Mandelay, Myanmar

Yangoon, Myanmar (Burma)

The whole city look like this building. It's in rotting over drive.




They were celebrating their New Year while I was here. To celebrate they have what is called a water festival. During the festival they have a 4 day water fight and it gets really intense. As a foreigner everyone wanted me to come partake in their group and you almost feel like a celebrity here. It made traveling in a difficult country more difficult since it was hard to find transportation. On top of that if you wanted to go anywhere they would all be trying to dump buckets of water on you. It would make you nervous when your packing around a camera and little laptop computer.







This is just one of the lovely transportation options.





It seemed like a fitting place to put in a pool hall. (Pool tables)



Who wants to go for a bus ride in this stink monster? It seems like every bus here smokes really bad and they sell you tickets saying they have AC. They do for like the first 30 min of the trip until they all start to overheat. Then we pull over every hour to let the bus cool down. It's funny but they have stations all along the highway where they spray water on the radiations of all the buses to cool them down. I didn't go on one bus here that didn't have problems with overheating. I am pretty adjusted to riding on buses, but on one bus ride back I was crammed on the bus for 15 hours in a very uncomfortable spot and nearly had a mental break down. I couldn't see because of the sweat in my eyes, the seat was horrible and I was packed between locals so tight I couldn't move! It was one time in my trip where I actually started to think...I have had enough of this! Then I got off the bus, relaxed and though, NAH!



Before I left on my trip and when I thought of S.E. Asia, Burma is what I pictured most places to be like. It's like a flash to the past with poverty everywhere. All the cars are so old, transportation options are not good, and there are 5% of the travelers here compared to the other places I have been in Asia. Like China every other Internet site is blocked and unless your email is GMail, no Internet for you. I couldn't even go to my web site as it was blocked too. As most of you know this military run country is undergoing major problems with their political situation and as they have suffered some catastrophes in epoch proportions. With the refusal of foreign aid, the real losers here are the people. If you want to travel somewhere where the people will really leave a lasting impression on you, go to Burma. There are many places in the country that they will not allow you to go, and you hear devastating stories of hardships, corruption, as well as ethnic cleansing.

Ko Samui, Ko Phangan, Ko Tao, Thailand

Well, beaches galore and more! Party, beaches, party, along with scuba diving is what goes on here. Fortunately and unfortunately this is not really the theme of my trip so 4 days is about all I could take for these three islands. I just feel like I am wasting my time sitting around on a beach relaxing watching all the 20 year old students drink themselves to death. I did enjoy a wild evening during one of the famous full moon parties. It is really expensive to stay here during a full moon party time so we decided to do an all night party which I didn't make. We didn't have a place to stay and I got tired so I went to the end of the beach to take a nap. 20 minutes later lucky Luke woke up with some lady boy grabbing my crouch thinking I would like it! Welcome to Thailand I guess, common theme here. After that uncomfortable experience I decided that I would just go back and hang out with my friends from Berlin. The next morning when we checked into the hotel at 8am, I was tired. I survived an all night er and it was impressive watching the sun come up as around 5000 people continued to dance on the beach. In Ko Tao I went Scuba diving on Easter and the reefs were really impressive. It was funny that I didn't even know it was Easter until it was over! Never really know what day it is and without your family, holidays are really pointless.

Penang and Langkawi, Malaysia

Nice view from 7 small pools that you hike up to for a refreshing swim in Langkawi.

