Laos

Learn to treat pleasure and pain the same. Why do I continue to pay to be tortured, and enjoy it? The journey to the Laos border was only the beginning to a week of pleasurable pain. Jackie and I were both sick and had to endure an even worse minivan ride through the endlessly winding roads of Thailand. My buddy Carl had his head out the window vomiting the entire 8 hours. We were able to catch about 2 hours of sleep and eat a piece of toast before jumping on a rickety wooden boat to cross the Mekong river into Laos.

Once in Laos, Jackie decided to end her travels and fly back to Korea. I pressed on with my plans and decided to play the rest by heart. It was tough to say goodbye to my travel partner, but she needed comfort and possible medical care. Sunday morning I set off with a group of 5 other people to the Bokeo Nature Reserve in Northern Laos. This is the home to The Gibbon Experience, and eco tourism forest conservation project. Basically, guests use the zip line cable network to search the forest for the illusive Black Gibbon. We spent three days zipping through the forest! Our Peter Pan family slept in a tree house about 100 meters high. Our tree house was awesome! The only entrance and exit were zip line! I can't even describe our house in words, unbelievable. Somehow, flying above the trees and living in a tree house brings out the 12 year old in all of us. The evenings turned incredible dark, super fast. We entertained ourselves with shadow puppet shows, blind late-night zip lines, and rice ball fights in the tree house! Although we never saw a Gibbon, we heard a family of them singing and they sounded like screaming fire trucks. It was a one in a life time experience that I will never forget.

 our tree house

 zip lining

I immediately headed from the forest to Luang Namtha where I was reunited with a group of friends from Spain. We decided to spend the day kayaking down the river and rapids. Even though my muscles were sore from 3 days trekking and zipping through the forest, and I had developed a rash over my entire body with swollen hands and feet from an allergic reaction to the antibiotic I was taking...I love kayaking and could not pass it up. It turned out to be the most beautiful river I have ever paddled! We stopped off at a couple local villages to explore as well!

 team spain

overlooking Luang Prabang

The next day, team Spain and I took another hellacious  minivan ride to the ancient capital of Luang Prabang. We spent our time exploring the old city ruins and enjoying each others company. I  feel so lucky and blessed to have met such amazing people during my travels, especially now as a solo traveler. The boys never leave me alone, carry my heavy bags, and constantly make sure I am comfortable and safe. They offered to let me join them for the remainder of my adventure, however I feel the best decision is to cut my journey short and head back to the United States.

This morning was full of tearful good-byes from the Spanish team. I now begin my long journey home.

Thailand-highlands

Oh my Buddha! This week has been wonderful! Once we checked into our guesthouse in Chiang Mai , we decided to book a trekking trip through the jungles of Thailand and visit some of the hill tribes. Our guide, Dee Dee, picked us up bright at early Friday morning and we took off to a beautiful orchid and butterfly garden. I have never seen orchids so big and bright. We continued to the market to stock up on essentials-water, bread, and steamed crickets. Our next stop was an elephant camp! Jackie and I climbed up onto our new friend, Roti, and rode through the jungle. I was sitting on the elephants neck while Jackie sat behind me on his back. He was a stubborn little guy, always wanting to stop and eat the trees. It was quite an experience. After our elephant ride we trekked uphill about 3 hours until we came to the bamboo village on top of the mountain. We met other trekkers in our tree house and played poker by candlelight.

 elephant ride

The next morning started with a cold shower before we headed back down the mountain. We stopped on the way to play in a waterfall-another opportunity for a sports illustrated photo shoot! After yet more walking we balanced/sunk into a bamboo raft and floated down the river. The truck was a fabulous sight for our sore feet! Dee Dee took us to the long neck village. The woman you see in National Geographic with those huge gold rings around their neck! I've always been amazed by their culture, so it was exciting to see them in person. I got to hold the bands and I could not believe how incredibly heavy they are! There are many ideas as to why they wear the heavy rings such as beauty, status, armor against tigers, or resembling a dragon. All in all it was a fabulous trip! I enjoyed being out in the beautiful jungle and meeting some great people! Until I woke up the next morning hardly able to move my legs...

We just so happened to be in Chiang Mai for the largest festival-the Loi Krathong, or lantern festival. People of all ages and sobriety setting off fireworks in all locations. I seriously felt like I was in a war zone. We constantly had to watch our step because roman candles and bottle rockets were being shot in every direction. It was fun to be the shooter, but not fun when you needed to only walk a bit down the street for dinner. The main traditions of the festival are the lanterns and river offering. The night sky was constantly  filled of thousands of lanterns people has released to bring blessing for the coming year. Jackie and I set fire under our own lantern and sent it with our wish off into the night. We followed the parade down to the river where we put gatherings of flowers, candles, and incense into the river. The river was full of offerings and blessings from millions of people. We stayed by the river to shoot fireworks across to people opposite shooting back at us. To me it seemed more like an environmental disaster by sending paper into the sky, and "blessings" down the river. Either way, it was a cool festival and I hope my blessing come true for the new year.

 sending up my wish

Our last day in Chiang Mai was spent on motorbikes. Thus adding sore butt to the numb legs. We went to a snake farm to hold gigantic snakes and see king cobras. The owners put on a crazy snake show where they played with cobras. They would make the cobras angry and attempt not to get bit while the large animal lunged at them. They don't always succeed and must immediately rush to the hospital. After they anger the snake the lean in to kiss them on the mouth-insane!

