After five years working in London, I decided it was time to move back to Los Angeles, but not before taking a year off to see the world. I gave up my great job with Lehman Brothers in Administration and a fantastic flat (and roommate) I’d lived in for over three years, packed up all my belongings into some 60 cubic feet of boxes and said farewell to the wonderful friends I made in London. Before setting off for Asia, I spent seven weeks in the States including a weekend getaway in Chicago with my best friends from high school, corrective eye surgery in Philadelphia, Aud and Rob’s wedding in Bermuda, 13 days in Israel on Birthright (with a side trip to Petra) and time in quiet Oak Park with my parents and sister. Then, on July 18, 2010 at 1am, with only 13 kilograms in my 50L backpack and a small shoulder bag, I boarded a flight to Singapore. The goal of my adventure is not one of self-discovery or mending a broken heart but a journey of true desire to explore the world, experience new cultures, taste various cuisines, explore beautiful wildernesses, meet local people, and maybe learn some Spanish along the way. What lies below are my stories (or more of a daily recount of events) from the road.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Ancient city
Zipping through the jungle
- Zip lining today was incredible. I chose the 7:30-8am pick up for zip lining, which meant I was up at 6:30 to get ready and have breakfast
- Group was just me and a group of three: Melissa (Canada) studying in Vietnam, Kristi and Josh (Kansas) studying in China
- Hour drive, both of the girls felt sick as it was a fairly windy road
- Put on gear and walked to first platform
- Safety introduction… and we’re off.
- I was somewhat afraid to jump off the first couple platforms and didn’t want to go. I got used to it by the end but usually did a bit of screaming along the way. So much fun!
- Beautiful views in the jungle
- 33 platforms, 2 sky bridges, 1 spiral staircase, 4 abseils (two 10 meters, 25 meter and 40 meter), longest cable was 300 meters
- Break for water and small cake
- 570 meters suspended canopy and swing walk half way through our zip lining; it felt like an extremely long walk and a lot of it was uphill
- More pictures on Shutterfly
- After zip lining we enjoyed a nice lunch in the Khamu village
- Drove back into Chiang Mai and arrived at 2pm; I was so exhausted I took a two hour nap
- Spent the afternoon reading, writing and uploading pictures
- Tuk tuk to dinner with Maggie (from Bangkok, who happened to be in Chiang Mai for the weekend from Mae Sot) and her friend at the tapas restaurant Su Casa – excellent food (artichoke croquets, potatoes in tomato sauce, meatballs, bread with tomatoes, spinach and apples)
At the top of Thailand
- Day trip to Doi Inthanon National Park – the trip took in a lot of great sights, but we had too much time to kill at most of them; raining on and off all day
- Wachirathan Waterfall
- Highest point in Thailand – 2565 meters above sea level
- Phra Mahathat Naphamethanidon and Nophamethanidon – two chedis built by the Royal Thai Air Force to commemorate the king’s and queen’s 60th birthdays in 1989 and 1992 respectively; beautiful complex with stunning gardens
- Monk market – fairly small
- Lunch in the park
- Sirithan Waterfall
- Karen village
- Got back into town around 4:30pm. I relaxed for a bit before grabbing an Italian dinner of gnocchi and tiramisu at de Stefano.
In the kitchen – Thai style
- Cooking class – day started at the main building in Chiang Mai. The guy who recommended the restaurant to me yesterday was in the class. Mike is from Vancouver and it turns out he knows Rachel M from my birthright trip. Small world. We drove about 30 minutes outside of the city to the cooking school.
- Introduction to Thai ingredients
- Cooked the following:
- Tom Yam Goong (Thai hot and sour prawn soup)
- Tord Man Plaa (Thai style fish cakes)
- Gaeng Kaheo Wan Gai (Green curry with chicken)
- Phad Thai (Thai fried noodles)
- Laap Gai (Minced chicken salad)
- Tab Tim Grob (Water chestnuts with sugar syrup and coconut milk)
Me and Mike with our Tom Yam soup |
Me with my green curry with chicken and phad thai |
- Awesome day, the chef was hilarious
- Leg wax
- Relax at Happy house
- Met people from my cooking class (Mike and three others) for drink at an Irish pub. We ended up moving to another bar because it was too crowded. When I started falling asleep at the table I decided to walk back to my hotel.
