You are where?

OK, So I have an hour and a good connection….

surfpoland — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 07:34:59 +0000

I have lost track of days when things happend so I am just going to write a stream of conciousness reflection on what I did for the last several days….I know oday is Saturday, July 16 and I am lounging by the pool of a super posh hotel ($40/night-normally $200+ in hgh season) that I am staying in for a few days before moving into the guest house down the street.

I guess I could go backwards from here. Before coming to seim Reap I rode from Phnom Penh to the town of Chaampang Thom whih is half way between SR and PP. A good place for a break- the bike doesnt like too much more than 150KM at a time. Not much in the town, a decent hotel ($8 room with a fan) and the “American restaurant” down the street was okay. It is nice to visit the markets in these non-tourist towns as you are not accosted every step by people selling you things, sure you pay more beacuse you are a foreigner, but not as much more. I am on my own now as my riding buddy (Lucy) has gone on to Vietnam with her bike.

everywhere we go on the bikes we got these looks of disbelief by the people who just wathced these crazy white people fly by on ancient, loud, dirty bikes. In every thwon the tuk tuk, and moto drivers would converge on the bikes and talk about how mcuh they were big piles of shit, but ineventalby they would take turns sitting on them and doing their best Brando or James dean impression. Most bikes here are more scooter like, but mine (baby) looks like a real motorcycle. thats why they love it. also there just aren’t alot (read ANY) other people doing what we are doing doing- in vietnam lots of people take bikes around but no so much here. So Chaampong Thom was Thursday night.

Before heading north I spent two more nights in PP taking care of a few things, like getting a new transmission for the bike and plotting my course north . I was hanging out with some people I met along the way which is nice, we tend to end up in the same places.

I dont have too mcuh to say about the days in PP other than the city is not bad, but I think I ilke Saigon better.

Before PP we were in the beachside town of Sihanoukvile for 3 nights. The town reminded me a lot of Rosarito beach during spring break. It is pretty much a party town for wandering european/australian/south african kids. We stayed the first night at the seculed Otres beach- nice and peaceful, far away from the crowds. I rented a bungalow at Mushroom Point Bungalows. ($15 for a private bungalow with bathroom an fan). It was a great place to just chill. Mushroom point was run by a Slovianian Hippy couple and had good food for reasonable prices…and the the greatest lime and mint smoothie I have ever tasted. the second day was pretty ugly weather, but none the less we boarded a boat to Koh Island, a 3 hour ride through very choppy seas. The island is huge- the size of hong kong, but only has three tiny “resorts” on it. I checked into my very basic bungalow and proceded to relax some more- a theme on this trip. It raind a little, but hte water was nice. The next day was beautiful and I had the whole day to just chill some more as the boat back to town left at 4. stayed in town that noght and got on the raod to PP early the following morning.

times up, I am off to catch the sunset at Angkor Wat….

In Siem Reap for a couple of weeks

surfpoland — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 14:48:43 +0000

Much had happened since my last post, nothing bad just a few adventures. I will fill in the details later but they include a trip to a virtually deserted island, rosarito beach in Cambodia, 1000km on the bike, a new transmission for said bike and some neat travel buddies. I still can’t post pictures from this fucking phone, but will get some uploaded soon.

Some Pictures- finally!

surfpoland — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 09:19:22 +0000

The Bike! "Baby" is the name given by Roel, the guy I bought it from.

Kampot Sunset

Sunset in Kampot 2

S-21: School turned Khmer Rouge prison turned museum

Monks in primary colors

Still alive! Still in Cambodia!

surfpoland — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 05:29:46 +0000

Been pretty busy doing nothing the last few days to catch up the ol’ blog, but I am now sitting on the very secluded otres beach outside the town of sinoukville on the southwest coast.

Just came from a few days in the towns of Kep (best crab in the world!) and Kampot, with some adventures in between the two.
I’ll try to put some pictures up tonight, can’t seen to upload them from the phone.

Phnom Penh

surfpoland — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 09:58:05 +0000

It’s been a few days and I finally got some time to sit and do a little catching up.
Let’s see….it went to the chu cu tunnels near Saigon, these were used by the viet cong during the war. Kind of a surreal place now complete with swimming “pleasure center”, paintball area, and a shooting range. The shooting range was the strangest part, as you walked through the jungle you could hear gunfire in the distance, kind of made a little more real. At the end we saw the greatest (read that as cheesiest) propaganda film ever made- I bought it for classes.

Back to Saigon for dinner and packing…. Early morning departure for phnom penh.

Completely uneventful 6 hour bus ride to phnom penh. Really nothing to report there.

I arrived in PP got a tuc tuc to the hotel and checked in around 4.

I’ll be traveling the next few days with an English woman who I met on the lonely planet discussion boards. She was looking at basically the dame trip as me so we ate going to head out together for a few days. We had arranged to buy some totally awesome Minsk 125cc motorcycles from some Dutch guys who were leaving town on the 5th. They bought the bikes in Vietnam and had been using them for the past month or so- the lonely planet discussion boards are great for getting motor bikes in se Asia!

Saigon

surfpoland — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 09:38:17 +0000

Almost didn’t make it to Saigon yesterday as the flight the previous day was cancelled and everyone was put on the Friday flight. About 40 mon before take off they let me know I had a good chance of making the flight and I rushed through immigration and security and made it just as boarding began. Even got business class.
Uneventful, albeit comfortable 2 hour flight to Saigon. The city was kind of dead for a Friday night when I arrived. Hotel already had it’s shutters pulled down by 11 o’clock, I dont remember them closing down so early last time.

