Exodus
Lisa & Andy Joined: April 3rd 2008
Logged in: November 9th 2011
Logged in: November 9th 2011
Andrew Steyn
Two New Yorkers (one native, one South African) who decided to put our ¨normal¨ lives on hold for about a year and see the world. Without much of an agenda, we quit our jobs, gave up our apartment, and left behind all but what we could fit into two backpacks in hopes of expanding our minds, broadening our horizons, and possibly creating a new sense of normal for ourselves. We hope you enjoy reading about our travels.
Travel Blog Posts
Tank
Sorry it's taken us so long to finish this update, but we're finally at the last blog entry, and Mozambique. I have to start by saying that Mozambique truly exceeded our expectations. Not that we were exactly sure of what to expect. Dave brought a book with him so we looked through that, we talked to people along the way who had been there, and we tried doing some research online, but we still didn't have a clear picture. Even spending three weeks in South Africa didn't reveal any definitive information such as border crossings and how far we could get in a 2 wheel drive car. We kept hearing either very negative or very positive things so we decided to wing it and take off without any plans. So, away we went in our tiny ... read more
Lion
Although we're back in New York now, I wanted to briefly write about our last stops of the trip - South Africa and Mozambique. After another stay in Bangkok, we were once again off to South Africa. This time we came from the other side of the world with a completely different view of things, figuratively and literally. We flew from Bangkok into Johannesburg and headed straight to Sandton for a few days. Sandton, a Johannesburg suburb, is the home of Nelson Mandela Square, Andy's favorite restaurant called The Butcher Shop, and The Wanderers Cricket Stadium. From Sandton, we picked up our little car and drove to the Kruger National Park, a place that Andy has been visiting since he was a little boy and knows like the back of his hand. Some may recall that ... read more
Angkor Wat
Cambodia. Magic. Tragic. I think it's fair to say that this is the first country we've visited where we've eagerly awaited departure. This is not to say it wasn't without it's highlights, in fact we found some islands off its shores with beaches and solitude that rival any we've stumbled across anywhere on the this little spheroid we call home. It is also home to Angkor Wat and its surrounding temples, a collection of acheological wonders which can surely only be compared to the likes of Machu Picchu or the pyramids at Giza, crafted almost 1000 years ago with an intricacy of detail that still, even after being dulled by the elements for centuries, utterly boggles the imagination. Built long before the likes of Machiavelli, Leonardo, and Galileo were dragging Europe towards the light, works to ... read more
Vietnam
Any preconceived notions we had of Vietnam derived from not much more than the last page of our extensive Chinese delivery menu (they'll make you anything from anywhere in Asia and deliver it before you hang the phone up), a plethora of Hollywood war flicks, and the names of 58,000 good men etched into a wall of black granite in Washington D.C. The word "Vietnam" brought to mind not a country, but a war. A war learned about in movie theatres and 10th grade history class. It's fair to say they didn't exactly teach us everything in high school, or maybe I just slept through a lot more of it than I realized. The 2009 version of Vietnam has very little association with that war, from a tourist perspective anyway, a psychologist may tell you otherwise. ... read more
Luang Prabang sunset
Hello again! You’ll find us now in Vietnam, but let’s catch you up on how we got here. Go get a glass of wine if you’re home, lock the office door if you’re at work, put your feet up and relax...we're going to be here a while. Better yet, print it out and take it to bed, I'll have you asleep in ten minutes :) After getting back from the Philippines we had a few days to kill in Bangkok before heading up to Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand for some trekking, relaxing, a little bit of culture and hopefully a lot less of the cancerous debauchery that has invaded southern Thailand and seems to have metastasized in its otherwise spectacular islands. We got our bus tickets, headed over to the bus, sat down and mentally ... read more
Pure Philippines
So, there we were, sitting at a bar in Bangkok with one day left on our visa trying to decide whether to head east into Myanmar or west into Cambodia. Either choice was going to be a hassle involving a long bus ride on an awful road ending in a hectic border post and all the stress and general mayhem that ensues at such places. This all needed happen within 20 odd hours to avoid the dreaded "VISA OVERSTAY" stamp in our passports which, when going through immigration, is akin to having really bad credit when visiting loan office (although nowadays I'm sure we could get a bailout from Congress). We sat there deep in contemplation, even having dug out and dusted off the Lonely Planet from deep in the nether regions of my backpack where ... read more
Chang
The land of the Thai. This was always going to be interesting. Every traveler comes here. Most leave saying "I wish I could have seen it twenty years ago." It's a testament to what traveling Thailand must have been like that so many still come in hopes of catching a glimpse of its former glory. No other country or region of the world can hold a candle to Thailand's backpacker legend. Here you could live practically for free on some of the world's most majestic real estate, amongst its friendliest people and tastiest food. It was the perfect storm of backpacking, an Eden unrivaled for those free spirited folks who dared to journey here, only to be rewarded with more than they could possibly have expected. So many of them never left. It is a fundamental ... read more
Murugan
After saying goodbye to the comforts of Singapore, it was time to reaquaint ourselves with the ole bus life again and begin our journey up peninsular Malaysia to Thailand, and beyond. Heading to the bus station has become a source of great excitement for us, I guess it doesn't take much these days. Generally, you'll get a hint as to what kind of bus you'll be traveling on by the price of the ticket, but experience has taught us thats it's all pretty much a crapshoot, or more accurately, we're experts at getting overcharged. So there we were, six in the morning, in high suspense awaiting the fate of our knees, backs, and senses for the next 8 hours or so. Would it be a new bus? a minivan? a 1950 schoolbus? would the human/livestock ratio ... read more
Boat Quay
Singapore, for us, was essentially a sandwich stuffed with Borneo. We spent two days there before Borneo and five days there afterwards. It definitely was not a symmetrical sandwhich, especially in terms of experience. The front end of that sandwich was plain white Wonderbread, the back end was a slice of sesame crusted marble rye infused with a compote of wild figs and dusted with the essence of a virgin bee's honey (I'm going for a good piece of bread here, but you get the point). Let me explain. Our first day in Singapore was spent as would be typical of any tourist doing the new city thing. We hopped on the MRT (subway) and took the train into the heart of the city for the day. I should mention Singapore has the cleanest subway subway ... read more
Sabah, malaysia
So, another month gone by in South East Asia, time flies when you're having fun! Let's start with an unneccesarily controversial bang...South East Asia is Cinderella to Central America's Ugly Step Sisters. Yeah, that's completely unfair and way too harsh, as Central America had more of its fair share of gems and was a fantastic experience, but there's something here that sets it apart. It's hard to say just what, or what makes me want to compare the two. In our experience, both regions outwardly seem to have a similar level of development, both have their share of tourism, and your average Joe citizen seem to share a fairly similar lot in life, but yet there is something special here. Upon reflection, and the benefit of many miles across this planet since we left it, I'd ... read more
