Bangkok, Thailand

Bangkok, what a crazy town. The people seem to be pretty cool in the 'lots of things happening' city. Noise pollution's a huge issue, but you get past that once you get used to the million and one smells available on the city streets. I wish we got a little more time to spend here; although we had the time, we caught up on some rest and much needed laundry doing type stuff when we first arrived, I wish we saw more of what this city has to offer. I'm happy we got the chance to go to the Grand Palace, see the Reclining Buddha, and experience the rush of haggling like crazies at the night market (I haggled for two soccer jerseys: original price, 1500 baht for one ($45) down to 700 baht for two jerseys ($23ish).) We tried to check out the night life, but had trouble finding a club that was either legit or inexpensive. It was neat walking in the Nana district at night, because like you women at home who experience getting hollered at by construction workers, we were being hollered at by 'masseuses' and 'lady boys' as our tour guide Nan so affectionately described them. Thailand was a really great cultural experience, but towards the end (seeing as we've been in the Middle East and Asia since October), we were looking forward to Australia. Not for the ease of it all, but simply because we were sick at being asked where we were going everytime we walked down the street. Being a visible minority isn't something a lot of us understand, especially in Canada where anyone of a minority group could be Canadian.

Pics:

1) The skytrain system in Bangkok

2) Jordan shopping at the night market

3) Asian Ronald and I...Jordan and I laughed, cuz since I got my hair cut, I look really funny in a ball cap

4) Temple at the Grand Palace

5) Figures of the Grand Palace

6) Grand Palace

7) Ditto

8) Reclining Buddha

9) Ditto and I

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Chiang Mai is probably my favourite Thai city that we got to experience. It's got an amazing night market, a seemingly cool nightlife, great people, and beautiful sights. Plus we bungy jumped here, so that just made it all worth while. All in all, there's just loads of things for tourists to do. We also went for a one day jungle trek to a hill tribe village, and that was an amazing experience. We played soccer in the mud, played with the kids who were full of energy (Jordan and I couldn't figure out why our arms hurt so much the next day, but we were lifting them all over the place), tried bugs, etc. We even got to dance with the locals, they sang for us, and we were asked to sing to them, so what did we choose? Bohemian Rhapsody of course! We got to ride elephants on the way back to Chiang Mai, and bamboo rafts where it turned out to be an all out battle fighting to make everyone as sopping wet as possible. Jordan and I even ran into Mel who we met in Germany, I stayed at her place in London etc. But it was completely random. She didn't even recognize me cuz I had such long hair and a nasty beard. Good times! On the night train back to Bangkok, we had a hoot with the train crew. One of the tourist policemen wanted our empty bottle of Beefeater, so I got a picture with him (he even gave me his hat and he wore my Oilers cap!!) Pretty funny stuff. We were also pouring drinks for one of the waiters, it was a pretty funny night.

Pics:

1) Wat Phrathat steps and I (306 steps lead to the temple)

2) The entrance to Wat Phrathat

3) A Chinese style Buddha

4) A Thai style Buddha in the temple

5) Buddha's for each day of the week (you can make a donation based on what day of the week you were born for good luck)

6) Traditional Northern Thai dancing at dinner

7) The jungle trek

8) A rainbow after a nice terrential downpour

9) Me eating a bug

10) Jordan playing with the locals

11) The soccer crew

12) Nan (our tour guide) and Jordan rocking out to traditional Hill Tribe song and dance

13) An elephant and I

14) Jordan, Mel and I in the night market in Chiang Mai

15) Sean bungy jumping (no pics of me, Jordan took a video instead...trying to upload it, we'll see)

16) Team Bungy: Steve (Ottawa), Sean (NZ), Me (Edmonton), Laurie (Quebec), Jordan (Edmonton), and Alice (Melbourne)

17) The tourist police officer and I

Ayuthaya, Thailand

Ayuthaya was a pretty good stop on the trip. We got a chance to see two more ancient temples in Thailand, Wat Pra Maha and Wat Ratcha Burnna. We rode bikes around town which is always fun, then took a night train to Chiang Mai, the gem of the North.

Pics:

1) Buddha at Wat Pra Maha

2)Buddha parts at Wat Ratcha Burnna

3) Me at Wat Ratcha Burnna

Kanchanaburi, Thailand

Thailand was a really awesome place to go. The people hassled you on the street, but not nearly as bad as Egypt so Jordan and I were pretty comfortable. We started our tour in Bangkok, but went directly to Kanchanaburi. We stayed in a great little guest house, no a/c, but big deal. We went to the Tiger Temple the first day, a sanctioned off area by monks to heal tigers that can't make it in the wild. Got to get some cool pics, love them tigers. We also checked out the Allied War Cemetary, as well as Hellfire Pass, where POW's and Asian slave labourers worked on the Burma-Thailand Railway during WW2 under horrific conditions. As Jordan and I talked about, it was neat to get a different perspective on WW2 history seeing as our education predominantly focuses on the war in Europe, not so much the Pacific. We also headed out to Erawan Falls, a 7 tiered waterfall heaven where we got to swim with the fish (who bite at you, and although it doesn't hurt, I skinned my knee falling on a rock trying to kick them away). That was refreshing considering we did nothing but sweat in Thailand.

Pics:

1) Me and one of the tigers

2) The Allied War Cemetary, mostly Australians

3) Hellfire Pass

4) Me at Erawan Falls

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Dubai ended up being a pretty big disappointment. We ended up staying in Sharjah, which is a town outside of Dubai. Long story short, it wasn't really fit for backpackers on a budget like us. Cabs were relatively inexpensive, but you pretty much had to take them everywhere to get around. We didn't really even get into the city center properly, because we bussed to Dubai then attempted walking like we always do. We got nowhere. We did a desert safari though, which was also relatively disappointing. The 'dune bashing' was pretty good, but everything else kind of lacked. We tried sand boarding (sounds way better than it is), rode a camel in a circle, had a bbq, and watched Jordan dance with a belly dancer (he always gets picked, ask me to see the video when I get home). The highlight actually ended up being the snowboarding we did. That's right, boarding in the desert! We went to the Emirates Mall, and went to Ski Dubai, the indoor resort. Awesome to get out of plus 30-35 weather and get some nice solid below zero feeling. We had a blast, it was well worth it (the snowboarding I mean). I think Dubai is a place I will go back to, but not as a backpacker. Retired with money, that's how you do Dubai.

Pics:

1) My model shot in the desert

2) Haven't shaved since September, got a haircut since July

3) Jordan and the belly dancer

4) My gold medal performance

5) J and I at Ski Dubai

Alexandria, Egypt

Pics:

1) Jordan and I enjoying a serious read at the Alexandria library

2) Me being quite studious at the lecture hall at the Roman ampitheatre

3) Our crab feast

Alexandria turned out to be a good choice. It was an optional excursion at the end of our tour, and we ended up feasting on the Mediterranean! Great seafood, nice city with a history (founded by Alexander the Great), and we even went to the historic library to have a peek.

Luxor, Egypt

Luxor was a true highlight of Egypt. The most impressive temple, Karnak was found here, we took a hot air balloon ride, went off course, and almost were in the middle of a child riot, and we got to ride donkeys!!! Of course we can't forget about the Valley of the Kings, where tomb after tomb are buried within. Spectacular, no photos allowed though :( Great place to go though, no doubt about that.

Pics:

1) Example of the original colour still intact at Karnak

2) Hugging the column

3) The rams at the entrance of Karnak

4) Jordan, Kerryn (Australia) and I on the hot air balloon

5) Jordan ridin' Earl

6) An ass on an ass