Into Malaysia: Langkawi

February 4, 2016

After leaving Koh Lipe in Thailand it was an hour and a half ferry to the Malaysian island of Langkawi. They give you a tourist map of the island on arrival, which is nice. It’s a cute map with little drawing and diagrams, and then in the corner it says “Smuggling drugs is punishable by death” Duly noted! So I took a taxi to the main beach area and found a 4 bed hostel with a Canadian, another American, and a Malaysian. Three North Americans in one room is quite the rare occurrence. We all had jobs pretty conducive to traveling, the Canadian was some sort of big machine operator in the Yukon (and always had 3 months off during the coldest part of winter) and the American owned a hostel in Austin, and had his manager running things in the slowest part of the year. Owning a hostel is definitely something I would be interested in!

So we went out for some Indian foods (one of the biggest differences in Malaysia is the diversity of the food options: Chinese, middle eastern, Indian, etc), some beers and hookah on the beach. Before we went back to bed someone asked if any of use were snorers. We all said no, so we should be all good…

As soon as we get near the door we hear some very loud guttural noises coming from inside the room. We walk in and this big shirtless Malaysian dude is lying on his back snoring like a congested walrus. He looks like he’s been shot with a horse tranquilizer. I mean he didn’t even bat an eye when we walked in and turned on the lights. We’re all looking at each other like ‘are you serious?’ I’ve heard bad snoring before (Ed) but this guy takes the cake. He truly did sound like a buzz saw. After maybe half an hour of lying wide awake in our beds the guy closest to him trying to wake him up by clapping next to his face. Nothing. After shaking his leg he kind mumbled something and stopped snoring… for like 3 minutes and then it was on again. Aghghgh.

I might have slept for 2 hours, dreaming I was in some sort of hellish sawmill. All of us rolled out of bed around 9:00 and he was still in the exact same position, snoring as loudly and consistently as ever. Pretty impressive! We headed to breakfast to bitch about our predicament. Dorm rooms can really suck. Which I'll complain about later.

But anyway, that morning the American guy bought an $18 (!!) flight to Kuala Lumpur, so me and Dustin decided to rent bikes and cruise around the island, which always the best way! We stopped at a waterfall, a really nice beach, a mangrove forest filled with weird looking mudfish, and then watched the planes fly right over our head as we passed the airport. A good day!

When we got back, my friend from Koh Lipe, Renato, had joined our room, while the two girls stayed at the hostel next door. To our dismay the Malaysian guy's stuff was still there, so when we were figuring out what to do, we decided alcohol would certainly be in the plan. Renato hopped on my bike and we headed to the duty free store down the road. Being a muslim country, hard alcohol is not exactly readily available. On our way home a team of police officers shined their flash lights at us and motioned for us for to pull over. Uh oh. No helmets :0. I had worn it all day, but didn't think to put it on for our quick trip down the street. Unlike Thailand and pretty much everywhere else in SE Asia, Malaysia has strict helmut rules. And it was true, we looked at all the bikes going by and every single rider wore a helmet! So we got binged for $35 or something, which is certainly more than a Malay would pay, but oh well, lesson learned.

We ended up going out to the island's only club that night, which was an interesting mix of local tourists, Asian tourists, and Western tourists. Expensive, but fun. And we didn't have worry about the snoring keeping us awake because we all crashed hard! So the next day was pretty chill, just lying on the beach an doing nothing. We had one more night at the beach hookah place and then Renato and I were off to the next island, Pengang.

Last stop in Thailand: Koh Lipe

January 28, 2016

I had decided that I would travel all the way down to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia before flying to Indonesia, so Koh Lipe was an obvious choice on my map, as it is the southernmost Thai Island, and it's extremely easy to take a boat to the Malaysian island of Langkawi. I bought tickets for the 11:00 'speedboat', expecting to arrive in Koh Lipe at 2:30pm. HA! The boat arrived one hour late, then about an hour and half in, one of the engines blew out or something. Not too surprising for SE Asia, but I expected better from Thailand! So what was going to be 2 hours, turned into something like 7?! We huffed and puffed out our way there and got in at 8:30pm. Really fun travel day!

Of course I couldn't find a guesthouse that wasn't booked up and finally ran into an Italian girl who asked me if I needed a room. Yep! She showed me to the Shanti guesthouse, which consisted of a 10 person dorm room and one bathroom. No AC, no common area, no towels, no blankets. No frills! The only person in there at the time looked like he was dead, possibly decomposing on the bed. Perfect!

Now Koh Lipe is also a very small island. It has 3 main beaches, all walkable within 20 minutes. Of course almost all the walkways are completely lined with shops, hotels, and restaurants. There's a lot going on Koh Lipe! It seems to be a favorite of the Asian tourists, who along with the Russians, are slowly taking over Thailand from the Europeans! And the prices are accordingly high, I think its the most expensive island on Thailand I've experienced. But one of the really nice things about Lipe is it has very good snorkeling right off its beaches. As long as you can dodge the longtail boats plying back and forth you can find vibrant reefs with good visibility at any of the 3 beaches. So that's what I did the first afternoon.

Later on I would meet some of the people in the dorm room. There were 2 Finnish girls, a dutch girl, and Chilean guy, all of whom I'd end up spending the rest of my time on the island with (minus one Finnish girl who had to get home). So originally I was going to find a new place to stay, but I liked our crew, so I figured i'd stick around. We didn't do much besides go the beach and snorkeling, although I did get around to one day of diving, despite the fact it was 50% more than Koh Tao, and I'm trying to save up for diving in Indonesia! Sadly it wasn't very good. According to our scuba diving boat captain, the dive site we did our first 2 dives at had some of the worst visibility in the last 12 years he'd been gong there. So I guess that was unlucky. The third dive site was really nice though, so we ended on a good note. But other than that it was just eating lots of Thai food and going to chilled out beach bars or movie nights. We watched Armaggedon. America saves the world again!! I was little drunk and may or may not have shed a tear during the scene when Bruce Willis talks with his daughter after locking Ben Affleck out of the tunnel to detonate the bomb. But anyway! On to Langkawi (Malaysia) for me. The rest of the group would be coming the next day, but I was getting restless on Koh Lipe.

So overall it was a pretty good time in Thailand! Although I will say that I didn't have nearly have as much fun as I did when I was 25, when I still fit in with the younger party crowd. It's seriously difficult to meet any independent travelers over 25. Or maybe I was looking in the wrong places. I dunno, but I kinda felt like I was too old for Thailand.

Sadly, I didn't feel like I took too many good travel shots in Thailand. Part of it had to do with me having a bum ankle and part of it was just being uninspired. Of course there is nice scenery, and I got some nice shots of the sunsets and the longtail boats and stuff, but good travel photography involves people! And every Thai on these islands are just there to serve the tourists, so you never see any locals doing anything other than running shops and guesthouses or whatever. On the beach its just all tourists. So while in certain countries I'm compelled to wake every other morning at 5am because the local culture is just so damn interesting (Myanmar!), In Thailand I was just wasn't really motivated to go out shooting that much. Boo Hoo. Indonesia will be better!

Malaysia is next!

Island Hopping in the Andaman

January 28, 2016

So where I left off I was on Koh Tao, I was pretty immobile with a sprained ankle. After a few more days of riding my motorbike 600 feet to the beach road and hobbling to the sand, it was about time to go. At this point I felt I could carry all my crap and walk well enough to get on an off the longtail boats and ferries without falling in the water. I had decided the next island would be Koh Mook. Four years ago in Thailand I did all the really touristy stuff on Phuket, Railay, and Koh Phi Phi, so I figured I would give those a pass this time. The scenery around there is absolutely spectacular, but I felt like I had already met enough of the 18 year old-european-gap year-party crowd on Koh Tao. Koh Mook is a small, sleepy island further south on the Andaman coast known mostly known for its very cool natural formation called the Emerald Cave.

So from Koh Tao it was a 6 hour night ferry, a 3 hour bus ride, and another 30 minute boat trip and I was there. This island is small enough that it only has one road that connects the two main beaches. The one I ended up on was called farang (foreigner) beach, which was a bad sign, but I was too lazy to try and make it to the other side of the island. There was one resort that dominates the beach and then you basically have to walk through it to get to the bungalows that line the road boing back inland. I met a French Canadian couple and ended up at the same bungalows they were staying at, which were just simple bed+fan type places. And then it was time to hit the beach!

View from Farang Beach. Of course this girl wasn't single

The beachfront is very nice, with some karst formations off in the distance. But besides the beach, there isn't really anything to do at all on the island. So after beaching it the first afternoon I took the motorcycle taxi over to the other side the next day. The beach didn't have the nice white sand like on falang beach, but it had a nice mix of local houses and fishermen mixed with bungalows, which is more my style. I ended up meeting two very entertaining Dutch guys who had opened a bar on this beach with intent of skipping out on Holland for 5 months of the year and doing nothing but drinking every day. When they found out I was a poker player they decided to organize a tournament consisting of Thai chicken crackers and peanuts as the poker chips. We started with something silly like 15 big blinds, which is basically nothing, and of course I lost the first three times and had to buy the next rounds of beers before winning the fourth, so I didn't look like a total chump! I thought it was pretty cool that they were able to open their own bar in Thailand, but man there's no way I could just lay around and drink all day for months on end, but to each their own. You meet lots of interesting characters traveling!

Taking the kayak out at sunset. Look at those sexy legs

The next morning it was time to hit the Emerald Cave. On my end of the island its was basically all couples and families with kids, so I would be going this one alone. Apparently all the tour boats get there in the afternoon, so the best time to go is the morning low tide. Most people take the longboats there, but you can also kayak, so that was the obvious choice. I woke up at 6:30 and was on my way. It was only half an hour in when I saw the wooden sign perched on the rocks that said Emerald Cave. Time to put on the headlamp! To get to the cave you kayak through a pitch black tunnel, which is only possible at low tide. It was pretty freaking awesome. And creepy. Kayaking all by yourself through the dark passageway. After a while you see a light in the distance. You paddle towards it, and once you get to the end you pull your kayak out on a totally untouched beach. And its not any beach! It's completely surrounded on all sides by cheer limestone cliffs. Ok so its not a real cave, but an open air cave if you will, only accessible during low tide. I was actually the second kayak to arrive, so I didn't have it all to myself, but whatever. It was great. The couple left soon after I got there, then I had it all to myself. For a few minutes!

Shot from iphone. I wussed out bringing my big camera. You can see the entrance on the left

Soon some German girls arrived, and I ended up following them and their guide to a nice snorkel location outside the cave before heading back. Definitely the best morning I've had on the trip so far. And with that it was time to pack and head to the next island, the latest beautiful Thai island experiencing blatant overdevelopment, Koh Lipe!

Bangkok to Koh Tao

January 11, 2016

So as it turns out the 'tribute to my backpack' post was entirely unnecessary, as the day after I posted that, I got an email from Hong Kong Airlines informing me that my bag was found and that it would be delivered to my hotel the next day. So that was good news! I just had to wait around in Bangkok for an extra day or two. Of course I had already spent like $300 replacing all the clothes and other essential electronic items in my backpack, but whatever. My friend Mila already went back up North to resume her English teaching, so I did absolutely nothing but wander around, get massages and smoke hookah for two days. Bangkok has a big Arab quarter, and the hookah places there are absolutely fantastic!

