4:30 pm- June 30, Smugglers Cove, Nadi, Fiji- temperature 25 degrees celsius. Sitting at the beach bar watching chubby, overtanned British bikini girls laying beside the pool reading a fine selection of Dan Brown's lesser known novels... A clear sign they've been in Fiji too long and have run out of good books to read. I am walking. following footprints etched into cement. To my left; scattered sugar cane plantations and water buffaloes grazing in soggy pastures. To my right; lush green mountains. In front of me; three beautiful women walking against the backdrop of palm trees, a cloudl [View Full Entry]

---

---

The Bourgening adrenaline junky in me needed one more big hit. Just one hit like. Then, I promised myself that I would abandon this dangerously fast lifestyle for a job and a mortgage. Newzealand would provide ample oppurtunity for a fix to remember. - Irvine Walsh eat your heart out. The weather had turned ugly and New Zealand was experiencing its coldest winter in a decade. Freezing rain fell outside the window of my room at the massive Aukland Central Backpackers, and the cold temperatures drove my hostel mates and I towards the bottle. A night of taking advantage of NZ's [View Full Entry]

---

---

Rule #1 of the hitch hiker Ethos is never turn down a ride. Now Beetle scared the hell out of me, and the two drunks in the El Camino might have led to my end, but when the 70's brown station wagon pulled up beside me somewhere between Noosa and Harvey Bay and I took one look at the strange man inside, an uneasy feeling overcame me. I tossed aside the pile of Mcdonalds wrappers sitting on the passenger side seat, and introduced myself to Dan. He might have at least attempted small talk prior to asking me if I'd found [View Full Entry]

---

---

I heard muttered in a thick Australian Accent immediately upon walking up the stairs of the dirtiest and cheapest hostel in Kings Cross, Sydney. I had been in a constant state of motion for the past 36 hours, from Van Vieng Laos to Sydney Australia via several buses and two planes, and was anxious to lie down in a real bed. But when my friendly host introduced me to Slavco, my Yugoslav roomate, I knew that sleep was out of the question. There was clearly an illness plaguing this man. I try to make a diagnosis but am torn between severe [View Full Entry]

---

---

The decision to take the speed boat from Chang Kong Thailand, to Luang Probang Laos is not one to be taken lightly. The ride is less a mode of transportation than it is an adventure sport. the boat operators take a small canoe, and attach a massive V-8 engine to the back, thus reducing the ride from 2 days to 7 hours. I put on my helmet, strapped myself in, and giggled as I was hurled down the Mekong river at 120 km per hour. As small fishing villages whizzed past, I could hear the desperate screams of past backpackers who [View Full Entry]

---

---

A welcome rush of cold air hits me as I walk through the familiar doors of 7-11. I grab a slurpee, finger up the magazines, and debate the purchase of a Big Bite Combo. The sounds of fast motor bikes drag racing up and down the streets outside conjure up memories of home. My cashier has a mullet. Bangkok is clearly North of Dewdney. Singapore is the south end; appearance is very important, the streets are paved with gold, and there is more fast japanese cars, cinemas and nice hotels than one could ever want or desire. Bangkok feels like home; [View Full Entry]

---

---

Resilience is something North Americans know very little about. But to learn something about the sad history of the Cambodian people, and to experience the genuine warmth they continue to offer visitors today is to understand something about the Resilience human beings are capable of. Cambodia was part of the French Colony of Indo China until 1954 when independence was declared under the leadership of King Naradom Sihanouk. This was the beginning of an unstable 20 year reign, plagued with rebel incursions, as well as with attacks from Vietnamese and American armed forces. In 1974, a rebel [View Full Entry]

---

---

I woke up in my hostel bed in Singapore with a throbbing head ache. I felt the back of my head where two large bumps brought back a painful reminder of the previous nights proceedings. I would leave Singapore that morning. I caught the first bus to Johar Baru, then 2 connecting buses to Mersing, followed by a one hour speed boat ride to Air Batang on the island of Paluau Tioman off the East Coat of Peninsular Malaysia. Tioman is a sleepy tropical island filled with empty beaches, friendly locals, cheap accomodation and some of the best snorkeling and diving [View Full Entry]

---

---

I was sitting at a table underneath a Coca Cola umbrella at a sidewalk cafe in Singapore's China town when it started. Slowly at first, then with more intensity. The rain trickled off the edges of the umbrella. A shop keeper across the road held out a plastic bag to collect the water. I was trapped with no where to go. I finished the mysterious rice dish that I was eating. It was kind of good, but mostly really bad (I should probably invest in a thesaurus). I ordered a beer to help wait out the storm, and made small talk [View Full Entry]

---

---

Day five of my adventures in Oman promised to fulfill all of my Kitschy tourist desires as we drove to Wahiba sands to stay at a desert camp set up like a traditional Beduin village in the middle of the dessert. Barzani the sketchbot Land Rover drove over the dunes in the mid day sun. We approached the abandoned village. I was "Mahid" (the equivalent of the Spanish Siesta). Lying on a bed of pillows under the camps main shelter was Salam, the owner/ operator of the camp. Salam immediately began explaining to us that the reason for Mahid was so [View Full Entry]

---

---