Malaysia and India

It has been well over two months and pushing three in another part of the world besides the United States. I am happy to find out that my visa has been approved and I will start my job searching in Australia in the beginning of March. My journey has been an incredible experience that I will cherish forever. I have two weeks left till my flight leaves out of Bangkok and I have decided to spend those two weeks in North India. I will see the Taj Mahal and be there for Holli day. Before this trip I was in Malaysia for five days to check out the city Kuala Lumpur.

I’ll be honest with you we didn’t really check out any of Malaysia. We basically just saw the Petronas Towers and went to shopping markets. Why is this? Because honestly we were tired of always being on the move and just wanted to relax, lay back, and have some brews. A vacation in a vacation. It amazes me how when you travel for a while and are on vacation, shit starts to get real tiring real quick. Someone’s reading this and is probably like, give me a fucking break, I’m working 40 plus hours a week and your complaining about traveling. Trust me I know, and I try to tell myself that every day. Take in the moment because soon you will be working again wishing that you were traveling. But man I’ve been to a lot of places in less than three months. I’ve been 9 cities in Thailand, 3 cities in Laos, 10 cities in Vietnam, 1 city in Singapore, and 1 city in Malaysia. That’s a lot of shit in 2 and half months man. So like I was saying, we decided to do nothing for five days in Kuala Lumpur, rent an air bnb, and just drink. We deserved it.

I liked Kuala Lumpur from what I saw. The city felt like it was a mix of Thailand’s craziness with Singapore’s infrastructure. Had the same kind of mix culture vibe with people from every corner of the world. Felt like a real melting pot. The bars were really cool. Very modern like the U.S. with a little bit of a middle east vibe. People were friendly and outgoing, and everyone knew how to speak english. The food was the bomb, and if you don’t like SE Asian food they had really good western food. I ate a lot of western food here to fatten me up for India. Plus you get really sick of Asian food after months. At least I think so. Again I’m just an average american traveling Asia for a good bit. Opening up my mind and seeing what these places are really like and trying new things like the food (but it gets old). Getting out of my comfort zone and exploring the unknown. But I’m not a hippie. Probably a bad term to say and I have no problem with hippies, but I didn’t come to Asia for enlightenment. I didn’t think this trip was going to change me to a spiritual being that sees a whole new way of life. Fuck that would have been great but I know myself, and I am not like that. I looked at this trip as time to clear my mind and figure out what I want to do, and do a path that most people don’t usually take in the U.S. I read some people’s blogs about traveling and I’m just like fucking hell they thought everything was magical as hell and life’s never been so perfect and there’s fairy dust everywhere. For some parts of this trip I feel them and I have wrote some blogs about certain magical times in my trip like biking through Vietnam through these amazing mountain ranges. The whole adventure though I’m just saying isn’t so magical. It gets to a point where your just like oh that’s pretty cool. Or that’s neat. Or even like this is shitty. However every 3 or so days you see something that just stimulates the fuck out of your mind and you’re like hell yeah! that’s so cool! It sucks to think this way, but I am just telling you it is the truth. Thing’s just start becoming the norm when everything is not normal. It’s a weird concept but I’m just letting the mind flow. People hype shit up. Sorry for going on a tangent. I was just talking about food and went completely another way with that. Oh well.

Anyways so back to Malaysia. We had a super sick condo right on drinking street. Basically drank almost every night, met amazing people with the same idea, and had a break from seeing the world. Pictures below are the Petronas Towers:

Now I’m chilling in India. I’ve been here for about five days now. I remember being in college and one of my friends wanted to go to India and teach kids how to speak english. I told the man that he’s fucking crazy and India seems just like a shit hole with too many people running around and acting weird and shit. I said I would never go to India and I have no desire. Well traveling has opened my mind a little bit and now I’m eating crow. My buddies have convince to come to India to explore the cities Jaipur, Udaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Agra to see the Taj Mahal, and New Delhi for holli day. I said, “you know what why the fuck not?” If I don’t like it I’ll never come back but I won’t know unless I go, so here I am.

India I kind of like. It’s a weird chaotic place that kind of is a shit hole with uncleanliness, but there’s something about it. Everywhere you look there’s something that interest you. Like a cow blocking a 3 lane highway and everyone is waiting for this cow to move because it’s sacred. Traffic is chaotic, and outside the traffic there’s hecklers doing business and people performing weird tasks like crushing up weird shit that you don’t know why he’s crushing it up, putting some liquid on it, and then throwing it into a fire, then thinking why the fuck did he do all that just to throw it in the fire? Buildings are pretty and old. Never seen building like these. They look like what I would see in Aladdin and that’s probably a horrible reference because I’m thinking Aladdin is probably somewhere completely different than India. The people for the most part are nice if they aren’t trying to get money out of you. The colors are vivid here. I see these women in the most gorgeous colors that make them full of light and they glow. Maybe that’s what I like the most so far? The colors. They all express themselves through colors that captures the eye. Foods great here too. I thought I was going to starve because everyone said Indian food is worse than Thai food but boy are they wrong.

The craziest thing I have done so far in India is met a gypsy that was my tuk tuk driver and go to his house in the slums to met his family after his shift at night. This was in Jaipur in the poorest slums. There was barely a roof that they lived under and there was 15 people living in this building that had to be less than 20 foot by 20 foot upstairs and downstairs. I was mind blown. However he told me it’s not about the money it is about if you are happy, and that is the most important part. I told him you hit it right on the nail bubba. He and his family played music to me all night and his little boys were singing and dancing with the biggest smiles on their face. It does amaze me how people can be so happy in the worst places, but they were and are truly happy.

