http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/ablondon/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from ablondon en-us Tue, 22 Dec 2009 23:43:20 +0000 Tue, 22 Dec 2009 23:43:20 +0000 Mehebeck I love you Gamila BeautifulSalam Alekum God be with you or HelloMa'A'salam GoodbyeShokran Thank youLa Shokran NO Thanks you Most helpfulEmshi Go AwayMaya WaterThese words make up my entire Arabic vocabulary. Of course when the writing looks like this there is no way I can read it.15711579160516051582 16021607160916101587 1607 1581157916 http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Luxor/blog-26816.html Dober Dahn friends Well well our last few days in Croatia were spent very well indeed. After leaving the island of Brach we went to a Davis cup match Team tennis semifinals Croatia vs Russia Croatia won which was really monumental because they have never made it to the finals....so much energy in the stadium and great tennis. They all sang and danced after match... We then heade http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Dalmatia/Dubrovnik/blog-21615.html My Excuse for not posting any entry for over a week is simpley. I'm in the ISLANDS man.Currently at Bottle beach. You need to take a boat to get here so it prevents a lot of the big party people to stay away allowing for a little RR.Check it out. This is exactly what I need at the end of my tripMy days consists of9am Wake up10am Eat Breakfast11am Go to the beach play frisbee swim chill http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Pha-Ngan/blog-55241.html Time is flying by. I've been in this country for more than three weeks. It feels like just yesterday I was back in Thailand trying to figure out how to navigate Burma. I'm back to calling it Burma becaause the Military regime renamed the country Myanmar and well that's just not OK with me.I hoped on my local bus at 9am. Luckily I was early and got a good seat in the front row next to a monk. No http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/Bagan/blog-52888.html I needed to leave Mandalay. The sun the heat the poverty but oh how I love the chapattis.I hoped in a taxi to Pyu Oo Luwin. A little town with not much in it besides a few hotels some cool Botanical Gardens and a waterfall that i never ended up making it out too. Somehow I managed to spend 3 days and three nights there. The last night my hotel owner stopped by and decided to generousl http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/blog-52338.html I'm aliveNo Internet in Northern Myanmar.Interestingly enough there actually is no Bay in Mandalay. The Vegas Hotel is I guess made up. Lying liars and the lies they tell. There's a casino in Vegas called Mandalay BayMandalay is hot dirty and full of poverty. I only stayed here for 3 days and though I enjoyed myself I can easily say this is my least favorite city. I'd have to sa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/Mandalay/blog-51102.html I'm currently sitting at a random little shop in Mandalay. The guy just turned on the generator so he could run the computer. He had to go to the store and buy diesel in order to run the generator that is currently powering this computer.Meanwhile his son stands inches from me watching everything I do. Maybe reading my emails though he looks about 4 so I doubt he can read.When I come home I t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/Kalaw/blog-48684.html Ok Ok So after being in Pai for a while and basically creating my own little home away from home I felt like I needed a little break. I packed my small backpack with the essentials grabbed my honda 125cc motor scooter and headed the 108 Kilmoteres North To Mah Hong Son. My back was so sore from the 3 hour ride that all I could do was get a room and fall asleep. Randomly bumped into this Can http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Mae-Hong-Son/blog-45059.html Myanmar First Impressions Millitary rulling is not the way to go. Though Myanmar lacks a lot of basic infrastructure phones internet electricity it still manages to be a wonderful place. Somehow a military run government has created some of the kindest people I have ever met.I decided to forgoe trying to get a plane ticket and just go overland to Myanmar. I entered the country at 1002 am on http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/Inle-Lake/blog-47706.html Standing on the platform with my safety line attached and my zip line thingey ready to go I had thoghts in my mind. Maybe my dad was right maybe you only get so many close calls in life. Maybe my nine lives are running out. Ahh what the hell just jump Flying effortlessly over the forest for over 400 meteres I felt the cloest to free that I had in a really long time. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Ban-Houayxay/blog-46537.html Some of you may be asking yourselves What is this Let me have the honor and distinction of introducing you all to the Squater. This is the Asian version of the toilet. Yup that's it. I've seen these in other places along my travels. Maybe once or twice and it was usually in a really dodgy place but these are everywere here. It completely and utterly sucks. I'd say about 9 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-40878.html OK it's Day 8 in the lovely city of Pai. Honestly I can't remember what I've done exactly but to be honest it hasn't been much. My first day I rented a bike which turned out to be broken. I went on a four hour bike ride sans water and was in some serious pain but getting some exercise felt good and I got to see an area of Pai that most tourists would really go out to. I stopped in a rice fi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Pai/blog-45045.html I just completed my Second Hill Tribe Trek in two weeks. This one was a little more touristy and very different from the one I did in Laos but still a lot of fun. No real stories from this trek besides that we slept in cool bamboo huts the food was great the trekking was pretty tough but it was good to get some excercise. Life is still good. Heading to Pai cool hippy town in North Thailand s http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Chiang-Mai/blog-43065.html So after my near death experience on the Speed boat I decided to let loose and celebrate my new found respect for life. I met with some friends from the boat trip as well as some other random travelers at a little bar in Old Town Chang Mai. The bar closed around 1am so Rob NZ Matt UK JamesUK and myself headed to SPICY dance club. I was happy to see a big sign at the door of the cl http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Chiang-Mai/blog-43050.html Why take the slow boat when you can take a speed boat With one day on my visa to go and being the impatient person that I am I weighed my options. I could either sit rather uncomrtably for 2 days and take a slow boat down the mekong to the Thai border watching my life drift by OR I could put my life on the line strap on a helmet and sit rather uncomfortably for 6 hours while my life flashe http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Ban-Houayxay/blog-41994.html Finally out of Hanoi...I get on the plane excited for new and beautiful Lao. What's this the stewardess is handing out arrival forms what's this it says visa number. I grab my Laos Lonely planet. Sure thing. You need a visa to get into Laos and you're supposed to apply for it in advance. My heart is pounding my hands are sweaty. I contemplate trying to explain to the stewardess the sit http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-39159.html I'll start by explaining the title of this entry. So far whenever we ask for directions we get the response 200 meters that way I swear everything in Croatia is 200 meters away. It has become such a frequent response that I can't help but laugh everytime I hear that response. We began our time in Croatia in the north along the coast in a little town called Opatija OPat Ya. T http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Dalmatia/Split/blog-19788.html Let me start off by saying a belated HAPPY VALENTINES DAY to all the amazing women in my life both friends and family.I'm sort of embarrassed to admit that I spent in totally 14 days in the town of Luang Prabang. The truth of the matter is I really liked this town. In some way it reminded me a little of my home in California. Perhaps it reminded me more of a college town than anything else. Jus http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-41987.html LET's GO TREkKINI decided that I had seen enough of the cities in Laos and that it was time to actually see the minority people of this beautiufl country. I signed up for a trek through White Elephant tour company. Derrick one of the owners is Canadian and a really nice guy. He has this great schpeale that he delivers to anyone considering doing one of the treks. It feels as if he ha http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/blog-41970.html Meraba hello in turkish For the last couple of days I felt liek I was living with Barney Rubble and the whole gang. My 11 hour bus ride was worth it. I checked into my Cave Hostel where for 4 a night I got a reasonably nice bed. I decided to not waste any time and take the full day tour even though I had only slept about 3 hours on the bus. Though I was extremely tired the tour was http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Cappadocia/blog-25127.html