Hi! Tomorrow I'm leaving for Nong Khiaw in Northern Laos. From there, I'll be traveling into relatively undeveloped places in remote areas for about a week. Some of the places I'll be going don't even have electricity or (gasp!) internet access. As a result, emails and updates from me will be scarce for a little while. My plans are not really completely set yet, so I can't say exactly when I will be returning to civilization -- it should be in about a week, maybe two weeks.
I expect to be sleeping in sleepy little villages where few tourists go. I may go on a multiple-day trek into the jungles and hills. I will definitely see mountains. We will look into hiring a local guide to guide us on our trek and keep us away from landmines and show us the way. We've done some research and have the names of a few guides up in Phongsali.
I won't be traveling alone, though. Alexandra Weaver (from Hamilton, Ontario), and Christine (from Minnesota) will be traveling with me the whole way. We've decided that what we want to do in Laos is very similar to each other, so we will be traveling together for a while. All three of us should probably be together for about two weeks until Chris needs to go to Vietnam. Alex and I will probably stick together for our full 30 days in Laos, at least. We want to hit up the same places -- in both northern and southern Laos, so it's best to have a travel buddy for as long as I can!
See you soon!
--
Rob Szumlakowski
Luang Prabang, Laos
Showing posts with label Plans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Plans. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Chiang Mai
Oh wow. That's all I have to say about Chiang Mai. It's one of my favourite places that I've visited so far on this trip. It's the hot and dry season here, but my hostel, the Spicythai Backpackers' is one of the chillest I've ever had the pleasure to stay in.
I came to Chiang Mai to attend the wedding of my friends Adam Freed and Michelle Gauthier. The story of the wedding is covered in a separate blog post -- I won't repeat any of the wedding story here. I'll just tell you about the rest of my stay in Chiang Mai.
I'm going to consider Chiang Mai to be a Good Place. I use capital letters since I really mean it. It's a smallish city (about 100,000 people) in northern Thailand. The city seems to be located in a wide, flat valley, but surrounded by low mountains. The mountains are one of the southernmost extensions of the Himalaya mountains.
It's an old city -- it celebrated its 700th anniversary just a few years ago. It was the capital of an independent Thai kingdom long ago. However, it was only fully incorporated into the modern Thai kingdom about 70 years ago.
Because of its ancient capital status, it's filled with several pretty government buildings and hundreds of Buddhists wats (temples). In fact, it has 300 temples -- about the same number as Bangkok. That's astonishing, considering that Chiang Mai is a city with only about 100,000 people and Bangkok has something like 10 million.
I stayed at the Spicythai Backpacker's hostel here in Chiang Mai. The owner of the hostel, Pong, is a really cool guy. He's really friendly, hangs out with his guests all the time, takes them on tours, arranges weddings, takes his guests out drinking, and is just awesome in general. The rest of the staff is cool, too.
I generally try to shy away from dorm rooms as large as ten people, but its not so bad here. The guests are really nice, too, and don't cause problems (not like the Danish kid that peed on my in that eight-bed dorm in Coffs Harbour, Australia). I've made good friends with a few of the guests in this hostel, especially: Alexandra Weaver (from Hamilton, Ontario; Damaris Zellweger (from Zurich, Switzerland); and Brent Haas (from San Francisco, California. These are the sorts of people that I want to try and keep in touch with for a long time. I hope that, using the power of the internet, I will be able to. In the short term, at least, I think I will be exploring part of Laos with Alex for a while. Hopefully we can meet up with Damaris in southern Laos in a few weeks -- and maybe in Switzerland in a couple of years! Brent told me about Burning Man in Nevada and I promised him that I would try to go in August 2009. I hope I can make it.
The four of us made one of the saddest bowling teams in history. Lots of gutter balls -- but lots of Singha Beer, antics, and horseplay made it all worth it! We horsed around so much that we would have easily gotten kicked out of any bowling alley in Canada. Good times!
Many hostels have walls with photos on them to show you the cool things that past guests were doing. I'm pretty sure, because of my connection with the wedding, that Spicythai is the first hostel I've been in that now features MY picture on a wall. In fact, I think there's like eight pictures of me up on the wall now!
