America June 23

Finally, back in the states after about 2 years of traveling and it was definitely a different experience and feeling. I was so used to being on holiday for so long that I knew that America meant that it was time to get to work in a sorta real job market. But....before work....we ended up spending about 2 weeks in San Francisco, California, with Cayce....a girl I met in Sydney when I came down to work and again met her in Malaysia. We had a great time on a house boat for a week with her and her family, pretty much drinking and water sports. It was a good time to have some reflection on what I wanted to do and to also prepare myself for life in the states again.......DEFINITELY DIFFERENT BUT WILL NEVER FORGET THE FUN!!!!

Saigon June 20 - 22

We left and made it to the city of Saigon, it was basically like any other big city which had nothing super special to see or do. One day we did go check out the Ho Chi Min tunnels that were around for the Vietnamese war. This was really interesting to see how the war was viewed on the Vietnamese side. The tunnels were crazy in themselves and they were tiny, even after widening them for tourists. Pretty crazy life, but it was good to see partially what it was like there. We basically took it easy checking out the tunnels and we met up with a couple other travelers that we knew from before. It was off to America because money was tight......

Nah Trang June 16 - 20

After getting suits made, we took a night bus to Nah Trang where it was basically a stop off before making it to Saigon. The best part about Nah Trang was the lobster "happy hour." We were on the beach and a lady with pails full of seafood and lobster walks up saying "happy hour" in her broken English. After trying to barter with her, we eventually got a lobster lunch with 12 scallops for less then $6 American. What was even better is that she cooked it for us right in front of us and we basically had lobster for lunch the entire time we were in Nah Trang. We did meet with a couple friends that we met along the way and all went out for a good time in the town.

Suits in Hoi An June 13 - 16

Only took 4 hours to get to Hoi An and this city was know for cheap suits and custom clothes/shoes. The city was really slow and pretty small but we still found the best places to eat and of course to party. We did get some suits made, some nice suits and we also got some funny suits made also and we all went out wearing our funny suits.

Sleeper Bus to Hue June 11 - 12

We had to take a sleeper bus to our next destination and funny thing cause it was a sleeper bus...that wasn't the funny part, that funny part was that there was room for 5 people to "sleep" at the back of the bus and guess the 5 guys traveling together got to share the little room and try to "sleep". We figured it was hilarious cause we just met 2 English guys (Courtney and Tom) and we have to sleep spooning them, haha. We did have a very eventful day. The 5 of us all woke up early because of the bus and we got some good breaky. We then met 5 Vietnamese guys and after talking with them they agreed to show us around the city a bit....from the back of their motorbikes. We bombed around the city with them and that was pretty crazy cause of the way they drove out there, but we did get to see a cool little castle, they took us out to the beach, where we had some food and plenty of drinks. After they beach, we all talked and said that we wanted to try dog, which they new of a good place that would serve dog. All-in-all it was a pretty good day that led into a long night and they were really cool also, we def had a good time and an experience.







I was able to try a fertilized duck egg, it was actually pretty good and that's what this picture is about.




Yes.....that is a dog paw, hahaha

Hay Long Bay June 8 - 9

We basically did a day trip to Hay Long Bay with the 2 English guys, the bay was gorgeous, we ended up visiting a cave where there were rock figurines that looked like different animals and were supposed to symbolize different things, this first pic is of one that apparently looks like a lion looking to the right. We got to see some floating fishing villages were we were able to get out and walk around, it was really cool and we actually bought some fresh crabs that we had the cooks on the boat cook for us....very yummy. We spent the rest of the day hanging out, talking, drinkin and watching the sun set

Hell Bus to Vietnam, Hanoi June 5 - 7

Hell Bus was definitely the right word to describe this trip. The bus picked us up at VangVien and wen to the capitol of Laos then drove to the border of Laos and Vietnam. They made all the Westerners sit in the back which made it for a really bumpy and rough ride....on top of that they had little critters and snakes in plastic bags that they kept in the overhead luggage places...pretty rowdy. When we got to the border the bus stopped and turned off the engine and we were supposed to sleep in a hot bus till the border opened. For some reason they barely let me into the border but we finally made it to Hanoi, the capitol of Vietnam. It was basically a big city but we did go to the snake village where we had the opportunity to eat 8 different dishes of snake, drink snake blood (red shot), snake bile (green shot) and local Vietnamese wiskey (brown shot), here are a few pics of the snake village and the shots....we also picked up 2 English guys traveling together, so our group grew to 5 now.....

VangVien May 26 - June 5

If I though Koh Pan-Ngan was a party, VangVien was even rowdier. Everyone talked about floating the river there and basically what it is, is a bar crawl right on the river, there are about 5 different bars and you can either float to the next one or walk to the next one. If you decided to float, there are Laotian guys that would throw soda bottles full of water attached to a string to pull you into the bars because the river flows pretty fast and most of the time your pretty drunk because each bar pours Tiger wiskey down your throat cause its so cheap....1liter of Tiger cost less then a dollar. Not only that, but each bar had their own rope swings, slides and zip lines. From what I remember, you would take a Tuk Tuk to the first bar and they would immediately pour wiskey down your throat when you got there, then you would buy some beers or buckets and start partying. The first bar had a really cool rope swing that would launch you pretty high. At the first bar, they would give you a string wristband, this was to signify every time you "floated" the river, or keep track of how many times you came out to party. The second and third bar were alright, nothing really to write home about. The fourth bar was the "mud bar" they basically had mud pits and you would drink and play in the mud, they also had a rope swing. Definitely a good time there. If you made it to the final bar, they would pain one of your finger nails so you remember how many times you made it to the end of the "float". The final bar had a slide and zip line where people would hold on till the end and get a really nice jerking stop when they hit the end of the zip line and they would do double and triple flips before hitting the water. Haha....good times there are plenty more partying to do away from the river and I managed to get a really good morning picture of where we were staying. Here are a couple pics to give you an idea of the madness.....oh...I made friends with a local pet monkey there also

