link to pics

Here's a link to my Thailand pics:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/18446987@N00/sets/72157602204817470/

And if you have time and you hunt around on my flickr page, under sets, there are more pics under Bangkok and Chiang Mai.

enjoy

Luang Prabang (cont.)

So this morning I woke up at 530am, so that I could go see the monks collect food from the people. They do it every morning at 6am. They basically walk down the street with their bowls and people hand out sticky rice and bananas and stuff like that for them. The men can stand when they do it, but the women have to sit on the sidewalk. I bought some sticky rice and gave it, in little balls to the monks. I ran out early cause my sticky rice balls were too big so I had to go buy more. It was pretty cool. The monks are not allowed to cook food for themselves. I guess it has to do with living a simple life devoid of materialism. If you cooked your own food, you’d crave the good stuff, or want to make special, yummy meals or something like that. Your mind would be on food and the next meal instead of on meditation or whatever. But they don’t only eat the rice and bananas that they get at 6am. I guess some of the worshipers from the temples also bring them real food like curry and stuff to the temple to eat with their 6am rice. The monks only eat twice a day, breakfast and lunch. And I think they can’t eat after 11am.
After the monk thing I wandered through the morning market, which starts at like 3am. The morning market is all food, and crazy types of food! After walking through there, I really want to become a vegetarian! All the fruits and vegetables and rice looked really good, and all the meat looked so so horrible and disgusting and covered in flies and just really gross. I was like, no wonder I’m sick! Yeah, it was really not a good thing for my stomach. I had to walk through there kind of quicly and get it over with. But I got some good pictures. There were crickets in a bag, wasp larva and wasp honeycomb (I don’t know if you call the wasp’s stuff honeycomb…???) There were frogs and dead little rodent looking things. There were lots of dead chickens or ducks and big hunks of either beef or water buffalo getting chopped up, and I think piles of liver or heart or something. And of course flies everywhere. How is it ok to have flies all over your food. Yuck! I think I’ll still to buying my food in a grocery store, thanks. There were lots of veggies that I had no idea what they were. But I’d way rather take my chances with those, I think. Ugh… I don’t even want to think about it anymore.
I feel like I should be doing more while I’m here since this is really our last day in Luang Prabang, but I still don’t feel good and I don’t have any energy. I wanted to climb Mount Phousi (funny pronunciation, just guess, lol) at sunset, but I just don’t have the energy. My roommate just got back from there and she is dripping with sweat and said it was s killer, so now I don’t feel bad that I didn’t go. I just want to get over this sickness. So this afternoon, I just came back and took a nap after sitting in this cute little café all morning trying to upload my pictures. (Flickr was being sooo freakin’ slow and I have so many pictures, it’s going to take forever!) I think I’ll go back there tonight. It is a really nice place where they serve coffees and teas and ice cream and cakes and sandwiches and alcohol. Everything you need, basically. And wifi for as long as you want for $.50. I guess some of the younger monks like to practice their English with the tourists, and we were wondering if they would talk to a woman, or if they would only approach a man, but they did talk to my friend Anne today. 3 of the young ones came up to her together and were sort of egging each other on to ask, what was probably a list of questions that they’ve learned to ask, like what is your name? Where are you from? How long have you been in Laos? I guess they can talk to a girl, just as long as they don’t touch them.
I keep sort of feeling like I should eat something, but I don’t know what. Yesterday I ate a pumpkin cake/loaf thing, and a banana bread. And I woke up in the middle of the night again with cramps. Not nearly as bad as the day before, but still just really uncomfortable. Today I’ve eaten 2 baguettes and a 7up. I’m drinking lots of water, oh and I just ate a few Ritz crackers. Before I got sick I was craving a cheeseburger, but now there’s no way. But I feel like I’m getting sick of Asian food, which is bad, because I’ve got like 3 weeks in Asia to go.
Hope I'm not overloading you guys. I'm having to post a bunch of stuff all at once, while I have wifi. I did find some tomato soup to eat, so hopefully that will work out ok.

Luang Prabang (sickness and purse snatchers)

Well, I woke up this morning with the worst stomach cramps I’ve ever had. So I didn’t go to the museum or take the hour drive to the waterfalls. Instead I just stayed in bed until about 1pm. I started feeling better and walked down to the main street into town. Hit up the internet and bought a pumpkin cake thing. It’s the only think I’ve eaten all day, because my stomach still doesn’t feel right. Tonight I went to the night market and bought some tee shirts and some little crap. I started to feel a little sick again, so I left Anne and just walked back to our guest house. It was dark and there are no street lights and our guest house is like about 2 blocks from the main road. So I’m walking by myself and these guys pull up beside me on a motor scooter thing. They say something to me, but I don’t know what their talking about so I just keep walking. They watch me turn the corner, and then they drive by me and turn into the driveway of my guest house. I thought maybe they lived or worked there, so as I’m walking down the driveway I smile and them and one of them hops of the scooter and pretends to be messing with the garden hose. Then he sort of jumps at me and tries to steal my bag, which I have over my shoulder. There was no way in hell he was getting my bag. I could have easily killed both of them. They were only about as big as me, and one was still on the scooter. So I yank back, and one of the straps breaks and my little wallet, with just some Lao money in it flies in the bushes. They guy acts like he is going to go after it and I act like I’m about to punch him in the face, which I was totally going to do. I think that I yelled at him to fuck off, or something and he ran away, hopped on the scooter and they were gone. I think he was more scared of me than I was of him. They don’t usually yell or shout too much in Buddhist cultures. And I seriously lunged at this guy, and I almost wish I had gotten to punch him in the face. Anyway, The guy from the guest house came running out and I asked him to get a flashlight and we found my little wallet thing. He didn’t understand right away what had happened, and so I tried to explain that they were trying to steal my bag, and then he was like, “Oh, that’s very bad. You’re all by yourself?” Like I wasn’t supposed to be by myself or something. But nobody told me to be extra careful, and I hadn’t read anything about having to be in a group at night or anything like that. And it was maybe only like 7pm but it is really dark because they don’t have any street lights or anything except on the main street. I’m used to walking around by myself all over the place, including Oakland, which has to be way more dangerous than here.
Man, fuck Laos. JK. I know that’s not fair to say, but I’ve had nothing but bad luck since I got here. I know it could always be worse. It would have been horrible if he had gotten away with my bag. It had my atm card credit card, camera, cell phone, a bunch of cash, in different places, but in the same bag. Stupid of me, I guess. But yeah right, there was no freakin’ way he was getting away with my bag!
And on another note, I found out that the President of our company dropped by my office while I was gone and nobody knew he was coming and didn’t know who he was when he got there. Ugh! I’m sure the place was a mess. I hope I have a job to come home to!

