Chang Mai - "Elephant City"

After the beaches I wanted to end my trip (I know, already, right? Haha) in Northern Thailand. Chang Mai is a formerly walled city with a river moat and has easy access to hills and jungles in the north. The location was a perfect base for more adventures, including a day at an elephant farm (I got to feed and bathe elephants that were rescued from street begging, land mine accidents or abusive owners); a 2-day jungle trek to visit local villagers who live in the mountains and return via river rafting and bamboo floating; and finally more rock climbing!

While I write this from the Bangkok airport, I can’t believe that my trip is already over, but at the same time I am excited to go home and have tacos, hamburgers, Texas BBQ, water from a faucet (it does pain me to go through so many plastic bottles per day), a wardrobe with more than 7 shirts, 3 shorts and 2 shoes to choose from (or as my dad would say, “2 choose to choose from”) and of course my friends and family whom I missed dearly.

I am also extremely grateful for the opportunity (I kept telling myself, when else in life will I have time, money and no commitments), for the hospitality of host countrymen/fellow travelers/locals/new friends and for a better understanding of different cultures and traditions. The world sometimes truly feels small yet so vast at other times. Seeing different perspectives and different ways of life increases my curiosity for learning and at the same time my gratitude for the opportunities I have had in life. I encourage everyone to step outside of your comfort zone and learn to put faith in humanity so that you too can be rewarded by the knowledge that people from all over the world can be open, helpful, friendly and genuine. And when you meet travelers you’ll remember what it felt like to be helped out and maybe you’ll extend a hand to the person who looks lost on the street or asks you for advice.

I hope you enjoyed the blog and if you ever need travel advice for Brasil, Argentina, South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia or Thailand (that was a mouthful!) please feel free to ask me. Of course I have a ton of photos too so I’ll try to organize them and find a way to share them with you.

Safe travels.

Phuket, just relax

Phuket was so safe that it made Bangkok seem like it was in a different country. I joked with locals if one was wearing a red shirt and they loved it.

Phuket was way more expensive than Bangkok but the beach was amazing (Le Meridien had its very own private beach and was full of day activities like kayaking, soccer, tennis, basketball, pool sports, wall climbing, etc.). The nightlife in Patong was a bit too young/commercialized with throngs of lady-boys, sex shows and young drunk Aussies. But Phuket was also a great launching point for getting to the southern islands and that was next on the trip.

First stop was Don Phi Phi (said like “Pee Pee”) which was destroyed by the tsunami a few years ago and totally rebuilt…although I wish they were a bit smarter about the redevelopment because the place, while beautiful with mountains and oceans, was just too overrun and too cheesy. Highlights were me jumping rope a rope on fire (I have the video to prove it!), eating amazing curry dishes at Papaya (where the cats hang out in the fridge to keep cool), watching sunset from the highest point of the island and the day trips.

Day trips included an early morning journey to Maya Beach where the movie “The Beach” starring Leonardo DiCaprio was filmed. We successfully avoided the crowds to enjoy one of the most spectacular beaches in the world. Then we went snorkeling to see some fantastic coral reef and an impressive array of fish. The next day we did another boat trip to check out Monkey Beach, the Viking Caves and of course more snorkeling and beach time.

Then I was dying to try some rock climbing after successfully negotiating the climbing wall at the hotel. Railay, another island, is known as a climbers’ paradise and it did not disappoint. Since it was slow season, the Canadian girls that I met in Cambodia and I had a private climbing session and did some really cool climbs just on the beach. It was one of the biggest thrills and I can honestly say I’m addicted!

Bangkok Is Burning

My one-night stand in Bangkok could not have been better timed. When I arrived things had been relatively peaceful and quiet as the red shirts were in agreement with the current government in support of new elections. The hotel owner gave me some tips of areas to avoid but convinced me that the city was safe. I wondered quite a bit and I must say that I had a strange feeling looking into the eyes of the military officials there. It just felt odd…like they were in a war. Their eyes gave away an intensity and impending doom that I hadn’t seen before in soldier’s eyes. I actually felt uncomfortable and retired to my hotel room that night knowing that I had a flight the next day.

I spent some time on the skytrain which was amazing – clean, easy to navigate, cheap and fast. And of course the street food was amazing and super-cheap. Pad thai, green curries, red curries, fried noodles, noodle soup…everything was so tasty and spicy.

As luck would have it, my feelings had some validity. The day I left for Phuket the riots started as the military used physical force to move the protestors. The next few headlines in the paper were “Bangok at War,” “Bangkok is Burning,” and “Civil Unrest.” I was very grateful to not have been there during that time.

Cambodia Random Musings

OK…on to the part where I digest what I’ve seen and experienced. For Cambodia (and some of these hold true for other SE Asian countries as well):

1. Cambodians love white skin. In fact, it’s such an obsession that they (a) constantly complement white travelers on how beautiful their skin (I’m too dark now to get that but I see it all the time); (b) completely avoid the sun – now this gets ridiculous at times when it is 100 degrees outside and locals are wearing long sleeve shirts (I’ve even seen a turtleneck!), hats, pants and sometimes even umbrellas and gloves; (c) generously apply “whitening cream” which is available as a lotion, as part of the sunscreen (huh?) or even face wash. For them, white is beautiful and tans/brown skin is not. Such a shame because most of use would die to have their mocha colored skin tone.

