Morocco

Now that I am back home in the States, I can finally do the b log for Morocco and my wrap-up blog. Morocco was one of the better places, in my opinion, that I visited on my travels. Maybe it was the fact that it was my last stop and I wanted to "live it up", but whatever the case was, I really enjoyed my time there. After leaving Cairo, I flew into the economic capital of Morocco, Casablanca. Casablanca is notorious for being very boring and mostly a transit stop for tourists, so I hopped on a train to Marrakech, a six hour train ride south. The train ride was a last minute entry into my awards for the "Worst Travel Moment". The train was oversold by about two hundred tickets, so every single seat was taken, as well as every single standing spot, and because I was one of the last people on the train, I was forced to stand in the stairwell leading to the door. To make matters worse, there was no door, so I had to hold on for dear life the entire six hour trip. And, if that was not enough, I happened to be standing next to the disgustingly foul smelling toilet and half way through the ride, the toilet overflowed and set filthy liquids running through the floor onto my bag and feet. I was less than pleased upon arrival, but I did not let this horrible ride get me too bummed. I arrived in Marrakech at night, and one thing I learned from my travels is that arriving anywhere at night leads to problems. This was no different. I only new the location of my hostel in English, and virtually everyone in Morocco speaks only French and Arabic. This made communication with people very difficult. I luckily found a cab driver who could speak a little bit of English, and he agreed to take me for a ridiculous price, but I was in a bind and had to do it. Marrakech is a crazy city, full of small streets and alleys that you must take to get around, making it very easy to get lost, so I thought that this cab driver was trying to take me to somewhere where I was going to get mugged and robbed of all my things. After driving for some time, he let me out of the cab and told me that my hostel was up the street about fifty meters, but he could drive any further because of roadwork. I got out and immediately was lost and had no idea where I was. Finally, a group of kids approached me and told me they knew where I was staying and walked me to my hostel, only twenty meters from where I was dropped off IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION. They then demanded money from me, almost 6 USD, to which I gave them half. They swore at me and I went inside. I found out later that that was a common scam used by cab drivers and young kids in Marrakech. Marrakech is a very crazy city. The main square was only about a fifteen minute walk from my hostel, but it can sometimes take up to an hour because of how packed the streets get with pedestrians, motorbikes, and small cars. The square is filled with people all hours of the day, but is totally different during the day from at night. During the day, the square is a lot less crowded (but still a madhouse) with beggars with monkeys, snake charmers with live cobras, people playing drums, women drawing henna, and various other people trying to make a buck. The square is lined with various restaurants and cafes, including the Arcana Cafe, recently destroyed by a terrorist attack which killed twenty tourists. I was there only days after the attack, so I was able to see the cafe and the absolute destruction that had occurred. At night the square is a totally different animal. The square is packed with food stalls, cooking various Moroccan delicacies with benches set up right in front of the stall to eat. It was really fun sitting at the stalls eating various things, rubbing elbows with the locals and seeing what the real Moroccan people ate. One night I decided that I would try every type of odd (non-Western) food I could find in the market. The specialty of many of the stalls is entire sheep heads. They cook the heads and then extract the various goodies for consumption, including: the brains, tongue, eyes, and various other parts that I could not decipher. I plopped my self down at the most busy stall I could find and made the gesture of brains and tongue to the man with the large butcher's knife sitting in front of me smoking a cigarrette. I got a plate first with brains covered in some sort of spice. It was absolutely delicious. I then got a plate with tongue, lungs, heart, eyes, and some other parts that I could not make out. Once again, they were very good, although some of the more grizzly parts were hard to stomach. Even so, the locals around me seemed impressed that I was eating everything on my plate. Either that or they thought I was an idiot because I was eating what even they would not eat. Whatever. Because of the heavy French influence in Morocco, snails are also a big delicacy. I finished off my night with a bowl of snails and a plate of olives, and was quite content with my gastronomic experience (although the snails were a little odd even though I had had them before). Shopping in Marrakech is also very exciting. Right off the square lead small roads and alleys that lead to an immense amount of shops called "souks". There are souks for every type of thing imaginable. The people are all extremely nice and happy to make a deal. They always offer tea and treat you as a guest in their house when you enter their shops. Definitely the most pleasant shopping experience of my trip. Some people I talked to really did not like Marrakech because they thought of the people as pushy and there were too many beggars and scammers, but because of the longevity of my trip, I had become totally used to these aspects of places. I loved Marrakech because it seemed as though the culture of the city and people were right out front in the open. Where as other cities and countries one sometimes has to go in search of the culture of a place, such as traditional clothing, food, or music, in Marrakech, you are almost overwhelmed by these things. I could sit and watch the people in Marrakech for hours and be completely content. Despite my being enamored with Marrakech, I decided to book a guided trip to the Sahara desert to ride camels and hang out with Berbers, the traditional inhabitants of Morocco. After a terrible entire day of travelling I finally made it to the desert around 5 PM. I was given a camel and we then set out into the sand for around three hours until we arrived at the Berber camp, which was essentially a group of wool tents in the middle of nowhere. Riding camels was one of the worst things I had done on my trip. It sounds fun and looks fun from afar, but actually riding the hideous beasts for an extended amount of time is all kinds of terrible. The way they walk makes the ride very uncomfortable and they are constantly walking up and down the tall dunes, making the rider have to hold on for dear life every time they do so. Despite the fact that the ride was unspectacular, the surroundings made up for it and then some. It is an odd sight to look out on to the horizon and see nothing but sand and dunes for miles and miles. You could see so far in front of you that you could see Algeria. Eerie experience. After finally arriving at the camp and walking around like I was severely constipated for a few minutes (my legs were shot from the ride) we sat down to a traditional Berber meal cooked over a fire. It consisted of couscous and various vegetables, potatoes and chicken cooked in a clay pot called a tagine. It was delicious but I cannot tell you how many times I had this dish or something similar during my time there. I was a little tired of it by the end. That night, I slept in one of the wool tents and got no sleep because sand was continually blown in my face. I even got up for the sunrise but it was too cloudy (that day it rained the desert, who would have thought?). The next morning I was able to take a snowboard that they had in the camp up one of the very large dunes and ride down on my butt which was very fun. It was incredibly exhausting to get up these dunes, so I was only able to get about thirty or forty yards up. Still a blast though. Then, the fun truly happened. Myself and a few others who decided against taking camels back to the awaiting bus were able to hop on the roof of a land cruiser and drive through the desert. In the US they would have made you sign waivers, get your insurance, and most likely would make you ride inside the jeep, but in Morocco none of that matters. The driver floored the jeep at frightening speeds through the desert, over huge dunes almost causing us to plummet off the roof. At points I was truly scared that I was going to fall off and get hurt. Even so, it was so much fun and one of the most fun things I did on my entire trip. Once I got back to Marrakech I had to make a decision on whether I wanted to go on to Fes, another city to the north, or stay in Marrakech for a few more days and enjoy the last days of my trip. I liked Marrakech so much that I stayed. Because I only stayed in Marrakech and the desert for my time in Morocco, I did not get the best feel for the country as a whole, but I definitely think that Marrakech is one of the coolest cities in the world to visit. I was definitely impressed.

Sorry about the wait...

My Morocco blog as well as my final blog to wrap up my trip will have to wait until I get back stateside. It is impossible to type much using the French keyboards in Morocco. My 48 hour adventure of planes, trains and waiting around starts now. Check back on Monday for the updates.

Egypt

My ten days in Egypt is about to come to an end and now I find myself about to embark on the final stop in my journey, Morocco. I know it sounds cliche, but my time traveling has literally flown by, and although I feel I am ready to come home, I still wish I had another few months to enjoy myself "off the grid". As I have done with all my countries I have visited, this blog will be about my feelings about my time spent in Egypt over the last ten days. My first blog may have seemed somewhat negative, and while my feelings about Egypt really have not changed since that first blog, I do believe that Egypt has a few redeeming qualities that make up for some of the more negative aspects. Egypt is a country that relies on tourism. With some of the most amazing monuments, relics, and temples all in one place with thousands of travelers arriving each week, Egyptians know that without tourists, they would be in trouble. That is why this country was hit so hard with the recent deadly protests that plagued the nation. Tourism plummeted. Over the last few months the tourism industry has slowly picked back up, but from I have been told, the number of tourists coming to Egypt is a small percentage of what it was this time last year. As a result, instead of experiencing hostility from Egyptians as a result of recent events of violence, I was met by jubilation that I, an American tourist (one of the few Americans here) was finally returning to stimulate the fledgling Egyptian economy. I was treated to overtly nice people everywhere I went and not to mention bargains in shops where business was slow. While at first I complained of the hassle of scammers and people on the street, after a while I began to accept it because it was simply Egyptians attempting to make a living in this hard time. As long as you treated people attempting to sell you trinkets or solicit their services as a "guide" with respect when you decline their advances, everyone was happy. Although, there are some areas of the country that are still affected by the revolutions with a lack of police force and general order, the people of Egypt have made sure that tourists avoid said areas of unrest, because everyone knows that if tourists feel unsafe or harassed, that will mean no more money coming into their country. Egypt was also a very different place than anywhere I have been. I spent the majority of my time on tours or site seeing, something that I tried to avoid in other countries on a daily basis. I felt more like a tourist in Egypt than I had in other countries (if that makes sense). Don't get me wrong, I loved seeing things like the Pyramids and Abu Simbel, but spending all day in the sun and 100 degree weather in the desert looking at temples can get a little "old". And not to mention the lack of nightlife present in all of Egypt, but from what I gather, that is true in almost all predominately Muslim countries where drinking is forbidden as part of the religion. I am glad that I came to Egypt during this turbulent time in their history and am happy to be a part of getting their economy back on track. It may have not been my favorite stop on my travels (probably my least favorite to be honest), but it was definitely a good experience for me. I am now on to Morocco, the final stop on my journey, and another Muslim country that has recently been plagued with political and social unrest (a terrorist bomb killed 20 tourists in Marrakesh last week), so we will see how this goes. Crazy that I will be home in such a short amount of time. Better make this last stop count.

