Scribbles Abroad

New Zealand

April 23, 2009

Auckland, New Zealand

Next stop Auckland, New Zealand. One of Kahi’s good friends Kyle, who he met and worked with in Tahoe, and his girlfriend Nat scooped us up from the airport and whisked us away to their cozy Auckland home. They hooked us up with a place to stay and a car to use while touring their country. More than we could have ever asked for. They made traveling around New Zealand relatively affordable for us, lending us not only their car but camping gear and warm clothes. The weather would be much cooler here and the water even colder than Australia.

Kyle and Nat both work for beverage companies and get an allowance of beer every month, something Kahi was super stoked on. Peroni anyone?

Kyle was just as amped on surfing as we were and took us to a few the surf breaks he surfs regularly. The closest waves were a little under an hour away, pretty far but well worth it. Auckland is a cool city but the country side is gorgeous. The rolling hills, steep cliffs, farm lands, and the beautiful beaches make for a spectacular view. Our first surf in NZ was at Bethels Beach and it was pretty fun, the waves were a small but the conditions were great. The waves were lining up and the ride was long considering it was a beach break, if only the waves were bigger. We knew this place would be unreal given the right conditions, we’d be back.

Kyle taking us for our first surf session in NZ

Bethles

Kyle took us to another spot somewhere between Whitianga and Whangamata called Black Swamps. It was the same story here, the wind was perfect and the crowds were non-existant but the swell was a little small. Kahi and Kyle both managed to squeeze themselves into some mini barrels.

Mini barrels, somewhere between Whitianga and Whangamata

A swell was about to hit the west coast of the North Island so we decided to head up north to try and score Shipwreck Bay in Ahipara. It was about a 4-5 hour drive from Auckland but it seemed like nothing after driving across Australia. We got into town quite late but luckily there was a campground right in front of Shipwreck Bay. Setting up an unfamiliar tent in the dark and in the freezing cold wasn’t easy but we eventually managed to get it up. Since we arrived at night we weren’t able to see the beach or the area where we were camping. In morning light revealed a beautiful bay with a tiny left pealing around the point. We were excited at the potential we saw but again it was just too small. The swell wasn’t peaking yet so we decided to head further north driving along 90 Mile Beach in search of some fun beachies.

Shipwreck Bay, Ahipara

90 Mile Beach, Ahipara. With 90 miles of beach we were bound to find something surfable.

We drove down 90 Mile Beach and found some decent waves at The Bluff. It was good for about an hour then turned to doodoo. We found a dead dolphin on the beach, looks like it got hit by a boat or something.

The perfect little camp ground right in front of Shipwerck Bay and Kahi chasing pigs.

The waves still hadn’t shown up so we headed to the most norther point of New Zealand, Cape Reinga. This is where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet creating strange tidal clash.

The waves looked fun at Cape Reinga but this is a sacred place for the Maori people and we didn’t want to offend anyone.

The light house at Cape Reinga.

There weren’t any waves so we went sand surfing at the giant sand dunes near Cape Reinga.

The following day we kicked it with Kahi’s buddy Sam (AKA Holomua) who has also been traveling around the world. We had miss each other in a couple of countries and we were finally able to meet up. Check out his blog at www.gosambo.com. We spent the day hunting for waves around Ahipara. The swell just didn’t have enough juice for the spot and the waves were rather small, chest high on the biggest sets. We went for a short surf anyway and it was pretty fun but it would have been amazing if it were about double or even triple the size. Sam was kind enough to invite us back to his hanai family’s home over in KeriKeri. We picked up some food for dinner and of course some alcohol for the evening. After a couple of drinks we did a round of shake faces, check em’ out they’re unreal.

The drive to check out the other surf breaks was a bumpy rocky path that wound around the point. We saw this guy pull in a nice sized fish, he was stoked.

We got some fun small surf but the waves weren’t quite big enough to show their true potential. There was bay after bay of small pealing lefts, if only the swell was a little bigger.

Us and Sam at the house, it was so nice to sleep in an actual bed again. Thanks Sam!

Shake face!

It was a four hour drive back to Auckland but we made it no problem. Stopping at Waikete to take a dip in their hot springs made the journey all the better. We met back up with Kyle and went out to the rugby game. We were in for one crazy evening. The rugby game was cool but it took forever to figure out all the rules. These guys were tough, running full speed at each other and tackling the crap out of each other. Looked painful. I think the guys were more interested in the cheerleaders than the actual game. After the game we went to Kyle’s friend Jimmy’s house where we helped him celebrate his last day of work at Cocacola.

The rugby stadium in Auckland and the crazy fight for the ball.

The beginning of our wild night

At Jimmy’s house it was shots all around and then it was all down hill from there.

Things got a little crazy and needless to say we were all hurting a little the next day.

The group shake face, even better than the solo ones

Our next little trip was to Piha on the west coast about an hour from Auckland. Piha is beautiful and is definitely one of the more popular surf spots around. We found a camp ground close to the beach and set up shop. Piha was home for the next couple of days. The surf here could be fun but for us it was a little frustrating. Beachies with shifting peaks made it a little difficult, not to mention the crowds.

Piha, New Zealand.

Kahi cooking up a storm and our feast of a dinner.

We kicked it at the beach and had another shake face session

Sam and Louise greatly improving their shake face skills

Kitekite Falls, Piha. It’s only a short walk to this really cool waterfall in the back of Piha. You could go swimming but its so cold!

We knew the surf in New Zealand could be epic but we just hadn’t scored. Small surf and stormy surf gave us time to check out some scenic and touristy areas that we probably wouldn’t have visited if the waves were pumping but we knew our turn would be soon. The surf reports told us our next journey would be to Raglan, one of the best and well known surf spots in New Zealand. We kept our fingers crossed. Next blog will show you, our patience paid off.
Iced Tea

April 14, 2009

With the surf waning and the weather sticking true to Gold Coast form we figured a trip inland to the pastures was in order. Cam had been here once before, just inland from Currumbin. With the amount of pastures inland it wasn’t fully necessary to get back to that exact spot. But like a pig hunting for truffles, Cams nose was keen and the hunt for the infamous Gold Coast Gold Tops was initiated. Just like in Hawaii, shitty surf, a little rain, a bunch of cows, and sun creates these true little gems.

Although the mushrooms in Australia are a heck of a lot different looking with thick stems and caps that have large golden centers and purple rims, they pack a similar punch. The ones we look for In Hawaii have the skinny stems with a small tannish/grey/brown cap. Australia mushis look a heck lot more like the ones we drew in our notebooks in school.

The hunt was fun as it usually is as long as you find some. Being skunked is no fun but never the end of the world. At first we weren’t finding any boomers. Cam was being a superpoos, he was afraid to walk off the road tracks because of snakes. The Hawaiians being either ridiculously brave or naive, I’d guess a bit of both, started trampling. To avoid the snakes we got sticks and led them in front of us to scare away any potential death serpents. Once we started trampling into the deeper grass the mushis revealed themselves. When hunting, you are rewarded if you look for the cow pies that are not fresh with long grass surrounding them. As Cam watched from the dirt road and sang Johnny Farnum songs, we scored.

We found a bunch but not too many. Only taking what you need spreads the wealth and the spores for another day. We wrapped up our bounty in an empty lollie bag, then wrapped it in a used subway sandwich wrapper and then stashed them while we headed to the beach to catch a low tide surf at the Superbank. That night we made some tea. We started by bringing some water to a boil, then turned the heat to low and threw the shrooms in with tea bags and a hell of a lot of honey. With the pot covered we relaxed and let the potion come alive. We strained the concoction and emptied the juice into empty Tooheys New bottles. That night they became iced tea and were ready for the beach the next day.

The next day after a morning surf we took the fruits of our labor down to Mermaid beach right in front of Cams house. There we set up a beautiful shelter/nest made from a blue tarp, a broom, a mop, roof tie downs, and my slippahs. If you take rope, wrap um around da slippah, dig one hole, bury da slippah,……she go (see photos). A cooler full of beer, tea, an inflatable boogie board, Louise and my homeboy Campbell, let the trip continue. We slowly sipped our tea and once we felt the effects we chugged just a little more. It came to about 3 cups each, I think it needed more honey.

