Much of the delay was due to good old fashioned procrastination. But there was also a 3 month period where my external hard drive crashed and I thought I lost all 50gb (or 9,000 photos) I’ve taken over the past 4 or so years. Luckily, I got them back and so its time to rock.

The last part of my time in SE Asia was spent in Indonesia, on the islands of Bali and Lombok specifically. I ended up deciding to go there initially for about 2 weeks then head to Malaysia. I ended up staying in Indonesia (i.e. spending lots of money skipping and canceling flights) because I liked it so much there… and met this really cool Balinese girl, Yurin. And it would be a lie if I said she wasn’t the cause of me making a return trip for  another three weeks. Oh la la, you may be thinking. Fine.

I don’t want to chronicle the trip day by day because that would bore you to death, and I’ve been told I write a lot. The only things people actually like about my blog are the pictures. Also, its probably so far past the fact to bother telling you about the end of my time in Asia. However if I had to mention the highlights  it would go like this: a painful witch-doctor massage, stolen camera, stolen iPod touch, police, motorbikes, coagulated cow blood, a villa, bucket showers, Faybans, beaches, and $5 (yes, FIVE) hour long (non-painful) oil massages.

Just so you know what I’m up to right now, I’m currently a videographer at summer camp right now in rural Pennsylvania (although actually working for TILT Studio Inc.) Its a pretty awesome job where I get to be outside a lot, then I make videos which are used mostly as promotional and marketing material. And you can check some of the videos here on vimeo starting with the “Bowling Balls” one. This job only lasts through the end of July. So I’m currently looking for more permanent employment (spread the word)!

Lastly, I just imported all the posts from my old New Zealand blogger blog “There and Back Again.” So now you can go back and relive all those exciting memories! Or just ignore them, whichever. I just figured I ought to consolidate them into one place, since it is called Nick’s Adventure Blog, more adventures (old or new) can never hurt. However, the formatting after importing was a little messed up, so I’ll be adding them a few at a time as I fix them. Since they are the oldest, they will be toward the end of the blog when clicking through.

The rest of the pictures are from the nearby water/amusement park (which I am a year long member of for the bargain price of $30 USD) and a festival in downtown Bangkok back in November(?). Read the photo captions for more info on each photograph. The semester finishes in about 3 weeks, so things are picking up here, which is why I haven’t blogged very recently (plus the addition of nasty cold, lack of adventures, and general laziness) so maybe after that.

I’m only here about another 3 months. Its strange because when I think about all the things I’ve missed- Christmas, family gatherings, alumni events, etc. it feels like its been forever. And then when I don’t think about those times I missed (which is sometimes necessary in order to stay sane) it feels like I’ve barely been here even though its far longer than the majority of Americans could say. The end is slowly creeping near- I both look forward to it and fear it at the same time.

Ok, here we go.

We were in Saigon, went to the beach about 6 hours east of Saigon. Stayed in a bungalow near the beach. There were a lot of mosquitoes, they bite. Then we went back to Saigon, got off the bus, walked across the street, bought a new ticket and got on a bus to Phnom Penh 10 minutes later.

Got to Pnhom Penh and on the second day there went the Killing Fields where hundreds of thousands were executed under the Khmer Rouge. There is a big memorial there filled with skulls of some of the victims filled to the top. You can also see pieces of clothing partially dug into the paths that we walked on around the mass graves. It was very unnerving.

We then went to Security Prison 21, more commonly referred to as S-21, which was a school converted into prison under the same regime ran by Pol Pot. Not exactly a day of happy tourist spots that make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside (they have those spots too, but its a different kind of happy, and it involves pizza), but important to experience first hand nonetheless. If you don’t know much about Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, then you should wikipedia it, its very sad. And quite frankly it only happened 30 or so years ago while the world stood by and watched. Made me think about how long it will takes us to do something real about Darfur and other places like that. Additionally, I though of how different the country would be today if it wasn’t missing a whole generation of educated people. Perhaps one of the sadist things was that the guards who worked at the prison were just as scared of Pol Pot as the regular population. There was really no choice for anyone except obedience or death.

Next day we left for Siem Reap to check out Ankgor Wat, which is a giant area of ancient hindu temples (although most Cambodians are Buddhist now, or would at least describe themselves as that). The whole park, which costs $25 or so to get into for a day, is massive and require you to hire a tuk-tuk driver for the day to take you around because they are spread out over many many kilometers.. We paid ours $20 or something. The temples were very awesome, but I’ll just let all the picture tell you about them.