To be honest, I didn't really even see much of the city of Chiang Mai. I could have spent all eight of my days here exploring the city, its temples, museums, and people. I could have gone on a multiple-day trek into the hills and jungle. I could have ridden and taken care of an elephant. I could have gone whitewater rafting. Mostly, I chilled with my new friends at the hostel (it really does feel like a home), restaurants, coffee shops, and bars. Oh yeah, and we watched a lot of House. Like, a lot.
It doesn't help that my motivation to go out and do things is being slowly sapped. I'm not sure if it's the heat or the malaria pills. I do know that I'm wary of doing lots of tours and stuff because of cost -- I am serious about trying to save money for long term traveling.
I did spend one day wandering around the old town and took random photos. I enjoyed a Thai-style massage at the Women's Prison. It only cost me 225 baht (CA$7) for an hour and a half massage. I've never been hit and pummeled by a women so much in my life. Not quite relaxing, but very vigourous. I felt very loosey-goosey afterwards, which I assume was the goal.
The only very touristy tour that I partook in Chiang Mai was a one day cooking class. It was held on an organic farm about a half hour away from Chiang Mai. I enjoy Thai food a great deal, and learning how to cook it was a great experience. We started at a market in town to learn about some common Thai ingredients and them buy them. At the farm, the instructor, Fias, showed us many Thai ingredients growing in the garden. Since the garden was organic, we got to sample many of the leaves, roots, and fruits directly from their plants.
I made five dishes: red curry with vegetables and tofu, Thai vegetable soup, stir fried chicken with cashew nuts, a Pad Thai, and mango with sticky rice (a dessert). Every dish was made directly from its component ingredients. The cooking school peeled many of the vegetables and cut them a bit for us, but the dishes were probably 80% prepared by the students themselves.
Many of the pictures I've posted to my Picasa Web Albums are from the cooking class itself. That's probably a reflection of how much I enjoyed the class.
I'm going to wrap up this blog entry now. Tomorrow morning I am (temporarily) leaving Thailand and heading to Luang Prabang in Laos. It's a three day journey: one day on a minibus to the border, and then two days on a slow boat up the Mekong River to Luang Prabang itself. I should be back in Thailand in about three weeks. However, if Laos is as good as people say, I might stay in Laos for the full duration of my thirty day visa and go straight to Cambodia from there. We'll have to see!
I came to Chiang Mai to attend the wedding of my friends Adam Freed and Michelle Gauthier. The story of the wedding is covered in a separate blog post -- I won't repeat any of the wedding story here. I'll just tell you about the rest of my stay in Chiang Mai.
I'm going to consider Chiang Mai to be a Good Place. I use capital letters since I really mean it. It's a smallish city (about 100,000 people) in northern Thailand. The city seems to be located in a wide, flat valley, but surrounded by low mountains. The mountains are one of the southernmost extensions of the Himalaya mountains.
It's an old city -- it celebrated its 700th anniversary just a few years ago. It was the capital of an independent Thai kingdom long ago. However, it was only fully incorporated into the modern Thai kingdom about 70 years ago.
Because of its ancient capital status, it's filled with several pretty government buildings and hundreds of Buddhists wats (temples). In fact, it has 300 temples -- about the same number as Bangkok. That's astonishing, considering that Chiang Mai is a city with only about 100,000 people and Bangkok has something like 10 million.
I stayed at the Spicythai Backpacker's hostel here in Chiang Mai. The owner of the hostel, Pong, is a really cool guy. He's really friendly, hangs out with his guests all the time, takes them on tours, arranges weddings, takes his guests out drinking, and is just awesome in general. The rest of the staff is cool, too.
I generally try to shy away from dorm rooms as large as ten people, but its not so bad here. The guests are really nice, too, and don't cause problems (not like the Danish kid that peed on my in that eight-bed dorm in Coffs Harbour, Australia). I've made good friends with a few of the guests in this hostel, especially: Alexandra Weaver (from Hamilton, Ontario; Damaris Zellweger (from Zurich, Switzerland); and Brent Haas (from San Francisco, California. These are the sorts of people that I want to try and keep in touch with for a long time. I hope that, using the power of the internet, I will be able to. In the short term, at least, I think I will be exploring part of Laos with Alex for a while. Hopefully we can meet up with Damaris in southern Laos in a few weeks -- and maybe in Switzerland in a couple of years! Brent told me about Burning Man in Nevada and I promised him that I would try to go in August 2009. I hope I can make it.
