make it as far as I could across the country using only local transportation (um, pick-up trucks) without spending more than US$5/6. On Saturday I got up at 6:30 and jumped on the 7am truck to Kyaupandaung, which is 50km to the south. The trip was a lot of fun: I jumped up on top of the covered truck, and rode behind two monks with the wind in my hair for two hours, marvelling at the dry but beautiful terrain around me that was filled with scrub and coconut palms. Kyaupandaung, unfortunately, was a small little hell-hole. Well, OK, that's harsh... but I felt distinctly out of place and stared-at as I made my way from the drop-off point to the main road heading east to Meiktila. I found my road after a few kilometers, and there was a pick-up waiting to take me to my destination for $1.20 (after bargaining).This trip was somewhat less comfortable than the first, because I was inside the covered bed of the pick-up, and it was very hot and dusty and squashed inside. Plus the benches are hard and seated too low to let my legs relax naturally. Along the way we picked up an additional 20 passengers, 20 boxes, and 20 chickens (live and dead), which the made the journey all the more colourful. At least I had some amusement from the locals, who all wanted to try on my sunglasses. As elsewhere in Myanmar, they were very interested in me, and in my comfort level, which was nice. I had some pleasant, though stilted, conversations. After three hours of driving through really depressing red desert countryside, we arrived in Meiktila, which is an oasis in the middle of nowhere. Specifically, it's the town where the Yangon-Mandalay road intersects the Bagan-Inle Lake road... but I couldn't find any obvious intersection. In fact, I couldn't find anything, because the map in my 2002 LP guidebook was woefully inaccurate. To make a long story short, I wandered around in the mid-day heat for an hour receiving a fair number of bemused glances before I finally found a restaurant where someone could A) give me food, and B) point me in the direction of a pick-up truck to Thazi.The Thazi-bound truck was much more fun than the last, because it was full of 20-something bashful girls who all wanted me to sit next to them, but who couldn't say much to me once I did. I picked up a few more Myamar words on the 20 minute ride, and endeared myself to everyone by sitting on the floor to make room for additional passengers. Thazi had been my (modest) goal for the day, so when I arrived at 2pm and found little to sustain my interest, I decided I'd try to get further along on the road to Inle Lake. I found an old guy with a pick-up packed full of boxes and baskets who was heading my way; he wanted 4,000 kyat to get to Kalaw, which was the cost of a bus ticket all the way from Bagan to Inle Lake! I convinced him to take less than 3,000 - still a rip-off, but at that point I just wanted to get out of Thazi (it's the railway equivalent to Meiktila, which means there's even less there).The journey through the mountanis from Thazi to Kalaw is supposed to take 3 hours. My pick-up took 6. Thankfully my high price meant I bought the front passenger seat - otherwise I would have been crammed into the bench behind the cab (which had no leg room). We drove for 45 minutes, and then stopped to let the truck cool down - a process which was apparently aided by opening up the hood and throwing buckets of water inside and then sitting around for 30 minutes. We repeated this procedure about 4 times, and eventually I resigned myself to ignoring my watch. At one stop, in the village of Yimnabin, there were a bunch of local kids who had never seen a digital camera before, so I had some fun letting them play and take pictures of each other. The scenery along the way was beautiful, but still dusty and arid, and the slash & burn agriculture fires looked very spooky & worrisome as we drove by them in the night. They looked just like forest fires, and with the mountains as dry as they were, I had no idea how the fires were kept in check!We finally arrived in Kalaw at 10pm, and I checked into the Winner Hotel on the main street. As soon as I threw my bags down I set out to find some food - not an easy task since everything closes at nine. Luckily I ran into a friendly Dutch guy named Morris, who introduced me to a local Indian guy named George, who in turn convinced a nearby Chinese restaurant owner to re-open his kitchen and get me a chicken curry & beer. Phew! After 15 hours of travel, I'd made it to Kalaw, which is kind of sad given how close it looks to Bagan on a Myanmar map!As it turns out, Kalaw was excellent. It's an old British hill station - rather similar to the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia, except not as developed. I hung out with Morris, his Indonesion girlfriend Weny, and George, for another hour or so, and then slept well after promising to meet them the next night. On Sunday I walked - a lot. Since the temperature is much cooler in Kalaw than in the rest of Myanmar it was pretty easy to throw on a pack and go exploring by foot. I walked through the hills for hours, passing beautiful stupas & temples, huge old British colonial stone houses (who lives there now?!), and humble villages with friendly children shouting "hello!" as I passed by. It was an incredible place - beautiful and relaxing - and I wish I could have stayed longer. I guess I could have, but wanderlust got the better of me, so I booked a bus ticket to Inle Lake for Monday morning... and I think I'll finish up my Myanmar entries next time. 'Night!-T
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/easyread/thailand_2006/1137908280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/easyread/thailand_2006/1137908280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/easyread/thailand_2006/1137908280/tpod.html Sun, 26 Mar 2006 19:26:51 -0500 Southeast Asia revisited - with company!