2. Not sure if this one is related, but it cracked me up…women during the day are dressed in full-on pajamas – like the set you had as a kid with a matching top and pants with some sort of funky little design. I guess it’s all about comfort before fashion in Cambodia.

3. And speaking of comfort, you also see scores of butt naked children running around in the streets – I guess it makes sense considering they will outgrow clothes so quickly and the parents probably can’t afford to spend so much on clothing (it tends to be the poorer kids who are naked of course).

4. Another strange custom was that many males have long fingernails. When we asked one about his nails, he said it was for scratching and cleaning out his ear/nose. But given the widespread drug use I’m not convinced it doesn’t have an alternative use.

5. I might have alluded to this one in another posting, but speaking of alternative uses, the river is also a toilet. At our rest stop on the 9 hour boat from hell, we had a chance to use the toilet. When you open the door you realize it is literally a wooden floor with a hole in the middle that leads straight to the river. I definitely didn’t go for any food at that rest stop.

6. Finally, if you thought having a Lexus in a developing country isn’t flashy enough then you must be Cambodian because on the sides of all the high-end cars are huge labels saying the brand. I guess the owners truly are proud people.

Ankor What?

Actually it’s called Ankor Wat (Wat means “temple” and Ankor means “city”), but there was a great bar in town named Ankor What? Many bars/restaurants are plays on the English language and it has been a hoot reading their English (one of my favs: “Please don’t flush foreign bodies in the toilet”). Ankor Wat is a must-see as it houses an array of impressive temples, buildings, paintings and carvings of Hinduism. The story of Ankor Wat is almost as disturbing as Cambodia’s past as many raids have ruined the statutes and all the jewels have been stolen. The place however still exudes otherworldly feelings and it truly deserves its standing as one of the 7 manmade wonders of the world.

Siem Reap is the city closest to Ankor Wat and it was so much more relaxing than Phnom Penh – and not just because of the readily available $5 massages (I had a massage by a blind woman too and it was great), but just way less urban and a centralized location (called Pub Street of course) for foreigners to kick back. I made the trip with my new Mexican friend Benjamin whom I met at our cinco de mayo party in PP and we met a bunch of cool Canadians (I later traveled with 2 of them thru Thailand).

I decided to make the next leg of trip by myself though and I still regret it. They offered a boat from Siem Reap to Battambang, on the way to Bangkok. The boat was crowded, hot, totally uncomfortable and lasted 8.5 hours! Although the water life was interesting to see (houses, shops and schools along the river), it was painfully slow and the river was extremely dirty (even though that didn't stop locals from bathing, drinking and washing their dishes in it). At some point we even had to get out of the boat and push it because the water was too low for the engine. So painful…and I completely wasted an entire day because I was dead by the time I got to Battambang and the next morning I headed out to Bangkok. Now I need another $5 massage!

Phnom Penh: Guns, Ganja and Girls

This is literally the title of a book that I picked up while here – and a surprisingly fitting title for a book about PP. I was blown away by my first step in Cambodia – a fully developed urban grind with more than its fair share of taxi, tuk-tuk (motorcycle with an attached cabin for passengers) and cyclo (a pedal bike with 2 comfortable seats for passengers) drivers yearning to take visitors to the Killing Fields and the Firing Range. I’ll get to these soon.

First of all I arrive on May 5th, better known to many as Cinco de Mayo – the celebration of Mexico winning the battle at Puebla and popularized by gringos especially in border states (Cali, Texas, etc.). Since I was staying at “Hotel California” in PP, I arrived to a full-on party at my hotel’s bar. When presented with margaritas and carnitas with beans and rice I was more than happy to join in the fun. The night progressed to a smattering of local bars and my oh my did I see more hookers than I ever have in my life. That explains the “Girls” part of the book – apparently prostitution runs rampant in PP and is inexpensive and virtually legal.

The next day I went for more cultural activities and visited the T21 museum that was used as a prison camp during the Pol Pot / Khmer Rouge regime. A brief history for those who may not know: Cambodia’s King was overthrown by a US CIA-backed coup that was soon ousted by a militant group Khmer Rouge who effectively killed or imprisoned all the nation’s “elitists” including those educated, living in cities or with wealth. The KR ran everyone out of Phnom Penh, tortured and killed an estimated one to two million citizens and wreaked havoc throughout the country through fear and intimidation. So, the museum lays out this tragedy and the Killing Fields show the area where, like a concentration camp, the bodies were just thrown upon each other in heaps. It’s an incredibly sad history and it is amazing how Cambodia has recovered from such a brutal history. Cambodian people were so sweet and a welcome break from the too-obvious hustlers from Indonesia. Other Southeast Asia countries call them “naïve” but as a traveler it is such a relief to not have to negotiate for 1 hour for a decent price.

This history led to the “guns” part of the book which now is a business that allows tourists to shoot any of a large inventory of weapons (including AK-47s, rocket launchers, uzis, etc.). I didn’t do this activity but lots of tourists do.

Now to the “ganga” part…in a country that seems to be lawless it is only fitting that restaurants openly advertise their “happy” pizzas. All tuk-tuk drivers also pull over and ask if you if want anything. The city is definitely a bit crazy, but given the friendliness of the citizens, it more than makes up for the lawlessness. The next stop was a bit more of a dip into earlier history with a visit to Siem Reap and Ankor Wat, some of the largest Hindu temples in the world built around 1000-1100.

