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I made it home. I managed to get about 3 hours of sleep in the last 48, so I’m well rested. The trip was good. I’ll probably post some follow-up entries in the next week or so, as well as some photos. The mini-bus trip to the Cambodian border with Thailand was interesting and I should have a couple of good photos of that if nothing else. I’d also like to go back and and add an entry about my last day in Bangkok (the third day of the trip). For now, here’s a photo of sunrise over the pacific from the airplane window.

Thanks for reading. I’ll talk to many of you in the next few days.

I’m on my way home. There’s a long bus ride to the border then to Bangkok. Then there’s a long series of flights, so I’ll be moving for 40-some hours. I’ll send out another post once I get home, which should be Saturday afternoon at your GMT minus 5.00. Thanks for reading.

Adam (and any other motorcycle people who are lurking), look into the Honda Africa Twin, or the Suzuki DR 800 or DR 350. I think the two bigger ones don’t get imported into the US, but the DR 350 with a bigger tank, saddle bags and a better seat might be sweet for South America. There were times the last few days when going through rough dirt and rocks or through sand, when I was glad to have a light-weight bike. It would be great to go on a trip with you. The DR 350 is supposed to be a rock-solid engine. It needs more research.

I’ll see you all soon.

PS. I am in no way superstitious, but if you are never name a motorcycle “La Poderosa.” Yesterday, I lost all electrical on it and had to roll-start it to get back from nowhere. An old rice farmer helped push. They had bypassed the main fuse with some strands of wire which of course came loose.

I’ve updated this entry and the one about Angkor, and added a bunch of photos to both of them.

I’m in Sihanoukville now. For the last couple of days, I’ve been cruising around the coast of Cambodia on a dirt bike. I rode to a town called Kampong Trach on the road to the boarder with Vietnam. I pulled off the road to turn around and saw this man fishing in the rice paddies. It’s the dry season here so there’s not much water, but this place must have water year round.

Honda owns the market here for small 125cc mopeds, but there seem to be more Yamaha dirtbikes. Yesterday, I drove down some dirt roads and ended up on some dirt tracks between rice paddies. Some of the places I went, the people were very surprised to see me. There may not have ever been a westerner there before. One of the greatest things about riding here is that a gas station is never far away.
My face was so covered in road dirt by the time I got to this place that the woman laughed at me and gave me a wet-wipe with my soft drink. People here are amazing. I’ve had to learn to ride with one hand just to wave back at the armies of school kids walking and riding their bikes down the roads. Are those enough photos of the bike Adam, or should I take more?

It’s been a bit of trial by fire for a new rider, seeing that there are no lines on the roads, people drive wherever they want at whatever speeds they want. Trucks coming straight at me while passing other trucks on a two-lane road make me very aware of the on-road/off-road capabilities of this particular motorcycle. Oh, yeah and the only protective gear I’ve been able to get my hands on is some SPF 30.

But alas, it’s nearly over for this year. It’s going to be tight getting back to Bangkok by Friday night, but I should make it. I’ve got the bike until 2pm tomorrow when the guy will come to pick it up. After that it’s the border at Koh Kong and then on to Bangkok by whatever means possible. Just to avoid the potential shock when I come back and you’ve forgotten what I look like, here’s a photo.

I just got to Kampot in southern Cambodia last night and I went on a trip up to Bokor today. Bokor is an abandoned resort and casino on top of a mountain. It was built by the French during the colonial period here and abandoned as they left in 1972 due to the Khmer Rouge taking over the country. We hiked a few miles down the mountain and then through some farms to get back to Kampot. But that’s not what I want to talk about.

I spent three days in Siem Reap touring the ruins of the Angkor temple complexes. Angor Wat is the most famous of these, but there are dozens of ruins in the area. Maybe my favorite part was going to Angkor Wat before sunrise. It was my first day and I hadn’t seen it in the light. Walking up to it at 5am with the stars overhead was very impressive. Walking around inside in the dark not knowing the layout of the place was exceptional. The sunset from a nearby hill was no slouch either.

There’s another ruin called Ta Phrom where they’ve left the large trees in place where they grew on the ruins. The tree roots push the stones out of place and the walls collpase when the trees die. It’s a tourist favorite for good reason. There’s also a place about 80km away called Beng Malea where they have’n't restored it at all. We convinced a tuk-tuk driver to take us the whole way. The lady at this gas station thought we were all crazy. Walking around the ruins was like being in an Indiana Jones movie. Climbing around in there I found some sections standing including this hallway.

