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James Stevens, of the Dunwoody Crier, recently published an article on my travels in Asia. I want to thank him for writing the story, which I was not expecting at all when I left for my trip. There…
Anne! You won the book. Congratulations. You can thank Excel and its =RAND()*100 function. I haven’t actually put it all together yet, as the final photo count hovers around 6,500 and it takes some…
I have a challenge for you. I have been thinking about what it is about travel that draws me to it so much, and I have realized that it is the sheer amount of people I get to meet. I am constantly…
Right now it is Songkran, the Thai new year. Also known as the Water Festival, it consists of drenching every person with buckets of water, nailing them with super soakers, or lobbing water baloons…
I said my goodbyes to the Canadian volunteers last night over a hot chocolate and cake with ice cream at a local jazz restaurant. The rest of the night was spent packing my newly acquired “stuff”…
I know I have been brief the past week, but it is because I have been spending time just hanging out with this incredible group of people in the Basecamp Nepal Volunteer house. There were six of them…
We finally got off our lazy bums and took the 5:30am wake up call to go bungee jumping. We walked to the bus, got on and fell asleep. Three hours later we were at “The Last Resort,” an adventure…
After I got back from the bike ride, I stopped off at Arjun’s, and met up with David, a guy from south Africa who has just spent the last year teaching English in Korea. He moved out of Arjun’s and…
My last post left me off in Pokara, which was like a beautiful resort town on the side of a lake. I spent a day there driving around to see the sights, and ended up meeting an Australian who had…
I had a longer post that I was going to put up before I left, but my computer just hates me and I couldn’t get it to transfer to my USB drive.I left Kathmandu on a chopper style bike, which puts my…
Kathmandu has been a unique experience, simply because I had no plans after Everest. While I was in South East Asia, I decided to head to Everest, but failed to think about what I would do for the…
Everest Base Camp. The name seems monumental. The entire trek has been aiming at this goal. Seven days of putting one foot in front of the other, breathing air that cannot even support plant life,…
If you have not read Part 1 yet, you should probably do that first. That night, while we were bundled up around the stove in the old blankets all the lodges keep around, Chris came in telling us we…
So much to go over. This has been one of the longest periods of time that I have gone without updating… I think. So I am back in Katmandu, seeing it for the first time really since I was only here…
Power in Kathmandu goes out for several hours a day on a rotating schedule, and I have not been able to get my laptop online… so it will be a little bit before the complete update comes. So far it is…
I leave for Nepal in an hour. I will be out of contact for at least two weeks, if not more, and to tell the truth – it makes me happy. I have spend way to much time on this damn computer over the…
Just posted a new Panorama of Ha Long Bay, and a new group of photos on flickr called Panorama. (you can see it on my photo album page as well)
Hey guys, I know commenting has been a royal pain in the ass, but I have fixed it to where you do not have to login anymore. I should have done this looong ago, but finally figured out how to make it…
ad·ven·ture /æd?v?nt??r –noun 1. an exciting or very unusual experience. 2. participation in exciting undertakings or enterprises: the spirit of adventure. 3. a bold, usually risky undertaking;…
I added a selection of recent photos to flickr. You can see them in the photos page or in the photo albums page. I still advise that you try Pic Lens… I am having a ton of fun playing around with it.…
I have to say that for all of the bad experiences I have had in Hanoi, I am actually liking it a lot right now. The city is vibrant and full of life, the Old Quarter where I am staying is chaotic and…
I have not felt this disillusioned by travel since I left Atlanta. Vietnam, while beautiful, is full of obnoxious, money hungry people who have no shame when it comes to over charging foreigners.…
I skipped out on Hue because it just seemed like another city full of temples and ruins…which were interesting a few months ago, but have ceased to amaze me. After Angkor, nothing can compare. So I…
Click on the map to see more of where I am. All the pictures I just uploaded are from Saigon however
When I realized that I would be coming home on April 18th after all, I began to move very quickly. I am now halfway up the coast of Vietnam, and the trip has been amazing. The coastline is dramatic,…
I always forget how much I like moving quickly through a region. I don’t get quite the same involvement with the locals as I would if I moved slowly, but because I am stepping from one place to…
I have so much to update everyone on. I am now in Saigon, also called Ho Chi Min City. I am currently typing on my laptop, which is now home to an ant colony that lives just under the keyboard and…
I finally have time to write again. Quick re-cap: I left Phnom Penh a few days ago headed for the beach, and I have been traveling with a guy from Iceland for a little while now. Well, we made it to…
Sorry it has been so long, but the internet around here is less than excellent, and I have been moving around a good deal. I am about to get onto a bus that will take me to the southern beaches of…
I woke up this morning at 6:30 am for some reason and could not fall back asleep. That being the case, I got out my Bill Bryson book and read for a while, before going down to the café at the bottom…