The next day, we checked out of our hotel and took a bus back to Bangkok, which include a land border crossing which was quite lengthy. We arrived back in Bangkok with little trouble however and were glad to be home.

The End. Enjoy the many (oh so many) photographs. I’ll be back with more current happenings from now on. I’m traveling to Laos later this week, so I should have stories from there when I return. And don’t forget I have a twitter feed now at the bottom of the website, so you can check that out for more current updates, or follow me if you have an account (I’ll follow you too! (unless you are a spammer trying to sell me nudy pics.))

Oh yeah, that Vietnam thing. Fine, I guess we can talk about that too.

So when we last left off we were returning from the mountainous region of Sapa back to Hanoi. We had some other teacher friends traveling to Vietnam over the break who departed from Bangkok a few days later than us. It just so happened that when we were returning from our Sapa trip that they would be in Hanoi. As you might have guess we met up with them to drink some Bia Hoi (this delicious beverage is brewed daily and sold out of kegs on the street for about 18 cents U.S.). We thought it would be fun if we went to Halong Bay together before we parted ways. And so we all booked a boat trip on Halong Bay, which was actually one night on a Junk (boat) and a night on an small island resort (which was all inclusive, except for the booze). This ran us about $85 USD, although it sounds much pimper to say 1.5 million dong.

Halong Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage site (on natural grounds I believe) and located about 3 1/2 hours east of Hanoi. We arrived in Halong City and took a small dingy to our boat. There were about 8 of us teachers in our group, two Brits, and a Scot. Oh yes, and who could forget the Canadian (Blaaaaaahh! Sorry, I think I just threw up a little in my mouth. You never really know why you make fun of Canadians… until you actually meet one, then it ‘just feels right’ (and well deserved(I hope no Canadians read this blog, if there are, please don’t beat me up. I’m fragile.))).

When we got on the boat we set sail and headed out in to the bay. The bay has hundreds of tiny lush green and limestone islands that jut out of the water. Unfortunately, the first day you couldn’t see much more than their silhouettes because of low lying fog. It gave off the vibe of the very first seen of the Pirates of the Caribbean movie where they are slowly making the way through the fog. It was a sort of eerie feeling that set me humming ‘Yo ho, yo ho, a pirates life for me.’ (I’ve actually been on the original PotC ride in Disneyland. Unfortunately, there were no fat ladies chasing men around in continuous circles or drunkards balancing on top a stack of beer kegs here. Pity.)

We got to kayak a little during which Timm (who was with Ed) flipped their kayak. Said flipping led to Timm releasing his paddle from his hand. And as it turns out paddles in Vietnam don’t float- probably because they’re made out of steel poles that aren’t water tight. That cost Timm a cool $20. Not really a good story I realized, but this my blog so I can do whatever I want (like say booger). We also checked out a nifty cave that I walked through barefoot because when I asked our guide ‘Do we need shoes?’ she said no (note to self: shoes doesn’t translate into ‘footwear in general’ ie. sandals, flippie floppies, crocs).

After enjoying a delicious seafood dinner, a few of us went down to our room to watch part of the fine classic film Judge Dread staring the Oscar Nomm….Nickelodeon Kids Choice Award nominated Sylvester Stallone! (Why would you watch a movie on vacation? Ermm, because its vacation and much like this blog, I am the law! (Sorry I stole that idea from you Ed. (Inside jokes/comments on blogs are stupid. (Just like that one time in Vegas, right guys?)))).

I’ve never been to Vegas.

One thing that sucked about being on vacation however was being unable to sleep in. We were roused early as usual and after a nice breakfast taken to Cat Ba, one of the biggest islands off the coast of ‘Nam. We went for a nice little bicycle ride and checked out a cool hospital built into a big hill during the Vietnam-American War when we were bombing the bejeezums out of them. Yeah it might get a little boring never getting to really see the light of day and being stuck in a cave, but its probably a lot better than getting hit by a giant bomb. Oh yeah, we lost that war. Jokes aside, this was just the beginning of us really realizing how smart the Vietcong were, which I will talk about more when I talk about the tunnels outside of Saigon in Act III.

