Touching down in Cairo was quite an experience. After a 10 hour layover in the airport at Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) I flew out in the morning and descended a few hours later into the pink desert of Egypt. The visa process was painless, as well as finding the public bus station near the airport and catching a bus downtown for about 30 cents vs. the $20 cab rides I was offered. I think I was a little over-prepared for the touts here, maybe I heard too many scare stories from other travelers. Sure there are guys who wait in [View Full Entry]

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Visiting the Tiger Temple in Kanchanaburi was a great way to finish the first leg of my trip. Its been five and a half months since I left now, and I am excited for my flight to Egypt on the 21st. Southeast Asia has been more than I expected, as I review the trip to this point it feels almost overwhelming - so much living packed into a short time compared to the drip, drip of my daily life before I left. Though many days are spent in relatively quiet activity, walking along the beach, reading, doing laundry, drinking fruit shakes [View Full Entry]

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(Note: The following entry is not for the squeamish. I debated briefly whether to include some of the events described here due to their taboo nature. But for me these things are the essence of adventure - like heading out into a foreign jungle, this is striking off into new and disorienting cultural territory. In the East however it is simply business as usual. Just as an Indian is horrified at the thought of grinding up the sacred cow and serving it on a bun or a Muslim is disgusted by the idea of putting the foul meat of a pig [View Full Entry]

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Before travelling to Phnom Penh I read a book about the genocide that occurred in Cambodia in the 70s and specifically about the Tuol Sleng prison, which is now a museum. The book described the evolution of this most infamous institution, a high school that was converted into an interrogation and torture facility by the Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot. Of the 20,000 people who entered the facility, only 12 people survived. It was a place where confessions were extracted through various methods of torture before the victims were sent on to the killing fields for execution, if they survived [View Full Entry]

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After leaving Ton Sai I stayed in Krabi town for almost a week, I was trying to wait out my cold so I could go diving but it dragged on and on and I finally decided to skip the diving and move on to Bangkok. For such a big city it felt pretty accessible, I didn't do too much sightseeing there since I will be coming back. When I return I will need to arrange a flight to Nepal and I figure I may have some time to burn waiting, so I left myself with some things to do. In Bangkok [View Full Entry]

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After leaving Kuala Lumpur I spent a couple of days in the Cameron Highlands in the mountains of central Malaysia. The climate is much cooler there, perfect for growing tea among many other fruits and vegetables. The thing to do in the highlands is visit the tea plantations, which are very beautiful. It looks like the hills are covered in green corduroy. I rented a motorcycle (if it qualifies as one, more like a moped), and spent the day driving around the narrow, winding mountain roads. I was a little shaky at first and it took me some time to adjust [View Full Entry]

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In my last few days in Maumere while waiting for my flight back to Bali I got to spend some time exploring more of Flores, it was a great experience. The people there are genuinely friendly, they are so eager to try the three or four English phrases they know - the inevitable "Hello mister!" followed by "Where you from?" - "Oh, Amerigaahh, good!". Then the occasional "How long Indonesia?" or "You have wife?". Whenever a man asked me this last question and I tell them I am single, they would look at me with an expression of unbridled admiration. "Ahh, [View Full Entry]

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Bali When I first arrived in Bali I stayed in Kuta, a very touristy section of town that caters to the surfer crowd. To me it seemed a dissonant mixture of some Balinese elements and modern western conveniences like Starbucks, liquor stores, and KFCs. Not really my scene, mostly drunk frat-boy types flying around the rabbit warren-like roads on rented scooters. The crowd in Kuta looks like it belongs at spring break but peppered with unrelenting local touts who will not allow you to pass them by without assaulting you with at least 10 sales pitches. They are very aggressive, it [View Full Entry]

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I am back in Kota Kinabalu for a few days now until I fly out to Bali on the 18th. I wasn't planning on going to Indonesia before I left but I have met so many people who rave about it (plus the fact that it is really cheap) that I have decided to go. Great diving, Komodo Dragons, active volcanoes - sounds good to me. I like this city - spent almost a week here when I arrived, the people here are very friendly. Packs of children smile and stare at you until one of them gets brave and says [View Full Entry]

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(FYI the title of this entry is a Ronnie James Dio reference - I haven't found religion (sorry Grandma)) (The "Feeding Frenzy" video quality is pretty poor on this website, it didn't come out any better when I posted it on youtube.com, but it looks fine when just played on a computer. Even with the poor quality it does give a good reference of the size of the turtle and the giant batfish when you compare them to the smaller fish - the small ones are almost a foot long) Just got back into Kuala Lumpur yesterday after spending 11 days [View Full Entry]

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