It was a great afternoon. Everyone was happy with the ocean being a comforting relief from the hole in the ozone layer. I swear I was purple by the end of the trip in Australia or was I just seeing things? We took turns on the inflatable boogie board and body surfed while we took turns. The inflatable was so much fun and the non-stop laughing while riding it gave us a great workout. Duckdiving was frivolous because of the buoyancy so you try to go over the waves. Every time you hit a big wave the board/mattress bends in half and slams you in the face. I’d just crack up laughing my ass off hoping I didn’t have a bloody nose. It was actually really easy to catch waves with the inflatable. Once on the wave it would spit you out in front of it like a pea out of a pea pod, then the wave would catch up with you and spit you out in front or down the line again. I have to get one of these.

Floating out in the ocean with no one out there with you really lets you notice the rips and currents moving through the waters. I once surfed in SD under the same spell and ended up surfing from 5pm to around 9pm. The cold was no drama, the dark not a hindrance, and the waves seemed to be cooperating with me. Its as though you are on a closer level to the ocean and can better understand what it is going to do next. I remember flying down the line on a chest high wave on my 5’9″ Mccallum, the street lights from the Jetty parking lot were reflecting off the glassy wall of the wave and I was just absorbing the surreal experience. Similar to that night, the current would begin to rip me out to sea and right when a inkling of worry would roll in so would a set. I’d catch the wave and the absorption of mother nature would occur.

We hung out at the beach all arvo (afternoon in OZ and NZ). But the sun, as it always seems to do, decided to go down. We took the shelter down and when we pulled up my slippahs that were buried underground they were all leppo. But since then they have gained their form back and are comfortable on my feet as I write. The day was a success and to end it all we rented the classic “Half Baked”. That evening we passed out in front of the TV.

Random pics from last days in OZ

Surfing with the Rat Tail

A storm rolling in

Cams Birthday Cake
East Australia

April 5, 2009

Waves we scored at da Superbank, Gold Coast

A little under two weeks of driving and we finally made it to Sydney in time to pick up my parents. This was our first time driving around a foreign city and navigating it was a challenge, especially without a proper map. We drove though the arrivals and there they were standing on the curb, it was perfect timing. It was rather late and after 10 hours of traveling, my parents Norman and Stella, were rather tired so we drove around trying to find a hotel to stay at for the night. To make a long story short, we got lost. I mean really lost. It was a little frustrating but we finally found the perfect place a little out of town.

The Harbor Bridge, Sydney

The next morning was spent cruising around Sydney checking out the typical tourist stops. Luckily we were able to find the Opera House and a nice view of the bridge quite easily. Sydney was nice but we were ready to get out of the city and take my parents on a little road trip.

The Opera House and the Harbor Bridge

It was almost exactly a year ago when Kahi and I last traveled to Australia and did a road trip from the Gold Coast to Sydney. It was a beautiful drive and we had so much fun, I was really excited to take my parents along and show them around. Our car was quite packed so we decided to put the surfboards on the roof to make things a little more comfortable inside. Our original plan was to buy some pipe insulation and build some sort of make-shift roof rack contraption. The hardware store we stopped at didn’t carry pipe insulation so we came up with a brilliant plan. There were tons of cardboard boxes at the store and we were able to make some “Hawaiian Racks.” Check them out! We just rolled up the cardboard and secured them with some tape and tie downs. They were cherry!

Hawaiian Racks! Never mind buying those fancy-pantie roof racks, just grab some cardboard. Free is mo-bettah!

Traveling though Australia is rather convenient. In almost every town there’s some sort of campground where they have hot water showers, nice bathrooms, and kitchen facilities. Some even have swimming pools and trampolines. We had our campsite dialed. Kahi and I were still crashing in our car and my parents were in their Shangri-La tent sleeping on a comfy air mattress.

Our camp grounds in Port Macquarie had the best location, right next to the surf

How many pumps does it take to fill the air mattress? 215 pumps or something like that…its a great butt workout!

Steak, potatoes, and corn…Cookin’ up a feast!

Everyone loves a meat pie

At dawn and dusk all of these pretty little birds called lorikeets would congregate together in the trees and make tons of racket. If you stood under the tree, put your tent under a tree or parked your car under a tree, guaranteed you would get pooped on.

light house and view of beach

We got some small but fun waves over at Port Macquarie but were ready to head to our next destination, Yamba. Last year we scored this place and had so much fun. Its a pealing right point break that goes on and on and on. This year the swell wasn’t nearly as big, but the waves were still rippable.

Need I say more?

My padre swam out there and took some pics of us

My madre kickin’ it under a tree while we surf our brains out

I love Yamba but hate the mosquitoes that feast on my flesh and casue me so much suffering. Anyway…The town is quite small but the pub on the hill has an amazing view. It over looks a beach with some small fun beachies. There’s also these really cool jumping rocks called the Blue Pools just outside of Yamba. We jumped off the cliffs last year but there was a warning sign for some sort of harmful algal bloom in the water so we didn’t get to this time.

The pub that Kahi and my dad frequented

Yamba Beachies

Another Yamba beach

Eating lunch at the Blue Pools, fresh water pools created by an old quarry

We took my parents for a bowl, Kahi and my mom were right on key, my dad and myself were another story.

Our next stop was about an hour north to the small town of Lennox Head. There were a couple surf spots here but the wind was making them look like doodoo, so we spent the day chillin’ in the hot tub at the campgrounds we were staying at. The following day we surfed some of the local beachies, they weren’t that great but there were a pod of dolphins surfing the waves with us.

Some of the waves at Lennox Head

The hot tub

Another hour up the coast and we were at Byron Bay, the backpacker headquaters of Australia. There are two bays back to back here in Byron Bay, if one is on shore the other is usually off shore and surfable. We surfed some fun beachies and again there were tons of dolphins swimming every where. They’re pretty cool to surf with but kind of scary when they’re catching a wave and you’re trying to duck dive.

The view of Back beach, Byron Bay

Back Beach

So there I was surfing Back Beach minding my own business when a school of Needle Fish decided to swim by me, they must have been startled by all the dolphins. They start jumping out of the water and pegging me in the back. I got nailed by at least 20 of these suckers. It was hilarious, but scary.

Next stop was the Goldy, where our buddy Campbell lives. He was out of town for our first couple of days but was very generous and let us stay at his house. The Quicksilver Pro was going on at Kirra Beach, so we decided to check it out. It was a little windy but the waves were pumping and the pros were out there ripping it up as usual. We got a little jealous and put our cameras away and paddled out at Snapper Rocks. The paddle out was difficult and the sweep was strong but we were able to get some fun waves.

Quiksilver Pro, Kirra Beach

Superbank and Kirra Beach, Gold Coast

We spent the next couple of days showing my parents the different surf breaks and kickin’ it at the beach. My mom was getting a really nice tan and my dad was stoked to get back in the water and paddle around. The waves were pretty good over the weekend but it was super-duper crowded. You think everyone surfs in Hawaii? You should see the Goldy! They were also having a surfboard exhibition which added to the crowd, but it was cool to check out the different boards.

Mi Madre y Padre

Surfboard exhibition at Currumbin. They had all sorts of boards, old and new school.

Since the Philippines claimed our shortboards we needed to get a couple new ones. Kahi kept in touch with the Firewire reps in Hawaii and Cali so when they heard we needed help, they introduced us to Nikki the rep in Currumbin. She was amazing! Letting us demo a couple of boards plus helping us around the warehouse by pulling boards. Kahi and I left with two new boards, needless to say we were stoked.

While we were at the shop we also got to meet Nev, the owner and one of the creators of Firewire surfboards

Our new babies

Campbell was back in town and it was so nice to see him. The waves were picking up and we scored the Superbank pretty good. It was still crowded but the wind was down and the waves were totally rippable. We surfed until we were completely rashed up and exhausted.