After that we were shuttled to another boat docking area and were taken to “Monkey Island” by motorboat, where we would stay for the night. Timm and I shared a quaint little bungalow set back just 10 meters or so from the beach, and it provided an appropriate setting for our pirate based Dungeon and Draaa… nevermind.

“So were there monkeys?” By golly you bet there were some monkeys, although we had to first hike up a hillside and back down to the other side of the island. I however kept my distance. I was walking toward the “monkey area” and heard a blood curdling scream. Then I saw about 8 people fleeing from the trees back onto the beach. Our friend Amy had been bitten by one of these furry primates. No these were not cuddly little monkeys that you hold in you arms, they were vicious and protective monkeys that would rather eat your arms. (I posted a while back a post about some temple monkeys who were far nicer than these monkeys.) A young Thai that was there said he was ambushed by about 8 of them when he walked into his kitchen one time. He had the scars to prove it- and a big stick that he never walks around without now, in case there is a need for some monkey bashing.

Another delicious meal and another laid back evening with a few drinks we went to bed somewhat early. We had yet another early morning in store. The next day was quite really uneventful and mostly consisted of a long cruise back to Halong City through the bay. There weather was much clearer this time than the first day, which was nice, and provided some better photo opportunities. The day ended with a van ride back to Hanoi. (I know its not the most exciting ending to a story.) So we’ll pick up from there when I get to Act III.

One of my closest friends from home is visiting me for a couple of weeks (something you should think about doing!) and he is getting in tonight. So it’s hard to say how much blogging I’ll get to do, although I have some time between my classes somedays, so maybe I’ll write then. But as a gift to you right now (no its not virtual boogers) I will leave you with a cover I recorded of the beloved classic, Linger, by The Cranberries.

Ps. If I’ve offended anyone with my low level of maturity in this post, then I’m sorry. (But it’s an “I’m sorry you read this,” rather than a “I’m sorry I wrote this.”)

The water park isn’t the exciting part, however cool it is, but instead it is a day trip I took about 2 hours north of Bangkok to Lopburi. Lopburi is the capital of… you guessed it, the Lopburi Province situated about 150km north of Bangkok. It’s not a particularly large town and easily walkable once you arrive there. The Khmer Empire actually ruled the region for quite a long time and when doing so destroyed all of the old temples and built their own, so most of the temple architecture is quite similar to what you would find in Cambodia, rather than Thailand. The main temple we were visiting was originally Hindu with its three peeks representing Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, was later converted to a Buddhist temple. How this works exactly I don’t know, I guess plop a few Buddhas on the inside and its all good. No need to make it complicated.

What really draws the people to Lopburi however are the monkeys. The Crab-eating Macaque to be exact. These rascals inhabit the Prang Sam Yot khmer temple and Sarn Phra Karn khmer shrine. There are hundreds climbing all over the temple and running around waiting for handouts by curious and obnoxious tourist like myself. They certainly weren’t afraid of humans, but rather act like them more than anything, trying to pickpocket or grab anything you’ve got dangling off of your backpack. My friend Michelle got her water bottle lifted by one them because the white bag it was in caught the eye of one of our furry friends. He then proceeded to run away with it and drink its contents by chomping into the side of it. It is recommended you shouldn’t wear jewelry or earrings, as they could bye the instigator to a lot of unneeded pain. I purposely left mine in Bangkok.

The monkeys don’t exactly stay right at the temple either, but many cross the street and play on the window gratings and street awnings. Other have been known to jump from the fence or power lines onto the nearby passing train, as if hobo looking for adventure, but eventually returning to the only home they ever knew. There is a rather comical story in the Lonely Planet guide book that tells of the monkey troupe which at one point split in two. The “splinter troop” as LP puts it was led by a half-blind dominant male who gave up the “temple’s sanctity, for the temptations of the city.” Really all they did was cross the street to play on the buildings, they didn’t actually go very far. But I like the idea of a one-eyed renegade monkey. I bet his primate buddies had a cool name for him, like Brain Muncher or Banana Smasher.

While the monkeys are somewhat of a nuisance to the residents, they decided long ago that it far outweighs the tourism money that it brings to the town. Every November the town residents hold a feast for them by laying out tables and table of food for them. They’ll eat just about everything. However, we visited a few other old temple ruins and an old palace in the town that wasn’t overrun by monkeys. Which was quite nice after having to look over your shoulder every two seconds for a flying monkey. One actually jumped on my arm from a fence about 5 feet away. I won’t try to pretend I played it cool.

