http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Montreal Steph/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Montreal Steph en-us Thu, 21 Aug 2008 12:54:07 BST Thu, 21 Aug 2008 12:54:07 BST Hard to believe I'm only in Thailand for one more nightIrsquove had a great last week. After one last night out in Ko Lanta Shelley and headed away from the beach into the jungles of Khao Sok. It actually wasnrsquot that jungleish but our bungalow was constantly surrounded by monkeys. Shelley was laughing one morning as she woke up to me sitting on the veranda yelling ldquoget outta h http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central/Bangkok/blog-228947.html I must say that I have gotten quite used to the Island living long walks on the beach beautiful sunsets banananutella pancakes you really have to have one to truly understand delicious food and lounging on the beach I left Krabi and spent 3 nights on Ko Lanta and 2 on Ko Phi Phi both of which were beautiful and fun. Shelley has been living in Indonesia for the last year and had no fe http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South/Khao-Lak/blog-226767.html So my life switched back from fine wine and 4 hour spa trips instantly after the girls left. In fact that evening I found myself eating at a small Vietnamese restaurant down a back alley delicious and attending a bad movie I now pronounce you Chuck and Larry at the theatre while sipping on beers from a street market. My buddy Ryan had returned to entertain me make me feel like I was 23 aga http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Mekong-River-Delta/blog-224178.html I just realized I hadn't 'officially' published my last blog shoot Irsquove had a great few weeks hanging out with the girls We had a bit of a long couple of days getting out of Hue and then catching up on sleep but it has been mostly relaxing We ended up sitting in the Hue airport for almost 11 hours before our plane could leavehellip due to the rain. So we arrived in Ho Chi Minh Cit http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-221953.html That was actually a name of a bar... Siem Reap was a very touristy town There will be more of a write up to follow it may be harder with the girls to hang out with hello everybody Looks like we are set to have a quiet day here in Hue. Apparently the news of the exact amount of rainflooding was poorly passed on to the hotel we were staying at in Hanoi and they booked us a room at thei http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Siem-Reap/blog-218149.html Chiang Mai was a great city very relaxing Starting with the train ride from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. I decided to trust the rumours that all overnight trains are not as bad as China and I ended up with a 1st class ticket. Holy Cow i'd say its not the same as China. I got there early and was just able to walk onto the car and find my room no pushing or waiting for an hour to get a 2 min wi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North/Chiang-Mai/blog-216580.html Hi just killing some time before getting an overnight train to Chiang Mai. Thought I'd post my short trip to Bangkok. I basically spent one day hanging out with a sweet Norwegian girl I met at the hotel. We did the standard tuk tuk trip around town where the driver stops to take you to different stores before actually taking you to all the sights a bit annoying but it was only 10B 30 cen http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central/Bangkok/blog-214900.html hellipthe Trek where to start I think this hike was one of the hardest physical things I have ever done but as with most challenges it was also the most rewarding. The scenery was beautiful the people were lovely and friendly and the strain on the old body felt goods or feels good now 3 days later . We ended up finishing the trek in 15 days without taking a break. Its hard to say i http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Annapurna/blog-214178.html Hi everyone thanks for all the notes I'm glad I can be somewhat entertaining for you even miles away I arrived in Nepal on Tuesday the 2nd after my first overnight airport experience. That's right I was one of those people you see sleeping on their backpacks and you wonder can they really be sleeping The answer is no... no they are not... They are drifting in and out wondering how they p http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Kathmandu/Thamel/blog-208751.html So we took an afternoon train from Datong to Beijing on Wednesday the 26th. It was a beautiful trip we saw small parts of the Great Wall along with beautiful country side mountains and lakes. For some reason we were actually in a soft sleeper car rather than in coach seating so it was an afternoonevening of sleeping reading and looking at the scenery. Beijing is one big city 13 or 14 Mi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/blog-207544.html Hi Sorry for the lack of blogs but the last 10 days of the trip have been quite busy it felt like we were either seeing a sight or travelling at any given time... not so much 'free time' as Micheal likes to call it. So in order not to bore anyone by detailed stories of each day I'll just run through the sights and what I thought of them Luoyang Longmen Dragon Gate Caves Sept 20th 10 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/XiNing/blog-206603.html text to follow http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/blog-205439.html Hello EveryoneI'm currently sitting in a hotel room with a computer fantastic. I thought about going for a beer but the trade off of being able to update my blog in a smoke free room was just not worth it I'm sure the beer will be waiting in a 12 hour So back to Shanghai. I think we found one of the bigger bars in town but it was definitely predominately Germans in the crowd... fu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanghai/blog-203948.html HiI hope everyone had a great week I've had a less exciting week than my first but still a good time. I'm not sure if it's the foodtummy or if I'm just feeling like 4 weeks in China is PLENTY of time to visit but I've been feeling a bit burnt out recently. We meet up with our 9 new group members tonight and I think there's a lot more to see on the second half of the trip so I hope the fee http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Hangzhou-/blog-202307.html After our long night and day of travel we headed to the 3 Gorge Dam. I don't know if it was the long travel day or the dam but I was not all that interested... even though it is quite impressive. The dam is the biggest in the world 2.3 kim across. When it is finished 2009 or 2010 the water level will actually rise 175m. This is causing 1.3 million people to relocate higher up in the moun http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Yangtze-River/blog-200298.html Hello again my faithful readers So I left off in the beautiful yet touristy town of Yangshou. The ride down the Li River was quite lovely quiet and peaceful. The mountains or limestone Karsts for any geologists reading are 1000's of little peaks surrounding the town and river and they are quite stunning. Everything is green and lush and the river was quite clean. We did get to see a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Yangshuo/blog-200295.html Hi So I made it in and out of Hong Kong okay. The 13 hour flight wasn't as bad as I thought it might be three movies an O magazine and the first few chapters of Anna Kerena later I had arrived. I didn't make it to the hotel until after 10pm 8am at home so I was ready for bed... unfortunately regardless of how tired I was my body didn't really know it and I was up every hour from 3 u http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/Kowloon/blog-198881.html This last month I've spent organizing for a trip of life time and yet it hasn't really sunk in that I'm leaving. I don't know what it's going to take.. the trip to the airport The 14 hour flight Or will it be when I'm a foot and a half taller than everyone around meQuitting my job and the last day of work wasn't really as bad as I anticipated. Maybe it was bc I wsan't leaving to work somew http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Alberta/Calgary/blog-196875.html I'm spending the afternoon at my office organizing my life it seems I have to make lists every day just to make sure things come together for me So I'm sitting in my nonAC office on a 32 degree Sunday afternoon so that I can enjoy August stressfree. This probably can't happen regardless of my efforts but at least I'll feel like I'm in some sort of control http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Alberta/Calgary/blog-195097.html