Across the Northland

Well I left you all waiting in the Bangkok Airport more or less, I was there for a couple hours having nothing else to do in Bangkok and then I got on the airplane. The first flight wasn't too bad at all, besides the fact that it was at the ungodly hour of two in the morning.

 

That first flight wasn't too bad, tried to sleep since it was a 6 hours or so, but got nothing more then an hour or two. They gave us some really strange breakfast that consisted of instant noodles, shrimp and fish, with hot pepper paste and a croissant, Korean I guess...

 

We landed in Korea (ICN) at just after 9 am and I got ready for my 8 hour layover in the airport, finding out it's an hour to get into central Seoul. While I was trying to recover my forward boarding pass they told me I had a free hotel. I was slightly surprised but not willing to ask the details knowing that I didn't have any money to pay for it if they asked. So a Canadian guy I met and I got our private shuttle to the little 7 floor hotel. As we went he explained to me that most Korean airlines will provide a room if you have more then about 5 hours between their flights.

 

We made it to the hotel and it was honestly the nicest place I have ever stayed. It had a couch in the room, a couple beds, a fridge with juice, a computer with free Internet access, and a bathroom which was the most impressive I've ever seen. With more buttons on the toilet then buttons on a small remote, and more nozzles in the shower then I have in my entire house, it was definitely impressive. They also provided for us a free lunch buffet, it was only cafeteria grade food, but hell it was all you can eat! After lunch I took a nap for a few hours and was awakened completely surprised when my phone was ringing and I was told to come to the lobby. I got back on the shuttle and headed for the airport where I got my next Boarding pass.

 

The next plane was a good one, a 777, big, but not giant. It was nice, everyone had their own  TV and that gave me a pretty good chance to catch up on some of Hollywood movies I've missed out on like X-Men 3, and Mission Impossible, both good. I tried to sleep on that plane, but as soon as we were in the air I got a splitting headache and it felt like my temperature was through the roof. Sleeping was not an option so I resorted to those movies, and a game of chess with the computer on the plane. I beat it with a suicide pawn run across the board. The game lasted 7 mins which is probably the shortest I've ever played, but since I won I figured that my sickness wasn't destroying my brain at too rapid of a rate at least.

 

We landed in Seattle and as soon as we started the decent I felt better, and even better in the customs section, surprisingly. This is where the real problems started.

 

If you've never had an international layover in an American airport, then you haven't had to go through all the BS about taking your bad off the plane and sending them through customs. I got to know this very well. I got to me "Roberts" and "Charles" just one name mind you, even if the other customs call them John and Jeff... Anyway I was randomly selected because I haven't shaved in the last month and a half, so I guess I'm looking like a terrorist or a drug traffiker. So they unloaded my entire bag having me give explanations for every little piece or dirt they found. But the real killer was when they found the Lao Whiskey for my friends 21st B-day (Happy Birthday Jon!) And the Guinness can that has accompanied me since Ireland so many months ago. (Hate to break it to you this way Ethan...) Well since I was supposed to be in the States for about 45 mins in between two countries that I am legal to carry and consume alcohol, they had to "Do what is right." and make sure that I don't get in "trouble" with something that was never even supposed to come out of my bag until I was in a hostel or someplace in Canada.

 

They took the things, had me sign a paper saying that I was "okay" with them taking these things from me. (At this point they had my Passport and I had a feeling that not signing might make obtaining that again less than tidy.) I got the pleasure of repacking all of my things in  the customs area, and then going to catch my other flight, which I quickly found out had already left to Vancouver.

 

I wandered around the Seattle airport until I finally found the Air Canada window, and got to wait in line with all of the other "problem" travelers. I got up front and when I explained that it was the Custom guys that kept me from my plane they gave me a stand by pass and sent me to the gate. Luckily I got on the next flight North and everything was fine... for a couple hours.

