Merry Christmas Everyone!
Christmas in Nicaragua
12/29/2008 8:29:05 PM - Day 288 - Leon, Nicaragua
An amazing sight in the Nicaraguan countryside that I was lucky enough to see on my way back from Cerro Negro Volcano. The sunset with the surroundings was perfect.
Leon, Nicaragua (Leon, Nicaragua Review and Travel Information) has been just the stop that I needed at this point of my trip. Leon is an old colonial town that has a decent tourist infrastructure but at the same time isn't jam packed with foreigners, therefore there aren't any touts hassling you on the streets and the locals are very polite. I had planned on visiting the other colonial town of Grenada in the south as well, but heard from every single person that had gone down there that it was very similar to Leon, but not as enjoyable. After hearing that, and after being on the move so much lately, I decided to simply spend the time I had set aside for Grenada here in Leon which worked out pretty well.
I took a bus here from Tegucigalpa with a company called "Tica Bus". The bus was alright but definitely not on par with "King's Quality" buses, however it was also half the price of King's Quality. I ended up staying at a really chilled out and nice hostel called "La Tortuga Booluda Hostal" (La Tortuga Booluda Hostal Review in Leon, Nicaragua). The first day that I arrived it was a bit late in the afternoon so I didn't do much.
The next day I got to walk around the city and check it out. First off, Leon is hot as fuck. Second off, getting around Leon is very easy since the city is pretty small and I was staying near the central area making a jaunt around the city pretty easy. The streets are all cobblestoned and seem to criss-cross one another in a fairly grid-like manner. The architecture is like nothing I have ever seen before, most likely because this is one of the first Spanish colonial towns that I have visited on my travels. All the buildings on each city block were flush along one another painted various pastel colors. Each home had an iron wrought gate at the entrance and about a third of the homes doubled as some sort of store. Very few of the homes had windows that opened out into the street. At night all the locals would hang out in front of their houses sitting on rocking chairs and chit chatting while kids played in the street. It was a really nice atmosphere and I felt very comfortable here in Leon. Of course, like most of Central America there is still a bit of a crime problem here, but unless you are walking around super late at night you should be fine. I met one guy who decided to stay out super late and he ended up getting mugged three times. However, I didn't meet anyone else who had any problems.
One of the activities that you can do here in Leon is "Volcano Boarding" where you shoot down a volcano on a wooden sled. It sounded pretty cool so I decided to give it a shot. They also had "Volcano Surfing" where you go down on a snowboard of sorts, but from what I understood, you go a fraction of the speed that you do Volcano Boarding and virtually nobody stands the whole way down. I wanted speed so I opted for volcano boarding.
To be honest, I wasn't expecting much from the volcano boarding. So you slide down a volcano on a wooden board, "la de da". I know it's not the best attitude to have, but I honestly didn't think it was going to be that cool. Other people who were also doing the trip seemed to echo the same sentiments by complaining on the way to the volcano about the price. I thought it would be cool to see an active volcano though and the bragging rights from "boarding down a volcano" would be a plus. When we got to the volcano, the lady running the tour gave us some more info that made the venture seem that much more exciting. The long and short of it was that you can end up going about 50 miles per hour (mph) or 80 km/h. Really now? Also, it seems that most people eat shit going down the volcano fucking themselves up to various degrees with at the most, serious cuts, bruises and rashes. She didn't mention any of this when she sold us the trip. I would have definitely gone anyways, but I'm sure some people wouldn't have signed up if they had known about the risk involved which was apparent by all the sideways glances people started giving one another after she made these announcements. We climbed to the top of the active volcano "Cerro Negro" that had last erupted in 1999. It was cool seeing the inside of an active volcano, but it wasn't as spectacular as what some might expect. It was simply a crater full of sand with smoke coming out from it. No lava or anything like that. It also smelled like rotten eggs thanks to the sulfur. I'm sure there are volcanoes with lava in the crater, but this wasn't one of them. After the one hour hike up to the top we suited up in some bright orange jumpsuits that made us look like escaped convicts along with some huge goggles and started racing down in pairs on top of little 3 to 4 foot long wooden sleds. The girls went first and were followed by all the guys. The girls for the most part did really well and one girl got to around 45 mph. The boys as a whole looked like idiots with the vast majority of them eating shit. I myself made it down without crashing, thank you very much! I topped out around 35 mph. I also beat the guy I was racing (but only by a little bit, check out the video below). The jump suit and goggles were a huge plus. I had an avalanche of volcanic pebbles smacking me in the face because each time my feet accidently hit the ground the pebbles would shoot up all over the place.
The volcano boarding ended up being a lot of fun and I am really glad that I did it. After that I checked out Leon some more which had come alive for Christmas. The city center was packed with vendors selling all types of gifts and food. Also, groups of kids dressed up in costumes with drums were rolling around the city drumming a beat for anyone that wanted to pay them a bit of change. One would wear a costume of a super tall Spanish woman and another would wear one of a super short Nicaraguan with a giant head (because he was so smart). They would dance around as their friends would play the drums and tell a story that had something to do with the Spanish lady looking down upon the Nicaraguan. They also had carnival rides in the city center that were pretty inventive. One interesting one was a Ferris wheel that was manpowered. Basically, two guys on each side would pull the Ferris wheel (it was really small) down every couple seconds to keep it spinning while the little kids riding on it would laugh.
This was the first Christmas that I had spent away from my family. To be honest, it didn't even feel like Christmas to me. Yeah, there were plenty of decorations around and the locals were definitely in the Christmas spirit, but I simply couldn't get into it. I think the biggest thing is because I was away from the people I love. It really made me think about what it is like for those people that don't have any families of their own to celebrate Christmas with. It's really depressing. I still had a good time though. One of the hostels in the area organized a huge Christmas dinner and all the backpackers in the area went to it. The food was good and I met some awesome people.
