The last few days have been nothing less than amazing! Peter and i decided to skip the day in Lijiang and head to the Tiger Leaping Gorge! He thought it would be the best way to spend his birthday!
The tiger Leaping Gorge is a 2 day trek around the world's deepest gorge! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_Leaping_Gorge
The trek ranges from moderate to difficult. But it was comletely worth it. The gorge could possibly be China's most beautiful sight!
Somehow during the trek i happened to have strained?/dislocated? my knee and now it is a little difficult to walk or bend. Not too sure how it will heal, but if it doesnt heal by the time i get to Kunming i will see if i can go to the doctor. i plan to take today in Lijiang just to relax. Unfortunately it is cold and rainy today which is why i am hiding away in this internet cafe. haha
Will update soon :)
heading back to Kunming tomorrow and then off to Guilin
Monday, April 20, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
Day 46 I LOVE CHINA
April 17th, 2009
China thus far has far exceeded my expectations! First of all, (although ive been in China for just a few days) China seems to be relatively clean. Secondly, I havent been pushed around by crazy amounts of people (im waiting for Shanghai) and lastly, ive only been scammed once (that i know of) while being here and i was quite sure i was being scammed at the time haha
My only complain so far is the toilets. The toilets in CHina have got to be some of the uncleanliness toilets in the world (its a bold statement, but im pretty sure its true). Many of the toilets do not have doors and some toilets are "temporarily unavailable" merely for the fact that there are feces all around the squatter.
But otherwise, the view can't get any better and everything seems to be fairly developed. Maybe it is because i am coming from Laos and Cambodia, but it seems like things are pretty well organised around here. Mind you, i probably have to get out of the Yunnan province to see what most hong kongese people are talking about. But so far so good.
My day in Kunming has been spent with two guys from Amsterdam who were super nice and very talented guitar players. I left them the next day as they were heading to Guangzhou and i to Dali.
My new friend Peter from Norway decided to take advantage of the morning, and take a quick walk around the old town of Dali and then spend the afternoon biking around the area. We biked for about 6 hours (got mildly sunburned) but the scenery was beautiful. Dali is a small city that is nestled between mountains so you can imagine how gorgeous it was. We first started out just circling the temples (didnt go in because it was too expensive), and afterwards decided to head towards the lake, where we met a chinese couple from the Hainan province and toured the local villages for a bit and the river side.
In the evening we got on a bus and am no in Lijiang. It just might be one of my favourite places so far. :)
Tomorrow i may be heading to Tiger Leaping Gorge.
China thus far has far exceeded my expectations! First of all, (although ive been in China for just a few days) China seems to be relatively clean
My only complain so far is the toilets. The toilets in CHina have got to be some of the uncleanliness toilets in the world (its a bold statement, but im pretty sure its true). Many of the toilets do not have doors and some toilets are "temporarily unavailable" merely for the fact that there are feces all around the squatter.
But otherwise, the view can't get any better and everything seems to be fairly developed. Maybe it is because i am coming from Laos and Cambodia, but it seems like things are pretty well organised around here. Mind you, i probably have to get out of the Yunnan province to see what most hong kongese people are talking about. But so far so good.
My day in Kunming has been spent with two guys from Amsterdam who were super nice and very talented guitar players. I left them the next day as they were heading to Guangzhou and i to Dali.
My new friend Peter from Norway decided to take advantage of the morning, and take a quick walk around the old town of Dali and then spend the afternoon biking around the area. We biked for about 6 hours (got mildly sunburned) but the scenery was beautiful. Dali is a small city that is nestled between mountains so you can imagine how gorgeous it was. We first started out just circling the temples (didnt go in because it was too expensive), and afterwards decided to head towards the lake, where we met a chinese couple from the Hainan province and toured the local villages for a bit and the river side.
In the evening we got on a bus and am no in Lijiang. It just might be one of my favourite places so far. :)
Tomorrow i may be heading to Tiger Leaping Gorge.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
DAY 41
HAPPY EASTER
Theres something about Laos that makes you wanna stay, relax, have a drink and do absolutely nothing at all.