One day during the week Cam got rained out of work so we took my parents up the Sunshine Coast to Australia Zoo, the one that Steve Irwin created. I was super stoked to pet all the cool animals and see some of the weird creatures that live in Australia.

Australia Zoo

They just let this guy run around the zoo, he almost got me but luckily we had mad rangeling skills and were able to tame this fine specimen

The zoo had these cool Roo petting areas where they would hop around and you could feed them. They were super soft and so cute.

I pet a lot of animals

They had this show where they brought out birds and other animals. It was really neat to see them feed the crocs. It was an educational show that taught you a lot about the different animals in OZ and how to safely live amongst them. They had this one part of the show where they asked for volunteers to teach a bird call, then they would release the birds and they would land on your arm. Kahi was chosen as one of the four volunteers, they had then do the most hilarious bird call with a pelvic thrust He did an amazing job, but it was just a joke they played on the volunteers and no birds landed on their arms. It was so funny!

We had a ton of fun at the Zoo and I personally though it was better than the Sydney Zoo. You get to interact with the animals a lot more and learn way more about the animals.

I was stoked everything worked out and they got to come and visit us. They were such great sports about camping and tagging along with us to go surfing, they are so mellow and easy going. My parents were headed back home and had a long journey ahead of them back to Hawaii. They lucked out and got upgraded to first class which probably made it a little more comfortable. Thanks for everything mom and pops!
South Australia

March 19, 2009

The road was long but not hard. With the comfort of a white station wagon and bags of goodies the trek was made enjoyable. Our goal was to surf good empty waves, avoid hitting kangaroos, and meet some locals.

As I’m writing and now that we’ve made it all the way across I can confidently say we accomplished all three along with many other glorious achievements. Especially taking a 20 year old car with a shady clutch across the continent of Australia without a hitch!

We left Margaret River and made our first stop in Esperance a mere 10 hours later.

This was the first HWY we hit out of Margs. Thanks to Cahns directions. We thought, “oh shit I hope it becomes paved somewhere soon.” No prob, about 30 k later we got some asphalt, or what they call bichman. It all worked out so the man did know what he was talking about.

These guys were all over the place between Margs and Esperance.

The warning sign regarding the wildlife we would encounter on the road.

The waves were flat in Esperance so the next day we made our next jump to as far as we could go. We had no radio so it was a multitude of ridiculous conversations and self made music. Good times for sure.

On the way to our next stop we got the chance to drive on the longest straight road in Australia and arguably in the entire world. Without a slight deviation of the steering wheel, if your alignment is perfect and there is no wind, you could sit back put on cruise control, which we didn’t have, and just drive with your feet. I don’t advise this because there are road trains on the road along with road kill. Don’t want to ruin your alignment cause you ran over a dead roo.

The straight road, you go over that horizon and the road continues straight to the next horizon.

Road Trains

Roos at night, they are everywhere in some stretches.

Dead roo and road train tracks.

Giant Terradactyl eating lunch. Look at the wingspan on this puppy.

Kangaroo Tail Stew!

Parts of the road doubled as landing strips for airplanes, this was one such area.

Randome stuff on the side of the road. You’ll see trees with panties in every branch, or bras. We saw a fake garage sale with stuffed animals posed as people selling their goods. It was creepy.

The trip to our next stop was about 1200 kilometers away to a town called Rest Stop on the side of the road. Driving at night was prohibitively dangerous, not because of banditos but rather the kangaroos. They just jump in front of your car and its like hitting a small cow. Major damage. Click on this link to read about our bud Sam Chillingworth’s encounter with a roo in Margaret River around the same time we were there. He is also traveling around the world in a walk about fashion.

We woke up in Fly City, the flies are so tenacious here. You swat them and they just come back. They aim for your eyeballs, nostrils, and mouth. They’re starving for moisture and try to suck the life out of you. It’s quite disgusting.

The flies, look closer. They are everywhere in South OZ, West Oz too.

Free Coffee at some road stops. Gotta refuel the caffeine tanks.

Louise with a rare drink in her hand. Since she has been taking a break from alcohol, Ive been having to work overtime to drink both our rations.

We made it back to the ocean and the surf on our third day as we pulled into Streaky Bay. This town was our main hub for the first part of this area since it had all the services we needed/wanted.

A replica of a whitey caught by pole off of Streaky Bay.

The town had a swimming hole for the people off the pier. It had a giant metal fence around it to keep the swimmers safe. No one was swimming and we were scared, so I made Louise go first.

Streaky Bay oceanfront accommodations, with wireless internet, for a hefty fee of course.

Bounties of South OZ, the cooler was filled with more tuna.

Although the locals are supposedly extremely protective, we did not experience the potential onslaught of animosity we were trying to avoid but we were prepared for it. I was going to bust out my pidgin kine talk and lettum know. Local surfers in this area make a lifestyle choice that most of us do not have the guts to do. They sacrifice everything for the surf they love. There’s really nothing out here other than farms and little towns. Very little money to be made but lots of barrels to be had and that decision although sounds easy at first, when it comes down to it, is not easy. With that in mind, and so we are hopefully welcomed back to South Oz by the surfing community, we will refrain from naming surf spots.

We just walked up the beach from here about half a kilometer and scored epic A-frames with barrels both ways. It only lasted for an hour then got fat but it was sure worth it.

This is what life looks like through our Maui Jims. We used them as a filter for our camera.

When we got out we tried to snap a photo but the wind was on it and it wasn’t barrelling any more, but it was! Notice the crowd?

Me super stoked after scoring, my nipples got hard.

The true wave here is a little to the right of this pic. Its super sharky, SUPER SHARKY. Unless its firing, people don’t usually surf it because its not worth the risk. A memorial is at the top in honor of a young surfer that was taken here a few years back. But the wave is insane, one of the best left barrels in the country.

This is the left, you have to paddle across a deep channel to get there and then if you make the barrel it drops you off in the deep channel on the other side. If you don’t make it you just get nailed on the reef.

Louise and I enjoying some Taka and Piss on top of the memorial.

Our oceanfront room

These 2 locals were super cool and even gave us some advice which we are not supposed to share here. We surfed with them for an hour and then they went in. We had it all to ourselves and the sharks.

FEBB- Fun Empty Big Beachies.

Here’s a gate to a secret spot, which one and where? I forget.

Stoked on another discovery with South Australias Beer, a Coopers Ale. Be sure to roll your coopers before opening it, gotta mix the sediments.

This is how you had to find some of the waves. Wally our car was only 2 wheel drive but he handled superbly.

We needed to watch where we were driving while hunting for waves, apparently cars drive over cliffs here.

Another oceanfront room with one of the best right barrels just across the bay. Too bad it was too small to break when we were there. Next time I hope.

There are waves to be found with no one out and all it takes is some patience.

Don’t worry goofy footers, there are some lefts out there too.

A group of travelers from the East Coast adopted us one day as we were getting ready to cook dinner at the caravan park. Their names were Don, Judith, Kerry and Terry. Every year they travel with their buddies in their fancy caravans settling into a caravan park where they stay for a while to relax and fish. We set a date with them one night for a family BBQ and the day of the BBQ Don and Terry went crabbing and caught 28 giant crabs. Everyone was in BBQ heaven while I sat back and enjoyed some chicken. We swapped jokes, even the dirty ones, told stories, and exchanged details in hopes of meeting up again someday. They were such great people and truly exemplified Aussie hospitality.

We surfed in South OZ, scoring fun waves, avoided the big fish, and made friends for a week and then it was time to get back on the road.

South Australia is visited by hundreds of whales every year, although it was not whale season Louise was able to spot one.

About half way there.

Our Nest.

Louise’s parents were landing in Sydney in a few days and it would still take a couple days to get there from where we were surfing. On the way into Sydney we stopped at a bunch of different towns. It seemed odd for people to be living out there. A gas station with bathrooms was a large enough population to warrant it being called a town.