Ballin in Bali

For me, Bali has always been a place that conjures images of tropical paradise and mystic spirituality. My expectations were for a fisherman’s town rife with gurus and temples. I guess I could say I was about half right, but reality was that my expectations were so far from reality.

Let me try to explain. The first Bali that I found was a sun-seeking, surfing, partying town. Only later did I discover that it really has multiple sides. The first few days Ruen (my high school buddy who works in Iraq met me in Bali for 2 weeks) and I checked out the beach (not the prettiest) and pretty much got harassed/hustled everywhere we went. We did make some good deals and some really bad ones (Ruen with a few glasses of beer will absolutely buy anything for $5 or less!). The food was amazing and everything was dirt cheap. So let’s call this Side 1: Party Surf Town, which is basically Kuta and Legian.

Side 2: Cultural Beauty. We made a few road trips around the island of Bali and saw some amazing landscape including volcanoes, rolling green rice fields and farmlands. We entered a handful of Hindu temples (Bali is the only Hindu Indonesian island – the rest are Muslim of course) until we were “templed out.” The funniest part about the temples is that we were literally celebrities. Well, I won’t go that far, but all the Balinese visiting from rural areas wanted to take pictures with us. So I kid you not at some point we started avoiding camera-toting groups of screaming young ladies eager to pose with us. I now know how it would feel to be a celeb…for 15 minutes. We also stayed a few days in Ubud, the cultural capital of Bali and from here we saw a traditional Balinese dance (so not worth it!) and made a 2 hour trek to the top of an active volcano. I also went with friends to see the Guru made famous from the “Eat Pray Love” book for a palm reading (Kekut Lying) and what a disappointment! He gave the three of us the EXACT same reading and then tried to charge us $25USD. What a joke. Fortunately the guy was very positive and despite being 95 years old still had his wits, but I would definitely not recommend getting your fortune read by him…actually just give me the $25 and I’ll tell you exactly what he will tell you (“You berry berry lucky. You have many success. Very rich and handsome/pretty. You will live long…100 years and have 2 children.”).

Side 3: Beach Paradise. Ahhhh, now we’re talking – a 1.5 hour speed boat ride to Lombok island and the “Gilis” took us to an absolute paradise where there was much less hustle and much prettier beaches. I ended up renting a scooter in Lombok (Ruen was too scared…and rightfully so since I did wipe out when another scooter cut in front of me) and met a nice local kid who showed me around his village. The people were so welcoming and despite the language barriers we shared a ton of smiles and laughs. Gili Trawangan was our next stop and it is a small island (we walked the whole thing in 1.5 hours) with no motorized transport and no police. The island is super-safe, relaxing, fun, cheap and the closest place to paradise I have ever been.

Side 4: Bling Bling Bali. We met up friends that I had made in Singapore at a bar called Ku De Ta and all of sudden a whole other part of Bali opened up. This new area called Seminyak was filled with high-end boutiques, cool bars and top restaurants, spas and hotels. Of course I spent my last few days here and had some amazing spa treatments (for only $6USD you get a 1-hour full body massage!) and did yoga to complete my Bali experience.

Given the current status of the demonstrations in Bangkok I decided to forgo spending time there and just changed my flight to arrive in Phomn Phen, Cambodia just in time for cinco de mayo! I’ll work my way across Cambodia and then down Thailand to end my world-wide journey in Phuket, Thailand on May 25th. I look forward to being back and catching up with my family and friends live.

Peak Performance

Based on what I heard, I wanted to step up to the challenge of Mount Kinabalu and climb the big imposing mountain (6 hour trek on day 1, overnight at base camp and then 4 hour summit starting at 2AM to see sunrise) while in Malaysia. The flight to Kuta Kinabalu (“KK”) was a quick 3 hours and only $100US from Singapore (regional Asia air travel is now very affordable). I settled in on a rainy day and prepared for the climb the next day (since I knew I was traveling to all tropical locations I didn’t pack much in the way of winter/warm gear).

I met some really cool English youngins – twins and their sister and a Canadian guy just at the entrance and we decided to hike it together. The process is fairly grueling since it is like non-stop stair climbing for 6 hours (well, maybe a few breaks along the way). We all bonded throughout the experience and despite the shitty accommodations, lack of sleep and the physical pain it was such a pleasant experience and we all ribbed each other endlessly (reminded me of all my other friends). We had to start the summit at 2AM after hardly sleeping a wink and of course the weather is much cooler up in the mountains. Our group was one of the first to reach the summit and we were blessed with a gorgeous sunrise. The trek down was almost equally difficult (just ask my ankles and knees) but the euphoria of the summit carries you down a bit quicker. I slept the rest of the time in KK and stayed at an amazing hotel called Eden 54 with the sweetest hotel owners in the world!

Next was a transit stop in Singapore and then off to Bali, Indonesia.

Singa-pure

Well, as an intro to SE Asia, Singapore is definitely a good stop…but as everyone there advised me: “don’t stay too long or you won’t get a total flavor of South East Asia’s best treasures.” So I spent a couple of days just sort of roaming the streets. Thanks to Vero (my friend at Fairmont Mayakoba) I got VIP treatment at the Fairmont. Despite arriving super-early in the AM after skipping a night (flight left at 1PM South Africa time and arrived at 5:35AM Singapore time) I was able to check-in to a 1BD suite and close all the night shades for some rest. I then realized that the hotel…and from my experience EVERY building in Singapore…is connected to a mall. Yes, I’m talking huge malls that occupy at least 4 and sometimes up to 11 floors of retail shops and the inevitable food courts. My first food court experience made me feel like Crocodile Dundee in New York City – I had no idea what the dishes were and most of the workers had limited English skills. I ended up pointing to a menu and asking for chicken. Turned out decent, but paled in comparison to my later meals at “hawker centres” and the famous Singaporean beef noodle dish and pepper crab delight. Well, despite the fact that you could get away with no sunlight and just explore buildings all day in Singapore, I did manage to walk around.

