Half a year later

I need some closure.

THE END.

The City that Sex Built

Back Up.

Jasper and I left Cambodia and went to a city called Pattaya a few hours South of Bangkok. It was sad to leave Cambodia, Seim Reap was really nice, but we wanted to hit a beach before we left.

Pattaya is an interesting place. Little did we know before we decided Pattaya should be the finale of out trip, Pattaya is one of the most prostitute-ridden cities in all of Thailand. Tens of square blocks all along the south beach are lined, door to door, with "Go-Go-Bars" or "Beer Bars". As you walk down the street you will see hundreds of scantily-clad girls sitting on stools or subtly dancing, waiting for someone to buy a drink...or more. Note: scantily-clad in Thailand is anything less than a T-shirt and shorts. Girls in north America out for a night at the clubs would surely be asked "how much?" in Thailand. Little do many of the visiting Bangkokers or traveling Europeans know, (or maybe they do...) a huge portion of these girls are not girls at all. Some are more convincing than others... For example both pictures on the left are of a Thai man. As good as these two are (note the areola in the second picture on the left), there are many that are much more feminine, more convincing. Homosexuality and gender modification is much more widely accepted in Southeast Asia and is, therefore, more popular. Or is it the other way around....?

We went on a snorkeling trip which was fun minus a few downfalls. The first is that it wasn't really a snorkeling trip. We paid 1000 Bhat to tag along with a group of scuba divers and splash around on top at some less than amazing sites while they explored the real goods. Also, our dive sites were filled with tiny, clear organisms that stung the skin with hard contact. Of course these stingers were only in the first meter of water, where the two snorkelers spent most of their time...

We also saw a cabaret show in which all the performers were transvestites (although you wouldn't know if it wasn't advertised as such). It was a touch strange but well done and worth the money.

Aside from the obvious negatives, we had a lot of fun in Pattaya. We touched up our tans then returned to Bangkok to shop. Jasper ended up sick in bed most of the time, but we still ended to get some sweet clothes before getting on the plane.

Not the last

So we're back in Cincinnati. I don't really feel like writing a final blog... maybe I'll just write about the beginning.

The day we left Jasper gave me a surprise birthday present. One of our friends, Gillian, from the Starwood festival I try to go to every summer, drove here with her boyfriend Sami. We went to King's Island (a big theme park) which I was super excited about because I love roller coasters... unfortunately Sami lost his video camera.

Gillian and Sami went to bed and Jasper and I packed our stuff.
We went out to get in the car after at 2:30am after a long day on roller coasters only to have the car not start. We called her friend who left work to take us to the airport. What an Angel.

Ps....just in case you needed a lesson on breast types. (We found this advertisement in a mall in Bangkok)

Thai Fruit

I am convinced that some of the world's most delicious fruit originates in Southeast Asia.

First, and most famously you've got the Durian. This one is the odd one out in my books. This is the most vile tasting excuse for a fruit known to human kind. It has a creamy texture (maybe think of creamed corn) with a taste resembling dish soap.

Then come the good ones.

The red one that looks like a koosh ball is called Gnaw. It's pronounced by positioning your tongue as if you were going to make a "G" sound, then pretty much just honking sound (very similar to the sounds you would expect to hear out of a Muppet). It's simply delicious.

The yellow one is Longan. It tastes somewhat piney, but is simply delicious.

The pink one is Dragonfruit, but it sucks.

The purple one by itself is mangosteen. It's simply delicious.

The yellow bulges hanging on the tree are Jackfruit. It's texture is something like a mango and isn't the best fruit around, but all in all, it's simply delicious too.

Then you have mango, rose apple aka. cham-poo (the only valid descriptor I can think of is refreshing), watermelon, guava, pineapple, starfruit and many many more.

To impress your friends with all of your sweet new knowledge on Thai fruit varieties, visit http://www.chiangmai-chiangrai.com/fruit-tfruit.html.