Laos (cont.)

So when we got to Pakbeng, they were having a huge one day boat festival, where they race those long skinny row boats. The little town of 1000 people had about 3000 people there. And I think most of the people had been drinking all day. They have big bottles of beer here, like 22oz, I guess. But there were also people drinking beer out of baggies, like zip lock bags with straws, it looked like. There was a band, and lots of people were dancing. It was pretty cool, I thought, but it made parking our boat and getting up the muddy hill from the river a little difficult. Also, it took forever to get our dinner. It’s like when you go to a restaurant with 12 people, they only have one wok, and one person cooking, and so the food comes out one dish at a time, and the soda and beer is warm, because there is no real electricity and often your appetizers (spring rolls) are the very last things to come out. But whatever. That’s just the way it is. Of course the other American’s are constantly complaining, and I just want to be like, “if you expected it to be just like the way things are at home, why did you fly half way around the world?! STFU!”
So Laos is a landlocked country, bordered by China, Cambodia, Vietnam,
Thailand, and Burma. It is 70% mountains and has a population of about 6 million. The main industry is agriculture. Most people work and grow food and tend to animals for themselves. A lot of people still live in villages and stay in their villages. There are no pensions and kids usually stay at home and take care of their parents when they get older. There are many different languages spoken, and the people are basically divided into 3 groups, the lowlands, midland and highland groups. Laos is a Buddhist country and many boys go to the temple to get an education. Most schools in Laos are private and it is pretty expensive to send kids to school. But about 80% of kids go to school now. 10 years ago, it was only about 25%. Also, 10 years ago, when boys turned 18 they had to go into the military, but now it is optional.
Laos has had a pretty crazy history. Along time ago it was ruled by kings. Then Thailand came in and it became a Thai state. In an attempt to resist European Colonization Thailand succeeded a big part of it’s territory, basically Laos and Cambodia, to the French. During WWII the Japanese briefly occupied Laos, and then the French re-asserted their control. Resistance to the French stated to form with the help from North Vietnam. Laos gained it’s independence from the French in 1954, and a royalist king was in control. But civil war broke out between the royalists and the communists. The 1960’s was total chaos in Laos. There were civil wars, coups, and then they got dragged into the Vietnam war as a pawn for the superpowers. The US bombed the crap out of Laos, trying to cut off the supply route to North Vietnam during the war. More bombs were dropped on Laos during the Vietnam war, than were used during the whole of WWII. In fact, the US dropped the equivalent of one bombing run every 8 minutes for 9 years. How insane is that?! So in 1975, the communists came to power. They arrested the old king, who later died in captivity. The communists launched a socialist transformation in Laos and the country was closed to westerners. In 1979, due to food shortages and the fact that hundreds of thousands of refugees had fled to Thailand, the government made some reforms and allowed for some privatization of agriculture. In 1986, after Gorbachev’s reforms in the Soviet Union, the Lao government closed the re-education camps, released most political prisoners, invited the refugees to return and opened their boarders to the west. In 1989 they had their first elections, although all the candidates had to be approved by the communist government, and there is still today only one political party allowed. It’s a similar system to the one in China and Cambodia, I guess. They call it a democracy, but really there is just one party, the communist party and you can’t really criticize the government. They don’t really have freedom of speech or anything like that. It is still an oppressive society. In 2000 they celebrated 25 years of communist rule. Their last elections were in 2002 and all but one person elected was from the governing communist party, the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party.
Our Lao guide said that there are really no poor people in Laos, and that they don’t need any outside aid or help. That struck me as some propaganda bull shit, and you get the feeling that they are supposed to tell you that everything is fine and everything is great, even if it’s not. You don’t get the impression that it’s ok to ask about political issues, and he kept stressing that they are a democracy, but it doesn’t really seem like it to me. I guess our Thai guide, Yo, brought a group of people through Laos on a Basix Intrepid Trip (which means that the guide is really more of a facilitator than a guide and just makes the travel and hotel arrangements) and she didn’t have a Lao guide with her, and she got stopped and hassled by the police. They insisted that there be a Lao guide with every group of tourists, and they say it’s to make sure that the tourists can ask questions and get accurate answers, but really I think it is to control the propaganda machine.
The Mekong river is the main mode of transportation throughout the country. The Mekong starts in Tibet and is about 5000 km long. There are lots of fish in the Mekong, but catfish are the main ones and there are 3 different kinds of catfish. One kind, the brown ones, I think, can grow to be huge, like 30km. (That is really really big! Can that be right?) Obviously, I haven't independently checked any of the information in this blog. This is all just stuff I've picked up along the way, lol.

