Well although my stay was short, I definitely packed a LOT in in my two days in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I flew into Kuala Lumpur direct from Hanoi, Vietnam. Upon my arrival, I decided to save some money and be adventuresome by taking the shuttle bus into town instead of a regular taxi. After about an hour, the shuttle came to a stop in Chinatown, where I had booked my hostel. Chinatown is the sort of "heart" of Kuala Lumpur and it is definitely a happenning place. The streets are PACKED with food stalls and shops selling everything from rip off northface gear to fake designer handbags and basically the fake version of any other thing you can think of. (I even saw one guy selling the new Star Trek DVD, which hasnt even come out in theaters here yet.) After navigating my way through the streets, I found my hostel and checked in.
Although my hostel was fairly cheap, I now know that I REALLY never want to find myself on the wrong side of the law. My room was a cement block with a bed and thats it. It definitely felt like I had acted like an idiot one night and found myself in Santa Rita County Jail. Anyway, I decided to roll with the punches and take it for what it was. I deopped my stuff off and set out to check out this MASSIVE capital city.
Seeing as though Chinatown is a sight in and of itself, I decided to start there. I began by searching for a famous Hindu Temple that happens to be located in Chinatown instead of Little India (go figure). Anyway, as I was looking for the temple, I saw another guy with his map out and seemed to be looking for the same thing as I was. Anyway, being the person that I am, I approached him and asked him if he knew where to find the temple. We decided to look for it together and ended up spending the next two days together touring the city. This guy's name is Johan and he is from Denmark.
After locating and checking out the Hindu temple, Johan suggested we do a walking tour of the Colonial District and Little India. I agreed and we headed across town (on foot) and began the tour. We got slightly lost along the way, but it was realy neat to see the old colonial buildings and all of the hundreds of local indian people bustling around Little India in their many colored garmets. After the tour ended, Johan and I decided to come back to Chinatown and call it a night. Before we went our seperate ways on night one, however, we decided to meet the following morning to go check out some famous caves called the Batu Caves which are located just a few miles outside of the city.
The next morning, I met Johan at his hostel and we set out to go find the bus to check out the Batu Caves. These caves are a REALLY sacred place for the Hindu people and there is even a Hindu temple built inside of the main cave. If one were to visit in January/Feburary, they would likely encounter the 1,000,000+ pilgrims that come to these caves to pay their respects during some Hindu festival which's name I cannot pronounce, let alone spell. The caves were really neat and came complete with monkeys that will steal ANYTHING right out of your hand if they are given the chance. I actually saw one grab a coke out of someone's hand and proceed to drink it. (If you dont believe me, refer to the pictures.)
After the caves, we came back to the city and decided to check out the skydeck of the Kuala Lumpur Tower. This tower is located in the business district a.k.a "The Golden Triangle" area of the city and stands 272 meters above the ground. After taking the elevator to the top, we were rewarded with a spectacular panoramic view of the entire city and well beyond. It was a little hazy the day that we went up the tower but the view was still impressive.
After the tower, we decided to fit in one last set of activities and so we decided to head to the Lake Garden district of the city. We decided to have some fun getting there and so we opted to take the city monorail to get there. This monorail reminded me so much of the one at Disneyland, I literally felt like I was going to get off in Adventure Land. Anyway, after we got to our stop, we got off the monorail and set out to find the park. On our way to the park, we came accross the Malaysian History Museum. We decided to check it out and it turned out to be a very well set up museum. We were able to learn about Malaysia's history from the beginning of the earth (Pangea time frame) all the way through their current government structure.
After visiting the museum, we finally made it to the park. After walking around the park for a little while, we decided to call it a day. We headed back to Chinatown and grabbed some dinner before we went our seperate ways. Needless to say, I now have 2 people I can stay with when I make my way to Denmark (and mark my words, that WILL happen!)
Although I only had two days in Kuala Lumpur (and Malaysia for that matter) I definitely made the most of it. Im off to Laos tomorrow so be sure to check back soon to see what kind of wild and crazy adventures I get myself into.
Until next time,
Evan
Friday, May 29, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Trip of a Lifetime Round 2 (Vietnam: Hanoi, Halong Bay, and Sapa)
Well, I successfully made it through China and moved my trip down the coast to Northern Vietnam. I decided to base myself in the Capital of the country, Hanoi. Hanoi is located in the center of the Northern part of the country and is a great location to base onself for trips to the amazing sites that this part of the country has to offer.