 

I made it to Vancouver and the controller there was more then happy to have a little chat while I answered his questions, and was just all in all more friendly then his counterpart down south. So I continued to baggage claim, and waited. I waited for awhile, an hour all together at least, I even took a look at the other carousels just to make sure there wasn't a mistake, but my backpack never came through. I went to the Baggage claim manager and asked about it. He was puzzeled, telling me that the flight wasn't full and that even if I was flying stand-by the bag should have made it onto the plane. The guy was nice about it and when I told him I wasn't staying more then a night in Vancouver, so he offered to send it anywhere that I needed it to go. This was a mixed blessing, I didn't want to hitchhike with my large bag, so that was a plus, but at the same time, my warm cloaths were in there along with my sleeping bad and other supplies. In the whole I didn't mind at that point so I put down my home address and found it amussing that my bag would make it home before me. The best part was that I had bought a backpack for my little sister while I was in Bangkok and had carried it onto the plane, SO I did still have a pack I was just traveling much lighter. 

 

The first night in Vancouver I managed to find a cheap hostel and as fate would have it, I met up with an old Irish friend I met in Paris some 7 months ago or so. He was more or less the last person that I met on my travels to expect to meet with there, but that's traveling, eh? We hung out that evening and talked a little, that night I picked up some of the best pizza I've had in many months (still not that great) and then called it a night, at that point I had had about 5 hours of sleep in the 48 hours before, and I was not feeling well.

 

When I woke up the next morning I showered and took the bus as far out of Vancouver as I could figure out how, still pretty central but not as bad as downtown. I ended up waiting for almost 3 hours before getting my first ride, which only made worry a little bit about the rest of my day when it was a gay guy, telling my that he only picked me up because he really liked my beard and he was wondering if we could go back to his place for 20 mins or so... I was a little um... taken off gaurd is probably the best way to say how I felt, anyways, I explained to him I was straight, didn't plan on trying anything like that anytime soon, and I was actually hitchhiking to get to my girlfriends place. He asked a couple more time, which I had to politely deny and then her let me out.

 

Including Norman the Gay Real-Estate Agent, I got four rides before 13:00 in total then only took me about an hours worth or drive time. I finally got lucky when I was standing on an on-ramp and a Truck stopped for me. It was a Canadian Truck driver, who wasn't going too far (two hours) but I told him it would be the best ride I'd have all day, so we rode for awhile talking about various things until we got to a little truck stop where I grabbed some lunch and and went back on the on-ramp and waited for anothe 2 hours. Eventually a Native lady stopped, picked me up and took me an hour to the next big city, Kamloops.

 

In Kamloops it was starting to get dark, and I knew it would be just about impossible to get a ride all the way to Calgary so I checked in to a Motor Inn, and payed more for accomadation then I have at any other point I have at any other point in this trip. But I figured I still felt pretty bad, I saved alot of money in Thailand, and thye had a swimming pool. The room wasn't too bad, I actually got it for 10$ under the marked price. I watched some good ol' American programming and then fell off to sleep at 21:00. at about 1:15 I woke up, wide eyed and ready to go. Still adjusting to the time I guess, so I was extrmely happy when I woke up again just after 6:30 to get started on the day ahead.

 

That day wasn't too bad, I waited for about two hours and quickly got a four hour ride right away, it was an older guy who was on a construction management job, so he was actually getting paid to drive. You find out as you hitch more that the people picking you up are usually people that have hitched around quite abit them selves "back when they were your age..." I said to Jim I think his name was and then waited for just over an hour again and got a ride the rest of the way to Calgary from another older guy named Ron. He was a pretty nice guy, and actually took me all the way to the house I was staying at. That evening I stayed with one Maudes old friends from Quebec, pretty cool guy, quite but nice.

 

The next morning Maude's friend and his roommates all got up pretty early and were out the door by 6:45. I got a ride to the highway that goes right through town, and then I started walking. It was cold, it was raining, and it was windy. Having lost all of my cold weather gear with my backpack, I was frozen, and after about an hour and a ahlf of walking my toes went numb and I decided it might be wise to surrender to the airport, thinking that waiting for a ride would be nothing but a cold, wet, and miserable experience.

 

I caught a few busses that got me all the way to Calgary airport and I found my way to the WestJet counter. The cheapest they had for a flight to Regina was about $215... that is Canadian dollars, but it's still not that much cheaper then American. Honestly at this point in my trip I'm getting to the point where I don't really care about how much I spend on something like that, I'm just glad that I can get to my destination, in a good mood, safe, and dry.