Laos, day 1

I had my first, “omg… what the hell am I doing here,” moment this morning. So I mentioned it was pouring rain, right? So it’s pouring rain, and it’s a big travel day. We have to get our stuff down to the river bank, get on this sketchy taxi boat to take it across the river to the Lao Boarder. Go through the whole visa/boarder thing. Get in a tuk tuk, (with all our stuff, in the pouring rain) and go to another river bank where we get in a private boat, where we will be for the whole day as we head up the Mekong to Pakbeng.
At the hotel, they pull up a truck to put all our bags in and the back already has like 3 or 4 inches of rain water in the bottom, and I was all, “We’re putting our bags in there?!” “Can’t we put them with us in the van?” So they let us, but it meant that the van had to make 2 trips down to the dock. Whatever. I was already pissed, from the night before and the breakfast (It was supposed to be pancakes and eggs and fruit ect…), so I wasn’t in the mood for taking any crap. So I’m in the first van load. I have on my crocs, long shorts, under my windbreaker I have my backpack (with my lap top in it) and my big adidas purse with a change of clothes and toothbrush and stuff, because where we are staying tonight is just another simple guest house that we have to hike to, and there’s no way I’m lugging my big bag, but I also have my big bag with me a rain cover on it that doesn’t quite cover it all. Oh, and I also brought an umbrella, which I couldn’t use when I was carrying my bag in my arms, but I could use it the rest o the time. My bag has wheels, but it’s pouring rain and the street is like a mini river. My bag also has backpack straps, but I end up carrying like a baby in front of me instead. The van pulls up to the river bank, and there is like a little tarp canopy thing with 2 wooden benches set up in the mud, where they are selling tickets. We put our bags on the benches and try to stand under the tarp, but the rain is going sideways and we are getting soaked. From the knees down I’m covered in mud. At least with my stupid plastic shoes I can just stick my legs out in the rain and wash the mud off. But they are just splattered again in like 30 seconds. So as we are waiting for the rest of our group, I’m watching other people get in these skinny narrow boats with a little tarp over them, and it’s pouring still, and the mud is running down the hill into the river. A guy slips and falls with his big backpack on and is covered in mud. This is when I though, “holy crap, what am I doing here, with all this stuff, at the end of the rainy season?!” It never stopped raining, but it did sort of slow a bit when it was time for us to get on the boat. There was like a 4x4 that you had to walk on to get from the slippery muddy riverbank onto the slippery wooden boat. The boat guys ended up handling our bags for us, which is almost more nerve racking, watching them doing it, than just doing it yourself. But whatever. I made it on the boat and so did my bag. We had basically, little boards to sit on, which were soaking wet, but at that point, so was I so it didn’t really matter. All we had to do was cross the river, basically, so it didn’t take long, thank goodness. When we got to the other side more boat guys grabbed my bag, and I didn’t see where it went, which freaked me out. But they told me to go wait for all of our passports by the door to this office, where two guys were filling out forms. I walked right in and they’re all, “no no, wait right here in the door way,” except they don’t speak English, they’re telling me this in Lao, and I’m just like, WTF? Then they ask me for money, and I have no idea how I even got picked to be the one to be in charge of trying to get all our passports, and everything should have already been paid for, and I’m just looking at them, like “you’re not getting any money from me, better go talk to someone else.” I guess they sorted it out cause they handed me a stack of passports, each with it’s own entry form inside. We had to sign the paper and then go stand in another line to get our passports stamped. There were all the old French people smoking cigarettes and we are all soaking wet and smashed up against each other. And I’m just all, where’s my stuff. And our new Lao guide who has come to meet us, thinks I’m hilarious, and is just like “don’t worry, it’s fine, it’s right over there.” Oh sure, right over there sitting in a mud puddle, I’m thinking. Anyway, I get my passport stamped and my visa and I get away from the French people, and under another tarp with my bag, and then the Lao guy is like, “ok, give me your passport.” And I’m looking at him like there is no way I’m giving you my passport. “Can’t I just hang on to it and put it in my bag?” I ask him. And again he’s laughing at me, and he’s like, “I have to show it to the police. Don’t worry! I’ll give it to you on the next boat.” Fine. Whatever. Take my passport. Wanna carry this big ass bag, too? So we have to walk up a hill to the mail road where all the tuk tuks are. It’s not raining too hard now, and the river in the road is gone, and it’s mostly just mud, so I decide to just use the wheels on my bag and drag it up the road through the mud. As the morning goes on, I’m caring less and less. At the top of the hill, they throw my bag on a tuk tuk, we climb in the back and sit there for a minute. Then they’re like, ok we have to move to another truck. (they call it a truck, but it’s like a super mini truck, or just a longer tuk tuk). So we climb out and the get the bags down and we cram into another tuk tuk. Then we are off again. We make it to the next dock-like place, and it’s across another narrow 4x4 in the rain onto a pretty nice, long boat with a place for our bags and shoes in the front. Some benches, and then some seats, and then a carpet in the back with some cushions, a table and benches, and a bathroom in the back. The “bathroom” which I haven’t visited yet, empties straight into the Mekong, so I’m trying to avoid it as long as possible, hopefully forever. We get our passports back and we finally get going. The rain slows and soon we are almost dry and listening to some information and history on Laos. (When your talking about the country you say Laos, but when you are reffering to the people it’s Lao). So I’m over wishing I wasn’t here, and I’m finally able to enjoy the experience. We have rented out the whole boat so there are just 11 of us on it, plus our new Lao guide. He said that during the busy season, which runs from Oct. – Apr., these boats will take up to 100 people or more. I can’t even imagine. So really, as crazy as the day has been, we are actually living in luxury. Go figure. And the scenery is pretty amazing. We’ve seen hills covered in rice paddies. Water buffalos wading in the river. Kids rolling down the muddy banks and into the water, speed boat taxis making the 6 hour trip from here to Luang Prabang. Our trip will take 2 lazy days. It’s actually stopped raining now and I can see patches of blue sky. Like I said tonight we stay in Pakbeng, which is really just a little village that happens to be at the half way point, so it has some guest houses. But no real electricity in the city, just a generator that gets turned off at 9pm. I don’t care as long as they don’t have bed bugs!

YIKES... Bed Bugs!

OMG… my first traumatic experience with bed bugs. First of all, the “clean” towel in my room last night smelled like mildew and dead fish. I was like there is no way I’m going to use that on my face or my body! But I had my own little travel towel, and I was trying not to be a drama queen, so I didn’t say anything. Then last night as we are getting ready to go to bed, I pull the sheets back and I saw a little bug. Not a flying bug like a mossie, but a crawling bug. I was like ew gross, but I just flicked it away and tried to suck it up. I mean we are right by the river, of course there are going to be bugs. So we turn out the light and I laid there for probably a half hour, and I kept feeling something on my hands and arms. Finally, I really felt something so I switched the light on and my bed was crawling with bed bugs. Like at least 20 of them that I could see. I started freaking out and flicking them all over. My roommate got up and she also had a ton of bugs in her bed. She started smashing them and soooo much blood came out. Her sheets were like poka dotted with blood spots. It was so disgusting. We fought with them for a few minutes and then we were like, ok this is totally unacceptable! So we got our guide, who got the hotel manager. They both came in and looked at the bugs and all the blood. They moved us to a new room, and of course the first thing we did was tear apart the beds and look at the sheets. These seemed clean. (The towel didn’t smell either in the new room). But the sheets on my bed were also stained with little spots of blood, so I know we are not the first travelers here to be eaten alive by bed bugs. Ugh. I’m so semi-traumatized! I must have laid in bed for 2 hours thinking that there were still bugs crawling all over me. I feel like I need to write an email right away to the tour company. I would never in a million years wish that on one of my customers. They have to find another place to stay in this town, even though this town is like one street that goes for about one block, with one restaurant, and one little internet shack. So who knows, maybe there isn’t another place. All I know, is that if there had been an Intercontinental across the street, I would have been there, whipping out my credit card!
So we wake up this morning and it is pouring rain. (Of course it is!) I go to breakfast, and there basically is no breakfast. Like 3 pieces of unidentifiable fruit and some bread to make toast. I’m so pissed off right now! I just want to get the hell out of here.
For the first time in my trip I wished I was at home in my own bed. Then I remembered that I don’t have a home to go home to. Or a bed. I guess I’ve got a lot more to worry about than just bed bugs, eh?

