Flyin Solo in Malaysia

In order to get from Phuket to Beijing I was going to have to have a layover somewhere. It was either have a long layover in Bangkok, which was/is having some riot issues, or an overnight layover in Kuala Lumpur. I chose to make it a 2 night layover and come check out the crazy towers they have here. They were featured in the movie Entrapment and it was worth the flight in. I didn't find much else to do in the city, to be perfectly honest i didn't really search that hard, but the towers were definitely worth the extra night in KL. Especially at night they light them up so they almost look fake in the pics i took. If you get to the towers early enough in the morning they'll let you go up to the sky bridge, only half way up on the 42nd floor, to look around a take some pictures. Forty two floors was enough for me, it seemed much higher than that especially when you looked up to the 42 floors above you. Not sure i would want to work in this office building but it was a great view of the city, it was much much bigger/sprawling than i thought it was.

Anyway, fun day but i have to keep this one brief, early morning tomorrow to catch my flight to Beijing/school. Wish me luck. Hopefully my email and this blog wont be blocked once i get there. If its not I'll be posting an update soon, we're going to check out The Great Wall on the 2nd. Enjoy the pics of the towers.

-Alex

Final day in Phuket

Settling in for our last night in Phuket and Matt's last night of the trip. Off to Malaysia for me tomorrow while Matt will settle into his 40 hour trip home.

Here are some pics from our last day in Phuket, we did a little bit of snorkeling, fed some fish, and just relaxed on the beach and by the pools here at the resort. Overall its been a great time and experience, it doesn't seem like Bangkok/Northern Thailand was the same trip. I'll keep the blog going from Malaysia and China in case you're interested.

Hope you enjoy the pics,
-Alex

Sri Panwa

Phuket and Sri Panwa is the complete opposite of the hard sleeper on the Vietnamese train. Its been just what the doctor ordered. Very relaxing and not a lot of moving around. We've been so active for the past month that being in generally the same place for 5 nights in a row is helping me recharge my batteries and get ready for school, or in Matts case his 40 hours of traveling coming up.

This is by far the nicest hotel/resort I've ever stayed in, Jared was able to get us a 2 bedroom villa with our own pool that we've been spending a lot of time in and around. Although we spent the day/night yesterday at a different resort which Jared and his boss wanted to check out, that had an amazing view/pool. It wasn't quite as nice as Sri Panwa but it was still a pretty relaxing day. Unfortunately we didn't have time to get any diving in but it's been quite a way to end a great month. Diving will have to wait til the next trip to Phuket.

I'm exhausted, going out with the locals takes a toll on you pretty quickly, I'll try and take some more pics and upload them tomorrow or the next day. Hope you've enjoyed the pics/post from the trip so far. More to come...

-Alex

Final thoughts from Cambodia

I was hoping to start off this update with a good story from the beaches in Cambodia or a good new years celebration story but unfortunately after 19 days in Southeast Asia something caught up with me and I spent a good portion of our time in the hotel room. The time i did spent on the beach or walking around was great though, definitely seemed like a fun area to visit. I guess i'll have to make a return trip some day.

Luckily i was all better in time for the 10 hour bus ride up to Siem Reap and it was off to see the temples. Siem Reap seems to have unlimited temples which are all pretty incredible. We decided to wake up early and get out to Ankor Wat for sunrise and to avoid the heat/other tourist. One of the smarter decisions we've made on the trip b/c it turned out to be 114 degrees that day and as we were leaving the temples bus loads of tourist were pouring into them. We hit the big three temples, and for some reason i cant remember the names of them except for Ankor Wat right now. I was surprised to hear that it was made out of sand stone but the detail of the work was amazing. Another temple we visited was one of the ones from Tomb Raider, and they make sure you remember that little fact, many bars have Tomb Raider drinks and Angelina Jolie pictures up everywhere. Its pretty amusing, and the guide we hired made sure to bring us to every spot in the temple that was included in the movie. Siem Reap wasn't quite as difficult to handle as the other parts of Cambodia, i think the amount of tourist/money that the temples bring in helps the city and the people much more than more remote parts of the country.

Unfortunately my battery in my computer is about to die so i need to stop there but we've made it to the last stop on our tour, we're at Sri Panwa in Phuket staying with a friends of Matt's for 5 days, its not a bad spot... www.sripanwa.com , I'll post some pics in the next day or two.

-Alex

Cambodia

I'm happy to report that the train was actually pretty comfortable, its amazing what an extra 2 feet of head room and a 2 inch thick mattress will do. I'd probably even do it again if it was available.