The four of us made one of the saddest bowling teams in history. Lots of gutter balls -- but lots of Singha Beer, antics, and horseplay made it all worth it! We horsed around so much that we would have easily gotten kicked out of any bowling alley in Canada. Good times!
Many hostels have walls with photos on them to show you the cool things that past guests were doing. I'm pretty sure, because of my connection with the wedding, that Spicythai is the first hostel I've been in that now features MY picture on a wall. In fact, I think there's like eight pictures of me up on the wall now!
To be honest, I didn't really even see much of the city of Chiang Mai. I could have spent all eight of my days here exploring the city, its temples, museums, and people. I could have gone on a multiple-day trek into the hills and jungle. I could have ridden and taken care of an elephant. I could have gone whitewater rafting. Mostly, I chilled with my new friends at the hostel (it really does feel like a home), restaurants, coffee shops, and bars. Oh yeah, and we watched a lot of House. Like, a lot.
It doesn't help that my motivation to go out and do things is being slowly sapped. I'm not sure if it's the heat or the malaria pills. I do know that I'm wary of doing lots of tours and stuff because of cost -- I am serious about trying to save money for long term traveling.
I did spend one day wandering around the old town and took random photos. I enjoyed a Thai-style massage at the Women's Prison. It only cost me 225 baht (CA$7) for an hour and a half massage. I've never been hit and pummeled by a women so much in my life. Not quite relaxing, but very vigourous. I felt very loosey-goosey afterwards, which I assume was the goal.
The only very touristy tour that I partook in Chiang Mai was a one day cooking class. It was held on an organic farm about a half hour away from Chiang Mai. I enjoy Thai food a great deal, and learning how to cook it was a great experience. We started at a market in town to learn about some common Thai ingredients and them buy them. At the farm, the instructor, Fias, showed us many Thai ingredients growing in the garden. Since the garden was organic, we got to sample many of the leaves, roots, and fruits directly from their plants.
I made five dishes: red curry with vegetables and tofu, Thai vegetable soup, stir fried chicken with cashew nuts, a Pad Thai, and mango with sticky rice (a dessert). Every dish was made directly from its component ingredients. The cooking school peeled many of the vegetables and cut them a bit for us, but the dishes were probably 80% prepared by the students themselves.
Many of the pictures I've posted to my Picasa Web Albums are from the cooking class itself. That's probably a reflection of how much I enjoyed the class.
I'm going to wrap up this blog entry now. Tomorrow morning I am (temporarily) leaving Thailand and heading to Luang Prabang in Laos. It's a three day journey: one day on a minibus to the border, and then two days on a slow boat up the Mekong River to Luang Prabang itself. I should be back in Thailand in about three weeks. However, if Laos is as good as people say, I might stay in Laos for the full duration of my thirty day visa and go straight to Cambodia from there. We'll have to see!
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Great Plans
So on Friday I quit my job. I shouldn't say that I'm unemployed now, that would be inaccurate. Technically, people that are unemployed are looking for new employment. That's not the case for me. I've decided to remove myself from the job market for the time being.
It's not because I disliked my job. In fact, I liked it a lot. I loved my coworkers. Leaving was actually a very difficult thing to do. I can only hope that someday, in the future, I can work with people as intelligent, capable, and just plain awesome again.
Instead, I'm taking a break from the rat race and the whole 9-to-5 thing (though for me, it was usually more like the 10-to-6 thing). It's time to do some traveling.
Yes! The real reason I quit my job is because I wanted to do some traveling. Actually, not just some traveling, but a lot of traveling. I know some of you have asked where exactly I wanted to end up going. I do have great plans indeed.
I have a Working Holiday Visa (WHV) for Australia. This visa allows me to stay in Australia for twelve months (normal tourist visas only allow a ninety day stay). I can work at any job there for up to six months. I can enter and leave the country as many times as I'd like during those six months. The visa is designed for backpackers, not for people to want to go immigrate to Australia, or go there to work crazy lots and make mad moneys. It's for backpackers! And that's what I'm going to be!