Chiang Mai to Chaing Khong

Please excuse my horrible spelling from my last post and any incoherence that may have been present. I was so tired when I wrote that my mind was barely working. And I don’t think I mentioned just how freakin’ hot it is here! Today I got a look at a thermometer and it said it was 94 in the shade. And it is so humid here. It’s like you are constantly sticky. And when you go into the temples your shoulders and knees have to be covered, so you can’t just wear little shorts and tank tops. And the heat really taxes your brain! So today we got up early to begin our journey from Chiang mai to Chaing Khong, which we made by bus. I had to get up just a little bit earlier so I could make it to Starbucks before we left. I know I’m terrible, but it was so good. The people in Starbucks were really friendly and they asked how long I was going to be in Chiang Mai, and when I told them I was leaving today to head up north to Laos, they wanted to know why so many people are going to Laos these days. I tried to tell them it was for the nature and the culture, and they looked at me like I was a little crazy. Then I told them it was cheap, and they were like, “ah, yes.” That they understand completely. I really do want to come back to Thailand and spend more time. This trip is like such a whirlwind, you barely get a feel for the place and then you’re off.
Today, along the way, we stopped at Wat Rong Khun, which is a modern temple built about 10 years ago. Well, they started building it 10 years ago and they are still working on it. It is amazing! It is all white and it totally different from any other temple anywhere. The artist who built it is named Chalermchai. Google that if you get a chance and check out some of his art. I don’t know if anything will come up, I haven’t tried it, but he is a very famous artist in Thailand, and his art seems very familiar to me, but I’m not why. Like if I’ve actually seen it before, like in books or something, or if it just reminds me of other art I’ve seen of a similar style. (It kind of reminds me of Alexander Grey’s work. Am I getting that name right? I dunno.) Anyway, his art is really intricate and almost psychedelic. And this temple he built is super cool. The outside is all white with like mosaic mirrors and on the inside are these huge crazy murals that he painted. So we checked out the temple, and a room with a bunch of replicas of his art work, and then while I was sitting outside having a frozen watermelon iced tea, the artist, who doesn’t actually live in this town anymore, came around the corner and sat down and started signing autographs and taking pictures with people. He was like Mr. Cool, with his hat and sunglasses on. But it was really cool and very lucky of us to have actually gotten to meet him. I didn’t get a photo though cause my batteries died in my camera. But that’s ok. I got a bunch of the temple, and the fish in the fish ponds. You can’t take photos inside the temple, which is really too bad, because the murals were super cool. The artist actually paid for all of the construction of the temple himself. Most other temples are funded by the people in the community, and then their names are put on the steps or somewhere on the temple. This artist didn’t want to have any names on his temple and wanted free reign to make it just how he wanted it so he paid for it all himself. The land was donated, though. And like I said they are still building, and I guess he comes and repaints the murals on the inside, every once in a while.
We had lunch at a little restaurant by the temple and I had chicken pad thai, and you squeeze a lime on it, and it was soooo good. And it cost like right around 1 dollar, for a big plate of food. Yum city. The food here is really fantastic! (and you know how picky I am!)
So now we are in Chaing Khong, and we are staying at a super basic guest house. There are only fans in the room. Right by the toilet there is a bucket of water and a big scoop and you have to use that to flush. And the shower is basically just a shower head in a corner of the tiled bathroom. But we are right on the river and it is pretty beautiful. The whole place is made out of teak wood and you can’t wear your shoes anywhere. They also have a pet monkey in a cage, but I haven’t decided how I feel about that yet. We’ve been here for maybe 30 mintues and I feel I’m already being eaten alive by mossies (mosquitos). Ugh. They say if you eat a lot of chillies and grarlic the mossies will leave you alone, but I don’t know. I love spicey food and the mossies still seem to love me. I hate using that deet, but I’m gonna have to break it out, for sure.
We are just here for one night, and then tomorrow we will cross the boarder into Laos. We are going to be cruising on a boat up the Mekong river for 2 days. But I think we spend the first night in Pakbeng, where there are no atms and no electricity. The city has a generator, but it gets shut off at 9pm I think. Then the next night we will arrive in Luang Prabang, which has atms and internet and all kinds of stuff. That is the place that I am really excited to go and we spend like 3 or 4 nights there. Then we will also visit Vietiane Lak Sao, before we cross over into Vietnam.

ugh... the sickness

I have so much to post but it's all on my lap top and there isn't wifi.
But let me just say that I made it to Luang Prabeng, and so far it seems cool, except I spent the whole morning in bed because I thought I was going to die of stomach cramps. Ok, well, not die, but I was seriously in pain. I've never had cramps that bad. Like once a minute for 2 hours, it was like the worst stomach pain possible. I'm feeling a little better now. It's only like once every 15 minutes or so. Still not cool. I know I need to drink stuff but I'm really afraid to eat anything. Oh well.
Hopefully, I'll get to post the other stuff soon.