 

My flight took to to Edmonton, before Regina, and the humor on the flight was the reason I payed so much I'm going to say, it was quite amusing, the stuff you only get from young male flight atendents. I did make it to Regina with no problems, not that I expected any with all of my controband already removed from me back in Seattle. And from the airport I walked to Maudes apartment. Regina is a pretty nice town and I think I'll enjoy taking a break here before heading back home, where who knows what will be going on.

 

=Logan, Canada

Almost Home

Has it really already been an entire month since my last update? Maybe longer... Oh well you guys can't complain!

 

Alright so I left you in Kanchanaburi, there I saw the Death railway, and the Brige over the river Kwai and stuff like that. From there we made our way to Ayutthaya which is the former capital of Thailand (or should I say Siam?) It was a cool place, alot of older ruins and stuff like that, it was definately nice to be in some ruins different from those I saw so much of in Europe.

 

From Ayutthaya we headed towards the "beautiful" Thai islands, we tryed to make it all in one go but we got waylaid at a city inbetween where we were happy to get out of the next day. The Island we made it to was Ko Samut, one of the smaller ones, and the closest to Bangkok, definately a nice little escape before maude had to head home. We spent our days reading on the beach and Maude desperately tried to get her last good tan in before heading back to Canada.

 

After a few day on the Island we grudgingly(sp?) made our way to Bangkok. Once there we found a little Guest House on an out of the way street right close to the Infamous Khao San Road. Our day in Bangkok were spent preparing maude for her flight and seeing the sights. Neither were very exciting, with the highlight being when we found an A&W in downtown Bangkok and treated ourselves to rootbeer floats. Actually we did have a good time wandering around and seeing stuff like the Grand Palace, which is the Buddhist counterpart to Vatican city. 

 

Maude flew out on the 17th, later in the evening and that left me free to sample all of the meaty street food I could think of. (Maude is vegitarian.) Sure I missed her, but thats life eh? I was now on my way to Laos.

 

Well the first day after she left I went to the train  station and headed to the city of Nakhon Ratchasima, where I speant a couple days hanging out and on sunday was able to go to the first Catholic Mass since Poland, it was interesting, but good. From there I made my way to the boreder city of Mukdahan and spent a night preparing myself for Laos (I also just arrived a little too late to make it accross the river.)

 

The next day I crossed over to the Lao city of Savannakhet where I stayed for a night and spent a good bit of time at an amazing restaurant called "Mamas Home" It's run by three sisters, and they treat you very nice, they watched my bad for me and took me to the bus station when it came time. They also thretened to steal me if I didn't bring Maude next time!

 

From Savannakhet I took a night bus up to Vientien where I had my first dorm experience since Malaysia. It was actually much appriciated since I was now traveling alone, and within the first day I met a pretty cool Canadian guy who's been on the road for 11 or 12 years now. He spent alot of time in China and had been getting to know Loas for a little while and had alot of stuff to talk about. We hung out for the few days I was there and I met some other guys, really nothing to do in Vientien if you're alone so it was nice.

 

From there I caught a bus to Vang Vieng, on the bus ride I met a pretty cool American guy, we got along pretty well and ended up sharing a room when we arrived. Vang Vieng however, is an absolute pit of scum... well maybe not that bad but for an example, you can go into a bar which no longer has booths, but kinda reclined seats, and while you lay there you can watch Friends, and order a joint, opium, or even mushrooms off of the menu. Sadly that's normal there. Me and Josh (The American) spent one day inner-tubing, down the river, pretty good way to relax and get away from the hardships of traveling, but you still have to put up with the hell the place has become. (I'm sorry if I sound so negative about the place, and would like to comment that the use of any such narcotics is ones own choice, and I have nothing against that. But seriously, Friends?)

 

We made it out of Vang Vieng just intime to keep my sanity and headed up to Luang Prabang. A pretty cool town, laid back like the rest of Laos, and not touristy to the point of sickness. They had a pretty cool night market there with quite a bit of Hmong handicrafts, definately cool. One day me and Josh rented bikes, and even though they were one-speed-wonders that did not stop me from taking it through mud bits and down rocky paths, We made it out to some small villages where they kids were playing with thier flip-flops and all they wanted from us was to shake my hand and touch my hair.