Cairo to Aswan

After spending another day in Cairo, I decided that it was time to get away from the big city and do some exploring of the sites that are south along the Nile River. I hopped on an overnight train to the town of Aswan, twelve hours south of Cairo. Amazingly, this was the first train I had been on in my entire trip and was amazed at how comfortable and easy train travel was compared to bus, although much more expensive. After arriving in Aswan I did some site seeing a few minutes outside of the city. The best thing about Egypt is that almost everywhere you travel to there are ruins or a temple or some other amazing area that alone would warrant a day trip, but because there are so many, you can pack many sites into one day. That night I was woken up at 3 AM and put on a bus to Abu Simbel, a four hour bus ride south into the desert. Abu Simbel is very impressive. It is a massive temple built by Ramses II that had to be moved after the creation of the third largest dam in the world (creating Lake Nassar) and now sits on the side of a mountain. It is hard to describe all the various temples that I have visited because they are all so magnificent, with giant sculptures that are 100 feet tall and beautiful paintings on every wall, so I will leave that to the pictures that I have taken, but believe me, Abu Simbel was breathtaking. By this time I had traveled so far south in Egypt that I was less than twenty minutes from the border with Sudan. I then traveled back to Aswan and got on a Falluca, an Egyptian sailboat, and cruised on the Nile for a day and slept on the river. It was very peaceful and relaxing. I shared the boat with a French family and another Canadian girl and had a great time cooking and sleeping on the boat and swimming in the Nile. When I got off the boat I was picked up by a guy I met at my hotel who told me that "Bin Laden has been shot", to which I thought he was just joking. But, to my surprise I turned on CNN when I got back and he was right. I am interested to see what people are going to say to me here when they start to hear the news. If they care at all or what their feelings are on the subject. So far, since I left Cairo I have been harassed a lot less, and people are genuinely happy to have tourists here because it seems as though business is really slow in these outlining areas. You still have people aggressively trying to sell you crap at very high prices, but it is nowhere near as bad as Cairo. Later today I leave for Luxor which is known as the scamming capital of Egypt, so this should be interesting. One thing that is a little scary is I originally was supposed to take a bus north from Aswan to Luxor, but because there are no police and order in some villages along the route, I now have to take a train and bypass all the trouble. Apparently, buses with tourists are stopped and people are robbed and hassled by the "sheriffs" or these villages. Not a situation I want to be put in to, so train sounds fine to me. I will report back in a few days on my Luxor experience as well as my last few days in Cairo.

Cairo

After a grueling set of plane rides I finally am in Cairo. For some reason, flights are hard to come by from Kathmandu to Cairo, so I had to endure a flight back to Bangkok, an extremely long layover, then a flight to Cairo. So here I am in Cairo, extremely jet-lagged and all alone for the first time in a month in the craziest place I have been to so far on my travels. The last US State Department warning for travelers to Egypt was on March 29, so I thought that this would be an alright time to go. Less travelers and people are happier to see you and more desperate to sell so bargaining is easier. We will see if I was right. Luckily, I agreed to have someone from my hostel pick me up from the airport for a fee or I would have been a little overwhelmed at the Cairo airport. Taxi drivers swarm you as you exit the building and do not leave you alone until you either give in to one of their demands or you find someone holding a sign with your name on it (the latter luckily for me). The first thing I noticed on my drive in to Cairo was that the city is nothing like I expected. The route that the driver took wove its way through some rather nice areas with pretty houses and nice retail shops and little squalor, a lot of traffic though, a problem in much of Cairo. Upon arriving early at my hostel, I slept for a few hours and then decided to walk twenty minutes to the National Museum. What I did not realize was that to get to the Museum, I had to walk through the square where most of the killings and riots took place back in January. My walk started out innocently enough. The strangest thing about Cairo is that almost everyone speaks English and they all want to know where you are from when they see a white person in their midst. I got asked almost every minute by someone that question on the streets, and when I say "American" they look as though they are either surprised that I am ballsy enough to be there right now as an American, or I am stupid enough that I was there at that time, not sure which one. From what I can see and what people have told me, there are a fraction of the usual number of tourists for this time of year in Egypt. I did not see one other white person on my walk to the museum, and only Europeans in the museum. It is unclear why Egyptians like to talk to me. Sometimes it is clearly because they are looking to scam me in some way (Egypt is notorious for this and I will explain in more detail later) or sometimes it seems they just enjoy talking to one of the few American tourists here. An example of this was a man came up to me and simply said "you look like a tourist" which caught me off guard. I proceeded to smile, to which the man remarked "you have a great smile though" and proceeded to walk away. Another man came up to me as I walked and once I told him I was American he became ecstatic. He began to tell me how just the day before I arrived there had been another altercation in Tahrir Square where the police and military had to come and stop the violence. Not a good thing to tell me as I walk through the square as the only American person in Cairo. Finally, I made it into the museum and was swarmed by men that said they were guides. I began walking through the museum but realized that I really did need a guide, so I bargained with one to take me through for what I thought was a fair price. He seemed smart and knew his stuff. It took three hours to get through the large museum, which houses  many Egyptian artifacts, most notably various items found in King Tut's tomb (just not the mummy itself which is in Luxor). After my tour I got my first taste of Egyptians and their scams. I had noticed that my guide during my tour was bribing many of the guards and other museum workers with small bills and at the end he told me that the price was actually twice the agreed upon amount. I argued with the guy but he said that we had agreed on 200 Egyptian pounds instead of 100 (200 is almost 35 US dollars). When I began to cause a scene, it was clear this was a battle that would not end well in my favor, so I paid the guy and left as fast as I could. My walk was very similar to my walk before, with every other person trying to talk to me and ask me where I was from and talk to me about Obama or what is going on Egypt. One man even invited me to a protest rally for something in a few days. I told him I would attend and got away from him as soon as possible. I also noticed that the streets were getting more and more packed with people as the day wore on. Sellers had begun setting up their stalls on the street selling t-shirts commemorating January 25th or ones that said "Egyptian Revolution" and other similar sayings. I got back to the hostel as soon as possible because I was tired of being harassed. When I left to get dinner later that night, the streets were absolutely packed with people, meaning I got harassed even more than before. I decided that this was not a good situation to be in alone, so I grabbed two swarmas (sandwiches) to-go and got back to my hostel. I decided that I would have to do something different and this walking around by myself at all times would not be safe. I booked a tour through my hostel where I would have either a driver or tour guide for most of my days and decided to spend two more days in Cairo and then take a train south to the cities of Luxor and Aswan. This alleviated some stress off my shoulders. The next day I woke up early and was driven to the Great Pyramids and Sphinx, located just outside of Cairo at Giza. Another thing that is inevitable about Egyptian travel is that drivers and guides will always take you to places that you do not want to go as well as your agreed upon destinations. For example, I was taken to a shop that sold papyrus paintings before the pyramids. After enduring a thirty minute presentation and then politely declining to buy something (the men were not happy), I finally made it to the pyramids. I voiced my displeasure to my driver about the detour but he seemed to not care. The pyramids  sit in a desert located just outside the bustling city of Giza. There are three large ones, and an old run down small one all in a row on a steep hill. They get larger from left to right. The two bigger ones are extremely immense. Each block that was used to make the pyramids must have been at least 6'x6'x6', amazing when you think these massive structures were built by man. For very hefty fee you can go inside the largest pyramid, something that I declined to do and was lucky because I found a spot where you could enter the back for free. But, once again I saw how Egyptians exploit tourists. I went crawling into the small opening and tunnels of the cave, and snapped a few pics, and upon leaving a guard told me that cameras were not allowed. I was forced to pay him 5 US dollars to not confiscate my camera. Many people ride camels or horses in between the four pyramids because it is quite a distance to walk. Because of this, men are constantly asking you to ride their animals for a fee or take a picture on their back. I was also warned about the guides that prey on tourists because they are not actually guides at all, and simply take your money and leave you. Egypt sounds like a great place huh? The sphinx is also quite magnificent, and sits at the foot of the hill leading up to the pyramids. The funniest thing for me was that everywhere I went, all the Egyptians I ran in to that were sellers, guards, camel riders, etc. all told me I looked Egyptian (my beard is getting very long and I am very tan) which I got a kick out of. While the pyramids were interesting and quite impressive, I guess they should be as the only surviving Wonder of the World, but again, I was a little overwhelmed being alone and aggressively targeted by all the various Egyptians selling me trinkets, camel rides, and all the other crap they threw at me. It gets to the point of where it is a total annoyance and makes you want to leave. After leaving and eating a delicious traditional meal consisting of various meats, breads, and various sauces I could not decipher, my driver began taking me to places that I did not wish to go again. I told him bluntly that I would not go in to the carpet store or flower shop that we were scheduled to go to (the driver gets commission for taking me there), and after seeing how pissed off I was, the driver obliged. I finally am back to my hostel and laying low because Cairo at night is a place I want no part of at the moment. It is a shame and I feel as though I am missing out on a huge part of the city, but I just do not think that after what I have seen so far that it is a smart idea to be roaming the streets alone at night. So far, Cairo is not exactly my favorite stop so far. At least it is near the end of my trip, I am not sure what I would have thought coming here early on in my travels.

