se Asia | Less Thinking, More Doing

Sep 19 2012

Travel

EXTREME! Dalat.

MaRrRrRffin here. After HCMC, we were off to Dalat. We didn’t know what to expect. We just knew you do outdoorsy stuff there and it was a much smaller town. We were pleasantly surprised when we got there. It was much cooler which was greatly appreciated cause I had been sweating my ass off in Saigon. It was a lot less busy, a lot less honking, and had a very European feel to it. All the buildings, fountains, and landscaped parks had French influence. They even had a mini Eiffel Tower. Other than the one guy on a motobike asking “you want massage?”, it did not feel like we were in Vietnam. To make things better, we stayed at awesome hotel.

We were greeted by Mrs. Dung and this adorable little girl named Cherry at Dreams Hotel. This little girl instantly won Jeboody’s heart and he wouldn’t stop talking about her. Pedobear style. Jk, she was cute. The best part of staying at this hotel was the bomb breakfast. We had eggs, cheese, fresh fruit, baguettes, strawberry jam (strawberries are a local thing in Dalat), and freakin bacon. We tow that bacon up. Anyways on to our adventure.

We signed up to do some canyoning in Dalat. Oh man was it fun and terrifying. Our trip involved rappelling down 3 cliff/waterfalls, 1 waterfall slide, and a free jump. Let me say, going down those waterfalls was not easy. I thought since I had a little rock climbing experience that it would be a piece of cake. Wrong. The rocks are slippery. There’s water going everywhere and hitting everything. You don’t really feel that secure on that damn thing. Jeboody was slip sliding everywhere. You can see his injury in the picture above.

Between the rappelling, we first stopped at a waterfall slide. There were a couple for us to try. First one, we slid on our backs feet first. The other, we slid on our back head first. I made the mistake of sliding down head first on my stomach but I came out unscathed. I can’t say the same about Jeboody. He got owned hard on both slides. ITB. Thats all I’m going to say about that. Next non-rappelling activity was the free jump.

The free jump is really where we both faced our fears. There were two jumps we could do. One was 6m and the other was 10m. I’ve jumped off docks into the water and higher diving boards before but this felt so different. There just seemed like there was so much more potential to get injured jumping off a cliff. The worst was the 10m. It wasn’t necessarily the height. It was high and I was scared of it but it was the fact that I had to clear the the 6m jumping area to land safely in the water. Our guide had to show me the way before I grew a pair and made the leap.

Anyways, here’s the pics!

Hiking down to the waterfall

About to get OWNED! itb.

Biggest waterfall we rappelled down

free jump area

which way to the gun show???

“The Washing Machine”

Trying to do upside down pose

swag?

Tagged adventure, asia, backpack, canyoning, dalat, se Asia, southeast asia, travel, vietnam, waterfall

Aug 31 2012

Fist Pumpin’ in Snookyville

Nah, we’ve been taking it easy here in Sihanoukville AKA Snookyville. We didn’t know this place existed a couple weeks ago. We were told that it was a nice beach so we thought it would be a good change in pace. Also, jeboody just wants to show off his guns on the beach. The Khmer girls love him btw.

I am really enjoying my time at Otres Beach. It has a very laid back vibe. There aren’t a ton of hawkers around asking you to buy stuff like the other beaches and the rest of Cambodia. We’re staying in a $10/night bungalow which is about 20-30 feet from the water. It’s a very simple little hut. No AC. Mosquito net around our bed. Shared bathrooms. It has a camping feel to it, where you can hear everything that is going on around you. I’m loving it. Jeboody, on the other hand, is completely out of his comfort zone.

A lot of people that we have met around here have been here for at least a couple weeks, many a lot longer. It’s a good break from the bustling cities but it is still a developing town. There is definitely potential here for it to be a real tourist destination. Maybe not like south Thailand but it isn’t bad that’s for sure. For now, at least at Otres beach, it is quiet, clean, and just chill. People lounge around the beach during the day and then all gather in one bar at night to have a few beers or pass around one, two, or three joints. I can see the appeal of this lifestyle but we needed a little more adventure!

We kayaked to a small island from the beach to do some snorkeling.

Fob face fail

Right now, we’re just chilling in a bar on the beach. Probably do a little standup paddle boarding after lunch. Tomorrow, some island hopping. Then off to Phnom Penh for a couple days where we will see the Killing Fields and S-21 prison. Not exactly sure what to do other than those two things. (probably some Street Fight against the locals). Afterwards, Vietnam!

Island we kayaked to

View from our bungalow

PS- sorry for the water spots!

Tagged adventure, asia, beach, cambodia, otres, phnom penh, se Asia, serendipity, sihanoukville, southeast asia, travel

Aug 27 2012

4 Comments

Travel

Doxycycline? More like doxysuckline!

Preface: jbdy here; this is going to be a text bomb, if you’re here for pictures just scroll to the bottom.