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Chiang Mai, Thailand

At 10 AM we receieve a sharp knock on the door from Noah, who asks if we want breakfast. Awwww! Of course we do! We're just silly tired farangs who forgot to set an alarm. So we roll out of bed, enjoy our noodles and eggs and fruit and such, and then get around to packing. By noon we're ready to check out and hit the long road to Chiang Mai; Noah says goodbye and poses for a few awkward photos before we take off. We head into Mae Hong Son for fuel before heading south, and the experience turns out to be pretty stress-less, as the woman at the gas station knows just what to do.After an hour or two of driving, we stop in the small mountain town of Khun Yuam for lunch. There is one inn/restaurant in town (Ban Farang), and their menu is so cheap and delicious-looking that we all order several items along with a few glasses of iced hill tribe coffee that is sweetened with condensed milk. Yum!Route 1263 through the heart of hill tribe country has been paved within the past couple of years, so it's a fun adventure driving along this scenic road for most of the afternoon. After an hour or two, we find a village that our trusty Budget Rent-a-Car map/guide tells us is a Karen tribe village... so of course we have to stop so we can photograph Karen in her native surroundings. :-) For better or worse, the village is pretty dead... we actually pass it by accident and then have to do a 9-point turn in the road to go back and stop. We park by an abandoned market stall and proceed on foot through the village. Karen looks positively mortified at every turn by our intrusion on these peoples' lives, but the few villagers who are around seem happy enough to see us, and even more surprisingly, they seem happy enough to be photographed. After a quick spin through "town," and a pee break by the river (me & Ben), we hike up to the car and move on.The road loops us back by Doi Inthanon National Park, but it is too late to stop, so we rejoin the main highway to Chiang Mai. Along the way we listen to a random episode of "This American Life" that Ben has on his iPod... it simultaneously seems surreal and applicable to the situation. The drive into the city is mildy stressful to me, only because I'm suddenly surrounded by lots of other cars again for the first time in days. Somehow I make it into the city, though, and we steer ourselves alongside the moat to the north side of town and grab the last available room at the Novotel.We're eager to check out the Chiang Mai Night Market, which I missed on my last trip, so we hit the pavement almost as soon as we check in. Dinner be damned! On the way down to the street we pass a truly bizarre wedding/party on floor 2 that seems to involve lots of "ladyboys." Wacky! The walk to the market is rather long, and somewhat sketchy, depending on who you ask. We walk by a few guys who seem either passed-out or dead, and it is dark in spots, but I never feel threatened, and to her credit, neither does Karen. In fact, she remarks half-way through our stroll that Chiang Mai is one of her favorite cities anywhere (I agree)! When we get close to the market we stop at a 7-11 (they're everywhere!) for some Sang Som and sodas, and after downing those, we finally hit the grand shopping center of Chiang Mai.We all feel a little overwhelmed... there are soooo many stalls, selling soooo many things! Everything from clothes to art to knick-knacks to bootleg media. Ben immediately buys fake zip-off Diesel pants, and I buy some souvenir Starbucks mugs for some coworkers (I know, how corporate have I become?!), while Karen picks up some jewelry for friends. There are so many tourists around that it is almost hard to concentrate on the consumer goods on offer. One cute American notices (and remarks on) Ben's Guster shirt, so Ben and I are both instantly obsessed, which leads to a fruitless chase through the (now-closing) market stalls... all the while Karen and I are chomping down on some delicious lychees that I bought from a hill tribe woman.Eventually at 11pm we end up back in the center of Chiang Mai for a (belated) dinner at a touristy place by the main gate. Yay for chicken cordon bleu! There is a big table of Australians (some are HOT!) next to us, so Ben and I try to sneak photos of them while they're not looking (we have limited success). After food we jump in a tuk-tuk back to the Novotel; we're supposed to have the car back to the airport by 8, so we set the alarm for 7. Ooops...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/easyread/thailand_2006/1137740640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/easyread/thailand_2006/1137740640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/easyread/thailand_2006/1137740640/tpod.html Sun, 26 Mar 2006 18:42:32 -0500 Southeast Asia revisited - with company!

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Mae Hong Son, Thailand

When we wake up we're told that we have to change rooms, because some other group had booked our room for the night. This turns out to be an OK development, as we like our new room more than the first one. For a brief period in the morning we debate whether we should head back to Soppong to stay there for the night, but I'm adamant that that would make our drive back to Chiang Mai the next day too long, so we decide to stay at Fern again. I feel kind of bad, and like I'm on the outside, because Karen and Ben reaaaaallly liked Soppong, but I hope they are OK with the choice in the end.Eager to get some exercise, we embark at 11-something on a two-hour hike up into the national park (Mae Surin) that borders the back of the resort. We don't see much in the way of interesting wildlife, but I love tramping through the jungle anyway, and Karen and Ben seem enthusiastic. The trek involves lots of fun (and slightly treacherous) stream crossings, and it culminates somewhat anti-climactically at a "big tree." When we return we hang out at the pool briefly, and then decide to take the 4WD out to find one of the "long-necked" Padaung refugee villages in the area.There is lots of controversy about going to the Padaung villages... mostly because detractors consider them to be "human zoos," where foreigners go pay 250 Baht each and mingle with Myanmar refugees. The women still keep up their traditional custom of wearing brass coils around their necks, which press their collar bones down and make their necks look extraordinarily long. The flip side of the argument is that the villagers have a much better life than they would be afforded without their tourist appeal, and they can make good cash by selling souvenirs, and they have the opportunity to interact with foreigners in ways that they wouldn't be able to otherwise. Although we feel somewhat conflicted by the issues, we decide we have to go visit a village, seeing as we'd come all this way and had the means (a 4WD) to do it on our own terms.The drive out to the village is slightly stressful, because we stop in town to unsuccessfully look for an appetizing lunch first, so we're worried that we won't find the village we're looking for before it closes at 5. Luckily the route out into the countryside is well-marked, and we relax a bit as we pass some striking rice paddies complete with water buffalo. Eventually the road turns to dirt and becomes very rough, so our Toyota gets a good workout!We arrive at the village, which is very close to the Burmese border, pay our entrance fees, and start wandering in with a little trepidation. Our fears of feeling weird are allayed pretty quickly, as we immediately meet some friendly women selling souvenirs, and see plenty of children playing as if we weren't even there. It helps that we're just about the only visitors in the village at the time, so it almost feels like we're the zoo animals on display, rather than the tribe people. We take pictures with a few villagers, and promptly start buying souvenirs. Ben and I buy masks (well, he buys them and kindly gives me the blue one after I throw a fit because we want the same one), Karen and I both buy CDs of traditional music, she buys a Myanmar shoulder bag, and I buy some laquered coasters wrapped in Burmese newspaper (awww, the memories!). One woman (who happens to be featured on my CD cover) is especially friendly, and dresses Karen up in Padaung garb (including neck coils) for some cute photos.When we get back to town we park at the market and head towards the lake for dinner. Ben and I spot a really hot guy eating at a lakefront restaurant with his friends, so that place wins and we tuck into some long-awaited Sang Som & food. After dinner Ben hits the internet again, while Karen and I walk around for a while and then head back to Fern. I get somewhat buzzed on Sang Som, and take out two flashlights to go down to the stream to look for snakes. It turns out to be a fruitful night, as I snap pics of two cute & small water snakes, and see an enormous gecko on our porch! Ben comes back via the Fern shuttle van, and we all conk out.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/easyread/thailand_2006/1137649200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/easyread/thailand_2006/1137649200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/easyread/thailand_2006/1137649200/tpod.html Tue, 14 Feb 2006 23:04:44 -0500 Southeast Asia revisited - with company!