As soon as my bag arrived I booked the overnight bus and ferry combo to koh tao to do some diving. 8 hours by bus and 2 hours by ferry and we were there! Koh Tao is a pretty small island, known to be a bit more laid back than its neighbor koh phangan. It's also a Scuba diving certificate factory! I don't know exactly how many dive shops there are here, but its probably 50+. Every other shop on the beach road is a dive shop. This kind of competition also means very affordable diving. Now from what I researched, koh tao doesn't exactly have amazing diving. Places in Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines have much better diving, but none of those places are nearly as heavily touristed as Thailand, hence its reputation as the most popular diving spot in SE Asia.

To be honest, I didn't really care that the diving wouldn't be spectacular, as I was mainly stopping here to do my rescue diver certification on the cheap. Rescue Diver is basically a course that teaches you how to respond to any type of emergency that can happen while diving, and I'd been diving long enough (and with enough beginner divers) that I figured it would be something beneficial to learn. Originally I'd hoped that I could join a group taking this same class, but it seems that 98% of divers on koh tao are either taking their open water or advanced course. So it would just be a one on one. In order to take the class I also had to get certified as an emergency first responder (basically first aid), which is mostly bookwork and demonstrating CPR on a dummy. So the first day I spent watching super lame videos, taking notes, doing quizzes, and going over the answers with the instructor. The second day was in the pool, going over all the types of diver emergency situations and how to properly respond to them. And the third day would be the same thing, but in the open water. But as it turned out I wasn't able to finish the class...

If you're on Koh Tao and see anyone with any type of injury, there is only one assumption as to what caused it: Motorbike! Koh Tao has some terrible roads and slew of 18-22 year old drivers who have never driven a motorbike before. And some 30 year olds who think they can ride... But to my defense I haven't dropped a bike in a long time, since my wipeout in Koh Phangan four years ago, which left me with a nice 'koh phangan tattoo' on my right foot. I'd like to think I'm a much better rider than I was then, but lo and behold, another accident. After my rescue diving class I took my sweet 110 hp, semi automatic scooter out to the southern end of the island with the intention of hiking up to the viewpoint around sunset, which I did. I met a brazilian guy up there who had taken a taxi to get out there (which are ripoffs). Seeing as we were going back to the same place I offered him a ride on the back of my bike. It wasn't a difficult ride, just one steep uphill section followed by a steep downhill section.

The uphill part was a breeze. But as we started on the downhill part there was a truck coming up the road (a rare occurrence) which forced us off to the side of the road, which unbeknownst to me, had a lot of sand/gravel. So as I was applying the brakes, nothing was happening. This was the scary part! With the extra weight we were skidding and picking up speed and still had a long way to go to get to the bottom. I didn't think I would be able to stop the bike from skidding so I decided to bail off to the side of the road, which fortunately was clear, just a grass/dirt mix. The brazilian guy was able to hop off the back of the bike, I went down with it. We weren't going fast, I just ended up with few small scrapes on my knee and elbow, but my foot got caught under the bike when it went down, so I sprained my ankle pretty good. At first I felt nothing, but as the night went on my ankle got even more stiff, and when I woke up the next morning I could hardly put weight on it. Not Good!

I went to the clinic the next day, there wasn't too much bruising or swelling, and they labelled it as a level II sprain, which unsurprisingly is more than a mild sprain, but not a severe one. Probably a few weeks to get back to 100%. The last few days I've been doing the whole RICE thing: rest, ice, compression, elevate. It's also been boring as hell. My scooter, which got me into this whole mess, is also the thing that makes my life so much easier, as I just have to walk the 10 feet from my door to my bike and I can get wherever I want. As I mention earlier I couldn't finish up my rescue diver class, but fortunately I got a referral so I can finish up the open water stuff at the next PADI dive shop I make it to. My ankle has gotten much much better in the last few days, so I can walk with only a slight limp now, and I actually went diving today and did just fine, so all is good! I'm leaving Koh Tao tomorrow, taking a ferry/bus/boat combo to an island called Koh Mook, where I plan on taking it pretty easy! I've been on this island too long now and the crowd is way too young for me, so I'm pretty excited to get outta here!

Sorry Mom and Dad I'll be safer the rest of the trip!

Tribute to my backpack

January 2, 2016

Well now that is more than likely I’ll never see my big backpack again I’d like to dedicate this post to it: my Granite Gear Viga ultralight, a true beast of a backpack. This thing has been through everything you can think of for the last 7 years. It’s been through 20 something countries, numerous backcountry excursions, it’s been up to 5,500 meters and sub zero temperatures in the Himalayas, it’s been thoroughly sweated through hiking in the jungle, It’s been completely caked in dust, shat on by birds, soaked by saltwater on little dinghies, tossed around to no end and used as pillow or chair countless times. Hell, it was even used as a landing pad when we flipped a motorbike going up a crazy incline in Indonesia.

Of course it wasn’t in as good shape as it used to be, it was gnawed by rats in Malaysia, had a buckle snapped off by a hurried taxi driver in India, and the drawstring to cinch it shut was lost somewhere in the Philippines. But none of that stopped it from being a champion. The suspension in the shoulders was still good despite me packing much more than the recommended weight when I was traveling. You’d think after all this wear and tear the seams would start ripping somewhere, but it never happened, which is a testament to its extremely simple and efficient design.

Who knows how long I could have kept going with this pack if god damn Hainan airways wouldn’t have misdirected it to Kazikistan or god knows where. Well anyway, it was a good ride. Also props to my tarptent, coleman synthetic down sleepingback, and my pocket rocket stove, which I bought all at the same time, and are now also in Turkbekistan presumably. Anyway, looks like I’ll be traveling light this trip! So long my sweet prince.

Back to Asia!

January 2, 2016

Well I've returned my favorite continent in the world to travel, Asia. Welcome back, readers. This time around I'm only planning on going to two completely new countries, but there's so many places I have yet visit that there will be very little overlap with places I've been before, barring the major cities/tourist hubs like Bangkok, Bali, Singapore, Manila etc. But I'm still figuring out what I want to do, so nothing is exactly set in stone.

At the moment I'm in Bangkok, where I got to meet up with not one, but two old travel buddies! The first one (and planned meet up) was Mila, who I met three years ago while hiking in Yunnan (China), where we backpacked, hiked, and hitchhiked around SW along with a few other Chinese university students on a very university student sized budget! Then I found out Frank was in town, who I had originally met hiking the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal 5 years ago, so we got to meet up, take down some Sangsum buckets, and celebrate New Years together. So it's been a good couple of days!

Kho San Road was ridiculous for New Years

On the negative side of things, my big backpack got lost somewhere on the connection between Beijing and Hong Kong, and the airline still doesn't know where it is. At this point (after 72 hours) the airline has labeled it 'irretrievable' and now I'm filling out paperwork and trying to find receipts for all the things that I had in it. Good thing I do a lot of online shopping! It had mostly clothes, photography accessories, small electronics, and all my camping gear. Nothing irreplaceable, but still super annoying. So I went to electronics mall to pick up the stuff I've deemed absolutely essential, and to the cheapo clothing mall to buy myself the finest in this years Thai fashions. Underwear for $3, t shirts for $6, shorts for $10. And the button on the shorts already fell off! But anyway, I'm almost good to go!

So back to this years trip... I was originally thinking I might fly directly to Indonesia to get diving right away, but I forgot how much I like Thailand, despite all the tourists, and will stay here for two weeks. I figure I'll get my rescue diver certification for cheap on the island of Koh Tao and then keep heading south towards the Trang province to check out some more islands (Koh Lipe and Koh muuk) before crossing the border into Malaysia. As of now this is what I think my probably overly optimistic itinerary for my 5 month trip kinda sorta is:

MAROON = DESTINATIONS              RED = OVERLAND       BLUE = AIR        GREEN = FERRY — MAROON = DESTINATIONS RED = OVERLAND BLUE = AIR GREEN = FERRY

So the overview is this:

A few weeks in Thailand/Malaysia, mostly just chilling on islands

Fly to Indonesia, check out Ijen sulfur mines/volcanoes, quick trip to Bali, then get out to the middle of nowhere for a couple weeks and hit some of the worlds best diving locations at Raja Ampat (3 dots).

Get back to the big island of Sulawesi and then take a ferry over to Borneo (the big island that contains indonesia, malaysia, and brunei) and do some more diving.

Take a ferry to southern Philippines (where the Muslims live, oh no!) and spend a couple weeks checking out things on the island of Mindanao.

Then get back to Manila, apply for a visa to Vietnam, and play some poker while I wait. After that take a flight to Ho Chi Minh City and start working my way up all the way to Hanoi, possibly by motorbike.

After getting to Hanoi, apply for a Chineses Visa and check out Halong bay while I wait, and eventually book a flight up to China's westernmost province: Xinjiang

And that should take up most of my time! Although I also really want to check out Mongolia too, so I have to figure out a way to squeeze that in as well!

And of course all of this subject to change, and most likely will! Stay tuned!

Thoughts on Central America

April 10, 2015

I just thought I'd post some random thoughts on traveling the region as a whole...

my route, starting in San Jose and ending in Cancun

Local food: Usually pretty boring! Rice and beans are the dietary staple in Central America. A lot people will eat that every single meal! So while I did enjoy my rice, beans, and chicken, it’s easy to get tired of it after a while. There were also a couple local specialties like baleadas in Honduras and tostadas slathered with guacamole and other stuff in Guatemala that were tasty. Fresh fruit costs very little and is delicious. Lots of avocados too! You can also find some nice grilled meats and fresh seafood for cheap. Western fast food is also readily available, stuff like hamburgers, hot dogs, fried chicken and pizza are definitely significant parts of the Central American diet. Oh and some excellent tacos stands! But that’s just the local cuisine. There’s tons of restaurants catering towards tourists in the major locales where you can find anything from sushi, to falafels, indian curries, and texas style BBQ. Definitely a lot of good stuff out there!

Danger Issues: Most people think most countries in Central America are pretty dangerous. The stats don’t lie, crime and murder rates are very high, especially in El Salvador, Guatemala, and El Salvador. The two biggest cities in Honduras, Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula have the highest per capita murder rates in the world! But that’s the thing, most of the violence is contained in certain parts of the big cities (similar to USA), and not so much in touristy or rural areas. So as long as you’re not spending much time in the capital cities and not wandering around sketchy places at night, you should be fine. I had no problems during my trip here (and met very few people who did), although concerned locals told me on a few occasions that I shouldn’t walk here or there with my camera, which is something that almost never happened in Asia. There’s also a non-zero chance the bus you’re riding on could get robbed, especially in Honduras. So there’s certainly some extra safety considerations in Central America, but like usual, if you’re smart about your traveling and not carrying much cash or valuables on your person, most risks can be mitigated.

Spanish: You can get by down here if you don’t speak any Spanish, especially if you’re only staying in touristy areas, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Your average person in Central America knows little to no English, and you can definitely put yourself in some tricky spots if you can’t speak any Spanish. Plus I’ve noticed that sometimes if you go up to a person and ask them a question in English right away (not even bother to ask hablas ingles?) you might get a disapproving look or some attitude, even though they do speak English. On the other hand if you try to speak Spanish even though you suck at it, people will be much more likely to be accommodating and friendly. I really enjoyed working on my Spanish when I was here! Well until I got to the tenses…

Nightlife: There’s plenty of good places to party in Central America. San Juan Del Sur, Grenada, and Leon are all fun places in Nicaragua to hang out and see some good live music. Utila in Roatan off the course of Honduras both have cool bars that are built out on the piers extending into the ocean. Antigua, San Pedro, and Panajachel all have good bar scenes in Guatemala. Although Central America is nowhere near is crazy as some of the party scenes in Thailand and SE Asia, which is for many is probably a good thing…

partying at coco bongo, playa del carmen

Public Transit: You’ve normally got 2 options for longer distances: chicken bus and shuttle bus. And sometimes coach buses.