Chaing Mai

It was hard to sleep. At like 1am I finally took a tylanol pm and slept until about 6am. Then it was up and at em. Our train got into Chaing Mai about 7am and we had a really good breakfast at this healthy style cafe. Then we went to our hotel for a much needed shower. Then Anne and I ditched the rest of the group and went walking around the old city. Of course we started out going the wrong direction and ended up wandering all over. We saw a few temples and then hopped in a tuk tuk, which took us to a few more. Then we went to this food court in a mall, but nothing was in English except for a Mexican food place, so we did that, and it was surprisingly good. (OK, nothing can even compare to the Mexican food in California, but it was way better than say, the Mexican food in Europe or London!) After lunch we did a half day bike tour, which was really cool. We had a local guide and it was just the two of us. We sort of rode out of town and along the river. We stopped at yet another Temple, but this one was really cool and we were there all alone which really makes for a totally different experience, instead of being somewhere with about 100 other tourists, like in Bangkok. The columns in this temple were all inlaid with mother of pearl and it was just stunning. It must have taken ages to make. And all the walls had these huge murals on them, which were also really really cool. After the Temple we rode some more, until we got to this nice shady area with little paths and little houses. Turns out we were in the oldest leaper colony in Asia. It was created in 1908 by John Mclellhen, or McCain or something like that. (Ok, no I'm sure it wasn't John McCain, lol). Anyway, he was a Christian missionary and built a place for the lepers to come and then a hospital and eventually this big huge complex for them. Back then they didn't know much about leprosy and they thought people got it because of something bad they did in a past life, and often people were shunned and sent away by their families. (I think this still happens in some places, actually). When I was in Panama in June I read this book called The Samurai's Garden, and it was sort of about Leprosy but in Japan, so it was kind of interesting to actually see a place like this in real life. I mean it is nothing I would have ever sought out on my own, but it was still interesting. They have a work shop there where people who's disease has been cured can work and use their talents. We visited it and saw a guy carving these amazing wood carvings, and women making little boxes and stuff to sell. Then of course we went to their gift shop, but you felt good spending your money there, because you saw what it was supporting, and because it's really hard for the people there to earn a living. Many of them have been abandoned by their families, and some even when they are better, stay because they are disfigured, or because they have no where else to go. After than we rode out through some rice paddies, and then to a crematorium. (yes, it was sort of a morbid bike tour, I guess). In Thailand, when someone dies, they keep the body in the home or temple for 3 days at least. (more if you are rich or really important.) Each of those nights, monks come to do a ceremony and people from the community come and visit and the family feeds all the people. Then they take the body to the village crematorium, where the body is burned. They leave the body there for 3 days, and then after 3 days, the family comes to collect the bones an put them in a stupa thing near the temple or near the crematorium. They don't sweep up the ashes, until someone else dies and they have to use the brick crematorium thingy again. They don't sweep up the ashes, because they think that would be like inviting or suggesting that someone else is going to die. So when we saw the crematorium, we also saw a bunch of ashes there, that were I guess from a dead person. A little freaky. Also, I heard someone ask about who would be the king's successor and the Thai person was like, "oh, we never talk about that, because that would be like admitting or entertaining the notion that the king might die soon." On our way back from our bike ride we stopped for something to eat and drink, banana bread, rice crackers and pineapple. It was nice. When we got back to the hotel, we had just enough time to change and then it was off to this temple on the top of a mountain. We got there just in time for the monk's 6pm service, where they did some chanting and stuff. Then we got to watch the sunset over this spectacular view of Chaing Mai. We came back and headed straight for the night market. Had some food, did some shopping, and now I'm sitting here, completely exhausted! So I'm off to bed soon!
I really like this city. It is so much less hectic than Bangkok. There was some great shopping to be had in the market, but I'm trying really hard not to buy anything (much) and I was just too tired to deal with it all. But I would love to come back to Thailand someday with an empty suitcase, just to shop.
Tomorrow we are headed up to the Lao boarder. We don't cross it yet, but we are staying somewhere close to it. And in Lao, I don't think they even have many ATM's, let alone wireless. So you might not hear from me until I get to Hanoi. My plan is to take notes on my lappy, and then maybe I'll just have to post a bunch all at once, when I get wifi access again.
(PS. the stupid American's are driving me insane. I try to go where ever they aren't. I'm so glad that only Anne an I are continuing on to Hong Kong, and that at least our guide, Yo is really good.)