The following day was took a 3 hour van ride to Pai. What looks like a 30 minutes straight shot was a 3 hour winding ride through the mountains. I'm pretty sure visibility was maximum 20 feet and speed was 50mph. We keep our eyes tightly shut, and surprisingly no one vomited! We are now is Pai, beautiful small village. We have spent our time relaxing by the pool and strolling through the markets to eat amazing food. My favorite new food is called Roti with banana and coconut milk. The taste is very similar to toaster strudel!

Jackie was a bit sick today, so I had the day to myself. I decided to rent a motorbike and get lost for a bit. Maybe not the greatest idea since I haven't driven anything in over a year, and they drive on the opposite side of the road here. When I rented the bike they simply had me drive to the end of the street turn around and come back. Sounds easy! I drove down, turned, crashed into a bush, came out with blood all over my legs, laughing hysterically, and went back. I was sure he was going to take the bike away and tell me to walk. However, he said "I think you will be ok-maybe go slow and no gas when you turn" then he walked away. So I nervously drove to the petrol station. My first and favorite stop was the Pai Canyon. No comparison to the Grand Canyon, but it was beautiful and made for a nice short hike. I drove on to a couple waterfalls, then went home to check on Jackie. She is now feeling a bit better, so we will go get a large Thai Thanksgiving dinner!

Thailand has been more than I could ask for!

Thailand-islands

The beauty of this world continues to amaze me! Pretty sure I have witnessed some of the most remote and beautiful beaches created on Earth. We stayed on the island Kho Phi Phi near Phuket, Thailand. The island was very small, again no vehicles on this island either. Just the pure beauty of nature!

We found cheap accommodation in brand new stilted bamboo bungalows overlooking the ocean. Brand new meaning 12 weeks old and we were the first to inhabit ours. There was even a large clean bathroom attached! All for about 7 dollars a night! We love Thailand.

The first day we decided to go for an early paddle. We took the kayak out while the tide was out at about 9am. We got out far enough to the point where Jackie was a bit nervous. There was nothing in site besides giant granite cliffs and clear turquoise water! Suddenly, Jackie screamed "What is that!" In the midst of her fear she spotted a large fin just ahead. Turned out to be a family of about 8 dolphins. At one point the dolphins were within reach! I'm not going to lie, despite how awesome it was, I was a bit freaked out! I don't know what it is with us on non-motorized vehicles and large wild animals.

 kayaking

The next day we took a long tail boat to Maya Bay where the movie The Beach was filmed. We did a bit of snorkeling with beautiful fish. Our driver took us back into a cove, that was the most beautiful place! The water was about 8 feet deep and you could easily see the bottom through the clear almost green water! Then we sailed around to Maya Bay where we got to relax and take sports illustrated photos. We spent that night drinking a couple beers and cheering for men beating each other up during MuaiThai boxing!

 Maya Bay

 boxing

The last two days have been spent on buses. One overnight bus to Bangkok, then last night overnight bus to Chaing Mai! The buses in Thailand are like traveling VIP compared to the hellacious African buses. However, it's still quite difficult to sleep on a bus. We just finished getting a Thai massage! I never thought an hour of having a small Thai woman climb all over me would feel so good. At one point she had me twisted all up like a pretzel while continuing to rub me down. I could have sworn there were at least 3 people on me. I don't know how that little woman pulled it off, but it was the best torture of my life!

We did get to see the princess of Thailand! We were at the Grand Palace in Bangkok and she was going to the palace to pray! I had no idea what was going on, but everyone was being escorted out of the palace. There were a few people sitting around this long carpet and I told Jackie to come sit. So we waited for about 30 minutes, then the princess came!!! so cool. She is about 50 years old, so not the fairytale princess I had in mind, but still I saw royalty!

This week we will enjoy Thai culture in Chaing Mai!

Malaysia

Plan to change your plans. Our goal for Malaysia was to visit the Taman Negara forest. However, with the rainy season now, there was no way to reach to forest. Traveling for at least 2 days to get to there, only to play in the rain and mud did not sound ideal. So, we will skip the forest and fly to Phuket tomorrow morning!