The cheap way: The good ole chicken bus: They use American school buses that have gotten too old, repaint them, and keep em going for who knows how many more years. These things are basically always packed, hot, and take a long time because they stop for anyone they see on the road. They’re obviously the least expensive option and they’re readily available so I used them quite a bit. It’s worth it to go directly to the bus station so you can grab a decent seat, which usually won’t happen when you’re flagging one down from the roadside.

Shuttle bus: Used mostly by tourists to get around. In places like Guatemala, the chicken buses go so slow and you have to change buses so frequently it makes the shuttle buses the preferable option. Only problem is some companies jam pack the shuttles, so you feel like you might as well be taking a chicken bus.

Coach buses: Not enough of these in Central America! They have them a lot in Costa Rica and Honduras. Usually the best option if they’re available! In Honduras the main reason is safety, as there is a problem with buses getting stopped and robbed by bandits. The more reputable companies put an armed guard in the bus :0

Side Note: Speedbumps. There’s so many! I think Central America must have more speed bumps per mile than any place on Earth. I mean I understand the ones when you’re in a populated area and you want to make sure vehicles are going slow. But then there’s all the ones where you’re out in the countryside and it’s like ‘hey lets put a bunch of random speed bumps here for no particular reason!’ It’s really fun when you’re in the back of a packed bus. Or you’re on a crappy bumpy winding road that you can’t even go 20 mph on, and what do you know? More speed bumps! I need someone to explain this to me.

Prices: Pretty damn cheap! Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala all have fairly similar prices, Belize is a bit more expensive, and Costa Rica is the most expensive. I enjoyed Costa Rica, but almost everything you can find in Costa Rica you can find in other Central American countries for half the price. Most places (excluding Costa Rica) a plate of rice, beans, and chicken would cost $3-5, a beer $1-2, dorm rooms in a hostel about $7-10, and basic room $10-15. Only thing that really bummed me out was that renting a motorbike/scooter cost about $25 a day, compared to like $7 a day in Asia. If you’re staying in dorms, using mostly public transit, and eating local food, you could definitely spend less than $1,000 per month if you really wanted to. I didn’t.

Wifi: Better and more readily available than I expected

Weather: Had terrible weather the first week of the trip, and then it was mostly fantastic the rest of the time. Sunny and mid 80’s was about the norm. Guatemala was the only country where I needed a jacket at night, as a lot of it is higher up elevation. Even though the countries are small there is usually a pretty big difference in weather depending if you’re on the Caribbean side or the Pacific side. Carribbean side is a lot more jungly and rainy!

Volcanos: Lots of good Volcanos to hike in Central America. The volcano called Acatenango in Guatemala is probably the coolest volcano hike I’ve done and gets my highest recommendation! Lots of good ones in Nicaragua too. They have two different ones that you can look into the crater and see lava (if you’re lucky), or hot ash and smoke, like me :/

Scuba Diving: Certainly not as good as Asia, but still some really good stuff to see. Utila (in Honduras), is the place to be for good, cheap diving. ($30 a dive). Actually some of my favorite days were because of the stuff we saw in between dives. One day we had a bottlenose dolphin leading our boat and jumping through the water for a good 10 minutes. Another day the captain spotted a whaleshark and we all threw on our snorkel gear and slid off the back of the boat to check it out. We saw for maybe only 15 seconds before it dove down, but still that was the first time I’d seen a whale shark in its totally natural environment. And another day we found a pod of spinner dolphins and got to go snorkelling with them! So even though I wasn’t amazed by the diving, it was still a great time. Oh, and diving at the cenotes (underwater caves) in Mexico were fantastic as well!

Quick note on the Blue Hole: You always see this place listed in ‘top places in the world to dive’ lists, but the more and more I talked to people who did it, the more underwhelming it seemed. From what I’d heard, it’s got some cool stalactite formations, but not many fish, and it’s so big you can’t even really tell you’re in a big blue hole. Plus it’s 2 hours to get out there and 3 dives will run you at $250+, so I decided to skip it and save my money for the cave diving in Mexico.

Nat'l Geo photo of the Pit, one of the cenotes I dived in Mexico

Caves: Some fun caving tours in Guatemala and Belize!

Ruins: Lots of Mayan ruins in Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico. I kind of get tired of seeing piles of rock quickly, but Tikal in Guatemala was pretty damn cool.

Sweet Photoshops: I'm not totally sure why but it seems like every home you walk into in Central America has photos of family members photoshopped (badly) in different exotic locations. One of the homestays we were at in Nicaragua had some great ones. Check out this guy's awesome wedding photo:

Overall I had a very good time in Central America. I enjoyed the Spanish culture, the laid back lifestyle, the beaches, volcanos (and volcanic lakes), the diving, and the general compactness of the region! I just wish renting motorbikes was cheaper and easier! The one thing I will say though is that it just doesn’t have as much of the ‘wow’ factor (visually or culturally) like many of the places I’ve been to in Asia. Lot’s of very nice places, but not many that really blew me away I guess. So I still think Central America is a cool place to visit, especially Nicaragua and Guatemala, but I’m not planning to go back anytime soon. Too many other places on the list!

Hiking Acatenango

March 9, 2015

I'm gonna skip some stuff and post a bit about my volcano hike in Guatemala, because it was a really cool experience. When I was in Honduras I had heard a few good things from other backpackers about this hike. It’s a 2 day, 1 night type thing where you camp up near the top and then wake up early to hit the summit the following morning. It sounded right up my alley. So from Honduras I had to get to Antigua, which is another cool colonial city, and basically the tourism heart of Guatemala. I took a shuttle bus from the Mayan ruins at Copan in Honduras and ended up a hostel someone had recommended. So I spent one day wandering around Antigua's cobblestone streets, markets, coffee shops and so on. I also stopped in on of the tour offices that offer the Acantengo trip, and they had a group going the next morning. Sign me up!

We met that evening at 5:00 to go over the details. It was a pretty standard group trip, we had a guide, but no porters (unless you wanted to pay more), tents and meals would be provided, we just had to split up the camping and cooking supplies among us to carry. They had extra cold weather gear to use, as most of us weren’t expecting to encounter many near freezing conditions in Central America! There were 9 people in the group, all early 20’s to early thirties, in pretty good shape, and surprisingly all native English speakers. It looked like a good group!

We met up at 6am the next morning, stopped for breakfast, jumped in the van for a bit, and then hopped out at the trailhead. The sun was gone, the wind was blowing, and everyone was throwing on layers! Of course 20 minutes of hard uphill hiking and some sun, and those layers were all back off again. It was fairly tough hiking, all uphill, but the weather was pleasant and the pace was moderate, so I was enjoying it. We took our lunch break about three hours in, our premade sandwiches that we had crammed into our bags. Surprisingly tasty though! About an hour an a half later we started getting up above the tree line, where views over several hundred kilometers of the Guatemala landscape could be seen, as well as Volcan Agua, which is the one that dominates Antigua’s skyline. Although apparently you would have to be an idiot to hike it, as you’ll most likely get everything on you stolen. But they say this one is safe!

After a bit more hiking we could see Volcan Fuego come into view, which is the one that erupts several times a day. Apparently last week it really went off, causing an ashy haze to hang over Antigua and Guatemala city, cancelling many flights. Supposedly the people on our same trip, on that night, had some incredible views! So after another hour and a half of hiking we hit our campsite, a nice gravelly shelf, which looks perfectly over Fuego. It really is one of the coolest places to camp I’ve ever been. Within 15 minutes or so everyone was on their feet to watch as a Fuego erupted, a nice black, billowing cloud of ash.

We settled in and watched as the sun slowly crept around the other side of the volcano. In between that time and sunset, Fuego would go off another three or four times. It was pretty damn cool. As it got dark we got the fire started, our guide got the veg curry going, and we got the boxed wine flowing. Lot’s insults to each other’s respective countries were dished around! (UK, Canada, and Australia). The food curry was really good and we had roasted marshmallows for dessert.

Now when it gets dark it’s really impressive to see the volcano eruptions because you can actually see the lava spewing out of the top. A little bit after dinner we saw one such eruption! It was just a small one, but nonetheless it was the first time I had seen actual lava in person. After a while we didn’t see any more action and a couple of people started heading back to the tents. Those of us remaining were rewarded with one more eruption, this one much bigger, which was amazing. Then it was time for bed as wakeup was at 4:30am!

someone else's cool photo of Fuego erupting at night

It was an especially long night for me as I had forgone the complimentary foam sleeping pad for my inflatable air mat, which had somehow been punctured. So I was getting a really good feel for those little rocks underneath me. After a night of rotating body positions like a rotisserie chicken, I was relieved when our guide finally stopped by our tent and told us it was time to get up. Eventually everyone stumbled out of their tents and we were on the move through the darkness. This path was very steep and was filled with lots of volcanic rocks, so every step forward you took, you would slide back down a bit. I was feeling good though, and about an hour later some others and myself were at the summit with a panoramic view that reached all the way to the Pacific. We just needed the sun to get up soon because it was freezing!

Soon enough the sun was coming up over the horizon and we had a pretty good view of course. I didn’t know this going in, but our guide was telling us that if we ran around the crater rim without stopping, which has plenty of ups and downs and is sitting at an elevation of 3,300m (10,000ft), then we would get a free t-shirt. At first I didn’t do it, but after seeing the first 3 people attempt it fail, I felt compelled to give it a shot. It’s much harder than it looks! But after 5 minutes of pretty slow jogging up and down the hills, and the straight uphill bit at the end, I made it successfully without stopping and collected my super awesome free t-shirt later. Now it was time to head back down, which was a lot of fun! Because it’s all loose gravel, you can basically just run down, so the hike from camp that took us over an hour was reduced to less than 15 minutes! We ate some bagels and had some coffee, packed up our gear, and then headed back down to the trailhead. The trail was mostly dirt and sand, so it was a breeze. Three of us and the guide had a race down to finish, as you could basically run the whole last part also, which was a fun way to finish up the hike! We bought some beers for the bus ride down, went to lunch in town, and after that I went back to hostel to pass out for a couple hours because I was absolutely wrecked! And that was my Acatenango hike. If you’re ever in Antigua, I highly recommend it!

the last (and largest) eruption we saw before heading back down

Granada and Leon

March 6, 2015

Nicaragua’s homely colonial cities, characterized by colorful buildings, Spanish architecture, cathedrals, and charming centrals parks. They’re both places with a seemingly slower pace of life that almost beckon you to find a coffee shop and watch life go by, sipping a cappuccino. When I arrived at Granada it was a Sunday afternoon, although at this particular moment I had no time to waste. It was 2:10 and the Packers conference championship game started at 2:00, so I put down my stuff and rushed out the door to find the main bar strip. I stopped in the first bar I found that had the game on, an Irish pub, although I was the only one there. I learned that everyone was watching the game at a sports bar down the street called Margarita’s, so I headed there at half time, very contentedly...