Slept in again, booked my bus to phnom penh and tour for tomorrow and was off to go explore a little. This is a rather crazy city, I’ve got a decent feel for it but would be totally lost with one slight wrong turn. Fortunately there are scooter drivers everywhere offering to give you a lift for pennies.

I walked to the ban thanh market and wad accosted by hawkers of all sorts of wares. From there it was a short stroll to the city hall and Ho chi Minh statue.
Back to the market to buy some snacks for the road tomorrow and then to get some lunch at pho 2000.
It started to rain about 2pm and I now waiting it out with some coffee.

Hong Kong/Macau

surfpoland — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 05:08:06 +0000

Arrrgggghhh I hate technology some times. Didn’t save so lost first post.

Highlights of first few days….

Uneventful flight- other than 2 hour delay…
Hong kong is just so great. Bustling city, good food, lots to see and do- but I Kia parky wandered around taking it all in.
I ate at a place recommended by the bizarre foods guy on the travel channel- manor restaurant in causeway bay- the area where i am staying. Noodles were so-so nothing to wrote home about- I am doing that anyway, but the gold coin chicken… Wow awesome. They are some BBQ pork- just that alone is good enough for me- a little pork fat and chicken liver sandwiches. They just melted in your mouth, so freaking good.
I trying to attach pics.

Day 2 involved sleeping in, breakfast at this great little cafe by the hotel (18 grams) and a trip to Macau.

Macau is the vegas of Asia they say, and I guess they are right. I took a private tour of the sights- mostly old Portuguese stuff- see picture of me and Matteo Ricci, an then checked put the casinos and donated $10 to the MGM grand Macau.

Ferry back to hong kong and to bed.

Today (Friday I think) I slept in again, checked out and am now sitting in the hong kong museum of art where it is air conditioned and there is free wifi. It is hot and humid and rains a little every day. I am off tonight to Saigon and will have to post then .

Off Again…Back to SE Asia

surfpoland — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 05:33:04 +0000

Here is the basic plan for my trip, the longest ever.

Depart 6/28 United 6625 Carlsbad to LAX 5:45AM

United 250 LAX to SFO 7:48 AM

United 869 SFO to Hong Kong 1:23 PM

Hong Kong 6/29-7/1 Alisan Guest House http://home.hkstar.com/~alisangh/ (anybody going to Hong Kong should check this place out, a great budget hotel)

7/1 United 869 Hong Kong to Saigon (HCMC) Depart 8:00

Saigon 7/1-7/4 Madame Cuc 127 Hotel http://www.madamcuchotels.com/hotel/components/index2.php?act=main&task=main_show

7/4 Bus to Phnom Penh

7/4-7/7 Phnom Penh Hotel California 2 http://www.cafecaliforniaphnompenh.com/

From there it is on the road until July 17 when i will be at the Seven Candles Guest House (http://www.sevencandlesguesthouse.com/) in Seim Reap where I will stay for 2 weeks.

I will be Back in Saigon by August 7 for the 5:50AM (United 852) flight back to Hong Kong and then depart Hong Kong on August 7 (United 862) for SFO then back to San Diego on a Southwest flight I cant find the infor for right now.

I intend to update this blog a little more regularly than in the past, assuming that I will have soem internet access along the way….

This is the motorbike I am buying from these folks. A Soviet Era Minsk 125!!!!

Halong Bay and Sapa…. More pics

surfpoland — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 11:44:13 +0000

Here are some pics from my random side trips to two of the most stunning places in Vietnam

Halong bay:

And Sapa

Cricket, its whats for dinner

surfpoland — Sun, 26 Dec 2010 14:39:52 +0000

So when I arrived In seim reap I went get some lunch at a cheap tourist place near the market. Although the menu had some interesting local dishes, I played it safe and went for spring rolls and fried noodles with pork- the local staple. I felt pretty guilty that I was in a new place and was not trying new things, so for dinner I sought out a place with lots of locals and no foreigners. I found soup 89 not far from the hotel but in the opposite direction of the tourist area. The menu as you can guess was soup, served hot pot style, with a variety of things in it, most notably cow breast (?) and ox penis. I went for the most expensive thing on the menu ($4), the “special soup”. I was brought out a selection of unrecognizable meats (ox penis?) a single gas burner with a bubbling cauldron on top, the girls working at the restaurant got me started and I was off. The soup was good and I was glad to gave no idea what I was eating.
Fast forward to Saigon Xmas night. I met a Vietnamese-American guy on the plane who was flying to Hanoi to meet his girlfriend who was coming from Japan, where he teaches English.
It was his first trip to Vietnam too. They didn’t have a hotel yet so we shared a cab to my hotel and decided to hit the streets looking for street food. We had some soup-the best do far, grilled/dried squid, and melon with chile powder. For 3 of us to eat with beers-$10.
Tonight I went all out a local bistro/fusion
Place had great reviews so I went to check it out. I ordered the fried crickets with lemon and spicy buffalo. (pics are below) the crickets don’t really taste like anything, just crunch and sometimes some goo inside. The buffalo was decent- a little tough. Total for fancy dinner with a glass of local conac -$7… I will someday get mow posted.