We stayed at a couple of caravan parks when we really needed to and this one was the best because it had a giant inflated bubble that was better than a trampoline. We also got to wash the car as it was filthy from the drive through the desert.

The closer we got to Sydney the more civilization began to reemerge. Before we knew it we were in lush green landscapes and then all of the sudden the ocean. Being surfers its truly been ingrained into our beings that the ocean is our second home and without it we dry up and get old. We went straight to Dee Why and scored a fun session in the beachies since the point wasn’t breaking. That night we picked up Louise’s parents for a two week road trip up the coast to my buddy Campbell Holdsworths place on the Gold Coast.

We traveled 4,800 kilometers, if you did it direct you could have done it in 4,200. We drove on average driving days roughly 8-10 hours. One day for 12 hours. We took 9 days to do it but if you wanted to do it fast, it’s possible to do it in 2 days non-stop. But take your time, take in the scenery, and try and score some good waves. Next time we plan on staying for a month in order to surf a bunch more and get some footage.

Where’s da waves?

The Ansel Adams shots of the day

The boards just waiting to get wet. Lined up and ready to go inside the car.

A magical piss! I didn’t do it on purpose, it was just destiny.

The journey continues………………………………
West OZ

March 13, 2009

We were really excited to head to OZ and get back to a first world country. I was especially looking forward to be in a country that regularly supplied toilet paper in their bathrooms. However, traveling through Australia would be a completely different style of traveling and would pose new challenges for us. First of all we’re going to be doing a lot of surf exploration and public transportation wouldn’t be a practical option. Second, it would be far more expensive than its South East Asian neighbors and would truly put our budgets to the test.

We figured we would either have to rent a car or try to buy a cheap car and re-sell it before leaving the country. Renting a basic car would have run us around A$39 a day and for a camper van around A$80, not to mention the price of gas. Kahi spent a couple days searching http://www.gumtree.com.au (the Aussie craigslist.com) and found a couple cars that were perfect for us. Our top pick, a 89′ Mitsubishi Magna white station wagon for A$1500. Considering we’d be in OZ for a little over a month, renting a car for 30 days would be more than buying one plus we could potentially re-sell the car and make some of our money back.

Our plane landed in Perth early in the morning, we breezed through customs, called the guy with the car, hopped in a cab to his house and bought the car. The test drive went pretty smoothly and it was just what we were looking for. The best part was the back seats folded down so we could sleep in the back.

Our new car. What a beauty!

All loaded up and ready to go surf hunting

After getting gas we drove south to Fremantel where our friend Billy, who we met in Sumatra, lived. He took us to a local pub where we met his girl, Angie, for a few drinks and dinner.

Billy, Angie, Kahi and Louise

After eating rice and noodles for months in South East Asia for months Kahi helped himself to an irresistible steak and red wine dinner.

Billy was a generous host and let us stay a night at his amazing house. Fremantle was a really cool town with beautiful beaches, but there weren’t many waves except those reached by boat so we headed south to Margaret River.

Billy’s place was once a church that was gutted and transformed into a grand house

Kahi called a friend and she hooked us up with a contact for Margaret River, Dillon. From Perth it was just an couple hour drive to his house where we met both him and his roommate Shane-o. They were great! They gave us invaluable advice on where to surf and even let us house-sit for a couple days while they were out of town.

Dillon, Louise, and Kahi

Kahi, Louise and Shane-o at one of the many surf lookouts in Margaret River.

Shane-o was a great host and showed us around the town. We had a great time with him and were stoked to meet such a great guy.

Margaret River is what people call the “north shore (of hawaii)” of Australia, where the waves are heavy and powerful. There were many waves along the stretch of coast ranging in difficulty from beginner to experienced. The water there is pretty cold so we purchased wetsuits to keep us nice and toasty. While in Margaret River we scored some pretty good waves, but not like those you see in the mags or videos.

Checking out the surf at the point

This wave picked up the most swell in the area and was pretty fun.

The point’s car park is popular place to watch the sunset and a great place to check out the surf.

Just up the street from Dillon and Shane-o’s place were a couple of spots where you could score some really good beachies (beach break).

We lucked out here and caught it while it was glass, barreling, and with barely anyone out. This picture does the break no justice, but you can see how the wave peals around the point. The wave is fast, steep and hollow at first then becomes a fun mellow wave with a carve-able wall. Perfect for most skill levels.

Another bonus to this spot is that it has a beautiful beach perfect for lounging around.

Across the bay are a couple of left-handers. This one didn’t pick up as much swell but longboarders seemed to be having tons of fun. The point in the far left hand of the pic shows another point with another wave, also a left but is more powerful and heavy.

Another wave up the coast from Margaret River. We didn’t surf here but it looks like it could get really good.

On our last night in Margs Shane took us to his buds for some pizza and music. We got to chance to enjoy some really good music from a local and got to meet Cahn and his girlfriend. Cahn is actually a long time friend of our bud Darryl Freeman in Kaimuki. They both were professional downhill skateboarders. Cahn was leaving the next day with his girl to the Mentawais. They were going to work for six months and just score great waves at a land based camp. Gonna give him a ring in a few months to see how its going. Just another thing to add to our list of things to do.

Margaret River and the entire south western coast of WA is a gold mine of sick waves, but we really didn’t get to spend enough time in the area to get a good taste. We’ll be back for sure but next time for a couple months. The breaks are still pretty crowded especially on the weekends when surfers from up north drive down to score some waves, but with ample spots you can find some where that suits your taste. Even if you do not surf the area is gorgeous and is well known for its wineries. Definitely go on a winery tour and tickle your taste buds with their intoxicating concoctions.

One of the many vineyards in Margaret River

My parents we’re flying into Sydney in a couple weeks and originally we were going to fly over there but since we bought the car we decided to drive across the country and pick them up. We got mixed reactions when we told people we were going to do this. Many of them told us we were crazy and it would be a heck of a drive, it would take 3 days if we drove 24 hours a day. We wanted to take our time and surf in South Australia so we gave ourselves two weeks to get across. Before leaving we took Wallace (our car) into the mechanic to get him check out and make sure he’d survive the drive. He got an oil change, a new driveshaft, new breaks, and all sorts of other things done to him so he was cherried out and ready to make the journey!
Malaysia-vu

March 4, 2009

We got back to Malaysia with two goals. The first was to eat as much Indian food as we could and the second was to find waves in the South East. With dedicated focus, we were able to achieve both. The first couple of days we spent with Ditesh our couchsurfing host and now our true friend. There we caught up with the world before jumping back into a technologically void island. Ditesh took us to Indian food, introduced us to his beautiful lady friend Anita, gave us a tour of the gov’t city, and took us to eat Indian food, oh yah said that already.

Kuala Lumpur Government City, (Putrajaya)

We were given a hint by a friend we made in Laos about an island off the South East Coast of Malaysia that had world class waves. The only problem was getting there as the ferry service was sporadic depending on the weather and the planes were cost prohibitive for us. We took a 6 hour bus ride from KL, (everyone says KL, its an automatic rookie giveaway to say Kuala Lumpur as I found out one evening). When we got to the ferry port the weather was nice but the tide was wrong and we had to spend a night in Mersing. Oh the excitement of Chinese food and internet cafes! This place is worth avoiding but sometimes as in our case it was unavoidable. Then next day we got our ferry to Tioman. Tioman was voted 1 of the 10 most beautiful islands in the world and we were eager to see if it would live up to its title. We kept an open mind, but coming from Hawaii we figured the top 7 were the Hawaiian Islands. We have to give Tioman a big thumbs up, its awesome and I’ll rank it up there among the top 20. As we boarded the ferry they locked us in the downstairs deathtrap and Louise was feeling really claustrophobic. Once out of the harbor they let us go upstairs to the open deck. But as we waited downstairs I noticed another surfer loading his board onto the ferry. We haven’t seen another surfboard other than ours in ages, we had very little idea what to expect on this island, this guy was dark and looked Malay, so we decided to meet him.