Well we all know how that game turned out, so let’s just say my time in Granada did not start out very well. Nice coaching Fat Mike. After getting a hug from a drunk, sweaty, shirtless Seahawks fan I ambled the cobblestone streets for an hour trying to piece together what had just happened. Well, at the least the nice thing about traveling is you can always disconnect yourself from the things happenings back at home! So no sportscenter replays, radio discussions, facebook updates, etc for me. Back to traveling. I hung out in Granada for another full day, just riding a bike around and nothing really. The only thing that made me nervous was that on three separate occasions as I was wandering around people told me to be careful or not to go this way on account of the camera around my neck. Apparently once you’re just outside the main tourist area it’s not as safe as it might appear…

After Granada it was off to Leon, which is pretty similar to Granada, although less polished and bright. I liked it’s more rustic feel however, and I enjoyed that when you go to a bar it feels like a good mix of locals and tourists, not just either/or. I gave myself one day of mostly nothingness and another day for volcano boarding which is the big ‘adventure’ activity around Leon. There’s a volcano called Cerro Negro, which is basically a hill of steep volcanic gravel. You hike to the top and then slide all the way down either on a snowboard-like apparatus or a sled-like one. It’s kind of a silly, novelty type thing, but it seems like almost everyone in Leon does it! They put you in these crazy looking full body suits that resemble hazmat suits to minimize cuts and scrapes, if you were to take a bad wipe out. I opted for the standing up board (not really sure why, I suck at snowboarding) and it turns out that everyone else went with the sled.

After about an hour in the bus we started hiking up the volcano, carrying all our gear. To be fair it’s almost worth it just for the lookout point at the top. You get a nice panoramic view over the volcano-dotted Nicaraguan landscape. Although looking over the edge from the volcano-boarding launching point was pretty intimidating. It looks really steep! You feel like you wont be able to stop and you’ll end up hurtling yourself at breakneck speed down the mountainside. But our guide assured us it was totally fine…right. So we all threw on our suits and goggles, and I got strapped into my volcano snowboard. At this point I wasn’t feeling particularly reassured being that I was the only one not using the sled.

Photos courtesy of the internet, I was afraid to bring my camera

As it turned out, our guide deemed that I would be going first, so there wasn’t really much time to think about it, off I went! Nice and slow at first. Because it is gravel, there is a lot friction, but at the same time, if you keep your board straight and make no effort to cut back, you will pick up speed, and fast! So I zigzagged my way down the volcano face, wiping out once or twice when I thought I was building up too much speed. It was hard work! You don’t realize how much stress you’re putting on your calves and your ankles. But I made it down in one piece, thoroughly coated in dirt and ash. I watched as the rest of the group made their way down on the sleds and then it was back to Leon. I don’t think I would do it again, but it certainly was an interesting way to spend the morning! Next stop, the Nicaraguan highlands…

Here's some photos from around Leon

Hanging out in doorways and on porches is a popular activity

no shortage of bananas around these parts

Ometepe

March 1, 2015

About an hour bus ride and an hour ferry ride from San Juan Del Sur lies Ometepe, an island that sits in the middle of lake Nicaragua. It’s most prominent features are two large volcanos rising up from it’s landmass.

When our ferry arrived I tried to find some other people headed in the direction I was going, so we could split a minibus. Well I found some Germans who were headed in the same direction, except they wanted to do a little mini tour en route, and they invited me to come along. Well that works for me. Although it is always a little awkward being in a group of non-native English speakers because they all have to switch from their language to English to accommodate my monolingual ass. They all spoke good English of course (you can almost always count on Northern Europeans to speak good English) so it wasn’t a problem. Turns out they were all studying Spanish in Colombia before this, so their Spanish was putting mine to shame, which was slightly embarrassing as it’s their third language.

We stopped at a beach, hiked around a lagoon, and hit up a swimming hole before heading to the town most tourists stay at. What we didn’t count on was every guesthouse being full by this time of day, so after long enough we headed to the next town over and found a place to sleep. The next morning I headed out to find a new place. The Germans were super friendly, but I felt like I had burdened them enough with all the English speaking. The first place I came upon was Casa de Maria, which was run by a seemingly eccentric woman in her 60’s, named Maria obviously. She spoke no English, which I kind of liked, as it forced me to use my crappy Spanish. She showed me to my very basic room, which cost like 10 bucks a night. At some point later that night, after some egging on by the people who had been there for a while, Maria did some twerking moves for everyone. I had found a good place.

Now one of my goals for Ometepe was to hike one of the volcanos. The last couple months living in Chicago I had acquired quite a sizable gut (probably the biggest one I’ve ever had) so I was pretty keen to get in some strenuous physical activity, very likely as punishment for allowing myself to get so fat. Most people say that the smaller of the two volcanoes, Masaya, is more scenic because it has a crater lake at the top. Although I had heard that at the moment it was very muddy, and a pretty miserable hike. Concepcion on the other hand was supposed to be the more difficult of the two, and not as scenic, being that it almost always has clouds hanging over the top. Didn’t matter, I was doing it anyway! I had met a Canadian guy in the guesthouse who also wanted to do the hike, so we woke up at 6am and headed off.

On Ometepe public buses only roll around every hour or two, so it can be pretty difficult to find public transportation. Apparently we had just missed the bus, so hitchhiking it would be. Fortunately we were able to hop on the back of truck delivering bread, which would bring us pretty close to park entrance. 40 minutes later we were greeted by a man with a notebook who had us sign our names and nationalities and pay the park fee of a couple dollars. He also yammered at us for a couple minutes about something pertaining to the danger of not having a guide. I know the vast majority of people take a guide, but I read online it was a well-marked trail, so I figured we’d be fine. I picked up maybe 20% of what he was saying, but whatever. Just like in China, you say a couple words in Spanish, and then bam! You give them an inch and they take a mile!

We headed upwards through the forest, passing a group of howler monkeys, which was pretty cool. We also had some nice views of the rest of the island before reaching the cloud line. As expected we were soon scampering up the rocks in a sea of fog. To be honest I wouldn’t recommend this hike to anyone, unless they were in it solely for the exercise. And there’s a lot better ways to get exercise that won’t threaten to kill your knees or sprain your ankles. It’s steep, rocky, and slippery, and you know the whole time you’re not going to be able see anything at the top. Near the very top it gets really windy and cold, not to mention muddy. I took us about 3.5 hours total to reach the summit. At at the summit the wind is whipping like crazy, so much so that you feel like if you start to lean over, it just pushes you back up. We peered over the crater rim, which gives you some eerie views of the white fog abyss. Originally I had planned on having a nice snack at the top, but that clearly was not gonna happen. It was freezing. Two minutes later it was “okay, back down!” So much effort so little reward!

the view of volcano Maderas from Concepcion

Then of course there’s the going down part. It was extremely slippery so you had to pay very close attention every step you took, which gets exhausting. Plus I only had running shoes this time around, as opposed to sturdy hiking boots, so I was constantly worrying about turning an ankle on the wet rocks. For a while it was pretty fricken miserable. The trip down involved lots of obscenities and grumbling! Although slowly but surely, we made it down, which took us just about as long to get down as to get up. A solid 7 hours of hiking. But we had done it! Lots of pain and very few enjoyable moments, but we had climbed the highest volcano on Ometepe! Time to catch the bus home!

Of course there was no bus. We sat there for half an hour and then started asking around if a bus was coming soon, which apparently it was not, so more walking, yay! I realized now that the main benefit of taking a guide is the transportation to and from the volcano. It was about 9 km back to the guesthouse, and we didn’t really have any other options, so we set off. After about 7 km of walking we were finally passed by pickup truck with people in the back and got a lift back into town. Thank god.

We pigged out on pizza and chicken that night and hit the party bar later that night. The following day we rented motorbikes and cruised around the island, surviving some of the horrendous roads and a few bike troubles. Fortunately the locals are basically wizards with these bikes. And then the next day I did nothing but lay on the volcanic sand beach. And that was it for Ometepe! It was a pretty laid back place, which was nice after being in SJDS. I would definitely recommend it, but if you’re looking to do some volcano hiking, I would suggest basically any other one in Nicaragua, unless you’re a real glutton for punishment! Next up: Granada! Sorry for the lack of photos!

San Juan Del Sur

February 18, 2015

San Juan Del Sur: Nicaragua’s most popular beach destination and party spot. I arrived with the Australian girl and two Americans guys. The girl was headed to a guesthouse outside of town and the guys were headed to some sort of Irish themed hotel, so I figured I’d check out the hotel and see if they had any rooms. We showed up and the guy who normally works reception wasn’t around, but there was an old guy sitting in the couch, so the guys showed him their hotel booking and I asked if they had any single rooms. We figured this would be a fairly straightforward interaction, but as he spoke the words all just blended together into some form of gibberish that can only loosely be described as Spanish. At some point I just stopped listening and stared at his tongue flapping around his brown teeth. Eventually he got on the phone to speak gibberish to someone else, so I took that as my cue to find a different place to stay. I didn’t really feel like walking around for long, so I found a guesthouse down the street, which had an open room and plopped all my stuff down.

So I did what I normally do when I get to a new city, which is get my camera out and go for a little stroll to get a feel for the place. San Juan is a very picturesque town with nice colonial architecture, a long beachfront, and lush rolling hills dotted with expensive houses as you get farther outside of town. At the highest point there is a big statue of Jesus overlooking the bay, which is apparently the largest of it’s kind in Central America. The main road along the beach is filled with all sorts of bars advertising happy hours, drink specials, and western food, the usual touristy type stuff. Upon first glance the weirdest part was the lack of people on lying on the beach, especially for a sunny afternoon. What you soon realize is that the sand is more of the brown silty variety, and the top layer of it blows all over the place, so sunbathing isn’t very fun unless you’re prepared to get sand whipped in your face and in every exposed part of your body. But despite this little nuance it seemed like it would be a pretty fun place.

Later on I met a British girl in the guesthouse and we decided to go out and grab some food and see what the nightlife is like. We got acquainted with the two beers that any traveler gets to know well in Nicaragua: Tona and Victoria! Both are fairly boring watery lagers of course, with the Victoria being the less water down of two, which would end up being my drink of choice for the rest of my time in Nicaragua. We ended up on the street one off the main drag, which has the smaller backpacker type bars that have better music and more interesting decor than the larger bars on the beachfront. We soon learned after talking to some people that the town is bit a shadier than what originally meets the eye. Apparently it’s fairly well known information that if you wander off the main, well lit, stretch of beach later at night you’ll get mugged. Not like, there’s a chance of getting mugged, but you WILL get mugged. Damn. I’ve known a few places traveling where getting robbed is a definite possibility, but none that come to mind where it’s a more or less a certainty! I’m not in Asia anymore. Well good information to know I guess!

the view overlooking the bay and the town

The next day I gave sunbathing a valiant attempt, which is only really possible with a shirt of over your face to keep the sand from constantly getting in your eyes. I met up with the American guys later on and we decided to hike up to the big Jesus statue. It took about 45 minutes of some fairly steep walking to find our way to the top of the cliff, which we awarded with some really nice sweeping views over the whole bay and of course the up close view of Jesus, who looks like he’s a hailing a taxi. We watched the sunset and then hurried back down to catch some NFL action at the bar. These guys were certainly the heavy drinking type, so we busted out some Flor De Cana, the cheap (but very decent) rum that is famous in Nicaragua, and had a pretty good night out.