Leon was a nice city. The people were relaxed, the prices were good, the colonial architecture was amazing and the relaxing atmosphere was very comfortable. I can see myself coming back some day. My next stop is San Jose. I decided to fly this leg in order to save time. I'll be there for New Years Eve which should promise to be a memorable affair!
Volcano Boarding down the active Volcano "Cerro Negro" in Leon, Nicaragua. I got to a top speed of about 35 mph. I'm pretty proud of myself for not crashing and also winning my race. Yeahhh Mattis!!!
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Tegucigalpa is one rough city.
Skip Tegucigalpa
12/22/2008 10:42:11 PM - Day 281 - Tegucigalpa, Honduras
The cathedral in Parque Central in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. The locals were all staring at me like I was crazy while I was taking a picture of myself probably because I had my digital out.
Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Pretty much everything I heard and read about visiting Tegucigalpa was negative. What I read and heard was that the city was beyond dangerous. One line that really stayed fresh in my mind was from the Wikitravel.com website's section about safety in Tegucigalpa. The very last sentence was "If you have a gun to your head, say goodbye". Reading nihilistic sentences like that about the city you are days away from visiting doesn't get your hopes up. I know there are safer areas of Honduras that seem to be pretty popular like Copan Ruinas which has some great Mayan ruins or the Bay Islands. However, I was a bit short on time and going to those areas would be way out of the way for me since I was coming from El Salvador. Also, I read that Copan Ruinas didn't hold a candle up to Tikal, and having gone to Tikal I didn't feel the need to go to Copan as well. I'm sure some people would disagree, but that's what I read. With all that in mind, I decided to give Tegucigalpa the benefit of the doubt and head there to see what this dangerous capital was all about.
I took a bus from a company called "King's Quality" that was one of the nicest buses I have ever taken and arrived super late at night without any hostel/hotel reservations. From what I understood, Tegucigalpa has virtually zero tourism so I figured it would be no problem simply showing up at the hotels to see if they had vacancies. Sure enough, all three hotels in my guide book that I wanted to stay at were full. Lucky me. My cab driver had a recommendation, but normally I don't like listening to cab drivers about hotels because they usually don't take you to the best place, but instead take you to the one that gives them the best commission. Luck was in my favor though and the cabby brought me to a hotel that was actually better and lower priced than the other three hotels in my guide book. The place was called "Hotel Suites La Aurora" (Hotel Suites La Aurora Review in Tegucigalpa, Honduras) and it was a solid place to stay. It wasn't a budget option, but the problem with cities like Tegucigalpa that have close to no tourism is that they also usually have limited options for accommodation. Add to that the fact that the place is super dangerous and you're given the choice of staying in a cheap place in a super dangerous part of town or staying in a higher priced place in a "relatively" safe part.
The following day after I arrived I decided to check out the central part of town. The whole ride there my cabby was pointing out this area and that pretty much telling me to stay clear of them because of the lack of safety in all of them. Also, how if shit goes down you can't really count on anyone who might be there to help because Hondurans will only look the other way because they don't want to get involved in fear of their own safety. It sounds like a pretty rough life down here. When we finally got to the central park area "Parque Central", the cabby let me off and told me not to wander to far from the center, for safety of course.
The central park area had a nice cathedral and some fountains with a bunch of Hondurans hanging around. One interesting observation was with this being one of the only "tourist" sites in the city, I was the only tourist there. Just where the hell are all the foreigners? This gives you an idea about how low the tourism is here. There wasn't too much to see in the central area except for an old, well dressed Honduran guy who was going crazy screaming his brains out. Nobody seemed to care though and eventually he went away. I decided to walk around a bit and see some more of the sites in the area. Probably not the best idea but whatever. I probably didn't get ten minutes away from the central park area when I hit a street that wasn't a main road, but sure wasn't an alley either. I thought it might be a bad idea to walk down it, but it was completely sunny out and there were some people here and there so I figured it would be fine. I hadn't walked ten steps down this street before a car full of homied-looking locals rolled up next to me whose driver starts making kissy faces at me and then looking and gesturing like he is searching for a place to park. Right then I remember reading how people get held up, mugged, shot and stabbed during the day here, so with that in mind I did an about face and headed in the opposite direction. I suppose I should have listened to that driver and stayed in the central area.
After visiting the central park area, there wasn't anything else worth seeing according to my guide book, which is probably another reason why almost nobody comes here for tourism. I went back to the hotel and was left with nothing really left to do. I wanted to get some food but the only type of food I could find anywhere in Tegucigalpa was fast food. Each fast food place also had a shotgun wielding guard out front. I'm not sure where the normal eateries are at, but I couldn't find any.
I decided to book a ticket out of Tegucigalpa. There wasn't any reason for me to stay here any longer and there was no point bumming around an ultra dangerous city with nothing to apparently see or do. I ended up meeting some other travelers though that told me some harrowing stories about Tegucigalpa. One was only here for a short time and said she was going to cry if she had to spend another day in Tegucigalpa. I guess that morning she saw a taxi driver chasing some guy down with a machete and the night before had to deal with a bunch of locals yelling all kinds of nasty obscenities at here and some other backpackers. The other traveler was a German who had been volunteering for a woman's rights group for some time. She told me that Honduras has one of the highest Matricide (when woman get murdered) rates in the world. She also said that a Danish girl who was also volunteering got raped right from outside of her apartment (I guess they also have one of the highest rape rates in the world as well) and that another guy who was a volunteer was murdered for reasons still unknown.
