street food

Waiting for the family to arrive in Chiang Mai after what appears to have been a long and delayed-filled trip, I decided to take a stroll through the food stalls at the Saturday night street market and snap some pics. Couldn't tell you what half of the stuff is, but I'll try to get Picassa descriptions where I can identify things. I ended up eating crispy pork and rice for a grand total of $0.75. Oh, and yes, this is the stuff all those retarded travel doctors tell you to avoid.

ko phi phi

I’ve spent the last couple days in Ko Phi Phi - a small set of islands about an hour and a half from Phuket – with Lan. It’s a gorgeous little rocky island which has been turned into backpacker heaven. There are no cars or motorcycles, just push carts, a zillion backpackers and a lot of bars. It’s not exactly authentically Thai, but then again I don’t think there are too many places like this in the world. Yesterday we took a snorkeling boat tour over to Phi Phi Le, which is the smaller uninhabited island south of Phi Phi Don, which is where we’re staying. We were supposed to catch the sunset from the boat but it started pouring just as the sun went down. Nevertheless, it made for some spectacular scenery. At night we went to Reggae Bar which featured a Mui Thai ring with fights catered exclusively to the young crowd. We saw, babies, and drunken male and female backpackers get in the ring (not at the same time) to duke it out, as well as a couple “real” fights with Thai boxers. Unfortunately, even those resembled a WWE fight more than anything else. A good time was had. Now I’m headed back north to Chiang Mai to meet up with my parents and sisters.

day at the beach

Made it down to Phuket and have been enjoying the sun and sand since our arrival. We're staying on a quieter part of the island which seems filled with Europeans - primarily older slightly obese Scandinavians... The beach is beautiful though and the waves are fun to play in. Not surprisingly, I got a pretty sweet sunburn and I'm exhausted. Also not surprising is that we continued to eat a lot. We started the day with a spicy pork noodle soup (see pictures), drank at least three coconuts each (among other things) and finished the day with a big send off meal for Nate & Lisa. Deep fried fish, roasted chicken, two soups and green papaya salad were all enjoyed - as was the finale of a Thai drama which the staff was watching on TV. Tomorrow Lan and I make our way to Ko Phi Phi while Nate & Lisa begin their long ride back to Boston.

day eating with the fifty

Yesterday we continued to eat our way across Chiang Mai. We basically did nothing but wander from market to market, eating, getting massages and occasionally stopping to relax too :) I had the 50mm lens on all day, so it made for some good food pictures at the night market. And yes, we tried some of the tasty little fried worms... Today we fly down south to the Andaman Sea.

back to asia...

So I'm back in Asia... I landed in Bangkok late Tuesday night and have been gently adjusting since then. Bangkok is pretty much as crazy, immense and hectic as I remember it. There's a zillion people - and they're out late each and every night - eating, partying, bargaining, etc... Traffic remains as bad as anywhere I've ever seen, but at least the public transportation system works pretty well. The food - and especially the street food - has been pretty good. I've definitely enjoyed a bunch of soups and curries though half the time I couldn't tell you exactly what I'm eating.

I ended up walking about eight miles through town on Thursday which was rather exhausting - there really isn't much in the way of green areas aside from a couple large parks. I hit the Chinatown street market which is a network of passageways with all sorts of vendors cramped into the tiny alleys. Definitely not for the claustrophobic. I also stumbled into a rally being held by the red shirts - the opposition party, though it all seemed rather tame and peaceful. Along the way, I had a plate of chicken rice from a street vendor that wasn't half bad. It's quite literally just boiled chicken and rice, but it tastes so much better than it sounds. The rice was perfectly cooked, and the chicken is boiled to perfection in chicken broth. Then you top the whole thing with any number of Thai condiments that accompany meals.

Now I'm in Chiang Mai with Lan, Nate and Lisa and we've been enjoying the laid back atmosphere and cooler mountain weather. Lot's of street food has been consumed, with everything from pad thai to random grilled meat products. Saturday we spent a majority of the day at an Elephant park, riding and feeding the giant animals and laughing quite a bit along the way. We ended the day visiting a tiger petting zoo (seriously...) and the temple atop Doi Suthep, the peak which overlooks the city. It's one of the nicer temples I've been to, and I really enjoyed revisiting it.

