Well, after about 30 hours of travelling, I've finally arrived. It was probably the most difficult journey that I've experienced in my travel career. A 4 hour drive to Seattle, 5 hour flight to JFK, 5 hour layover and the remaining time via South African Airways to Johannesburg. But, after only about 6 hours of sleep in 36 hours, I was met with some of the most amazing hospitality at my friend Jan's parent's house. Because it was about 9:30am when we got to the house, I was treated to coffee, "rusks" (which are like a dry fiber bar that you dip in your coffee) pamplemousse, which is like grapfruit, but bigger and sweeter, and some nice conversation with Jan's parents, sister and brother in law. After settling in, I was driven to the Apartheid Museum, ... read more

After seeing the sights, meeting some great people, and having some amazing times on the islands of the Gulf of Thailand, it was time for me to make my way to the other side to check out the wonders of the Andaman Sea. With rumors of even clearer water and more amazing beaches, I was quite excited! My first stop was the infamous Ko Phi Phi Don. However, before I could get there, I had a roundabout ferry and bustrip which would take almost the entire day. My last stop before Ko Phi Phi was a small town called Krabi. Its more of a port town with not a whole lot to see and do, but it did have a cool night food market where I was able to get some good grub for very cheap. ... read more

My eagerness for this part of my journey has most definitely been strong. So here I am, finally, on the beaches of Southern Thailand. My first stop was Ko Samui and I arrived in the open aired Gilligan's Island designed airport. I knew I wouldn't be staying too long on here, as although what may seem cheap at 25$ CAN per night, my accommodations were a bit above my price range. My bungalow on Big Buddha Beach was called Shambala. It was nice and the place was very chilled out. They had a cool bohemian vibe and would play chillout music throughout the nicely manicured beach front grounds where little chillout areas were spotted all over the place. I didn't meet many people here as it was mostly older families, but it was still cool to ... read more

So, I figure that I bit into the expensive JAL flight cost somewhat by drinking as many beers and watching as many movies as I could, but unfortunately the flight was still quite painful. I landed in Tokyo after not sleeping at all and was looking forward to see what the culture of the Narita flight terminal was all about. I managed to use some of my Japanese and was even told by a waitress in a bar that my Japanese was very good (eventhough I'm sure she was just being polite and may have had a secondary motive, hehe). Although, I'd have to say the small amount of Japan that I experienced was definitely positive and I have to go back. It felt like a video game with space age calming music over the loud ... read more