It really sucks when you visit a city that is so dangerous that you are isolated to a few select areas of relative safety. It also makes me feel bad for the good people that live here and have to live with this situation day in and day out. I'm sure that the average person here, like most places in the world is good at heart and only wants to lead a good life. It's sad though because of the rough situation they are forced to live with and that people like me who are interested in learning more about the local culture won't have as much opportunity because of the security situation. I hope someday for the sake of those good people and tourists like myself that the situation here in Honduras improves.
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I feel left out by not carrying a gun though.
San Salvador Was Enjoyable
12/20/2008 8:51:33 PM - Day 279 - San Salvador, El Salvador
He may have a gun, but I have the tiger claw! You see gaurds like this all over San Salvador. There are really nice people here but there is also a lot of crime.
San Salvador was a place I was a bit worried to go to. I had heard and read a lot of bad things about the safety situation here and that definitely put me off about making a trip out here. On top of that, there really isn't much to see or do in terms of tourism except for a couple surf spots in some somewhat sketchy beaches. However, like all countries, El Salvador has its own culture and history, and even if there is some danger associated with a visit here, I decided to come because I didn't want to miss out on seeing this part of Central America.
I flew into San Salvador at night because my flight in Guatemala had been delayed. I never like going into dangerous countries at night, but I didn't have much of a choice in this instance. There didn't seem to be too many tourists at the airport and when I got to immigration the official was really cool with me, and even amused at my attempt to speak Spanish. Soon I was in a cab with a guy blasting techno music who brought me to my hotel called "International Guest's House" (International Guest's House Review in San Salvador, El Salvador). I didn't have a reservation but lucked out because they had a vacancy when I arrived.
My guidebook didn't list much of anything worth seeing in San Salvador as far as tourism goes, therefore I figured I would just walk around and check out the city and people. You almost don't see any "indigenous" people (those of Amerindian decent) with almost everyone here being Mestizo, or mixed European and Amerindian. I read that the government here in the past really repressed the indigenous people, so much so that now there are barely any here which is pretty unusual for Central America.
One thing that really tripped me out was how similar many of the suburbs and main boulevards looked to their counterparts in some areas of Southern California. For example, you could have taken the suburban area I was staying at, transplant it to Southern California and it would fit in perfectly in some parts. It was pretty eerie how similar these areas of San Salvador were to parts of Southern California.
The couple Salvadorians that I met were fucking awesome people. Everyone was so friendly and helpful, and they always had a smile on my face. Coming here I didn't know what to expect, but I definitely didn't expect this. I may have only gotten lucky, but from my experience people in San Salvador are super friendly. However, even with the ultra friendly people, you have constant reminders all over the city of the dangerous situation here with numerous shotgun wielding security guards on every other block and the majority of houses laced with barbed wire along high flying fences. I remember years ago when reading about all the guards in San Salvador armed to the teeth with weapons, thinking how the constant sight of armed guards would be unsettling. However now, after traveling for awhile, I've gotten pretty used to it and actually find comfort in it because you know that the chances of getting mugged with armed guards around is pretty slim.
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Welcome to the Jungle!
Mayan Ruins of Tikal
12/18/2008 1:25:29 PM - Day 277 - Tikal, Guatemala
The Mayan Ruins of Tikal were amazing. This is the "Grand Plaza" of the ruins.
One of the biggest sights I wanted to see in Central America was the famed Mayan ruins of Tikal. Getting here from Belize was a bit of a journey. I ended up taking a minibus for a couple of dollars all the way to Tikal. We got stopped about halfway there by a transit police official and a Belizean cop. It turns out that whoever was selling tickets in Belize for this bus didn't have the authority to do so, therefore we were all on a bus that legally wasn't allowed to transport us. Great I thought. Luckily the cop let the bus driver go after saying "don't do this again" and we were on our way.
Guatemala is supposed to be one of the rougher countries in Central America. I've heard a lot of stories and even my Grandfather who grew up there told me to be careful. As soon as you cross the border the road goes back and forth from being paved or gravel, you drive by a lot of shacks and barely see any other cars on the road. The whole trip took like eight or so hours, but eventually I was at Tikal left with the task of figuring out where I was going to stay. There are only three hotels in Tikal since it is actually a national park, so the number of choices you have is pretty limited. I did a bit of research online beforehand and chose to stay at the "Jaguar Inn" (Jaguar Inn Review in Tikal, Guatemala) since it seemed to have the lowest prices, and luckily after checking with them, they still had vacancies.
While there I started talking to some of the other people on my bus who said they were going to check out the temples during sunset. I told them to go on without me because I had some work to do. After unpacking though, I figured it would be worth taking a look. How often do you get to see the sunset over ancient Mayan ruins? This ended up being a mistake. The front desk at my hotel told me it was like a twenty to thirty minute walk into the jungle to get to the temples. It looked like we had less than an hour of sunlight left. I figured "no problem" and headed off. At the ticket area the guards told me I could hitch a ride with one of them to the temple I wanted to visit, thus saving me some time. "Freaking awesome" I thought. I should have known better, when something seems too good to be true, it isn't, especially in the third world.