In store today is a lot of food and relaxation, then off to Phuket tomorrow for well... more food and relaxation. It's a tough life. Pictures below are mostly from Chiang Mai, nothing from Bangkok yet...

the adventure continues...

Rather than starting a whole new blog, I figured it would be easier to just kick this one back into gear. In case I haven't told you yet, and that seems unlikely if you're reading this, I'll be returning to Asia in December - this time as part of a study abroad program. I'll be based out of Bangkok at the Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration, and so will be spending most of the time enjoying everything Thailand has to offer. Other things I have on tap for this trip include another two week stint in Japan and hopefully several excursions to nearby countries - Laos, Sri Lanka, the Philippines all rank high on my list. I'll try to keep the blog updates similar to those from my previous trip, though I think there will be an added emphasis on food and photography rather than travel. In addition I'll have plenty of friends and family join me for parts of this trip, so if you're looking for yet another distraction from work over the winter, stay tuned.

back home

Sorry I didn’t keep the blog going last week… I was pretty busy with plenty of traveling. After HK I headed back north towards South Korea for one last stop in Asia. I only stayed there two and a half days but I really enjoyed Seoul and definitely think I’ll go back at some point. After a long day of travel on Wednesday (via Tokyo on a red-eye) I arrived in the evening at the Lee&No Guesthouse and was greeted by a few other travelers that were about to head to dinner. After cleaning up quickly, we went to a local restaurant they’d spotted earlier in the day which was a do-it-yourself type of cooking (very popular in Korea apparently). Basically we ordered a huge plate of baby octopus and pork slices and placed it on a stove located in the middle of the table and let the whole thing cook (it was covered in some sort of fiery hell-broth too). When it was all nice and hot, we all started digging in. As seems to be the custom in Korea, we were given a whole slew of side dishes to go along with this and wrapped everything up in lettuce leaves . We also drank our fair share of beer and soju (the local rice wine), which caught the attention of the businessmen sitting next to us. One thing led to another, and before we knew it, we were drinking soju with them. It turned out to be quite the long evening – parts of which are rather blurry – but in the end we all agreed to meet the following evening for dinner.

Thursday I tried to walk off the soju induced hangover by visiting a few temples and palaces around Seoul. The city feels very similar to Tokyo, though people are much more relaxed and easy going. It’s a really nice place to visit and there really seems to be something for everyone – shopping, eating and sightseeing. Anyway, I was on cruise control most of the day just kind of walking around aimlessly and not feeling quite right until about dinner time. Of course I’d agreed to go to dinner again with everyone, though I was sincerely hoping it would be a bit tamer. We ended up getting Korean BBQ, which was fantastic (something about being able to cook it yourself makes it taste so much better!) and only had a few beers this time – I avoided the soju like the plague. Apparently the businessmen had all stayed out all night at a karaoke parlor after the previous night’s dinner and gone from there straight to work – some without changing… so they were all a bit tired too.

Friday – my last full day in Asia – I went to an art museum in the morning to stay cool and walked around some of the markets and shopping areas of Seoul. I really can’t imagine anyone not enjoying themselves here – it’s really a great place and the food is fantastic. That evening I met up with Cathy, another Kellogg student, for some traditional Korean food and tea. She showed me around town a bit and we talked about the now rapidly approaching start of the school year.