A lot has happened in the past day, and I will just quickly give you a rundown as I am trying to get this done before I take a moto-taxi around Phnom Penh for the day. I am going to see the Killing…
Simple, I have been sitting around, waiting for my small digital camera to be fixed… but they can’t fix it, so I am just going to have to keep using the big dSLR for everything and look like a…
So many people I talk with when I am traveling have similar ideas about life. Most are taking a break from something, or have one month off and decided to see the world in a whirlwind of travel. When…
Today was busy as hell. I got a hair cut, a shave, picked up my suits (which look really, really good, and I feel sorry for anyone who stands next to me when I wear them) and mailed a bunch of stuff…
What a stressful day. We had a big night last night, so I got a later start than I would have liked. I made it to the Chinese embassy, which was an hour away, at noon to find out that it closed at…
So I am in Bangkok for a few days because the visas will take a while. India is a seven day visa process, and China is four. I may wait on India, because I don’t want to stay here that long. Today I…
I am off to Cambodia today, and after talking to a lot of people, I have decided to skip the lower half of Laos. I was going there to see the 4,000 islands area, but this is the dry season, and the…
I have felt extremely useless here since I arrived, because Pear has taken care of absolutely everything. We had a cook out on Sunday, where they invited some of their friends over for lunch / dinner…
Sorry for not posting anything relevant for the past few days. I have been staying with Rob and Pear, his roommate, and their dog, Pebbles. Pear is Thai, and the manager of several restaurants right…
0207903868 to dial it, I think you have to put +865 in front.
Robert is the guy I met in Bangkok a month ago, and we hit it off. He lives in Vientiane, and we met up last night. He has an extra room in his house, so I moved my stuff over there and will stay for…
After going to the Cambodian Embassy twice yesterday, I decided to give up and let my guesthouse take care of my visa for me. So I woke up at 8:00am and gave them my passport, some money, and filled…
This is a long one, so click through to see the pictures and the rest of the post. It was time to leave Vangvieng , even though it was a fun place, it functions much like a black hole. You get there,…
Thought I would go ahead and give a report on how things are holding up again. It has been about three months, and some things have worn out a little, others I have lost etc… So far I have lost: 1…
I spent the first day here tubing the river again, and then the second one on a Motorbike, exploring caves, lagoons, and rural Laos life. I have been here before, so this time I went in some…
Back here for the second time, and I am staying in the same room I stayed in before, so it was kind of like a homecoming. I went back to Pizza Falconi, and they were really exited to see me, and gave…
So I don’t know when the last real update was… but, some things have happened since then. I have really started to like Laung Prabang. I have met some amazing people. I am ready to leave Laung…
So click on the map to get an interactive map, that will then allow you to see where I am by way of a nifty pushpin looking thing that will only show up after you click on the map. Yes. ok. This is a…
The past few days have been a blur… I woke up early Friday morning and put my bag on for the short hike to the boat pier. I showed up at 9:30am for an 11:30am boat, and am so happy I did. The boat…
Oh the places you’ll go…again. I am successfully back in Laos. I took a mini bus from Pai to Chiang Khong, the Thai border town. We got in literally as the boarder was closing and didn’t have time to…
On the border between Laos and Thailand, about to cross over and pay my exit fine of 1000 baht ($33). I will be getting on a boat for the next two days, so we will see about updates
Happy New Years everyone! We rang in the new year with style here in Pai, Thailand. Style, and Singha beer. The night was uproariously funny from the get go. From having candle wax sprayed all over…
I arrived in Pai yesterday by way of minibus from Chiang Mai. I got in around 3 pm, and began my search for a place to stay. This city, which is really a small town of 3000, is packed with Thai…
The guest house i stayed at has been awesome, it is cheap, fun and in a great location. I spent a week here, and helped Robert, the guy who owns it, set up Wi-Fi and get some advertising out on signs…
Technorati Tags: Chaing Mai,work,travel I have spent a great deal of time over the past few days working online to update the back end of my blog, and to work on how it is displayed. I am not sure…
I always find it interesting to spend a decent amount of time in a city when I am traveling. You get to know the local population, the local hangouts, even where the best prices can be found. Since I…
Christmas in Thailand has been actually pretty decent. I got a great dinner with with an English guy I have become friends with, we sat around his cafe drinking wine and telling stories, while I ate…
I have found work here that will occupy me for at least the next 10-15 days. I am building a series of websites for a guy who is starting a network of companies simultaneously. I am getting paid…
Sometimes s*** happens. When Laura said she wanted to come with me to Everest, I was excited about the possibility. I encouraged her to meet me in Bangkok, but didn’t think that much more about it. I…
Last post for 3 or 4 days. We are going trekking to ride elephants in the jungle!