Today i got myself out of the room and headed over to the book cafe where i traded in my book "The Beach" for "The Davinci code", had a pot of some amazing ginger tea and garlic bread.
Left the cafe to buy my bus ticket to Luangnamtha, ran into some old friends and made a new friend in the process, had dinner, and went to the market. It was a simple, yet awsome day!
Although i don't wanna move, i finally decided to get myself out of Luang Prabang and head to Luangnamtha. From there, i'm going to try to catch a bus and head up to Muang Sing and see if i can catch some trekking before heading up to China. :)
Theres something about Laos that makes you wanna stay, relax, have a drink and do absolutely nothing at all.
Today i got myself out of the room and headed over to the book cafe where i traded in my book "The Beach" for "The Davinci code", had a pot of some amazing ginger tea and garlic bread.
Left the cafe to buy my bus ticket to Luangnamtha, ran into some old friends and made a new friend in the process, had dinner, and went to the market. It was a simple, yet awsome day!
Although i don't wanna move, i finally decided to get myself out of Luang Prabang and head to Luangnamtha. From there, i'm going to try to catch a bus and head up to Muang Sing and see if i can catch some trekking before heading up to China. :)
Saturday, April 11, 2009
DAY 40
Sunday April 12th, 2009
I decided to take today to rest and finally get some proper sleep. The past few days in Vang Vieng were awesome, but an uninterrupted sleep is almost impossible. Why? Two reasons: 1. Our door was in desperate need of some oiling, so if i or my roomie needed to get out of the room to use the toilet, you cant help but be woken up by the creaking of the door. 2. Its true what they say, the roosters literally wake you up every morning, so i was up pretty much before 9 every morning, even if i had a late night.
After taking my time getting up and ready for the day i decided that my stomach pains must be due to hunger, so i got out and got some Indian breakfast. Bad choice. Ended up feeling gassy and nautious the entire day. Despite my overall feeling of unwellness i decided to take advantage of the day and get some bike riding in to see what Luang Prabang is all about. I'm very bad for aimless walking without a real idea of where im going, so in combination with a bike i got myself a little lost and found myself near the airport and in dire need of some sugar/liquid. If you leave the main tourist area of Luang Prabang, finding a cold beverage is probably the hardest thing to do. The locals solve the proble,m by pouring the beverage into a plastic bad and cooling it with some ice. Since i dont know whether or not the water in the ice has been filtered or not i disappointedly accepted the warm miranda.
Laos New Years is just around the corner, so in celebration Laos children were taking waterguns, buckets, roses, bottles, pretty much anything that could hold water and spraying people as they pass by. The people who got it the worse were the people on bikes aka me. One group of guys rode passed me and dumped an entire bucket of water over my head. Although i didn't appreciate that so much, some water to cool me down was not so bad. :)
I eventually found my way back and passed out on my bed.
Later in the evening i met up with another Torontonian i had found on Couchsurfing. FINALLY!! Another Torontonian! You'll meet Canadians all over Canada travelling, but to meet a torontonian is rare. I guess it's the big city mentality: people in Toronto are too busy climbing the corporate ladder to travel. I did actually meet a Toronto couple once when i was in Thailand, but there were both doctors and already established and decided to take a month off to travel.
I have yet to meet someone from NYC.
Tomorrow i am going to spend another day in Luang Prabang. I dont think my stomach can handle a 12 hour bus ride to Muang Sing.
p.s. The handicraft market here is AMAAAAAAAAAZING!!!
I decided to take today to rest and finally get some proper sleep. The past few days in Vang Vieng were awesome, but an uninterrupted sleep is almost impossible. Why? Two reasons: 1. Our door was in desperate need of some oiling, so if i or my roomie needed to get out of the room to use the toilet, you cant help but be woken up by the creaking of the door. 2. Its true what they say, the roosters literally wake you up every morning, so i was up pretty much before 9 every morning, even if i had a late night.