We drove forever! It seemed like we drove for ten or so minutes thru the parks grounds to get to this temple. I was completely backwards as to where the hell we were at since I hadn't entered the site walking in to remember landmarks in order to be able to walk back out, and it was too dark inside the jungle when we entered to see anything because of the thick jungle canopy overhead. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, but then the guy who drove me in said he wasn't going to drive me back out unless I paid him a couple of dollars. "Fucking bullshit" I thought. What the fuck do I do now? I'm in a sketchy ass country, in the middle of the Jungle, the sun is about to set and I have no fucking idea about how to get back. Great. I got him down to like four dollars for the ride back. "What a dick" I thought, but I also need to blame myself for being so trusting. I've been to a lot of sketch places by now and have had many people try to scam me over, I should have seen right thru this. Oh well, scratch that to the learning experience, don't go into the middle of a jungle right as the sun is about to set, and definitely don't accept rides from any of the locals who offer to take you in there. Stupid. I checked out the temple at sunset and it was a waste of time. You can't really even see the sun because of the direction the temple's face. On the way back he tried to justify it by saying he makes like $200 a month. He can try to rationalize however he wants, he's still a jerk who conned me. It would have been better if he initially said he would drive me in and out for 4 dollars, I would have gone for that. There were also a ton of tourists on the way back walking in the dark who looked at us anxiously as we drove by because you could tell they were all getting very worried walking back in the middle of the jungle at night, especially since it is common knowledge that tourists have been mugged at this site walking at night. The first group we saw I told him they were my friends and if we could pick them up at no extra charge. Of course, I didn't even know these people but he didn't speak English so didn't know what we talked about. He said ok to picking them up, so at least I spared one small group of people the anxiety of walking back.
The next morning I woke up bright and early thanks to the howls of Howler Monkeys in the jungle. They sounded like a dinosaur out of the movies when they all howled together. I've heard nothing like it. If I didn't know it was them, I would have been pretty fucking freaked out as to where the noise was coming from. That night I had also been woken up a couple of times to the sounds of animals outside my window poking around or monkeys yelling at one another doing god knows what. Welcome to the jungle.
I'd booked a tour with my hotel to Tikal. It was a pretty good price and included a short Guatemalan with a uni-brow named Caesar who spoke perfect English. There was also a bunch of other people on the tour who had come from the nearby city of Flores. I found out that with transport there and back as well as the tour, it was cheaper to come from Flores than it was to actually book the tour in Tikal. The tour was really cool and Caesar was one of the best tour guides I have ever had. If you ever want to go to Tikal, look up "Caesar's Tikal Tours" in Flores, Guatemala. The guy knew his stuff and was cool the entire tour.
The pyramids themselves were pretty interesting. According to Caesar, the Mayan nobles were retarded and physically deformed thanks to centuries of inbreeding. Cross-eyed goons with sloping foreheads. However, in order to keep the masses inline they had them constantly busy building these pyramids. Unlike the Pyramids of Egypt, nobody was buried inside these ones in Tikal. In fact, once they had finished building a pyramid, they would begin building right over the original pyramid with a new, larger layer of pyramid so that the masses were always busy. For whatever reason, Tikal was abandoned abruptly some centuries ago and scientists still don't know for certain why.
Thanks to my extended time in Asia, I had to cut down on a couple of places in Central America, one of them being Guatemala because there isn't much else I want to see or do here and supposedly it is a pretty dangerous place. I have family in Guatemala City, but I have never spoken a word to them in my life so I thought it would be kind of strange to contact them one day out of the blue and say "hi, we family!" That being the case, I'm headed to San Salvador, El Salvador next. I'm not going to lie, I'm a bit anxious about going there considering about ten years ago, San Salvador was listed as the number two most dangerous city in the world according to Wikipedia. Currently, it still has one of the highest murder rates on the planet. Looks like I'll have to keep my head on straight and hope for the best!
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"Hay Mon! Welcome to Belize Brotha!"
Change of Pace: CENTRAL AMERICA
12/16/2008 10:02:29 PM - Day 275 - Caye Caulker, Belize
Hey there Mr Turtle, what do you do?
Caye Caulker (Caye Caulker, Belize Travel Information and Review) has been the perfect intro to Central America. Caye Caulker (pronounced "key" Caulker) is a small island off of Belize about an hour's ferry ride from Belize City. About four years ago I was supposed to go on a trip to Central America that fell thru with Caye Caulker being one of my top destinations. When it didn't work out, I vowed that I would make it out here one day, and now, four years later I'm alive to see that promise fulfilled.
Getting here from Taiwan was a fucking mission. About thirty hours in total with three layovers. First they had me stop in San Francisco, then Los Angeles and finally Dallas Fort Worth before flying into Belize City. I had a really long layover in Los Angeles where I had to sleep in the international terminal while waiting for the American Airlines front desk to open so that I could check-in, as well as a couple of hours in San Francisco and Dallas. The weirdest thing however was that for all this scrutiny we put on airport security and immigration, this was the first time in all of my travels that I was allowed to leave the baggage claim and walk outside of the passenger terminals without showing someone my passport. I just had to tell a cop that I was a US citizen on transfer and they had me go down another exit and I soon found myself walking around the outside of the airport in San Francisco.
This felt really weird to me because I hadn't expected to have been able to walk around the outside of the airport while transferring thru the US. This was how it was in Los Angeles too. To be honest, I wasn't mentally prepared to be given this opportunity. Traveling for so long, you miss a lot of things, including home, much more so than most people will ever realize. A common question I get asked by other travelers who have been on the road for more than a couple of weeks is "don't you miss home?" Yes, I miss home a lot, and to be outside the terminal in Los Angeles, a short distance from home was unnerving. I even found myself asking a taxi cab how much it would cost to get to the bus station. Of course, I would never give up on this trip and would always follow it thru till I have at least completed what I had initially set out to do, but simply having that temptation there was something I wasn't mentally prepared for.