The architecture is very cool and the city is extremely well organized and clean. The nutshell is that in the last 40 years the government completely transformed a small island in the middle of Malaysia to a business haven and launch point for SE Asia by encouraging foreign investment, investing in infrastructure and creating a super safe (if somewhat sterile) environment (no spitting, no selling chewing gum) where everyone follows the rules. I loved seeing people waiting at intersections until the “WALK” light came on despite there not being a car in sight. One of my favorite modern buildings was the new Supreme Court building. During my self-guided tour of the building a worker asked me if I wanted to see a live case. I opted for the drug case and got to see justice in action, complete with the traditional gowns worn by the judges and lawyers (yeah, my bro would look great in one of those…haha). It was in the fact verification stage and the prosecutor was grilling the accused on the witness stand. It was obvious that the man was involved in drug smuggling but since the consequence can be the death sentence, the man continued to lie out of his teeth that he didn’t know it was drugs he was shipping. And Clinton never inhaled.

Of course, I liked to walk around chewing my imported gum and jaywalking, but besides that I had to be well-behaved. And after 3 days here I did take the advice of locals and jumped on a flight to Kuta Kinabalu, Malaysia where the highest peak in SE Asia (Mount Kinabalu at 4,100 meters) resides.

Random Musings on S Africa

1. First impressions do indeed last. The flight over on South Africa Airways was like a rewind in time. I was surrounded by burly older white men and felt like I had landed in the middle of a rugby game or even a fraternity party. At some point during the flight there was a man standing next me with two beers in his hand and yelling in Afrikaans at his buddies sitting in my row and the four rows in front. It was (apart from maybe a Vegas flight) the rowdiest flight I have ever been in where people acted as if there were in a pub. As I would continue to learn, the culture of the whites in South Africa is quite unique. But my first dose of learning happened jumping into the rental car from the airport…

2. Driving on the wrong side. Although the highways have very good signage and it is fairly easy to get around, there are a few tricky parts: (1) street roads hardly ever have signage and when they do it is more confusing that anything else; (2) road names change more consistently than they stay the same. I got lost several times and even the maps don’t account for all the name changes. This was particularly true in Durban where there is a current attempt to change all the street names to people who were involved in the Freedom movement despite locals protesting the change (imagine having to re-learn all the streets you know). Oh…also a scary moment when I tried to take a wide left-hand turn only to see a bunch of oncoming cars – don’t worry, I quickly straightened back out and maybe I returned the rental with just a little dent on the hubcap. This whole left sided thing brought me to another idea…

3. Are Brits (and former British colonists) better with their left-hand? I drove standard (stick shift) cars throughout S Africa and you have to shift the gears with your left hand. (Also, when you pass people on the stairs you go towards your left as well) I don’t think I had ever quite involved my left-hand so much…and that got me wondering: “Are more Brits left-handed?” Yes, sometimes I do have weird thoughts.

4. Another weird thought is why would one put the light switch OUTSIDE the room? Everywhere I went the bathroom light switch was outside the bathroom. I never could quite understand or get used to it. C’mon, think about it: you are sharing the room and want to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. Well, you have to open the door with the light on and shine light into the room. Or just think if you weren’t getting along with your roomie…uh, just strand him in the potty with no lights on. Again, I warned you what happens when I get too much free time.

5. Speaking of food (for thought at least), South Africans have amazing meat – and Capetown deserves to be up there as a foodie capital. I tried ostrich, eland, springbok, impala and wildebeest. And the surprise winner was wildebeest (no wonder all predators love to eat them!). But all food, from Italian to seafood to Asian-inspired cuisine was delicious. We never left food on our plate that’s for sure.

6. Now, despite this amazing food, I do have some complaints. First of all, why do they not offer lactose-free milk at ANY café, restaurant, diner, hotel, etc.? It was near impossible to find milk that wasn’t FULL CREAM and straight up impossible to find any substitute for lactose milk (no soy, almond, lactose-free, etc.). I mean are there really NO lactose-intolerant people in South Africa?? Second, and probably more taxing, was the level of service. Or lack thereof, I should say. I will highlight a couple of examples and then I’ll contemplate on my thoughts of why…

EXAMPLE 1: First night out at a trendy Cuban-themed restaurant, a waiter passed by me and spilled an entire plate of BBQ ribs on my shirt and arm. I shrugged it off, wiped it off despite the stickiness and smell of BBQ sauce all night, but of course expected at some point that a manager would pass by and apologize and offer a round of drinks or a free meal or something. But by the time the bill had arrived nothing had transpired so I asked for the manager. The manager apologized and then said that there was absolute nothing he could do – no discount, no specials, absolutely nothing. I was perplexed by this and therefore left a note with my bill explaining why I was not leaving a tip (at least I gave myself a 10% discount…). [at least the owner called me the next day to offer me dry cleaning, which of course I never carved out time to do]

EXAMPLE 2: Erika had booked us flights to Joberg (for our trip to Kruger) at night. The next morning we decided that it might make more sense to fly out the next day since the fare was dramatically less and we could drive during the daytime. So we called the airlines (Kulula) and explained that it had been less than 24 hours since we booked the flight and that we wanted to change it to the cheaper flight. The customer service representative however stated that we would have to pay a penalty to change the ticket (OK, that’s pretty common), but despite the new fare being so much cheaper she could not give us any credit towards the penalty and would not return any fare difference. So, to make a change to a cheaper fare and you would actually end up paying more money. Didn’t quite make sense to us.