His name was Takin and was one of roughly 20 surfers in all from Singapore. He manages the Billibong store in Singapore and also had never been to Tioman but had surfed almost the rest of the coast of SE Malaysia. There are a few world class waves in Malaysia which is saying a lot considering most people would never have guessed there was even surf there. The ferry stopped at the each of the roughly 7 towns on Tioman but not the side with the surf. Our stop was at Tekek was around 5pm and we thought we would have to stay the night on the side of the island without surf. But Takin had already arranged a ride and a place to stay on the other side of the island. I asked whether we could share a ride and he said no problem. By 5:30 the same day we were unpacked and surfing a fun beach break right in front of the place we were staying! The next few days were spent surfing when the tide was right, relaxing on the beach, going snorkeling, reading, playing poker, and eating great food.

Our hut for the week

The surf never got very big, just big enough to be fun before beach breaks start to close out. The beach we were staying on is called Juara (Champion). It is easily to understand how it got its name. The beach is long (3k?), wide, lined with coconut trees, a nice breeze, the coarse beige sand you dream about, and decent waves for a quarter of the year. The time to visit for surfers is November to February (monsoon season). Although it was monsoon season, the island is spared much of the consistent rains that the coast gets.

The pet monkey, we took care of his area and let him pick our fleas.

We built a sandcastle/temple one day for the gods. We also watched it tumble. What else you got to do?

This pic shows the undisturbed beach above us as we laid for hours just reading and sleeping. Not one person walked by, or even onto the beach the whole time.

This place caused smiles and small green bikinis.

A beautiful full moon in Juara.

We had sunny skies with occasional clouds that gave us respite from the powerful sun. The non surfing tourist should go during the summer but at the same time its more expensive then and supposedly is much more crowded. The owner of the place we were staying at was the same man our friend in Laos told us to look up and say hi, but we missed him (Tim). He was in KL trying to promote the idea of having an ASP surfing event at the point break. From the pictures I saw and the descriptions given to me by others while there, it seems like it would be a great place to have an event. The only problem I see is the exposure which is a catch 22. We surfed everyday at mid-tide going higher and surfed with the same 5-7 locals. They were truly nice guys all having a great time. Tioman is in its infancy of surfing, its innocent stage, its happy stage free from greed. I hope it never happens, others would say its inevitable, but I hope Juara keeps its innocence. The surf event will bring much needed money and would bring more tourists, I just hope the locals are involved in the decision.

The day we went snorkeling was exciting. We paid roughly $10 USD for the boat ride to three different spots. The first was an island lined with boulders, the second was monkey bay, and the third was a marine sanctuary. I was looking forward to taking the spear I found at the place we were staying and catching some fish for the BBQ we would have later in the evening.

I jumped into the water and there were tons of fish, just too small. But as I swam to the other side of the island the water got deeper and the fish bigger. I missed the first couple of shots, saw some scuba divers go down there and wanted to snake a swig of air off their octopus, but let them go. Then I found a nice school of really tasty looking fish near the surface. I slowly approached and released the home-made spear. I nailed one right in the body but not the head. It obviously flipped out and wiggled off of my spear and began swimming away. I followed him for a while but he got away.

As I went back to the school and prepared for another attempt the fish scattered and out of the corner of my eye a large shark was coming in to inspect. I wasn’t scared at first because it was only about 5 feet long and it was a black tip and we’ve learned that these very rarely attack humans unless threatened or you are between some of their food. I looked to the shore to see if I could climb up but the boulders looked too slippery and the surf was banging into them making them a quite precarious escape route. I looked back down at the shark and it looked agitated so at that point I became a bit worried. I slowly began swimming away backwards keeping my eye on the shark with the spear between my legs and ready to be fired. I made it back to the other side and was able to scare the rest of the people snorkeling with my story.

We made some great friends that were running Tims place while he was gone. They were a couple Marcus (Sweden) and Ingrid (Norway). Also staying there was Goutierre (French dude).

Marcus was a professional chef and even with the minimal amount of supplies on the island he was able to prepare magnificent meals. I knew I liked this place from the music playing on the stereo which went from reggae to jazz to electronic and then it just kept going. I was bummed my hard drive is full of videos and wasn’t able to swap any music. All three of them were new surfers and its always great to meet new surfers. They are always so amped, they’ve got what we call the bug. They also liked to play Texas hold em’. We played three games, I won the first, Ingrid won the second, and the last one was almost won by a young boy Adam but with Poker the river can take you down and he lost to Goutierre. I kinda felt bad for Goutierre because we were all routing for Adam but he was a good sport and gave the kid back his money. I can see Adam being a great Poker player some day.

A beautiful spread prepared by our hosts.

The morning we left Juara for Tekek by 4×4 car, then on to Mersing by Ferry, and then by bus to KL started off a bit problematic. All of a sudden as the car was climbing the steep road in the dark we came to a dead end. A rubber tree had fallen down in the night, taken out the powerlines, and blocked our way to the other side. We had a ferry to catch in an hour and a plane to Australia the next day. If we didn’t make it now we would most likely miss our flight on to OZ. We got out and tried to avoid the down powerline that was not severed, thank goodness. We pulled the branches out of the way but soon realized it was frivolous. We headed back down to get a machete. When we got back up there it was time to reach deep down into my Filipino roots and pull out my bad ass machete skills. The girls pulled the broken branches to the side, and the driver sat in the car and smoked his ciggarette. He did give it a few wacks but quickly became short of breath. About 10 minutes into hacking the driver felt he was ready and without telling us he just gassed it. He went half on the road and half in the pure jungle. Louise jumped out of the way just in time and was fine but his passenger side mirror was toast.

The tree and the power line on the ground. Also the headlights cause was still dark brah.

We jumped back in the car and sped to the ferry. We had fifteen minutes to do a 25 minute drive. Luckily as a result of the magic of island time, the ferry was late a few minutes and we made it. Thank goodness. We had one night in KL with Ditesh and then it was off to Perth.

Some locals we had lunch with and then taught to play gin while we waited.
Thailand

February 25, 2009

After a short flight from Luang Prabang we arrived in Bangkok. I was really excited for Thailand and was really looking forward to the food. I’ve been dreaming about the curries and most of all the pad thai.

Yummy street side Pad Thai

Our first day in Bangkok we spent hunting for the muy thai boxing stadium. The light rail didn’t run in the area we were staying in so we caught the river taxi down the river which dropped us off near the stadium.

The river taxi was an experience in its own. Everyone waits on the pier and when the taxi pulls up everyone piles in sometimes filling the boat to max capacity.
Taking the river was a great way to avoid the road traffic and was much cheaper than taking a normal taxi. It was only a short walk from the ferry pier to the stadium. On the way we walked through Lumphini Park. A huge fitness park with a swimming pool, soccer field, basketball court, and all sorts of work out equipment. The work out equipment seemed more like a play ground and made exercise feel like play.

Kahi playing around on some exercise equipment

The muy thai boxing stadium was huge and we really wanted to watch the fights but the tickets were too expensive. We headed back to the area our hotel was in and stopped to get something for dinner. In the middle of eating Kahi began feeling sick and went back to our room to lay down. When I got back he was feeling nauseous and uneasy. He had got a case of food poisoning and was puking his guts out. We think it was from the green curry earlier that day, from a little street stand and prepared by a lady-boy which made it kind of funny. Luckily it was only a 24 hour bug and he felt better the next day.

The next couple of days we spent walking around town doing some shopping and figuring out where to head next. The shopping was great with all sorts of clothes and trinkets, we ended up mailing a huge box home of stuff.

Chinese New Years was going on in China Town so we headed over to check out the scene. The street stands were cooking all sorts of yummy food but Kahi’s tummy wasn’t quite ready to eat street food yet.

China Town temples

We were eating lunch in a restaurant and an elephant walked by, no big deal, right? After all we were in Thailand.