It was also strange finally being in a place full of my countrymen, a country full of Americans. To finally be somewhere that I didn't have to worry about getting asked questions about foreign policy that I have no control over, to deal with ignorant stereotypes that a lot of people internationally have about Americans, to be somewhere that being an "American" didn't make you stand out felt so strange to me. It's reverse culture shock and I simply wasn't ready for it. I big part of me wants to come home, but I know in doing so, I would only regret it later in life for passing on such an amazing opportunity. A lot of people only see the pictures and think about how awesome traveling is. To be honest, yes, traveling is fucking amazing, but what most people don't realize is that it is also very hard to do mentally, physically and emotionally. I look forward to the day that I feel comfortable about coming home, but that day isn't today, and it was hard having to deal with that temptation at the airport.
I did make sure to indulge in some things that I missed about home however like ranch dressing (it's non-existent in almost all countries), American draft beer and Flaming Hot Cheetos. One other observation I had which I found a bit surprising was how impolite and abrupt airline's staff are in America. I never really noticed it while I lived here, I thought it was the norm, but airline's staff in America are very rude when compared to most airline staff overseas. I think a big part of it is that they are simply understaffed. I was watching an attendant from American Airlines helping people figure out how to check in with their automated machines. She was running all over the place, being snappy with people and giving them hasty answers. I couldn't believe it. It probably had to do with the fact that she was the only one to help out like twenty or so people. This was also the same for the on board crew of an American Airlines flight, who once again didn't hold a candle to most flight crews overseas. Being a customer service oriented society, I always thought America would be number one with airline service. This might be true for the backend when you need to get in touch with a representative to change a ticket, refund, etc., but as far as the check in staff and flight crews, definitely not on par with what is offered overseas (where you can also normally get tickets a lot cheaper than what flights in the US cost). I'm not sure why airlines in the United States have turned out like this, but whatever the case, it sucks and hopefully it changes sometime in the future.
Thirty hours after leaving Taiwan I finally landed in Belize City. Going thru immigration the lady at passport control looked thru my passport before stamping it and said "wow, you've been to a lot of places". That actually felt pretty good to hear coming from an immigration official. Getting to Caye Caulker was pretty easy. English is the official language here in Belize with the accent sounding like something out of Jamaica "Yah Mon!" I got a taxi to the Caye Caulker Water Taxi terminal and was soon at Caye Caulker trying to figure out where I was going to stay since making online reservations in Caye Caulker is difficult since most places don't take reservations (or have a website for that matter). I soon found a nice enough place that had a good deal on singles named "Barefoot Caribe" (Barefoot Caribe Hotel Review in Caye Caulker, Belize). I would have checked out the one hostel on the island, but I heard they had a bed bugs problem.
Caye Caulker is probably one of the most chilled out places that I have ever been to. It is a tiny Caribbean island that only has three unpaved roads running thru it. There is a decent tourist infrastructure though with many hotels, bars and restaurants, a couple markets and even an ATM/Bank. The water around the island is exactly how you would picture it in the Caribbean, azure blue and crystal clear. Also, there is a larger island nearby with higher end hotels named "San Pedro" where most of the wealthier tourists go, and because of this, all the touts are on that island (I met plenty when I went there) making Caye Caulker virtually tout free except for the occasional guy trying to sell you weed. It was the perfect, most relaxing atmosphere at Caye Caulker.
The first night I was there I had only planned on eating dinner and downing a bunch of local rum (they have the best rum I've ever had in my life here in Belize called "One Barrel", you can drink it straight like water no problem) since my sleeping schedule was so fucking out of whack that I was going to have to find some way to knock myself out. I should've known better and realized if I was drinking somewhere on a Friday night the chances that I was going to go to bed were slim, and sure enough, soon found myself partying it up with the locals at one of the bars. One thing I noticed was that this has been one of the first places that I have been to that the local guys were picking up on traveling woman with ease. I found that a bit surprising since I had never seen that. By the end of the night, I was pretty hammered, and although I didn't pass out early like I had planned by instead going out, when I went home later on in the night I had no problem sleeping like a baby thanks to all the "One Barrel".
The next couple of days on the island were spent relaxing and snorkeling. Caye Caulker has one of the best reefs to snorkel at in the entire region so I sure as hell wasn't going to pass that up. I would have dived, but unless you are going to the "Blue Hole" (which is too deep for my dive certification anyways) the diving wasn't really that much better (if at all) than the snorkeling. The reef here was pretty amazing. Not as good as the one at Dahab in the Red Sea, but still pretty damn impressive. One cool thing that they had me do was stand at this place called "Ray and Shark Alley" while the dive operator thru bait in the water. No sharks came (normally nurse sharks come which "usually" don't bite) but a crap load of stingrays showed up. I was literally surrounded on all sides by stingrays with many of them brushing up so close to me that I could feel them brush across me as they passed. It was pretty intense at first but the dive operator told me that it was there way of saying "hi" and soon I got used to it.
After a couple days snorkeling, drinking great Rum at night and enjoying the perfect Caribbean weather, I'm getting ready to head out to Guatemala to visit the Mayan ruins of Tikal, considered to be some of the best Mesoamerican ruins in the world. I'm feeling pretty adjusted now to the time difference after coming from Asia which I am pretty stoked about because I thought the adjustment was going to take longer. I had a great time here in Caye Caulker and I hope to come back some day.
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Until next time Asia.
Taiwanese If You Please
12/12/2008 2:41:01 PM - Day 271 - Taipei, Taiwan
Eating the great food and hanging out with the locals at the night markets was my highlight in Taipei.
Taipei, Taiwan (Taipei, Taiwan Review and Travel Information) is my last stop on this leg of my trip thru Asia. Originally, I hadn't planned on coming here but after doing some research on flights to Belize for my coming Central American venture, I saw that all the most inexpensive flights connected in Taipei, so I figured that I might as well spend a couple days there and see what Taipei was all about. I took a cheap flight from Macau to Taipei, caught a bus to the central station in Taipei and from there took a ride on their very efficient subway to my hostel "Chocolate Box Backpackers" (Chocolate Box Backpackers Review in Taipei, Taiwan).