EXAMPLE 3: The third, and nowhere near the final, example was negotiating a discount on a damaged bracelet. The wooden bracelet I wanted had a missing button so asked the cashier for a discount. She said 10% and when I countered with 50% off she said 20% was the max and she wasn’t even authorized to go over 10% by her manager. So I asked her to contact her manager then and see if they would be willing to do 30% and if so then I would buy it. In the meantime some other guy comes up and tells me that the max is 5%. I said, well that’s impossible because we had already negotiated 20% at a minimum. Fortunately while the rude guy was insisting on 5% max and no more, the woman cashier came back from her phone call and said that the manager would accept a 30% discount.

Now, again, these are just three examples. Perhaps we have been spoiled from the customer service culture in the US, but there seemed to be a common thread amongst service – and unfortunate as this might sound, it was always when dealing with Blacks. This is not racist at all, but rather a reflection of the unbelievable duration of Apartheid.

Apartheid was technically stopped in 1991 but by the time programs were actually rolled out we’re talking 1994. [This means that had I grown up there, I (a White by African definition because of my European ancestry) would have gone to a completely segregated school and lived in a completely White neighborhood. I probably would not have any Black friends and would probably feel pretty darn privileged (this goes back to the behaviour of the older white men on the plane).] So what has happened is that the majority of this current generation of Blacks is not educated or trained in proper customer service…they are taught to simply follow rules and not to make decisions. They take orders and cues from their white bosses but are not given the authority or power to create exceptions from the rules (i.e., accident on the restaurant floor or negotiating retail prices). It was absolutely mind-blowing to contemplate the duration of apartheid and how long it took the world to pressure the SA government to abolish it. The current quick fix of affirmative action has been mildly successful in terms of at least giving opportunities that were previously unavailable. And I am hopeful that within the next two generations or so this changes and Blacks can have a better access to education and living standards so they can compete on an even level. But there is definitely a ton of improvement required in the meantime.

7. Sorry for the big downer of the above point but I had to get it off my chest. To end this blog with a more positive spin and a funny story or two, I’ll focus on the amazing wildlife that I saw. One of my first encounters was with a bull elephant in heat. He literally had liquid dropping from his testicles (yeah, picture that). He sees our large safari vehicle and decides that he has to defend his territory. So he comes charging after the bus, lets out a huge roar and forces our driver to hightail it in reverse. Problem was that some 300m behind us was another car. Luckily the elephant stopped his charge just as we scared the bejesus out of the car behind us. It did make for a good video and it also scared the poop out of a German lady riding with us.

On another safari ride we were just scoping out the landscape and I felt like a bug had entered into my shirt (I was wearing a polo-style shirt with no buttons closed). Then sure enough I felt something crawling around my stomach. So I stood up and took a swipe under my shirt. Well, that released my sunglasses that were hanging from my shirt and sent them flying to the front of the safari van. The insect fell out and it turned out to be a dung beetle. Guess I wasn’t smelling my finest that day.

Final story to leave you with is that I was craving seeing a leopard. It was the only elusive animal of the Big 5 when I took a safari in East Africa and is reputed to be very shy and only come out at night. We saw one in the Serengeti but from very far away and up in a tree so I was hoping to catch one in South Africa. For this reason I went on two night safaris but no such luck spotting them. Turns out the day we are supposed to arrive in Kruger we totally miscalculated how many hours it would take to drive up the park (despite the posted speed limit of 50 KMH you stop so many times and drive much slower) and were dangerously close to not being allowed to check-in at the hotel. So, I was hightailing it in the pitch dark to make it on time when I spotted something walking along the side of the road. So I slammed the brakes and put the Microhonda (yes, we named every rental we had) in reverse…and sure enough it was a LEOPARD!! I didn’t have time to shoot any pics but I can tell you that I was so happy to finally see one in the wild.

OK…if you’ve made it this far then here’s my latest update: I arrived in Singapore on Tues AM and just departed for Malaysia (Kota Kinabalu). I come back to Singapore for one night next Monday and then it’s off to Bali, Indonesia. Don’t worry, I already have list of random musings for Singapore so stay tuned (I know…I’ll try to keep it shorter next time).

Bye Bye Africa

Sorry for the delay in posting, but clearly I'm okay even after the shark dive. The reality is that on the first trip we couldn't get into the cages because the ocean swell was too high and it would have been dangerous. Plus we only saw one shark. So they gave us a voucher to return another day. I decided to go back on Tuesday and am very glad that I did. I saw 4 sharks cross to within 4 feet of my face and despite the freezing cold water my heart was racing. Unfortunately film doesn't do the experience much justice but I did get one decent pic.

After Capetown (which is a marvelous city and highly recommended!) we flew into Joberg airport and then drove up to Kruger. We hadn't planned out the route that well and didn't realize that we couldn't enter the park after 6PM so we had to stay a night in Nelspruit. Despite it only having 250K residents, it has an amazing soccer stadium built for the world cup. And I had the best steak ever (outside of Argentina of course) at a very trendy upscale restaurant with a view of the city.