Bangkok

Bangkok is everything I expected it to be.. hot, busy and crazy. Koh San Road is a mad house. It’s almost like going to the carnival. A street full of neon signs, food carts, and tons of stalls of tourist crap. Last night we had a great meal at a place down by the river that is popular with local Thai people. It was mostly seafood. (yuck). I ordered some spicy beef thing and it was so spicy my lips were on fire for like 15 minutes. Seriously, it easily rivaled the spiciest food I’ve ever eaten (Wilfred’s home made salsa, yum). They have over 40 varieties of chillies in Thailand and you can get some very spicy food. But not everything is spicy. We ordered family style and shared our dishes and for the most part it was really good. I even tried mushrooms, but they were gross, just like I expected, lol. I didn’t try the squid, no way!
The group I’m with for this 2 week bit is definitely an older crowd. I’m the baby, but that’s ok. My roommate, Anne, is close to my age and is a school teacher from MEL. I’m so glad she is here! Our guide, goes by the nickname of Yo, and is a local Thai woman, who seems like she is going to be really great. There is an older couple from MEL, who are very well traveled and very nice. There are older twin sisters from Hobart, who are a little clueless but also very nice. Then there are these 2 middle aged couples from America (PHX and BWI) and they are pretty annoying. I can’t figure out why they are on this trip. Instead of going sightseeing with us today they went straight to the nicest tailor in BKK to get suits made. As soon as we got on the train they busted out the big bottle of Grey Goose. All of this would be totally fine and great with me, except that they are always arguing and snapping at each other and putting each other down. (Makes me never want to get married, that’s for sure!) Why is it that married people are so hard on each other? They will show each other, their partner, their love in life, less respect that they would their friend or neighbor. Why? That makes no sense to me. Is it because they are around each other so much that all they see are each other’s faults, instead of the good things? Do they resent the other person so much for all they’ve had to sacrifice and give up and so they only see the negative and they can’t let it go? Are the mad that their partner isn’t perfect? Cause I thought it was common knowledge that none of us are. It’s like most married people I know act like they have forgotten why they got married in the first place. They lost site of the endearing, positive things about each other and just sit around an harp on each other all day. What’s the freakin’ point of that, other than to just make each other miserable?! What happen to “honor and cherish, till death do we part”? Ha, yeah right! It’s so rare (does it even exist?) that you see two married people who honestly still cherish each other and who still adore each other after say, oh I don’t know 7-10 years. It seems to me like marriage only leads to resentment and disappointment. Why is that? Why is it so easy to lose site of the good in the people closest to us? It’s like marriage gives one license to just take their partner for granted because I guess you just figure they’ll always be there, no matter how poorly you treat them. But that just seems sad to me. Sorry, forgive my marriage rant! But these couples are basically your typical obnoxious Americans. Arguing about the fundamentals of Buddhism vs Christianity at a volume that no one can ignore, in their drunken slurred speech, making nearly no sense at all. I’m just so freakin’ glad I have my ipod so I can just drown these fools out! At least our group is only 10 and we have lots of time on our own to do our own thing. I don’t like this group way of traveling so much, but it’s better than being all by myself. If I was traveling with other friends I would do it differently, though.
I wonder if Buddhist’s have the same marriage issues as American’s seem to. Probably. So I learned a little more about the Buddhist Monks. Any man can become a monk, and most do for some period in their lifetime. They can be a monk for as long or as short as they choose. It is a way to honor their parents and it is something that all Thai men should do before they get married so that they can learn how to lead a good family life. For Thai people Buddhism is almost more of a cultural tradition than it is a religion, I think. Kids, once they can read and write and are able to learn, can become like monks in training and they are called Novices. A real Monk has 26 principles that he is to uphold and demonstrate in his daily life. And female monk (although, I don’t think they exist in the type of Buddhism practiced in Thailand, but they do exist in other Buddhist societies) have 10 principles to uphold. The Novices have 8. (or maybe those two are switched around, I can’t remember) and the lay person has 5 principles to uphold in their daily life. The 5 principles are: no killing, no lying, no stealing, no adultery and no alcoholism. The last one is the one most people have problems with and Thailand has like the 5 highest rate of alcoholism in Asia. They say they only drink on 2 days a week, the sunny days and the rainy days. Buddhists basically believe that there is suffering in the world, that there is a cause to the suffering (mainly materialism) and that there is an end to suffering (enlightenment) and that there is a mean to the end (meditation and leading a good life). I hope I’m not totally butchering their religion right now, but I think that’s pretty much the gist of it. They also believe in reincarnation and that if you lead a good life you will be reborn into a favorable situation, and if you lead a bad life you will be reborn into a bad situation, which is also their way of explaining the disparity in the world today. They also believe that you can be reborn as an animal, and so they try not to kill any living thing, because it has a soul, so that means ants, bugs, nothing can be killed. That is also why during the rainy season, from Aug. – Oct., the monks stay in or around the Temple. Because in the old days they used to go out in the rice paddies to teach the people, but in the rainy season they would accidentally step on a bunch of bugs and hurt the rice plants, and so they decided it’s better for them to stay put so that they don’t harm any living thing. Although they believe in reincarnation, they also believe that there is a way to escape the cycle of rebirth, and that is the ultimate goal. To that you must sort of climb the cosmic ladder, until in your human life you reach enlightenment. Then I think you finally make it into heaven. Yikes, again, if there are any expert Buddhist’s out there, and I’m totally over-simplifying and getting things wrong please forgive me. I’m just trying to give people who might not have any idea, some idea.
Bangkok is situated on a few rivers (I think, or maybe just one big one) and a bunch of canals. It is really disorienting and I don’t have a proper map, so I’m still totally lost. We started out the day with a boat ride through the canals just sort of looking at people’s little canal side houses, some of them on stilts and stuff and got a little glimps into daily life. There sure are some interesting smells in Bangkok! We walked by a whole sale market for dried seafood, yuck city! You can smell people’s cooking from the street and sometimes it’s a spicy smell, or a sweet smell, or like a BBQ grilled smell. And then of course there’s the traffic and exhaust that you can’t escape. The traffic here is much more civilized than it is in Egypt. There are cross walks and people obey the lights. There are a ton of scooters and it strikes me as odd/dangerous that people ride them in flip flops, and often whole families on one scooter, weaving in and out of traffic. Insanity, if you ask me. And the pollution is bad, but I guess not as bad as I thought it might be. I didn’t have black boogers or anything. Although, I tried to spend as little time out in it as possible. You would see the people who sell things in the street or right by the side of the road all wore surgical masks. They know what’s up. Oh yeah, and on Monday’s almost everybody wears yellow. This is seen as a way to honor the King and the fact that he has been on the thrown for 60 years now. In Thailand each day of the week has a color and Monday’s color is yellow, and the King was born on a Monday. I think that’s the connection. Anyway, it makes everyone look like they are wearing some sort of uniform. It’s weird.
Today we visited Wat Po, which is a big temple complex that houses a huge reclining Buddha. It’s really really big. I took photos but they hardly do it justice. We saw lots of monks and we made sure to stay out of their way, lol. After that the twins and I went to the Grand Palace, which used to be the home and administration offices for the Royal Family, until not that long ago. We didn’t have a guide and it was too hot to try to do the full audio tour, so we just kind of wandered around and I really didn’t have much of a clue what we were looking at. But the architecture was pretty amazing, and we did see the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. I feel like I saw about a million Buddha statues today, and it was so hot that at a certain point it was like ok, no more, I don’t care if it’s Emerald, Happy, Black, Gold, Reclining, whatever, I just wanna get out of here and find something cold to drink. We got over charged for our taxi ride, but whatever it’s basically, like $1 US. I’m learning it’s often better to just let it go than to let it get you upset. Last night one of the ladies from the US tried to get a cab by herself to a bookstore and got “kidnapped” as she says, and taken on a 3.5 hour cab ride to a bunch of different stores and tailors. I think she just must not have been assertive enough. I’ve learned that you ask if they have a meter and will they turn it on. You make sure they know where you want to go, and then you make sure to say “no stopping, I’m in a really big hurry.” Sometimes, they’ll add like 50 baht, for the no stopping part, but it’s worth it. And that stuff only really happens when you get picked up outside of a super touristy place. Most cabs in the regular part of town are fine and super cheap. And you have to remember not to get mad, because they are just trying to make a living. Commissions and kick backs are a way of life here, but it is annoying to always feel like the mark. But you’ve just got to have your wits about you, I think.
When I couldn’t take the heat anymore, I went back to our hotel for lunch and a Thai massage. I got my Thai massage in a nice, dim, air conditioned little room with just a mat and a pillow in it. The first thing the lady did was turn on a TV. I thought that was really weird, and I wasn’t sure if she was doing it for my benefit or hers, but soon I realized it was definitely for hers. She was watching a Thai soap opera I think, but granted, 2 hours is a long time for a massage, and I guess if that’s what you did all day you’d get pretty bored. It didn’t bother me. I was so drained, I just closed my eyes and went to a happy place. The massage was fantastic! You put on these loose baggy pants so that she could stretch and bend you every which way. She started at your feet and ended at your head and got everything in between. It seemed like the majority of the time was spent on my legs and feet, which was great. My feet were a little bit sore from my long walks on the beach in Phuket so it felt soooo good. And the lady cracked my back, which I needed desperately. Every time I’d open my eyes, she’d say, “Is it OK?” and I’d say yes, and then she’d giggle. At the end it was just “OK, tip,” which I gladly gave her. She used her arms, feet and it seemed like it was actually probably quite a work out for her. (And Pavel, it was a million times better than the Grover Beach experience! I still feel bad about that, by the way.)
So after my Thai massage, I had about 15 min. to change clothes and wash my face before we went to the train station to catch our 6pm train to Chang Mai. We have first class sleeper accommodations, so it shouldn’t be too hard to sleep. (I hope!)

Off to explore Bangkok

So today I am off to explore Bangkok. Then tonight I'm taking a night train up to Chaing Mai. Internet is definitely going to get harder to come by, so my blogs may be less frequent. And no worries about the photo, there will be plenty of time time to have one taken in Chaing Mai before we get to the Lao border.
Thailand is the only country in asia that wasn't colonized by the Europeans, I think. And they still have a king, so it's weird, you will see signs all over that say "Long live the King," and stuff like that. They all really respect him and think of him as like a 2nd father. Also, monks are very respected in this society. And if you are on a train or bus with a monk a woman can not sit close to him. In fact, if he is walking down the aisle or something, a woman must wait or get out of the way because if the monks rob accidently brushes up against a woman, he has to go through a cleansing process that takes 4 weeks. Can you believe that?! I didn't know that in Buddhism, women are also seen as lesser, unclean beings. Kind of a bummer, if you ask me. I don't have much time so I better go.

made it to Bangkok

Ugh... it's super hot, my hotel smells funny and my stomach feels wierd. Also, I'm supposed to have a passport photo for my Lao visa and I don't think I brought one. And it Sunday, so I found a photo shop across the street but of course it's cloesd. When I asked what time it opens, the lady in the shop next door said 2 in the morning. That can't be right, can it?! Hmmm... so I either trek all the way to some big department store to try to get one taken in a machine, or I wait and try my luck in the morning. Doh! Wish me luck.

link to Phuket pics

http://www.flickr.com/photos/18446987@N00/sets/72157602111708656/
enjoy!
Tomorrow I'm off to Bangkok.