After spending a couple of days in Taipei I have to say that it is very well run, clean and inviting city. I could easily imagine staying here for a couple of months. Also, like most people in the region, the Taiwanese are super friendly. I've heard that it is not at all uncommon for Taiwanese people to approach a foreigner who looks lost to offer their help. The Taiwanese I personally met were all very nice and welcoming. There is also a stronger Western influence here than in some other parts of Asia. You definitely see it in the dress of the younger Taiwanese who seemed to have embraced Western pop culture more so than their older counterparts.
There aren't a ton of sights to check out in Taipei. There are a couple temples that are of significance to the locals as well as a few memorial halls. The biggest attraction is what many consider to be the symbol for the city, "Taipei 101". Until recently, it was the tallest building in the world (recently surpassed by a building in Dubai). I have to say that Taipei 101 was pretty impressive to behold. Staring at it makes one wonder just how the hell mankind was able to build something that massive. I wonder what kind of marvels we'll have created hundreds of years from now. Another thing I noticed around Taipei 101 and some other areas of downtown Taipei was all the Christmas trees that are up. I guess that Christmas is gaining steam in some Asian countries. They look at it more as a day for Santa Claus to bring presents than the birth of Jesus Christ since most of them aren't Christian. I also read that a lot of merchants are pushing the whole Christmas holiday because it is good for sales.
My personal favorite place to spend time at in Taipei was the night markets. You can find all kinds of great food there on the cheap with heaps of Taiwanese culture. One type of food stand I saw commonly was one that would have all kinds of meats, vegetables and dry noodles out on display for people to pick from and place into a basket which they would then hand a cook who would dump them all into boiling hot water for a couple of minutes and nuke the food to perfection. I tried one of these stalls out myself and it was pretty damn good! The night markets were also super crowded because they seem to be really popular with the locals. The truth is, night markets are pretty much common in most of Asia and I always find myself spending a lot of time at them meeting the locals and trying out the great local food.
Now my time in Taipei is coming to a close putting an end to this journey through Asia. Getting into Asia was like a breath of fresh air after leaving Europe. Not so much because I didn't like Europe, more so because I was simply ready for a change in culture, scenery and way of life, and Asia was able to provide on all of those fronts in spades. I've never been to an area like this and can honestly say that each country in Asia provides something different to be discovered. Each place from China to The Philippines, South Korea to Laos, Thailand to Taiwan, they were all different and wonderfully mysterious in their own ways. One thing is the same in all places however which is a love of rice and noodles, and luckily, I love them both myself and had no problem eating variations of the two in each country I went to (although I am looking forward to eating some good bread). I really enjoyed my time I spent here and look forward to coming back sometime in the future. I remember taking the train from Russia into Mongolia and upon exiting the train thinking "welcome to Asia, this is going to be awesome", and now, this time is over. Time always flies, and I can't believe that it is already time for me to move in, but it is a big world out there and I have a lot left to see. That being said, even though I have gotten a little attached to Asia, it is time for me to move on to start my journey in Central America with my first stop being Belize. I'm very excited at the change of pace and culture ahead of me, and besides that, I'm looking forward to finally getting to have some good ole' hot sauce!
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Did the world's highest bugee jump.
Skywalking Macau
12/8/2008 9:51:08 PM - Day 267 - Macau, Macau
"Skywalking" the outer ring of Macau Tower. I was pretty high up!
Macau has been another one of my unscheduled stops on this leg of the trip thanks to the rerouting I had to do because of the Thai protestors closing the airports in Bangkok. Being one of the "Special Administrative Regions" (SAR) of China, Macau is at the core Chinese, yet like Hong Kong (also an SAR) still very unique with a character all of its own thanks to the history of colonization (Macau was actually colonized by Portugal). In fact, Macau was the first and last European colony in Asia, handed back over to China in 1999.
Getting in was easy enough on a discount flight I found from Manila to Macau. The airport in Macau was really nice and I soon found myself in a taxi on the way to my hotel named the "Ole London Hotel" (Ole Londong Hotel Review in Macau). Some observations on Macau that I made right away was that unlike the other SAR Hong Kong (which is quite close to Macau), Macau wasn't unbelievably crowded and hectic. In fact, the city was really pleasant to walk around in not be overly crowded at all. This probably had an effect on the air pollution as well because it wasn't completely smoggy like many other big cities in China.
After being here for a couple of days, I can also say that like China, the people in Macau are very friendly and courteous. Also, I didn't have much of a problem finding English speakers. It seems that Macau is very well equipped for Tourism with a great tourist infrastructure. There are also a ton of Chinese Tourists in Macau because gambling is legal here. It is like the Las Vegas of Asia. Plus, most Chinese people will tell you how much they love to gamble, so you can imagine how packed the casinos are. I made it to one just to play a couple hands and see if I could win some cash. I ended up losing a set amount of money I had planned on losing anyway, but it was fun to go in there and see the atmosphere. The casino was packed with Chinese with the occasional Westerner such as myself.
I'm not much of a gambler and it was the middle of the week so I didn't really plan on going out so I had to find something to keep me busy for the short time I was here. I looked into it while in Manila and set up an outing for something uniquely awesome. One of the highest towers in the world is in Macau aptly named "Macau Tower" and it offers a couple cool activities thru a company named "AJ Hackett Macau". Originally, I wanted to climb to the top of the tower but when I showed up to do it, they told me that it was too windy to climb the tower that day so it wasn't a possibility. I was a bit bummed out at this (seriously, how often do you get to climb to the top of one of the tallest structures in the world) but they told me about a couple other cool activities they had available and I soon forgot all about the tower climb.