I am now in Jodhpur. I took a 8 hour bus from Udaipur that was cramped and had no A/C. This city is called the blue city and it’s all blue. Other than that I don’t know what to do here then see the blue city. What I am looking forward to is riding a camel in the desert and camping out, seeing the Taj Mahal, and celebrating the end of my Asia trip with Holli day. These experiences are what I am looking forward to, and hopefully they will be amazing. Down here is some of the pictures I have taken so far while being here:

Thailand and Singapore

Southeast Thailand In the Islands:

It’s been awhile since I last wrote. I have made it back down to Thailand to visit the islands in the south. I decided to get my open water license in scuba diving in Koh Tao. I figured when I visit Austrialia I will eventually see the great barrier reef and will need to scuba to see it. So being in Koh Tao, the worlds cheapest place to get a diver’s license, might as well. Diving was fun. You went through a lot of training and learning. Learning the diving tables and when decompression sickness starts, and also the techniques you need to know in case of emergencies. The fish in Koh Tao were pretty neat. I have to say though that there’s something far better when diving in Florida. I feel like Florida’s underwater life is more vibrant and energetic. Bigger fish to see at 60 feet than over here. The only good thing about over here though is once in a while you will see a whale shark. Never saw one though. The place where I got certified was called big blue diving school. The instructors where great and the school you stayed at was right on the water. Everyone that I dove with was in their 20’s just backpacking through Asia. After I got certified in open water scuba I stayed back for a little bit on the island to chill out, waiting to hear back about my visa. My visa is unfortunately still processing and has not yet been approved. Therefore, I plan on continuing my travels through Asia. Right now I am heading to Krabi to see a couple islands on the west side of southern Thailand and then I am heading down to Singapore. After few days in Singapore I will make it up to Malaysia, then fly to India. Hopefully by the time I make it to India my visa will be approved and then I’m off to Australia.

A series of unfortunate events has happened this last week. After 2 months of being abroad I finally came down with food poisoning and also a fever. I have now recovered but it has been hell this last week and a half. I had to get my diver’s license when this was happening and my god I was dying. Another unfortunate thing that happened was when I went to the full moon party in Koh Phang. I lady boy came out of nowhere and snatched my family crest right from my neck. This guy was real slick about it. He came out of the crowed grabbed my privates as hard as he can. I leaned down obviously to grab myself and screamed, “what the fuck!” showed him away and he disappeared. Pissed off at the guy I walked off and five minutes later realized my necklace was gone. If you go to that party stay away from the lady boys and do not bring any values. On top of all this my visa has not been approved which is also unfortunate.

I’m a positive person though. Shit happens. Sometimes when you on a string of badluck you just got to smile and push through. Things will eventually get better. I’m breathing and that’s all that matters and I could be stuck behind a desk hating life everyday so I really have nothing to complain about. Today however I feel fucking fanatastic. Sickness is gone, the sun is shining and I feel like dancing. The fact that I am officially wandering with no general plan has put me into a state a peace. I’m going to ride this mysterious wave and see which unknown lands it takes me.

Koh Phi Phi and Singapore

Koh Phi Phi is a pretty island. It’s located on the West side of southern Thailand and it is one of the places that made me choose to travel Thailand. There is this place called Mayan Bay which is this beach wrapped around by massive mountains in the middle of the ocean. It is truly paradise. This is the main reason I came to this island. All I did is arrive at the port, check in my baggage at this shit hostel that partied till 2am with loud music, and hike to see the sunset at a view point. Coming back from this I saw a fire show on the beach at night and drank a couple beers and then got ready for bed because the next day I had to be up at 6am to go to Mayan Bay. Why so early? Well if you go to Mayan Bay at lets say 11am, there is so many people on the beach you are practically touching shoulder to shoulder. So on that note I wanted the whole beach to myself. I woke up early the next day, took a private boat with some friends and landed on the beach. We had to pay a 400 baht national park fee but honestly I think it is not real. They guy kept yelling at us to pay or the police will come but when we gave him the money he just smiled and walked away. There was no police. So if you ever go there ask where to pay and just walked toward the boat he tells you to pay at and then when you are far enough away turn towards the beach and walk right in. Anyways the beach was beautiful. There was about 20 other people on the beach but that’s it. It’s definitely worth going to but like most pictures on the posters in Asia. Assume it’s not going to be as good as that, but it was good enough. I took a couple pictures on the island but the sun wasn’t fully up so most of the crystal-clear water was in the shade. I’m a Florida boy though and the water looked as clear as the keys so it was very nice.

My short travels to Koh Phi Phi were done like that. I took the pictures, saw the honey hole and went off to see Singapore next. I was in Singapore for three days and god I loved it. Everyone says Singapore is so clean and nice when I’ve been traveling around Asia and I just thought to myself, “yeah that’s because shit is dirty over here it’s probably like the states.” When I got there however they were right. The city was virtually spotless of trash and everything looked new and organized. The architecture and infrastructure was amazing and so beautiful. I was getting a little engineer hard on looking at it all. Transportation everywhere was easy and efficient and Singapore seemed like a big melting pot with people from all over the world working there. On the first night, the people I have been traveling with and I went out to the nicest place in town in our nicest clothes and shared a few drinks on the 57^th floor of this tower looking over all of the city. The view was stunning, the drinks were good and I burned a little hole in my wallet. All worth it to celebrate our travels together for two months. The next day we toured the city. We went to see the Gardens by The Bay landmark and other major sites. The whole time again during this day I just was appreciating the infrastructure. At night, we again went to Gardens by The Bay and after saw a water fountain light show. Gardens by The Bay was amazing. Whoever designed and made that place my hats off to you. It’s a must see when you go to Singapore.

I am off to Malaysia now for five days. I hear they have good food and drinks are cheap. After those five days, I make my way to India for a couple of weeks. I still feel fantastic. I’m at one hundred percent right now and have been really happy traveling every day. It just hit me after my sickness and just thinking to myself what you’ve been doing has truly been an amazing experience and the journey gets to continue for a little bit more. I’ll post some pictures below again like one of my previous blogs. Yeah I know most of my blogs are sloppy and the details are not very define but that just happens when you’ve seen so much man. It is really hard to write a less than two-thousand-word blog when you start adding details. I’m just a simple man that decided to travel a little bit and give my thoughts on the matter. Plus taking so pictures while I’m on my way.