Chitwan National Park

After the trekking, I was definitely in need of some R&R and a little down time, what better place than the jungles of Nepal surrounded by deadly tigers and angry rhinos. As part of the package deal with our trekking company, we booked a three day stay at a "resort" (it is called a resort but it was not very luxurious) located on an island in the middle of this National Park. I am going to skip the getting there part and just get right into the resort itself because having just typed that last blog I am getting a little bit tired of typing. Sorry. To get to the resort we had to take a canoe across a river onto this small island that was owned entirely by our resort. There were somewhere around thirty other guests there at the same time, and everyone was divided into groups based on your arrival date. As soon as we arrived, we were given our rooms and told that we would be going on an elephant safari in an hour. Sweet. This was the first time I had ever gotten to ride an elephant, and lets just say that it is a strange experience. Just the motion of the beast lumbering through the jungle was very funny to me. Elephants are truly ancient beasts. The handler road on the elephants neck and head, while myself, Dave, and one other guy road on a wooden box that was attached to the elephants back. The only thing that annoyed me about the ride was the treatment of the elephant by the handler. The guy was constantly beating the elephant over the head with a metal hook or bamboo stick with such force that it made us cringe. But, it is what it is and we could not stop him. The safari itself lasted a few hours and took us through a few areas that they thought would contain various wild animals. We ended up seeing a few monkeys, peacocks, and deer, but the coolest thing was the sighting of a rhino in a watering hole. We were able to get very close to this crazy looking animal, which was like nothing I imagined. The armor and body structure of the thing was incredible. The rhino seemed almost indifferent to us on our elephants and allowed us to get quite close. Slowly though, he got up from his bathing and lumbered through the tall grass with us on its heels. After the trip was over, I tipped the handler a few rupees and he let us play around with the elephant for a bit. The strangest thing was when I mounted the head of the elephant. The way to do this is by grabbing its massive ears and letting the beast lift you up by his trunk (the trunk is incredibly strong). The head is covered in these long, coarse hairs that are very strange to the touch. The next day we woke very early and were taken out in a jeep far into the jungle in hopes of seeing a tiger. This trip was largely a bust and we only saw deer, monkeys, and peacock again. That afternoon we took a walk through the jungle on foot and were fortunate to see a crocodile which was very cool. Besides that, the walk was largely a bust, just like the morning's jeep ride. My favorite part of the whole experience occurred that afternoon. After the morning's activities, the elephants were brought down to the river to bath. We were able to get in to the water with the animals which was amazing. They had commands to do things such as what Dave and I referred to as "the mechanical bull", where you held on to the elephants ears for dear life while it tried to throw you off, and getting showers from the elephants trunk. Finally, that night we went on a birdwatching adventure. Dave is in to birdwatching, but I on the other hand had no real desire to crane my neck upward for the next two hours of my life, so after jut thirty minutes I high-tailed it back to the resort and had a beer and watched the sunset. The next morning we only had time to do one activity before we departed back to Kathmandu, so we elected to go back out to the watering hole that we had seen the rhino the first day on the elephant, this time on foot. This was a good call because we saw the animal again, but because we were on foot, the guide would not let us get very close. Overall, the experience in Chitwan was relaxing and a nice way to wind down from trekking. Riding elephants was a trip, as was was seeing a rhino up close and personal. Now I am back in Kathmandu for the next two days, and then off to Cairo on the 26th. I am starting to get a little tired of all things Nepal, so I am ready to get out of here. I am going to post up pics on facebook most likely tomorrow, so check them out there.

Trekking the Annapurna

Hey there boys and girls, long time no blog. Sorry about that. The boonies of Nepal are not the most conducive area for blogging, or the internet in general for that matter. But, after seventeen days of trekking and three days hanging out in the jungle, I am finally back in the world's most electrically challenged capital city, Kathmandu. I am going to do two separate blogs, one on trekking and then one on Chitwan National Park (the jungle). So, with out further ado, here is my blog on the past twenty days of my life. Trekking the Annapurna was the trip of a lifetime. One of the world's most famous trekking routes, surrounded by the tallest mountain range in the world, in an area in which the only thing that matches the beauty that surrounds you is the remoteness of the place itself, the Annapurna far exceeded my expectations. Although, I did have a blast on the trail, there were some things that bothered me, some things made me mad, and I saw some things that were not anything what I expected prior to my departure. Even so, I would not change this experience for anything in the world. I am going to break my trek into three parts, the first six days (the start), the middle four days (the days that lead up to the summit), and the last seven days (the end). This will make it easier for me to write , as well as easier for you all to follow. Upon leaving Kathmandu we took a eight hour bus ride that rivaled any bus trip I have taken yet so far in terms of comfort level. It was a local bus with people getting on and off every few minutes. The roads of Nepal are extremely bumpy and steep, and they pack the bus beyond capacity, with people sitting in the aisle and on the roof. At different points I had people resting their asses on my shoulders and kids with dirty feet in my lap. Once we finally were off the bus and on the trail I was much happier. My day as a trekker went as follows: at 6:30 AM I would wake up and begin to get ready for the day by packing and "freshening up". Breakfast at 7 (I will get into the food later on in the blog), followed by around four hours of trekking, lunch at 11:30 AM until around 12:30 PM, another two to three hours of trekking, then arrival at our daily destination, followed by some down time (nap time), dinner at 6:30 PM and then usually in bed sometime around 9 PM depending on if that place had electricity or not. Rinse and repeat. Sounds exciting right? So, the first day on the trail I was amazed to find that, despite not training at all and being in less than perfect shape, I was able to still hike around fifteen kilometers a day with ease. I attribute this to the fact that we did have a porter. At first I was a little bit ashamed of the fact that we had a Nepalese guy with us that carried our two twenty kilometer backpacks, but for reasons I will get in to later on, he was very handy for different situations. Besides, I definitely do not think Dave could have done certain parts of the trek carrying his own bag, so he would have been there regardless, whether I needed him or not. He also added a nice dimension to our group. Dave was much slower than I, and our guide (his name was Jaya and he was extremely nice and funny) stayed at Dave's pace and kept him company, while I ran forward with this little Nepalese porter named Sanka. The guy was absolutely hilarious. He spoke no English, walked every day except for the summit day (it was all snow) in flip flops, and carried the entire weight of our two bags and his own bag by a strap on his forehead. I tried using this technique for a few steps, and lets just say it is not easy. If I was to do it over again, I would not have had a guide or porter, but I was not complaining during the trek and it was nice to have a translator and someone who knew all the large mountains and animals we were looking at on the trail. I guess you could say that throughout the entire trip I had an easy time with the trail and, for the most part, did not find any part difficult. The two exceptions were the food and altitude. I found out the hard way the truth about food on the Annapurna the very first day. I had told myself that I would eat nothing but the traditional Nepalese dish, eaten by Sherpas in the mountains at every meal, called Dal Baht. I described it in the last blog, but now I am an expert on the dish. It consists of rice, lentils, some form of vegetable curry, and curry. No meat. The Nepalese also eat with their hands, so I decided that I would be doing that for the next month as well. This lasted a total of three days before the trek, and one on the trek. The very first night, I got so sick from the food that I had to spend the night in the dirt outside in my sleeping bag because I could not make it to the outhouses located downstairs and outside. A quick side note, the lodgings were very different from what I had imagined. Every small town that we walked through (there were a lot of them along the route) had at least one, sometimes as many as ten to twenty small "hotels" that were set up for trekkers. Some had more amenities than others, but all were very barren in terms of comforts. All had two single beds, some had electricity, only a few had bathrooms in the rooms, even fewer had western toilets, and most had solar hot showers that hardly ever worked. But, back to my first night. Even though I had not slept and was incredibly ill the next morning still, I had to go on and do a full day of trekking. I managed to stumble my way around the trails for the next couple hours on no food, stopping to vomit frequently and just overall a terrible mess. That was the end of my foray into the world of Nepalese food. From there on out I ate various western options that were available at the hotel restaurants we stayed at. The menus located on the trail were all very interesting. The government over the last decade or so has regulated the prices and menu options available in hopes that by offering more western options, more westerners will trek there. A good idea on paper, all it created was a bunch of disgusting creations where Nepalese made dishes that they thought were "Western". Examples include pizza made with ketchup and yak cheese, whole garlic cloves with a side of macaroni, and various other abominations I had the unfortunate privileged of consuming. The trick with the food was to eat things that were hard to screw up and had the least chance of making you sick, a tall order. Dave and I were essentially continually ill for the first nine days straight. Oh and one other thing on food before I go on, all ingredients aside from those grown had to be brought up the same trail we were hiking every day. This meant that the higher that we went, the more expensive things got. For example, bottled water was around fifty cents when we started, and at the summit had risen to almost four dollars. Same goes for things like snickers, cokes, chips, and any other comfort you could want after a long day of hiking. But back to the trekking. So the first two or three days were less than enjoyable for me. There is nothing like being sick in a foreign country, especially sick when you have to still hike all day and have no real food options that sit well with your stomach. Eventually though, I got over the bug and was running around the mountains of Nepal in no time. The major theme of the first six days of trekking was development and construction. Every town we went to seemed as though men were working to build a new hotel, restaurant, or some other thing that would bring in tourist dollars (Nepal's only money maker). Many of the towns we went to, we were told, had just gotten electricity over the last five years. We even saw an internet cafe that looked brand new. We used the brand new Dell computers for twenty minutes, promptly racked up a seven US dollar charge, and left. Before leaving though we asked the owner how long the cafe had been there. His response: "six days". Everywhere around us seemed like it was coming out of the stone age right before our eyes. From a trekkers point of view, that was sad to see. The classic trek in perhaps all of the world was turning into a giant commercial mess. On the other hand, it means that people are going to benefit from increased tourism and money coming in to the region. The most interesting part was the construction of a road during the first six days. The first six days consisted of us hiking on a trail that ran along side a river, constantly criss crossing over bridges and going up and down multiple times a day. While we would be on one side, men would be using tools to cut through sheer rock faces to make way for a ride to reach some of the towns higher up that are cut off from the rest of Nepal except by walking. We would constantly hear explosives going off that rocked the valley and made for an interesting background music to our hiking. The first six days were mostly about getting our bearings and getting used to the trail. Some of my fondest memories from those days are children, upon seeing us walk into their small town of three or four farming families, running out to meet us and asking for chocolates or sweets. The funniest thing to me was that throughout the first few days I was wearing my Barcelona jersey. Kids would constantly yell from their windows and front stoops the name "Barcelona" and "Messi, Messi, Messi". I got a kick out of that. But, after the first six days, we got into the serious trekking at high altitudes which was a totally different animal. On the seventh day we arrived at the town of Manang, something of a major city of the region (probably around 500 inhabitants). Many people wait around in this town for a few days because its elevation clocks in around 11,500 feet. When you begin to arrive at elevations over 10,000 feet some people start to show signs of elevation sickness (dizziness, nausea, headache, vomiting, etc.) From what I have heard from Dave who is more experienced than I with higher altitudes, it is not pleasant. When we arrived though, neither of us was feeling too bad and Dave even got his blood oxygen saturation tested, and he was well over the average for that area, so the next day we continued on without resting. Anything over a 90 is considered good, and Dave registered a 97, while the guy in front of him in line got something around a 70. The next three days leading up to the summit day the weather got progressively more cold and the areas more remote. Large towns gave way to tiny villages set up solely for the purpose of serving the needs of trekkers going to the Thorlong Pass (the summit). While the first week we were trekking in shorts and short sleeves, suddenly we were forced to wear more layers. The scenery also changed from farms and greenery to a barren mountainous area. We were surrounded by snow capped mountains and snow on the ground at all times. The trails became much smaller because of less traffic and steeper. On the ninth day we finally arrived at high camp, a jumping off point for the next morning where we would be summiting the Thorlong Pass (altitude 5,614 meters, around 17,000 feet). High camp was quite the bitch to get to and very cold with little amenities to be had. The worst part for me was the second coming of my stomach problems and because of the temperature, somewhere in the 15-20 degree range, the bathroom floor became frozen making it extremely difficult to navigate the toilets that were merely holes in the ground. Be that as it may, everyone seemed to be in high spirits for the summit. After a cold, sleepless night, we awoke at 4:30 AM and began our ascent of a few thousand feet up to the summit of our journey. This was my first taste of what altitude sickness was like. Immediately when we started hiking with the sun just cresting the mountains over our shoulders, I began to feel lightheaded and had trouble breathing. My feet felt like lead and traversing the vast snow banks was quite difficult. After just two hours of slowly making my way up this steep, ice cover slopes, I felt as though I could not go on. Miraculously though, Dave saw me struggling and let me in on his little secret. Ibuprofen. Dave claims that Ibuprofen thins out the blood and makes it easier to acclimatize. I popped two of those little babies and within minutes was back to my old self. I breezed through the next few hours and we summited the pass sometime around 10:30 AM. 17,000 feet is much higher than anything I had ever been to, and you will be hard pressed to find many higher areas in the world to get to without mountaineering or climbing skills. It was definitely a cool achievement until we heard that a twelve year old kid had done the same thing a few minutes prior. Granted, he was extremely sick and puking on the summit, but still, we were shown up by some little British kid. Wanker. The last six or seven days of trekking where much different from all the other days we had been on the trail. Now, we began to spend most of our days going downhill. This was a nice change because of the different muscles used, but became quite the pain for us after a while. Also, the trail changed and became a fully functioning road, where buses constantly passed kicking up dirt and making the journey less than spectacular. We found this out the hard way, and were envious of the people that we talked to that did the summit and then proceeded to hop on a small plane back to Kathmandu from an airport in the town of Jomsom. We wished we were doing that. Our moods also changed after the summit. It seemed as though Dave and I became less about the trek, and more about getting to the end of the trek. I attribute this to the undesirable hiking conditions, as well as our being tired of the food and various other aspects of the trekking lifestyle. I still greatly enjoyed the last few days, we got to see Annapurna I which I described in my last post, and had some of the best views yet, but I was ready to get off the trail. It would be one thing if I was just doing the trek and then going home to the States, but I still have to go on traveling for another month. Whatever the case was, we soldiered on and after a few short days we were back on the bus again going to Chitwan National Park in the southern part of Nepal. Overall, I greatly enjoyed my trek. It was great to do it at the time we did because I am guessing a few years from now, with the advent of the road and even more construction, it will be changed forever. I wish that I had been privileged to do the trek twenty years ago, as many on the trail had done and were doing a second time. They were constantly remarking about how different the trail was and how the remote feel and bare bones trekking lifestyle had been lost. After some of the troubles I had on the trail, I cannot even imagine having any less comforts than I did, so on that note I guess I was a little bit glad I did it when I did. Whatever. The trek of a lifetime was definitely worth it.