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Mae Hong Son, Thailand

It's a misty morning in Pai, and we take our liesurely time waking up, having breakfast, and packing. The hotel staff ask if perhaps we left our car keys at the pool the day before... Oops. Good thing we're just about the only guests!We're sad to leave Belle Villa and Pai (both are soooo relaxing!), but I'm excited to press on closer to the Myanmar border and to visit some places I haven't seen before. The drive through the mountains is beautiful, and the road is insanely twisty and steep in spots. We stop at a scenic overlook where Karen gets pressured to buy hill tribe goods, and I snap some photos for a nice German guy from near Heidelburg.For lunch we stop at the Soppong River Inn in the tiny town of Soppong (Pangmapha). We have some great food & drinks (including "Thai mojitos") and all fall in love with the place immediately. We spend a while checking out their various bungalows by the river and contemplating making camp for the night. Ben and Karen like it so much that they declare Soppong "The Happiest Place on Earth," and both buy swell t-shirts from the Inn. Unfortunately Soppong isn't far enough around the loop to make it practical to stay the night, so we decide to press on to Mae Hong Son. Ben and Karen review the accommodation options en route, and we agree that the Fern "Eco Resort" sounds like the most promising choice.After driving through downtown Mae Hong Son, we arrive at Fern check out a few cabins, and pick one that looks like a good room for the night. The women who run the place are super-sweet... one is named "Noah," and she takes an instant shine to Ben. "Eco Resort" in these parts means "partly-government-sponsored" and "run by locals - not hotel professionals." This (and the lack of TV) works out fine for us, as the grounds are pretty, and there is a nice pool.We head back into MHS for the evening; Ben spends a few hours online while Karen and I check out the sights & shops & food. The lake at the center of town (Nong Jong Kham) is tiny but beautiful, the Burmese temples are gorgeous (I go picture-crazy trying to capture their night-time lights and reflections in the water), and the night market of hill tribe crafts is atmospheric. We buy some local lychee wine (yum!) and have a mediocre dinner at the Fern Restaurant (which, oddly enough, is in town and not attached to the Fern Resort). After dinner Karen and I grab Ben (I get my pics burned to CD, just as a precaution), and we drive back to our hotel. I guess we're talking too loud in our room, because some European guy bangs on our door (it's only 10 or so!) and asks us to "please calm down!" Karen gets some rest while Ben and I head down to the campfire for some convo and picture-taking before bed.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/easyread/thailand_2006/1137624300/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/easyread/thailand_2006/1137624300/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/easyread/thailand_2006/1137624300/tpod.html Tue, 14 Feb 2006 22:08:01 -0500 Southeast Asia revisited - with company!

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Pai, Thailand

We sleep until 9 or so, and then stumble out to the restaurant for breakfast. There is an attractive buffet of fruit & juice & such, and they cook us hot food to order (omelettes for Karen & Ben; fried rice for me). Ben thinks the OJ is mango juice, which elicits some chuckles from the wait staff. We spend the middle of the day by the pool soaking up the tropical rays... unfortunately the pool water is freezing, but overall the afternoon is a good way to introduce our skin to the Thailand sun without getting horribly burnt. One of the hotel staffers drives us to town in the afternoon, and we grab a snack at an awful "Italian" cafe, where they get our order completely wrong. Afterwards we walk around Pai; Ben drops off his camera memory card and gets CDs of his pics burned, I take pics of the town's monastery & Burmese-style temple, and we check out the Pai market, which (to me, at least) is fascinating with its stalls of cooked bugs and fried chicken feet. Ben buys some tribal pants for hiking, and then he and Karen go to "Twin Massage" for traditional Thai massages. I agree to meet them an hour later by the bridge out of town near the acclaimed Amido Pizza Restaurant ("The Best Pizza in Thailand!"), and go for a stroll in the hills on the outskirts of town. The walk brings back lots of memories, as Jonas and I had done the same hike 18 months ago.We finally reconvene almost two hours later (I spend some of the interim time stalking a cute boy through various shops) and head to Amido's for dinner. I'm cranky because of hunger and blisters. Service is slow, so we play "Sh*thead" for a while and ogle some of the hotties at other tables. When the pizza finally arrives, I love it, and Karen seems to enjoy hers, but Ben finds that it doesn't agree with his stomach. On the way back to Belle Villa we stop at an internet cafe for 1/2 hour, but I can't be bothered to do much besides send off a message to Jonas & Christian saying "hi from the town where we met."On the walk home we get menaced by some scary dogs, but that is soon forgotten as the Sang Som starts flowing back in the room. (Does anyone know how to get Sang Som in the US, by the way??) After relaxing in our bungalow for a while, we walk back into town, and settle in the back of the same bar from the previous night. Lots of the same people are there (including the annoying Aussie), but we chat instead with the local owner for 1/2 hour. It's fascinating to hear his take on the development of Pai - for better and worse - and it makes us all feel a little guilty for contributing to the tourist glut that has changed his hometown so much. Pai is pretty much dead after midnight, so we do a loop around town and then head back to Belle Villa, look at the stars for a while, and crawl into bed.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/easyread/thailand_2006/1137534120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/easyread/thailand_2006/1137534120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/easyread/thailand_2006/1137534120/tpod.html Wed, 08 Feb 2006 22:34:25 -0500 Southeast Asia revisited - with company!