It had been about a month since we last saw the ocean and were more than ready to get out of the city and head for the beaches down south. We heard mixed things about Phuket and were a little hesitant about spending time there. Some told us that it was a great time, lots of partying and beautiful beaches. Others told us to skip it, that it was very touristy with heaps of lady-boys trying to pull you into their clubs and that the islands were where we should go.

To Phuket we went. Phuket is Thailand’s largest island, I had no idea Phuket was an island. The most affordable area in Phuket is Old Phuket Town, most tourist stay at Patong Beach about 15K away over the hills but its a lot more expensive. We found a nicely priced guesthouse right in town and hired a motorbike so we could explore the island.

Old Phuket Town

That evening we went to a local bar with live music to get a drink or two. We were the only tourists in the bar and it was a nice change. The locals were very friendly and gave us some great advice on which beaches to go to and also recommended a good restaurant to got to.

The bar

This tasty blended drink made with mint, lime and whiskey is sure to sneak up on you

They suggested we eat dinner at Kamala which was a hill with a stunning view of Phuket Town. There were many restaurants to choose from and they were reasonably priced too.

The next day we spent exploring some of the beaches of Phuket. It was only a quick ride over the hills and we were back at the beach. No surf, but it was nice to go for a swim and lay in the sun.

We made it!!! Sweet sweet ocean

Don’t want to walk to the next beach? Hop on the local elephant and get a ride over

There were many beautiful beaches along the western coast of Phuket. Most are pretty crowded but a few we stumbled upon with no one around.

Another beautiful beach

Stumbling upon this uncrowded beautiful beach was a nice surprise

After a full day of beach hopping and snorkeling, Kahi turned to me and said “I want to go surfing!” We were planning to spend three weeks in Thailand, but decided to cut it short so we could spend more time in Malaysia hunting for waves.

The next morning we caught a bus to Krabi then hired a boat to take us to Hat Ton Sai. The boat ride wasn’t cheap. None of the regular boats would take us to Ton Sai and only to Railey, the more popular and expensive beach next door. So we privately charter a boat to take us there.

Our private boat to Ton Sai

It took about an hour to get from Krabi to Hat Ton Sai, but the ride was very scenic.

Hat Ton Sai

The beach was a lovely white sand crescent beach surrounded by steep limestone cliffs a true backpackers and rock climbers paradise. Most people come to Ton Sai to rock climb and if you don’t climb its the perfect place to achieve pure relaxation.

We sat back and watched the rock climbers make their way up the steep cliffs

Rock climbers getting an early start

Kick back and relax on the beach.

The place we stayed in was very very basic. It was a small bamboo hut right by the beach with nothing in it except for a futon on the floor and a mosquito net. The huts were managed by the guys that ran the “Chill Out Bar” the best and only reggae bar on the beach. The guys were so stoney! During the day they work the bar and lounge around the bar and at night they listen to sick reggae music and put on a fire show. We had a great time chilling with them and just sitting around doing absolutely nothing.

The Chill Out Bar

We tried to see if we could rent this sick tree house but the boss of the Chill Out Bar lives there.

Our humble bamboo bungalow, basic but comfortable

The very basic shower. An out door bucket of water, it wasn’t the clearest water but we got over it and used it anyway.

Every night at 9pm the guys at the Chill Out Bar would put on a fire show, they let Kahi give it a go.

The bar next door had a tight rope (slack rope), we spent some time fooling around on it. Some of the rock climbers were really good at it and could jump around on it and even do two people at a time.

Ton Sai Sunset

The path that leads from the beach to the upper road with a few more restaurants and accommodations on it

A goat along the path

Sweet stick rice and mango is a delicious desert

After a couple days at Ton Sai we began to get a little antsy. There really isn’t much to do there and you can only do so much of nothing before you go crazy. Kahi’s 30th birthday was coming up and he wanted to do some SCUBA at Ko Phi PHi so we bought ferry tickets for the following morning.

The ferry from Hat Ton Sai to Ko Phi Phi

Ko Phi Phi

Since we saved some money staying in the little bamboo bungalow and it was Kahi’s 30th birthday we decided to splurge a little and stay somewhere nice for the next couple of days. The hotel was the PP Princess right on the beach and it had a gorgeous infinity pool over looking the ocean.

The pool

That evening we spent visiting different dive shops and deciding which one to go with for our two dives the following day. We chose to go with Mosquito Dive and they invited us to come back in a few hours to watch them give one of the girls her last test before becoming a dive master. After eating dinner we stopped by the shop to see what it was all about.

First thing she had to do was go under water with a tank filled with minimal air and chug a beer underwater. After completing that task they had her sit down with a snorkel in her mouth and they poured a bottle of Thai Whiskey and another beer down a funnel attached to her snorkel and she had to chug the concoction.

Beer and whiskey were spit everywhere and she threw up multiple times. It was quite entertaining. After completing these tasks she was awarded her dive master certificate.

The next morning we woke up bright and early and headed over to the pier where our boat was waiting. We both had not dove in a while and were both a little nervous, but more excited.

Mosquito Boat

Our dive master was a local of Ko Phi Phi named Champ. The dives were off of Ko Phi Phi Le, a smaller island located just off of Ko Phi Phi, where the movie “The Beach” was filmed. The first dive was pretty nice, the reef wasn’t very impressive but the sea life was quite abundant. We saw a leopard shark, cuttlefish, flounder, starfis, seahorses, sea nymphs and all sorts of other critters. So far so good.

After the first dive the boat operator took us by a cliff jump we heard of and we jumped off the boat, climbed up the cliff and jumped. It was a lot higher than we thought, probably around 45ft.

They also took us by the beach where they filmed the movie “the beach” but it wasn’t the same as the movie. There were around 25 boats on the beach and a ton of people, not like the movies where its deserted. It was still a very beautiful beach, just not what we were expecting.

The beach from the movie “The Beach” but way more crowded

After lunch we prepared for our next dive which was just around the corner of the island. I was unable to do the second dive because of pressure in my crown, it was a bummer. Kahi went on his own with Champ and they saw a seahorse and some other sea life. I cruised on the boat and worked on my tan.

Champ our dive master, Kahi and Louise on the boat after a lovely day of SCUBA

Champ told us about a Muy Thai fight that was happening that evening and sold us a couple of tickets so we could go check it out. There were 8 fights and they didn’t start till 9pm, the first couple of fights were younger kids so we decided to meet at 10pm and head over together.

After leaving the dive shop we laid around the pool and went for a walk to find some where to eat. I wasn’t feeling so good so we went back to the hotel to take a nap and rest up so we could celebrate Kahi’s birthday later that night.

Before heading over to meet with Champ we stopped to get a bite to eat. I was still feeling a bit woozy and though I might have to throw up, the bathroom wasn’t easily accessible so we sat near the entrance where I could run outside to puke if necessary. After dinner we were walking to meet up with Champ, but I had to stop and throw up in the bushes. I got a good old case of food poisoning, it was my turn. Man did it suck! I didn’t want to ruin Kahi’s birthday and felt a little better after throwing up so on we went to the Muy Thai fights.

Muy Thai

The fights were pretty brutal with non-stop action. Each fight consisted of 5 rounds of 2 minutes each. They fought until one of the opponents was knocked out or by a point system that we didn’t quite understand. The first couple rounds were pretty young guys maybe 15 or 16 years old. It was a little hard to watch as they punched and kicked the crap out of each other. Each successive fight was an older and more skilled pair of opponents. There were even a couple of matches where “falong” or tourist who had been training fought.

I made it through all the fights without puking, but had a plastic bag with me just in case

Food poisoning sucks! We had been traveling for about 5 months though South-East Asia and had eaten at the most sketchy hole in the wall places possible and then we get to Thailand and eat a decent places and we get the worst food poising ever. Both times from curry, watch out for the coconut curry! Its evil! No not really but just make sure they use fresh coconut milk or you will suffer and wont be able to eat food for a day or two.