Upon ariving in Hanoi, I checked into my hostel and set out to explore the city. The first thing that I decided to check out was the Ho Chi Minh Mosoleum Complex. For those of you who dont know, Ho Chi Minh is to Vietnam what Chairman Mao is to China (Basically the most important person in the history of Vietnam.) Inside of the complex, I was actually able to see his preserved body. It was a little bit weird, but interesting at the same time. After checking that out, I decided to go check out the War Museum. This was very interesting as well (especially being from the U.S.A.) It was full of relics and artifacts from the Vietnam War and although the captions were in Vietnamese, I was able to get a really good idea of what the war was all about and what happened. After the War Museum, I decided to spend the afternoon walking around the lake that is at the center of the city. Although I did not see any, it is said that there are a extreemly rare species of ancient tortise that still inhabit the lake. Finally, after my walk around the lake, I headed to a "Water Puppet" show. This is a form of traditional Vietnamese entertainment and is literally a puppet show over the water. The puppets are held up by sticks and are run by people behind a curtain. It was really interesting and was something that I probably cannot see anywhere else. After the puppet show, I called it a night and prepared for my adventure in Halong Bay the following day.
The next day, I took off for one of Vietnam's most famous sites, Halong Bay. Halong Bay is located three hours east of Hanoi and is basically a bay with hundreds of limestone rock formations jutting straight out of the water. Becasue they are in such close proximity to one another, they create a bay full of little coves, caves, and inlets. Upon our arrival, we boarded our boat and took off. After cruising around for the afternoon, we visited a "floating village" (Literally a village of houses that were floating on the water) where we rented sea kayaks and took off to explore the bay under our own power. The current was strong but we managed to fight through it and wound up at the enterance to an amazing cave that had formed over thousands of years of errosion from the ocean. Upon our arrival, we beached our kayaks and went in to explore the cave. We crawled through the pitch black for a while and then came out on the other side to a lake. This lake had formed by rain water accumulating over the years in an area that was completly closed off by rocks from the surrounding ocean. After checking out the cave for a while, we headed back to the kayaks to make the return journey to our boat. Upon returning to the boat, we had an afternoon of relaxing and swimming before a night of fun with everyone on board.
The next day, upon waking up, we headed to an island among the many rock formations. This island is called Cat Ba Island and is the largest island in the bay. It is the only inhabited island in the bay and it is where we would make our home for the next day. Upon arriving at the island, we set out for a hike through the jungle in order to summet the highest peak on the island. After reaching the peak, the view was unreal. Basically, we were able to see 360 degreese and could see endless rock formations set among the turquoise water of the bay. It is definitely a site I will never forget. After the hike, we settled down in our hotel for the rest of the day. We stayed on the island that night and in the morning, re-boarded our boat and headed back to port. Upon returning to Hanoi, I had just enough time for a shower before I had to turn around and catch the all night train up to the hills of Sapa.
After taking the train all night, we arrived in the hill town of Sapa. This is a town full of indigenous peoples and is the basis for trecks into the mountains of the surrounding region. Upon arriving, we met our guide and set out for a two day treck through the rice paddies and mountains of the surrounding area. The first day, we trecked 15 KM through some of the most beautiful scenery that I have seen in a while. We walked through endless rice fields, and little villages until we came to the village that we were to stay in that night. Instead of staying in a hotel, we were lucky enough to be able to do a "homestay." We literally got to sleep in the home of one of the local indigenous families. They prepared a very good traditional Vietnamese meal for us and let me just say that no one was left hungry.
After waking up, we set out for the second day of trekking. This time, in addition to more rice fields and villages, we were treated to the beautiful sight of a massive waterfall and a bamboo forest. Again, these are two sights that I am not likely soon to forget. After some lunch, we met our jeep and headed back to Sapa in order to catch the night train back to Hanoi.
Well that is what I have been up to over the last week or so. Its off to Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia tomorrow so be sure to check back soon for more updates!