So that’s it. 62 days in Asia comes to an end. The flight back was somewhat long but unadventurous. Now I’m back in Boston preparing to move to Chicago within a couple days. So thanks to all of you for reading the blog – hope you enjoyed it. Thanks to Steve, Rob, Paul, Nicole, the Irish, Daniel, Gorka, Anita, Yoda, Haskell, Richard, Trinh, Viji, Vickna, Dipti, Cathy and all the other random people who joined me on trip. And thanks to all family and friends who emailed and chatted with me while I was on the other side of the world.

top 5

Everyone loves lists... so here's the top 5 sights from the trip

5. Shangri-La and Kyoto. In many ways these two locations couldn't be more different. However, I just couldn't bring myself to pick one over the other. Between Kyoto's temples, shrines and pagodas and the remote, almost mythical town of Shangri-La, it's a real tough call. Both are truly unique, though unfortunately I think Shangri-La will go the way of its southerly neighbor Lijiang and become quite the tourist trap within five years. Either way, when visiting either you really feel far from home and yet very at ease at the same time. Kyoto offers a history as rich as any other city on earth and Shangri-La a peaceful retreat from the craziness of the rest of China. Really two very magical places.

4. Tskiji Fish Market Last time I was in Tokyo, I missed this amazing fish market and was quite upset about it. Now I know I had good reason to be, but luckily this time I did not miss out on one of the greatest free shows on earth. The energy and commotion here truly something else - especially considering it's 6AM! Fish flying every which way, massive fresh and frozen tuna lined up in every direction and creatures you'll never see anywhere else. It's really a feast for the eyes and when you're done... well you have sushi restaurants all around you to satiate your newfound appetite for raw fish at 8AM.

3. Tiger Leaping Gorge I had read some stuff about this trek before leaving home but hadn't planned on going since it was a bit out of the way. After the earthquake hit near Chengdu in May I had to change my plans around a bit and ended up spending more time in the Yunnan Proivince, giving me ample time to make it up to The Gorge and beyond. I was rewarded with a magical two-day trek through the clouds along the worlds tallest and narrowest gorge. It didn't hurt that along the way I met two great guys to hike it with and

2. Great Wall of China I did not expect to enjoy the Great Wall as much as I did. Most of the picture's I'd seen or filled with thousands of tourists climbing over what was a recent reconstruction of the wall... What I found however was completely the opposite. I took a tour to a slightly more remote location and was rewarded with a 10km hike up and down The Wall with just a few people from my tour group. This section had been rebuilt in parts, but enough was left unrestored to make it feel more authentic.

1. Ha Long Bay This one was really easy to pick. I had really high expectations for Vietnam and Ha Long Bay especially and it pretty much exceeded all of my expectations in every way imaginable. We were extremely lucky with the weather and made a great decision to stay an extra night in order to have a whole day of kayaking. In any event, this place is surreal and Haskell and I constantly remarked how unbelievable it was while we were there. I just flipped through the pictures Haskell and I took there and still have a hard time coming to grips with the scenery. Anyway, if there's one thing on this trip that I would unequivocally recommend to everyone, it's surely this one.

hong kong

note: I've uploaded pics from Penang, Langkawi and Kuala Lumpur below...

I'll be honest - I was starting to get a bit tired of big Asian cities - they were all starting to look pretty similar, with few surprises to be found. Then I got to Hong Kong. Now I have a new favorite city. This place is unbelievable and seems to get better each day. I feel like some cities -- Beijing comes to mind -- drain all your energy while others, like New York and Tokyo seem to do just the opposite. Hong Kong certainly falls into this latter category.

So I've spent my first couple days here exploring the different parts of the city. On Friday, my first full day here, I spent most of the day in Central and SoHo on Hong Kong island. This is basically the main business area and where you will find most of the expats and businessmen as well as some of the world’s most impressive sky scrapers. It's also home to an absurd number of fancy malls, hotels and restaurants. But unlike other cities of similar size, the streets here are narrow, varied and a pleasure to walk around. The setting is also amazing, with green hills out one side and Hong Kong Bay on the other. Great backdrops for an amazing skyline.

There aren't many "sights" in Hong Kong, but the city itself is really the main attraction. The most touristy thing to do however, is to climb to the top of Victoria Peak on the extremely steep tram and take in the view of the city and harbor. This is exactly what I did at the end of the day, taking in the sunset as the city comes alive with lights. A spectacular skyline.

