http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/J-Silberg/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from J Silberg en-us Tue, 08 Dec 2009 04:08:05 +0000 Tue, 08 Dec 2009 04:08:05 +0000 Well I'll keep this entry short. I flew from Luang Prabang to Bangkok early in the morning after one last hurrah at the famous bowling alley. Once in Bangkok I met up with my friend Kenneth's mom who lives in Bangkok. She took me out for an amazing buffet lunch at the intercontinental hotel. I don't eat much fish but this was the best sushi I have ever had...plus the dessert buffet wasn't too shab http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-422182.html SabaideeThe last couple of days in Luang Prabang have been full of amazing activities. Yamil and I decided to take a half day elephant tour. We took a minibus out to the elephant village about 30 minutes away from town. All of the elephants are former working elephants mostly from the logging industry. They now live a much more comfortable life giving people rides through the jungle and allow http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-420531.html The last entry I wrote we were waiting for the rain to clear to go tubing. We went to some booking places to see where to rent a tube but they all seemed closed. Apparently you couldn't rent them because the water was too high. We all knew that you still could but we were convinced by a tour operator to go on a kayaking trip instead. We Yamil Daniel Johannes and I...the people I went climbing http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-419330.html Well things have remained interesting in the last couple of days. After writing my last blog I did indeed get my Laos herbal massage. It was a mix of stretching aromatherapy chiropractor massaging and placing bags of hot herbs over my body. Obviously enjoyable. Then I had one of the most romantic dinners of my life....by myself. Picture a little french bistro overlooking a fountain in central http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-418332.html Phnom PenhSo I took the 6 hour bus ride from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh. The bus lets you off in a busy part of town and you are instantly greeted by dozens no exaggeration of screaming tuktuk drivers. All are your friend and want to take you places. After a mad scramble to get away we found a quiet street. According to the lonely planet my travel saviour on many occasion there are two main ba http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/South/Phnom-Penh/blog-417075.html Our next day was an unexpected surprise. Kyle had met what he described to be a very friendly Cambodian the day before in an internet cafe. He said he was between jobs and would love to show us around if we wanted. He didn't want any payment just our company. When Kyle told me I was skeptical at first. You're never sure with certain scams etc. in SE Asia. Kyle had gotten his phone number so that http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Siem-Reap/blog-416685.html Sorry about the delay between posts. Apparently I scared my parents a bit by not writing after I'd said I would post soon.So we landed in Siem Reap on one hours sleep. Waiting for us at the gorgeous Siem Reap airport were two tuktuks a kind of motorcycle pulled carriage that are all over the place. We headed right into town and found our hotel. Our room wasn't ready for a couple of hours so we d http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Siem-Reap/blog-416339.html Mount KinabaluSo last I left off I was heading pantless towards Mount Kinabalu. The mountain dominates the landscape and at just over 4000 m tall is the tallest mountain in SE Asia. I along with my travel mates had certainly never climbed a mountain that high but we thought we would give it a try. The hike consists of two parts a 6km trek to Laban Rata where the guest houses are and a 2.7 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-413660.html The Journey around BorneoSo we flew from Kuala Lumpur into the city of Sandakan of the far east coast of the province of Sabah in the Malaysian part of Borneo. We had nothing finalized but knew that we wanted to do two main things in our week here dive and mountain climb. Things began to fall serenditously into place and we headed first for the south coast of Sabah and the world famous dive desti http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Sabah/Sipadan/blog-413003.html Hello againI last left off having just returned to Penang from Pulau Redang and getting nice and cozy again in our Hotel Vistana. Unfortunately the work had just begun we are in school after all. The first thing to finish was the paper and corresponding powerpoint presentation. My topic was the Malayan tapir Tapirus indicus a peculiar rhinoceroshorse relative that lives in the jungles of M http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Wilayah-Persekutuan/Kuala-Lumpur/blog-411519.html Selamat pagi Good morningIrsquoll start by saying that I have added pics to the last entry so it should be a little more interesting nowhellipI left off as we were about to embark on the last part of the field portion of the course Pulau Redang. An hour boat ride across azure seas took us to what can only be described as paradise. Paradise might even be cutting it short. We pulled up to a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Terengganu/Pulau-Redang/blog-408431.html Part DeuxHello againSo since my last blog so much has happened. I left off after just getting to the primary rainforest at Bukit Rengit. We stayed there for 4 nights foraying in and out of the jungle. Our main focus here was insects. Outside of our dorms I think rustic is a generous term although we warmed up to them a little were dozens of rhinoceros beetles that liked to flip themselves onto http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/blog-406114.html Malaysia Field SchoolPenangWell I decided to start a travel blog rather than try to email everyone individually. I've already been in Malaysia for almost 3 weeks. It seems like I have been here for months and at the same time it feels like I just got here. I'll write a first message catching up on the first couple of weeks and then hopefully post more regularly when I have the chance.For those wh http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/blog-403791.html