 

I left Luang Prabang and headed off towards the lacking town of Luang Nam Tha. The bus ride there was 8 hours, and consisted of going over the mountains and through several small villages where the modern world seems to have passed them a centry or two ago. On the trip I had a Lao girl claiming my shoulder as a pillow, but who can complain, thats the way life goes out there. Once I actually made it to luand Nam Tha I discovered that I didn't want to be there, but as luck would have it I met an old Aussie who told me he met some people who were chartering a truck to the Thai Border, earlier that evening I found out that the b us to the border is much more of a "maybe" thing everyday. So I met these people who were chartering the truck and they were happy to have me tag along, along with two other Solvanian girls.

 

The next morning we all met up and loaded up the truck. Four people up front (An American couple and Brit and a Kiwi that was a couple too.) And three of us in the back with the bags (Me and the two Solvanian girls.) The ride wasn't too bad for the first 10 minutes, then we realized why we needed the truck. The road was much more of a deforested mud path with pleanty of puddles pushing 7 or 8 inches, and many more places where the 4 wheel drive was what was getting us through. There was also a number of times where the giant bulldozers would have to clear a clean path for us as we got there. After about 8 hours of this (sunburned and muddy) the steering broke. We piled out of the truck and got to see how one of the front wheels detached itself from the steering column. To out luck we were at a place where they were working on the road with diggers, and they were able to pull us out of the way while our driver fixed it. And in a few minutes we found out why the diggers were there. They literally had to pull cars and truck over the mountain since it was too muddy and too steep to drive. Apparently the company that hired out the truck and driver promised the two couples that they would be there before 6 so they could get over the border. we didn't arrive until after 6 and they couples were more then a little upset. We stayed in the border city of Huay Xai, I shared a room with the Solvanian girls, (Had my own bed of course!) and the next day we made the crossing.

 

On the other side we me and the Couples made our way to Chaing Mai, where we hung out for a few days, it was a nice place to just hang out, much smaller and alot more enjoyable then Bangkok in my opinion.

 

From Chaing Mai I headed down to Sokoathai, a nifty little town with some of the largest ancient Thai ruins close by, I spent a day doing the ruins. That evening I was feeling rather lonely, so I decided to head out and go watch the sunset over some rice paddies. As I walked out into the middle of nowhere I was intercepted by some Thai villagers wanting me to come and have a drink of their Whiskey with them. I decided there wasn't any harm, so I went over. There was a good size family of them over there (now that I think back between 12 and 15 people!) They laughed at me when  I tried to say some Thai words, and touched my beard and hair and looked at my large feet. It was very entertaining, and as the night got later (and I missed the sunset) they offered me dinner, I accepted and had some of the best (and most authentic) Thai food I've had yet. After that they drove me on a motor bike back to my Guest House, and I was left blinking, trying to figure out what happened.

 

The next day I went back to Bangkok, I was dreading Bangkok, but really looking forward to flying. And when I arrived at the bus station I was disliking Bangkok more then ever. They have almost no cheap way of getting into town from any of their transport hubs, and this forced me to hire a motorbike and driver to take me back to Khao San Road. It was an experiance, me with my bags, and such on the back of this motorbike weaving in and out of traffic while cars narrowly avoid clipping me and my bags. But yeah, it was fun.

 

So hear I have been, waiting, and making my final preperation before I fly tonight, well actually tomorrow, but at 2 in the morning whos counting, eh? But yes it is hard to imagine that I'll be flying back to north America after so much time abroad. Even when I think of it I get emotional, for some reason or another, it seems so strange, almost like it can't really be happening. Alright, but all that mish-mush aside, I'm flying at 2 to Korea (South) and wait there for a long 8 hours before contin ueing on my way to Seattle and then  finally Vancouver, BC. From there I'll hitch or maybe Buy a car and drive to Northern Canada to visit Maude in Regina. I'll be there for two or three weeks and then somehow I'll make my way home. I can hardly wait!

 

When many of you read this e-mail I'll probably be in an Airplane or waiting in an airport somewhere. So yeah... I miss all of you guys and can't wait to see you!

 

=Logan, Thailand

 

P.S. In the Korean Airport they have free internet, so send me an e-mail to keep me busy while I'm there!