Some of the things that people haul on mopeds around here are unbelievable. I’ll tell you about some of the ones I don’t have pictures of and show you the ones I do. I’ve seen a motorbike (125cc Honda Dream II) with five people on it. I saw three motorbikes pass me on a dirt road each with 2 or 3 full size (but a little thinner) mattresses hanging off the back suspended by ropes somehow. I saw a guy on a motorbike with a full sized CO2 tank (5 ft tall, like a welding tank) tied down horizontally balanced on the seat behind him. There was no cover or protection around the valve. If he laid the bike down to the right, it was going to the moon.

Here’s one with a couple of small propane tanks on it. Unfortunately, I was on the wrong side to get a good shot. Apparently pigs take motorbikes too. I don’t know if they paid, but they were very much alive. I later saw a motorbike with four pigs on it.

This will be brief. I’m in Siem Reap, the town near Angkor Wat in Cambodia. I’ve been touring around ruins for a couple of days and I’m beat. Yesterday was the best day of the trip by far. The place has been amazing. I’ll write about it later. Tomorrow, I’m headed back to Phnom Penh and will then take a bus or maybe a train to the coast of Cambodia, either Kampot or Sihanoukville. I’ll put up a post about the last couple of days soon. I need to get better access to the Internet and relearn how to use a keyboad.

Today I was feeling a lot better. Unfortunately, everything is closed on Mondays so I wasn’t able to see Uncle Ho’s pickled corpse or his house or museum. I’m flying to Phnom Penh tomorrow morning. I ran into an Australian named Rich and his Fiancee Kish who gave me some good info on motorbiking around the south of Cambodia, so I’m out of here. As much as Hanoi was probably the low point of this trip, it’s a fascinating place and I would like to come back.

Tonight I went to see a water puppet show. It’s an old art form unique to Vietnam. It was really good. The stage is a pool with a screen behind it. The puppets are controlled by long underwater poles from behind the screen. Some of the puppets have fireworks built into them so they spit sparks and smoke. The music was really good as well, with some interesting instruments.

I also had some more lasagna. This time it was Hong Kong fast food lasagna. As bad as that sounds it was much better than last night’s, but Mom you don’t have anything to worry about. I also toured around the city a little bit and saw some war relics. I’m not sure what that thing is but I think it’s French. Maybe it’s a BOFURS gun.

There were also some sites that had relics from the war against the US. The Vietnamese government was pretty excited about shooting down B52 bombers. Part of this one crashed into this pool and they left it there and put up a plaque. Vietnam has such a young population that the war was over before most of them were born. I’d guess for the older ones it must be tough to accept American tourists, but I haven’t seen anything outward that would suggest it. Without understanding the language, I don’t really know what they think of me.

Here are a couple of random photos: nightime outside of the puppet theatre and the airport clocks at the Vientiane airport.

I’ve been in Hanoi for two days. I’m still suffering from a minor case of Ho Chi Minh’s Revenge. You’ve got two choices during a trip of over a couple of weeks: avoid eating or drinking anything that seems remotely dangerous and get sick after 2 weeks, or eat whatever you want and get sick after a week and a half.

Today I went to an Italian place that my guidebook suggested and the neighbor said it closed 6 years ago. I went to another Italian place that managed to make lasagna with bread in it and no sauce. It’s hard with my current lack of appetite to eat the volume of Vietnamese food that I need right now.

Hanoi is a little crazy. Imagine a city of a billion people. All of them are in the streets or on the sidewalk. All of them are either offering you a ride on their motorbike, offering to sell you their motorbike, or offering to run you over with their motorbike. The sidewalks are filled with parked motorbikes, so you have to walk in the streets. Look five ways before you cross the street and keep your head on a swivel while you’re crossing. Don’t move quickly, stop, or change speed suddenly because then your motion is unpredictable and the river of motorbikes won’t be able to change their vector to avoid yours. Nobody checks their mirrors unless they hear a horn, so everybody honks all the time.

What ever happened to the idea that it’s hot in Vietnam. It’s cold and damp here now. I wish I brought my long underwear and an electric blanket. Plugging an American electric blanket into the 220 volt outlets here could be heartwarming.

I’ve been looking into a five day riding tour through the northwest on a Russian-made Minsk motorcycle, but I’m not feeling up for it right now. I’m going to head to Halong bay on an organized two-day tour because it’s beautiful there and I’m feeling lazy. After that, I’m getting out of here as soon as I can. I’ll probably fly to Phnom Penh. I’ll take more pictures of the craziness tomorrow.

I’ve made it to Hanoi on a French airplane. I flew Lao Airlines and there were no Chinese YUN-12s in sight. Maybe the last of them exploded in mid-air. I was feeling under the weather today. I definitely didn’t enjoy the hour-long mini-bus trip from the airport to the City. Try explaining in Vietnamese that you might have to ask them to stop in the middle of the highway for a biological event. There were some twisted charades that caused real animation in my fellow passengers. In any case, it’s the first time I’ve had any trouble here at all and the people were very concerned and helpful.

