http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia en-us Wed, 11 Nov 09 22:44:35 +0000 Wed, 11 Nov 09 22:44:35 +0000 Day 11 Ban Saphan Noi to ChumponThe rain was pouring down from the time we awoke and after a lovely breakfast courtesy of our homestay host Don we set off in the downpour. We faced colossal hills steep and lengthy and crazy strong winds. Early on we passed a sign that told us 98 km to Chumpon our destination. Damn This was the same distance as the last sign wersquod passed kilometers ba http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/blog-452482.html I have now finally gotten around to do some volunterwork here in India and it may not come as a big surprise to you that this includes animals and there welfare.. Friendicoes seca is an animal welfare organization here in India much needed here which basically does the same as other such organizations around the world i.e. raising money for shelter food and veterinary expenses for lost sick http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Haryana/Gurgaon/blog-452474.html Day 10 Bankrud to Ban Saphan NoiWe began the day biking on quiet back roads running right alongside the beach. We passed seafood factories and watched workers arriving for their shifts or breaking at small restaurants across the street clad in white hairnets and full white plastic suits. A town full of young men hanging out playing pool drinking beers we presumed to be fishermen already f http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/blog-452467.html I believe I left off just prior to taking a twelve hour bus ride back to Chiang Mai from Khon Kaen after confusing Chiang Khong where I actually needed to be with Khon Kaen literally hundreds of miles off course. I was fortunate in that I had a short wait to catch the next bus from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai and an even shorter wait to catch the final bus to Chiang Khong after which I coul http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/North/Luang-Namtha/blog-452459.html Day 9 Prachuap Khiri Khan to Bankrud After waving goodbye to our eclectic host Kwan we biked off straight in to an air base where we dismounted our bikes and signed in to a guestbook before being allowed to bike straight through. We signed out in another book at a small station house on our way out five miles later. The rain started soon after we began and only got heavier as the day wore http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/blog-452452.html Friday niteLate start this morning after a restless nighthellip. Irsquom in the Cannaught Place section of Dellhi. Was able to get a ticket on the night running Rajastan Express and came up Tue. Nighthellipgot in early Wed morning. Was immediately approached by someone wanting me to follow them to an information centerhellip.a travel agent of course was able to use their phone to contact http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/blog-452448.html Comme disait si bien Aimee nous sommes rendu au temple de Bayon surplombe par 216 enormes faces sculptees dans chacune des tours qui s'y trouve. Quand elle parlait de me defouler disons que la pire nationalite a avoir sur son chemin quand on visite ce sont les Japonnais... Les de Japonnais. Vraiment les americains de l'Asie J'ai du attendre plusieurs minutes pour prendre une photo http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Siem-Reap/blog-452435.html The Super Brand Mall is definitely bigger than any mall I've ever been to Now for those of you who know me well I'm not really much of a shopper so that doesn't say a lot but it is 10 stories high and even has an ice skating rink on the 8th floor The Chinese call it Zhengda Guangchang.After almost 2 hrs traveling time a taxi to the metro station nearest our apt then 3 different metro li http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanghai/Pudong/blog-452424.html After our Ko Tao outing we ferried our way to Ko Phangan the island we spotted from the Sunnyview restaurant near the peak on the last island. And of course it's the island famous for its full moon party. It's an event that Clark and I decided we had to attend a tour of Southeast Asia for twentysomethings isn't complete without it. It lived up to its reputation.We took the ferry from Ko http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/blog-452422.html Following an 8 hour night flight where either of us got any sleep we arrived in a dusty building site. We were greeted by our rickshaw driver and he took us to our hostel. It was the craziest drive of my life here there are very few road regulations and drivers just fend for themselves we regularly found ourselves on the wrong side of the road. Our first night was nice both still very tired http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/National-Capital-Territory/New-Delhi/blog-452420.html Actually I'm possibly more of a salmon colour now rather than lobster no sign of blisters just yet but there's still time.Well my plan for this blog was to have a whole heap of interesting pics from our Mekong Delta river tour aswell as pics from whatever tour we ended up doing on Mondayhellip. Slight change of planshellipSo we got sunburnthellip I had to take it that one step further a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-452412.html Never having been to Thailand before Iv only ever had a perception of what its like. Based on what i had read and what people had told me before i landded in Bangkok the image im my head was that it was a very muggy hot stinking dirty city with everyone after your cash so i wasnt surprised when a young lady in an orange jacket offered us a taxi before wed even made it through airport customs. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/blog-452400.html Heei Ankom Kathmandu pa ettermiddagen i stralende sol Hadde en overnatting i Bangkok forst. Geir Olav hadde ordnet sjafor til a hente meg pa flyplassen sa det var service det Sa bar til kontoret der han jobber og hilste pa diverse kollegaer av han deriblant en norsk kollegaArve. Allerede pa veien fra flyplassen og inn til byn sa skjonte jeg at her var det et ekstremt kaos av trafikk det v http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Kathmandu/blog-452399.html My India tours started with Delhi. I stayed in Delhi for two days. Enough time to see the Humayunrsquos Tomb in a glorious summer sunset the Qutb Minar in a dusty midday Jama Masjid India Gate. I start my tours of India with visit the India Gate. The India Gate is a memorial to all of the Indian soldiers who lost their lives during World War I. The Red Fort in Delhi was one high on my list of http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-452394.html The only rule in China is that there are no rules. Red light Whatever that means. Let's keep driving Hit someone are they alive good keep going. Do I have the right of way No. Go ahead anyways. I'm a bus and just hit a moped. The person is disoriented and their moped is a little dinged up. Can they walk away Ya so get out of my way so I can keep goingLet's talk on the phone http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-452378.html Dandong Benxi Dalian Shanghai Got freedom back in China DANDONGAfter our nice but restricted trip in North Korea NK it was lovely to arrive to the other side of the Korean Chinese border namely the town of Dandong. We arrived by train from Pyongyang pity that it was a Russian train and not a Korean one but whatever... and we spent the night and next day in Dandong. The two countries ar http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Liaoning/blog-452374.html The following Monday I started biking around handing out my resume to potential employers. I got a nice surprise when a school called me for a job interview in Kaohsiung. Alas Tuesday was spent traveling there doing a little shopping and trying to find where the school was. John and I discovered a nice little Mexican place near the MRT called Pacorsquos Tacos. While I was not sick of the Ta http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Pingtung/blog-452364.html We've been here a month now It goes so quickly We're back in Bangkok now as we had a little change of plan we're not going to Laos anymore we bought flights to Hanoi Vietnam and leave tomorrow. We just decided we didn't fancy laos too much we were only going to be there a week in the capital getting our vietnam visas and would have paid 30 for a month visa there. Plus by the time we'd pa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-452361.html Man I loved Georgetown....sleepy colonial vibe with amazing indian food. Had to really drag myslef away. Not really that much to do in the town except eat and chat and watch the footy of course Hooked up with a cool Welsh lass called Emma. We got the bus out to Malaysia's biggest buddhist temple and blimey it was big it even has its own train to take you to the upper section Also took http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/blog-452360.html 1062009Khun chan makAnother day here in Lop Buri. All I can say is TGIF. This has been one of the longest most wearing weeks I have had in awhile First week of teaching huhhellipWell I think I have an extremely hard school. I have talked to some of my friends in other parts of Thailand and yes they have LOUD rambunctious kidshellipbut they donrsquot have long classes or donrsquot have http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Lopburi/blog-452358.html