After taking my time getting up and ready for the day i decided that my stomach pains must be due to hunger, so i got out and got some Indian breakfast. Bad choice. Ended up feeling gassy and nautious the entire day. Despite my overall feeling of unwellness i decided to take advantage of the day and get some bike riding in to see what Luang Prabang is all about. I'm very bad for aimless walking without a real idea of where im going, so in combination with a bike i got myself a little lost and found myself near the airport and in dire need of some sugar/liquid. If you leave the main tourist area of Luang Prabang, finding a cold beverage is probably the hardest thing to do. The locals solve the proble,m by pouring the beverage into a plastic bad and cooling it with some ice. Since i dont know whether or not the water in the ice has been filtered or not i disappointedly accepted the warm miranda.
Laos New Years is just around the corner, so in celebration Laos children were taking waterguns, buckets, roses, bottles, pretty much anything that could hold water and spraying people as they pass by. The people who got it the worse were the people on bikes aka me. One group of guys rode passed me and dumped an entire bucket of water over my head. Although i didn't appreciate that so much, some water to cool me down was not so bad. :)
I eventually found my way back and passed out on my bed.
Later in the evening i met up with another Torontonian i had found on Couchsurfing. FINALLY!! Another Torontonian! You'll meet Canadians all over Canada travelling, but to meet a torontonian is rare. I guess it's the big city mentality: people in Toronto are too busy climbing the corporate ladder to travel. I did actually meet a Toronto couple once when i was in Thailand, but there were both doctors and already established and decided to take a month off to travel.
I have yet to meet someone from NYC.
Tomorrow i am going to spend another day in Luang Prabang. I dont think my stomach can handle a 12 hour bus ride to Muang Sing.
p.s. The handicraft market here is AMAAAAAAAAAZING!!!
Thursday, April 9, 2009
DAY 37
Thursday April 9th, 2009
After a few days in Vientiene I decided to make my way up to Vang Vieng. I reconnected with the group i had traveled with from Cambodia and Laos. The group had consisted of a Norweigan couple, and two English guys.
Vang Vieng is exactly what everyone described to me: Scenic views, relaxing atmosphere, tubing down the river. I can see why people come to Vang Vieng and decided to stay for weeks and sometimes months! The first full day in Vang Vieng i decided to skip the relaxation and do some rock climbing. Vang Vieng is supposed to have some of the best rock climbing in all of South East Asia, so i decided it was something i had to do! Being a beginner climber, i didnt get very far but managed to clear the 4 and 5 walls!
The next day i did some tubing inside a cave, which was really cool! The cave wasnt very big, and the entire journey took maybe about 20 minutes. We were given flashlights to wear around our heads and when we got to the end of the cave we turned them off. Trying to navigate through the cave without the lights would have been a bit difficult and scary because once the lights were out the cave was completely dark! Thank God there were no bats!
Next up was kayaking through the river. Kayaking rather than tubing through the river was awesome because we kayak a longer route than the tubers. Kayaking was surprisingly relaxing as we were going with the current. In the middle of out trip we made a pit stop for some drinks and some fun in the water. Most of the bars along the river have zip lines where you can zip line into the water. One of them even had a slide which ends a few meters above water. It took me a while to muster up the courage to get on it, but once i did it was well worth it!
After all the activities, i decided oto take a couple days and just relax and get some tubing in.
Tomorrow i continue North for Luang Prabang :)
After a few days in Vientiene I decided to make my way up to Vang Vieng. I reconnected with the group i had traveled with from Cambodia and Laos. The group had consisted of a Norweigan couple, and two English guys.
Vang Vieng is exactly what everyone described to me: Scenic views, relaxing atmosphere, tubing down the river. I can see why people come to Vang Vieng and decided to stay for weeks and sometimes months! The first full day in Vang Vieng i decided to skip the relaxation and do some rock climbing. Vang Vieng is supposed to have some of the best rock climbing in all of South East Asia, so i decided it was something i had to do! Being a beginner climber, i didnt get very far but managed to clear the 4 and 5 walls!