These little islands off the Indian Ocean in Northern Malaysia are very unique. The one thing I really liked about Malaysia was the culture. I was unaware that the biggest percent of the population of Malaysia was Muslin. The people were very friendly and curious. I would have liked to spend a bit more time here in Malaysia, but my time is running short for S.E Asia and I have a large list of things I'd like to see before I go. One place that I didn't go to but feel like I really missed out on was Indonesia. Going to put that one on my list of places for next time! I really feel like I could do my whole trip over again and go to the exact same countries and the trip would be a completely different experience. The people you meet along the way can make a boring site fun and there are so many things to see and do you wouldn't really need to see any of the same sites. I got an interesting post on my blog the other day from a friend in high school who I haven't really talked to in 12 years and it really made me smile to know that my blog isn't a complete waste of time. Sometimes doing a blog you constantly say I did or I went and so on and it almost makes you feel like you are just going on about yourself. I love going back and checking out the pictures and reading it for myself so I guess that's whats really important. I think a lot of people say to me, "How can you travel for so long?" It's really easy.....really easy! Yes uncomfortable at times, like everything things start to wear at you. For those of you who don't know on how much money I left with and are curious, I started with 30,000 USD. As of right now I have spent $22,000 dollars in 375 days of traveling. Because I have been moving around and have now been through 24 countries is partly the reason why that number is so high..... compared to other travelers that I meet. If you wanted to just go to S.E. Asia and go to 6 countries in 8 months and didn't include the airfare it wouldn't be hard to get by on $600 dollars a month or so? Obviously you would be on a tight budget, but I am 30 now, and sometimes really enjoy a nice meal, hotel, or better then cheap public transportation. (VIP BUS FOR ME) On top of that I get a massage about 4 times a week since they cost around 5-6 dollars. Traveling is so easy and I don't know how I am ever going to take another 2 week trip again or not have the urge to take off for 6 months to explore the various places in this wonderful world of our. It really takes no guts at all to do what I am doing. Even by yourself you are never lonely. One thing I dislike is when you make friends and things are so nice, and then....you say goodbye. After you have been friends for more then a few days you don't have to go through the same conversation that you do with everyone you meet for the first time! It's nice to move past those oh so familiar sentences and on to another topic. You also become a pro at accents. I can usually tell where someone is from with out asking. You can hear the different accents in their English even if it's a second or third language for them. It's really funny as you move around you find that each country is a popular place for certain people to travel in. Sometimes it's the UK travelers that dominates a country, then Sweden, or Germany, then Israel, and lately it's Dutch travelers I keep meeting. One thing is for sure and I haven't been to one Country that Americans are the majority. With the size of our middle class, there should be more of us.....maybe someday? I have always worked hard and though that working was so important, but we all need to seize the day because they go fast. We are not here for a long time, So we should not forget to have a good time.

I sure am!

Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia

Petronas Towers. (452m) World's highest twin towers!

Thank you Dennis for hooking me up with a free ticket to the Formula 1 race! You wouldn't believe how loud those cars are as they pass by.

The View from the Sky Bridge at the Petronas Towers.

At the race they called it early due to bad weather. It would have been disappointing if the ticket wouldn't have been free but I am still glad to have experienced making it to the race.

Here I just checked out the city and enjoyed the Formula 1 race. If you wanted to find me in a city you could go to the highest points in the city and that is probably where I am.

Singapore

If you go to Singapore, you got to go to the Swiss Hotel. On the 70th floor there is a night club with the most amazing views ever!

Singapore, so clean and modern! On a night out in Bangkok, I was talking to Dennis who I met and hung out with a bit in Vietnam, then Cambodia, and finally in Thailand about where he was headed to next. Funny enough we both had booked the exact same flight to Singapore so we ended up traveling through Singapore and part of Malaysia together! Had some nice laughs, good times, and made a new friend in Frankfurt Germany!

Bangkok, Thailand

What do you really say about Bangkok! It is truly what I expected. Everywhere you go you have people trying to take you to strip clubs with all kinds of interesting tricks...with ping pong balls.......Won't go into too much detail on this one. Everywhere you look you see "Ladyboys" and gross old men with young Thai girls. The city is very modern and has some really nice sites to see outside of the tuk-tuk drivers all trying to take you everywhere but where you would like to go. I was happy to meet back up with with Sarah, who I met and hung out with in Southern Argentina. I really admire her guts to up and travel a similar trip to myself as a girl out in the world. Unfortunately we were only able to hang out a few days as our paths crossed shortly but I really find it crazy when you are walking down the street in Thailand and someone says, "Did I meet you in Peru?" One thing that is a pain about Thailand is when you arrive overland they only give you 15 days to stay in the country. Because of this I decided to head into Singapore and travel overland through Malaysia back into Southern Thailand for some beach time!