We arrived to Kruger by 10AM the next morning and within 8 hours we had spotted the Big 5 (rhino, elephant, buffalo, lion and leopard). We drove (albeit illegally) at 6:15PM and spotted a leopard on the side of road just walking. Such good luck! The next few days were spent hiking, "safarying" and eating well. A very different safari than East Africa because you are allowed to drive around yourself on paved roads, but still very enjoyable. And I now have some fabulous photos of animals up close.

I leave in a few hours for Singapore! I'll miss South Africa (and have to post my random musings still...there's quite a few!).

The Cape

Capetown is breathtaking in its location and natural environment. The mountains form a bowl and the city is located in the middle of mountain ranges and a beach. Table Mountain allows visitors to go up in a cable car and then walk around the mountain offering 360 degree views of the city, other mountains and the beaches. A phenomenon on Table Mountain is that the clouds roll over the mountain (also called a table cloth) and create this mystical sensation. It felt like we were flying on top of the mountain or that the mountain was producing smoke (an old local story is that a pirate met the devil on the mountain top and in order to get his soul back he challenged the devil to a smoking contest...it hasn't ended yet!).

The Cape also has incredible food and wines -- we have truly been impressed with the offerings and relatively cheap prices. It has a very San Fran feel and similarly a young population. Really a cool city.

The second day we did a township tour with a very nice young African from Landa -- one of the safest townships but rife with poverty. It was a very interesting cultural experience and again brought home the realities and tragedies of apartheid.

Today we drove down to Cape Point and had some amazing views of the most southwesternly point in Africa. We saw baboons, penguins (jackass peguins they are called...seriously!), a rock rabbit and field mice. But the amazing part was views of mountains and oceans from our hikes on a clear and beautiful day.

Tomorrow I get to check off an item from my bucket list...cage diving with the great white sharks. If you don't hear for me in a while...maybe you should start worrying. Hahaha.

ZA aka RSA aka Sur Africa or South Africa

Ok folks...so sorry for the long wait, but I really thought the world had evolved to have Internet/WiFi in most areas. Not so true for South Africa. Apparently it's expensive and it's definitely hard to find especially in the more "rural" areas. So let me see if I can give you a bit of a breakdown of the time I've spent so far in South Africa -- but I guarantee you I could fill up a few pages with stories.

1. Joberg or Jozi: I spent 3 days in Jozi at a really cool boutique hotel located in the suburbs of Melville (yeah, all guides/books say Joberg downtown is just too dicey). I took a day to discover the Apartheid Museum (still perplexing how this country allowed racial segregation until 1991), Nelson Mandela exhibit (amazing person and life story...I just picked up his Autobiography to learn more), and Origins Museum which gives a good background on the original Africans and history of the area. The next day I took a guided tour of Soweto, probably the most famous township (ghetto/favela/barrio) of Joberg because it is where the revolution against apartheid started when a school kid (Hector Peterson) was shot by the white police. All visitors are encouraged to only go with a local guide. I arrived at a 34-year old black woman's tiny place (basically a small room with a shared bath amongst 4 neighbors) to start our tour. It was quite an experience including highlights of eating the local food; visiting a local orphanage; entering a local house built with metal sheeting and no electricity/water/gas; and riding the local taxis.

2. Swaziland: Picked up a Swiss guy Philip whom I met from "travelbud" online site to share the trip across the Northeastern coast with someone (a bit too dangerous to do it alone). We entered Swaziland -- a small country ruled by a Kingdom with a polygamous king and all of sudden the barren dry landscape turned into gorgeous mountain ranges and the temp dropped about 10 degrees. Wow! Swaziland turned out to be a gem -- beautiful countryside with wild animals and friendly folks (much less whites compared to RSA (Republic of South Africa)). We did some cool hiking and drives in the reserve parks. Our little Nissan rental (who we named Cindy) had a flat during the safari so we had to change the tire and then we almost got stuck in a 4x4 only zone (we didn't see the sign!) and to this day she makes a grumbling noise every time you accelerate (we say she sounds like a Ferrari and roars like a lion).

3. Next stop was Kozi Bay on the northeastern point of South Africa (just across from the Mozambique border) where we went on a lake boat ride to see hippos and crocs and amazing sunset views. Cindy got stuck in a sand bank here but we managed to push her out.

4. From Kozi Bay we traveled south to St. Lucia Wetland Park Reserve and World Heritage site and stayed in the quaint town where hippos roam the streets at nighttime. We hit the beach for some snorkeling and saw a few zebras and antelopes along the way. The oceans with rock beaches were absolutely breathtaking and hopefully made for some stunning photos.

5. Then we traveled St. Lucia along the east coast down to Durban. Durban is a bit of a grimy urban environment and Cindy, Philip and I got lost more times than we didn't. Still quite an interesting city with a nice beach (we tried to surf one morning), huge modern shopping malls, a brand-new state of the art stadium made for the World Cup and some cool bars/restaurants/hotels (I'm actually writing right now from The Oyster Box hotel which is about as swanky as a hotel can get).

Philip had a family emergency (don't worry, everyone is fine now) so had to leave. But he left me in good hands in Durban where Kennedy has been my local guide. We traveled to the sixth spot over the weekend:

6. Drakensburg/Lesotho. Up up up in the mountains is a tiny country Lesotho completely surrounded by ZA. Only a 4x4 can make it up and the climb is quite the thrill. Waiting for those who make it up is the highest pub in Africa and a small African village with no electricity or pumped water. The people are amazing and it's so interesting to see their way of life preserved (although the plan is to pave the road and that will change everything for these tribal people). The landscape is breathtaking and the trip so worthwhile.