Koh Tao:

Krabi:

Koh Phi Phi:

Singapore:

I Survived Vietnam Traffic

A few days ago I officially finished driving through the whole country of Vietnam, starting from Hanoi to Saigon. The total amount of kilometers we did in the end was a whopping 2400km through mostly the mountains of this beautiful country. The total time it took us to do it was 15 days. It was exciting, nerve wracking, and challenging on the body and mind. I will have to admit there were some days where I was like fuck this shit. But the other days when I couldn’t believe my eyes made it all worth while. I really wished I would of stopped and took pictures at the places that truly made my heart gasp. there were four full days throughout the trip where I was just an awe about the wild and beauty of this country. It reminded me of Jurassic Park or the movie Avatar. I think I said omg probably about a good solid two hours straight for each of these four days of going through amazing landscape. I will however always have these places in the back of my mind. Worlds of paradise and tranquility.

Driving through Vietnam is dangerous. In my group there were three accidents. Not severe, but definitely accidents. One of the accidents was a guy not looking both ways and getting hit by our fellow crew member at 40km/h, making him do a flip in the air from the force. Another was a girl that decided to tag along with us one day and try to go around this car and instead went right through it and destroyed the poor mans bumper and part of her motorcycle, luckily she came out alright. The last was a huge semi throwing another of our crew members off to the side of the road in a big pile of mud and manure. Now all of this was just in our crew but everyday we saw some kind of scooter accident on the road and also heard stories from fellow travelers about their accidents they were involved in. It happens all the time. My outlook however on this for someone that wants to do the same thing I did is don’t be an idiot, don’t be too cocky, and drive defensive. If you do this and act this way you should be A okay. People are going to cut you off and rub the back of your tires. You just have to be defensive and let the man or woman take the advantage (they know what they are doing). The biggest trucks are the fastest things on the road remarkably. They will pass other Semi’s on a upward mountain and don’t care whats on the other side of the hill. They will honk though and if you hear that you better move over. Never try to overtake these bad boys, they’ll always catch back up to you in the end. There is a system in Vietnam, a very chaotic system but nonetheless it works. Everyone drives defensively on a scooter and all of traffic will stop if you stop. They completely understand that were assholes that don’t know how to drive and for some reason they show respect for that, or they just don’t want to get hit or involved in an incident. I am not going to explain it further. You’ll figure it out the first day when you get on the bike. Just honk a lot when you pass someone and pass them on the right.

There were some fuck this shit days. Quite a few to be honest. I think there was four or five where it was 60 degrees fahrenheit and raining on top of you going 70 km/hr on a bike. That makes it cold as shit and miserable, thank god for my poncho. We drove 4 hours sometimes on days like this and at the end of it you felt like you definitely had hyperthermia. On top of that staying at crappy hotel in the middle of nowhere that didn’t have a heater did not help to warm you up. For three days I felt as though I couldn’t warm up my body properly because even the showers were cold. The scootering thing is definitely a challenge if you’re trying to bike in a 15 day period. You don’t have much time to spend in each city and again you have to constantly bike and not stop if you want to make it to the next town before dark. 5 days and 7 hours each day consistently, really puts a ding on you. I suggest if you do this make sure it’s for about three weeks. That way you can spend the extra time in cities to rest and relax before doing an epic journey. There are highs and lows in anything that you do. The highs in this trip though for sure beats the lows and is worth every penny and agony you spend.

So the last week or two of our trip it rained unfortunately since my last blog post. It is supposed to be dry season but for most of the days it was wet. The plan was to go down south Vietnam along the beaches but it was supposed to rain for weeks in the areas we wanted to go, so instead we headed west into the mountains. Through the mountains we found sun again, so ultimately it was the best decision. The three of us that started out on the trip and ended up joining other people making it seven of us throughout most of the trip. The more the merrier baby. Great group of people and we finally parted ways a couple days ago.

I did take some more pictures but I will just put it at the end of the blog. The last weeks of the bike trip was basically a repeat of getting up at 6:30am starting to drive at 8am and finish at 5pm with a meal, a beer, and a guitar (dude we were with was a hell of singer and player). A simple time but a fun time. In the major cities like Saigon we just relaxed. Went to a museum and went to nice cafes. We all needed a break from the end of our scooter journey. I ended up treating myself to a private room over looking Ho Chi Ming. A little present for my accomplishment.

Now I am sitting in a random hostel waiting for the night ferry to head to the island of Koh Tao. The ferry leaves at 10pm and I paid 1.50$ to store my bag here and have free wifi. Tomorrow I will start my open water course which is going to cost me 280$ for four days of learning how to dive. I am really excited but scared I will be exhausted from this night ferry and won’t be fully myself when learning how to dive. We shall see though tomorrow. Till next time.

I feel like I should at least describe where these pictures are since there are only so many. I don’t know if you have seen the show Top Gear, but on one of the finale episodes, they did exactly what I did and bought motor bikes and biked throughout the whole country. These two pictures are the iconic scene in this episodes below on the way to Hoi An from Hue.

These pictures below are from a Chinese Temple on top of a mountain in the city of Hoi An. A place where you can buy a three piece suit for 60 bucks.

These pictures of flowers below are in a botanical garden I found.

The pictures are deep in the south jungle of Vietnam in a national park about 130km away from Saigon. Coming out of this jungle we were all covered in leaches and bleeding everywhere from them. So pretty gnarly stuff.

