http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Kev-and-Dust/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Kev and Dust en-us Fri, 25 Dec 2009 13:48:36 +0000 Fri, 25 Dec 2009 13:48:36 +0000 DustinWho knew life could be so expensive in Isreal After sleeping most of the afternoon and all night after being up so many nights in a row with not so good sleep and staying up for Sinai we got managed to make out way down to the beach in Eilat to hang out for a couple hours and swim some. We actually ate pretty good there though because we started going to the grocery stores instead of re http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Jordan/South/Petra/blog-63336.html DustinWell the 16 hour bus to Dahab was kind of odd....we would stop for about 2 minutes at places where there was food to eat and a half hour or more in the places where there was nothing and the people just seemed to be messing around. But we finally got it over with and it was great to be back at the beach for a little while. The sun was out the town is alot smaller and quieter than we imag http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Sinai/blog-63323.html Kev We only had a week to cover all of Egypt. So that meant fun nights of all night travel on trains and busses I think in all the week in Egypt is the least amount of sleep I have ever gotten in a seven day span. The lack of sleep was worth it though because the days were fully action packed. Following the Nile we got right to exploring temples. We saw four in all Karnak Luxor Kom Ombo a http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Luxor/blog-63170.html Kev The Peninsula is not a part of the typical backpacking scene. But we are not your typical backpackers especially when Daryl is part of the team. Daryl told us about this place that constantly ranks amongst the top ten hotels in the world and is annually the number one hotel in Bangkok. I loved the thought of staying at one of the top hotels in the world...but didn't seriously consider it http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-60033.html Kev As I was riding my camel the thought struck me...is this for real. The pyramids were ahead the Sahara desert was to the left and the city of Cairo to the right. I looked out at the Sahara and saw galaping horses kicking up dust and when i looked towards Cairo i saw a large city that faded off into the grey of the horizon. The main site was not to the right or to the left though...it was http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-60453.html Kev I looked forward to traveling in Laos. Fellow backpackers raved about it and the pictures I had seen further piqued my interest. We only had a week though so we had to pick what we thought would be the best of the best. We chose Vientiane Vang Vieng Luang Prabang and Hongsa. We started in the capital Vientiane and spent the day walking the river and exploring Buddha Park. As far as p http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-61505.html Kev Vang Vieng is a backpackers' paradise. The town is surrounded with mountains and a river runs right through the heart of it. Hot sun cool water and plenty of good cold refreshment along the way. There is stop points every couple minutes along the river which all call out Beer Lao Beer Lao...we were probably the only three people on the river who weren't drinkin...but it was a lot of fun http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-59693.html Kev We reentered the time machine...the only thing missing were the people that made up this ancient and wonderful place. There has been a couple times so far on this trip that the sights we see seem so far removed from the modern world that it really does seem as if we have warped back...reality comes with the flash from a fellow tourists camera but the moments of serenity are very surreal. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Angkor/blog-59521.html Kev Stepping into the Killing Fields made all the pain and horror of the place come back to life. I actually had mental flashes of what the misery may have been like for the thousands that faced it. Looking at trees were people hung and holes in the ground were little kids were beaten and buried made me shudder at the depravity humankind is capable of sinking to. There is always life amongst d http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/South/Phnom-Penh/blog-59697.html Daryl Well folks after a few days we got outta Bangkok but left some Bangkok photos here as an encore. We headed 5 hours southeast to the hedonistic city of Pattaya where the women are hot but their diseases are not. This is a city that's based on it's overcrowded beach and its thriving sex industry workers that you run into EVERYWHERE. Anytime the three of us would walk by one of Pattay http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Pattaya/blog-61046.html DustinWell I had a new experience flying into Yangonhellip.they donrsquot actually drop you off at the airport when they land you get out of the plane and hop on a bus to the terminal. Well we spent a little more time at the carousel than normal since well we never spend any time there cause our backs we havenrsquot checked till now but it was cool and we met the guy who gave us free tr http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/Yangon/blog-53110.html KevI will dedicate my half of the blog to Swena. Matt is now back safe and sound at home we had a blast traveling with him for about three months and have many adventures and memories to share for years to come. It has almost been a month now sense he has gone time flyrsquos by so fast I look forward to traveling and camping with you again Matthelliplets not forget those goals we have set http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-50483.html DustinI don't know if you have a map in front of you but you might find that Pyay and Inle Lake aren't really smooth destinations considering Bagan in the Middle. Actually we just combined these two places because we didn't have a whole lot of pictures from either and they were both more small towns so we figured it would work out easier this way.Pyay turned out to be way more fun than we origi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/Inle-Lake/blog-53227.html KevMandalay was the perfect end to our Burma experience. We left Inle Lake at 5 in the morning and I was not looking forward to another 12hour bus ride however as it turned out this one was not so bad. I rode the majority of the ride atop the bus and was able to enjoy the panorama of the mountains as we made our decent. It was really hot on the roof but we got splashed with buckets of water http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/Mandalay/blog-53369.html DustinPeople always seem to comment on the buses and roads around Myanmar just saying they are TERRIBLE. Well even up until Bagan the roads weren't TOO horrible mostly like versions of our logging roads back in Canada only they were paved. The one thing that proved to be the most miserable was in fact the buses themselves. On the way from Pyay to Bagan we got stuck in some sand and they spun http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/Bagan/blog-53245.html KevIts been about two weeks since we last updated the blog. during that time we have visited Panang the Perhentian Islands Trang Ko Mok Au Nang and the place we are nowhellipBangkok. We took a ferry from Medan to Panang. the ferry was supposd to only take about four hourshellipbut not surprisingly it took much more than that closer to 6 or 7. However the time was not a factor beca http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Khao-Yai-NP/blog-48493.html MatthewLake Toba was great. in fact i was a more than a little sad to leave it. but kevin told me about an orangatang convservation center up north and it sounded pretty cool. we got up fairly early to catch the first ferry back to the mainland and then after a decent breakfest we headed back to medan. we actually ended up chartering our own car. we never do that but we were able to do it for http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Bukit-Lawang/blog-45773.html Matthew So after almost a month the the island of Borneo the Malaysian part of it anyways. I was ready to move on to new things. we were supposed to fly out from Khota Kinabalu K.K as the locals call it through Air Asia. we had already booked our flights and we thought we were supposed to fly out at 1100 am. but it turns out that we were supposed to leave closer to 900. so we missed our f http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Lake-Toba/blog-45770.html Matthew As often seems to be the case we're writing two travel blogs back to back. Borneo has been a very busy place for us but it's been a lot of fun so i haven't minded. as i'm typing we're sitting in the state library in KotaKinabalu. the internet here is cheaper than at the other places in town. plus it's nice and quiet. we left Brunei and caught an express boat to Kota Kinabalu. we had a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Sabah/Kota-Kinabalu/blog-44027.html Kev Brunei is unique from the other countries we have visited in South East Asia. The only comparable country in my mind is Singapore which is also incredibly clean. Brunei however shows its wealth. The sultan is supposedly the third richest man in the worldhellipthough his actual rank is debatable. The display of wealth is remarkable and it is evident through the various fountains park http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Brunei/Bandar-Seri-Begawan/blog-43218.html