Cambodia is an amazing place although at times hard to handle. The recent history and the poverty is around every corner which was expected but its still takes a toll on you. We spent the day yesterday visiting the killing fields where thousands of men, women and children were taken too and executed day after day. Its impossible not to be effected while you're walking around. There aren't many roped off areas and it seems around every corner or next to most trees there are human bones, teeth, or clothing sticking out of the ground. Whenever it rains new bones/clothes appear, many just being left on the ground or just moved to the side of the trail.

If you've ever watched Slumdog Millionaire many parts of the city remind me of it. This morning we went over to the market and bought some toys, soccer balls and fruit and had a tuktuk driver take us out to the dump. Soon after we drove in we heard kids shouting/waving too us with excitement. It was a quick trip but its something I'll never forget. Most kids had either no shoes or very very old sandals and they spend the day walking around looking for anything they can use in this enormous dump. As you can imagine they were pretty excited when we brought out the apples, pears, and soccer balls to give them.

Its been an incredible experience so far in Cambodia. Its amazing how different and unique each country has been. Talking with Mr. Lee(our tuktuk driver) and Matts friend Manny today really added to the experience. The first hand knowledge and thoughts about the genocide and Cambodia were interesting and then spending a few hours hanging out with Manny and his family really capped off Phnom Penh for us.

Off to the beach tomorrow to celebrate the Cambodian new year.

-Alex

The Night Train and Nha Trang

Vietnam has been an experience. Some parts and adventures have been amazing while others have been nothing short of uncomfortable/difficult. The people vary and the culture shock is a little more difficult b/c of it.

In Thailand and Laos we were obviously foreigners but felt comfortable for the most part. In Vietnam while some towns/people are great, you always have to keep your guard up and it seems impossible to ask advice or even take a cab. It seems most tourist or backpackers have been scammed at least a couple times by cab drivers so far, including ourselves. Although i think it added to the experience and made us enjoy Hoi An and Nha Trang more than we would have.

The night train between Hoi An and Nha Trang was probably the most uncomfortable sleeping arrangement we've had so far, or as Matt put it, probably in his entire life. So we're doing it again tonight on our way to Ho Chi Min, another 9 hours. We bought the hard sleeper ticket to Nha Trang, which was considered first class, and we ended up sharing a cabin with 5 other Vietnamese(it was supposed to be 4 but they snuck an extra one in) sleeping on tiny bunk beds that were 3 high, with no mattress. Pics above of matt and I, my bunk ended maybe a foot past my knees. I'll try and take a pic of the bunk room tonight on the next train. Although we're in a soft sleeper tonight, so there should only be 4 of us in the room. It makes me wish for the green line back in boston.

Unfortunately other than the train theres not a lot to update. Our new suits took about 3 days to complete and we've spent the past 2 days relaxing and sitting on the beach which you can see from our hotel room in the pic above.

After the train tonight we'll jump on a bus over to Cambodia just in time. Its there New Year celebration this weekend. Updates to follow and until then Happy New Year. Wish us luck on the soft sleeper tonight.

-Alex

Vietnam

Vietnam as a shock. I had high expectations from what i've read and been told about Vietnam and i was very dissapointed at first. We had planned to spend 2 nights/3 days up on hanoi to see the city and maybe go out to the coast. We flew in, took a cab into the city to get a hotel and immediately booked flights out the next morning. We felt like a dollar sign and very uncomfortable the entire time there, all 12 hours.

Once we got to Hoi An it was more our style. It is a beach community and the people are much more friendly and much nicer to tourist. The past couple days we have just rode bikes around town, bought some suits/shirts...too many to be honest... and met up with a new zealander who moved here 2 years ago. He talked us into going on a scooter tour with him today, so we went out and rode around an island a short boat ride away. I honestly felt like someone important or maybe even a celebrity to them. People of all ages were stoping on the streets to wave to us and say hi, didnt matter if they were 2 or 82, they'd stop what they were doing and make sure to wave and say hi. They even let us harvest some rice with them, as you can see above matt got the hang of it pretty quick. We even got involved in some Vietnamese drinking games at lunch with the table next too us.

Overall i'd give both places very different reviews. I still feel like everyone is just seeing dollar signs when we walk by but at least they're not as aggressive in Hoi An as they were in Hanoi. Tomorrow we're onto our first overnight train expedition. Wish us luck.

-Alex