The next day i did some tubing inside a cave, which was really cool! The cave wasnt very big, and the entire journey took maybe about 20 minutes. We were given flashlights to wear around our heads and when we got to the end of the cave we turned them off. Trying to navigate through the cave without the lights would have been a bit difficult and scary because once the lights were out the cave was completely dark! Thank God there were no bats!
Next up was kayaking through the river. Kayaking rather than tubing through the river was awesome because we kayak a longer route than the tubers. Kayaking was surprisingly relaxing as we were going with the current. In the middle of out trip we made a pit stop for some drinks and some fun in the water. Most of the bars along the river have zip lines where you can zip line into the water. One of them even had a slide which ends a few meters above water. It took me a while to muster up the courage to get on it, but once i did it was well worth it!
After all the activities, i decided oto take a couple days and just relax and get some tubing in.
Tomorrow i continue North for Luang Prabang :)
Monday, March 30, 2009
DAY 28
Tuesday March 31st, 2009
The past few days on Don Det has been really really relaxing. I was fortunate to get on a bus with a good group of people, we hit it off fairly quickly and decided to stay in the same guesthouse on the island. Did a lot of nothing on the island but relax, play cards and sleep.
What to do next. Maybe Savannahnekhet? Maybe Vientiene?
The past few days on Don Det has been really really relaxing. I was fortunate to get on a bus with a good group of people, we hit it off fairly quickly and decided to stay in the same guesthouse on the island. Did a lot of nothing on the island but relax, play cards and sleep.
What to do next. Maybe Savannahnekhet? Maybe Vientiene?
Friday, March 27, 2009
DAY 24
Friday March 27th, 2009
I arrived to Kratie today at about 4:00pm. The original plan was to stay in Kratie for a couple days befor heading off to Laos. Now that i am here, i realise that it is literally a stop over for those who are going overland to and from Laos. The town here is really cute, but very very small. It's impossible not to run into the same people a few times in a day.
The highlight of Kratie is that it lies right beside the Mekong River and has sightings of the Irrawdy dolphins! I decided to hire a moto and make my way down to the dolphin sightings. The sighting spot is about 15 km away, so i also got a really awesome view of the surrouding villages during my ride there. When i got there soon learned that the boat ride is 9$ US, which is a huge jump from 2 - 3$ US that was quoted in the Lonely Planet and by the moto driver. So i decided to pass (it was almost sunset anyways) and try my luck on the Laos side.
I got back just in time to catch the sunset, which has got to be the most glorious sunset i have ever seen in my life.
Afterwards i decided to get my hair washed the Cambodian way. The wash here is a mix of massage and wash. They have you sit in a chair while they squeeze a combo of water and shampoo into your head, and pretty much scratch your scalp for the next 10 minutes, followed by a quick wash, and head and shoulder massage. i think they definitely got all that grime off my head. haha
The bugs are getting to me, its time for me to go.
I arrived to Kratie today at about 4:00pm. The original plan was to stay in Kratie for a couple days befor heading off to Laos. Now that i am here, i realise that it is literally a stop over for those who are going overland to and from Laos. The town here is really cute, but very very small. It's impossible not to run into the same people a few times in a day.
The highlight of Kratie is that it lies right beside the Mekong River and has sightings of the Irrawdy dolphins! I decided to hire a moto and make my way down to the dolphin sightings. The sighting spot is about 15 km away, so i also got a really awesome view of the surrouding villages during my ride there. When i got there soon learned that the boat ride is 9$ US, which is a huge jump from 2 - 3$ US that was quoted in the Lonely Planet and by the moto driver. So i decided to pass (it was almost sunset anyways) and try my luck on the Laos side.
I got back just in time to catch the sunset, which has got to be the most glorious sunset i have ever seen in my life.
Afterwards i decided to get my hair washed the Cambodian way. The wash here is a mix of massage and wash. They have you sit in a chair while they squeeze a combo of water and shampoo into your head, and pretty much scratch your scalp for the next 10 minutes, followed by a quick wash, and head and shoulder massage. i think they definitely got all that grime off my head. haha
The bugs are getting to me, its time for me to go.
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