Nepal

Nothing like flying into a country and seeing the tallest mountain in the world out your window, hovering above the clouds as high as you are when you are cruising at 20,000 ft. Great start to my trip in Nepal. Not only did I see Everest peeking above the clouds, but a few other of the world's tallest mountains as well. Pretty amazing stuff. Everest sticks out though because the mountain is almost black in color, and truly looks different from all the other snow covered peaks. The excitement did not stop there though. Upon landing, I realized that I had forgotten to get out USD to pay for my Nepal visa. The only ATMs at the airport were outside, so I had to leave my passport at the border security and walk out of all the customs stops, through armed guards, outside to where thousands of taxi drivers and scammers waited to pounce on their prey. The sketchiest part was that I walked past an exchange counter and the guy motioned me over. He said that the ATM outside usually does not work, and if I need money that I can borrow it from him and pay him back later. That is a new one. Never heard of that scam before. Immediately outside I was swarmed by tiny Nepalese men (they are all very small) and escorted personally to an ATM, I guess they all wanted a tip for walking me 100 meters to an ATM I could see from the exit. When I arrived at the ATM I put my card in, entered my pin, and then when I asked for a withdrawal the machine went out of order. This freaked me out a little. Suddenly, a guy who claimed to be a bank employee was over my shoulder. He told me to do the transaction again, and was a little too close to me while I was entering my information. It worked this time, but I felt as though I was definitely getting scammed. I then had to walk all the way back through all the various security checkpoints and then had to exchange the rupees I had just withdrawn for USD at a counter. The guy ripped me off (I lost a few dollars) but I had to get out USD somehow or I would be stranded. After waiting in the now extremely long line, I finally got through the checkpoint and walked outside to the curb. Once again, I was swarmed by cab drivers and other tiny men wanting money from me. Luckily, my Uncle had arranged for a car to pick me up, so a tiny man with a sign that said "Mr. Daniel" scooped me up and took me in to Kathmandu. The car was a 1980s Mercedes and  the driver claimed that it was one of few in Nepal, so I was looked at as a VIP. Driving through Kathmandu was a trip. Definitely the poorest place in terms of a major city I have ever been. Nepal is one of the poorer countries in the world. The average annual income for the Nepalese is around 500 USD. (for perspective, India is twice that) The streets were filthy, covered in dirt. The people were everywhere, cutting in front of the car, selling trinkets and other touristy items. This is the first time on my trip I really felt like I was in a third world country. The people look a lot like Indians. Dark skin and many have the dot on their forehead, signaling that most of the people were Hindu. I finally got to the hotel and met up with Dave, who was asleep in the lobby, jet-lagged. The area of Kathmandu we are staying in is much nicer compared to the rest of the city I saw. It is definitely a touristy area. We set off in search of a trekking company to take us on our journey, and on our second stop (there are trekking companies everywhere where we are staying along with stores selling fake North Face gear) we found the right one for us, and after some bargaining we got the price we wanted as well. The best part of this excursion was that the company that had picked myself and Dave up from the airport had assumed that we were going trekking with them. They wanted more money than we wanted to spend and were not as experienced. We had to keep avoiding them throughout the day in hopes that we could just book with someone else and they would never even realize we were gone. The only problem was that the company we actually booked with followed us back to the hotel to wait for me to pay, and when we arrived in the lobby, the other guide was waiting for us. He shook hands with our new guide and you could tell he knew something was up. David had to leave and go with him to give them the bad news that we had switched companies, and in Dave's words they "acted like their best friend just died." That night we had an authentic Nepalese meal consisting of a few dishes and rice that I cannot even really explain. I think there was some spinach, chicken, curry, lentils, and some other odds and ends. I enjoyed it, but it was nothing remarkable. Looks like I have a lot to look forward to in the next 21 days. I spent all day today exploring the older area of Kathmandu which is packed with temples and pretty cool sites, but is overpopulated with tourists, sellers, and beggars. Still cool to see though. This blog has actually taken me two days to write. Yesterday when I was writing, I got half of the way through when the power suddenly went out. Kathmandu is the only capital city in the world, from what I understand, that has mandatory power outages everyday for upwards of eight hours. Most places have backup generators that work to power small lights throughout your hotel, but anything else, such as your outlets in your room, or anything else electric powered, is useless. For example, today the power went out at around 9 AM and came back on at 3:30 PM and will most likely go off again later on in the night for a few hours. Pretty incredible stuff. In terms of the next few weeks of my trip, I will be trekking the Annapurna Trail, which is a few bus rides to the northwest. It skirts along the border of Nepal and Tibet, in the foothills of the Himalayas (even up into them at some points). We booked a knowledgeable guide and porter to carry our supplies along the way. We decided to book a trek that stays in guesthouses along the way, because if we stayed in tents and packed in our own food and supplies, it would have almost doubled the price because we would require four porters instead of one. No way I can afford that. In the long run though, I am sure we will be happy to have a bed to sleep in after trekking everyday for seven hours in elevation that makes you want to vomit every step you take. I am not in the best shape anyway so I will not be complaining. Apparently, some stops along the way even have shoddy internet access, so hopefully I can make a few updates to the blog along the way. Next time I post I will be hiking the tallest mountain range in the world, not too shabby.

