Sir BarfsAlot Strikes Again

Bangkok
April 30, 2009
8:04pm

So this is my last night in Bangkok. It was only a short stay. Its unfortunate because this seems to be a pretty fun town. Last night we went out and drank until 2am. All the while we were trying new things like eating maggots, Thai whiskey, and trying to keep the hookers at bay. Since I didn't sleep much last night I am debating on whether I should go to the Ping Pong show tonight. If you havn't seen or heard about the ping pong show it is basically women who have superior control over their vagina and shoot things out of it. I found a picture on the internet that tells about the tricks they do. So I may go and do that. I don't know why I shouldn't. Just a bit tired right now.



On another note, a funny thing happened when we were in Siem Reap that I forgot to mention. We had decided as a group that we wanted a bit of luxury for one night so we went to the five star hotel that was opposite ours. They had an Irish bar in the basement of the hotel. This was a really nice bar. It made me think of a nice cigar bar or something in New York.

So we were the only people in the bar and thought that it would be a great idea to play some drinking games with the billiard table, it was happy hour after all. We split into teams and started betting on our shots and drinking for misses. This is the kind of game that you can drink a good bit in a very short period of time. We split into teams and I was paired up with Sven-Michaels (aka Sir Michaels aka Sir BarfsAlot). He is a skinny dude and cant drink that much but he was able to keep up through the fourth picture of beer until it happened. He burped and then barfed into his hand. What came next was nothing short of a flood of beer. He began covering the table with enough barf to fill two buckets. Then the barf started to cascade down to the floor on the nice carpet. The whole time he was doing this we were scrambling away to the other side of the bar. When we got there we sat down and continued to watch him keep barfing. I have to say that this was one of the funniest things that I have ever seen in my entire life. The best part about it was that when we was done he wanted to leave immediately and tried to hand me tab money with his barf covered hands. I had to make him go clean his hands up. Absolutely disgusting but priceless.

And so to move on to the trip, we leave tomorrow morning at 8:30 in the morning to visit some bring and tunnel. After that we board a night train (which has a disco traincar with all night partys and dancing, which I guess I will have to update on that later :-) The train will take about 13 hours and then we have another 4 hours drive to get to Ko Pha Ngang. This is a nice beach resort island where we will stay for two days. I am hoping to get some nice diving in while I am there. It will be a very long day. I hope that I am ready for it. Especially if I stay out all night at the ping pong show.

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Palaces, Torture, Killing Fields, Temples, Angkor Wat, Fun

Siem Reap, Cambodia
April 29th, 2009
7:00 am

Wow! I haven't posted for three days it seems. Lame, I know. I have been very busy though. I am leaving in an hour for a 10 hour bus trip to Bangkok, Thailand and don''t have much time to talk about the things I have seen but here are some pictures I have to show in the mean time.

Another Day to Help me Realize how shitty poeple can be

Phnom Penh
April 25, 2009
7:43 pm

SO first of all just to let everyone know we leave for Siem Real tomorrow for a five hour drive. While we are there we will be visiting Ankor Wat, which is a highlight of Cambodia. I am so excited about that.

Today we had a very busy day. Left the hotel at about 8am and went about visiting the Kings Palace, a high school that they converted to a torture facility for about 17000 people, which only 12 people servived from. The most somber part of the day was seeing the killing fields where Thousands upn thousands of people died. A very strange place. They excavated all of the skulls and put those in a tomb that you can visit. The rest of the bones are still there and scattered all about the area. And I mean all about. As you walk around you are stepping on teeth and leg bones sticking out of the ground. It was hard to get through. The absolute hardest part was the killing tree that they used to smash childrens skulls against to kill them. I believe a couple thousand of children died like that. I hope that I never see anything like that again but I was glad to see it. It really puts life into perspective and lets you know the worst of humanity instead of only seeing the best such as temples and museums.

Its hard to post pictures right now but I will try and get some of those out as soon as possible. My best to everyone.

Hot Hot Hot

Phnom Penh, Cambodia
April 24, 2009
4:32 pm

Its been a long day today. We left Saigon at 5:00am on a bus to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The heat here is incredible. I want to melt as soon as I step outside. Luckily, right now, it raining and hopefully it will cool things off a bit. A couple of people left our tour yesterday and we have picked up a new girl from Germany. I am enjoying the smaller group size. It gives us a chance to hangout and interact more.

I have to say that I was a little dissapointed in Saigon. It is really just like any other city in Vietnam just a bit bigger. For that reason, I didn't do much yesterday except go for a message and my first manicure and pedicure. Yeah I know, I got a manicure and pedicure but I have to admit it was not as girly as i thought it would be. Really it is just an easy way to do your nails without actually having to do them yourself, which I liked. And believe me, I gave that girl a run for her money :-). All in all Vietnam was ok but not a country that I would ever go back to. I actually did not think that it had that much to offer. I mean there were some interesting things to see but once you see them it gets old to see the same thing again in another city. I am glad to be moving on and in Cambodia now.

Tomorrow we are going to see the killing fields and the mass graves from the tradgedy that happened during the Camern Rouge regeime. It should be interesting but I am expecting it to be very somber just like it was visiting the concentration camps in Germany. After that we are heading to Siem Reap and going to see Ankor Wat, which I hear from everyone is absolutely amazing. So far I am happy to be in Cambodia and although the city is similiar to the Vietnamese cities I can see changes that I appreciate, such as stop lights. This is surprising since Cambodia is a third world country and Vietnam is supposed to be far ahead.