I wonder what he can do with those two fingers

The next day was Sunday, and if you ever talk to anyone about San Juan Del Sur, one of the first things they’ll probably ask you is if you did the Sunday Funday?! People even recommend that you plan your SJDS trip around being there on Sunday, just to be there for this weekly event, which basically consists of going to 1 or 2 different pools and getting wasted the whole day. Unfortunately (fortunately?) I would not be partaking in this event as the Packers were on that afternoon and I was not about to miss a Packers playoff game. I found a bar that actually has craft beer and watched the Packers take down the Panthers. Ahh the good times…

Now in San Juan Del Sur the real beauty of the area is supposed to be the beaches outside of town. I booked a shuttle (which is more like a big truck with bench seating in the back) to Playa Maderas. As you’re getting closer to beach the road turns to absolute shit and at one point you’re driving up a bumpy dirt track at what feels like about a 35 degree incline, before arriving at the beach. But it’s well worth the rough drive. Once you get past the surf hostel it’s just a long stretch of almost untouched coastline dotted with some gorgeous rock formations. It’s marvellous. It’s definitely the type of place you feel compelled to stay at. When I reached the far end of the beach I found two guesthouses tucked away just into the trees, so of course I inquired about the availability and was pretty bummed to find out neither had any openings that night or the next. Not even any dorm beds at the surf hostel either. Hmm. So it ended up being just a really nice day trip to Maderas for me, as I took the last bus back into town that evening.

On my last day in San Juan I rented motorbikes with a couple more Americans (it’s almost kind of weird hanging out with so many Americans while traveling) and we headed to another one of the beaches to do some surfing. Now for me surfing is pretty much always a disaster which entails of me horribly mistiming my paddling and getting smashed by waves for a few hours at a time. And a nice sun burn to boot! So it was pretty much the usual for me. Although there was a nice little period when the actual surfers came in because the waves were getting too small, which was my cue to head out there again, and I actually was able to ride like 2 waves in. Go me! We hit the bars again that night, and that was it for San Juan Del Sur. I’m actually still a little bummed I didn’t get to stay on Playa Maderas at all, but what can ya do? I was off to place called Ometepe the next morning, which is an island with two volcanos in the middle of a Lake, so it’s hard to complain!

Into Nicaragua

February 18, 2015

So where we left off I had decided I wanted to get out of Costa Rica and into Nicaragua. I hopped on a morning bus and 5 hours later we were dumped off at the border. I joined up with an Aussie girl and two other Americans as we were all pretty unsure what we were doing and where we were supposed to go. We found customs and waited in line to get to the counter. I went first as I spoke the best Spanish of the group (a very sad fact indeed). I put my passport and my filled out form on the ledge. Oh crap. The lady at the counter is now speaking a million miles per hour in Spanish. No entiendo! She’s making motions with her fingers… we need a rectangle...?

Finally she pointed to a machine in the back, which had a nice big line, that we apparently needed use. It’s the type of machine that you swipe your passport, and then use your credit card to pay $10, and get the receipt. Of course the scanner thingy was being a pain in the ass, and there’s no directions in English, so people had to keep calling over someone to help. After who knows how long we finally all got up the counter again, got stamped out, and we were out of Costa Rican customs. Step 1 complete!

So now they told us to walk on down the street to the Nicaraguan side. Some random dude approached us asking if we needed any help, which we did, as there are no directions posted anywhere. He ended up showing us to a new line, and said we needed to fill out some forms, which coincidentally he had in his pocket. This was apparently the medical line. A nurse type woman came up to us with out saying anything and pointed some little white gun at each of our foreheads, which I assume was to take our temperature, and then scurried off. It was a little unnerving. Then we got to the doctor who took our forms and passports, gave us a thorough stare, and asked how long we were staying before giving us another slip of paper. That was step 2.

After that we were herded off to another line, which was the Nicaraguan immigration. There’s a little desk that you have to give the lady a dollar for some reason or another, then it’s off to the main line. Just outside the line is a woman sitting with a guy in a wheelchair who obviously has some sort of severe disease and he just kind of makes lots of noises and shakes a cucaracha and you’re supposed to give him some money too. Anyway I guess I just thought that allowing this kind of thing at the immigration line was kind of strange. But whatever, we got to the desk, paid our money, and we were stamped in!

Not done yet though. We had to get our luggage searched. Our faithful guide showed us to man in uniform at a desk where we plopped down our stuff. There was also a guy in plainclothes telling us it was $5 a person for the luggage check, which was clearly bogus. I suppose the immigration officers are all in on this silly scam. But seasoned pros like us saw right through it! The guy in the uniform searched the very uppermost part of one bag before resorting to pat downs on all the other ones. A few seconds later we were okay’ed and out the door, err gate, err flap of corrugated metal, where our guide quickly ushered us to a taxi. We agreed on $8 a person, which was surely a great deal for our driver, but none of us really felt like haggling at this point. Plus we gave our guide a dollar each, which was actually well worth it, as that border crossing was probably the most disorganized and confusing border that I’ve encountered. 30 minutes later we were in the little beach town of San Juan Del Sur!

Costa Rica

February 6, 2015

Alrighty, I’ve been traveling for a month now so I guess it’s about time to get my world-renowned travel blog going again. Welcome back readers, I know how long you’ve been waiting! This trip begins in Costa Rica, known for its tropical rainforests, vibrant wildlife, and dazzling beaches!

So I started by flying into the capital of Costa Rica, the relatively uninteresting city of San Jose. I was too paranoid to bring my camera out the first afternoon, but the downtown area seemed like a safe enough place, mostly due to the presence of lots of police officers with rifles. I found a small stakes poker game at a bar/casino, donked off 50 bucks, bought some ice cream and called it a night. San Jose isn’t the type of place you want to stay for long so the next morning I took the bus out to a place on the coast called Puerto Viejo, which is supposed to have a more laid back, reggae type vibe, being that it's on the Caribbean coast. I got in late afternoon and couldn’t seem to find any guesthouses that had rooms available, so I ended up in a dingy little dorm room that smelled like dirty clothes and sweat and had a serious lack of fans. As I had suspected it was inhabited by some surfer hippy types, who were nice enough people, except for the girl in the bed across from me, who stole my fan when she went to bed. I reclaimed it of course when I woke up at 3am covered in sweat.

The jungle literally comes right up to the beach

The next morning I found a halfway decent room, (with my very own fan!) rented a bike, and set out to see what was around. About 10 miles away was supposed to be a nice beach with some jungle trails around, so I figured that would be a good place to start. About 20 minutes in, it started to rain, which continued all the way until I got the beach. I took refuge in a little café, waited over an hour for the skies to clear and set out to look for these jungle trails. 10 minutes later it was raining again and the trails were all mud, so I didn’t make it too far. I ended up in a beach bar to wait out the rain, unsuccessfully, then slogged it back home in a heavy drizzle. Hmm. I had read that it was dry season in January, but apparently this did not pertain to the Caribbean coast! The next day it rained the entire day. And the next. And then I got outta there… to where of all places… The rainforest!

A day of buses later I was in Monteverde, which I guess is more of a cloud forest than a rainforest (don’t ask me the difference), and home to lots of touristy type activities: zip lines, atv’s, rope bridges, you name it! I met a Swiss dude on the bus and we found a hotel room to split, which might sound weird to some people, but costa rica is actually pretty damn expensive and it’s nice to help bring the costs down. Anyway, we were thinking of doing the ziplines, but it was raining sideways the next morning, so that was out. At this point I decided I better find a poncho, so I walked up to the big supermarket in town. They didn’t have ponchos, but they did have crappy little umbrellas, so I picked one up. I got to the register… $15. What? I'm pretty sure the cashier just made up a number a she thought I would pay, because I know for sure that no local is paying $15 for a POS umbrella. Anyway...

We were hoping to just find a good place to do some hiking, which you wouldn’t think would be difficult as we were in a freaking cloud forest, but apparently there were almost no trails around. The only thing that loosely fit our description was a place called the La Bosque de los ninos, which is a little nature preserve with maybe a mile of trail. We got there, paid our $12 to get in (apparently to maintain this crappy trail) and set off. We saw 3 different types of fascinating animals on the hike: mosquitos, ants, and flies. It was an amazing place!

The next day, shockingly, it was raining again, and we weren’t really feeling the Monteverde vibe. I don't think I took a single photo in Monteverde, because there was literally nothing interesting about the place photography wise. No local people (except behind the cash registers) no interesting culture, no animals, etc. So it was off to a place called La Fortuna which sit right beneath the Arenal volcano. I was hoping to hike it, but apparently it’s not allowed. We liked this place a bit more, as it had some decent hiking (for a price of course) a nice waterfall, and a little animal sanctuary where you can see some sloths, caimans, frogs, and a bunch of cool looking birds. I particularly enjoyed watching the sloths climbing through the trees. I feel like if I could choose an animal to just hang around and watch football and have a few beers, it would definitely be a sloth.

The next night we bought some beers and candles and went to the natural hot springs to relax. So you’re basically just chilling in a warm river in the middle of the jungle, which is pretty cool. When it gets dark you light the candles and it illuminates all the steam emanating from the river, which gives a very mystical, surreal atmosphere. Now being that it is one of the only free things you can do in Costa Rica, about 90,000 people showed up accordingly in the next couple hours, leaving hardly anywhere to sit or stand. So we took that as our cue to head on out. And that would be my last night in Costa Rica!

I originally planned on staying longer and hitting the beaches on the west coast, but to be honest I didn’t really like Costa Rica all that much. I mean it does have some beautiful scenery, but it’s just so damn touristy! Not to mention pricey. I think out of all the countries I’ve travelled to in the last few years Costa Rica is the most expensive (minus Australia). Plus it rained every single day I was there. So being that I only have 10 weeks to travel (I know, I know, poor me), I decided I’d allocate more time to Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala. The next day I took a bus to the border, and it was off to the beaches of San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua!

View from our lodge overlooking Gorak Shep

Everest Base Camp

May 17, 2014

The next morning we woke up, had our usual mediocre breakfasts and then headed to a place called Gorak Shep, which sits at 5,100m and is the last lodging on the trail towards the base camp. We found a luxurious room with plywood walls to throw most of our stuff and headed onwards towards base camp. After about 2 hours of relatively flat hiking, we came upon the mass of tents sitting at the base of the Khumbu Icefall, which makes up the Everest base camp. To be honest, it’s not that exciting. It’s just a bunch of tents sitting on rocks. You can’t even see Everest. I mean I guess it’s sort of cool to see with the icefall as the backdrop, but don’t expect too much. It was an especially bad trip for me because I slipped on some loose rocks and fell on my face (to protect my camera) and lost our bet on who would fall first. Down one Snickers bar!

The real highlight of the area is the viewpoint at Kala Pattar, at 5500 meters, which has sweeping panoramic views of the entire mountain range. Due to the afternoon cloudiness our plan was to get up nice and early in the darkness, and hike to the top for the sunrise. I had my alarm set for 4:30 am. It was not a fun wake up call. But once we were outside it was gorgeous. The sky was clear and the moon was full, illuminating the snowcapped peaks. We didn’t even need to use our headlamps; it was that bright out. But god damn, it was cold.

You can see hiker's headlamps walking up to Kala Pattar

At over 5,000 meters there is about 50% of the oxygen in the air compared to sea level, so of course the going was quite tough. I was feeling good, so I ditched Jesper’s slow ass, and worked my way past the groups ahead of me. This was a sunrise I did not plan on missing! Although getting to the top earlier than planned wasn’t the best idea because it’s extra windy near the top, and as soon as you start standing still you really start to freeze. But the view of the mountaintops slowly being lit up by the early morning sun was really spectacular. You just wanted that sun to finally hit you! Jesper made it to the top just before the sun popped it head over the mountains, but he was so cold that he didn’t stay, and headed back down. It might sound strange to hike uphill for 2 hours and then not stick around 15 minutes for the sunrise, but your face is frozen and you can hardly feel your fingers and toes. It really was miserable up there.