Oh yeah and one final note. So the major mountain in the range we are going to is Annapurna I. 10th highest in the world and one of 14 of the world's "Eight Thousanders" (meters). Its distinction though is that it is the deadliest mountain in the world to climb. Since 2007, 138 have tried and 50 have died. It has something like an overall fatality rate of 38%. Crazy. Luckily I will not be attempting to summit this beast.

Southeast Asia

So, its been a while since I last wrote a blog. But not to worry, nothing really happened worth blogging about. After two months of perfect traveling, I finally hit a roadblock and experienced the darker side of travel that I knew was coming at some point. Upon my arrival in Saigon, Vietnam, I became extremely ill, to the point where I thought that I had malaria, which would definitely put a damper on the rest of my trip. Fortunately, after a trip to a clinic and a round of Cipro, I kicked whatever malady had been plaguing me for the past week. On the downside, this illness caused me to miss my window of opportunity in Cambodia altogether. Although, I am a little pissed off about this intrusion on my seemingly perfect trip so far, I guess it gives me an excuse to come back and see what I missed, or at least this is what I am telling myself. After a short plane ride, I am back in Bangkok, and tomorrow I leave for Kathmandu. Since I am about to finish up my month in Southeast Asia, I thought I would use this blog to share some of my thoughts on the three countries I visited during my time here. Thailand, where I started and am now ending my time in Southeast Asia, is very different from the rest of the countries I visited. I attributed this to the fact that I spent the least amount of time here and only really got to experience the capital, Bangkok. As such, my experiences are skewed and I will only talk about Bangkok. As I stated in a previous blog, Bangkok is really unremarkable. It is essentially one big adult male playground. It is populated by people looking to fulfill their vices, and the Thai people trying to facilitate those vices and take advantage of anyone they can along the way. That isn't to say that Bangkok is not a fun city. It really is a blast if you go into it with an open mind. You will see things that are different from anything you have ever seen before/will see again. Unlike the other Asian countries I have visited, it almost seemed liked westerners outnumbered the Thais. This is definitely true in areas such as Kho San, the famous backpackers street where I have spent most of my time while here. This area is a haven for Thais that are looking to take advantage of silly travelers who are unaware of their scams that they have perfected over the years, but if you watch yourself and are not stupid, this scams are obvious and sometimes fun to play along with. The best part of Bangkok, in my opinion, is the access to fantastic Thai food wherever you go. Everywhere you turn there is a street merchant selling some of the best Pad Thai you will ever eat for pennies, cooked right in front of your eyes by an old woman truly in need of the small price you pay. (30 Baht for a plate, equal to 1 USD) But again, like I said, I spent the least amount of time in Thailand, so my experiences are limited, but if you would like to know more about what I have seen, I guess you will just have to come and see it for yourself. Bangkok truly is a wild city. Laos was my favorite of the three countries I visited. Laotian people are some of the nicest I have ever come into contact with. Laos, and Vietnam to some extent, really had the feel of Communism to them. But, that is not to say that propaganda was crammed down your throat, it was more in what I saw in terms of the interactions of the Laotian people. Everything seemed like "what's mine is yours", meaning that whenever I saw a family eating lunch, it seemed like they were always feeding at least five other neighbors or extended family that would drop by during their day. Everyone seemed like they were all friends and working together for a common goal. Besides this aspect, I just fell in love with Laos in general. Everywhere you went, people were bending over backwards to help you. Never once did I feel as though a native was trying to screw me over or scam me. On top of that, I noticed that there were essentially no rules in Laos. People did as they pleased when they pleased with hardly any interference from anyone or anything. At the same time though, there seemed to be order. Like people knew when they were overstepping a boundary. For example, they will rent you a motorbike that can go upwards of 80 MPH to drive on the dirt roads of Laos with no experience because they know that if something happens to you, nothing will happen to them. Nobody will sue them. Nobody will prosecute them for giving you the bike. You are the stupid westerner who road the bike too fast down a road you should not have gone on with no experience. I just liked the idea that despite the freedom to do what you want, it seemed as though there was order, even though I did not see a soldier or policeman once outside of the capital of Vientienne. Tubing was not so bad either. Definitely an experience I will never forget. Vietnam had sort of the same feel, but different. I expected to run into a small amount of hostility because I was American in Vietnam. I never even remotely got that feeling. The people once again were incredibly nice. Countless times, Vietnamese bent over backwards to help us. For example, during lunch at my hostel, the staff would cook a huge feast for the various workers, and always would offer food to any traveler who was lucky enough to be in the kitchen during that time. Vietnam is a place that I will definitely be coming back to. I met many travelers during my time there who had bought motorcycles and had driven all the way down the country over the course of a month, and apparently this is the way to see the country. I was lucky enough to do this for one leg of my journey, and it was one of the most memorable days of my trip. This seems to be a constant theme of my travels. My times spent in cities and tourist areas are fun, but the truly special times have been getting out into the heart of countries and seeing things that not every other person who comes there see's. Seeing people going about their everyday lives, not just standing around waiting to take advantage of tourists. That is the one thing I noticed about Vietnam that puzzled me. Literally, everywhere you went there were men sitting around doing nothing. Thousands of men sitting in little plastic chairs on the side of the road sipping tea, smoking cigarettes, at all hours of the day. It just seemed like nobody was working. Aside from the people working in shops or restaurants, you either drove a taxi, tried to get people to ride on the back of your motorbike, or sat there smoking and drinking tea. It was a little sad to see. Either way, my time in Vietnam was cut short by my illness as well as terrible weather, so I was not able to do everything that I had planned on, so I will definitely be making a trip back someday. Be that as it may, I have had so many experiences over the past month that I will never forget. Eating beating cobra heat, riding a motorbike on Vietnam roads with thousands of other Vietnamese and no streetlights or stop signs, tubing in Vang Vien all come to mind. Definitely glad I came here and sad to leave, I just hope there will be a next time. On to my most anticipated part of my travels, Nepal.

Vietnam Continued

Vietnam is a place that you could spend months exploring and still not come home feeling like you experienced all that it has to offer. I have only two weeks, which makes this trip really hard for me. Hell, five days were wasted in Hanoi when the weather was too miserable to go outside. Not only did that ruin my time in Hanoi, Sapa, and Halong, but now it forces me to spend little time in the rest of Vietnam. Since my time in Hanoi I have traveled south to the towns of Hue, Hoi An, and Na Trang. Hue was an interesting little city. I only spent a day there and on that day I rented a bicycle and cruised around to see some of the various pagodas (temples) and tombs of Vietnamese royalty. The next morning, myself and a friend rented motorbikes and decided to make the full-day ride to Hoi An, a few hundred kilometers south. The trip is known as being one of the most beautiful drives in the world, and I would have to concur. It takes you through the countryside and back roads of Vietnam. Along dirt roads and mountain passes. The most notable pass, Hai Van, was absolutely breathtaking. Winding through the mountainside over top of the Pacific Ocean was quite the view. The most nerve racking part of the journey though was when we traveled through the town of Danang, which is a large bustling city. Let me sort of explain how roads work in Vietnam so you can get a better picture of what driving here is like. Motorbikes outnumber cars almost 100 to 1. The only cars you really see on the road are buses or trucks. There are also rarely stop lights at any intersection. The horns on bikes and cars are extremely important, because the way to go through an intersection is just lay on your horn to make sure every one knows you are coming and gets out of the way. Its kind of frightening to be driving along on your motorbike and all of the sudden being greeted by a deafening horn to your left signaling to get the hell out of the way. When going across an intersection it is essentially a free-for-all for everyone except for trucks and buses, so all bikes and pedestrians simply go at a steady pace and hope that the motorcycles miss them. It is a little terrifying at first walking across the street because it looks as though you will get hit by 20 cyclists, but as long as you keep a constant speed of walking, they miss you. So, long story short, motorcycling in Vietnam is very fun, but very dangerous. You must always be paying attention to the road and what is going on around you. There is nothing like taking a motorbike 100 Km/hr down the dirt roads of the Vietnam countryside, surrounded by the ocean on one side and rice paddies on the other. Truly a sight to behold. After the ride, we arrived in the city of Hoi An. Hoi An was once a trading post for groups all over Asia and Europe, so there is a strange meld of influences going on with the architecture. Sort of a mix between French and Japanese/Chinese. The old part of town was very cool (but touristy) with small streets lining canals that reminded me of Venice. Hoi An is also the tailor capital of Vietnam. Everywhere you walk there are shops where you can buy a tailored silk suit for as little as 50 USD. If I had more room in my gear or the money to ship it back, I would have definitely jumped at the opportunity. Oh well. As I said before though, my time in Vietnam is severely limited now, so I had to continue southward after one day. I arrived this morning in Na Trang, the beach capital of Vietnam, and hopefully I get to spend a few days relaxing, but I still have to travel to Saigon and catch a bus to Cambodia in the next few days, so we will see. I finally uploaded pictures to Facebook. All of the China and my SE Asia pictures so far. Check them out.