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Pai, Thailand

We woke up at 6am, checked out of Buddy Lodge, and hailed a cab on Khao San to take us to the airport. Our Laotian cab driver, Mr. Mandela, was hysterical, and made conversation the entire way. Mostly he seemed intent on touching Ben, who was sitting in the front seat. This was endlessly amusing to Karen and myself, because we knew how uncomfortable Ben must have been. He had his legs fondled, his arm groped, his jeans label checked out, and his blond arm hair pulled for about 45 minutes while we sat in the back laughing. I think the high point was when Mr. Mandela asked Ben how much he'd spent on his jeans... Ben replied "200," which the cabbie at first thought meant "200 Baht." God knows what he thought of us when Ben explained that he meant "200 dollars."We arrived at Don Muang at 8am for our 10am flight, and the helpful airport staff informed us that our counter wouldn't open for an hour. So we went in search of breakfast. I had a delicious salad, much to Ben's horror (unwashed vegetables will kill you!), while Ben & Karen had pastries and a sandwich. We checked in to Air Asia without incident, and headed to our gate. 5 minutes before departure time, we all lined up (Ben had to chuck half of his BK chicken tenders) and got on the plane. Air Asia was a funny little airline with the slogan "Now Everyone Can Fly!"The flight was easy enough, with some great atmospheric views of Northern Thailand. We landed and collected our bags; Ben's backpack had a huge wet spot on it that smelled of perfume... at first we assumed someone else's toiletries had exploded, but it turns out Ben's "Wet Wipes" had leaked from their bag and soaked half of his stuff in their delicate scent. We wandered around the airport looking for the Budget Rental Car kiosk, but found nothing but a key drop box, so I asked (in Thai!) where to find it at the info desk. The nice lady told me it was 1km up the road, so we prepared to walk and headed outside. Luckily the Budget guy found us outside... apparently someone had been standing with a sign that read "Mr. Timothy" in the arrivals area, but we were oblivious.The nice Budget man walked me through the process of signing the forms, and then he walked us to our huge Toyota SUV and handed me the keys. So far, so good. And then I tried to start the car. The ignition wouldn't turn. Our car was blocking another car that was tring to leave its parking space, so we tried to get the driver to help us, and he couldn't. Sweat. Finally I twisted the key in just the right way, and we revved up. It was weird driving with the steering wheel on the right hand side... before we left the parking lot I tried to signal twice and ended up hitting the windshield wipers instead. Sigh.We finally got out to the main road, and we followed our map, which thankfully seemed accurate, trying to find route 107 north. The next half hour trying to leave Chiang Mai was pretty hilarious, as we went in circles on the "superhighway" trying to follow signs to get to 107. Construction was our enemy, but eventually we made it onto the correct road, and I became more comfortable behind the wheel.16km up the road we decided to take a detour into the Mae Sa valley, which is famed for some nice waterfalls, elephant camps, and assorted other tourist sights. Ben displayed a manic desire to see elephants, which was endearing and unexpected. We stopped at Doi Inthanon National Park to hike to the Mae Sa waterfalls, and that was a pleasant diversion. It felt good to be tramping through the rain forest again, and the waterfalls along the path were pretty, if not breathtaking.Next up was the Mae Sa Elephant Camp, much to Ben's delight. We made it just in time to secure an elephant ride for Ben and myself (Karen was content to be the photographer), so we hustled through the camp and boarded our elephant, named Poo. The ride was more fun than I'd expected, and was even scary in spots, as we thought we might be thrown from our little chariot when Poo went downhill. After the ride we were treated to a training session where young elephants were learning how to kick soccer balls. Cute!On the way back to the main road I insisted on stopping at the Mae Sa Snake Farm, which was kind of pathetic. Still, we got to hang out up close with (rather mangy) snakes, so I was happy. I held a rat snake that had some nasty-looking tumors, and then we wandered around the cages holding various cobras and pythons. The visit culminated in a "snake show," where the "snake man" (who was missing a finger!) messed around with cobras and showed his bravado by smacking around a number of snakes. It was all highly staged and kind of sad (especially for the snakes!), but nonetheless it was a chance to get up close and personal with a bunch of reptiles. Ben and Karen were kind of freaked out by a few of the acts, with Ben remarking that it was the scariest thing he'd ever done in his life.Realizing that it was getting late, we decided to skip a lunch break and drive straight on to Pai. The route was beautiful - very twisty roads through remote mountains. Last time, when I was in a minivan meeting Jonas and Christian, I think I was sort of numb to that kind of beautiful scenery, so it was like I was seeing it for the first time. Ben and Karen had their faces in magazines or journals for half the ride, which I didn't understand. I think Karen was just fearing for her safety at my hands, and was trying to keep her eyes off the road!We stopped for a pee break (Ben) and to take some pics of the sunset, at which point we realized that the car was perfectly framed for a Toyota ad, so we snapped some shots that we should send to the Toyota marketing department. The drive was 2-3 hours long, but nice, thanks in part to my iPod FM-transmitter, which allowed us to listen to any tunes we wanted. We got into Pai just after dark, and navigated the town's small streets to find our destination: Belle Villa.We were greeted with the kind of reception that I wasn't used to from the guesthouses I'd frequented last time: hotel staff carried our backpacks to our bungalow, and we were presented with glasses of herbal juice on arrival. Belle Villa was beautiful - nicely appointed bungalows and a gorgeous (blue) pool overlooking the Pai River valley and some rice paddies - and we settled into the restaurant for a much-needed dinner of local food (Burmese curries, pork appetizers, and yummy drinks). We decided to spend two nights in Pai and forego a two-day trek into hill-tribe country, figuring we would see enough tribes with our car.After dinner we hitched a ride into Pai and walked around the entire town before settling into a quaint but busy bar on the main strip. Ben had an unfortunate encounter with his first squat toilet, but the ambience was nice so we stayed for a few Sang Som drinks. There were plenty of other travelers around, including an obnoxious guy from Sydney (who Ben took a shine to - must have been his nice legs), so we were able to relax and make some innocuous conversation. It was strange for me to walk around Pai after 18 months... so many things remained the same from my last visit, so I got nostalgic checking out my old guesthouse and trekking company. Once things died down we walked back home, accompanied by some cute dogs who served as our protectors. The king-sized bed was amazing, except that it was actually two full beds pushed together, and it got cold in the middle of the night, and I was in the middle, so my sleep on the bump was kind of restless.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/easyread/thailand_2006/1137445920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/easyread/thailand_2006/1137445920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/easyread/thailand_2006/1137445920/tpod.html Wed, 08 Feb 2006 21:43:09 -0500 Southeast Asia revisited - with company!