Sunrise! Nuptse on the far right, Everest is the black one closer to the middle

I jumped around and wiggled my toes and blew warm air into my hands long enough to keep me unfrozen until the sun finally rose over the mountains, just to the left of Everest (the one that looks like a black pyramid). You’ll notice from this viewpoint, and almost every vantage point in Nepal, Everest never looks like the tallest mountain. Nuptse is the one to right of Everest, a much more aesthetically pleasing mountain in my opinion. After snapping a few photos I was more than ready to get back down to the lodge.

After warming up with some hot chocolates we were ready to start descending. Originally we were going to do a side trip over a high pass to get to Gokyo Lake, but Jesper wasn’t feeling very well and wanted to start heading back down to Namche and Lukla. I was a bit ambivalent about the situation. Obviously I could have done the trip on my own, but I too was getting tired of freezing my ass off all the time, so I decided to head down as well. Spending a lot of time at these altitudes really does take quite a toll on your body.

As we were walking down we noticed that a lot of helicopters were flying in the area, but we didn’t really think much of it. A couple hours later we had learned that this morning on Everest there had been a large avalanche, killing 10 to 25 people, depending on whom you talked to. It would be the single most deadly day in the history of the mountain. After the dust settled it was determined that 15 Sherpas were dead. The Sherpas are the group people that live in the region permanently and are extremely well adjusted to the altitude. So much so that many are recruited for positions on the Everest expeditions, working as climbing guides, high mountain porters, cooks, etc. They are absolutely invaluable to the success of the expeditions. They are the ones that set the ropes, do the load carrying, and set up the camps. They are paid very little in USD terms, but in Nepalese terms, they are quite wealthy. So that morning they were out carrying loads from camp 1 to camp 2 when the avalanche hit. Really tragic stuff.

We decided to call it quits in the town of Pheriche. Outside the town we watched as helicopters came down with the dead bodies of many of the Sherpas; the guys who do all the work but get almost none of the credit. What did they die for? So that a bunch of rich guys, who can afford to pay $40,000 to $70000 for an expedition can say they’ve climbed the tallest mountain in the world. It seems like such an ego stroking thing. While it is the tallest mountain, it’s far from the most difficult to climb in mountaineering terms. Other 8,000m peaks like K2 and Annapurna are considered to be much more challenging. On Everest there’s no technical climbing involved! It’s what you’d call a walk up. You just ascend the ropes that are fixed for you by the climbing Sherpas and sleep in the camps that are also assembled by the Sherpas. If you get in trouble, who's there to bail your ass out? The Sherpas! So you have all these climbers (way too many) who have inadequate experience with high altitude mountaineering but decide to take on the mountain anyway and the only reason they are able to do so is because they have the Sherpas to do all the work! So it was especially sad knowing so many had died. They are the real rockstars of the climbing world.

Anyway, after our night in Pheriche we made it back down to Namche Bazaar the following day. We had a fun night out at the bar to celebrate and then made our way down to Lukla. We hit the bar again and then flew out of Lukla the next morning. It was especially easy to get a flight out of Lukla this time as we had befriended the guide of the British couple we had been hiking with, so he arranged everything for us. No more dealing with the airline mafia and 11:00 flights! And boy was it nice to be back in Kathmandu! Nice weather, warm beds, pizza and lots of beer! An excellent way to cap off our hiking trip! The next morning Jesper and I split ways as he was off to the beautiful town of Pokhara, whereas I had made an impromptu decision that the beaches in the Philippines were calling my name. So that’s where I’ll begin next time. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed this Nepal segment! Here's the rest of the photos from the walk down.

This girl beat me up and stole all my money

Our British friends Dale and Daniele, Jesper, and Shawn heading down

I took photos of this girl picking flowers. Then she came over and gave them to us! Awww!

My rates are 3,000 for 1 photo, 5,000 for 2.

Sunset over Kathmandu. And this segment on Nepal

The Kongma La Pass

May 17, 2014

It's not like it's cold at all when you wake up.

At the moment we’re in Chukhung, less than a two days hike to get to the Everest Base Camp . But first we would have to get over the formidable Kongma La Pass at 5,500+ meters; a nice 800m ascent from Chukhung. We were relatively confident that we would be able to handle the altitude as we had hiked up to the top of Chukhung Ri at 5500m during our acclimatization day.

After a mostly tasteless breakfast of Tibetan bread and porridge we set out on our way. The problem was we didn’t really know where the trail was. We had a good general idea from our map, but we were finding no sign of a trailhead. Eventually we asked a yak herding woman where the pass was and she just pointed directly up the mountain. Ok good! Except there was definitely no trail where she pointed, just hills and rocks and scrub. But if yak lady says that is the way to Kongma La, then damn it, that’s the way to Kongma La!

So we headed up the rock field following a small stream hoping to stumble into the trail. I had my compass out and was figuring that if we kept heading NW then eventually we’d have to run into it. After walking for a bit we scrambled on all fours up a steep (and exhausting) hill hoping to get a better vantage point of the terrain and walla! There it was. Onwards and upwards! The going wasn’t easy though. At over 5,000m you can really feel the effects of the altitude. Well, I was feeling pretty good. Jesper, who had hiked faster than me at lower altitudes, was sucking wind pretty good. After a couple hours he mentioned in between breaths “I think we’re getting pretty close to the top” HA!

Fast-forward another hour and we reached a spot with rock walls on all sides and a scree field leading up between two of them; leaving only one way to go but up. We assumed this was the top of the pass… ASSUMED. The trail disappeared into a menagerie of rocks of boulders, making it part scramble part hike, constantly going up and up and up. What doesn’t look so difficult from far away is another story when you’re actually doing the climb. I was breathing heavy, but moving at a steady pace while Jesper trudged along further back. When I would rest and let him catch up I couldn’t help but laugh at how miserable he constantly looked. But we were moving forwards and almost at the top!

Except the top was not the top. We stood atop the scree field panting and looking off in the distance we could see a ridge snaking its way up through the peaks. Well that’s got to be the top! Home stretch baby! Another 45 minutes later and we were getting to the top of that section, worn out, but optimistic that the affair would be ending soon. As we reached the apex of the hill we were expecting to look down and see the mountaintops over looking the valley on the other side of the pass. With rainbows and unicorns frolicking. Is that what we saw? No! Of course not! A large snowfield lay ahead of us ending with an almost vertical looking rock face. Fuuuu. It never ends. We were too tired to grumble that much. You just have to keep going. No sounds except for the wind and the crunch of snow under your boots. Well that and the hum of your thoughts, re-examining your sanity for this choice of a holiday destination.

As we got closer the seemingly impenetrable vertical wall revealed a steep switchbacking trail. There were prayer flags at the top indicating this was indeed the top of the pass. The final push. One step after another. Keep breathing. They call mountaineering the art of suffering and I can understand why. 30 or so minutes later (it felt like much longer) I was standing at the top. Jesper managed his way up a little later and we stayed and marvelled at the view for a bit before getting too cold and deciding to head down. We could see the village of Lobuche down in the valley, so close, yet so far!

Now you would think it would be a nice little stroll down to Lobuche, but it was anything but. First we had to meander our way down a path of icy rocks before descending to the bottom of the valley. From there it was steep uphill AGAIN to get to a huge glacial moraine covered with loose boulders, just waiting to sprain someones ankle. It took forever to carefully cross this section before stumbling our way into Lobuche, thoroughly worn out, at around 2:30. Just in time to eat some cheese sandwiches and crash into our beds! What a bitch of a day. The Kongma La certainly gave us a good test. Off to Gorak Shep and the Everest Base Camp the next morning!

View of Ama Dablam from our lodge in Chukhung

The Trekking Lifestyle

April 27, 2014

Ok, so where we left off, we had just finished up our acclimatization day at Namche Bazaar and were eager to get moving higher up. We started off early in the morning and soon after getting out of town the views opened up and we could see the majestic Ama Dablam and many other peaks off in the distance. We were still in the forest zone and hiking on flat ground, so we were both feeling good. The only downside was having to pass all the big tour groups that clog up the trail. People sign up for these tours way in advance in their home countries, pay absurdly high prices, and then get stuck in slow moving donkey trains with people that they may or may not even like. But to each their own. I know, I come off as a condescending asshole when I start talking about big tour groups, but I can’t help it!

Jesper standing where I told him to so I could make a purty photograph

Anyway, we passed all these groups and got near the front of the pack and virtually had the trail to ourselves after that. A couple hours in you’ve got a steep 500m climb (note: I’m using meters from now on, because everything in Nepal and everywhere else in the world is in meters) to Tengboche, which fortunately has an awesome bakery, making for the perfect rest spot. The people on the standard Everest base camp itinerary would stop here for the night, but we wanted to keep going to the next town, Pangboche, a couple hours further. As we hiked the afternoon clouds rolled in and we were happy to finish off our hiking day by 1:30 or so. It’s worth noting that it’s very difficult to put in a long days hike in the Everest region. First, you don’t want to gain too much altitude in a single day. And even if you aren’t huffing and puffing too hard, the clouds come in every day around noon or one, making it feel much colder and killing the visibility, which also kills your motivation for hiking.

The following day we hiked 800m up to a village called Chukkung, which took us off the Everest BC route, and set us up to do one of the high passes called Kungma La, which would then get us back on the Everest route, via a more scenic, much less touristed, and much more difficult route. We arrived in once again in the early afternoon, anxious to get in because of the altitude and shit weather.

So the average hiking day almost is always over by 2:00 pm. What do you after that?! Well that’s a pretty good question! It’s boring as shit! It really is a struggle to find stuff to do at these guesthouses. First of all, its freezing cold, so you’re bundled up all the time. Usually there’s not much reason to go outside because it’s even colder. Sometimes I would walk around to see if there were any photo opportunities. Almost never. The mountains aren't visible and it’s not like the Nepalis are out frolicking in the cold, (liked I’d hoped!) they’re all inside around the fire too. So photography is mostly out.

Kids sitting outside for some reason, possibly frozen in place

If you’ve got a decent lodge they’ll have a nice yak poo fire going in the main room, and you might be able to meet people in there. But most are in their own little groups or if they’re alone, they’ll probably have their nose in a book. In some lodges they’re a bit stingy with their yak poo, and you’ll have to wait till dinner time before they fire up the poo. So what to do until then?

Jesper preferring the sleeping bag/blanket combo rather than my cocoon blanket method

Well it’s warm under the covers! Making a nice cocoon in your blanket is usually a pretty good start. From there you’ve got a couple more options, provided you did a good job packing for the trip. You can grab your headlamp and read a book. You can listen to music. You can sleep. Yes. We were big fans of the afternoon nap. And when I say big fans, I mean we were like what Beliebers are to the Canadian Pop God. We adhered to this practice with great zeal. Unfortunately at some point you wake up and it’s still too damn cold outside of the covers to do anything so you just kind of lay there in a meditative zombie state. Eventually someone will muster up the energy to get out of bed and start making noises and hitting the other guy enough times until they are forced out bed too. This usually means it’s somewhat close to dinner time. So it’s off to the common room.

We’d find a table off to ourselves and get the party started with some tea or hot chocolate. Every menu will always have variations of the main staples: pasta, roasted potatoes, vegetable stew, and even some form of pizza. Then there’s the infamous Dal Bhat, consisting of rice, lentil soup, and curried potatoes. It’s the only thing on the menu that’s all-you-can-eat, it’s reasonably priced, and eaten by the Nepalese at the majority of their meals. It’s also incredibly boring. After having one too many Dal Bhat’s on the Annapurna Circuit, the thought of eating it again made me shudder a little bit. I resolved to avoid it this time around. Pasta would be the go-to dish this time through.