Cambodia

Due to the desturbingly poor internet here in Siem Reap, Cambodia, blogging has been somewhat of a luxury.

Chronological order.
Jasper, Nalnee, and I left Chaing Mai to Chaing Rai, one of Thailand's most northern cities. We spent some quality time there with Jasper's Aunt and G-ma, spending our days visiting the white temple, getting ourtdoor massages on the Mekong river overlooking Laos and Burma, and cleaning out the small guesthouse in the backyard.

Jasper and I left Chaing Rai, went back to Chaing Mai, then took a bus to Bangkok. We had a bit of a craving to see a movie. We were pleasantly surprised. Let me tell you about movies in Bangkok. The theatres in Bangkok compare to something like the opera house in Sydney. The seats recline and you can even get vip boxes with couches and a full bar menu. The Thais don't mess around when it comes to movie watching.

From there we took one of the most miserable trips of our lives.

-8:00am-meet at the travel agency for the bus to Siem reap

-9:10am-get on the bus and luckily get a seat as it was overbooked and 4 poor people had to sit on the floor

-1:00pm-Arrive at Thai-Cambodian border town and watch other tourists get sold overpriced visas while we buy food from the only restaurant around

-1:30pm-Arrive at the boarder and get lead through by 2 very sketchy locals who stop frequently to buy snacks (if you can call fried bugs a snack) and tell us to meet them several meters down the road.

-2:30pm-Leave the boarder town for Seam Reap

-6:30pm-Get stuck in a huge traffic jam which is stuck in the mud (true, the road isn't paved)

-9:00pm-We are told that we will have to spend the night on the bus (closer to a school bus than a vip air-con bus)

-10:30pm-The bus finally starts rolling to many cheers and we're on our way

-1:30am-we arrive at a guesthouse closely associated with the bus comany, obviously too tired to go to the one we originally wanted.

So now here we are in Siem Reap and loving it. The people are extremely friendly, much more fluent than the Thais, the city is cool, and the Temples of Angkor are simply stunning. We've spent the last 3 days wandering around them and even mustered up the discipline to see 2 sunrises. Yesterday we came across a pack of 25 monkies. We chilled out together and ate rasins. Jasper was lucky enough to get some special attention from one of the friendlier ones.

Ephelumps, no woozles.

After a one day delay of rolling in the hay we decided not to stay in our rooms any longer. Yay.
Jasper and Nalnee both got a bit ill as well. We think it was a Pad Thai dish at an umbrella-making farm.

We went to an Elephant sanctuary. It was probably the coolest place we had been to. Earlier in the week we went to a silk farm, a silver manufacturer, a leather shop, and a couple others.

At the sanctuary, first we rode elephants through the jungle and across rivers for about 45 minutes. Then we rode the ox-carts back. We had lunch then lazied our way down a meandering stream on a bamboo raft. As tourist-oriented as the place was, it wasn't very busy and being in the jungle on an elephant's back or on a bamboo raft you can almost forget you're paying for it.

Elephants hae become some of my most favourite creatures. They are so huge and powerful but so gentle. We fed them bananas and sugar cane contunuously end even befrended a baby elephant (the cutest creature in existence.)

Later on we went to a monkey school were trained monkeys put on a show for us. Jasper and I were a little unimpressed but it's always fun to see monkies. There was an orchid farm there as well, too bad I can't bring any home.

Barf

So the title's a little much, but that sums it up.

Everyone's saying it's food poisoning.

I'm saying it sucks.

You don't want pictures.

Muay Thai

Have you ever seen 8-year-olds beat the crap out of each other in a boxing ring?

I have.

It was a good thing someone warned us there were young children that fought Muay Thai when we bought our tickets. Muay Thai (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muay_Thai) is Thailand's national sport is is one of, if not the, most popular sport. It's pretty much kick-boxing but a little more hard core. Lots of knees and elbows. Jasper and I had front row seats and each of us got a complementary drop of blood on our legs (Don't worry, the 8-year-olds didn't bleed). We were also fortunate enough to see a few Technical Knock Outs (TKO's).

