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gabanie - Gabe and Stephanie

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Gabe

Stephanie

Gabanie

Hi everyone, thanks for checking out our blog. We are Gabe and Stephanie, last living in Encinitas California. We've been together 3 years now, and decided to head to Asia for an extended travel. Starting with a one way ticket to Beijing, China, we will travel through China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Philipines, Indonesia, and New Zealand. Plans are loose so there may be less or more countries as we proceed. We hope to stay abroad for six months. We'll try to blog regularly so keep checking back with us to see where we are!

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Joined on: February 27th 2009
Last Login: November 25th 2009

Blog Entries: 22
Photos: 3

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Status: BLOGGER

Blogs & Travel Journals

by gabanie, order by Date newest first.

By gabanie
November 25th 2009

Day 69: Ko Samui Asia » Thailand » South-West Thailand » Ko Samui

We decided to go to ko samui even though it is still the "rainy season" on the east side of thailand. Ko phi phi was pretty darn hot, so rain sounded kind of nice. Also we knew it would be less crowded than if we went during the dry season. When we first got to Ko Samui, I thought we were in for incessant rain. It was POURING. What made it worse is that we got there 3 hours later than the tour guide in phi phi said we would. Instead of getting there at 4 pm, while it was still [View Full Entry]

By gabanie
November 17th 2009

Day 61: Phi Phi island Asia » Thailand » South-West Thailand » Ko Phi Phi

We just had our last full day on Ko Phi Phi before we head across to the east side of thailand for ko samui. It is much as I remember it from when I was here in 2007, except it is a little bit more built up. There's still some rubble from the 2004 tsunami though. We have been here 5 or 6 days.... kind of lost track. Classic island fun. We went on a snorkel trip one day that was really fun - saw some of the nearby islands, including the mandatory Maya Bay which is where they filmed a [View Full Entry]

By gabanie
November 10th 2009

Day 54: Phuket Asia » Thailand » South-West Thailand » Phuket

We rode a bus from Bangkok to Phuket. We were told the bus was 15 hours, most of which was overnight. We left at 6 pm so we figured we'd get to phuket around 9 am. But I guess they didn't factor in all the stops (including one at 11 pm and 6 am), switching buses (waiting for 1 1/2 hours in between), so we didn't end up getting in to phuket town until after 2 pm. THEN we had to catch a local bus to the beaches, and we didn't find a place until after 4 pm. It was a [View Full Entry]

By gabanie
November 5th 2009

Day 49: Bangkok Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Bangkok

Well we are in Bangkok, but we haven't left a 3 block radius for the the past 2 1/2 days. We are of course in the khaosan road area, which is pretty much where every backpacker goes when they are in bangkok. After the past week zipping through expensive cities, it has been nice to slow down and catch our breath. Thailand is much cheaper than China, especially HK and Macau, so we've mainly just been buying supplies for the next leg of the trip. We figure we'll pass through bangkok a few times this trip, so we'll save the sightseeing [View Full Entry]

By gabanie
November 1st 2009

Day 45: Hong Kong and Macau Asia » Hong Kong » Kowloon

If you don't like stories involving barfing, then maybe you should skip a few paragraphs ahead. You have been warned. On the express train from Guangzhou to Hong Kong I started feeling a bit nauseous. The feeling had been coming and going after being on the rides at Chime Long paradise in guangzhou, but this time it was worse. I visited the bathroom at one point, but it was a no go. Unfortunately for me, the time came once the attendants had locked the bathroom doors, which I guess they do towards the end of the trip. Luckily for me there [View Full Entry]

By gabanie
October 29th 2009

Day 43: Guangzhou Asia » China » Guangdong » Guangzhou

The only reason we wanted to go to Guangzhou was for Chime Long Paradise, the biggest amusement park in china. We both love roller coasters. Also there was supposed to be a waterpark, so we were planning on spending two days there. The overnight train from guilin got to guangzhou at 6:30 am on the 29th. Guangzhou is not really set up for backpackers in the same way that most cities have been, so it wasn't that easy finding a hostel. I had found a pretty cheap place called 5th youth hotel in the tianhe district of guangzhou, but I didn't [View Full Entry]

By gabanie
October 28th 2009

Day 42: Longji rice terraces Asia » China » Guangxi » Longji Rice Terraces

On October 27th, we left yangshuo to see the rice terraces in Longji. The trip didn't go quite as originally planned but all things considered it was a success. The original plan was to take a bus to guilin, buy our train ticket from guilin to guangzhou for the next day, leave our big bags at the train station, take another bus to Heping, and another bus to ping'an (the biggest of 3 small towns in the rice terraces), and stay the night somewhere. The next day we would hike to Dazhai (another town) which is supposed to take 4-5 hours, [View Full Entry]

By gabanie
October 26th 2009

Day 40: Yangshuo Asia » China » Guangxi » Yangshuo

We are still in yangshuo, but we are finally ready to leave tomorrow. Steph was out for two days from food poisoning, but she rallied and we made up for it. We've had 4 full days of non-sickness since then. The first day that steph was feeling better, we purged ourselves of the room we'd been staying in and moved to a different hotel. Still owned by the same people (bamboo house #2, instead of bamboo house #1) - which was good because they are awesome. That afternoon I went rock climbing, and steph tagged along. I think I only did [View Full Entry]

By gabanie
October 22nd 2009

Day 35: Yangshuo Asia » China » Guangxi » Yangshuo

We just are into our 4th full day in yangshuo. The first two were awesome. unfortunately two nights ago stephanie came down with food poisoning and it hasn't been too pleasant since then, but I'll start from the beginning. We took the 18 hour hard sleeper train from kunming to guilin. This time we were on the top bunks, which are more cramped than the middle bunks, but I actually liked the top better. I'm a tall guy so my feet stick out into the aisles. In the middle bunks, people are always bumping your feet as they walk by. On [View Full Entry]

By gabanie
October 16th 2009

Day 30: Kunming and Stone Forest Asia » China » Yunnan » Kunming

I think I messed up the day numbers in the past two posts... oh well. Day 30 we were in the stone forest. We took a city bus from Dali (ancient town) to Dali City (xinguan? i think), and then another bus from Dali city to kunming. The first bus was only 20 minutes or so, but it was packed so we had to stand with our bags on the whole time. The second bus was 4 hours, comfy, but kind of expensive (98 yuan). Our bus from lijiang to dali was only 35 yuan and it took 3 hours. Anyway [View Full Entry]

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