Upon ariving in Hanoi, I checked into my hostel and set out to explore the city. The first thing that I decided to check out was the Ho Chi Minh Mosoleum Complex. For those of you who dont know, Ho Chi Minh is to Vietnam what Chairman Mao is to China (Basically the most important person in the history of Vietnam.) Inside of the complex, I was actually able to see his preserved body. It was a little bit weird, but interesting at the same time. After checking that out, I decided to go check out the War Museum. This was very interesting as well (especially being from the U.S.A.) It was full of relics and artifacts from the Vietnam War and although the captions were in Vietnamese, I was able to get a really good idea of what the war was all about and what happened. After the War Museum, I decided to spend the afternoon walking around the lake that is at the center of the city. Although I did not see any, it is said that there are a extreemly rare species of ancient tortise that still inhabit the lake. Finally, after my walk around the lake, I headed to a "Water Puppet" show. This is a form of traditional Vietnamese entertainment and is literally a puppet show over the water. The puppets are held up by sticks and are run by people behind a curtain. It was really interesting and was something that I probably cannot see anywhere else. After the puppet show, I called it a night and prepared for my adventure in Halong Bay the following day.
The next day, I took off for one of Vietnam's most famous sites, Halong Bay. Halong Bay is located three hours east of Hanoi and is basically a bay with hundreds of limestone rock formations jutting straight out of the water. Becasue they are in such close proximity to one another, they create a bay full of little coves, caves, and inlets. Upon our arrival, we boarded our boat and took off. After cruising around for the afternoon, we visited a "floating village" (Literally a village of houses that were floating on the water) where we rented sea kayaks and took off to explore the bay under our own power. The current was strong but we managed to fight through it and wound up at the enterance to an amazing cave that had formed over thousands of years of errosion from the ocean. Upon our arrival, we beached our kayaks and went in to explore the cave. We crawled through the pitch black for a while and then came out on the other side to a lake. This lake had formed by rain water accumulating over the years in an area that was completly closed off by rocks from the surrounding ocean. After checking out the cave for a while, we headed back to the kayaks to make the return journey to our boat. Upon returning to the boat, we had an afternoon of relaxing and swimming before a night of fun with everyone on board.
The next day, upon waking up, we headed to an island among the many rock formations. This island is called Cat Ba Island and is the largest island in the bay. It is the only inhabited island in the bay and it is where we would make our home for the next day. Upon arriving at the island, we set out for a hike through the jungle in order to summet the highest peak on the island. After reaching the peak, the view was unreal. Basically, we were able to see 360 degreese and could see endless rock formations set among the turquoise water of the bay. It is definitely a site I will never forget. After the hike, we settled down in our hotel for the rest of the day. We stayed on the island that night and in the morning, re-boarded our boat and headed back to port. Upon returning to Hanoi, I had just enough time for a shower before I had to turn around and catch the all night train up to the hills of Sapa.
After taking the train all night, we arrived in the hill town of Sapa. This is a town full of indigenous peoples and is the basis for trecks into the mountains of the surrounding region. Upon arriving, we met our guide and set out for a two day treck through the rice paddies and mountains of the surrounding area. The first day, we trecked 15 KM through some of the most beautiful scenery that I have seen in a while. We walked through endless rice fields, and little villages until we came to the village that we were to stay in that night. Instead of staying in a hotel, we were lucky enough to be able to do a "homestay." We literally got to sleep in the home of one of the local indigenous families. They prepared a very good traditional Vietnamese meal for us and let me just say that no one was left hungry.
After waking up, we set out for the second day of trekking. This time, in addition to more rice fields and villages, we were treated to the beautiful sight of a massive waterfall and a bamboo forest. Again, these are two sights that I am not likely soon to forget. After some lunch, we met our jeep and headed back to Sapa in order to catch the night train back to Hanoi.
Well that is what I have been up to over the last week or so. Its off to Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia tomorrow so be sure to check back soon for more updates!
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Trip of a Lifetime Round 2 (China Part 2: The Summer Palace, The Olympic Village Complex, and The Terra Cotta Warrior Army of Xi'An)
The day after the Forbidden City, I headed to the Summer Palace. This is the palace complex that use to be the residence of the Chinese Emporers during the intense heat of the Chinese summer. It is located a few miles outside of Beijing and although it took me a good while to find it (I took the publiuc bus which was interesting to say the least,) it was WELL worth it. It is basically a comples of pld residence halls, banquet halls, and temples that are set around a massive lake. All of the buildings have been restored and are beautiful and have very vibrant colors and decorations. I have to say however, that my favorite part of the whole complex was a temple that was located on the top of a hill at the center of the complex. Upon arriving at the peak of the hill, the view was unreal. I was able to see pretty much ALL of Beijing and the surrounding area. That says a lot because Beijing is HUGE.