Biking Through Vietnam

I just got a motor bike in Hanoi five days ago and it was worth it. After taking a little break from New Years me and couple of my friends all decided to rent bikes instead of buying it on January 4th, 2018 and here is why. First from what we have heard, all the bikes that people sell you have problems along the way. The always have a tendency to break down setting back you back a day or two, and we don’t have that kind of time. Second is selling the damn thing after you finish your journey, which is not always guaranteed. So you might loose in the end 500 dollars rather than 200 dollars when selling it for 300 dollars. The last thing is all the bikes are now fake. I was thinking about getting a Honda Wind I think its called? (might be wrong) but they are all knock offs made from China and cheap as hell! The last Wind ever made was in 2006 by Honda. All these decisions lead to renting a motor bike/scooter from this one place in Hanoi. Our scooters are all 2017s and badass so the chance of breaking down is minimal. Also if they do, everything gets completely paid for through the company. The total cost was 225 for renting the bike and then 1000 dollars for a security deposit, in case you fuck shit up. Drive the bikes from Hanoi to Ho Ming Chi City and return the bikes. That’s it. The total length of the trip is 2300km north to south and we have officially made it half way to the city of Hue 1150km into our trip in five days.

Here’s the set up:

Nothing too fancy just some railings to hold the bags in place and some bungie cords, and trust me that’s all you need. The first day setting off was pretty hectic. We got our bikes right out of the old quarters square in Hanoi and had to take off through the city. Hanoi has some of the worst traffic in the world and we we’re surrounded by thousands of motor bikes and huge semi’s, touching mirror to mirror. We had an hour of super intense driving and then it settled down after the city. We drove all day and all night until we stopped in the middle of nowhere to make camp. We did at least 9 hours of driving and it was brutal on our bodies from not being used to that position on the bike. There wasn’t anything too spectacular to see on the first day but oh well made it to the first stop. Now this blog is very general so certain cities we stopped at, I’m not going to mention because honestly I don’t know where the fuck we stopped. Most of them were small hick towns that are not on the map and have shitty hotels for you to sleep in. The humidity is registered at 150% and when you wake up you’re drenched with the dew from outside coming in. Anyways day two we were off again, bright and early around 8am in the morning. This part of the drive was spectacular. We went through a whole bunch of rice paddy fields that were endless to the eye. Then went through jungle mountains that were so high up we were literally in the clouds getting soaked to the brim. Then through some more mountains with steep over hanging cliffs and a bunch of palm trees covering that sucker. It was a hell of a day and a hell of a drive again lasting about 7 hours. Here’s a couple of pictures from that day:

During the day we can’t make so many stops because we are on a time frame so there’s only a limited amount of pictures per day.

Day three was just an average day. Nothing really special, just went through some real rural cities where people hardly see white people and scream with joy and say hello every time you past them. The amount of hellos that I have said in these five days are crazy. Day four was absolutely amazing. We took an old highway through some national parks and it is supposed to be the best part of the drive and I can now be a happy man the rest of this trip because that shit was amazing. here’s some pictures from that. The road was great and curved like a snake. So many waterfalls were passed and rivers. It was absolutely gorgeous.

And today we had to stop in Hue to get our oil changed. It is the half way point in our journey and we will be here just for the night and then our next stop is Hoi An. We’ll rest up for a bit and stay there for two days. The journey was shitty. Took the highway to get here as quick as possible. Took us about three hours total and it was 60 degrees and raining. Thank the lord for my poncho.

I also went to Ha Long Bay which is a must if you are up in Hanoi. It is a three hour bus ride from there and then you hop on a 90 dollar cruise that takes you to the magical place. Food and drink are all included in the package and you go to a cave during the first day and then a view point and that’s it. Then the second day they take you to a pearl factory farm in the bay and then you Kayak around. Is it worth it? The view for sure is worth it, but the activities are just average and boring to someone kind of adventurous as me. Here is some pictures from that trip:

Well that is it so far on the motor bike journey. I am really exhausted from these last five days driving for 7 plus hours and then getting to the city just in time for dinner and bed. It’s honestly so worth it though. Best decision I made on this trip so far. Yeah there is times where it is sketchy as shit, but as long as you have your wits about you, you should be fine. Honk a lot and drive defensively. Until next time, so long.

Reflection

I am now in Ha Noi, Vietnam and it is January 1st, 2018. I am almost half way through my journey, about to attempt to drive through the whole country of Vietnam by scooter. As I sit in my bed I start to reflect on the past few weeks of my life and the experiences I have gained throughout my travels. I am truly blessed to be able to do the things that most people aren’t able to do and have been honored to meet amazing people along the way. The world is beautiful, not only in the places that are known to you but the whole world itself. It amazes me the kindness and hospitality that people in the farthest reaches of earth have. So many times I have been drilled with the idea of the world being a bad place in countries that are undeveloped but that is far from the truth. I have seen more kindness and thoughtfulness in these three beautiful countries than I have seen in a long time. People will literally go out of their way and stop, in this fast moving world to make sure they fully help you which ever thing that acquire.

Traveling you are always going to meet people that have similar interests as you. They all want to experience new things and take everything in. Being in a hostel is electric. Everyone is very open and welcoming. Whenever someone is going to explore you can always ask if you can come along and 99 percent of the time they will say yes. I always say the more the merrier when asked this question. There is nothing like sharing first time experiences with someone and the more people that you share it with, the better that experience will come. I have met some fantastic people. I started in Bangkok alone and now I have been traveling with the same four people ever since. One Kiwi and two people from Mexico. The journey traveled has made a tight bond and we will be friends for a long time. It amazes me that I have met these people only a few weeks back but it seems like I have known them for years. Each one of us feeds off of each others energy and good vibes. All of us are accepting to each of our differences and are accepting of other people joining the squad. We all have completely different backgrounds but we share the same values and show the same amount of respect. When I have been traveling that’s what I realize. No matter how foreign the world you travel in, you will always find that people are the same as everywhere else. Kind, good hearted, and giving people. Of course in every society there will be some bad people or ignorant people, but for the most part humans will be humans, loving and caring after one another. This is the beauty of us beings and it gives me great hope to our future.