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Bangkok, Thailand

I was awake and alert with no sign of jet lag at 7am, but Karen and Ben managed to sleep until 9 or so, when we all trundled down to the Buddy Restaurant for a buffet breakfast. Ben was comical with his fear of the food (and ice), but we all managed to stuff our faces. I especially liked the shrimp curry and pandan rolls. While the two of them were getting ready for the day, I headed to the lobby to call our hotel in Pai (Belle Villa) for Tuesday night to confirm the reservation which I'd attempted to make online. This proved easier said than done, as it took help from 2 Thais from the front desk and approximately 20 tries before I could make the connection. When I did, the long distance call ate up the money so fast that I was disconnected before I could get my name out. I tried again, and managed to confirm my reservation while plugging 1 Baht coins into the phone every second. Phew!We set out in the late morning for the Grand Palace. I was amazed and proud that I still knew the neighborhood and could find my way there without a map. En route we were saddled with a Thai "student" who had been walking the other way but suddenly turned around to chat up Karen when we passed. He was not a very good con artist... after feebly trying to tell us that the Grand Palace was closed (ha), he skulked off. We sweated our way around the Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha for a while, took lots of photos, and then made our way to Wat Pho and the giant reclining Buddha. I was reminded not only of my last visit, but also of the "Amazing Race" episode where teams had to drop coins in the offeratory buckets as is the local custom.We decided to take the Chao Praya River Ferry back to Banglamphu instead of walking, and it was nice to relax and take in the scenery for a bit. There was a restaurant right by the ferry, so we took the opportunity to grab some lunch and a few Singhas before heading back to Khao San Road. The route back took us through some tiny alleys and up a staircase through a bar, but we made it back and spent the remainder of the afternoon by the pool on the roof of Buddy Lodge. The pool was a little sketch... the photos online and in the brochures made it look like a beautiful blue oasis in the middle of chaotic Bangkok, but in reality the water was dark green, and it looked like an algae-filled cess-pit. I refused to put my head under, and got freaked out when I thought an eel (or some other critter) brushed my leg.We had dinner at a swank new place around the corner on Thanon Chakraphong; between our awesome waitress, some cute Swedes, and the good food and drink, it was a fun experience. We had to wake up insanely early on Tuesday to fly to Chiang Mai, so Ben & Karen bought small green & pink beach towels (with the inscription "Happiness is a Dream"), and we had a bucket of Sang Som at a bar on Khao San and checked out the scene (lots of drunk Europeans and some funny ladyboys) before calling it a night.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/easyread/thailand_2006/1137723060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/easyread/thailand_2006/1137723060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/easyread/thailand_2006/1137723060/tpod.html Wed, 08 Feb 2006 21:03:00 -0500 Southeast Asia revisited - with company!

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Bangkok, Thailand

Vacation started as soon as I left the office on (gulp) Friday the 13th. I sped home, and spent the next few hours flinging things around my apartment in an attempt to get organized for our trip. Before I was even 1/4-packed, it was 9pm: time to pick up Karen from the airport. I left on time, but got waylaid by nasty traffic issues, so by the time I arrived at LAX I'm afraid she'd been waiting on the curb for a while. Nonetheless she seemed excited when she hopped in the Jeep, and I was thrilled to see her. The return to Southeast Asia finally felt real!We got back to my apartment after a lengthy detour through the gayborhood of West Hollywood, and opened up a celebratory bottle of red. I'd expected to spend half the night digging through Karen's pack and tossing out things she wouldn't need, but it turns out she had packed exceptionally well and even had room to spare, so instead I spent half the night trying to organize MY stuff! At around 2 we finally fell asleep, and the morning alarm rang all too quickly.The SuperShuttle arrived a few minutes early, and we headed off to LAX with an air of nervous anticipation. Check-in was smooth, so we headed to our gate and had a greasy breakfast before calling our parents to say "goodbye." The 11-hour flight to Tokyo was uneventful except for a half-hour delay... both of us slept a bit and took full advantage it of the free wine.We arrived at Narita airport at 4pm Sunday, disoriented and bleary-eyed. The bathrooms were pretty high-tech, which was cool. Unfortunately on arrival we learned that our flight to Bangkok was delayed by 2+ hours due to a late-arriving flight from Chicago, so we had plenty of time to explore the terminal. One of our goals was to eat sushi in Japan during a layover, so we had a big sampler platter at the restaurant near our gate. It was delicious (if expensive), except for a few weird items that we couldn't identify (probably best that we don't know...).After unsuccessfully trying to call the hotel in Bangkok to let Ben (who arrived before us) know that we'd be getting in very late, we finally left Narita at 8:30. The 6 hour flight was pretty painless, and going through customs in BKK was a snap. We exchanged some money at an automatic machine, and then got in the cab line where we got a taxi to Khao San Road. Driving into the city at 3am was surreal... just seeing the silhouettes of temples and the Thai script everywhere brought back a flood of memories for me (it's like I never left!), and it must have been crazy for Karen.We got dropped off on Khao San Road at the opposite end from our hotel, Buddy Lodge, and the walk down the almost-deserted street was bizarre. There were some clean-up crews and a few drunk European backpackers stumbling around, but it was pretty quiet overall. It definitely looked the same as I remembered, though. We got our key at Buddy Lodge and woke up Ben when we walked in the room. He'd had no problem with his arrival aside from finding hair in the pad thai that he bought for dinner on the street. We celebrated our arrival with some whiskey & soda, I introduced Karen & Ben, and eventually we fell asleep for a few hours. It was hard to sleep, though, because I already felt more alive than I had in months!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/easyread/chasing_the_sun/1090197480/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/easyread/chasing_the_sun/1090197480/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/easyread/chasing_the_sun/1090197480/tpod.html Sat, 05 Nov 2005 00:46:44 -0500 Bora Bora to Bangkok: Chasing the sun in search of fun, friends, and a little knowledge.