Today I rented a motorbike again and took off into the countryside again. Laura had to do some work this morning, so I went of by myself and made my way up into the mountains to Wat Doi Suthep, one…
Traveling many hours in Thailand is usually a taxing experience that wears down even the most hardened of travelers (which I am not). This trip was different. We were so sick of being sick and hot in…
Laura and I were hanging out with some French guys and talking about the “Americanization” of the world and how people are getting fatter and fatter in the developed countries, and how it is…
Laura recently arrived here in Bangkok, and I met her at the airport. Her flight was delayed, so I got to spend some time people watching, and was practically laughing out loud by the time she came…
I have been chilling in Bangkok for a few days, and am more than ready to leave again. The place is fun, but tiring and hot and humid as only a mega city in the tropics can be. I have been hanging…
The past few days have been incredibly busy. I found out the other day that I will no longer be teaching because the school I was going to teach at does not have a form that I need to get the work…
We (Thad and I) are back in Vientiane, and this time we are doing it right. We got a Tuk Tuk to take us around all day to the major sites, and took a bunch of photos. I have only put three of four of…
Last night was our last night together as a group. Dustin and Jared are leaving to head back into China, and Thad and I are going back down to Bangkok over the next week. We went to Pizza Falconi,…
Thad and I woke up this morning and left for our motorcycle trip. Dustin and Jared decided to sleep in and have a lazy day. We left and headed north on Hwy 13, one of the few paved roads in the…
The past two days have been amazing. We went tubing down the river yesterday, which was a lot of fun and then today we rented motorcycles (oh, and when I say motorcycle, I mean motobike. 110cc, no…
Today I have rented a motorcycle, cruised down dirt roads in the center of a city, crossed a river in a boat no wider than myself, rock climbed, hung out on the river, visited a hospital, and used a…
We finally left Ton Sai on Friday the 23rd and got a bus up to Bangkok. Again we took the easy way and took a tourist bus. I have a love hate relationship with the tourist busses. I do not like the…
Just got into Bangkok again this morning at 6:00 am, and checked my regular mail at the guest house. Got my diploma, so all is good. We are heading to Laos tonight on a train. It was a good ride…
I know that I have gotten rather lazy with my blogging, but I do have a reasonably good explanation. My schedule of late has been: I wake up at 8:00am, meet Emily, Thad, Dustin, and Jarred (the guys…
It turns out that Dustin, Thad and Jarred are all heading the same way I am, and I am going to join them for a trip up the west coast of Thailand, and into Laos. We are going to keep our climbing…
Just some photos today… by the way, all photos can be seen in larger sizes at: www.flickr.com/photos/benhanna Ton Sai at low tide sunset. Boats again Cool dog that hangs out near the rocks
I have seen this movie before. It had Leonardo Decaprio as the lead role. It is about a traveler who shows up in Thailand, and on Khao San road is so inspired by the ledged of paradise that he…
Best day of climbing yet! I am finally not sore anymore, and am getting better at the technical stuff. I went with Dustin and Thad to Thaiwand Wall, which is accessed through a cave, and you need…
Monkeys monkeys everywhere. I went climbing with three guys from Arizona today. They had hardware, I had the rope, so me met up. We climbed for a while, and it was pretty fun. I led the climb, using…
Ahh… Beach Life. So relaxing. I apologize if the recent posts are full of uninteresting filler text. I really have not been doing much here execpt for climbing, eating and relaxing. I woke up this…
Ok everyone, Sorry that it has taken me so long to get this post with pictures up. I don’t have that many, but they are beautiful. I just switched bungalows because the one I am staying at now is 100…
I promise I will post photos tomorrow! I just found a place that has internet for 1 baht a minute from 3-6, so I can now afford to blog. I have spent a few days on this peninsula, but everyone calls…
I leave on a night bus to Krabi tonight. Well, Ton Sai. It is a southern beach near places with great views, climbing, cheap places to stay and a laid back atmosphere. Unfortunately it does not have…
Update: Travel map page has been added with the path I took in South Korea. Spent the day looking around the very close area to my hostel. There is so much going on that I didn’t make it far before…
UPDATE: I got a job teaching English in Korea! They just emailed me back, and want to hire me for the 10-day camp. This pays about $1,700 and will be a good, quick intro to teaching English. I can…