So apparently I’m supposed to recount the time from after Khao Yai National Park until now. I’ve been putting it off because I fucking hate the WordPress app for iOS. Marrrrrffin, why are you using suckpress again?? (Funny side story, when asked his username for Scramble, he said – and think as fobby as possible – “em-ay-ahr-ahr-ahr-ahr-ahr-eff-eff-i-n”. Is that only funny to me? Damnit it probably is.)

Bangkok

We originally weren’t planning on coming back to Bangkok, but after reading up on my anti-malarial meds, Doxycycline, and its apparent side effect of sun-sensitivity, I convinced Marvin to head back to BKK get some different meds from the travel clinic. I was also worried about his prophylaxis of choice (mefloquine) and its side effect of making people GO CRAZY; I didn’t want to deal with that for rest of the trip. Cause Marfin you already cray

Mango Tango has become a must in BKK

Ended up staying two nights in Bangkok, on a street we dubbed Ladyboy Lane, because…yeah you get it. Got boat noodles at BTS Victory Monument and was disappointed – guess it will be hard to match that hey-what’s-this-omg-mind-blown experience in Ayutthaya.

Ah, quick story about BKK dirtayness: ate a street stall near our hotel, probably one of the grungiest, sketchiest places I’ve ever eaten. Marvin couldn’t see from his seat, but I had a perfect view of the cockroaches and big rats scurrying around. al;djks;kafk;asd;fkja;kdjsf….anyway, on to…

Siem Reap, Cambodia

If you believe the internet, the journey from BKK to SR is a perilous one, fraught with scammers and more scammers. Luckily, we went on a weekday and thus there was a lower supply of tourists, which I suppose causes the scammers to put their efforts elsewhere. The easy part: 6-hour bus ride from BKK to Aranyaprathet, a quick tuk tuk to the border, and the visa paperwork at the border. During the visa part, we got stalked by a young “tourist information guide” trying to herd tourists onto the “free shuttle” to the border town’s bus station, where a cheap but super slow (and waits to fill-up) bus or expensive ass taxis are available. (If anyone is actually interested in the BKK-SR journey in details, let me know; if you know what to do, you’ll be able to easily avoid all the scams.)

Siem Reap was an interesting town. I should have expected it, but it was a superrrr touristy area. For the most part that’s good for first-time visitors, as it made everything really easy to get to and there were plenty of activities to keep us occupied for 4-5 days. I’m not going to post too many temple pictures because, well, you can find better ones on the net and I’m not the best photographer.

Oh, the bad part is that you have to deal with hordes of annoying Asian tourists. Angkor Wat sunrise? Forget it, not worth it. Even if it wasn’t cloudy (which it was, woke up at 4:30 for nothing), the fact that we were fighting to keep our spot from pushy Asian folks would be enough to ruin the experience. Go take your stupid duckface self-pose somewhere else you assgirl. Anyway, some pictures below…

Fobbin’ it up, temple style

Some lights in SR, near one of many night markets, some water and bridges

You’ve seen this before

As good as it got. Cloud troll

Rode an ATV around the countryside. Saw a lot of these guys and their poo. It’s wet season here so of course I got soaked.

Yea suck on that.

So to summarize Siem Reap…temples, $4-5 massages, touristy Khmer food (still good), happy pizza, night markets with same same shops, ice cream.

Phnom Penh

After another 6-hour bus ride, we’ve arrived at the capitol of Cambodia. Our first real meal…

Deep fried tarantula. So I felt something crawling on my leg while they were showing us the live tarantula and thought, “Ok, there’s now a tarantula on my leg”. Instead, it was a GIANT COCKROACH and I was too shocked to freak out. I can’t believe a cockroach crawled on me, I hate those pieces of shit. Judge all you want. Bleerrgghhghhhhhh

So as I’m writing this in my guesthouse, I am majorly missing Bangkok. I even miss Siem Reap, because the Cashew Nut guesthouse was really a nice place. Here in Europe Guesthouse we have dirtyass sheets and moldy pillows. Worst of all SLOW WIFI omgz i can hardly play scramble.

I’m pretty sure this pillow was originally white. If it’s not obvious…don’t stay here when you come to PP.

It smells awful when I lay down. Fuuckkkkkkkk get me out of here.

The only benefit to this guesthouse is that its location – riverfront with a lot of restaurants & bars, including the go-go bars aka hostess bars. No, I am not going to them, goshhhhh get yer mind outta the gutter. But it’s still amusing to walk by bars called “The Horny Bar” and “Pussy Cat”, and be angrily hollered/solicited at. Marvin gets so embarrassed.

TL;DR bangkok, eat; siem reap, temples, eat, massage; phnom penh, shithole hostel.

What’s next? One more day of PP, then off to the beach at Sihanoukville. After that, it’s back to PP and then Vietnam! Where we will get even fatter. Sigh (but it feels so good at the time)

Picture time!

I love 7-11 taro sliced bread