Saturday, I walked around Wan Chai and Causeway Bay - also on Hong Kong Island. It's a main shopping destination and since I had nothing to buy, I simply enjoyed walking around and people watching. In the Evening I went to Kowloon, directly across from Hong Kong Island for dinner. I made a bee-line for the Temple Street night market, fully expecting to find some decent food there. The market itself was pretty boring, but sure enough I found a busy restaurant that seemed to specialize in garlic/chili crab, something Anthony Bourdain taught me is somewhat of a local specialty. And so I had myself two large crabs with massive amounts of garlic and chilies. This took me close to 40 minutes to work my way through. Though very messy, it was really quite the feast.

another week, another country

Well that's it for Malaysia. Once again didn't really have much in the way of internet access here, so I haven't posted any pictures and obviously this is my first post since I first arrived. I'll try not to make it too long, but I have a few days worth of travelling to blog about.

So after my mini-fiasco at the airport on Friday evening in Kuala Lumpur, I did eventually make it to Penang Island Saturday morning. I was greeted by Viji and Vickna - Ravi's sister and brother-in-law as well as their 3-year old daughter Brihnda. They whisked me away from the airport back to their lovely home just south of Georgetown, the main city on the island. After dropping off my bags, Vickna gave me a tour of Georgetown in his air-conditioned car. I haven't travelled this luxuriously in weeks! Georgetown is a very cosmopolitan city with an interesting mix of cultures - Malay, Chinese, Indian and British influences combining to create a quite the diverse city. The food is equally varied with plenty of hawker stands and restaurants to choose from. For lunch we stopped at a hawker stand near their house and had a few Chinese dishes from various vendors and then at dinner enjoyed a tasty meal at an Indian restaurant. Off to a good start.

The second day I spent exploring the town by foot. It's not very large so I got a good feel for the various neighborhoods and really enjoyed the different architectural styles - from British Colonial to ultra-modern - that sit side by side. I climbed to the top of the Komtar tower (by way of an elevator) to get a good view of the entire island and the mainland. One of the other things that I noticed while walking around was how much quieter it is here than in Viet Nam and China. Most people drive cars and few if any honk their horn as is all too common in those other countries. It was quite relaxing, but having gotten used to the honking also somewhat disconcerting.

The next day I took a ferry north to Langkawi Island located near the Thai/Malaysian border. It's a major tourist spot and has great beaches and resorts - think Martha's Vineyard for Malaysians hehe. However, instead of lounging on the beach I decided to rent a scooter for the day and make my way around the island. Having previously been taught the ways of the scooter by Haskell, I decided I was ready to tackle a bike on my own. The traffic was much lighter/calmer than in Viet Nam and the roads were all well paved so the only catch was that they drive on the left side of the road here! In the end though everything went well and I avoided on-coming traffic like a pro! Among the highlights from the 40-mile trip around the island were a run-in with a pack of wild monkeys and a little hike up to a nice waterfall. Plus, I actually used suntan lotion this time so I didn't toast like Haskell and I had at Ha Long Bay two weeks ealier (I'm still suffering).

So that was Penang/Langkawi. I've since spent the last two days in Kuala Lumpur. It's very similar to Singapore in that it's your standard big city with sky scrapers and traffic and it has the same ethnic mix as Penang and the rest of Malaysia. It's got a bit more grit than Singapore (not very hard) but like its southernly neighbor there's not much to do here besides eat and walk around in massive malls. This is not a bad thing, but as I've found out, there's only so much one person can eat each day, and with only a day and a half to explore the many cuisines on offer, trying to eat your way across town is kind of a pointless exercise. So Kuala Lumpur has been kindda boring, but I didn't really have high expectations and now I'm ready to move on to Hong Kong, which promises to be a good time. I'll be staying with Dipti, my roommate from Oakland, and her husband, so it'll be nice to see them again. I'll upload some pictures from my week in Malaysia when I get to Hong Kong and hopefully post a few more times while I'm there. 53 days down, 10 to go. Alright, Enjoy the 4th and see (most of) you soon!