We finished the day by going to a small local restaurant to have a drink and quite possibly the best chicken cashewnut I have had in Thailand. Chicken cashewnut is my obsession here in Thailand to the point  that any restaurant I go to where I haven’t tried it I feel obligated to order it. I would consider my somewhat of a Triple C… Chicken Cashewnut Connoisseur. The guy who owned the place also showed us a bottle of Thai alcohol (no idea what kind) that had a king cobra and a scorpion in it, which looked totally bad ass. I however wasn’t about to drink it, even if it would’ve made me look like a total bad ass.

He did give us a free Thai vodka drink to share, which he claimed was super nasty and powerful. He had it mixed with a giant ice cube and about half a tall glass full of limes. Quite frankly, it was pretty nasty, because it tasted like I was drinking half a glass full of limes.

Let the monkey pictures ensue.

If you’ve read my previous post, you might understand all of the pain and suffering I had to endure the whole week long. While it wasn’t very much at all actually, most of us new Ajarns (teachers) decided we needed a good break. Actually, I think we just wanted to go somewhere- and beaches are good for curing that desire.

We headed out Friday evening after everyone was done teaching their last class. With a planned departure time of 7:00, I think we finally left at 7:45. This will be your first introduction to Thai time. In Thailand, everything is based on events, so if I have a meeting with someone, I’m not going to run off to my next appointment until I’m completely done with that meeting. This makes things get behind schedule a little. I don’t think that’s a good explanation as to why 13-14 Americans couldn’t leave on time when everyone’s last class was 2 hours ago, but it must be something in the water. Although all we drink is bottled water.

So we grabbed a few cabs to take down to the bus station where we would catch our coach to the coast. Well because we had been so lackidaisickle the last bus of the night was already booked, and the next wasn’t until 5am. So what do you do then? You strike a deal with a cab driver to drive you 2 hours to the coast. This cost us about 1700 baht (thai currency) total, coming to about 425 baht a head- roughly $14 USD or so. The bus is only 155 baht and much more comfortable, but it doesn’t fly down the highway at 140kmph.

Once we arrived in Bang Phe where we had to find a ferry to the island, two of the more seasoned teachers (those who are here for a second year) talked the ferry people to run a ferry for us even though they weren’t really running anymore- we paid an extra 30 baht each on top of 100 for that. And after a nice nightly cruise with a couple of beers to the island, we made land. We made our way to find some accomodations for the weekend, but not without first stopping in 7-11 (sevs, sept-onze, sevys) to grab some more beer.

A quick aside, if you will. Seven Eleven’s are virtually everywhere in Thailand, there is not a block in Bangkok that isn’t graced by one, and they are only slightly less visible outside of Bangkok. I’ve had a few people who live in the city try to describe to me where they live, it usually includes “oh I live right down from the 7-11.” “Oh the 7-11, right, I know that place! So which one of the 5 billion are you talking about?” The true magic of the 7-11 and Thailand is that you can totally buy your cheap beer there then walk to the bar without being stopped at the door. It saves massive amounts of money. Also, they sell Red Bull for 10 baht (28 cents approx). It was invented here, so it better be cheap, and its cocain free, unlike the kind made in Austria. Bunch of coke heads those Austrians.

Either way, we checked into our non-air conditioned rooms (there was a fan though) at about 11:30pm, put on our swimmies then headed to the beach/bar. It should be known that I’m probably the biggest hick of anyone in our group being from western upstate New York, which really isn’t that red-neck, but most of my fellow teachers here are from Long Island, NJ, Mass, etc. So when we came upon a bar that was quite literally sitting on the beach, I was pretty dumbfounded because I thought they only existed in movies. Or heaven.

The next day we did exactly what you’re suppose to do at a beach- nothing. The clear water was warm and I managed to avoid getting skin cancer for the most part. My farmer’s tan on the other hand is doing quite well although it probably won’t help me with the ladies. Prices must be paid for keeping your shirt on I suppose.

So that’s what I did more or less for two days last weekend. We took a bus back to Bangkok on Sunday evening. The coolest thing about taking the bus is that its super comfortable and they have a bus attendant who brings around free cookies and water as well as blankets for anyone who wants one. Greyhound should probably look into this. Check-out the photo’s below. If you click on them it will bring up slide show.