In life we are all about direction. It makes us feel stable, comfortable, and a sense of balance. Direction is not a bad thing. It is good to have some sort of plan of what you want to do and who you want to be in this world. Certain direction however can be bad. The typical direction everyone thinks everyone should take is go to school, get a degree, get a job, and retire early. We are stuck in this one lane road that everyone takes and we see this finish line that will come eventually. The money is good, but the job is bad, everyday we are praying when the clock hits five, and then going to sleep worrying about the same job the next day. You only get two days to enjoy yourself on the weekend and a few holidays off. For the most part though this is not enough. This is how I felt about my old job, constantly dreading to wake up and go pop open some man holes as a civil engineer and not a laborer. My mind was always fixed on one thought and I never really enjoy living in that moment throughout my work week days. In this state of mind, time would fly by and days would turn into weeks, into months, and then into a year. I finally took a moment to think that I couldn’t keep this up and I would have to change, hence where I am now. Going through my journey I no longer have a solid asphalt road to the finish line that was set up for me. Like I said in my first post I have wandered into the forest next to it and I am lost. This lostness is not a bad thing. It has expanded my mind and my heart and thoughtfulness to the things that surround me. I feel alive and more connected to this world. The fear of instability is not there. I realize it is okay not to know but to live in the moment because that is the one true thing. Sometimes you have to be lost to be found and I am slowly starting to understand that and myself. It is okay not to know, just let things develop and become. Follow your heart and beauty will eventually sprout in this forest that you are lost in and time will start to slow down, making a day feel like day and not a couple of hours. I know I have been traveling for only three weeks but living in this state makes it feel more than that and I am blessed with this feeling.

You are your own person. Your own body and flesh. The only thing that can make you change is yourself. You just have to do it. Stop thinking about what if and just do. I pursued this dream and now I am living it, and you bet your ass it was the best decision I have made in a long time. This scooter trip that I am going on is going to be a once in a lifetime opportunity and my thoughts of what if I get injured or worse killed pop into my mind. The maturity of myself will always keep this in the back of my head and I will be as careful and aware as possible. But with risk there is reward, and I feel like this will be a journey that I will tell to my children and grandchildren. I am looking forward to start this amazing journey on January 4th and will share my experiences on this 15 day adventure. For now I am off to Ha long Bay on a cruise for two days and a night. I will write a simple blog about the cruise and what is was all about. Till then here are some pictures from Vang Vieng and Vientiane.

Pai To Laos

I’ve been lazy with my blogging. I thought coming into this I would be blogging just about every day but it has not happened. My thoughts and experiences about this trip are therefore very general so that the viewer does not read 10,000 words of certain times of my trip. However I will try to tell you guys what I have been doing the past week or two leaving off from where I was before, Chiang Mai.

This whole trip I have just winged along the way. I feel like this second paragraph shouldn’t go here but oh well. Originally I thought I was going to go down to the Southern islands of Thailand and then to Cambodia to renew my visa and then up to the north. When you talk to people though and say I think I’m going to stay in Thailand for two months, most of them say why? There is so much more to see than this country itself. If you ever plan a visit to Thailand on a two month visit like me, go to countries around Thailand like Cambodia, Laos, and especially Vietnam. I am fortunate enough to have met people that have told me to do this instead and I have come along for the ride. So far this is how the journey is going and will continue to go. First I flew into Bangkok and stayed there for a few days to get my bearings. Then I took a 100 something dollar flight to Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand. Then I took a bus to the hippie land of Pai in Thailand. After that, I took a bus back down to Chiang Mai and flew into the country of Laos to Luang Prabang and stayed there a couple days. And now I am finally here in Vang Vieng, Laos. Soon I will be in Vientiane and then fly over to Ha Noi, Vietnam for new years. I will buy a scooter or motor bike (sorry mom) and then drive through the whole country for two weeks and then off to Cambodia. From Cambodia I will then fly to Phuket and finish my journey in the islands of Thailand then off to Australia. That is the plan thus far.

Pai is a hippie city. There are a lot of Stoners and trippy people that are really nice but far out. The town is known for beautiful sites to see like caves and waterfalls and beautiful landscapes to drive through and also known for partying. I stayed in Pai for five days at a hostel named The Common Grounds.

The hostel was alright. It had a bar and a cool common area to chill out, but it was definitely a party scene always at night no matter the day. It was fun the first couple of days and then I got tired of hearing people party till 1 in the morning outside my dorm. However the staff were really nice and location was unreal, right on walking street. The things I got to do in Pai was go to a Jungle party, walk through the market on Walking Street for some food, and visit some cool nature sites. The Jungle party was pretty cool, they do one every Saturday so me and my buddies all went to that and got pretty tipsy. They send a Tuk Tuk to come pick you up and then you go off an hour to middle of the jungle where they set up this stage with electric house music and lights everywhere. It felt like a cheap small music festival but hey it was still fun. Walking Street Market is another thing you have to do here and it’s just a street that you walk, with some food to grab along the way. Everyone loves the food on this street but again I’m a pretty picky eater. One thing I recommend doing in Pai is immediately getting a scooter. I didn’t get a scooter until day four and it would of changed my whole experience if I would have had one day one. The thing that was holding me back is the number of moped crashing injuries I have seen. There are some people that go fucked up on a moped from sliding through gravel or falling off it, breaking legs and arms. I just bit the bullet and said yolo and got one and boy it is amazing. It’s seven dollars a day for this thing and you can go anywhere with it and it brings down the cost of hiring a Tuk Tuk everywhere. If you do get one be very careful. I never get too cocky and always slow down before my turns or if the going gets rough. One of the sites that is a must do is Sunset Canyon. It’s a canyon (obviously) that cuts through the land and you walk on a very narrow strip throughout the whole park.

Here is one of the many trails I did. It is scary if you are not used to hikes but definitely exciting with amazing views.

You pick a view point like the one above and then you just kick back and relax and wait for the sun to go down.

On the fourth day I got most of my nature stuff in. There were about eight of us that all rented scooters and went to key waterfalls that everyone says you have to go to. The waterfalls were truthfully alright. They were nothing too special.

Pretty dang average. If you want to see real waterfalls though Laos is the place to be. The view though going to these places on moped is stunning.