However, even though I intend to spend most of my time in Australia, I have a lot of side trips planned as well. So, I'll tell you about my intended itinerary now.
On February 1 my dad, my sister, and I are boarding a plane in Toronto and flying out. On February 3 we are landing in Sydney. What happens on February 2, you say? Nothing. we don't get that day. It doesn't happen. It gets sucked up by the International Date Line. Slurrrp!
We're going to spend two days in Sydney, four days in Airlie Beach (near the Whitsunday Islands and the Great Barrier Reef), and seven days in Noosa (on the Sunshine Coast). During this time, we hope to go snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef, visit the Australia Zoo, biking around Noosa, and driving around in four-wheel-drives on Fraser Island.
On February 16 my dad and my sister are flying back to Canada and I'm on my own. From there I'm heading straight to Byron Bay where I want to stay for a week. I want to take a surfing course there. Maybe I'll try skydiving.
February 19 is my birthday. It's actually my thirtieth birthday. I'm not worried. Everyone knows that the Thirties are actually the new Upper Teens. You're all invited to my birthday party in Byron Bay that day. I don't really expect anyone to make it. But you are invited!
For a couple weeks, I'll be kicking around the east coast. On March 1 I want to see the St. Jerome's Laneway Festival in Brisbane. Some of my favourite bands in the whole world are playing there: Broken Social Scene, Stars, and Feist (sigh!). With those three bands in one place, I'll be sure to see some wicked on-stage collaborations.
After that, I'll head down to Melbourne. I'll go visit Joe Clancy and Natalie Thompson there. I've never met Joe, but I've met Natalie once, a long time ago. Rumour has it that Joe's birthday is on March 8. I'll make sure to buy him a beer.
Pretty quickly after that, I'm going to fly to Bangkok, Thailand. In Thailand, I hope to meet up with a few friends: Adam Freed, Michelle Gauthier, and Nick Taylor.
From Thailand, I hope to branch out into Laos, Cambodia, back to Thailand, then down to Malaysia and Singapore. I may or may not end up going to Vietnam (it depends on how much of my time gets sucked up by Laos and Cambodia -- both places with a reputation of being so great that they suck you in and make it hard to leave). My goal is to see Singapore by the end of May. I know I'm glossing over this part of the trip pretty briefly, but the plans are not that well nailed down yet. I'll figure things out when I get closer!
At the end of May, I want to fly to Hong Kong from Singapore. My friend Will Chau is supposed to be there. I went to Japan with Will, and we had a great time there. I'm sure we'll have a blast there, too!
So, sometime in June I should make my way back to Australia. If there's anytime I'm going to work, its going to be then. I don't really know what kind of work I'll do when I get there. Nothing too strenuous, I hope.
That part of the year is the winter in Australia. One of my goals for my trip is to avoid cold weather. Australia doesn't really get very cold, but the big cities in the south can get down to 10 or 15 degrees. That's much too cold for me! I'll have to stick to Queensland and enjoy the tropics. I'll probably take a few little trips around the country at this time. Being that it's winter, it will be a good time to check out Ayers Rock, which is in the centre of the desert.
At some point during the frigid, frigid Australia winter (tee hee!), I'm going to exercise my respectable collection Aeroplan miles and take a free flight to someplace in the South Pacific. My options are Tahiti, Samoa, Tonga, the Cook Islands, Vanuatu, and Fiji. I'm not sure exactly which one I'll go to yet. Right now I'm pushing for Tonga... but that could change. Any suggestions anyone?
On September 14 I'm flying to the most unlikely place that you can think of -- back to CANADA! I've got a couple weddings to go to back in the Great White North. I'll attend Thanksgiving and probably Oktoberfest in Waterloo, too. All told, I'll probably be back for a month. I'll definitely have a lot of people to visit while I'm there!