Cobra

I finally got to do something cool yesterday which made me feel a lot better about my overall Vietnam experience. I have been wanting to eat cobra for a while, and apparently, Vietnam is the place to do it, so I jumped at the chance to take a trip to the outskirts of Hanoi to chow on some snake. I had had snake before in China, but this was a whole new ballgame. Once we got to the place, they immediately brought out a snake and started thrusting it at the four of us wanting us to hold it. Of course I grabbed the thing and immediately it started looking at my hand holding its tail like it was going to bite me. This kind of freaked me out because I thought it was a Cobra and thrust it back to the handler. He laughed (must of thought I was a pansy) and told us it was only the "House Snake". We could buy that snake for 1 million dong (50 US) but we came for the Cobra so we made them go bring out the good stuff. The Cobra was much bigger and cost an extra 20 USD. It had been de-fanged, so it was no longer a threat. We walked over to our table and before we could even think about it, the snake had been cut open and was being dismembered. The first thing to come out was the heart. The heart was cut and put into a shot glass. One of us had to drink it, and none of us had really thought about who out of the four would get that chance. I was not going to let this opportunity slip by so I essentially took it and downed it. I let the beating heart sit on my tongue for a few moments before swallowing it. A very weird feeling. It tasted very bloody and quite odd I have to say. We then sat down and they staff began bringing out red and yellow shots. The red were rice wine mixed with cobra blood, and the yellow were rice wine mixed with bile. Both were very disgusting, but I think that the rice wine was what made them so bad. Very potent stuff. Apparently, the blood is good for the male libido and the bile is good for the stomach (at least that's what they told us). We then proceeded to get around 6 courses of various snake dishes, ranging from snake ribs barbecued to snake skin and liver stir fry. They were all very good, but the spring rolls that they made with snake meat were definitely my favorite. Overall, it was a great experience and I am definitely glad I did it. When else will I ever be able to say that I ate a beating Cobra heart. Definitely a cool experience. And, to top it all off, the sun is finally out which is amazing. I leave tonight for Hue so it is only going to get nicer out. About time.

Hanoi

My trip in Vietnam so far has essentially been a disaster. After the horrific bus ride, I arrived in Hanoi and fell asleep for a few hours. When I woke up, there were horrible downpours of rain, making it almost impossible to do any sort of sightseeing around the city. I decided to wait out the rain, and ended up wasting almost two days just sitting around, doing nothing. The major attraction outside of Hanoi is Halong Bay, but you cannot even take trips out into the bay when the weather is this bad. With Halong Bay out of the picture, I decided that maybe it would be a better idea to go north to Sapa, which is known for its beautiful scenery and treks through the mountains. Big mistake. After a twelve hour bus ride (does not even phase me now) overnight I arrived in Sapa where it was around 40 degrees and pouring rain still. It was so foggy that you could not even see outside the window of the bus. The treks are all through rice paddies in the mountains, so the thought of walking through mud and water in almost freezing weather for a few days did not appeal whatsoever to me, so I decided to catch the overnight bus back that same day and get at least some of my money refunded. I arrived back in Hanoi at 4:30 AM (it was still pouring), and the hostels were not open. Luckily they opened at 6 AM so I only had to wait for a short amount of time but, needless to say, I was exhausted, wet and cold. I have to be in Bangkok on the 1st of April to catch my flight to Nepal, and I still have to go to Cambodia via Saigon in the south of Vietnam, so I made the executive decision to just hop on a bus and go south as soon as possible hopefully onward to better weather (most likely not). If not, I am just going to spend more time in Cambodia. Essentially, the only cool thing I have seen in the five days I have been in Vietnam is the prison where John McCain was kept during the Vietnam War, which was not even that impressive. I am scheduled to go and play with cobras and eat snake tonight, but knowing my luck it won't happen. I will let everyone know when I do something cool other than watching the rain fall.

The Bus Ride From Hell

I will never complain about travel again in my life after my experiences from the last few days. For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to take a public bus 30 hours from Vientiane, Laos to Hanoi, Vietnam. The price was the major motive for my decision, but in the long run I only saved about twenty dollars by choosing the public over the sleeper bus (the total trip cost about 20 USD). So to start I had to take a bus from Vang Vien to get to Vientane before I could even begin my journey. The ride was only four hours long, but it was incredibly brutal. I unfortunately was sick that day to begin with and my stomach was giving me problems, which is not a good thing when on a toilet-less bus. I picked the back right seat of the bus which was totally full, so I was incredibly cramped and the worst part was that I was so cramped that my right arm had to be put out the window. I was wearing a tank-top and the incredibly bright sun burned my arm very badly. I was aware of this for the entire trip, but I could do nothing to stop it. To further add to my stupidity, I had heard that Laos currency is worthless outside of Laos, so I decided to spend it all before getting on the bus. I do not know what I was thinking, but that was the worst idea I have ever had. Finally, after four excruciating hours I arrived in Vientane, burned and sick as a dog. I then had to wait at a public bus station for six hours waiting for the bus to Hanoi to leave. When it finally did I realized what I was in for. The bus was literally a public bus. Exactly what it would be in America. People were getting on and off everywhere, the seats were incredibly cramped, and it was entirely full the entire journey. As we began our journey I realized just how screwed I was. I had not eaten in twelve hours, and probably wouldn't be able to do so again until I could find an ATM (there are only 5 in all of Laos) because nowhere takes credit card. To make matters even worse, there was no bathroom on the bus, and as I said before, I was very sick. Every time we stopped, you had to pay 1000 kip (around 15 cents) to use the bathroom (15 cents I did not have). After a few hours I even ran out of water and had no money to buy more. I just decided in my head that I would sleep as much as possible and actually managed to sleep for a few hours until we got to the border crossing. The border crossing was what I like to call a "shit show". People everywhere waiting, no lines, Laotian people jumping in front of me, it was crazy. We arrived at 2 AM and had to wait 5 hours until they opened. It was miserable. It was cold and foggy outside and I was still wearing nothing but the tank top. By the time I finally got to the border crossing to have my Visa examined, I realized that it cost one American dollar to cross. Luckily, a girl was kind enough to spot me the dollar or I would have been screwed. On the Vietnam side of the border, people were coming out of the woods, covered in mud, looking like they just snuck past the border. So weird. I later read that that border crossing was one of the worst in the area. So we finally got back on the bus and it was only another twelve or so hours to Hanoi which I tried my best to just sleep and not think about how terrible the circumstances of my trip were. Finally, I was dropped off at a bus station in Hanoi. I immediately set out to find an ATM, but the bus station was in the middle of nowhere. I was totally screwed. Once again, some amazing people let me jump in their cab to a hostel downtown, which was a lifesaver. I finally made it to an ATM, ate my first meal in almost two days, and used the bathroom for the first time in hours. I think it was lucky I had not eaten, which probably helped me not get sick on the bus. In hind sight, that extra twenty dollars in my pocket was not worth it for what I went through. I would not recommend taking the route that I did for anyone even if they did not have some of the extenuating circumstances that I had (lack of money and health). Do it for the story I guess. Never again.

Laos

Out of the 5 Communist countries in the world I have already been to 2, and in a few days I will have gone to a third. I just thought that was pretty funny. Currently I am in Laos (China was the first) and Vietnam will be the third. Honestly, I cannot tell the difference. But anyways, Laos is bananas. I know I say that essentially about every place I go, and they are all insane in their own ways, but there really is no other way to describe this place. After a fourteen hour bus ride from Bangkok we finally got to the capital, Vientiane. Vientiane is more a transit city for tourists going to other areas of Laos, but I enjoyed it because not many westerners stay in the city overnight. Myself and some of my travel partners needed to get our Visas for Vietnam, so we had to stay overnight. Essentially Vientiane is like any other capital city of a third world country. Dirty, cheap, and not somewhere you want to spend too much time, so the next day we hopped on another bus to Vang Vien after we got our Visas (this one only 5 hours long). Vang Vien is a small city that is dominated by tourism. The city itself is lined all along a river, so it is quite beautiful. It is nothing but westerners trying to party and Laosians (not sure if that is a correct term) trying to take your money. Almost everyone speaks English, which is usually a bad sign. The main thing that the place is known for is tubing, which is essentially a huge party on the river (youtube Laos tubing to see it). Makeshift bars have been set up all along the river and you float down on an inner tube going from bar to bar and buying ridiculous cocktails that are served in the same plastic buckets you used as a kid at the beach for 50,000 kip (around 4 USD). The real fun part is that they have all set up water slides, trapezes, and rope swings at each bar to entice you to come. While floating down they just simply throw a rope to you and reel you in. There are essentially no rules on the river. No safety regulations. Even when the water is low, they will allow you to jump on things almost 30 feet in the air. Every year, multiple people die from getting too drunk and stupid. With that being said, it was a great experience. Something that I did once and totally had my fill. Usually by the time it is dark, the parties end and everyone buys Tuk Tuks (the taxi of Southeastern Asia) and stumbles back to the town. The town literally dies around 10 PM because everyone is so exhausted from drinking out in the hot sun all day. While I did enjoy tubing, yesterday was a lot more fun for me. Myself and two others rented motorbikes for around 5 USD the entire day and drove them into the countryside of Laos. No paved roads, cows everywhere, and tiny shanties set up along the dirt roads. The funny thing is that once again, there were no rules and regulations. I had never ridden a motorbike before, and the guy just took my money and gave me a manual bike and let me have at it. Took some getting used to, but it was a breeze after a few minutes. I have been to some destitute parts of Nicaragua (the poorest place in the western hemisphere) and this place was right up there with it. It was crazy because we were seeing what Laos was really like. We were in the areas that the people lived that commuted by bicycle and motorbike to the town everyday. We spent a few hours riding towards this place called the Blue Lagoon. It was essentially a little tourist spot set up in the middle of nowhere, where crystal clear blue water collected in pools and they had set up huts to relax in and after you go swimming. It was really beautiful and much more relaxing then tubing the previous day. The ride back was very fun because we were riding down the roads as the children were getting out of school. Every one of them road a bicycle, and the weirdest part was, none of them carried books. They all carried a farm tool of some sort. You could tell what their priorities were in school. After getting back we hit the bar scene of Vang Vien, which is actually hilarious. Every bar either plays Family Guy or Friends on repeat all day and night long. You have to pick which one you want to watch. People just sit there and watch episodes over and over. Pretty lively bar scene. Anyways, there is talk about the group I am with going to Vietnam tomorrow on a 30 hour bus ride or I might possibly go up to a city in the north of Laos called Luangprebong (not sure on the spelling). If I choose to go to Vietnam then my next blog will be from Hanoi.