Views like this are all along the way and worth a couple seconds to pull over to the side and take a quick glance a this scenery. So that’s basically it for Pai, things I wished I would of done is go to the hot springs and the caves but oh well till next time. Mind you though if you’re going to Pai be warned about the ride up there. It is about four hours and has 760 turns. One person threw up on the way up and two people on the way down, it’s a hell of a drive.

So now I am in this country named Laos, never even heard of it. The waterfalls and the nature hikes are all god damn amazing. Like seriously way better than Thailand, if these are two things you like to do then go through this country. I landed in Luang Prabang five days ago from Chiang Mai by airplane. The things I did there is again go to the night market and find some cool shit like the snake and lizard whisky and weird shit in that nature. Then go to this mountain in the morning and see the city come alive. Also before going up to see the sun rise watch all the monks get handed out food in the morning, a tradition that happens every day for hundred of years here. Here is a picture of the sunrise I got on the mountain top.

It was pretty cool but over here in Asia everything is hazing a shit so the quality of the picture doesn’t come out too well. The sounds of the city coming to life though is the best part.

The best though is seeing waterfalls in this place. They were just stunning. Probably top ten waterfalls I will ever see in my life. There are two main places to see waterfalls. One of the places, and I am sorry I don’t know the name is called “small waterfalls” to the locals. The other is “big waterfalls” or Kuang Si Waterfall. Here is a couple pictures from the smaller waterfall site;

The nature hike is really cool and you see multiple waterfalls areas like this one above. The hike is about 2 miles long through the jungle and there is barely anyone there at the park. I felt like I was in an enchanted forest with magical blue pools and buddha was somewhere resting underneath a tree.

The bigger waterfall was pretty amazing as well. Probably the best waterfall I have seen in my life. However since it is so amazing there are a lot tourists that want to see the same thing. Still worth the time if you are in this city. Here is a shot I got of this beauty.

That’s a goddamn post card picture right there if I ever seen one. But in all seriousness definitely worth seeing.

Sunsets in Luang Prabang are just as good as the sunrises. A buddy and I had a couple beers to finish the day out by the river and started getting ready for the markets at night. It is really cool to see all the slow boaters come in for the night and local people roasting a fire and sharing the same experiences and moments as us foreigners.

I am now in Vang Vieng known as the party city of Laos but the nature again is breathtaking and the best I have seen so far. Huge mountains are around this city with beautiful clear water that you can tube or kayak down. I have rented a scooter and drove to a couple blue lagoons 30 km away yesterday and the lagoons weren’t worth it but the views were.

This trip has really been fun though man. The people and the culture and the places I have been, have made it a hell of a good time. Too many people are scared to get out of their comfort zone and go to a place that is completely foreign to them. You just got to do it. That is the only advice I have, and once you do, you’ll realize how easy it is to travel and slowly you will become addicted. You only live once so live it up the best that you can and grow from each experience that you gather. I am looking forward to Vietnam for News Years. From what I hear it is supposed to be the best country out the ones I listed.

Getting To Thailand

Well I did it. I made it to Thailand and boy have the last seven days been pretty epic. The total amount of time that it took for me to get here was 30 hours. I ended up spending four days in Bangkok which is more than enough honestly for anyone that is visiting Thailand. Bangkok is a city of constant chaos, a bit more intense than New York City. People are always trying to haggle you and have you buy their stuff on the side of the road. You just have to keep walking forward and say nothing and you’ll be fine. The hostel that I stayed at for four days was located by Khao Son Road, a road known for partying on the weekends. The first night I went to this road I was accompanied by one of the locals of the hostel. The road was definitely a tourist spot for young people that wanted to get fucked up. They have multiple bars on this long road that play 6 month old top hit charts from the states to try to lure people in. Beer and drinks here are pretty expensive going around 3.5 dollars to 4 depending on the beer and honestly I have no idea about the food. 11pm is the time you want to go out and not spend too much money because thats when the streets turn into a huge party with people of all different types of backgrounds. The party lasts till 2pm and then you can go to the club till 4pm. Honestly if you like partying a lot this is the place for you otherwise just know there are people that are really fucked up throwing up in puke buckets and making a fool of themselves like we were back in high school again.

The markets are pretty insane in Bangkok. I went to the largest market in that town and man you can spend days there. This market is only open on the weekends and everyone and their mom goes there so its busy as hell with people shoulder to shoulder. It kind of reminded me of a flee market back home in Florida but on a bigger scale with a lot of weird smells. Of course this market is cheap as hell like most things in Thailand and you can get anything you want like food, clothing, and items for gifts. Chatuchak Market is the name and it is a must see.

The weekends are the best time in Bangkok, Thailand. There a lot more things open like the Chatuchak Market and action. Kickboxing fights are pretty much a scam for tourist unless a local tells you an exact one to go to. I went to a free fight only offered on the weekend at Channel News 7 in Bangkok. People were screaming at me, telling me to pay as I walked inside but I just ignored them and still was able to watch the kickboxing match. The fights were fucking intense. There were little kids fighting (about 12) at first turning themselves bloody and blue and then the age worked its way up to grown man. This was local as shit and people seemed to just go there to bet their money away on these fights. The sound was ear ringing and intense with people shouting every time a fighter was hit. I was packed like a sardine in the stands for about 3 hours but I loved every second of it.

Temples are everywhere in Bangkok, all of them are probably fantastic but the two main temples to go to were the Grand Palace Temple and the Wat Pho, home of the huge laying buddha. I didn’t go to the Grand Palace Temple, everyone in my hostel said it was too chaotic with thousands of Chinese people shoulder to shoulder trying to take pictures and being rude as hell. The other one though was amazing. Very clean and not that many people around. Children were training to become monks and you could listen to them sing and it was so beautiful that it would keep you mind at ease and have you feel enlightened.

The last thing I did in Bangkok was go to China Town. It reminded me of New York City’s China Town but a little bit bigger and brighter. Again I was shoulder packed tight in the streets and very uncomfortable. The only thing worth going to this place is the food.