By the middle of October, the cold Canadian climate will start to remind me why I left in the first place. It will be time to get going again. My goal is to go back to Australia, of course, by I'd like to stop off at a couple places on the way. I've heard good things about Portland, Oregon, and I'd like to see it for a few days. Maybe I'll head down to San Francisco for a few days, too, and visit some of my former coworkers from NeoEdge. It's also a good launch-off point for Hawaii... which I extremely need to see. I want to go there for a couple weeks and do some hiking, biking, and swimming.
I guess by the first part of November I'll be back in Australia. I'll have almost three more months to spend there. Maybe I will get a job again. I definitely want to spend New Years in Sydney and see the fireworks from the Harbour Bridge.
By the end of January, my time in Australia will also have to come to an end. My one year visa will expire on February 2, 2009. I will have to move on. However, there are still places that I want to go after that. Since the northern hemisphere will still be in the grips of winter, I'll have to stick to the southern hemisphere.
New Zealand is high on my priority list. I'd like to backpack there for a couple of months if I could.
The ultimate goal for the trip is to get to Poland in the spring of 2009. It's my homeland -- the land of my ancestors. I've never really had the opportunity to explore it on my own terms before. I'd like to stay there for a few months if I can. There's a wedding in my family there in June 2009. Polish weddings are often two days long and consist of a non-stop party: drinking, eating, dancing the whole time. I've never been to one of these extravaganzas, and I look forward to going.
Those, in short, are my plans. I know they extend far into the future. A million and one things could happen before the end. I'll certainly try to stay flexible to take advantage of other travel opportunities. Maybe I will run out of money and have to abort early. Maybe I'll get so homesick I won't bear being able to go longer. Perhaps I will get so fed up with the hassles and nuisances associated with travel that I'll just give up.
The only way to find out is to try...
--
Rob Szumlakowski
Toronto, Canada
It's not because I disliked my job. In fact, I liked it a lot. I loved my coworkers. Leaving was actually a very difficult thing to do. I can only hope that someday, in the future, I can work with people as intelligent, capable, and just plain awesome again.
Instead, I'm taking a break from the rat race and the whole 9-to-5 thing (though for me, it was usually more like the 10-to-6 thing). It's time to do some traveling.
Yes! The real reason I quit my job is because I wanted to do some traveling. Actually, not just some traveling, but a lot of traveling. I know some of you have asked where exactly I wanted to end up going. I do have great plans indeed.
I have a Working Holiday Visa (WHV) for Australia. This visa allows me to stay in Australia for twelve months (normal tourist visas only allow a ninety day stay). I can work at any job there for up to six months. I can enter and leave the country as many times as I'd like during those six months. The visa is designed for backpackers, not for people to want to go immigrate to Australia, or go there to work crazy lots and make mad moneys. It's for backpackers! And that's what I'm going to be!
However, even though I intend to spend most of my time in Australia, I have a lot of side trips planned as well. So, I'll tell you about my intended itinerary now.
On February 1 my dad, my sister, and I are boarding a plane in Toronto and flying out. On February 3 we are landing in Sydney. What happens on February 2, you say? Nothing. we don't get that day. It doesn't happen. It gets sucked up by the International Date Line. Slurrrp!
We're going to spend two days in Sydney, four days in Airlie Beach (near the Whitsunday Islands and the Great Barrier Reef), and seven days in Noosa (on the Sunshine Coast). During this time, we hope to go snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef, visit the Australia Zoo, biking around Noosa, and driving around in four-wheel-drives on Fraser Island.
On February 16 my dad and my sister are flying back to Canada and I'm on my own. From there I'm heading straight to Byron Bay where I want to stay for a week. I want to take a surfing course there. Maybe I'll try skydiving.
February 19 is my birthday. It's actually my thirtieth birthday. I'm not worried. Everyone knows that the Thirties are actually the new Upper Teens. You're all invited to my birthday party in Byron Bay that day. I don't really expect anyone to make it. But you are invited!
For a couple weeks, I'll be kicking around the east coast. On March 1 I want to see the St. Jerome's Laneway Festival in Brisbane. Some of my favourite bands in the whole world are playing there: Broken Social Scene, Stars, and Feist (sigh!). With those three bands in one place, I'll be sure to see some wicked on-stage collaborations.