Whoops, I never posted any London pics

I didn’t take many pics in London, but I did take a few at the Design Museum. They wouldn’t let you take pics at the Terracotta Warriors exhibit at the British Museum because they wanted you to buy the book for 25 pounds. Yeah right! On the way to the Design Museum I passed this little wine bar where they were selling bottles of Veuve for 45 pounds each! (My favorite champagne, just fyi, in case you ever want to impress me and make the evening special…) I could never survive in London. I’d always be flat broke. Oh wait… that’s already the case in the Bay. I live a great, fun life but it means I’m always broke. Gonna have to do something about that when I get back. Anyway, I hope you enjoy these pics from the Design Museum. There was this super sick political graphic arts exhibit. And then there was this big exhibit by some lady (I forgot her name and I stupidly threw away the booklet thing, but it was like Zahad something or other). She was born in Iraq, she is an architect mainly, but also designs funtiture and stuff. She designed the big crazy super dope BMW plant/headquarters in Germany. (I bet you could goggle that and get her name). Her designs are all geometric and she has some really amazing drawings and models that were on display but I didn’t get any pics of them. Some of her buildings have been built, like the BMW one, but a lot of them haven’t. The exhibit was really interesting. Hope you like.
And I know all my friends are out at Grime City right now listening to RAW, and I’m so jealous! But I guess I can’t really complain, eh? Let’s see should I take a nap in my air conditioned room, or head back down to the bar? I was going to get a massage today, but they do them out by the pool and it is just too hot to be touched, ya know? The only way I can stand to be out there is to have a frozen drink in my hand. I had a super yummy lunch, of my favorite Thai food dish. They call it something different here, but it’s basically flat wide rice noodles, chicken, green veggies in an oyster sauce.
OK, Here is a link to all my flickr pics of Phuket.

more Karan Beach pics

Seriously, I don't know if it gets much better than this!

Thailand FTW! (for the win)

omg… the food here is amazing!! I was worried I wasn’t going to like it, but I was so wrong! This morning they delivered a note to go to reception regarding dinner and then they gave me a free voucher for the buffet dinner tonight. I guess they don’t do a buffet every night, but tonight they were and it was supposed to have food from the 4 corners of Thailand. All I had for lunch was the fruit plate they had brought me earlier in the day, so by 7pm I was starving. (I was also falling asleep cause I had been out in the sun all day). But seeing the sunset made me hop out of bed to get ready for dinner. The buffet was set up at the beach front restaurant, so my table basically faced the beach and the waves. Of course again, I felt a little silly sitting there in that romantic setting all by myself, but whatever. I ordered a cocktail, that cost as much as my mani/pedi from earlier today. (That would be around $5 or $6 US). Then I hit the buffet. Oh man! It was fabulous! Tons of appetizers, shrimp, chicken skewers, bbq chicken, some kind of ribs, a bunch of noodley salads, regular salad, egg rolls. My favorite was this beef strip salad that had cold strips of beef mixed in with peppers and who knows what else. It was really spicy and really good. The for the main course there was rice and more chicken and beef and a bunch of different fish (which I didn’t eat). And then for dessert there were all these fancy little pastries, tons of fresh fruit, and then a bunch of Thai desserts that I know I should have tried, but I was just too stuffed by the time I got to them. There was only one chicken thingy I didn’t like because it had lemon grass in it and I don’t like lemon grass. I thought I was going to be in trouble in Thailand, because I don’t really eat fish, I don’t like coconut and I don’t like lemon grass. But everything else I ate tonight was so super yummy! I think I’ll be able to get by just fine. Although, I am really glad I’m spoiling myself at this hotel for a few days before I start this big long budget backpacker tour. I don’t think we are going to have to many meals like this one! And it was free. How sweet is that?! Although, really it probably would have only cost about $10 US if I had had to pay. And I think I went back to the buffet like 3 times so it would have totally been worth it!
This hotel is amazingly nice. I walked down the beach today, as far as I could go, and this hotel by far seems like the nicest one around. The sand here is definitely different. It’s almost corn starchy and if you drag your heels on the dry sand it makes a funny squeaking sound. There were red flags out on the beach today, which means no swimming but I saw a bunch of people in the water anyway. But I think the flags were up because there are jelly fish, and I want no part of that, believe me! As I was walking along the beach I kept seeing things that looked like ice cubes, and I think they were jelly fish pieces. I don’t know if those parts will sting you, though. I think it has to be the cloudy tenticle part, but who knows. I wasn’t trying to risk it. I’ve been stung by a jelly fish once, and it was no fun at all. Unlike Panama, where I came across broken glass and all kinds of trash while walking on the beach, the beach here is really clean. On my way back to the hotel, I saw why, they have teams of like 10 people or so, in uniform, cleaning and literally sweeping up the beach. They had brooms and trash bags and everything. Makes sense, though I guess. If labor is cheap, why not?! I don’t know if they worked for the hotels or for the city. Anyway, I think it’s a great idea. It was so depressing in Panama, to be in this beautiful place and to see it just covered in trash.
And of course, my first day out in the sun even though I put on sun block all day long, I still got burned a little bit on my chest. It’s not too bad, it doesn’t even hurt, but it’s a little pink. It’s funny all the tourists here have that pinkish glow. There are a lot of Europeans and Japanese people here. I don’t think I’ve come across any other Americans. I heard a guy trying to make reservations for Christmas time and the lady said the hotel is already book up and is completely full.
I would definitely come back here and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a relaxing vacation. There are a lot of beaches on Phuket, and I picked this one because it is supposed to be relatively quite. Most of the backpackers head to Patong beach where there are a bunch of night clubs and shopping and cheap hotels and stuff. I just wanted to relax and not be bothered.
I’m debating on whether I should head out now, at about 830pm to walk down the main street and do a little window shopping and check out what there is around here. I spent all day either at the beach or by the pool and getting my nails done and stuff. There are tons of little shops and restaurants around here and you can actually look at stuff without being hasseled, like in Egypt. But I don’t really want to buy anything, and I’m feeling super sleepy, so I might just call it a day and watch a little BBC.
Tomorrow is my last full day and night here, and then it is back to Bangkok to start my tour. I hope the people and the guide are cool. I’m a little nervous since I’ll be stuck with these people for so long. But actually it’s two tours combined, so we might get a new group of people half way through. I’m really excited about the first part. I’m slightly less excited about the China part, just because I’ve never even heard of most of the places we’re going in China and I have no idea what to expect. Well, it will be an adventure, no doubt!