I left Bangkok after four days and went to Chiang Mai in the North. Chiang Mai is super chill and more relaxing than Bangkok and still has that city feel. There’s a lot of good markets here as well and temples like the usual. I went to another kickboxing fight for 20 bucks and got scamed so there is the proof and I also went to an elephant sanctuary. Don’t listen to your hostel for Thai fighting they are in on it and get commission. Don’t believe everything you hear. I’m too damn nice and been getting scammed like hell saying yes to everything. If you do the whole elephant thing definitely do the humane one where you just touch it and not ride it. Also if you do it, I recommend the half day. The full day in 20 bucks more and it only includes a mud bath where they elephants lay in mud that is full of their shit and piss. It was really fucking gross and I thought I was going to catch something after watching an elephant shit and piss 10 gallons in this little pool. The washing of the elephants in the river is really cool and they are really friendly. They live a very spoiled life so you don’t feel bad at all.

In Chiang Mai everyone said I had to go to a cooking class and it is a must do. Boy were they right. I did a full day of cooking starting at 9:30am to 3pm with 7 courses for only 23 bucks. They take you to the market and show you what certain foods are and then you buy the food and head over to the cooking school to start whipping stuff up. I don’t really like the Thai food but this shit was bananas. So many flavors were attacking your taste buds and had you in the biggest high. Seven meals later I was in a food coma and falling asleep at the table. For 9 dollars cheaper you can do a half day and again just do the half day. So far that is what I learned in Thailand. Always do the half day.

The Last good bit I did in Chiang Mai was go to a lady boy show. Now I was pretty skeptical about this because some shows they legit sexually harass you groping and touching you in the places your girlfriend should only touch. I had to load myself up with some beer to prepare and then on I went to submerse myself in the culture. The lady boy show was amazing, absolutely amazing. It was like I went to a full on broadway show for 13 bucks with a free beer. The dancing and the storyline was too good and they barely even messed with you. The worst I got was some lady boy coming behind me at different acts of the show giving my nipples a twist but thats it. I was awed at how much they really look like girls and was freaked out at the same time.

Now I’m chilling in Pai just north of Chiang Mai. This is known as the hippie city of Thailand and is a must do according to the season backpacker. The journey here is an awful one with a beautiful view. A journey through the mountains of Thailand with 760 turns in a bus of a crazy Thai driver. Two people were puking their brains out the whole ride and I was hungover because of that lady boy show. I survived however and I am looking forward to see what this city has to offer.

Writing down my thoughts is very hard to do on a constant traveling routine through this lovely country. Taking pictures of everything on my actual camera is very hard too. I always think it is going to get stolen and then regret it when I don’t have it. For my next blog post I will have many more pictures for the viewer to see. I would love to describe each event to the smallest detail but there is just way too much stuff I am doing in a week and I cannot make time to blog a day by day occurrence. I love traveling and recommend people my age or a little bit older and younger to do it while they can. It’s super easy and traveling alone you’re never alone. I have been blessed to meet some many people along the way and many more in the future. Sharing my experiences with people from foreign soil and laughing and smiling along the way. The journey has just begun and good times are ahead.

The Start Of A New

I’m just going to let my mind flow for this first post and see what happens:

I am a very simple guy. I grew up in Gainesville, Florida, went to Florida Gulf Coast University to get a degree in Civil Engineering and now I am living in West Palm Beach for a job in civil engineering. This is the average route that every parent wants their young son to take growing up and oh were they proud of me…

Throughout college they were skeptical though. I was in a fraternity and every time I came home during the semester’s end I would get hammered and they would link that to me not doing well in college. Little did they know I studied my ass off all the damn time and barely had time to party like most fraternity men. The only time to party and not worry about my Structural Analysis or Fluid Mechanics test, was during holiday and oh fuck ya did I party. Well in the end I graduated and got my degree. The fam was very proud for a little bit until I went to Europe to celebrate with my buddy Junebug and backpack the whole damn place. The beautiful thing about Europe is there is absolutely no hangovers what so ever. You can be shit faced and wake up just tired in the morning it was glorious for someone like myself that feels like he’s gonna die for two days after a hard binder in the states.

At the end of the trip my tolerance for alcohol was insane. I could have 10 tall boys and feel slightly buzzed. We traveled everywhere. Started in Denmark and took a big ole loop around the continent. We went to Prague, Copenhagen, Budapest, Berlin, Osnabruck, Hamburg, Milan, Florence, Vienna, Bolzano, and honestly a lot of other places I don’t remember but you get it. Hell of a time. The ending of my trip though I had to make it back up to Sweden for my Farfar’s (grandpa) 80th birthday in Bastad. I was so excited to see the family. When I got up there I was reunited with everyone, I’m talking about sister’s, father, grandparents, aunts, uncles, my god it was great. The festivities began and this was the best way to end my trip. During these festivities however, rumors started to spread saying, ” I think Devin has a problem with drinking” and the stereotypical response, “oh yeah he’s in a frat.” Fuck that noise. Mind you I was basically sober to all these parties downing eight 12oz beers at 5%. This lead to my family looking down on me and me having to be sober at my grandfather’s birthday party. It would make sense if I was being a retard in Sweden but I wasn’t. I found this crazy because this was my celebration to my one accomplishment I made so far in my life and people were raining on my parade. To put a cherry on top one of my family members called me out and said I would never get a job and no one would want to hire me. Solid ending to the trip.

The point is people have never really believed in me. The evidence was clear throughout college and at the end of Europe. Everyone was scared that I was going down the wrong path even know I just graduated in a pretty hard major that would challenge anybody. But the thing is I always believed in myself and I know I am destined for great fucking things. I am a nice guy, fun, jolly, entertaining, hardworking, loving, and fascinated about the world we live in. I’m a god damn social butterfly that opens up to any body and I’m honest about everything. I love nature and that’s what keeps high when I’m feeling low. I love animals and want to protect and preserve what the upper man has created that we have destroyed. That’s why I chose engineering so I can be the man that could make a little impact in the world to change shit.

