I spent my 25th birthday wandering around Stonehenge and Salisbury. I was fully ready for the tourism that is Stonehenge, and the ropes and fees and restrictions that come along with it. So being fully prepared, I wasn't at all disappointed. I thought it was nice, and still has pretty good vibes. Like all things in England, it was a ridiculously expensive ($50 roundtrip train, $14 for a 25 minute bus ride, $14 admission to stand a good thirty feet from the megalith...) but I don't regret it. There was a cheaper bus from London to Salisbury but it left [View Full Entry]

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I flew from Chiang Mai to the Island of Ko Samui, and then took a boat the same day to Ko Pha Ngan. I think I left Chiang Mai at around ten and was on Ko Pha Ngan by two in the afternoon...a bit more expensive but far more efficient than the trip would have been on bus/train/overnight ferry rides. The beaches on the islands there are completely amazing. Originally I was going to bypass Haad Rin and stay on one of the more quiet beaches because of its reputation for being a huge raver scene. But I met some nice [View Full Entry]

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Pai is located about four hours from Chiang Mai via a winding road up into the hills. It is an extremely popular stopover for the backpacker crowd... many basing their 'hill tribe treks' from here, and some just settling in for a few weeks or months. So as you might imagine all the western amenities are in abundance. It struck me that even way up here in the hills there is more in terms of amenities, reliable electricity and running water than there is in the capitol city of say Guinea-Bissau. The scenery is amazing, becoming a really intense green [View Full Entry]

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I managed to get into Chiang Mai shortly before the airport was (temporarily) shut down due to the little military coup... Over the years I have started to see a pattern form where I decide to go to a country and then they immediately fall into some sort of political instability...or start bombing tourists and what not. This time I actually got to the country before it happened though (Lebanon had been in the top five travel possibilities earlier this summer, but was unfortunately attacked shortly after being added to my list...). I actually laughed a little when I saw the [View Full Entry]

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I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in Kerala. I spent my first few days in Varkala relaxing on the beach and beach cliff restaurants. I stayed down on the slightly less touristy, but no less busy Beach Road. The beach at that end of Varkala is a pilgrimage site for Hindus and all day long busloads of people would come through, to the temple, the tank (sort of water reservoir down from the temple) and then to stand on the beach. I believe the beach is supposed to have some purification effects. Most of the restaurants, hotels, and tourist facilities are [View Full Entry]

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I had a long enough layover in Dubai that I was able to get a visa, leave the airport and take a bus downtown for a few hours. It was a really glitzy city with beautiful architecture. I arrived in the morning before it was to unbearably hot, and wandered around the souks. They were really impressive with the masses of gold and rich fabrics. I don't think I've seen so many textile stores and tailors in one place. The citizens of Dubai are sharp dressers...though I can't imagine where the women might where some of those gowns. They looked like [View Full Entry]

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It seems ages ago that I was in Ghana, having been to Dubai for stint and now India, but in reality it was just a few days ago. So Ghana. In the guidebook it is described as the gold coast and boasts citizens known for their "friendliness and hospitality." I imagine that might be true in some parts of the country. Maybe the parts where tourists don't go. Our experience of Ghana, compared to the other countries we had come from, was that it was absolutely the most racist, hostile, dishonest, overpriced, tourist leeching and often downright rude place we had [View Full Entry]

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After having spent three hours going through Guinea customs and immigration we arrived on the Ivory Coast side about an hour later. We past the first check point without a problem, they just glanced at our passport. At the second and main entry point though we were escorted inside the military police base. All the other people in the truck came and went quickly, but they just told us to wait. Finally the truck we came in, which was now waiting for us, unloaded our bags and went on their way. We were in the far north of Ivory Coast on [View Full Entry]

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Labe was a pretty nice town. Everyone had little motorcycles, and that was the main way to get around. We would hire two when we wanted to get anywhere and it usually worked out, although one time one took me to the wrong hotel and Alex was there worried when I didn't arrive. They had a pretty good market full of clothes that come in huge shipment containers from American Goodwill....all the Goodwill rejects are available for purchase over here. You see a lot of funny shirts... shirts with weird slogans, old mission trip or family reunion shirts and shirts with [View Full Entry]

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At this point I am a little behind on the blogging, but will do my best to catch up here. I am backdating the entry to because I don't want to skip writing about Guinea although at this point we have been in Ivory Coast for several days. Alright, we left Guinea Bissau I think on August 12 and headed for Guinea Conakry, which I will refer to as Guinea. I had started to get a cold the day before so I was somewhat feverish and out of it for the drive. We left Bissau that morning and arrived in Koundara [View Full Entry]

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