Looking around there seemed to be much less independent hikers on the Everest BC trek than on the Annapurna circuit a few years ago. My theory is that most independent hikers are young, broke backpackers, so the flights in and out of Lukla drives them towards other hikes. With most hikers in their own groups we’d just have to enjoy our own company. I packed a deck of cards, but I really don’t know many 2 player games. Jesper admitted he wasn’t much of a card player, so War seemed like our best choice. After dominating him both technically and psychologically in our first match and emerging victorious after only an hour, we needed something more exciting. We needed to get some money involved.

If you're not an idiot you're betting all the  money here — If you're not an idiot you're betting all the money here

The game would be Between the Sheets. I think its more commonly known as Acey Deucey, but that’s not what we call it back home. I haven’t played it in years but its super fun and super easy. Everyone antes up to start and two cards are flipped up. If it’s your turn you can bet any amount, up to the size of the pot if the next card will be in between the two upturned cards (or you can opt not to bet at all and it moves to the next person). If the next card comes in between the two upturned, you win the pot, and the game starts over again with the antes. If it’s not in between you have to pay what you bet. If it’s the exact same card as either of the upturned cards you pay double what you bet. Yes, yes, yes, such a simple game! We would bet with paper balls in increments of 10 rupees (10cents), it would just be a friendly game. Excellent...

The first night I managed to win 1,000 rupees ($10) off Jesper, which seemed like a pretty big amount, as we were basically playing with dimes. The next night Jesper was up between $5 and $10 on me for most of the night when things got interesting. He wanted to go to bed, and I said once we got up to a 200 rupee ($2) pot, regardless of who wins, we’ll call it a night. We bet recklessly and soon enough it was over 200. Jesper had a something like K 4 and lost. From that point on both of us kept getting f’ked over and the pot swelled pretty big. Jesper potted it with A (low) and Q. King comes. I’m laughing my ass off. Now the pot is huge! It’s around $50, much much bigger than we’ve ever seen it. We’re using everything on the table, from silverware to ketchup bottles, as designations for higher value amounts, because our little 10 rupee paper balls can’t keep up.

Eventually Jesper gets K and 2. Has to pot it. He says if a King or two comes I’m going to kill myself. Next card: 2!! $100 to the pot! We both die laughing! Everyone is looking at us. I love this game. 15,000 rupees in the pot! Lol. Jesper gets some back by betting big in marginal spots. Then I got A (low) and Q and pot it. 10 comes and I ship the cheddar! USA, USA! Denmark finishes down $80 in a game that began with 10 cent bets. Good stuff. So if you’re ever bored and looking for a good game to spice things up a little bit, I highly recommend Between the Sheets. Well after that fiasco we were off to climb the Kongma La pass and get our butts to Everest Base Camp! So I'll leave you with this poorly done, extremely cliche photograph a random mountain reflected by sun glasses.

This photo actually could have been halfway decent, but Jesper wears $2 knock offs

Do I Need a Guide or Porter for Trekking in Nepal??

April 27, 2014

I’ve been asked this a bunch of times by prospective Nepal travellers over the last couple of years. The answer is an overwhelming NO! There is almost no way to get lost on hikes like the Annapurna Circuit or Everest Base Camp. The trails are large and well marked. If somehow you’ve managed to lose your way there will be people to ask for help. You’re not hiking alone on some vague and forking foot trails, it’s more like a highway; thousands and thousands of trekkers do these hikes every year, as well as sherpas and yak teams.

Also when you have a guide, he likes to be in charge. He will usually have a well laid out itinerary for you that includes all the guesthouses, whos owners he’s friends with. Say you are feeling good and want to keep going to the next village a few hours away. Well he might not exactly share your enthusiasm. Also English is another consideration. If you are going to get a guide, definitely wait until you get to Nepal. I’d want to meet him in person and feel him out a little bit over a coffee before agreeing to his services. Remember you are going to be spending two weeks in the mountains with this guy, so his making sure you guys can communicate well is pretty important. If you feel good about the experience and added level of safety he will bring to your trip, then certainly go ahead. But for someone like me who is happy to do some research on the internet beforehand (and has some hiking experience) I find a guide largely unnecessary.

Concerning porters, if you’re in your twenties or thirties and in reasonable shape (not a fatass), then I really don’t think you need a porter either. You can pack fairly light for the trip, as you’re sleeping in guesthouses you don’t have to worry about packing stuff like a tent, stove, food, excess water, etc. Enough warm clothes, medicine, water purification tablets, headlamp, and some sort of entertainment are the important things on this type of trek. Then after you’re satisfied with your bag’s weight you can throw in a big ass camera, 2 lenses, some filters, extra batteries, and tripod to really fill it out. Or that’s just me...

Now if you think your personal enjoyment will be that much greater carrying around just a small daypack, than by all means go for it. But if you’re male especially, you might really feel like a wuss when you won’t carry a 20lb bag while these little Nepalese guys are hauling around a hundred and something pounds. Ok, you shouldn’t compare yourselves to these guys, cause they’re freaks, but you probably will. But you can compare yourself to me. And if you think you're wussier than me, than go ahead and take that porter.

At the end of the day for me, choosing not to take a guide or porter isn’t about saving money, or some self-sense of machismo, it’s really about independence. I like to feel like I’m free high up in the mountains. Just me, the white jagged peaks, the bite of the wind… and that slow ass Danish guy a couple hundred feet behind.

Quick Note: As for crossing the high passes in connection with Everest Base Camp route, the trails are not so well defined. Know how to use a map and compass at the very least. For us the trail was easy enough to follow and the weather was good, but if you get some snowstorms and poor visibility, you could definitely get into some problems.

Beginning of the Trek

April 24, 2014

LUKLA TO NAMCHE BAZAAR

Light coming in over the mountains at Namche Bazaar

So we landed in Lukla at around 10:00and we were more than ready to start going. The fresh mountain air was a nice change of pace from the Kathmandu haze. Plus the delays had given my fever a chance to subside, so now I only had a hacking cough to deal with. I made a few last minute purchases, as prices would only be getting higher the further into the mountains we got. Although I decided not to buy the bottle of Nusco, which is this half hazelnut, half vanilla spread that is absolutely delicious. I had memories of three years ago when I bought it for the first time before doing the Annapurna circuit, in which I ate the whole bottle, dead sober, in just a few hours of recklessness indulgence, and then had to lay in bed the whole next day to recover. So I stayed with the more practical supplies like toilet paper, chapstick, and a wool hat.

With bright blue skies and white-capped mountains in the distance we started the hike. The trek is initially downhill, which is probably a good thing as we had already gained 4500 feet of altitude on the flight alone, and it is good to give your body some time to adjust. The first couple hours of hiking were very pleasant with nice greenery, many villages, and bright-faced children running around. I find the Nepalese infants especially cute, all bundled up in their down jackets, squinty almond shaped eyes and the rosiest cheeks you’ll ever see. I’m not exactly sure what it is, but I find white babies particularly less aesthetically appealing than their Asian counterparts.

Kids brushing their teeth. Is that a dual brush technique??

Anyway after a few hours we passed Phakding, which is the usual stopping place for most trekkers, and continued uphill to a village called Mongla. We felt like could keep going but the weather had turned gray and cloudy, so we decided this was a good time to stop. Especially early on, there’s no shortage of guesthouses along the way, so you can basically hike till your heart’s content. For those of you that don’t know how the mainstream trekking in Nepal works, you sleep and eat in guesthouses along the trail, so there’s no need for tents, packing your own food, stoves, and the usual associated with the backcountry type trekking you might find in the States. The rooms are almost free, as long as you eat dinner and breakfast at your guesthouse, which is where the bulk of their profits come from. It’s a bit of monopolized system, as every guesthouse has basically the same menu and prices, but foreveryone but the cheapest backpackers, it’s not really a matter of concern.

The following day we made a steep ascent to Namche Bazaar at 3,400 meters, which is a relatively large village that is known as the gateway to the Himalayas. It’s got markets, bakeries, internet cafes, pharmacies, and basically anything a hiker could need before getting higher up into the mountains. This is where we would make our first acclimatization stop. This just means is that we would stay 2 nights in stead of 1, and use our free day to hike up a few hundred meters before returning back to Namche. “Climb high, sleep low” is the standard mountaineering motto for avoiding acute mountain sickness (AMS).

down jackets are the outerwear of choice

So the following day we hiked up to the village of Khumjung, a picturesque village at 3900m, before heading back down. After 3 days we’d noticed a pretty usual weather pattern of clear sunny mornings with the clouds rolling in every day at around noon or one. So it was important to get early starts. Back in Namche we went to a bar to watch the move based on the book, “Into Thin Air”, about the 96’ Everest disaster, which is a fascinating book, but god damn they turned it into one of the most hilariously bad movies I've ever seen. But hey, it was something to stave off the late afternoon boredom.

I enjoyed walking around Namche, as its somewhat bustling compared to most villages and has a picturesque Sherpa bazaar, with a beautiful mountain backdrop (well from now on there would always be a beautiful mountain backdrop!)After our two nights it was time to keep going up, into the meaty part of the trek. Next stop: The village of Pangboche at 4,000m! For now here's some photos from around town...

They can't kill animals within the park limits, so even the meat is carried up

Getting to Lukla: World's Most Dangerous Airport

April 24, 2014

No go-arounds or short finals on this runway!

While in India my Danish friend Jesper and I decided that we would do the Everest Base Camp trek together. I had already done the Annapurna circuit, the other main trek in Nepal, so Everest was next up on my list. Plus Jesper and I many conversations to continue about how dirty and annoying India is and why there are so many damn hippies there. But anyway, first we had to get to capital of Nepal, Kathmandu, and then take a plane to a little place up in the mountains named Lukla, ranked the worlds most dangerous airport by the history channel in 2010. But we ain't scurred. At the time we were in Varanasi, a holy city in India, and we would need two solid days of travel to get to Nepal’s capital city. After a train ride and a 3 hour taxi ride to the Nepal border, we got a hotel and crossed the following morning. Then we took a long, cramped bus ride through the foothills and into the sprawling and polluted Kathmandu. That was the easy part!

Now most consider Kathmandu to be a pretty big shithole, but when you’re coming from India, it doesn’t seem so bad. And it certain caters well to western tourists! Walking around the main tourist district you have no trouble finding steaks, burgers, pizzas, burritos, you name it. So after two months of Indian food and curry farts (5 months for Jesper) we went straight off the deep end with steaks and wine. It was good to be in a real restaurant. Unfortunately the next day, after months of almost perfect health, I had managed to get a fever, sore throat, and a hacking cough, most likely due to Kathmandu’s noxious air. But no time for feeling sorry for myself, we had lots of stuff to do.

In India I basically lived in shorts and flip flops, so I wasn’t well prepared to dress for the weather up in the Himalayas. Fortunately Kathmandu has counterfeit outdoor clothing shops about every 3 feet, so getting some warm clothes is easy and relatively cheap. The quality of most of the stuff is actually pretty good. Without an authentic name brand to drive the prices way up you get basically the same materials at a fraction of the cost, which works for me. Although I did go to the real North Face store to buy hiking boots, because those are the one thing I didn’t want to mess around with.