Since we were already in Malaysia, a day in Kuala Lumpur sounded reasonable. Kuala Lumpur in the 5th most visited city in the world. Rich in Muslim culture, the architecture is none like I've ever seen before. We got to visit a mosque and see other interesting buildings in the city. The best part of the day was visiting the worlds largest bird park. There were birds flying at us from every direction. I was so excited to come out of there poop free! We saw many species of birds native to Malaysia and the Borneo jungle. We even got to do a photo shoot with multiple birds. I held a Macaw, with a Hornbill in my lap, and some kind of strange owl on my shoulder. Jackie had a bright red jungle bird on her head! After the birds, we walked around the orchid gardens. Orchids riavl Lilies for my favorite flower of all time. The variety of orchid they had in the gardens was astonishing. We walked around the city a bit at night to see the famous twin towers. They are the second tallest buildings in the world. They had a strange old-meets-new design while capturing a mosque sort of feel all together.

 birds!

 peacock

 towers

The day in Kuala Lumpur was fabulous. Completely looking forward to a couple weeks in Thailand. I am in desperate need of a home base for a couple days to air out the contents of my backpack. My clothes are already starting to smell! We've only had a chance to do a bit of "febreeze laundy" so far.

Indonesia

I met Jackie at the airport in a sprint with open arms. After an extended hug and high pitched squeals, we were in a taxi on our way to Kuta, Bali. Once we found a reasonable place to stay, we hit the beach. Kuta Beach is surfer paradise. The water was extremely crowded with blond boys on boards. The evening brought torrential  downpour, flooding the streets with at least a foot of water. We ended up running through the floods Baywatch style to get home!

The following day we explored Bali. We hired a man names Wyatt to be our driver for the day. Our first stop was to visit women making silver jewelry. Then, we were headed to a volcano! Absolutely breathtaking scenery! Mt. Batur is an active volcano in the north of Bali. We had lunch overlooking Mt. Batur, then wen to the capitol, Ubud, to the monkey forest. Monkeys everywhere! I got a banana out and had monkeys climbing me. We walked around Ubud and the palaces for a bit. Bali is the best smelling place in the world! Because of the Hindu religion, there are health offering with flowers and incense everywhere! We also went to a garden where they grow coffee, cacao, cinnamon, clove, vanilla, etc. They have a little animal that lives in the coffee trees and eats the red beans. After the bean passes through the digestive system, they collect and wash the beans to make the worlds most expensive coffee. I kept calling it poop coffee. We got to sample six different coffees and teas. They were all so fresh and strong. To end the day we went to a traditional dance show. There weren't and instruments, but about 40 men humming and chanting to make the music. They sounds were so interesting and almost creepy. Bali is so beautiful! Full of green, mountains, beaches, ancient architecture, and intoxicating aromas.

Mt. Batur

 dancers

Six am came quickly and we were on a speedboat to the Gili Islands. The boat ride took about 2 hours. We were escorted by hundreds of dolphins to our island paradise. The Gili Islands are tiny pearly off the coast of Lombok Island. We chose to stay on Gili Trawangan. There are no cars or police on the island. Transportation is Amish style, horse and carriage or bicycle. I can't count the number of naked babies I've seen riding in the basket of a bicycle here...so cute! Since there aren't police, everyone uses the honor system and if one of the 700 residents of the island commits any level of crime, that person is removes from the island and never welcomed back.

The weather hasn't been cooperating, so we have accomplished a lot of reading and sleeping. There is an amazing band that plays live music every night. They play all of our favorites ranging from the Steve Miller Band to Sublime. There is also a sea turtle conservation site on the island, so we have visited our turtle friends many times. The night sky is stunning! While living in Korea for the past year I could only see a handful of stars on a good night. I was almost dizzy from gazing at the star filled sky in awe!

 Gili Islands

 the band

Today we met our friend Ewhan and went to the other end of the island (only a 30 minute walk) for the best snorkeling. We waited out the rain with a couple beers and guitar, then raced for the water. Within 5 minutes I found a HUGE sea turtle. I followed him around for about 10 minutes. Then after we got to know each other, I decided to dive down for a feel then left him alone...it was amazing! The coral was the most bright and colorful I have ever seen. The bright purples, yellows, blues, and greens were almost fluorescent. Just as we decided to go in, we saw jellyfish! kind of scary, but so cool!

It's been a fabulous time in Indonesia! Our first stop will be hard to leave.

at it again

The time has come again for the Jack and Sam duo to pack up those backpacks and set out to explore a new continent. Thus far, we have marked 10 countries, on 3 continents together. Along the way we have met amazing people, ate strange food, learned some new language, and survived countless death defying feats so that we may live to tell our tales! Our awaiting adventure across 6 countries in South East Asia will serve to add to our knowledge of the world and supply our adrenal glands with the thrill we seem to constantly crave.

We have sketched out a flexible itinerary and route for our 7 week journey. The list includes surfing in Bali, exploring bat caves in the Taman Negara jungle, soaking up the sun on the beaches of Thailand, riding bamboo rafts and elephants through the rivers of Chiang Mai, visiting the worlds largest religious building Angkor Wat, sleeping in a tree house with the monkeys in the jungles of Laos, and visiting remnants of the war in Vietnam.

The adventure begins November 4th. Check back shortly after for updates and survival stories! After this year in Korea, I'm definitely looking forward to that first beverage on the beach in Bali!