Caught in the rain in Chiang Mai
- Breakfast at bus station (since Margarett’s favorite place was closed)
- Say goodbye; Margarett cried and made me almost cry
- Three hour bus ride to Chiang Mai, bought bus ticket to Sukhothai for Saturday
- Tuk tuk to hotel
- Explored Chiang Mai
- Pizza lunch at De Stefano
- Signed up for cooking class
- Met a guy as I was walking down the street who recommended the restaurant he was eating at
- Realized there is way too much to do in Chiang Mai and I want an extra day; a nice man at one of the booking agencies called the bus company to change the date of my ticket so I booked a tour on Friday with him
- Visited Wat Pun On and Wat Pundtow
- Walked around Wat Chedi Luang and it started pouring; I had no umbrella so I took cover under a tree with a couple from Switzerland, before we moved a house on the wat’s property
Wat Chedi Luang |
- After 45 minutes of waiting and the rain not letting up, the guy went to get a tuk tuk
- Street was so flooded that our tuk tuk driver couldn’t get to the end; we had to get out
- Barely any sidewalk that was dry and the water level was rising quickly; I put plastic bags over my shoes and bag and start walking though the street
- Make it back to the hotel soaked
- Dinner at vegetarian café (the one the guy recommended)
Golden Triangle
- This morning I realized that the bottom part of my legs were burned from the kayak trip (because of the way I was sitting, my pants didn’t cover a small portion of my leg, hence the burn)
- Don’s café again for late breakfast
- Drive to Chiang Saen in Golden Triangle – area across the river in Laos is being heavily developed by the Chinese (casino is already open and they’re building more)
- Hall of Opium in Sop Ruak – impressive museum including a history of opium, opium culture in Asia and the effects of abuse
- Anatara Golden Triangle Resort & Spa for a drink. Margarett knows the GM and the drinks ended up being on the house
- Bumpy ride back to Chiang Rai
- Dinner with Margarett’s friend Richard at a restaurant in Chiang Rai
Kayaking on the Mai Nam
- Quick breakfast at the house
- Drove to My Dream guesthouse
- Kayaked down the Mai Nam river
- Stop at old elephant camp for a drink
- More kayaking
- Stop off at Buddha images cave
- Ended our trip at 2pm for lunch at Chiang Rai beach
- Two hour Thai massage at temple – fantastic, though I’m really sore
- Food from market to take back to the house
- Relaxing evening
A day of rest
- Slept in
- Roger made English breakfast – toast, eggs, baked beans, bacon, potatoes, fruit – fantastic
- Read
- Veronique, Patrice and Lulu and their French friend came over around 3pm
- Lulu and I watched Eclipse
- Hung out waiting for dinner, Bruno joined too
- Margarett cooked halibut, potatoes, spicy pork – scrumptious food
- Mango and chocolate pizza for dessert
Wat with a political agenda
- Don’s café for breakfast – good food, but slow service and it took them almost 20 minutes to tell us there were no home fries
- Granite warehouse
- Bus station to get ticket to Chiang Mai
- Wat Rong Khun (aka White Wat) – Construction started in 1997 by a popular local artist, Chalermchai Kositpipat. Completely white with mirrored chips. Inside the main building was some very shocking political artwork including images of Spiderman and Superman and the World Trade Center on fire surrounded by an oil pump snake. Wish I could have taken a picture. Walked through Kositpipat’s gallery, an interesting mix of paintings. One painting showed Bush and Osama bin Laden on a missile.
- Sat looking at the Wat while enjoying frozen coffee
- Drove back – stopped at supermarket on the way home
- Went to Bruno’s house to see the views – he has an incredible location overlooking the Mai Nam river.
- Quick visit at Roger and Margarett's local wat
- Back to town for dinner. Ran into friends of Roger and Margarett’s who joined us. Sat with a view of the clock tower (also by Kositpipat, which lights up with music on the hour). Delicious food.
- Random performance at 9:15pm and we had front row seats. Hung out until 11pm.