After a full day of shopping we stopped in one of the many travel agencies and booked our flight to Lukla. It was either a 35 minute flight or boring 5 day walk to get there, quite the extremes! We wanted to save our energy. Our flight was the day after tomorrow, 11:00 am. Too easy! We got all our stuff ready the next day and then headed to the airport the following morning. The weather was unusually cloudy and our flight was delayed. After a couple hours of waiting we eventually found out (nobody explicitly tells you anything) that all remaining flights to Lukla that day had been cancelled. The weather was supposed to be bad the next day so we rebooked our ticked for the day after, 11:00 again.

So two days later we were at it again. With perfect weather we checked out of the hotel and were off to the airport. When we finally got through the chaos that is the baggage check in counter we settled in the airport lobby to find that our flight was delayed by an hour, due to high winds in Lukla. So we waited around only to find that flight was pushed back another hour, then another hour, then another! At around 4:30 pm, just as we were about to leave, they announced that flight was now boarding! So we all piled into the bus that takes you out to the tiny little plane. But for some reason they wouldn’t let us get out of the bus. So we sat there for 15 minutes and then they decided that they weren’t going to fly. Back to airport for you, suckers!

At this point we realized our 11:00 am flights really kind of sucked. All the early morning flights went, but by the time 10:00 rolls around they start delaying and cancelling the flights. So we went to the ticket counter and asked for a new ticket the next morning, as early as possible. This time we get 10:30. Yay.

We went back, tried to check into our hotel again, but it was full, so we found a new one and prepared ourselves for another letdown. Upon the advice of the airline personnel we got to the airport extra early, to try and hop on an earlier flight if there were any openings. Of course there were none and when we finally got in the airport lobby, guess what popped up on the screen. LUKLA DELAYED! Again. WTF. I talked to the ticket counter and they said they could only get us on another 10:30 flight the following day. #&$(*#&#. So we hung around. When you ask the people behind the desk if there is any chances the flight will go (because you have no idea if it’s 50/50 or if its more like a 2% of going), they just tell you to wait another hour. ARGH. So I went back to the ticket counter to politely bitch about how much bullshit these 10:30 and 11:00 tickets are, and this time he said he’d see what he could do. After a minute on the phone he asked me if 8:30am would be alright. SCORE! Every flight before 10:00 has always departed on time, so hell yes, 8:30 was certainly alright.

We decided not to wait and get dicked around by the airline all afternoon, so we checked back into our hotel and would try our luck again tomorrow, this time with some cause for optimism. When we left for the airport the weather was nice and sunny yet again. We checked our bags, got to the lobby, and actually went through the boarding gate on time. We all got in the bus, but for some reason the bus didn’t move. Oh crap. We waited and waited, and then we found out the news: high winds in Lukla! NOOOOOO!

So it was back to sitting in limbo at the airport, hating life. Fortunately an hour later we were boarding again. This time the bus left, didn’t stop, and actually let us get out when we made it to the plane. Thank god. We finally climbed the ramp to the tiny 12 seater and made ourselves as comfortable as you can get in a plane that small. I’ve never really been in a small plane, so I was somewhat tense. It’s really easy to start thinking about those high winds they were talking about and getting blown off near the runway at Lukla and dying a fiery death crashing into the side of a mountain. But I was excited too! The rational part of me was really looking forward to the plane ride overlooking the highest mountain range on earth.

Soon enough the wheels were in motion and we were out on the runway. Despite being a bit rickety everything went fine and we were in the air in no time. The relatively flat land of the Kathmandu valley gave way to the hill country and the striking white tops of the Himalayan range could be seen protruding out in the distance. A few bits of turbulence added some excitement along the way. After half and hour we already beginning to approach Lukla. Just as the runway came into distant view we hit a large patch of turbulence and the plane lurched violently. The plane seemed as if it was caught in a massive cocktail shaker.

The pilot jerked the plane’s nose down forcefully, in an attempt to get out of the chaos. That’s when we heard the explosion. Something was now spewing black smoke from the right propeller. The old woman next me said “well this is pretty lame”. Seconds later we heard the pilot scream “We’re going down! Get ready for a crash landing!” We all prepared in our own ways. Jesper let out a wail that sounded something like a dying platypus. I put my legs on the chair in front of me and flexed my abs so I could successfully brace myself for when the plane smashed full speed into a mountain. The man behind me started playing Free Falling by the Boss. The old woman shook her head and muttered "super gay". Suddenly and miraculously the pilot pulled us out of our nosedive, steadied the plane, turned around and pulled off his Nepali pilot's mask revealing that is was actually Ashton Kutcher and we had all been Punk’d. We all laughed jovially before landing safely in Lukla. Time to get hiking!

Success! People started boarding as soon as we got off in Lukla

INDIA!

April 4, 2014

India: Land of bustling bazaars, colorful saris, ancient temples, dreadlocked holy men, fragrant curries, annoying touts, unpredictable transportation, and just a hell of a lot of people. The country is huge, so from beaches, to hill stations, to Himalayan mountains there is a little something for everyone. Among travellers the Indian experience is perhaps the most polarizing on the planet. Love it or hate it, the country certainly draws strong opinions. And I think that is what allured me here in the first place, to see first hand what it’s like and form my own opinion.

After a month in Myanmar I flew back to Bangkok and applied for my visa to India. And let me tell you, they do not make the application easy. I have never filled out a more in depth application in my whole life. They ask everything from your parents’ names, jobs, and birth places to things like work history, every country you’ve ever visited, and identifiable body markings (webbed toe!). Other things required are specifically sized passport photos, flights in and out of the country, and hotel bookings upon for your city of arrival. The flights and hotel booking part also completely contradicts one part of the application that says you should not book your entry into India before obtaining your visa. My first attempt was rejected because I didn’t book an exit flight (I told them I was taking a bus to Nepal). Obviously when you’re traveling the country for a few months with no real set schedule you don’t know the exact date you’re going to leave, but there’s no getting around Indian bureaucracy!

Fortunately I had read that the travel company across the street will book your flight, print the reservation, and then cancel it for a small fee. Good ole’ Bangkok. They give the people what they want! So armed with my fake flight from Delhi to Kathmandu I tried again and this time my application was accepted. While it was processing I waited in agony while lying on the beach on the island of Koh Chang. All in all it took nine days to process. Nine days I had to wait in the heat of Thailand sun on those annoyingly sandy beaches. I discovered that meanwhile everyone back in Chicago was having the time of their lives frolicking around in a snowy winter wonderland. Life isn’t fair, but oh well. A few days later I boarded the cheapest Air Asia flight I could find and was off to Chennai, India!

Chennai is the capital of Tamil Nadu, the large province in SE India, and considered by most travellers to be a massive hole. Regardless, I wanted to give it a chance, as cities that are big, crowded, dirty cities often have some interesting street photography opportunities if nothing else. My flight arrived at 10pm and after some trouble at immigration about my lack of a hotel booking (I cancelled it after my visa application was accepted) I made my way out of the airport and into the sticky Indian air. They had prepaid taxi booth, which was nice, as I wouldn’t have to deal with those notoriously slippery taxi and auto-rickshaw drivers on my first night. I went to the main tourist drag and found myself a halfway decent hotel for 900 rupees ($15) a night.

As I ventured out of the hotel around 11:30 pm the first thing I discovered in India was the street food as well as the level of English proficiency. I stepped up to the street stand a little apprehensively because I hadn’t bothered to look up any Hindi words, and didn’t even know what the word for hello or thank you was, but I was greeted with a warm “Hello, what you like to order?" In smooth, accented English. I had an omelette, chapatti (fried bread), and a tea, all of which cost a total of about 50 cents! After being asked all the questions I would come to know very well in the following weeks (What is your name, Where are you from, How old are you, Are you married? etc) We had a nice little chat about what Chicago is like, and then I went on my way.

What I hadn’t realized going into India was that Indians speak excellent English, especially in the big cities. I guess I just figured it would be like the other large, culturally diverse countries I’ve been to where the people first learn the local language (in this case Tamil) and the national language (Hindi) followed by English. I didn’t know that for many citizens English is basically the national language. They were a British colony after all. So that works for me!

The next morning I headed down to the hotel restaurant and got acquainted with South Indian breakfast. To the inexperienced observer it looked like vats of gravy accompanied by plain donuts, tortillas, and rice. In fact it was dhal (lentil soup), tomato chutney, and coconut chutney, with chapatti and fried bread rings (I still don’t know what these are called) to dip in the sauces. The first thing I realized was that I didn’t know what the proper eating etiquette was. I looked around and watched the Indians devouring their food. Everyone used their hands, well more specifically their right hand (the left hand is the dirty hand) to tear the chapatti into small pieces (harder than it looks) and thoroughly dunk it in the dhal or shovel heaps of rice into their mouths, which is also somewhat tricky to do without spilling. It looked like a messy affair. I chose to stick with silverware for the rice.

After breakfast I headed out the museum, which cost 250 rupees for foreigners ($4) and 20 rupees for Indians (33 cents). Cameras were prohibited and had to be put in a locker, but the thought of putting a couple thousand dollars worth of camera equipment in a shitty little Indian locker room didn’t sound very appealing to me, so I decided to take a pass. I headed instead to the old town, which is a frenzy of shops, narrow streets, and crumbling buildings. The first thing I noticed was how many variations in clothing style there were. The young men mostly wore western style trousers and button downs, but the older men often wore the more traditional skirt-like lungyis, while the muslim men wore their white hats and white smocks (I need to look up some words). The women almost exclusively wore brightly colored saris, except for some of the muslim women, who donned the full on black burkas. The children were in nice looking school uniforms, and they had just gotten out of class for the day, so I was getting a lot attention. Walk around any untouristy part of India with a big camera in tow and you will have an endless supply of men and children clamoring to get their photo taken. I found this amusing at first, nowadays, not so much.

The other thing that you notice is how chaotic the roads are. Crowds of people fight for space in the narrow lanes with motorbikes, bicycles, autorickshaws, and wieldy bullock carts. Absolute chaos! You feel like your going to get run over by a speeding motorbike about every 10 seconds. They probably wouldn't run you over, but they're damn good at bluffing. And if there is a pileup of people trying to get through a clogged up street, people will literally come up behind you and push their way through. It’s a dog eat dog world out there.

And the honking! It is ceaseless! In India honking is like sonar, it’s used to let everyone within a 50 foot radius know that their vehicle is coming. Even motorbikes going down a completely empty road will beep every few seconds just to let anyone who might possibly be entering the road know that they are there. All the trucks say something along the lines of ‘Please Honk’ on the back so they know when someone is behind them or going to be passing them. Peace and quiet anywhere near the street will not be found.

looking pretty badass with that balloon shooting gun

It was definitely an interesting afternoon. For the sunset I decided to head down to the city beach, which is more of a carnival rather than a place to go swimming. There are small rides, balloon shooting games, horses, cotton candy vendors, and lots and lots of people. Very few people go all the way in the water, but for many standing ankle deep and letting the waves splash them seemed to be quite the exciting pastime! I was basically adopted by a family (some people seem to really really like talking to foreigners) who kept me well fed, and somewhat captive for a good part of the evening. Two of the guys actually went in for a dip and were very disappointed that I wouldn’t go in with them. Getting all my clothes soaking wet while leaving my camera bag alone with a bunch of strangers, yep, that sounds great!

Well that was my day in Chennai. The following morning I flew off to Kochi, on the SW coast in the state of Kerala to start my long overland journey northwards. Unfortunately I'll be off hiking in Nepal for the next couple of weeks so I won't be able to update this blog, but I'll have a lot more posts after that. I promise!

cricket on the beach. Not the cleanest place.