At Macau Tower you can walk around the outer ring of the top of the tower on a "Skywalk" while tethered to a pole above you that also circles the tower so you don't fall off. I decided to give that a go and it was a lot of fun. It felt really weird to be able to literally stand with one foot over the edge of this high ass tower with absolutely nothing below you but open air. After that, I was talking to the guys who operated the bungee jump and found out that I was lied to by the guys who run the bungee jump at Bloukran's Bridge in South Africa when they said that there bungee jump was the highest one in the world. It was the highest one in the world, years ago before this bungee jumped opened up (this was confirmed later by Wikipedia). The company over at Bloukran's Bridge Bungee even still has the Guinness World Record certificate up from when they were the highest. I guess you can't blame them, I am sure it is good for business. Up until arriving at Macau Tower, I thought I had done the highest bungee jump in the world, but it turned out that I was mistaken. "Well Shit" I thought, if I am already here, how can I pass on doing the "World's Highest Bungee Jump"? After thinking about it for a minute I signed up and was soon strapped with a bungee cord about to jump into emptiness.
This was my third jump and I can honestly say it was the most electrifying one to date. The free fall lasrs FOREVER!!! I posted a video of the jump below so you can see for yourself. You fall for days. It was pretty intense and I highly recommend giving this jump a shot if you are ever in Macau. A ton of Chinese and Korean tourists come up to the top level where the bungee jump is at for the great view you get of Macau. Whenever a person is about to bungee jump a huge jumble of tourists crowds around to watch and after they jump the entire crowd gasps. It's quite entertaining. Also, everyone that jumps gets to wear this white T-Shirt that is included with the jump saying you did the Macau Tower Bungee Jump. It is a pretty recognizable shirt so after you jump, you have to walk back to the inside of the tower to catch a lift to the top to get your stuff back (wallet, keys, etc) from the locker in the bungee jump office. It's pretty funny because wearing that shirt in the tower turns you into a mini-celebrity and as I was walking back all these Chinese tourists were giving me high fives, shaking my hand and hugging me saying I was a "very brave man". God I love the Chinese!
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Lumpia here is the bomb!
Manila, Philippines
12/6/2008 10:24:41 PM - Day 265 - Manila, Philippines
The sunset over Manila Bay has lived up to all the hype.
Manila (Manila, Philippines Review and Travel Information)has been an interesting city. There is a definite crime and poverty problem here yet at the same time the people have been some of the friendliest that I have met in the entire world. This has been one of the few places that I have been to where someone would say "Hi, good afternoon" and not follow it with a sales pitch, they were simply saying "hi". It was a pretty refreshing surprise.
Getting into the city was easy enough and I was soon settled at my hotel called "Casa Nicarosa" (Casa Nicarosa Review in Manila, Philippines). The city itself seemed a bit rundown and crowded with some of the main streets having crazy backed up traffic. You also see all these old American army jeeps that have been converted into taxis all over the place called "Jeepneys". It is the Filipino answer to a bus. They use the English alphabet here so being able to read signs again and know just where the hell I'm at has been nice.
I checked out some old Spanish architecture (the Philippines at one time were a Spanish colony), an old Spanish fort and the Manila cathedral. They were all somewhat interesting in their own ways. The coolest thing that I saw however was the sunset over Manila Bay. I was reading online that it is considered one of the best spots to see the sunset and I have to agree. I also got some great Filipino food here at some of the local cafeterias and have to say that it was delicious and really, really affordable.
There was also a huge gun battle here between an armed gang of robbers and the police. The gang was equipped with machine guns and grenade launchers so it was a pretty intense battle. Luckily for me it was in another part of the city so I wasn't affected by it. It seems that guns are pretty prevalent here in Manila. Tomorrow I fly out to Macau. I got some cool stuff planned for my stay there and like always I'll keep you all posted!
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Damn beer is expensive here!
Singapore is Clean
12/3/2008 6:32:11 PM - Day 262 - Singapore, Singapore
If Singapore is known for anything, it is their great food.
I remember reading an article about Singapore (Singapore Review and Travel Information) before I left on this trip talking about how it was one of the strictest countries on the planet (they cane you if you overstay your 90 day visa). I also read about how they recently hung a young Australian for trying to traffic Marijuana. "Fuck" I thought. That seemed like one crazy ass country and at the time I naively thought that possibly some crooked cop would plant something on me and I would get screwed over somehow with all the crazy laws in Singapore. I told that to some Singaporeans I met in Cinque Terre, Italy and they only laughed saying that wouldn't happen in a million years. I learned more about Singapore and found out that it is one of the most developed countries in Asia and that crime there is extremely low. With my ignorance long lifted and the need to get the hell out of Thailand thanks to the airport closure in Bangkok, I caught a flight to Singapore and was soon at my hostel named "G4 Station" (G4 Station Review in Singapore).
Singapore definitely has a great infrastructure. Everything is clean, nobody J-Walks and you never get bothered on the streets (I read that begging in Singapore is illegal). Also, the people here are pretty friendly, educated and most speak great English (for a lot of younger Singaporeans it is a first language). Singapore is a super small place though so there isn't much to do. I'm sure that a local would tell you different, but to the average tourist such as myself, the sights aren't really worth checking out and because of the high tax on beer, going out is way too expensive. I did get a chance to sample something else that Singapore is famous for which is their food. You can find a lot of awesome food here at great prices so I did plenty of eating!