Compromise
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Off the beaten path: Elephant riding
Me and Lulu going through the jungle |
Thai friend, Bruno and me |
Margarett and Roger |
Intro to local Chiang Rai
David, Warren, me and Margarett |
Passport please
My room |
Friday, October 22, 2010
Floating market, Kanchanaburi, Tiger temple
All over Bangkok
First Taste of Thailand
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
On the Mekong Delta
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Quick exploration of Saigon
Reunification Palace |
Saturday, October 9, 2010
A minor injury
Motorcycle Diary
- Dalat railway station – opened in 1938, retains its original French art deco architecture and colored-glass windows
- Tran Hung Dao Street – large French colonial villas from the 1930s and 40s
- View of Dalat
- Tuyen Lam Lake – created when the dam was built
- Truc Lam Buddhist Temple - Meditation place
- Countryside
- Scallion pickers
- Chicken village – weaving demonstration from local woman, school visit (during lunch break when all the kids go home)
- Small town – people usually make hard rice crackers, not today, instead talked to two 17 year old girls who stopped in to practice their English
- Lunch – very local place; we pulled off the road just as it started raining, rained all of lunch but was basically clear by the time we left
- Black mushroom farm
- People cleaning roots on the side of the road
- Peppercorn plants
- While mushroom farm
- Incents lady
- Brick making factory
- Passion fruit plants – Tu bought a bagful for me to try
- Waterfall – Loi Xuong Thac - walk was a bit slippery and long, so I went half way down before turning back
- Hotel in Di Linh – Tu booked me in a large room on the top floor facing the countryside
- Dinner – local place across from the hotel
- Breakfast at a cute place in town which I’d noticed when we drove through town yesterday. Had some of the passion fruit alongside my omelet and bread.
- Tea fields – hung out for a bit while Tu talked to the local tea pickers
- Waterfall – I slipped and landed on my ass on the way down; luckily I wasn’t hurt
- View point of jungle
- Another viewpoint
- Small village –handed out cakes to the kids who disposed of the wrappers on the ground (Tu and I talked about this); locals were drying corn for storage
- Tu helps a guy with his motorbike-gives him gas
- Dragon fruit farms
- Lunch – local crowed joint on the road to Mui Ne
- Drive to Mui Ne
- Goodbye Tu
If I can't find a job in CA maybe I'll become a tea picker |
Sunset in Mui Ne |
Friday, October 8, 2010
Dalat Easy Rider
Ready to ride |
- Temple
- Vegetable farms
- Short walk to viewpoint
- Countryside
- Flower garden
- Forest
- Coffee plants
- Elephant Falls
- Lunch
- Silk factory
- Hag Nga Guest House and Art Gallery (aka Crazy House)
Lunch - enough for six people |
Silk factory |
Monday, October 4, 2010
Cooking at Red Bridge and Sleeper bus
(written on the sleeper bus on the evening of October 2)
Excited to start the day today. Got ready and had breakfast before heading over to Kimmy’s for a fitting. Loved the new dress I picked out and the other ones were coming along. Still had some changes I wanted made, so I told them I’d come back at 4pm. Took so long that I didn’t have time to do my shoes. I rushed over to Hai Café, but it turned out we sat for a while before going to the market. Foul (I think that’s what her name was) showed us the market and pointed out local produce. More rain, so the umbrellas got in the way a bit. My group of six was me, Michelle, her daughter Jackie and brother David (who I’d been talking to at the welcome drink) and a couple (George and Laura); all from Australia.
Boarded the boat to the school which is a few kilometers from Hoi An. Beautiful setting but it rained the whole boat ride. Had a welcome drink before going to the demonstration area. The chef had a fabulous sense of humor. He first made a seafood salad served in a pineapple bowl. We didn’t get to make it ourselves, but we did try it at lunch. Next on tap was rice paper. You must leave rice in water for seven hours and then it becomes milky. Spread the milky substance over a cloth on heat and cover for a few minutes. A shrimp and vegetable mix went on the inside. Then we went to our stations and got to make the rice paper ourselves. Mine had a couple small holes, but when I wrapped the prawn mix inside and rolled it you couldn’t see them. Fresh spring roll - delicious.
Making rice paper |
My sad food art and eggplant in clay pot |
On the sleeper bus |
(written in Dalat)
World Travels Map
- Create your own travel map or travel blog
- Vacation rentals at TripAdvisor