We left early morning to take an Amtrak from Montreal to Albany, New York. We figured it be best to travel more "normally" accross the border to avoid getting hassled and questioned excessively. Even on the train, when the inspector saw my passport stamps, he asked on top of the regular questions "how do you afford to travel to all these places?" I calmly explained to him that after high school I had been boring and worked hard full-time to earn money and just saved it and lived simply. I was careful not to let him know that I also travel [View Full Entry]

---

---

From Union Station in downtown Toronto, we took a GO train to Oshawa. Just before boarding our train with her, Al's Katimavik patch initiated a conversation with a girl who used to be a transient traveler. She told us a few of her stories, and talked about some others in GTA who had built a dual-story house out of old pallets as means of squatting. The more I hear of these people, the more I'm drawn to their kind. After we got off the train, the girl convinced her brother and mother to let us ride with them to the next [View Full Entry]

---

---

I spent 2 weeks volunteering at Sanctuary church. "At Sanctuary, we are becoming a healthy, welcoming community where people who are poor or excluded are particularly valued. This community is an expression of the good news embodied in Jesus Christ" Sanctuary is NOT a soup kitchen, mission or service provider. It does not seek to evangelize the masses or bribe people with meals and beds to become Chrisitians. It is being the church and including the poor and addicted and excluded and neglected. Here was the schedule of my involvement for the first week. Monday - 3pm-5pm & 7pm-9p [View Full Entry]

---

---

On Wednesday, June 3rd, we took some time walk around a get lost. We walked around in the East end of downtown to check out a friend's place. While on our way, we ended up taking out a guy for lunch. He had approached us and told us that when we was sleeping in the park last night, someone had stolen his bag and his brand new hat, and that he could use money to buy some new stuff. Of course, we didn't just hand him money, but we was surprised and agreed to letting us take him out for lunch. [View Full Entry]

---

---

On Monday (June 01), I had an apple cinnamon instant oatmeal breakfast, packed my backs, and left with Al at 7:30AM. Scott had insisted he deliver us to the outskirts of Thunder Bay himself, so that we'd have a great place to start from. We walked from an outer intersection for at least an hour, possibly another half-hour. Things were looking pretty bleak, and the difficulties of getting out of Thunder Bay which we had heard about from others was an approaching reality. What we hadn't know of at the time, was that most of the time we had been walking [View Full Entry]

---

---

Our first ride from Blumenort to Steinbach was given by an 80-year old man in a mini-van. Not sure exactly what motivated him to pick us up, but he was en route to his sons' farm, where he was still working. He told us about how much of a pleasure it was for him to keep working on the farm at his age. We walked about an hour from the Blumenort corner past Friesen Drillers and quite a distance further, and eventually got picked up by a guy in a truck, who was headed towards Anola to take a look at [View Full Entry]

---

---

I am in Steinbach. I have not yet packed, but am about to. At 7AM tomorrow, me and my pal will be hitching East in Canada, and down into the US. We've got an intinerary schedule, some minimal packings, friends in some places, some arrangements to volunteer. But we haven't got a clue on how it'll turn out. I'm not sure we care to think about that right now, or that it's important. I had written a better kick-off entry, but lost it due to finnicky Internet connection. I'm glad to get off the grid for more than a day at [View Full Entry]

---

---

Alan decided to head home early, so I pushed on towards Chiang Mai by myself. I took the taxi to the outside of Bangkok and waited for a ride to Chiang Mai at a truckstop. I talked to one driver who was going to Tak, which is 2/3 the distance. He told me talk to another pickup driver, which he said what going to Chiang Mai. The guy wasn't, and my Tak ride has disappeared during that time. I waited around some more for a ride, talked to an old Thai man with a really cool headband, then decided I'd just [View Full Entry]

---

---

The first accommodation we found after deboarding the minibus in Phuket town was a decent deal; Downtown Hotel. Alan caught up on much needed sleep in the afternoon, and I wandered like a forlorn vagrant down streets in the dirty business district, passing by stores in vain transit; my attempt to be active instead of inactive; I called it "exercising willpower" in the face of my own fatigue. I stopped in at an Internet cafe for a few hours and came back to Alan tacking the last of his wet hotel room laundry onto my once-20 meter orange construction rope, which [View Full Entry]

---

---

Out of Khlong Thom, we spent a night at Crystal Lagoon, which is a very clear blue-ish pool in a swampy park. We were able to take the 45 minute hike in and swim liberally for some short minutes and go back once it started to get pretty dark. Another half hour and we would have been up the creak with finding our way out. Because we went out after 6pm, we were able to get in free. We watched Crank with the Thai guys who's family ran and lived in the eatery. They let out camp out in the parking [View Full Entry]

---

---