The next morning we hopped on a ferry back to Phuket to catch our flight to Kuala Lumpur where we would meet up with our buddy Ditesh, then head down south in to Tioman Island in search of some waves.

Kahi makes a pretty lady-boy
Vang Vieng Vices

February 14, 2009

Laos (Lao) is a land of contrasts. On one side you have the natural beauty of untouched forest and then on the other hand you’ve got drunk travelers floating down a river and launching themselves off of ridiculously huge swings. Both have their positives, one has some painful negatives (hangovers).

After flying from Siem Reap and the temples of Angkor Wat we landed in Vientienne a bit hazed. We stayed a night in Vientienne and it was a beautiful town, wouldn’t really say city. While we were there we got pages added to our passports because we were out. We really wanted to do the cliche scene in the movies where we would run up to the gate yelling, “LET US IN WE ARE AMERICANS!” but it wasn’t set up that way maybe next time.

We only had a two weeks in Laos so we took off to Vang Vieng the next day. We spent our first day spelunking. Yeah, spelunking, its a great time and exciting for the whole family! (Spelunking: cave exploring). There were guides available but we decided against it. To engage a cave with no guide makes it that much more satisfying, but actually we were all scared shitless. The caves go back further and further and further, you try to remember whether you took a left there and then one there and then a right turn but we couldn’t afford to forget. If you go too deep you end up stuck for life! Needless to say, we survived but Liz lost a leg.

This river cave goes back really far. If you lose the rope you could get lost forever. At the end of the rope you could hear a flowing river and it got really scary.

After the spelunking we went on a bike ride down a random road and ended up getting to see about 5 traditional Lao villages. The communities were all working together farming the lands and actually bringing water from the river and walking it back to the garden to water the goods by hand.

We ended up going too far and couldn’t figure out how to get across the river to the road. We were lost until a group of boys helped us out. One of the kids knew where there was a boat. These kids spoke no English and my Lao stopped at “cold beer please”. We managed through the language barrier and got across, no money was requested, but we hooked the boy up with a huge amount in his land but nothing in ours. It was the equivalent of a days work and we were worried that we would set a bad example by encouraging charging for good deeds, but if you saw the way the families lived you know they were very appreciative.

That night we spent it at the local bonfire clubs and Louise had a few too many.

The next day we engaged in the South East Asia tradition of tubing in Vang Vieng. You hire a tube, float down a river, stop at every bar, and indulge in the libations and HUGE SWINGS! We’ve never encountered this before. We were awestruck that this place existed. It was like Disney World for adults! Louise and I love to launch off of things and this was the usual on steroids, plus ALCOHOL! Don’t worry Mom and Dad, once we got to the point where we shouldn’t have done it anymore we stopped. 🙂

check out the video footage we took.

After a night of tubing we headed back to the bonfire bars. People get sauced at these things, especially those that power through and try to go straight from the river to the bars. I saw a guy fall on his face when he forgot he was standing on an elevated drinking area. I also saw WALDO! Or as they call him everywhere else, Wallie.

We enjoyed it so much that we did it two days in a row! There was a guy on the river that had written on himself, 61 of 70 days on the river, meaning he’s been in the area for 70 days and spent 61 on the river and I believed it. Some people come here and get stuck partying. But we lucky needed to get back to the ocean and the river life just couldn’t hold us. We were off to the North to go exploring the next morning.

The hangover we had going to Luang Prabang was bearable but barely. Our main intent was to go on a trek. In our world its a hike but in SE Asia and Europe they call it a trek. Its a great word, sounds cool, trek. We signed up for a three day two night trek. Just Louise, Liz, our guide, and I trekking through Lao checking out how the locals live.

The view of Luang Prabang

Pancakes with bananas and a hell of a lot of butter.

The morning before our trek we went to watch the monk procession at dawn. Every morning the monks in the area walk the streets uniformly and the locals hand out donations, usually sticky rice. If anyone wants to see this in LP be sure to avoid the areas near your hotel. Its sad because there end up being all these tourists surrounding the monks taking photos and flashing their flashes in their faces. It seemed humiliating so we tried to avoid the masses, but in a sense we are just part of that problem.

The trekking was fabulous, we packed the bare necessities and headed off. The first day we biked all day, the second we hiked/trekked, and the last day we kayaked. Biking allowed the girls to learn how to use the gears and I tried to teach our guide Noi how to bunny hop the bike. It was a long ride but not too hard. The hike took us through a bunch of villages. We’d stop, say hello, relax, check out the animals, walk around, and usually they would want to drink alcohol with us. Not ones to be rude, we always obliged. It made the walk a bit easier as well. The last day we kayaked to an elephant sanctuary with awesome waterfalls and then continued down the river till sunset. One of our friends that we made ended up jumping onto our kayak because his was crap and our other friend took that one solo. We made it our goal after that to go where you weren’t supposed to go, take the wildest rapids, and launch waterfalls. Ok maybe not the waterfalls. We were surprised we didn’t break the kayak. We hit so many rocks and even flipped over on one little rapid.

The people of Lao were so warm and accepting. They would always be willing to talk to you, starting off with a “Sabaidee”, give you directions, or share whatever they had with you. We never saw a homeless person in Lao, we saw entire villages farming the same land in cooperation. We had complete strangers, (boys in a field playing around), help us cross a raging river, and we got drunk with fellow travelers. It was a great time and although the country is landlocked it remains one of our favorites of SE Asia. We wish we had had enough time to go further into the North because it is supposed to get even more rural and the trekking is claimed to be some of the best anywhere. But you gotta save some stuff for later, or at least thats what we tell ourselves.

FUNNY STORY: So we stopped in a village and saw what we thought was a siamese dog. These dogs were stuck together and Louise and I were shocked. But Liz quipped, “ah just throw cold water on them and they’ll seperate.” We were like “huh?” But then we looked close and realized they were stuck together because one dogs dingaling was stuck in the others pooonannny. Look close and you can see yourself. His redrockets firing.
Cambodia

February 4, 2009

Good bye Vietnam, Hello Cambodia!

We really didn’t have much time left in South-East Asia but we had to stop in Cambodia to explore the temples of Angkor. To save some time we caught a bus straight to Siem Reap and decided to save Phnom Phen for our next Cambodia visit. It was a 6 hour ride from Saigon to the Vietnam-Cambodia boarder, then another 6 hours to Siem Reap. The bus company arranged our visas and the boarder crossing, making the trip rather hassle free.

Our lunch at the boarder crossing: Cambodia style pork noodle soup. Yummy!!!

The temples of Angkor consist of over 50 structures spread over a 20 by 20 kilometer area, we had three days to cover as much ground as possible before we got completely burnt out. Our plan of attack was to start with the smaller temples and work our way up to the head honchos. Earlier in our travels we met an interesting girl from Taiwan who raved about exploring the Angkor Temples by bicycle. We all thought the exercise would be nice and decided to give it a try. The hotel across the street from our guest house rented “White Bicycles” where the proceeds go towards youth education and other community development projects, so we opted to rent these special bikes.

Day 1

We had a long bike ride ahead of us, it was about a 5K ride to the Angkor Ticket Office from our guesthouse, 30K to complete the loop and another 5K back to our hotel. It was far. We weren’t really sure what the roads would be like or if we’d even be able to complete the loop, but it really wasn’t bad at all. The roads were flat and in great condition, except for one short section where they were repaving the roads.

From just a little bit of google-research we learned that most of the tour buses headed for Angkor Wat first thing in the morning followed by Angkor Tom and continuing in a clockwise direction. Wanting to avoid the tour groups as much as possible we decided to do the loop going the opposite direction.

After visiting a couple of temples we stopped to get a cup of coffee. As with any other tourist destination we were bombarded by people trying to get us to buy souvenirs, but these were mostly children about 6-12 years old. They were really good at selling things and had all sorts of tricks up their sleeves. They’d play games with you, if you lost you buy. There was a little boy who challenged Kahi to a fierce game of Tic-Tac-Toe and a girl who was brilliant at naming capitals of countries or states, you name a country and if she got the capital correct you buy. The kids were everywhere and it did get a little annoying at time, but you need to have some compassion for them as they’re only doing what their parents have requested.