Final leg of this portion will be a 5-hour journey (solo) back to Joberg to fly to Capetown and meet up with my friend Erika! Hope that wasn't too long, but I have a lot more stories and pics!!! I'm loving South Africa.

Argentina Bella

Wow...I officially love Buenos Aires. Amazing architecture, good city design, beautiful people, excellent food, fun nightlife and interesting culture. What more could you want?

While I did some of the tourist stuff in BA (I had been before in 2002 so didn't feel it necessary to do too much), my real joys came from cutting into the tenderest pieces of steak I've had since 2002, strolling down Palermo Viejo streets window shopping (and occasionally entering to test the strength of the dollar ;)), or just interacting with locals.

For example I met a really cool guy named Martin Gonzalez (no relation...that we're aware of!) at the airport when we both couldn't pull out cash from the ATM. I later met up with him and his friends and I taught them how to drink Mezcal before we went out for some empanadas and beer. Another encounter at a spa led me to a dinner invitation from the owners at a special art exhibit/culinary experience (very weird actually...I don't recommend The Pale Blue Door if you ever get invited).

I actually delayed my trip to S Africa just a couple of days to spend the weekend in Buenos Aires (and will have to go back when there is a Boca Jrs v River Plate game!).

Some Random Argentina Musings:

1. So many dogs. Which I'm a fan of; except in this town very few owners actually pick up after them. So just walking down the sidewalks you have to constantly look down to avoid turd piles. So gross...and I just didn't get why it was such a burden to pick up after your dog poop. Then I was told that every building tenant/owner is responsible for the sidewalk outside of their home/business so I guess dog owners just pass the buck.

2. Despite mate being the national drink (and you really do see it everywhere with the silver straws), you can't actually buy it anywhere. Several people explained that it's because everyone makes their mate differently, but I couldn't help thinking, how has a Starbucks-type of store not found a market for making mate?? And I actually never had any this trip (last time I was here we got invited by a family to have mate at their house).

I'm writing this from my hotel room in Johannesburg, South Africa after a long flight following very little sleep. But I should have some cool photos up soon for South Africa and will happily share with my growing number of followers ;)!

Brasil Musings

Some random takeaways from the Brasil portion of my trip attached.

1. Why does the country have a reputation for being corrupt but you can’t buy your way out of a random alcohol stop? Why can you run as many red lights as you want and you won’t get stopped but you have one drink of alcohol and you are fined $1000 and your license is suspended? I guess it is safest to keep all drinkers off the street, but I also wonder why the law is applied with such randomness.

2. The characters you meet while traveling always have interesting stories, but a few are worth highlighting:

- Character exhibit #1: In Rio, Dana, KJ and I went to eat at a local diner and were debating sharing some local cuisine. We asked the waiter who then solicited the language skills of an older English white male (maybe in his 50s). The English man proceeds to recommend dishes and then buys us a round of caipirinis. So we chat for a bit and he unloads on us that he used to live in south Brasil and it was there that he married a 22-year old local prostitute in the hopes of saving her from her desolate lifestyle. But, as our boy Biggie Smalls once said, “You can’t turn a ho into a housewife.” So after he battled pimps (had his face cut up and his fingers crushed), found out his wife was still “working” while he was setting up his businesses and dealt with other inconveniences of being married to a whore, he decided to flee the state…and country, determined to never come back. But his oil business put him back in Rio and lo and behold he found true love (this time not with a prostitute but with a woman who he endearingly refers to as “pit bull”) and has made Rio his home. He had racked up over a 250 Reia bill at the restaurant and apparently does it often. Beat that story!

- In a close second is Character exhibit #2: Mark, the home owner and rental guru of Floripa hailing from San Diego. You see, Mark used to own nightclubs in LA…and according to him did the drug Extacy daily for 3 years straight. If you wonder if X has any long-term effects, he might be a good study point (only we didn’t know what he was like beforehand). First of all we tried to negotiate the price of the villa on the phone before we went and he just said, “Come on over and see the place. We’ll work it out.” Well, we ended up negotiating and agreeing to a price on the phone. Then we met him at the local gas station in Lagoa and he just kind of starts yelling random words. He asked us “Did you guys the Olympics game? SWOOSH! AMAZING!” Then he just moves along the conversation, like it’s natural, to ask, “Do you know how much they charge for a chicken here? FUCKIN EXPENSIVE! Eight dollars for a chicken. And the gas? It’s like $4 a gallon. This isn’t SAUDI ARABIA! They have gas in their backyard.” He goes on to give us a tour of his place and says something like “You guys are going to have a blast here. ORGIES! If there isn’t some serious partying I’m going to be DISAPPOINTED.” He basically tried to hang out with us for the majority of the trip, stopping by the house at random intervals. In the end, he was just a lonely washed up 50-year old living in Brasil with plenty of prostitutes in his black book.

