Broken Camera.

My camera is broken. It works about 50% of the time. I won't be able to post many more pictures, but I will blog about my Cambodia trip soon. Thankfully Kelly had her camera, and mine was sorta behaving.

In the meantime, this is what I see when I turn on my camera.



I think my camera is really adverse to traveling. In Italy it had a memory card error, luckily the repairs were covered by Canon. Now this, which is also covered by Canon, but only if I am in the USA. It really makes me wonder what type of products these Canon folks are selling...

SE Asia: Laos- Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng, Vientienne

I thought Laos was the most visually stunning country out of all the places we had visited. I loved the natural beauty and the French influence. The vibe of the country was also very laid back and pleasant. It was a place that encouraged you to sit down at an outdoor cafe and enjoy yourself.

The journey getting to Laos was not so pleasant. It encompassed a night bus, and a 2 day boat journey. The night bus was an experience. Kelly and I shared a twin size bed for the night, we were lucky because we actually knew each other. Other people had to share with complete strangers. That day I was actually glad I am short, because I could fit comfortably inside the bed. Unfortunately, my Ipod decided to die on the bus, but miraculously it stated working again when I got back to China. It is stubborn.

This picture makes the boat look better than it was. The boat ride itself was beautiful. We were on the Mekong River for 2 days. The only problem was they smashed as many people as possible onto the boat. Kelly couldn't even put her legs comfortably on the floor because there wasn't enough space between us and the bench in front of us. Luckily, on the second day she got to sit on a plastic chair in the aisle.


Sometimes it felt like we were a floating mall. Well, actually the opposite of a floating mall, we were the customers that were in transit to the mall. When we made pit stops they were solely to have locals sell us things. Sometimes they would come on the boat with laundry baskets filled with snacks, and sometimes we would just pull up to their village and they would try to conduct business while we were in the boat and they were still on land.
A glimpse of boat life. Notice Kelly's "what are you doing" face.


We finally made it to our first destination, Luang Prabang!


Luang Prabang was beautiful. You can see the effects of the period of French colonization through the architecture and the cuisine. It was the first time in a long time that I have had French bread.

We rented bikes and rode around the town.


Sunset over the Mekong.
The lush greenery of Laos. You can also see some monks...and a tourist.

This cave had 1,ooo Buddahs. It was cool, but pitch black inside so you couldn't really see any of them.

Are we in Paris? More biking, this time in Vientienne, the capital of Laos. Compared to Luang Prabang, Vientienne was a let down. We were spoiled.

Vientienne.

After being let down by Vientienne we decided to head to Vang Vieng. This was the bus we took to Vang Vieng. I accidentally cut off the huge hole in the roof, and yes, that aisle is lined with chicken eggs. Amazingly, the ride itself wasn't so bad.
The huge appeal of Vang Vieng was tubing on the Mekong. For some reason I thought this meant you would be pulled by a boat. But when they meant tubing, they really did mean tubing. Basically, we got a tube and sat in the Mekong letting the tide push us. The landscape was quite beautiful. Locals decided to cash in on tourists and build bars along the river. After 30 seconds of relaxing and enjoying the scenery, you are greeted with loud music and party gooers, much like what I think Spring Break in Cancun would be like.
The bars were actually kinda fun. One bar had a really high bar, like an acrobat where you can swing on and then jump into the water. I decided to do it, but I got really scared of letting go so I swung longer than most people. I could see the person in charge of it looking really confused, after my 2nd swing I finally let go. There was also a slide and a zip line. I really wanted to do the zip line, but before I could do it, it broke. So I guess I am I didn't go on it. We couldn't bring our cameras though, because of theft and/or water damage.

This is the pick up truck we took for the 4 hour trip back to Vientienne to catch our bus to Cambodia. At one point Kelly said there were 17 1/2 people in the car. Luckily, I slept through most of the ride.

SE Asia- Chiang Mai , Thailand

Kelly had studied abroad in Chaing Mai in college and wanted to go back to visit. I must say that out of the 10 years I have known her I have never seen her so excited. Actually come to think of it, I think it was one of the most genuine excitements I have ever seen, and it wasn't the screaming "OMG" excitement. It was refreshing to see, and made me excited to see why she loved the place so much. (Hopefully, she doesn't get mad at me for writing this.)

These pictures may not seem so impressive at first glance...but they were painted by elephants. I kid not. In true entreprenuer spirit, they were also for sale, if only I lived on more than a $500 monthly income.

After the elephant show, I pretty much fell in love with elephants. They are artists, soccer players, and have real manners (they put top hats on their trainers). When the show was over I wanted a pic, so I ran up to the elephants to grab my picture perfect moment. I didn't know that for a pose the elephants try to wrap their trunks around you, so for a brief moment I was wrestling with their trunks, and getting a little scared. But it doesn't make me love them any less!