Prasat Kravan, our first temple.

Child labor at its finest

Kahi’s Tic-Tac-Toe challenge, he never lost, but he also never won. The kid knew all the moves.

The temples weren’t very far from each other so we didn’t ride the our bikes very far before getting a little break to check out the next temple.

Banteay Kdei

Ta Som – The trees really show the age of the temples, they’re impressive and beautiful

Pre Rup

Liz molesting one of the lions guarding Pre Rup

Preah Neak Pean, we really liked this place. It was one large pool with a temple in the middle surrounded by four smaller ones. We relaxed in the mid day sun here and read our books. We also found a giant centipede.

Preah Khan

Preah Khan

Preah Khan reliefs

We took up a new hobby of taking picture of people taking pictures. These guys were hilarious!

We were quite successful at avoiding the crowds all day until it came to sunset. The thing to do was to climb up a hill to Phnom Bakheng which over looked the city and supposedly had a view of Angkor Wat. We should have known but we were surprised to see that everyone and their mom were at the top of this hill. They were even offering elephant rides to the top of the hill. It was quite ridiculous. Since we were already there we figured we should see what all the hype was about. At the top there were probably about 500 people there to see the sunset. It was strange though, the sun wasn’t setting behind Angkor Wat but instead above the city. Whoopty-do! The view of Ankor Wat was blocked by trees unless you stood in a small area shared with many others. It was very beautiful but we knew there had to be other places where the sunset would be better, and you’d probably be alone considering everyone was at Phnom Bakheng. After the sun set we made our way back to our guesthouse, the ride wasn’t bad at all and we decided we’d use them again the next day.

Everyone making their way up to Phnom Bakheng for the sunset

View of Angkor Wat from the top of Phnom Bakheng

Another great picture of people taking pictures, oh yeah and the sunset in the background

Day 2

Back on the bicycles for another ride around the temples. Not as long as the big loop the small loop was about 27K round trip from our guesthouse, still pretty far though. I highly recommend exploring the temples by bicycle if you have the time. They really give you a chance to enjoy the scenery in between the temples, plus you get some good exercise. Our first stop on the small circuit was Ta Phrom, the temple where Tomb Raider was filmed. Kahi was particularly excited about this one.

The great thing about exploring the Angkor Temples is that they pretty much give you free range of the temples. Meaning that you can climb all over they and explore all the rooms on your own, except for a few areas that are blocked off for safety purposes. Remember these temples are OLD and kind of falling apart. We started off with all of the other tourist and trust me there were a lot of them. Then we squeezed though this little passage that lead to a large open courtyard with no one around. We spent the majority of our time walking exploring this part of the temple, there was only one other girl in the area hang out reading her book. It was great! It felt like we had the whole place to ourselves. Ta Phrom was definitely one of our favorite temples.

Ta Phrom, the common areas

Ta Phrom

Ta Phrom, in the back

All to ourselves 🙂

The trees really took over this one

Next we stop was Ta Keo, only 2K away. The architecture of this temple was very different from all of the others. It was much boxier and very steep.

On our way we found this little temple, I don’t think it was on the map. Anyway I rode around it 6 times just for kicks.

Work smarter not harder! Kahi hooked on to the back of a girls bike and had her tow him for a little. She was up for the challenge.

Ta Keo – the steps are only 5 inches wide making it a little tricky to get to the top

We took a little reading break at the top of Ta Keo and hung out in the shade for a while

On our way to Ankor Thom we rode our bikes around Thommanon. There was a long walk way that looked like a runway from a fashion show, Liz and I got up there and did a few turn on the catwalk. Right when we were getting done with messing around a little old monk lady popped out of the temple. She handed us two sticks of incense and motioned for us to follow her. She lead us though the temple to a little figure of Buddah where we stuck the sticks in a bowl and then she pointed to a little box where we were suppose to leave an obligatory donation. We didn’t have money on us and had to walk back to our bikes, she followed us the whole way. It was a little funny.

Thommanon

Riding our bikes further down the road we came across the east gate of Angkor Thom. There are five gates, one facing each pole and a victory gate, they’re all topped with four heads of the Buddah of Compassion and lined by a row of warrior guys pulling an eel/serpent/snake thing with many heads. Once though the gates, it was lunch time and a row of restaurants wasn’t far. As we got closer we were approached by a group of ladies, they all wanted us to eat at their restaurant. The competition is fierce, it’s easy to bargain with them and get them to lower their prices then whats on their menus. After lunch we were pretty tired and walked over to a shaded grassy area to take a nap. We passed out for at least an hour. It was getting late so we biked over to Angkor Wat to watch the sunset. It was more dramatic than Phnom Bakheng and less crowded. The next day would be our last day of temple touring, I think we had all seen enough temples to last us a while and were quite glad we were almost done.

Angkor Thom East Gate

Warriors at the gates of Angkor Thom

Kahi drinking rice wine with his new friends

We took a nice little nap after lunch in the grass under a tree near these temples

The front gate of Angkor Wat at sunset

Day 3

We saved sunrise at Angkor Wat for our last day and decided to hire a tuk-tuk for the day because none of us wanted to wake up extra early to bike all the way to the temple plus our butts were a little sore from riding on minimally padded bike seats for two days. There was a misunderstanding and we though we had to be at Angkor Wat at 5:15am to see the sunrise, but instead be needed to leave our hotel at 5:15am and the sun didn’t rise until 6:00am, so we were there really really early. It was super cold and we froze our butts off on the tuk-tuk ride over. We were the first ones to enter Angkor Wat and Kahi found a good spot for us to watch the sunrise from. Slowly more and more people started showing up, soon enough we were completely surrounded and Kahi had to monitor our to keep our spot. Liz and I sat back and watched as everyone tried to get that perfect photo of the sunrise. I realized that sometimes you’re trying so hard to take a good photo that you can’t enjoy the moment because you get so caught up with recording it.

Kahi and I freezing our butts off in the back of the tuk-tuk

Our tuk-tuk for the day

Angkor Wat at sunrise

The other 1000 people enjoying it with us

The inside of Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat reliefs depicting images of heaven (above) and hell (below)

Liz and Kahi had a intense tournament of Rock-Paper-Scissors (RPS) going on though our entire South-East Asia trip. Here they are battling it out for the Cambodian cup. In the end Kahi was crowned RPS master of South-East Asia but Liz put up some stiff competition and seemed to be a lot better after a few drinks. Or maybe it was Kahi did worse.

Angkor Wat was beautiful but to tell you the truth it wasn’t my favorite temple. Maybe I would have looked at it differently if we visited it first or at least on the second day. By the third day we were all a little burnt out and a little tired of looking at temples. When we first started out we climbed all over the temples exploring all the little rooms and taking time to look at all the little details. Now we were simply walking though the temples admiring them but not in as much detail.

Next we headed to Angkor Thom to explore the last couple of temples on our list.

Terrace of the Leper King

Terrace of Elephants

Baphuon – is currently getting a facelift, can you see the giant Buddha?

The Bayon

The Bayon – this was our favorite temples, we even had our driver do one last loop around the temple before we left

Our driver was surprised when we asked him to take us back to our guesthouse, it wasn’t even noon but we were done looking at temples. The Temples of Angkor were an unforgettable experience. I really loved riding bicycles around the temples, it really slowed things down and gave you the time to enjoy them. Two and a half days of temples was perfect, maybe just a little too much. I think if I could do it all over again I would do Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom the second day and the short circuit the third day. That way you’re still excited enough about the bigger guys, plus you really only need half a day for the small circuit. Ta Phrom and The Bayon are amazing and you’ll be impressed no mater how many temples you’ve already seen.

Next we’re headed to Laos for some good old tubing down the river and trekking though some villages. Its going to be cold up there!

Off to Laos!

recent posts

about

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3