Bangkok

For both being in Asia, Thailand and China could not be more different. In Beijing, I could walk for hours down the streets and not see a single white person, where as in Bangkok, everywhere you go there is someone speaking English. Bangkok essentially is just a large, dirty, major city that is full of tourists looking for a vacation of anything-goes debauchery surrounded by beautiful Buddhist Temples. The first thing you notice after getting off the plane is that it is incredibly hot and humid here. I instantly was coated with a layer of sweat even though it was almost midnight. It hovers around 80-85 degrees at all times here. You get used to the sweat after a while which is not a nice feeling. It was kind of odd leaving Beijing where it was snowing and cold to coming to this tropical climate but I have to say, I enjoy the hot more than the cold. The first full day I had to explore Bangkok I decided to go to some of the old Buddhist temples located at Wat Pho in the old part of the city. The infrastructure of Bangkok is actually not very conducive to traveling around the area. Essentially, you have to either walk, take the sky train, take a ferry through the canals, or pay for a taxi. The ferries are fun because you get to see some of the old parts of the city where everyone lived on the banks of the canals that once dominated the city, making it look almost like a dirty, poor version of Venice. The ferry cost around 19 Baht, which is around 50 cents USD (around 30 Baht to the dollar). The only problem is that the ferry only drops you off at stops along the major canal, so you end up walking anyway. To be honest, the old part of the city is interesting, but not all that spectacular. There are many Buddhist temples that are all outrageous colors that make them truly stand out. They are very intricate and covered in gold. I love seeing sights like these, but I am much more into experiencing the culture of a place, so I hopped in a Tuk Tuk, which is a three-wheeled vehicle that is honestly hard to explain, but Bangkok is filled with them. They are more expensive than taxis, but they are so much fun to drive around in. It is essentially a rickshaw with a motor. It is a great way to see the city. As a side note, I mentioned about the scams that occur in Beijing. Bangkok is no different. Well-dressed men will ask you if you need help in getting somewhere around the city and end up taking you to places for jewelry or designer clothes where you are forced to pay exorbitant amounts of money or the police are called. Tuk Tuks do the same thing. They will drive you to designated stores instead of your destination, which is frustrating. Taxis will even not turn on their meters and then force you to pay whatever it is they want after your ride. You just have to be conscientious of your surroundings and not be stupid, and you will get around fine, but it is clear that many people get burned by these scams, and these people have been practicing them on westerners for years. Later that night I met up with my friend Kitson whom I went to Elon with and lives in BKK teaching at a university. I give her kudos for living in this place, especially as a girl. We met at this area that is a haven for backpackers, a road called Khao San. It is filled with cheap hostels, cheap bars, and cheap food. You are hard pressed to find someone who is not white walking along this street unless they are selling some stupid little trinkets to all the foreigners. Nightlife in Bangkok is pretty unreal. The only way I can describe it is that it seems like it was designed by an American male, recently divorced, in his 40s. Everywhere you go you are there are men offering prostitutes, sex shows, and anything else the perverted male mind could think of. You are constantly surrounded by older white males that are walking hand-in-hand with young Thai girls. I enjoyed taking this all in and seeing what life is truly like here, but it just was not my cup of tea. I like to get out of the major cities. It sort of helped that for the past few days I have been staying with Kitson on the outskirts of the city at her University, which is much more laid back and normal. The food is much cheaper here and people are not all about exploiting westerners. In terms of food, I have been pretty much eating curry for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and loving every moment of it. In BKK you can get a curry for around 40 Baht, a little over 1 USD, and rice. Last night we went to a Korean do-it-yourself barbecue that was definitely the most fun I have had eating on this whole trip. For 120 Baht, around 4 USD, we had all-you-can-eat where you pick all the meats and vegetables that you want and cook them on a skillet right in front of you. Some of the meats that I sampled included cow heart, kidney, liver, and intestine, which were actually quite tasty. We gorged ourselves for over an hour and definitely got our moneys worth. But, as I said, I have been getting the itch to get out of Bangkok so myself and a group of Kitson and her friends are taking an overnight bus to Laos tonight and spending about a week traveling around the country. Apparently, Laos is unreal. So cheap, so beautiful, and apparently what Thailand was like 30 years ago (an up and coming tourist destination that most westerners do not know about). Hopefully I get a chance to blog while I am there, but from what I have heard it is a pretty backwards place, for example there are only five ATMs in the entire country, so I make no promises. After Laos I am going directly to Vietnam so I will try and update as soon as I can.

Oh yeah, and about the earthquake in NZ. It turns out I did have some friends in Christchurch. One girl I traveled with was there and lost everything in the hostel. All her belongings, including her passport, bank and credit cards, and other imperative things for travel. She has been taken in by a local family and they are helping her weather the storm. Apparently, up until a few days ago there were violent aftershocks occuring. Definitely dodged a bullet on that one.

Last Beijing Blog

For the past few days I have been struggling with what I was going to do with my last few days in Beijing. It came down to taking a 17 hour train ride to Xian to see the Terraccotta Warriors and then a 17 hour ride back (that would blow), or change my flights to go ahead and go Bangkok. I decided in the end to change my flights, so I leave for BKK tomorrow night. Just as I did with New Zealand, this final blog gives a quick overview of my thoughts after my 10 days here. A quick side note, I will try to upload pics when I get to BKK. I am a little bit weary of doing it here because the uploader for my camera software is all in Chinese. When I tried to upload my pics in a Korean internet cafe in Auckland it was all in Korean and somehow I managed to delete the pictures from my last 10 days in NZ. Major bummer. So Beijing was a blast. Definitely loved most things about the city. The people are incredibly nice and willing to help you with what little English they do speak. What I noticed though is that those that knew not a word of English would not even give you the time of day. A lot of cab drivers would pull over and as soon as you spoke to them in English they would close the door and drive off. They just did not want to deal with the hastle. A fair amount of people that you would come into contact with would speak some English and you were able to communicate on a basic level. The thing that really annoyed me though about people was as soon as they saw me, dollar signs lit up in there eyes. It seemed as though every seller, from food to clothes, tried to take advantage of the stupid American pig. For example, I went by a food vendor that was selling breakfast sandwiches one morning and saw that she was selling them for 3 Yuan, about 40 cents American. The next day I went back to get one on the way to the subway and as soon as she saw I was white and did not speak Chinese she said the price was 35 Yuan, almost 5 USD. Same goes for virtually all other vendors. It is disappointing because I ended up missing out on eating and buying a lot more little things because they really tried to screw me on the price. Same goes for people trying to scam westerners. It seemed as though everywhere you go its the same old story about how they are poor art students who want you to come to their show. Even so, its a good preparation because I have heard Thailand is even worse. So I will not be so shellshocked next time around. Besides those bad aspects, the people were extremely nice and fun. Aside from the constant stares from people about my height and the bombardment of pictures taken of me without my knowledge that I could see out of the corner of my eye, the people were amazing. In terms of the food, it was good to eat some of the strange things like scorpions and snake that I did, even though from what I saw the Chinese did not even eat these things. The Chinese it seemed were all about eating various meats fried on skewers. Street food is very big here, and quite cheap if the seller is not trying to screw you. Going to restaraunts was very fun though because if you went with a group then you could order around 5 or 6 dishes and end up only paying around 4 USD per person for a feast. Most of the food was similar to what you would find in Chinese restaraunts in the States. I got a little tired of eating Chinese food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner everyday, but it was almost always tasty. Peking Duck was definitely the most delicious thing I ate, and rightfully so since that is what Beijing is known for. It also takes a little while to get used to using chopsticks at every meal. Some dishes are extremely hard to eat with just the sticks so our table often looked like a warzone compared to our Chinese neighbors. In terms of the sites and landmarks of Beijing, just walking around the streets made for some of my favorite memories. The area in Old Beijing was very cool with many shops and bars surrounding a large lake in the middle of the city. Exploring the hutongs, or traditional neighborhoods, was also very fun. The only problem I had was that it was quite cold and snowed the first couple days I was here, which made it very difficult to be outside for long periods of time. In terms of traditional sights, the Great Wall was truly the most breathtaking thing I saw. Just the size and length, coupled with the surrounding mountains and valleys was truly spectacular. Something I will not forget for a very long time. Overall, Beijing was very cool and definitely worth the 14 hour plane ride it took to get here. I think 10 days is a perfect amount of time to spend here. I saw everything I wanted to see, and then some. As a final remark, I can tell that China is on the verge of breaking out as a world superpower. The people have the capitalistic instincts and drive to definitely start making moves economically, and just the sheer amount of people (there are around 1.34 billion people in China) will make them a force to reckon with in the next coming decades. I would not be suprised if China is the next big thing in terms of travel destinations for westerners. Now it is time to move on to Southeast Asia. I am getting to BKK on the 5th of March and almost immediately meeting up with a friend from college and myself and some of her friends are going to take the overnight train to Laos. I can't wait. See you in Thailand.