Well the family member was wrong. My poor self showed up back in the United States with 100 dollars in my name (because I had to pay for everything in Sweden and I did not account that in traveling expenses) and quickly started to work for an old contractor’s company I worked for as a freshman. I made a quick 500 bones in a week and went off to West Palm Beach to find a job. I love the beach so West Palm seemed dope and that’s honestly the only reason I moved here. Within 5 days of being down here I landed a job at this water resourcing company and my job title would be field inspector/project engineer. I told the company I would love to be out in the field the first few years of my engineering life because I wanted to see how the process through construction works. And I wanted to maybe lean towards construction and see the feel of it. They said hell yes that’s exactly what we are looking for and got hired the next day. Well the company was great the first few months I was out in Belle Glade, Florida looking over projects and working with the foreman and superintendents. I was doing satisfying work installing water main for the people of Belle Glade and giving them clean water from their corroded cast iron pipes that weren’t even an inch thick in diameter for some of their 50 year water mains. Then things went down hill. They pulled me into the office and I had to stare at a screen for 8 hours plus a day, doing AutoCAD work. Imagine looking at fucking screen with no windows and doing repetitious and tedious redline work the senior engineers give you for four fucking months. My god! I was going insane. I chose engineering also because I wanted to be outside on site half the time and see the actual world. Not be stuck in a office every fucking day staring at a screen like most jobs. I complained to the company and the false expectations they gave me when I was hired and they said well see what we can do. So the next week they sat me down and said, “we have a very important job for you to do” and had me on project 16-1107. The fucking manhole assessment project. A project for no engineer, no man or woman for a degree in college, a hard labor job for someone that’s trying to make it back at life starting all the way at the bottom. These fucks. They said it would only last two months and it lasted for seven, and they paired me with my roommate which me and him had to see each other every day for 8 hours and back home. My god we were like a goddamn married couple but worse. This job was horrible, we started in April and ended in October. The hottest time of the year in Florida and had to pop open manholes everyday and inspect them and measure. Two thousand manholes we had to inspect. We would pop these suckers open, see shit flowing down the channel every day and also condoms and tampons and rats. If you can only imagine what you saw if you opened up a manhole where shit goes, it’s what you would imagine. It was unbearable, hot, and smelly. The worst part is I wasn’t learning anything as an engineer or anything that could help my career. I told myself if I don’t get what I want after this torture for seven months I’m fucking leaving. Sure enough they had me back in the office doing the redlines all over and I quit two weeks later. I never thought in my life sitting in those hard classes in school thinking I would be staring at shit all day with my major in the hot brutal sun of Florida.

I do not know what the reader thinks of this but I’m sure everyone goes through some kind of struggle that can relate. My outlet through these rough times was going out in nature and finding moments in time where something magical happens. If you sit still out in nature long enough, you’ll see something. If you don’t hunt I’m sorry, but the best part of the hunt is just sitting invisible to the true world and seeing marvelous things in the four hours of sitting, it’s truly therapeutic. I feel so connected to nature and the woods, everything just makes sense. Out in the woods I always saw really cool shit and I would say damn I wish I would of captured that moment. A light bulb popped in my head and said buy a camera and start taking pictures of these moments. You have an eye (I think) and certain way you look at the world and share it with people. So I started doing this and it has become quite a hobby and a passion. I usually just go out on a nature trail and enjoy myself. Whenever I think is a moment of happeness, I like to call it, I get out the camera and start taking pictures. I do other things to keep my mind at ease like working out and socializing with people over a beer. I also have an obsession with free diving and would swim a quarter mile out off shore with some fins and just stare at all the sea life Palm Beach has to offer on the corals. It’s a whole other world down there and it keeps my mind wandering with amazement.

This blog is a cluster fuck of ideas that I just need to play with and make this slowly develop. The idea of making this blog was to give you guys a story of a simple guy like myself facing the world at age 24. One year out of college, just quit his job and now has some money to finally do wanted he wanted to do. Go traveling and experience new things. Find myself and find the true meaning of why I am here and take pictures of my adventure. Show the reader the beauty of the world and a little of my own outlook on it. After I left my job I started to plan. The plan is as of right now to go to Thailand for two months and then Australia to land a job. I leave for Thailand December 5th and land in Bangkok. I plan on backpacking the whole thing alone and showing you guys a day by day (or maybe every few days) of the journey. Pictures will definitely be included. Speaking about pictures, let me show you so of my nature pictures that I take from time to time.

Here’s a picture of a little blue heron out in wetlands of West Palm Beach mid way in chomping down a fish in a puddle.

woodpeck

Pileated Woodpecker on slash pine.

deer

Curious doe

westpalmsky

Fire Sky out in West Palm Beach intercoastal

plant

Plant in the light

These are just a couple and I have a lot more that I’ll post from time to time. The paragraphs before were just a scramble of my life in the past year. No real detail or precise story, just frames of memory in my head typed in this blog. A certain look into my recent life a somewhat of a feel of what I’ve been going through, so I’m sorry if it is sloppy.

The world is a beautiful place and too many times you have influences like your family and expectations that they want to see in you. They want you to take a path that has already been paved an easy route to a destination that you already know. They get concerned when you start walking a wobbly line. Veering side to side to slowly getting off that paved road. Pestering you to stay on track or else you’ll get lost. Sometimes though in life you need to get lost to be found and find something that you would have never known unless you strayed from the road. Go into the woods and explore a world that you only saw from the window of your car. There is fear and there is uncomfortableness in these woods, but with this lies opportunity and life lessons you will need in order to be successful. A new route that will be formed and a beaten path that people might respect and dare to take. Be yourself and follow your heart. Let know one tell you what to do. Listen to people and hear what they have to say, but in the end the world is yours and go find your destiny. Come with me on my journey and let me show you the world through my eyes. Starting now sitting in my apartment in West Palm Beach typing this, to going to Thailand to with an open mind. I have been a bird trapped in a cage with restraints and now I am free and will start to learn how to fly.