As aggressive as the sport is, many of the fighters seemed to be good friends and fun times were had by all.

Full Moon Party

The Full Moon Party in Haad Rin, Ko Phangan, brought mixed emotions. I was looking forward to a huge beach party, sure, but before I even went there was some aspect of it that was bothering me.

Jasper and I began by having a few drinks with 2 Australian guys in the Bungalow next to us. We played Kings then Jasper and I went down to the beach for the party. It was pretty much as we expected... thousands of Europeans in their twenties power drinking on a beach.

As we walked from one end to the other, we continuously drifted into overlapping techno and house beats. The worst was being between two different bars because you'd be in a mush zone of loud musical confusion. After one full run of the beach we realized weren't going to find "our" place. Neither of us seemed to be able to get into it so we did what we do best: we people watched.

We saw fire spinners, hundreds of people peeing in the water, some puking, drunk people, high people...people. people. people. The ones that won over our attention most were the prostitutes. There were hundreds. We actually watched a complete "transaction". A Thai girl of roughly my age was dancing with her cigarette. Just dancing. These girls didn't need to pick up guys, guys would pick up them. A drunken man came over and they talked for a minute. The two headed off into the water and "embraced" each other for a few minutes. They returned hand-in hand. The man walked off and the girl went back to dancing with a new cigarette.

I couldn't help but feel ill after seeing all of this. At least, with all the sex tourism in Thailand, these girls seemed to be doing this by choice. There are thousands of girls in situations a thousand times worse.

We stayed up until the sunrise then headed off to bed.

My final synopsis is that I don't like the full moon party. I'm glad I went because It really was a life experience, but I don't like it. It just seems to me like a bunch of people pooping on Thailand. It's a shame that so many people come and use the country for its beaches and its beauty, and leave their garbage, their puke, and their stink.

Thailand is beautiful. It needs to stay that way.

When you go to Ko Phangan...

Be prepared for white people.

I suppose I should start by better explaining the idea of finding the pie. In this part of the world it is very easy to live first class...almost too easy. What Jasper and I are trying to do is find our own adventure. We don't want it brought to us, we want to find it. We'll have it when we travel until we want to stop and we stay until we want to leave... I hope it's blueberry.

We're in Ko Phangan. We came for the beaches but also for the beach parties. The Full Moon Party is tomorrow night. You know that crazy party that Leonardo DiCaprio is at in the movie "The Beach"? That's where we'll be tomorrow.

Hopefully we're going to do some snorkeling, some waterfall excursions, and elephant riding. We've kept up the massages nearly every other day... I'm so limber.

It's wonderful to be out of Bangkok and on the beaches...

Now it's Europeans on scooters I neet to watch out for not 8-year-old Thai girls like in Bangkok. We'll find our own corner of the island in a few days when the beer has been drank.

Finding the Pie

It's our third day in Bangkok. I've almost evened myself out from the jet lag in a timezone of exactly 12hrs difference. A nasty 30+ hr plane ride with layovers really killed me but a good night sleep brought me back to good health. So far Jasper, Nalnee (Jasper's mom), and me have done a lot of sleeping and eating. There have been multiple trips to the massage parlour and the market full of fish heads, eels, stray dogs, backpacks, underwear, fruit, chickens, children, filth, and stench. This market is beside the big unpronouncable river that runs through Bangkok, dubbed "the Bangkok nasty" by Jasper and me. There are a million motorcycles with too many people on them that no one can drive, a diversity of fashions from the dumpster to lacoste, and so many other characteristics reflectant of a third world city. I love it.

Things have been flowing smoothly since Nalnee is a Thai citizen and speaks fluent Thai. We're leaving our guesthouse tomorrow for some sandy beaches to the South. We have a general plan for the rest of the 6 weeks, but I'll spill those as they happen.