Not really knowing what to do, I walked around the city a bit, sweated my ass off doing so because Singapore is practically on the equator, and just soaked in the atmosphere and relaxed. I've also had to do some major trip restructuring thanks to the debacle in Thailand and the change of plans from originally flying to Taiwan from Bangkok thanks to the protestors in Thailand closing the Airports in Bangkok. To get to Taiwan from Singapore I would have to catch a connecting flight in the Philippines. Philippines huh? Well shit, if I have to catch a connecting flight there I might as well check the place out. Therefore, now I am headed to the Philippines. From the Philippines there are super cheap flights to Macau, which then have super cheap flights to Taiwan. Now it looks like I am going to Macau, and just like that, two most destinations were added to my itinerary. I never planned on going to any of these places, but since I had to fly threw them (cheapest price on tickets with connecting flights) I figured I might as well spend a couple days at each to see what the area was like.
The new plan is to fly from here to Manila in the Philippines, then to Macau in China and finally to Taipei, Taiwan. With the new destinations in Asia added I am going to have to shorten some spots of the next leg of my trip in Central America which I honestly don't mind too much. I didn't really have too much planned for Central America besides hanging out on the beach so if I had to cut that down a bit, then so be it. Now I'll get to see a bit more of Asia which I have been enjoying a ton up to this point. It seems that the airport closure in Bangkok has worked out for the best.
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Koh Samui is Ground Zero for Sex Tourism
Almost Stranded in Koh Samui
12/1/2008 5:41:11 PM - Day 260 - Koh Samui, Thailand
Camp is now in session!
Having heard so much about the islands of Thailand, I decided to hit up Koh Samui after my visit to Phuket. Flying in was easy enough since there are some discount flights between the two cities. I remember walking into a chaotic scene however in Phuket's Airport thanks to the airport closure in Bangkok due to anti-government protestors storming the airport in Bangkok and shutting it down. Phuket was the next most well connected international airport in the country and as such, a ton of people were there trying to get flights out of Thailand from there.
The airport in Koh Samui was really, really nice and they even had a good shuttle service for a great price that would take you directly to your hotel (there are close to zero hostels in Koh Samui). I ended up staying at a place called "Laem Din Hotel" (Laem Din Hotel Review in Koh Samui, Thailand) which turned out to be a pretty decent place. Once again the plan was to hangout on the beach, get some sun and relax, and once again my hopes were washed out by inclement, rainy and overcast weather. To be honest though, the beach in Chaweng isn't very nice. You only have a couple of feet of sand and there are a ton of touts who come up to you every couple of minutes, which normally isn't that big of a deal but because there isn't a lot of sand to hangout on you constantly have people walking almost directly on top of you.
I also made the mistake again of staying at the main beach in a super touristy island of Thailand (next time I visit Thailand, I'm hitting up some of the smaller beaches). A lot of the restaurants here were pretty expensive (more so than in Phuket). Also, Koh Samui seems to be ground zero for sex tourism. I have never seen so many hookers in my life! I ended up heading out with a cool American guy named Chris who was in Koh Samui and who I had actually partied with one night at my last hostel in Bangkok. We hit up the town and heard the best bar on the island is a place called "Reggae Bar". There is only one road that leads to Reggae Bar and all along this road are a ton of bars. There must be like about 20 of them. I walked by them during the daytime and they seemed to be innocent enough. However, when Chris and I walked by at night it was like walking the hooker's gauntlet! Each bar had large groups of Thai girls offering "services" to tourist who walked by with catcalls and gestures to come in. I guess a lot of tourists with money come here because of the expensive infrastructure and with many of them being on sex tourism (people looking for hookers and the like) a ton of hookers are now in the area. Therefore, as we passed each one of these bars there were huge groups of girls yelling at us and trying to get us to come join them for some "fun". Normally, this would be a big boost to the ego, but when it is being done by a bunch of hookers it was only good for a laugh as we hurried past. Times like this having a girl on your arm is a huge plus because the hookers never yelled at guys that I saw with a girlfriend/wife on their arm. After walking the gauntlet we made it to the legit bars (one was called "Camp Beer" which has to be one of the best names ever) and had a blast. Reggae Bar was surprisingly a really nice and huge dance club. The end of the night had a bit of drama though because literally a second after we finished crossing a street a person buzzed behind us on a scooter around the corner and ran directly into another person on a scooter maybe three feet away from us. They had to call in the ambulance but it seemed to be that everyone was ok.
Because of the crappy weather, I was somewhat limited in my options as to what I could do on this small island. Once again, like Phuket I made sure to sample a lot of the local food (which here at Chaweng Beach in Koh Samui can be really expensive), talk to some of the locals and get some work done. A good deal of my time was also spent planning the next step of my trip.
As of writing this the protestors at the airport in Bangkok have been there for almost a week and it seems that the government is powerless to get rid of them and as long as they are there, that airport is shut down. I had originally planned on flying from Bangkok to Taipei, Taiwan, but now I had to figure things out because that is no longer an option. After a lot of research and headache, it looked as if I was going to be stranded in Koh Samui (I can think of worse places) for another week at which point I would have to fly to Hong Kong to catch a connecting flight to Taipei. This plan was going to cost me a fortune and you can guess how pissed I was about the situation at that point. Right before I was about to buy the ticket (tickets out of the country from any open airports are in high demand right now and are selling like hot cakes) I had a stroke of luck and found a seat on an added flight to Singapore from here in Koh Samui at a reasonable price. I hadn't planned on visiting Singapore, but as fate would have it, it looks like that is going to be my next stop and since I'm going to be headed there I figured I might as well spend a couple days there to see what the place is like.
Someone getting tempted by a working girl in Koh Samui. Will he go for it? Check out the video to find out, it's super short.
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