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Istanbul, Turkey

On Tuesday Jonas and I took the bus from Tanah Rata to KL, and booked into a tiny but clean cell at  near the bus station. Kuala Lumpur was exactly like I remembered it from last time, which was a good thing since this time I had no map or guidebook. Big cities become infinitely more appealing once you have a grasp on them, and I really enjoyed coming back to KL for a little while. Of course, all I did was shop for two days... I figured that since I was heading to Europe, this would be my last shot at cheap bootleg goods for the time being, so I took full advantage of the opportunity and bought music, clothes, books, and games. The easy highlight for me was finding a CD place that specialized in obscure British indie rock and had $2 copies of things I'd been hunting down for weeks or months (and would gladly have paid full price for). Among the new treasures I procured: the new Ash, Morrissey, Damien Rice, Graham Coxon, Cure, Badly Drawn Boy, Elbow, Secret Machines, Haven, Delays, and Ordinary Boys CDs. It was also a nice surprise to find a copy of David Sedaris' new collection "Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim," because the booksellers in Thailand had all given me blank stares when I'd asked about it earlier. We had a few nice meals as well, and didn't mind paying a little more since it was our last few nights together. For our last dinner we ate (and drank a nice bottle of chardonnay) at the California Pizza Kitchen at the Suria KLCC Mall; for a few minutes I felt like I was back in Boston at the Prudential Center because the upscale urban mall setting was strikingly similar aside from the random palm trees out in the park.On Friday we woke up at 5:30 and took a 6:15 cab to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, which might as well be called the Singapore International Airport since it lies 75km south of KL. Jonas had managed to find a cheap-ish ticket to Bali that afternoon, and he decided to come early with me and try to get on a morning flight (he succeeded, I later learned). Checking in was remarkably simple and quick. Why is it that only American airports are so understaffed that you have to wait for an hour in line to check in and then for another hour to get through the security check? The whole process took about 5 minutes in KL. Around 8am I hugged Jonas "goodbye" and headed off to my gate. The parting was rather unceremonious, partly because I suck at goodbyes, partly because it hadn't really sunk in that we were splitting after 3 months, partly because I was nervous about getting to my airplane on time, and partly because we knew there's a 99% chance we'll see each other again in a matter of weeks in Germany. It was still sad, though, and I miss him terribly already.My Malaysia Air flight was almost 11 hours non-stop, but it went by very quickly thanks to sleep, David Sedaris, my "Prizoner of Azkaban" DVD, the Delays ("Long Time Coming" is my new anthem), my new Turkey LP, and the tasty food and wine. I arrived in Istanbul at 2:30pm and got my visa immediately. If there's one thing I can thank President Bush for (and there's only one, I think), it's for making nice with Turkey so that the visa fee for Americans recently dropped from $100(!) to $20. Or maybe it had nothing to do with him, in which case I take back my thanks. Anyway, I speedily cleared immigration and customs, took the airport shuttle bus most of the way downtown, and then took a commuter train to the Sultanahmet neighborhood where most of the budget lodging and tourist sights sit. I booked into the posh Side Pansiyon (25 euros/night?!) because it was central and I wanted a nice big bed and private bathroom for my "Europe adjustment" period. Plus I was tired, it looked fab, and I didn't feel up to lugging my backpack all over town looking for a cheaper bed. After a few hours of rest, I strolled out to have a sneak peek at the nearby sights: the Aya Sofya, Blue Mosque, Hippodrome, and Sultanahmet Park. I immediately remembered one of the things that sucks about traveling solo... it gives random strangers free license to approach you on the street and start awkward conversations. Most of them were clearly trying to sell me rugs or tours, but one handsome 20-something guy innocently sauntered up and asked me the time in Turkish. When it became obvious that I was a tourist he introduced himself as Mustaf (or whatever) from Cyprus, and switched to English. I mentioned that my first college roommate had been from Cyprus, and we chatted and walked for a few minutes before he offered to show me more of the city if I was interested. As I noted in Asia, people in the U.S. don't just walk up to strangers on the street and make conversation unless they're obviously insane or religious freaks. I'd also just been reading on the plane about the scam of new Turkish "friends" who take you out to bars to drug you, rob you, and leave you sleeping in some back alley for days. As a result (and possibly because I was over-tired), I panicked like a trapped animal, hastily mumbled excuses about needing to sleep, and ran off leaving my gracious host looking dumbfounded. I'll never know whether his intentions were honest or not (retrospective instinct tells me "not," maybe only to justify my reaction), but it's pretty sad that in a country known for its hospitality I scrambled away from the first friendly local as fast as I could. Was it common sense caution? Was I just exhausted and in a bad mood? Or am I really just that distrustful of everyone?! At any rate I went for a tasty chicken kebab (I'm sure I'll have my fill of those before long) at Doy!Doy! Restaurant, checked e-mail, and called it a night.Yesterday I woke up early and had a leisurely breakfast (included in my room rate) on the rooftop terrace of the hotel. I think I'll like the food here; the meal included delicious bread, olives, cheese, tomatoes, cukes, a boiled egg, and unlimited tea. The views of the city were awesome, too. I spent the midday exploring Topkapi Palace, which is a huge (and expensive) museum where the Ottoman sultans once lived. The high points were the beautiful Islamic architecture and tiles, the enormous jewels in the Treasury, and relics from Muhammed and his friends (including grisly bits like teeth and hair). There were also some odd exhibits, like the "circumcision room" where the young (but not infant) princes surely went through much pain, and the courtyard in the harem where the eunichs from Sudan hung out. Must have been a fascinating scene back in the day...I left the palace with a new enthusiasm for Istanbul and Turkey in general, so I headed to the Hippodrome, which is now a track-shaped road with some ancient obelisks and pillars in the middle of it, but it used to be a great stadium for chariot races and such. Next I grabbed a baklava snack and walked along Divan Yolu, the main thoroughfare of Sultanahmet. That led me to Istanbul University and the Grand Bazaar, an enormous maze-like covered market that was fun to get lost in. Unfortunately the majority of things for sale (jewelry, clothes, and more carpets) held no interest for me, but at least it wasn't too crowded and there was little hassle from salespeople. After the Bazaar I paid the 10,000,000 Turkish Lira (~$7) admission fee to go down into the Basilica Cistern. It's a huge underground water storage tank from the 6th century that's supported by hundreds of columns, and the place drips with atmosphere. The Medusa heads supporting two of the columns in the back were especially cool. *Dork alert!* - wandering around down there reminded me of playing the first Tomb Raider game years ago, and I felt like the game developers must have taken some inspiration from the place.Today I checked out the Blue Mosque and Aya Sofya. The Mosque was impressive, but Aya Sofya blew me away. Luckily my camera survived being thrown to the ground like a bowling ball towards the entrance (a clumsy accident), because I couldn't stop snapping photos! Actually all of Istanbul is pretty photogenic... in two days I think I've taken over 150 shots! Anyway, the seemingly unsupported dome of Aya Sofya is truly marvelous, and I kept having flashbacks to my high school art history class with Ms. Joyce. Even a huge scaffold set up in the center of the building couldn't hide the beauty of the place.Istanbul is certainly a romantic and enchanting city with its stunning Byzantine architecture, narrowly winding stone-paved back streets, and exciting culture. The food has been excellent, and the weather has been surprisingly perfect: cool yet sunny. I honestly wasn't psyched to be here at first (I even considered tossing my ticket and staying in Asia), but now I'm looking forward to exploring more of Turkey. Chances are I'll have to come back through Istanbul on my way to my next country, so now that I've seen the major sights here I can happily move on. Tomorrow I think I'll take a bus towards the coast to see the battlefields of Gallipoli, and I'll follow that with the ruins of Troy and Ephesus. So things are good despite the facts that I'm traveling alone again and it's expensive here compared to Asia. I do feel way out of touch with people from home, though, so let me know what you've been up to if you get a minute. Hope you're having a good summer, and I'll talk to you later...-Tim
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/easyread/chasing_the_sun/1093987800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/easyread/chasing_the_sun/1093987800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/easyread/chasing_the_sun/1093987800/tpod.html Sun, 28 Nov 2004 20:49:24 -0500 Bora Bora to Bangkok: Chasing the sun in search of fun, friends, and a little knowledge.