Thailand to Laos via Lang Prabang - VangVien May 23 - 26

Leaving Thailand and making it to Laos was going to be hell....It was gonna take us about 2 days to travel and we had to go by bus then by slow boat on the river. So we take a bus to the border and end up staying in a guest house which wasn't too bad. We woke up early and got on a slow boat and by slow....I mean s-l-o-w...but it was good cause we got some booze and made the best of it. The boat was small but we had room to move around and stuff like that, just really nothing to do, but after 8 hours we finally make it to the mid point, Lang Pragang, where we stayed in a guest house were they shut off the electricity at 11 because everything ran on generators and they didn't want to waste the fuel keeping it on all night. We woke up and got on a boat....again, but this time it was definitely smaller then the first one and I swear it was slower. We make it to another stop off town and stay the night there and take a bus to VangVien in the morning. The ride there was really cool cause it was very mountainous and a very windy road, and these people are crazy drivers, passing other buses around blind turns where there is only room for 2 cars and no guard rails, haha good times.....



This is the double rainbow we saw on the way to VangVien....it did rain, but that did not stop the drivers from driving all crazy

Changmai May 19 - 23

Changmai is a really cool city in Northern Thailand, there was quite a bit to do here, from trekking in the jungle and staying with some local jungle people, whitewater rafting, the Tiger Palace and quad biking up trails and mountain....we did all of them except for the jungle trek only because we didn't have enough time and felt that the others were definitely a bit more fun......

Visa Run then Bangkok May 11 - 18

We spent 32 hours to renew our visa and traveling to Bangkok, and trust me that really sucked, but we were in a big city and the main thing I wanted to see here was the floating market but our partying sorta kinda got in the way cause we basically went from sleeping to drinking....occasional eating.....like bugs, haha, but here are a few pics of our fun in Bangkok......I will say, for Billy's b-day we hit some go-go bars and saw a very impressive ping-pong show...no pics please, haha

Koh Pha-Ngan Full Moon Party May 5 - 10

All I gotta say about Koh Pha-Ngan is "I LOVE BUCKETS AND FULL MOON PARTY"....The party was just too wild to carry a camera, but man was it a party







This is what a bucket is.....its filled with the yummy of the yummy Thai whiskey, some ice and very little coke/redbull.....and I say that cause the wiskey is cheaper then the coke/redbull so they stack it, haha.......it'll get you druuuunnkk



The only thing that sucked, other then Ben getting his throat cut at the Full Moon party cause he tried to stop someone from stealing a girls purse.....he is alright by the way....is that our visas were up and we spent 32 hours traveling to Burma and then to Bangkok to renew our visas and get back into Thailand....

Phi Phi and The Beach May 1 - 5

I'm not gonna lie, Phi Phi was plenty of partying, haha, perfectly catered for backpackers and it was close to the place where they filmed the movie "The Beach" it was gorgeous out there and we had such a fun time just hangin out and partying our faces off......lets see in Phi Phi, we drank our faces off, I got a bamboo tattoo and we saw the beach from the movie "The Beach".....oh did I mention we drank our faces off, haha. Pretty random, we were walkin around at night looking for the free buckets that was advertised at each bar and we turn the corner and I hear my name....it was a girl that I met in Australia over a year ago, she was working promoting for bars out there, pretty crazy if you ask me, but here are a few pics of how we lived and what the "Beach" looked like.....oh and I fed a monkey, haha

Langkwai to Thailand, Riley Apr 28 - 30

We decided to move on and hit up another country, after traveling into Thailand by boat, which took forever but was an amazing view the entire time.....it was pretty harsh cause lots of people got sick so you basically was forced to head outside. We came into Krabi which is a small town and the jumpoff then getting into Thailand through boat. Riley is a really cool place that is an isthmus that is blocked off by really high limestone cliffs, which makes it for a secluded place to hang out and for some great rock climbing. We had to take a long boat to Riley cause it was closed off by land because of the limestone cliffs. May I add again that longboats are cool and everything but definitely not the best way to travel by water, haha



Once in Riley there was plenty of exploring to do and there were 3 main beaches, the first beach that we arrived on is where everyone pretty much stayed but it was not a pretty beach at all, but the main beaches were absolutely gorgeous, on one of the beaches there was a penis shrine....thats correct a penis shrine haha, it was to represent fertility for fisherman for their catch, also on this beach there was some cliff jumping, so we basically hung out on the beach and did some cliff diving.....after spending some time on Riley, I met a Canadian guy that was into rock climbing and we did a bit of rock climbing together, really cool experience and it was such a rewarding and beautiful sight.....