For the last couple of days, I’ve been in hotels with English language television. I’m really just now getting the scope of the devastation in Thailand and elsewhere. When I arrived in Bangkok, I made the somewhat arbitrary decision to go north first instead of south. It looks like once again my bread hit the floor butter side up. Thanks for all of your concern and support, I’m blown away.

It was cold and dark on the way to the airport in Vientiane at 5:30 this morning. I wish I’d brought my long johns, or maybe put on the fleece or jacket that were in my pack. Amazingly, a tuk-tuk driver was waiting outside my hotel when I walked out the door. The hotel night attendant was sleeping across two chairs with a blanket and pillow in the lobby and there was a padlock on inside of the front doors. I felt badly because I’d woken him up once already three and a half hours earlier when I came in. After going up to check the room, he came down and unlocked the only obvious exit with a key from his pocket. When considering hotels in Laos, should we choose ones with a small tv in the lobby that we can throw through a window to get out in the case of a fire? Should that be in the guide book?

I didn’t notice it but there was an empty antifreeze bottle tied to the back of the tuk-tuk driver’s seat. He wanted five dollars to drive me to the airport, but we settled on 15,000 Kip–the equivalent to US$1.50. It was my second offer and the correct amount according to the travel agent in Luang Prabang. Some of the Lao people I’ve met seem to have trouble keeping a straight face when they give you a tourist price which is hugely inflated and very often paid. After less than a mile we pulled up to a corner where there was an old woman sitting behind a table in front of a shop. There were a couple of other tuk-tuks and drivers waiting for something to do. The woman came over with a funnel and 1-liter glass pepsi bottle filled with red fuel. It didn’t put much of a dent into the empty antifreeze bottle behind the seat which must have been rigged up as a gas tank. The driver gave her 5000 of my Kip.

The day before I’d had lunch in the morning market in Vientiane with a couple of Belgian guys who were five weeks into a year-long trip. It’s a huge flea market where local people buy clothing, jewelry and electronics. Every time I walked by a stand I was offered a Beer Lao t-shirt, nothing else. It’s as if this was the only thing westerners ever buy here. As I was walking by some tables I was intercepted by a young Lao woman who showed me were to sit. I hadn’t eaten in almost twenty-four hours due to bad planning, so was hungry and didn’t put up resistance. Her baby was on a blanket on the dirty concrete a few feet away playing with an old man. She was stacking things around the child to keep him from chewing on the electric cord to the fan. He was pretty resourceful, and she finally moved the fan.

The Belgian guys were going to be having a few beers down by the riverfront later for New Year’s Eve, but I never found them. I ended up drinking until two with an Australian English teacher who had a writing problem. There was an old woman working at the morning market who fried up the egg, vegetables and rice for my lunch over a crude propane stove. I was a little embarrassed to cough at the smoke. There are people cooking on the streets all over southeast Asia, very often with charcoal. The smoke gets thick and in this case had coated the cob webs overhead in black soot.

While I was eating, a woman came through the morning market dressed in the traditional clothing of one of the hill tribe minority groups of Laos. She had a baby in a loop of cloth hanging from her chest and a small boy followed her. They were very dirty and their embroidered clothing was on its way to rags. She had her hands out, but nobody seemed to notice them. They were ghosts and they kept moving. Looking back, I could have bought her lunch, but she moved on too quickly for me to figure out if the people working around me would think I was encouraging her. I guess instead I encouraged her to go hungry.

I haven’t seen a lot of beggars on this trip. Other travelers have said that the Lao people have a strong social network, and that there are no orphans in Laos. The few homeless people I have seen have been in very bad shape, many are disabled. I talked to somebody a few years ago whose friend had to cut short a trip to India because she gave away all of her money, extra clothes and backpack. When she then emptied her bank account and gave away her shoes, her parents wired her some money to complete the trip and she gave that away. This morning I understand.

By the time we got to the airport the fuel level in the antifreeze bottle had dropped significantly. I gave the tuk-tuk driver an extra 2000 Kip and it put a smile on his face. It was still dark and cold and I waited in the wrong terminal until the information desk opened up and pointed me to the international terminal building for my flight to Hanoi.

It’s weird to be a tourist here right now. A big part of me thinks I should have flown to Phuket to help with the cleanup, but I’m afraid I’d just put more strain on the resources that are there. I’m excited about Vietnam and hope to get out in the countryside later in the week. Things are going very well.

Happy New Year,
Jason