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Budapest / Dubrovnik, Hungary

The train ride from Sighisoara to Budapest was surprisingly fun. Scott, Rebecca, and I were dismayed at first that we were sharing a compartment with 2 grizzled-looking Romanian guys and a somewhat manly woman, but they cleared out before the border crossing so we had the place to ourselves for most of the trip. Scott and I decided not to sleep, so we entertained ourselves with the worst vodka ever, some Romanian candy (wish we'd bought the "Cancer" brand of chocolate bar... you'd think someone would have vetoed that name), the movie "Cube," and lots of music. Soft Cell's "Sex Dwarf" becomes the funniest song of all time after enough alcohol. By 5am keeping our eyes open was a struggle, but we arrived at Keleti Station in Budapest at 5:40.We jumped on a tram immediately, and I received my first lesson on Budapest's public transport from Scott and Rebecca, who'd both been there before. Never pay for a bus ticket is rule number one. I was skeptical at first, but I never saw a ticket collector while I was in the city, so I relaxed quickly. They make the rounds occasionally and fine freeloaders 2,000 forint (US$10), but generally you can hop off the trams/buses if you see them coming, and jump on the next one. Rule number two, incidentally, is don't try the same thing on the metro. Scott took a 2,000 forint subway ride on Sunday.We rode to the Station Guesthouse, which is a little out of the center of town, but the public tansport is so convenient that it doesn't matter much. Both my friends had stayed there before. Scott and I grabbed spots in "the Attic," which is pretty much what you'd imagine: a big grubby carpeted room on the top level with a bunch of thin grungy matresses on the floor and the perma-stench of unwashed hippie backpackers. It was cheap, tho'. We slept until noon, and then went on a shopping trip to the West City Center Mall. I was so excited to be back in a modern and cosmopolitan city! I splurged on turkey with roquefort and rice for lunch, picked up some contact lenses, and treated myself to a good-looking pair of Gas jeans (half off, but still US$60). I figure it'll be good to have some warmer (not to mention more fashionable) clothes for Europe as the fall approaches. Next we walked around the downtown area and along the Danube River. The opera house, parliament, and the Buda Royal Palace all looked spectacular, and I was impressed with the feel of Budapest in general. The streets were clean, people were nice enough, the buildings were well-kept, and as I mentioned, transportation was a dream. The Magyar language is a bitch, though. There was a big celebration in the city that weekend for National Day; we missed most of the action the night before, but there were still free concerts (bad cover bands) going on by the waterfront, so Scott and I wandered down there for some beer. Well, I had beer... Scott mistakenly ordered Schlossgold "alkoholfrei" beer, which he was pretty ticked off about.I was pretty exhausted by 7, so I napped, missed out on a few dinner opportunities, and had to set out by myself at 10:30 to find food. That meant trekking all the way back downtown in the rain and asking in 3 different restaurants (all a tram ride away from each other) before I found a pub-type place where the kitchen was still open. After I downed some chicken strips I went in search of some good clubs, but that was kind of a bust. The only place I found looked to be frequented exclusively by sketchy old men, so I stayed away and headed back to the hostel.Scott met a cool Australian girl named Catherine at a hip hop club that night, and on Sunday morning the two of them took the tram towards the mall with me. I was on a mission to find new shoes (which I did - yay!), and then I walked on my own for the afternoon taking photos around the city. The best part was crossing the river and hiking up through the beautiful park to the citadel for awesome views over Pest. After I got back to the Station, Scott, Catherine and I had dinner down the street at a nice little Italian-Hungarian place. The seafood pasta was quite good. Scott took off on the train that night for Belgrade, so we said goodbye and made plans to try and meet up in Dubrovnik. Rebecca and I, meanwhile, decided to head straight for Croatia the next day via the overnight train through Zagreb to Split. The next morning after we packed, we took the tram into the train station and bought our tickets to Split (round-trip was cheaper than one-way, but it was still expensive!). Our train wasn't until 3, so I meandered around the city and checked e-mail for a few hours before meeting Rebecca back at the hostel at 2 and taking off. We found the train easily enough, but getting in the right car proved difficult. The first compartment we settled into was in a car that wasn't going to Split, so an hour into our journey we moved up four cars. Unbeknownst to us, that car was 1st Class (hell if I could tell the difference). The conductor in Hungary didn't seem to mind that we were there, and the first Croatian conductor just grumbled at us a little... but the third one (after Zagreb)freaked out and tried to make us move to the crowded second class car. Rebecca speaks pretty good German, and Croatians seem to also for some