Trying to co-ordinate where to go and when is interesting to say the least. Jasper and my interests seem to clash slightly with Nalnee's. We want to plan only the essentials while Nalnee wants to call ahead to every guesthouse to ensure a room. This is the fun of traveling in groups though isn't it?

T-Minus to Thailand

I`m on Jasper`s couch in Cincinnati Ohio.

Tomorrow at this time I`ll be thinking about leaving... Good thing because I really haven`t done much thinking yet.

Entonces Que?

Now that it's been almost two weeks since returning, a lot of my trip feels a bit like a dream. I'm trying to find ways of connecting that part of my life and this part. So far I have been quite unsuccessful. Did the trip change me? Yes. How? I don't know. It wasn't as specific as i thought it would be. What I mean is, I suppose, is that it was just life I was living. I don't have tons of stories becasue I settled in and got used to the life that it took something extremely unique for me to deem it a "story". One thing's for sure, I have this strange feeling that I'll always travel... I think I caught the virus.

Ben's Comments on South America:
South America was such a wonderful place, however, sadly, it has such a negative light shed on it. Since it gave me so much, I feel compelled to give something back to it. Latin America is a very misunderstood place. It is rich with culture, wonderful people, and breath-taking beauty. It has it's share of problems, many countries are struggling quite a lot to stay organized, however there is so much potential. I was also constantly blown away at how safe the place was. I realize I only had 4 months there, but I did experience many different places and explored many parts of many cities. I am also aware of the invisible gringo-shield I had, but that also made me a target. It is such an amazing part of the world and I know I'll be back.

To all who followed my footsteps through South America at this amazing time of my life, thank you. It was always nice to read new posted comments. I hope you were all able to vicariously enjoy my crazy life.

To end.

I made a bit of a commitment to myself that I would make myself a resource to other travelers. Once I got going it all became so natural that I completely forgot how daunting a trip like this seems before departure. I don't have a single regret about taking this trip, and I think if you took a tour as well, you'd feel the same way. Entonces, if anyone ever wants help, hints, secrets, or even just a chat about travel, you are more than welcome to contact me: mr_ben_o@hotmail.com.

Ciao...

El Ultimo Semana

I'm Home.

I got home April 24th, the day before my 19th birthday. However before I comment on the strangeness of being home, I'll elabourate on what I was up to for the last week of my trip.

Parque Tyrona was a blast. I just wish I had more time to spend there; lying on the beach doing nothing at all. I met a cool English girl there, Tara, and we headed to Cartagena.

Cartagena is a major port city in Colombia and was once the most important port as all of the plundered gold would be transported there by land then shipped to Spain. This made Cartagena a hot target for both Pirates and the English. The old city is completely walled in. The final defence set up, constructed in the early 1500's made Cartagena impregnable. All of the hostels are a few blocks from the city walls. The neighbourhood is swimming with prostitutes, coke dealers, and drug addicts; it's a ton of fun.

I spent most of my time in Cartagena just wandering the old city, enjoying the atmosphere. However, one day Tara and I took a day-trip to a mud volcano. We walked up the stairs on the side of the 15m volcano then hopped into the crater which was completely filled with mud. Once in, assorted Colombians laid us on our backs and stomachs and massaged us. When we got out, completely covered in mud, we headed down to the lake beside the volcano and Colombian women washed us.

Returning to Costa Rica ended up being somewhat of a mission. I had begun feeling a little ill when I was in Tyrona. By the time I left Cartagena, it was significantly worse. I arrived at the airport in Colombia at 5:00am on friday morning. A full 3 hours of dealing with customs, baggage check, departure tax, and the airline desk had exhausted me by the time I got on my plane. Once in Panama City, I immediately went to the bus station and barely made the 14 hr direct bus to San Jose. I arrived in the middle of the night and was then screwed by a cab driver. I could hardly believe the relief I felt when I finally got back to Chris and Luisa's house. I did end up puking twice, but I got a lot of good sleep.