My overall experience has been great thus far. I am meeting amazing people from all around the world and making many new friends. I still feel as though I could do this traveling bit forever. The two people I get along with the best are Charlie and Kate. Charlie is a cool Brit that studied to be a vet. He is a divemaster and will be heading to Africa to work with lions after this trip. Kate is a cool Chick from Chicago that works in Jewlery. Right now she is on the fifth month of an eight month trip around the world.

Otherwise I am doing well and in great spirits. I hope to tell you more about the sights in Cambodia as soon as they come.

Rat Tastes Good 4

Rat Tastes Good 3

Rat Tastes Good 2

Rat Tastes Good

Yup you heard right. I just got back from our homestay in the Mekong Delta. While I was there we endured torrential rain, crazy hot temperatures, mosquitos, and strange food. Our local tour guide mentioned that we could get Ricemouse to eat. A few of us were interested and asked them to prepare it. As it turns out, Ricemouse is actually a 3 pound Ricerat. They marinated it for a couple of hours and then we had a bar b que. And I have to say that Rat is actually really good. It is a mix between chicken and pork tastes with a consistency like chicken but a bit more bony. We ate and drank ricewine with the owner and loved every minute (see pictures). Im glad I had the chance to try rat. Hopefully I will get some more strange foods as I travel throughout Thailand and Malaysia. Otherwise we had a great time riding up and dow the river and checking out local businesses such as brick builders, candy makers, and a rice husking plant. O and I also got to hold a gigantic Python (also see pictures). I am a little tired and sweated out from the trip so I am just going to upload some pictures and videos for everyone to enjoy. Peace

Saigon, AKA Ho Chi Minh City

After we left Nha Trang last night we had a 6 hour overnight train to Saigon. We arrived at 4:30am and went to the Hotel to drop our luggage off. A short breakfast later and we were off to the Cuchi Tunnels just outside of the city. This was a pretty interesting trip. The Cuchi tunnels were what were dug out by the Vietnamese during the war to elude the US forces. While we were there we were able to go down into the tunnel and experience it. Funny that they actually dugout the tunnel more so that westerners were able to fit into them. I didn't do the whole 100 meters of the trip. I had to get out early because they were just way to small for a guy like me and they were crazy hot. I did enjoy the history and seeing the B52 bomb craters. The highlight of the trip, however, was getting to shoot an AK-47 with live ammo. Crazy Cool. We leave early tomorrow morning for the Mekong delta where we are going for an overnight homestay. Because of that I wont post tomorrow but as soon as I get back to tell everyone all about. I hope everyone is doing well.
Peace

Ouch

Some more pictures

Some Pictures

Same Same But Different

Nha Trang
April 19, 2009
8:30 am

Two days ago I was sitting on the back of a dive boat with my wet suit around my waste, I had just finished my last dive for my PADI certification. The boat was rocking gently, the sea a glowing blueish green, and green mountains jetting out of the water. I tilter my head down from the sun and the cool breeze and glanced at my diving compass. I was facing north. I adjusted myself and found the direction of home, some 8,000 miles away. I could see fishermen in the distance. In that direction, I thought, was home and family, friends, love, and familiarity. In that direction was me or what was supposed to be me. All I could think, however, was that I have never felt more at home here. By `here` I mean traveling. I miss my loved ones but something tells me in my heart that this is the way for me to live. That this is who I am. And all I can think of this morning is something an expat from texas said to me last night, `Fortune favors the bold`.

We arrived in Nha trang yesterday from whale island. The very first thing that Charlie, Kate, and I did was to go and get some different food besides rice, fish, and noodles. Nicely we found a restuarant right next to our hotel called TEXAS. And you may have guessed it that it is a Texas steakhouse. The owner is from Fort Worth and imports all of his beef from the USA. We had steak and chicken wings and apple cobbler and Holy Crap it was awesome. I know that I am supposed to be overseas and experiencing different cultures and food but sometimes a little piece of home is the best pick me up. I will do some exploring today of this nice beach town. Later I am going to get a haircut which I have decided will be a MowHawk. That should be interesting and I will post some pictures of that soon. Then at 9:00pm tonight we hop an overnight train for Siagon, or Ho Chi Minh City. That will be our last stop in Vietnam before Cambodia.

Peace

Cobra Wine, Diarrhea, Blisters, Sun, Swimming, Diving and Happiness.

Whale Island
April 17, 2009
1:30pm

I havn't posted for a few days but that is because I have been so busy. I am glad to say that I am now officially a certified PADI Scuba Diver. I think that I have discovered a new love and hobby. We did many dives around beautiful coral and finished my last two today with 18 meter dives. When I come back to Houston I am going to definitely pursue this even more. Thank God I am only like 3 hours away from every Island in the Caribbean. I had a great instructor named Emma who worked with me this week and taught me all that I needed to know. Luckily there has been no sun burn over the past few days in whale island. When I got back from the dive today I met the rest of my group having lunch on the side of teh beach. There they congratulated me and handed me a small bottle Cobra wine. I then proceeded to drink it (I have pictures) and then gag like crazy. Surprisingly cobra wine tastes just like nasty snake. It was worth the picture I tell you. Right now I am tanned and happy, despite a mild case of travelers diarrhea:-(. I have so many details to talk about but I am going to wait until I have pictures to post with it until I add more. For now, I am happy as pig shit and loving every minute of our trip. O and I am ok and alive. Talk to you soon.

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