Yes, I am still alive.
I’m on my flight to Hong Kong where I’ll connect to my flight down to Sydney. I thought I’d start to recap what the hell I’ve been up to since I last updated the site 2 weeks (and 2 countries) ago. I’m sure at least 2 or 3 of you are curious.
OK, it's now 3 days later and I really tried to work on this on the flight to Sydney but the movies combined with the sleeping pills distracted me. Now I’ve been in Sydney for 2 days and am finally finishing this sitting in an internet café in Bondi Beach. Time just slips by. I’ll be here in Oz until July 10 when I fly to New Zealand. As of today, my plan it so spend 3 days in Sydney, fly up to Queensland and spend a week in Cairns area and the Whitsunday Islands. Then it’s off to Melbourne for a couple of days and hopefully some golf..
May 7 to June 7 was spent in Vietnam exploring the country from North to South. While I preferred the North to the South, I really enjoyed all of my time in Vietnam. Although it’s hard to pick just a few places, the highlights for me were Hanoi, Sapa, Halong Bay and Hoi An. The people I met and traveled with are another huge part of my enjoyment of Vietnam. It was a rare time when I wasn’t meeting new interesting folks and having a few too many beers and talking about traveling and, inevitably, soccer (a.k.a. football).
From June 7 to June 13, I was in Cambodia. Following the old adage “If you don’t have any nice to say don’t say anything at all,” this will be brief. Before I got to Cambodia (Phnom Penh & Siam Reap), the reviews from other travelers had been mixed with some really loving their time in Phnom Penh and others getting out a soon as possible. I feel guilty to say I fall into the latter category. I can’t quite place my finger on why I didn’t like it. Maybe it was the recent history of the Khmer Rouge or perhaps the frequent warnings not to walk around at night alone. Whatever the reason, I was happy to get on a plane and head out of PP and get to Siam Reap and Angkor Wot. 3 days proved adequate for seeing the numerous temples in the area. I had a week to kill before my flight from Bangkok to Sydney so I pondered spending a week in Bangkok or heading up to Laos, which appeared to be universally loved by every one I’ve met on the trip.
I’d been to Bangkok before so on the 13th I flew to Vientiane, Laos. Since I was only going to in Laos for 6 days until the 19th, I went directly to the bus station for my journey to Vang Vien and Luang Parbang. While very different both places were excellent and my only regret is I didn’t have more time to spend in Laos, in particular the 4000 Islands or the Far North.
I spent the 19th to the 23rd in Bangkok. Once again I cashed in miles and stayed at the Sheraton Royal Orchid Hotel on the Chao Phraya River. Strangely, the Royal Orchid was the place I stayed on my first visit to Bangkok with my Dad when I was in the Peace Corps. Thankfully, it had been renovated at least once since then. Most of my stay in Bangkok was spent relaxing, organizing my trip to Oz and being awed by the growth and change in the city. When talking to other visitors, I would occasionally hear myself into a “back in my day, we had to walk uphill to school both ways in a foot of snow.” And yes, I realized that is pathetic.
The most frightening realization hit me recently - my trip is more than halfway over and I’ll have to come back and get a job before I know it. Shit.
Keep your eyes peeled over the next couple of days for the rest of my Asia trip updates and photos.
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