On my final day in South America, Chris, his family, Melissa, and her mother, took me to a beautiful park with this amazing waterfall. I was still a hurtin' unit, but it was nice to be outside with the friends that gave me so much over the course of the trip.

I ended up spending the night in Miami due to complications with my connection flight. I stepped off the plane in Detroit at about 11am. It felt so good to be home.

My Vacation

For those of you who think I´m in a long lovely vacation, lets have a little info session. Trecking around god knows how many kilometers in the last 4 months, with everything you own on your back, in foreign, Spanish speaking lands, which are often stifling hot amd full of people trying to screw you, is not easy. Fun? always. Easy? rarely.

So when I left my big bag in a hostel in Santa Marta and took off with only my day pack and a hammock to Parque Tyrona, Colombia´s claimed best beaches, it was like going on vacation. This is a beautiful park with rich beaches and really amazing boulders scattered in interesting formations all over the park.

Unfortunately my SD memory card for my camera is on vacation as well... It has decided to only display the fotos on it on my camera, not on a computer. I hope he decides to come back soon.

In Colombia; In awe

This country is blowing me away. It's hard to say it's may favourite becaue I have absolutely loved every country I have been in, every one has been so different from the others, and I have visited them all at different times in my travels, but Colombia is amazing. It is by far the most beautiful and it definitely has the friendliest people... ok it´s the best

*This rediculous idea that Colombia is extremely unsafe is no longer valid. A few years ago the place was a little shady to visit, but today it is no more dangerous in most places than any other Latin America country. Sure the country exports about 6 billion of the 8 billion dollars worth of produced cocaine to the US every year, and yes there are a few very dangerous rebel groups, but for the most part the rebels stay in their part of colombia (which is roughly half) and the regular people stay in theirs. I reccomend Colombia to everyone.

When I arrived off the boat, I had to walk 2 hours through the jungle to another town to get my passport stamped. This was an interesting first impression.

So much has happened since I arrived here, and I need to save some stories for when I return home, but there are a few that need telling.

One major difference between Canada and the US and pretty much the rest of the world is football.
I saw a game in Medellin of these two teams and wow... the fans for this sport are like the fans of nothing else. When a player would take a corner kick, riot police would have to rush over and put shields up around the kicker becasue the opposing teams fans would be throwing hurling all kinds of things at the player.

The police or military are everywhere in Colombia. Here's a little example of how tight security was at the game.

Unfortunately on the way home from the game, my friend Kim and I were mugged by four guys. She had her camera taken off her but I fended 3 of them off one-handed with my eyes closed and luckely we escaped unharmed.

On her camera were some great photos of a club we went to in Medellin, which is famous for its night life, its plastic surgery, and its breast implants. Now forever lost are some pictures of me breakdancing on stage at Mango's as well as 5 go-go dancing midgets on the stage beside me... like I said... it's famous for night life.

After Medellin me and 2 frinds headed for a quiet little pueblo called Salento. We had two other friends show up and made great friends with a guy working at the hostel. This place was so much fun. We visisted a cofee plantation, saw the tallest plametrees ever, hung out in the mountains... too much to list. I definitely had the best time here over anywhere else in my travels. The Wax Palms are breathtaking as well...

Yesterday I visited a remote little villiage in the deep jungle that is only accessible by little platforms on an old railroad track that is powered by a motorcycle. My friends and I grabbed some innertubes and spent the day floating down the river with nothing but jungle at our sides.

Now I'm in Bogota, the Capitol. It's a really happening place of roughly 8 million people. I'll probably be here only a couple days as I need to get to the coast soon so I can fly back to Central America in time for my flight home.

Seasick in Paradise

After about a week in Panama City, I managed to get a hold of a Captain of a sailboat to take me to Colombia.

The sailboat, Irene, was 37 feet and had 7 passengers when we left the port of Portobelo in Panama. The crew consisted of the Captain, Humberto, 44, his first mate and girlfriend, Lady, of less than half his age, 21, and Humberto´s Nephew Juandavid, 20. Then there was myself and three people from France. At times it was a little frustrating as the crew would be in an indepth conversation in Spanish and the other three would be speaking in French. All but 2 people spoke English, however we did most of our communication in Spanish.