3. Brazilians never heard of even temporary infrastructure. I mean, you know Carnaval is going to happen, you know many people are going to visit, you know those people are going to celebrate by drinking, and you should therefore know that drinking excessive amounts of liquid produces two very likely results: (1) makes one urinate; and (2) produces a lot of empty cans, bottles and cups. But, nobody has the wherewithal to put up some temporary trash containers and port-a-potties? After a few hours of carnival every single small street/alley smelled like piss and had currents of water running down the sidewalk gutters which were filled with empties. According to locals, however, it is more environmentally friendly to throw your empty beer cans on the street since a poor person will pick them up and return them for money.

4. Airline booking on-line. Most Brazilian airlines state the rates of their flights on their websites, but then when you go to book them they ask you for the local equivalent of a SSN, which of course a tourist does not have. So then you call the number listed on the website, but they say they will only take a Brasilian credit card too. So do the airlines here just NOT want to sell tickets to foreigners? Wouldn’t that just open up a whole new market? You would think…And while I'm at it, the airlines here are even worse than the ones in the States for customer service. Everything took hours to do and was never done correctly the first time. Ahhh, the frustrations of traveling.

5. Something else you would think: In the Rio de Janeiro international departure terminals you would expect to have a sit-down restaurant or even a bar. The SINGLE only option for hot food is a tiny bar upstairs that offers the following choices: hamburger, cheeseburger, ham & cheese sandwich, French fries. Yup, that’s about it. And, for even more of twist…the burger costs 5.50 Reias but for a burger + fries you are looking at 12 Reias. Who did the pricing for that restaurant? Or is the burger really that bad/fries that good? Let’s just say they both were awful (add the jelly-like ketchup to the list while we’re at it). I sure hope that at some point the airport learns that there exists a completely trapped market of travelers for food/drinks while waiting over 2 hours for an international flight.

6. Why are the napkins in this country so thin and useless? Almost all restaurants have paper thin napkins that essentially spread grease because they don’t absorb any of it. When you finally find a normal napkin you are soooo grateful.

7. Torta, as most Mexicans would think, is not a sandwich. We all ordered lunch one day and Oscar wanted a sandwich so ordered the torta. When he asked her for a recommendation of a torta the girl said which one and he ordered it despite understanding that she mentioned something about chocolate. Adrian and I cracked up when she brought him a chocolate pie. It was good, but definitely not the “torta” he expected!

Overall, Brasil has such a great culture where people are so free and balance life/work/fun well. I truly enjoyed my adventures in Brasil and met some really cool people along the way.

And the travels continue...on to Argentina!!

Iguassu Falls

Iguassu Falls, for those not in the know, is a incredible set of natural waterfalls located on the border of Brasil, Argentina and Paraguay. In the guide book it quotes Eleanor Roosevelt as saying that Iguassu makes Niagra look like a kitchen faucet.

Oscar and I had to do a rapid tour since our flight landed on the Brazil side at 2AM and I had a flight out from the Argentina side at 5PM. We woke up around 7AM from a call from the receptionist saying that he found us a cab that would take us to Brasil falls, Argentina falls, Argentina airport, Brasil airport...but we had to start at 8:30AM to get it all in. We did...and it was spectacular. Pictures can't capture the sound and the feeling of being so close to these powerful falls (remember the movie "The Mission"? it was filmed here), but below are a few.

A couple of notes from the trip: (1) the food on the Argentina side was the best meat we had all trip. Sorry if I offend any Brasilians, but their food does not compare to Argentine food which has undoubtedly earned its reputation as the best steak in the world; (2) poor Oscar who later recounted to me that his flight from Iguassu was delayed and he had to sprint in the airport to make his connection flight back from SP to Dallas. We had a miserable time dealing with TAM airlines...and it reinforces the experiences I had with Brasilian airlines when I was trying to fly out of Olinda. Which reminds me...my next post (now that I'm out of Brasil) will include my "random musings" for the country.

Enjoy the pics...one day they'll be hanging on my wall!! :)

Floripa!

Our next stop after Sao Paolo was Florianopolis...an island just south of SP that has become the hip beach, especially for Paulistas and Argentines. The island has a lagoon in the center so makes for a perfect spot for water activities and has gorgeous views from the multiple high points. The nightlife is supposed to be great as well.

Unfortunately every piece of advice we got from locals and people who had been there seemed to be contradictory (we later learned that it all depends on the "season" and we arrived just after high season when everything was good). So we were a bit confused for the first few days and just couldn't buy a good break: the first hotel we stayed in was "rustic" (more like so cheap and under maintained that the light fixture exploded upon our entrance, just missing Oscar's head by a few inches...and of course they never replaced it, just swept up the glass pieces); so we moved to a really classy resort in Jurere but it was Monday and Tuesday and everything on that side of the island closes during the week :(; then all the days but one were cloudy and raining.

Despite these shortcomings, we still managed to have a great time. We learned some Portuguese ("chama la policia"; "me lizensas" (the z is really a "c" with the trailing squiggly mark, but I can't seem to get my keyboard to cooperate); "falla espanol?"; various fruits: abacaxi, manga, morango, acai; "frango" (pollo for the uneducated); and "obrigado" (thanks)) -- we still had trouble communicating well with locals but we managed with a combination of Spanish/English.

We also spent an afternoon sandboarding. Yep...essentially like snowboarding but on sand dunes. And we timed it just perfectly before a huge thunderstorm rolled in. We also had played some paddle tennis on the beach (much better equipment than our first hotel's rackets!). We also drove around much of the island to discover many beaches. Oscar had a bit of a rookie move and forgot to reapply sunscreen during the one sunny day...poor guy had to feel heat emanating from his body for the next few days. And, of course, we partied.