made it to Phuket

phew. Yesterday was like the longest travel day ever. I think I'm ready for the Amazing Race, now! But I finally made it to Thailand, to Phuket, to Karan Beach Resort, where I'm spoiling myself for a few days. (Don't worry I got everything cheap!) But I think they think I'm crazy being here by myself. My taxi driver and the reception people act like they don't understand what I'm doing here alone, because this place is full of honeymooners and families on vacation. But whatever. The hotel knows I'm a travel agent, and so they are sending complimentary fruit plates to my room, and giving me vouchers for dinner and stuff. It's pretty sweet. And my room is super nice. Last night I got in and took the longest hottest shower and then ordered room service and went to sleep for a good 12 hours or so. It is pretty hot here and very humid, so if you are out in the sun you are sweating immediately. But it is sort of partly cloudy so the sun isn't really beating down, and of course when it gets too hot you just jump in the pool, or post up at the pool bar. I think I might get a mani/pedi today and a Thai massage tomorrow. Like I said, I'm spoiling myself for a few days. Don't hate! I have a few pics to post, like of the amazing view from my balcony, so if I can figure out where to buy a wireless card, I'll do it.

link to all my Egypt pics on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/18446987@N00/sets/72157602063372868/

I just organized all of my Egypt pics on my flickr page, and I'll probably just stick to posting my pictures there from now on, because I don't like they way it works trying to post them within this blog. So some of the pics will be the same as the ones you have seen here already, but there are a bunch more on the flickr page. Also, I added descriptions to a lot of the photos, but I don't know if you see the descriptions when you view the photos as a slide show. I'm not sure. You might have to actually click on the photo to see the description. Anyway, enjoy. Now I'm officially done with Egypt and I can get ready for Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and China! Stay tuned.

lots of love,
marin

Hi from Hong Kong

I made it to Hong Kong, but that is still just part way to my destination, Phuket.
I was thinking I was flying straight through from London to Bangkok (which would have made way more sense), but I forgot I have a few hours in Hong Kong. It definitely makes for a longer travel day, but guess you can't complain when the ticket is free, right?
This airport is huge. I know because I think I just had to walk from one end to the other and it took me like a half an hour. Granted I am a bit sleepy and out of it, so maybe it didn't really take thaaat long, but it felt like forever! This airport is crazy nice. The bathrooms are absolutely spotless and I think they have someone who just hangs out in there and cleans non-stop. And they have ladies walking around with gloves and metal tongs and they pick up every single little piece of paper off the floor. It's really crazy! And there are so many shops it's like being in the mall. And free wireless throughout the whole airport, yay! In London wifi was 5 pounds an hour, which just seems insane. But I guess nothing is cheap in London.
I'm only in Hong Kong for a couple hours waiting for my flight to Bangkok, then to Phuket. I think it's only a couple hours to Bangkok, and then just like an hour flight to Phuket.
I feel like I should walk around and check out some of the weird shops. I saw a candy store with all this strange Chinese candy and it looked cool, but I'm pretty exhausted and I'll probably just curl up on a bench and try to sleep for another hour or so. My stomach is feeling a little bit crampy and weird. It might be a side effect of the malaria pills I started taking. I don't know. It's not that bad, but it doesn't make me want to eat anything right now.
My Qantas flight from London was pretty good. It was one of those massive planes and the flight attendant told me that every seat on the plane was full, but then I ended up with an empty seat next to me, so I was happy and got to spread out a bit. There were a couple kids around me who cried a little bit, but they were so cute you couldn't really be mad at them. I just put in my ear plugs and went to sleep.
I should get into Phuket around 5pm tonight. I'm staying at a nice hotel right on Karan Beach on the sort of South Eastern part of the island. I'm there for 3 nights, just chillin' and relaxing before I start my big trip through Thailand, Laos, Northern Vietnam and Southern China. I hope it's not raining the whole time I'm in Phuket. I think it just rains for a few hours a day, so you still get some sunshine and can enjoy the beach. That's what I'm hoping for at least. But if it rains, I 'll just sleep and that will be ok too! I have a few books with me, so I'm sure I'll be fine. I'm not sure if they are going to have wireless... maybe.
Ok, I gotta go figure out my gate information. bye bye.

London

(I'm not sure why some of those pics are out of order... oh well).

Anyway, I had a great couple of days in London. I love this city and I feel like I could totally live here, that is if I could ever afford it! Today it was sunny, although a little chilly, but it feels great after being so hot everywhere in Egypt!

Today I went and saw the Terracotta Warriors exhibit at the British Museum. It is just there for a couple months and it just opened so there was quite a long line, or queue, should I say. But it was totally worth it. It was pretty amazing, in fact. And it was really cool to be see things from China that were made around the same time as some of the stuff I saw in Egypt. I'm so glad I got the opportunity to see the exhibit. It was funny, standing in line, hearing some of these older British people talking about how it was a chance of a lifetime and all that. I'll be in China soon, but I'm not going to make it to Xian, where the Terracotta Army really is, so this was cool. If you don't know what I'm talking about, google it! But basically, the First Emperor of China built this elaborate burial site for himself, complete with a whole army (horses and all) made out of clay to protect him in the afterlife. They found these in 1974 and are still excavating the site. They haven't even excavated his actually burial tomb, because they don't want to disturb his resting site. They are hoping that with technology they can figure out what's inside without having to dig it all up and destroy it. (Also, he put a bunch of mercury in the ground all around it, so maybe it's toxic for humans to be working there). This King of Qin (pronounced chin) came to the thrown when he was 13 years old, and he trained a huge army and made all these advancements in weapons and horse drawn chariots and ended up conquering 6 neighboring states and creating an Empire that is now China. He unified weights and measures, the language, and their money. He had strict laws and rules and built tons of palaces and really had a bunch of achievements. His legacy easily rivals that of Alexander the Great and a bunch of other historical figures, but in the West most people don't even learn about him.
Ok, I'm off to bed now, for my early morning flight to Thailand tomorrow.

even more Egypt pics

Whoops, I got some repeats in there and I don't know how to take them out. But aren't the views from the hot air balloon cool?! Also, there is that pic of the water in the Nile... can you see all the oil or gas or whatever floating in it? Gross.
OK, I'm trying to get through the rest of these photos.
Almost there!

more Egypt pics

Are you bored with my photos yet?
When you've got the digi camera it's so easy to take a ton of photos, lol.