reason, so she convinced him to let us pay for upgrades so we could keep our private compartment for the night. After that the trip was OK, and we even slept for a few hours despite the fact that it was freezing.We arrived in Split at 7:30, found an ATM to withdraw some Croatian kuna, and boarded an 8am bus to Dubrovnik. The 5-hour drive down the Dalmatian coast was excellent - stunning hills dotted with little white red-roofed buildings plunged down into the sparkly blue Adriatic Sea. I never imagined Croatia as much of a vacation destination before, but now I understand why it's suddenly such a popular stop on the backpacker circuit! The tourism board is certainly doing their job... Rebecca told me that there's even advertising for the Dalmatian Coast on Aussie TV!When we finally got to Dubrovnik after almost 24 hours of traveling, it was a relief to find beds relatively quickly. A nice older Croatian woman approached us as we got off the bus, and offered us a room for 120 kuna (US$20) each. We talked her down to 100 kuna, and then her husband drove down, picked us up, and brought us up the steep hill above the bus station to their home. He was a hilarious large guy who walked around in a wifebeater and boxers, and he spoke fluent German in a big, bellowing voice. He seriously overestimated how much I could follow, but Rebecca managed some convo very nicely. The room was really cute, with a great terrace overlooking the bay. We relaxed for a little while, and then walked into the old city center. Dubrovnik is absolutely gorgeous, and we fell in love with it immediately. The water is incredibly blue and clear, the town wall is massive and in perfect condition, and the cobblestoned/marble-paved maze of streets lined with beautiful medeival buildings is charming and picturesque. We walked around the top of the wall for an hour, taking photos from every angle. It's hard to imagine that the city was shelled in the war just a few years ago! We browsed some shops, ate some delicious gelato, and had a nice seafood dinner on the waterfront. Yesterday started lazily. We got breakfast from the corner store, sunned ourselves on the terrace, and eventually motivated to go downtown. Scott arrived in the afternoon on the bus from Sarajevo with a girl named Erin; our hosts were out for the day but told us that if we collected our friends, they could use the second bedroom for the same price. Luckily I ran into Scott on the street, as I had no idea what time his bus would show up.We all agreed to have a picnic dinner, so we bought some bread and cheese and olives... and 4.5 liters of red wine from a bizarre little wine depot. The shop guy poured red wine from big steel tanks into empty 1.5 liter water bottles, and it only cost 12 kuna per liter! The best part is that the stuff was actually drinkable, and very fruity. Anyway, we took all our loot half-way to the old town, and then walked down a trail through the trees half-way to the water. An hour into our meal two Scottish guys (Duncan and Tom) walked by and recognized Rebecca from having met her in Budapest weeks ago! They'd been sleeping on the rocks below us for the past few nights. They joined our little party, and pretty soon we were all enjoying a really drunk and silly conversation. Someone mentioned that the Croatian greeting sounds like a chicken's "bok bok" (don't know if that's true or not), which of course we found waaaay too funny, especially since we had to cry it out to everyone who walked by. At midnight we walked Rebecca part of the way home, and then the 5 of us who remained thought it would be a great idea to split a liter of vodka. Oops. We polished that off in a matter of minutes in a park. Somehow I managed to not embarrass myself, although Scott had a rougher time. He provided comic relief by basically passing out on the street, and at one point he tried to pee and ended up standing asleep, bent over with his pants open and his head in the bushes. I'll spare his ego any further damage and let the photos speak for themselves when I finally get them posted. We carried him all the way back up to the house at 3 or so, and the four of them crashed on Scott and Erin's bed.My tolerance is getting scary. There was no real hangover this morning, which I'm not going to complain about. It's definitely been a mellow day, though. Duncan and Tom snuck out early to avoid being caught by the old Croatians, and we met up later. I hung out with Duncan for a few hours by the water... he's such a cool guy. He's only 18, but he has a great energy and a healthy, outgoing outlook on life. We sat with Rebecca in a street cafe for a while, and then rounded up Scott, who was looking worse for wear. We had an early dinner of pizza, and then trudged back up the hill to meet Tom and Erin at the house. Our hosts were understandably grumpy about the two random Scots hanging around their house, but Rebecca did an excellent job of pacifying them (and lying to them about where Duncan and Tom had slept) auf Deutsch. Instead of kicking the boys out into a fierce and unexpected thunderstorm, they rented some basement rooms to them. Tomorrow Scott, Rebecca, and I are pushing on to the island of Korcula, which sounds beautiful. Hope you're having a good day, wherever you are...-Tim
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