For my taste of Sumatra, I followed a friends recommendation and took the bus down to Bukitingi before returning to PKU. I met Dominic at the guesthouse in PKU, and due to the fact that I had two beds in my room, the guesthouse was full, and the town had no other budget accommodation, his arrival late at night kind of lended itself well to our sharing a room. He was going down to Bukitingi as well, so I not only had a roommate for the night, but a traveling companion for most of my visit. Our arrival to Btingi demonstrated yet again why I love to travel in the off season. A quick peek around the city netted a room for a total of $2.50, = $1.25 each. This compared very well to our grossly ... read more

The minibus service to Penang was uneventful, with the possible exception of the driver who was smuggling something across the border. Nothing like being used as part of the drug trade, or whatever it actually was. It went something like this. Right before the border crossing, liaison with women in car. Right after the border crossing, liaison with women in car, load a few crates of dogs into minibus, arrange something under the floor of the crates. Drive past checkpoints (being waived through because we were 'tourists', pull into a rest stop about halfway between the border and Penang, and the dogs and whatever was under the towels they had in the crates get picked up by guy in black Toyota pickup. An Irish guy in the back seat kept a careful eye on the bags, ... read more

Somehow, I arrived in Bagan still able to function. It had been a 15 hour bus ride, with seats designed for midgets. I was locked into place, just barely able to fit into my seat, and my headrest was lodged between my shoulder blades. I didn't think it was possible for a 6' guy to have this kind of problem. Live and learn. The bus had almost all locals on it, with the exception of David, an American who had moved to Northwestern Australia about 10 years ago. I was starting to doubt how much I was going to like this town, why I had spent all the time in the bus only to spend one night here and then do the whole ride all over again. It also took some time for me to get ... read more

Just a 12 hour comfortable bus ride from Bangkok, Chiang Mai may as well be a different country. The differences are that large. The people are nice, the touts are nonexistent (2 offers for a taxi during my entire stay), and the climate is even cooler. Gotta love the place. Orientation is even possible, due to the walls of the old city and the presence of street signs. The first experience I had was getting in on the bus at 5am and then taking the 'free' pickup truck ride by the agency that runs the bus to listen to their pitch of a trek into the hills (the 'to do activity of Chiang Mai). I got a free cup of coffee out of it, and then ended up heading over to the guesthouse where I had ... read more

I woke up, got ready, and was waiting for my bus 15 minutes before I was supposed to get picked up by my Victory Guesthouse. Had I known more about the day ahead, I would have been running in the other direction. My 'pickup' amounted to a motorbike coming by and telling me to walk over to this stretched minibus that looked like it mus have been 20 years old. I was directed next to a young guy that turned out to be a surfer hippie type from Northern Ireland. Mark added a lot to the trip, and did make the ordeal more bearable. At last, we departed about a half hour late, and the trip was forming up be uneventful until a few passengers started yelling "hit the car, hit the car". I was thinking, ... read more