I am about to get on a plane to Bangkok in a few hours, and it is an odd feeling. I just changed my money from won to baht, and am still working on the exchange rate. Thailand is supposed to be very…
Checked out of the hostel today after I packed my stuff up and gave out my information to the people I had met there. I had mixed feelings about leaving because I was having a great time, and had…
Coolest place yet. I got here last night, and found it to be a well run, cozy place with plenty (like 15) other travelers who are all up for a good time. Last night I was invited to go to a…
Last new city of South Korea. I’m in Busan, at Kevin’s apartment, about to go walk around and see the city. From the train ride in, I could see that this place is massive. It just sprawls on and on…
I have just arrived in Busan, or Pusan, depending on how you transliterate the hangul. I will be couchsurfing with a guy names Kevin tonight, I just have to find his place. I have his phone number,…
When you are traveling, making plans is something that you do in order to act like you know what is going to happen. It never does. But this is often not a bad thing. Today I was going to go ride…
I got a great night’s rest last night, as I am now able to actually sleep past 6 am. My train did not leave until 12:40 p.m. and since I had already seen everything this town had to offer, I lazed…
I am on another train ride, which means it is time for a GEAR REVIEW! (Applause – cheers – the crows goes wild…) Heh, I know. Just thought I would talk a little about how my gear is holding up, what…
Today has been about resting. I started the day off by walking an hour to a local folk village which was a disappointment. After the first few minutes, all the other tourists cleared out and I was…
WARNING: Written on a five hour train ride. Just thinking out loud cause I have nothing else to do. It is amazing how spending two nights in one location can make life easy. You can leave your bag in…
The one advantage to having my internal clock still be set a few hours early is that waking up to hike at 6:30 a.m. is not a problem. By eight Claude and I had already gone a few kilometers and were…
Yesterday was all about traveling and fighting jet lag. It was time for me to leave Nathan and Rachel’s place and head out on my own. Due to a combination of jet lag and the effects of the previous…
I left Seoul yesterday morning after saying goodbye to Nathan and Rachel. It was a little daunting to be starting out on my own with almost no understanding of the language, but so far I have managed…
Where to begin? Today was amazing. I woke up at about 9:30 a.m. despite the jet lag (which is hitting me now while I write this) and started planning my day. Nathan woke up soon after and made some…
Took that with the cell phone on the way in. I am so happy to finally be here. It took just over 24 hours of total travel time for me to arrive at the door of my gracious hosts. Seoul is massive. The…
Everything is purchased, prepped, and (almost) packed. I still have to throw the last minute things together, but I am pretty much ready to go. My pack is pretty small, and should fit as a carry on.…
I spent my last weekend in the States camping and climbing with some old friends up in North Georgia. Brit and I went up on Friday night and got a campsite, then were met on Saturday by Will and…
I have four days remaining in the USA for what could possibly be the next year and a half. That is an incredibly scary, exciting notion. On one hand, I know that I can come home if I want to, but…
Kind Of. I finally sold my car on Friday, and the first thing i bought was a new laptop. I got an extremely cheap one, since I know that it probably will not survive long while I am traveling. Then I…
I have started to figure out a little bit of my trip. The first two nights I am in Seoul I will be staying with a couple, Nathan and Rachel, who I met over couchsurfing.com. They seem like they are…
I am now a World Nomad. Or so my insurance policy by a company of that name says. It was what I think is a decent deal, $240 for six months of travelers insurance. It covers loss of property, medical…
I guess you can call it a gadget, or a tool, but whatever it is, I am getting one of these to keep everything I own mine. This mesh keeps people from slashing your bag open while you are distracted…
Sure, it may be possible to travel on a low budget in Southeast Asia, but first you have to prepare. And that is expensive. Immunizations, while not required, are pretty much standard. I’m running at…
It is now official. The flight has been booked, leaving October 16th to Houston, then from Houston to Seoul, Korea for two weeks before the final hop to Bangkok. I thought I might mess around there…