Next up was a visit to 5 minority villages. Initially I was most excited for this visit. When we got there it was pretty much a Disney style village. All 5 of the minority villages lived on an area maybe 1/4 the size of the UC Irvine campus. It was strange, like they were standing around waiting for people to take their picture. I only took a picture with one person, and felt too strange continuing. Actually it was more of like a circus freak show. All of these tourists walking around this fabricated lookalike village taking pictures and "ooohing" and "awwwing" at "daily life."

More elephant action on a ride through the jungle. The trainer actually let us drive the elephant. At first I was too scared but I saw Kelly do it and decided it was ok. Actually I think it was more scary sitting in the carriage area. One time when we were going down a hill I started falling out of the carriage. I think I left foot prints on Kelly's shirt.

Water rafting. This picture was taken during the only rapid area during the whole rafting trip. It was fun though, the water was super cold.

Tiger Kingdom. This trip really turned into an animal visit. We heard rave reviews about this place from fellow hostelers, so we decided to go. I thought it was going to be like San Diego Wildlife Park, where the tigers would be roaming around and we pet them and such. Instead they were in a caged area where we were allowed to pet them. No touching the head or front paws though. At the entrance there was a sign that read "This is not a zoo. This is the Tiger Kingdom and Restaurant." I mean really? The sign was trying to make a case that they were treated better than at a zoo, but I think they were tranquilized because they seemed really lethargic. After the visit I was kinda irritated that this place was still in business. One of the signs at the place said there is only 120 wild tigers left in Thailand, yet there were 20 tigers here. I think I would have felt a lot better about the situation if I knew that these tigers were being raised to return to the wild, instead of being raised to be Kodak moments.

And here is my Kodak moment.

Kelly with one of her former monk friends, Jack. He was so nice, him and Gabe (her other ex-monk friend) took us around Chiang Mai. They are standing in front of one of the coolest temples I have seen. It was made of tin, or aluminum, I can't tell. It was one of the more unique temples I have seen, it made a statement but it didn't have to be gilded in gold.

The old temple Kelly use to intern at. We went to monk chat and talked with the monks. They were really cool. I have never really talked to a monk (at least when they were still a monk). It was cool to see that these guys are still 20 something year olds. At one point I started fooling around and telling them all these factoids I know, like what lines on your palm means, or if your second toe is longer than your big toe it means you are bossy. It was fun, a bit hard to read palms without touching them, and I had to explain what bossy meant.

Sorry Mom, I rode a motorcycle, but Jack was always driving. The important thing is that I am still alive. It was actually really cool exploring the city on bike, I felt more like a local. Ok, I did try to drive it, but it was too much to handle, so I only drove for 1 min. After Chiang Mai we mostly too tuk tuks everywhere we went.

All in all, Thailand was great. It was my favorite in terms of adventures. Thailand really knows how to capitalize on their natural beauty and unique lifestyle. I must admit, I did feel a bit guilty about doing almost all of the touristy stuff, but I am glad I did it.

SE Asia- Hong Kong

For Spring Festival I got 1.5 months of vacation. I realize now, that at that point I had only been in China 2.5 months, yet vacation seemed to go so much faster. Anyways, for vacation I met up with Kelly, my friend from 7th grade. Our first stop was Hong Kong, I had high hopes for the city, but I wasn't that impressed, it reminded me of Chinatown in San Francisco.

Avenue of the Stars. At night the buildings put on a laser show and speakers play music. I thought it was really cool, but then again I am a sucker for lights and music.

Lantau Island, home of the HK International Airport, HK Disneyland, and "the largest outdoor seated Buddha." When I first saw "the largest reclining Buddha" in Bangkok I was impressed, it was huge. But then when I heard there was a "largest outdoor seated Buddha" I felt like people were in a race to make the biggest Buddha possible. I bet I could make one. Maybe "the largest tennis playing Buddha," it could be a sidejob to make some extra money. Hey, it might even become a tourist attraction in Xiamen. Gotta dream big.

Walking around downtown at night.

Victoria's Peak. In order to get to the top we had to take a trolley up a steep hill, that seemed like it was at a 70 degree incline, but the top was worth it. Unfortunately, our timing was off, so we had to sit around for 4 hours to see the skyline at night.

Wow, lots of skyline pics. I guess that was my favorite thing in Hong Kong. That and sandwiches! I didn't realize how much I missed sandwiches. They are delicious, especially with chips, yum.

A jog in Xiamen

I went for a run and stumbled on all of these interesting things, so I ran home and grabbed my camera.


Care for some fresh meat?

The park I jog by. In the middle is a fountain that lights up at night and plays music, Disney style.

I had to peak through a crack to see this. I think its in preparation for Chinese New Year.

The palm tree in the middle is fake! At night it lights up and makes patterns.

My year! Year of the ox!

I was happy to get this pic before he passed me.