After that, I'll head down to Melbourne. I'll go visit Joe Clancy and Natalie Thompson there. I've never met Joe, but I've met Natalie once, a long time ago. Rumour has it that Joe's birthday is on March 8. I'll make sure to buy him a beer.
Pretty quickly after that, I'm going to fly to Bangkok, Thailand. In Thailand, I hope to meet up with a few friends: Adam Freed, Michelle Gauthier, and Nick Taylor.
From Thailand, I hope to branch out into Laos, Cambodia, back to Thailand, then down to Malaysia and Singapore. I may or may not end up going to Vietnam (it depends on how much of my time gets sucked up by Laos and Cambodia -- both places with a reputation of being so great that they suck you in and make it hard to leave). My goal is to see Singapore by the end of May. I know I'm glossing over this part of the trip pretty briefly, but the plans are not that well nailed down yet. I'll figure things out when I get closer!
At the end of May, I want to fly to Hong Kong from Singapore. My friend Will Chau is supposed to be there. I went to Japan with Will, and we had a great time there. I'm sure we'll have a blast there, too!
So, sometime in June I should make my way back to Australia. If there's anytime I'm going to work, its going to be then. I don't really know what kind of work I'll do when I get there. Nothing too strenuous, I hope.
That part of the year is the winter in Australia. One of my goals for my trip is to avoid cold weather. Australia doesn't really get very cold, but the big cities in the south can get down to 10 or 15 degrees. That's much too cold for me! I'll have to stick to Queensland and enjoy the tropics. I'll probably take a few little trips around the country at this time. Being that it's winter, it will be a good time to check out Ayers Rock, which is in the centre of the desert.
At some point during the frigid, frigid Australia winter (tee hee!), I'm going to exercise my respectable collection Aeroplan miles and take a free flight to someplace in the South Pacific. My options are Tahiti, Samoa, Tonga, the Cook Islands, Vanuatu, and Fiji. I'm not sure exactly which one I'll go to yet. Right now I'm pushing for Tonga... but that could change. Any suggestions anyone?
On September 14 I'm flying to the most unlikely place that you can think of -- back to CANADA! I've got a couple weddings to go to back in the Great White North. I'll attend Thanksgiving and probably Oktoberfest in Waterloo, too. All told, I'll probably be back for a month. I'll definitely have a lot of people to visit while I'm there!
By the middle of October, the cold Canadian climate will start to remind me why I left in the first place. It will be time to get going again. My goal is to go back to Australia, of course, by I'd like to stop off at a couple places on the way. I've heard good things about Portland, Oregon, and I'd like to see it for a few days. Maybe I'll head down to San Francisco for a few days, too, and visit some of my former coworkers from NeoEdge. It's also a good launch-off point for Hawaii... which I extremely need to see. I want to go there for a couple weeks and do some hiking, biking, and swimming.
I guess by the first part of November I'll be back in Australia. I'll have almost three more months to spend there. Maybe I will get a job again. I definitely want to spend New Years in Sydney and see the fireworks from the Harbour Bridge.
By the end of January, my time in Australia will also have to come to an end. My one year visa will expire on February 2, 2009. I will have to move on. However, there are still places that I want to go after that. Since the northern hemisphere will still be in the grips of winter, I'll have to stick to the southern hemisphere.
New Zealand is high on my priority list. I'd like to backpack there for a couple of months if I could.
The ultimate goal for the trip is to get to Poland in the spring of 2009. It's my homeland -- the land of my ancestors. I've never really had the opportunity to explore it on my own terms before. I'd like to stay there for a few months if I can. There's a wedding in my family there in June 2009. Polish weddings are often two days long and consist of a non-stop party: drinking, eating, dancing the whole time. I've never been to one of these extravaganzas, and I look forward to going.
Those, in short, are my plans. I know they extend far into the future. A million and one things could happen before the end. I'll certainly try to stay flexible to take advantage of other travel opportunities. Maybe I will run out of money and have to abort early. Maybe I'll get so homesick I won't bear being able to go longer. Perhaps I will get so fed up with the hassles and nuisances associated with travel that I'll just give up.
The only way to find out is to try...
--
Rob Szumlakowski
Toronto, Canada
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