Some More of Beijing

A lot to type, and time is money so I will get right down to the nitty gritty. Since the last time I blogged a lot has happened. I have done a lot of sight seeing and seen so many cool things that it is hard to write about each one in detail. I guess I will start with some of the sites I've seen and then go into a few little stories about how crazy China is. After haning out with the Canadians for the first few days I needed a change of scenery, so I switched hostels to meet some people and was fortunate to meet a few Americans and hung out with a guy from Idaho recently until he left today. We spent a day going to Tianamen Square and the Forbidden city which was very cool. It was truly amazing seeing the square and the giant picture of Mao at the entrance, and the entire place still has a Communist feel to it. The Forbidden City is actually connected to the square. There are so many tourists there, almost entirely Chinese. Cody and I were one of maybe ten westerners I saw the whole day. Everywhere you look there are soldiers parading and doing drills with AK 47s and Kung Fu as signs of Communist strength. Its really kind of eerie, and you are surrounded by about ten thousand Chinese tourists who grew up being taught that Americans were the Devil. It is funny to see Chinese tourists though. While walking around Bangkok you can tell who the tourists are and who the Beijingers are. The tourists wear dark clothes and worn no-name jackets and have a weathered look to them while the Beijingers are all wearing fake designer clothing and Nike sneakers. The Beijingers also do not stare at me as much as the tourists, who all stop and stare like I am more interesting than the 700 year old palace they are in. The Forbidden City honestly was not all that spectacular. It was cool to see in person and because I am into the history behind it, but I really expected it to be more Grandiose. While in Tiennamen we were bombarded by Chinese people who claimed to be art students who wanted us to come to an art show. This is one of two scams that you will find almost all over Beijing. They are quite friendly and speak English very well and take you to a place where they claim is a free art show. Once there they force you to pay a crazy amount of money or they will call the cops who are also in on the scam. The other classic scam is the tea house scam, where they invite you into a traditional tea house and force you to pay or they call the cops again. They prey on stupid Westerners. That night we went to the famous Wangujing Night Market where a lot of the crazy foods you would find on Bizzare Foods are located. It is a tiny street, about 10 feet wide and about a football field in lenght and stalls are packed all along both sides. Each one sells similar foods, ranging from various types of skewerd meats and fruit, to the more delicious insects, scorpions, spiders, snakes and other interesting eats. What is funny is that all the Chinese that are eating there will not touch the bugs and other interesting foods, they just eat the fruit, soups, and meats. To get your eat on you just walk up to the stall and point to what you want and the guy throws it on the grill for a few minutes. The prices are kind of high compared to the rest of beijing (about 3 USD for a skewer of scorpions) but like wise Ryan Cooke once said, "do it for the story." I ate quite a bit of crazy things but I will just talk about scorpions, snake, and seahorse. Scorpions just taste like paper. They use a nice spice but to be honest they are pretty tasteless themselves. The bigger ones have sort of crab taste to them. I would definitely recommend the bigger black ones. Much better flavor. Snake tastes like chicken as lame as that sounds. They cook it for so long in a sweet and sour sauce that it is very tender. Seahorse was by far the weirdest. It has a very salty taste to it. Quite crunchy and it felt like biting into a bunch of fish bones. Would not recommend it for anyone. We finished that day off with a Chinese massage. It was around 20 USD for an hour. It was much different from what I imagine. It was almost like the masseuse beat me up for an hour. She was so small but very strong. At one point she was essentially standing on my back and at other times she was punching my legs. Very weird. And to answer the question on everyone's minds, no happy ending. The next day we spent exploring the Summer Palace on the outskirts of Beijing. I really enjoyed it except for it was blistering cold the entire time and windy. Aside from that, the place was enormous and you could spend days exploring. The palace itself is a number of palaces that encircle a lake, and just as its called, was the summer palace for the royal family (the forbidden city was their normal residence). It was pretty spectacular. That night I bought a ticket to an Acrobatics show which was amazing. Every part of the act was something incredible. There were so many highlights. One guy could juggle 8 balls at once. At one point they fit 11 girls on one bicycle while riding it in circles on the small stage. Just seeing the amount of strenghth and flexibilty exhibited by these people was crazy. Definitely glad I sprung for the 20 USD ticket (things are so cheap here). After a few days of exploring Beijing I finally went to the Great Wall yesterday. I went to the Mutinayu section, which is not very touristy and for the most part in its original state. After a two hour busride we arrived at the wall to a fresh layer of snow. It as around 32 degrees outside and perfectly sunny so the weather was perfect. We took a chairlift up to the bottom of the wall (it runs along the top of a mountain range) and began to walk to the highest point. The wall is so much larger than I imagined. It was very steep as well which gave us a pretty good workout. What was the craziest thing to me was that there were people selling drinks and souvenirs on the wall that had walked 2 kilometers from the town below and then traveled all the way along the wall, which at times is at an extremely steep incline with thousands of steps, carrying 25 pound bags of stuff. Some of them were older women that seemed like they were in their 70s or 80s, all when it was close to freezing outside. Hell of a way to earn a living. Ater about three hours of going uphill we got the highest point. I was taking a picture when all of the sudden someone startled me from behind. It turned out to be a buddy of mine that I traveled with all over New Zealand. I had no idea he was even in China. He just happened to be on that part of the wall, on that day, in a place thousands of miles away from where I met him. We made plans to meet up later that night. The walk down the wall was much easier because we could almost run down the steps. The way down was so much fun though. Instead of the chair lift they have a tobaggan run. It is very long and you can go extremely fast. It was not safe at all and it seemed like there were no safety regulations. I was going maybe 20 MPH downhill on this old metal chute with a little plastic luge. It was so much fun. Anyways so after getting back into Beijing, I met up with my buddy and we got dinner and had Peking Duck, which was amazing. So much better than any duck I had ever had before. We then proceeded to go to a Chinese night club where the Chinese girls wanted nothing to do with us and we essentially made asses of ourselves. The only girls that gave us the time of day were prostitutes which is not exactly my style. A great day all around though. It was so insane to see my friend again. I was definitely pretty happy about that. Small world. Truly amazing. Anyways I am getting kicked off the computer right now because they are closing. I will try and blog tomorrow about my overall thoughts of Beijing. I am deciding whether or not I want to stay a few more days or go ahead and fly to BKK. We will see. Until next time...

Beijing

Beijing is insane. Like nothing I could have imagined. Compared to New Zealand, this truly feels like I am on a different planet. After a fourteen hour plane ride that was delayed four hours I finally arrived here Thursday the 24th. From the moment I stepped off the plane the gawking and staring began. People really get a kick out of me walking down the street which is very funny to me being as I am a good foot taller than every Chinese person around. After navigating the subway I was able to find my hostel, which is more like a hotel, that I booked online for about 5 USD, or around 35 Yuan. Everything is very cheap here, but they try to take advantage of English speakers. For example, as soon as I arrived I went next door to my hostel and got lunch, just riced, chicken, and a beer (beer is very popular because the water is not drinkable). Once the waitress saw me she immediately switched the menu to the English version. I ended up paying around 7 USD for lunch, which is almost four times what any Chinese person would pay. Average meals run from 2 to 4 USD. You live and learn I guess. Luckily, when I returned from lunch I met some of the travelers who shared my room who all turned out to be Canadian. After talking for a while about things to do and see, they invited me to go to one of the large markets and then dinner. The markets in Beijing are essentially six story warehouses where every seller has a small stall where they hock fake designer goods for ridiculously cheap prices. Gucci wallets, nike shoes, north face jackets, soccer jerseys, ipads, laptops, jewelry, anything you could ever want. One of the guys who I was with showed me the ropes on how to haggle with the Chinese sellers who are very aggressive. They know small amounts of English and will yell at you and grab your arm as you walk by. "I like you, good price for you" and "You handsome, I give good price just for you" are stape lines used. Usually, I found out from my friends, they quote a price which is actually 6 times what their actual bottom line is. For example if they say 60 Yuan (a little less than 10 USD) that means they will sell at the bare minimum for 10 Yuan (a little over 1 USD. It is actually somewhat of a game to haggle with them. Quite fun. I decided that I needed a day pack so I went to the luggage section and found a north face backpack to my liking. The woman quoted a price close to 80 USD and after some cunning back and forth banter I got it for 140 Yuan, or just about 20 USD. I felt good about my purchase and first attempt at bartering. After a great dinner at an authentic Chinese restaraunt with dishes such as cashew chicken and some sort of fungus cucumber dish I went to sleep to catch up on my sleep. The next day myself and the Canadians went to the Temple of Heaven, which is a temple where the royalty of China would go to pray up until recently. The funniest thing about the temple was that at one part we decided to take a group photo and asked a Chinese person to take it. As soon as he went to take the picture, literally six people got behind him and took a picture of the white people in China. I laughed pretty hard about that. Quick interjection about Canadians. Almost all Canadian travelers sew the Canadian flag onto their backpacks to show they are not American because Americans get treated much differently abroad. Kind of annoying. Anyways after sightseeing we went and had lunch at a restaraunt that serves hot pots, the most popular food in China from what I can tell so far. Hot pots are essentially pots of boiling hot flavored water placed in front of you in which you put various meats, vegetables, and other fungus and potatoes. Every person got their own pot and plate of ingredients. I literally sat there eating for almost two hours. Their was so much food to put in the pots. So delicious. After being exhausted from eating for so long and not even full, we went shopping again. This time I had my eye on a Chelsea jersey. One of the Canucks and I got a package deal and paid around 7 USD each for two jerseys with matching shorts. Sometimes we would haggle with sellers even if we did not want to purchase anything just to see how low we could go. That night we traveled a long distance to go to the Olympic park which is very beautiful at night. We hoped to go to the Olympic swimming park, which is a giant blue cube, that got transformed into an indoor water park. Sadly, it was closed. Even so, just seeing how much the Chinese built for the Olympics was amazing, and at night it was truly a spectacle. Everything has been great so far, except for this morning I woke up with snow on the ground which is dissapointing. In the next few days I will be going to see some of the major sights, as well as the Great Wall, so expect a new post in the next coming days. And one last final note about Beijing: everyone hocks loogies everywhere. It is disgusting. You cannot walk down the street for two minutes without hearing someone hocking up a lung, both men and women. Disgusting. Anyways I am off to brave the cold and eat some crazy things like scorpions and cobra blood. Until next time...