The first few days of the trip were wonderful, with the exception of the third night. The third night was the first night we spent sailing instead of anchored in a bay. Let´s just say dinner didn´t stay down.

We visited many of the San Blas Islands which are georgious, postcard-perfect, islands with white sand and terquoise water, just of the Carribean coast of Panama. They streach from just east of the Canal to Colombia. Most of the islands are scarcely or uninhabited and the only people living in the area are the Kuna, an indigenous tribe. The Kuna were granted the land by the Panamanian governement and essencially have total control over the area.

Snorkeling was a frequent activity and there were some beautiful reefs. I saw a manta ray that was roughly a meter and a half wide.

The last few days of the trip weren´t as nice for a couple reasons. For one I began to get a little sick of the crew they were fun but I couldn´t stand them after a while. Also, the trip was supposed to be 5 nights, six days. Instead it was 7 nights, 8 days. As well, the captain tried to get me to pay money that I wasn´t supposed to, then ended up ripping me off five dollars. He was even more stingey with the others. The only good thing about the extended trip was we got to sail in a beautiful catamaran and there were dolphins jumping all around us.

So here I am coke-capital of the world.

I´ll have to go do some exploring before I say anything else.

Sleep Walking

On my last day of diving, I woke up a little late so I was in a hurry to get to the boat. My room mate mentined some Isreali guy was looking for a key from me but I didn´t have any idea what he was talking about so I scurried off to the boat. When I got back someone mentioned something similar; that I had taken someone´s room key the night before. Someone else then told me that the night before I had gone into someone´s room and got in bed with them. They awoke and were startled and as I left I took their room key. I kept hearing little bits and pieces of the story until finally I found Ido, the friend of the guy whose key I stole. He preceeded to tell me the story, while laughing his ass off. He had left the key in the outside of the door to allow drunken friends to enter later that night. He said he awoke when a man opened the door, but he didn´t recognize the man as one of the people staying in the room. He was about to say something when the man sat down on the edge of his friend Mosha´s bed (who was at the time sleeping with his girlfriend) and laid down. Mosha awoke but was still quite tired so he assumed it was his friend Ido playing around. He quickly realized the man laying beside him had dreadlocks so, startled, he yelled ¨What the hell?¨ The man replied Öh, sorry¨, stood up, and left the room, taking the key with him.

Now apparently this man was me. I have no recollection of the event as it was 4:00am. The only reason I believe such a rediculous story is becasue so many people were telling me it was true, and my friend said he went into my room and retrieved Mosha´s key, which was sitting beside my bed...

Scuba Surf

I got my open water scuba diving liscence when I was in Bocas Del Torro. I can´t describe the beauty of the life under water, but those of you who have dove know what I´m talking about. It feels like you´re floating weightlessly, in slow motion, across an alien planet. I´m sure the beautiful reefs and fish of the Carribbean Sea added a little to the experience as well. I hadn´t planned on scuba diving when I arrived, however a $175 three day course by PADI with 2 free dives shounded quite appealing.

I left Bocas the day after my last dive with some friends I met. We headed to beautiful Sta. Catalina on the Pacific side. I did exactly what I wanted to do for 4 days... nothing. Well, surf a little too. We had a beautiful round purple cabina right on the beach. There´s not much better than opening your front door and walking out onto sand.

I got to Panama City with my friend Kat and we went to see the canal for a few hours before her flight back to Los Angeles.

Panama City is a cool place. It´s like any major city and doesn´t look all that different from Toronto. However it´s nice to be here as it´s a change. And with big cities comes big diversity. There´s a killer vegetarian restaurant around the corner from my hostel that can support my veggi needs.

Uh Oh.... Today´s St. Patty´s day isn´t it? I wonder if they do green beer here...