After I returned to my hostel from the Palace, I met upo with a kid named Menno from Holland. He was staying in the same dorm room as I was and we decided to go and check out the Olympic Village complex. The village was absolutly amazing and both the National Stadium a.k.a The Bird’s Nest and the Swimming Complex a.k.a The Water Cube are amazing works of architecture. That being said, another amazing building is a 7 (yes you read correctly SEVEN) star hotel that is also on the grounds. We didn't go inside the hotel, but I am sure you can all imagine how amazing it must be. After the complex, it was time to head back to the hotel and go to bed before my EARLY flight to the city of Xi’An to see the “8th wonder of the world,” The famous Terra Cotta Warriors.
Uppon arriving in Xi'An, I took out my trusty map, and after some navigation, found my way to my hostel. This hostel was amazing and had an insane amount of travelers staying there. I immediately met a bunch of fellow travelers and after talking for a while, we decided to head out and check out the city. This city is a former military city and so it is surrounded by “city walls” on all sides. At the center of these walls, is a tower called The Bell Tower. The tower was built using traditional chinese architecture and was very beautiful. After checking out the tower, we headed to this city’s famous Muslim Quarter. The Muslim Quarter was an awesome set of little streets and allyways full of street vendors selling everything from silk scarves to food and souvineres and everything else that you can imagine. After walking around there for a while, we decided to go and check out a fountain show at one of the local temples. The show was really well done and reminded me of somethintg that I would see at Disneyland or Las Vegas. It was complete with music and dancing water. It was quite the specticle.
The next day, it was time to check out this cities most famous attraction, the Terra Cotta Warriors. For those of you who do not know what these are, they are basically a HUGE set of Terra Cotta Army Soldiers that were created during this one emporer’s rule and were burried with him in order to “protect him” and ensure his rule would last for ever. The complex consists of over six-thousand warriors and many more are believed to still be burried. It was an AMAZING (like everything else it seems) site and it was truly unbelieveable. The warriors were only discovered in 1974 by a peasant worker who was digging a well. We were even lucky enough to get to meet the origional discoverer. He was at the museum when we arrived. After the warriors, we came back to the hostel and grabbed dinner before turning in for the night. Today, (May 20th) it is time to head to Vietnam. Be sure to check back for more updates soon!
Until Next Time,
Evan
After I returned to my hostel from the Palace, I met upo with a kid named Menno from Holland. He was staying in the same dorm room as I was and we decided to go and check out the Olympic Village complex. The village was absolutly amazing and both the National Stadium a.k.a The Bird’s Nest and the Swimming Complex a.k.a The Water Cube are amazing works of architecture. That being said, another amazing building is a 7 (yes you read correctly SEVEN) star hotel that is also on the grounds. We didn't go inside the hotel, but I am sure you can all imagine how amazing it must be. After the complex, it was time to head back to the hotel and go to bed before my EARLY flight to the city of Xi’An to see the “8th wonder of the world,” The famous Terra Cotta Warriors.
Uppon arriving in Xi'An, I took out my trusty map, and after some navigation, found my way to my hostel. This hostel was amazing and had an insane amount of travelers staying there. I immediately met a bunch of fellow travelers and after talking for a while, we decided to head out and check out the city. This city is a former military city and so it is surrounded by “city walls” on all sides. At the center of these walls, is a tower called The Bell Tower. The tower was built using traditional chinese architecture and was very beautiful. After checking out the tower, we headed to this city’s famous Muslim Quarter. The Muslim Quarter was an awesome set of little streets and allyways full of street vendors selling everything from silk scarves to food and souvineres and everything else that you can imagine. After walking around there for a while, we decided to go and check out a fountain show at one of the local temples. The show was really well done and reminded me of somethintg that I would see at Disneyland or Las Vegas. It was complete with music and dancing water. It was quite the specticle.
The next day, it was time to check out this cities most famous attraction, the Terra Cotta Warriors. For those of you who do not know what these are, they are basically a HUGE set of Terra Cotta Army Soldiers that were created during this one emporer’s rule and were burried with him in order to “protect him” and ensure his rule would last for ever. The complex consists of over six-thousand warriors and many more are believed to still be burried. It was an AMAZING (like everything else it seems) site and it was truly unbelieveable. The warriors were only discovered in 1974 by a peasant worker who was digging a well. We were even lucky enough to get to meet the origional discoverer. He was at the museum when we arrived. After the warriors, we came back to the hostel and grabbed dinner before turning in for the night. Today, (May 20th) it is time to head to Vietnam. Be sure to check back for more updates soon!
Until Next Time,
Evan
Friday, May 15, 2009
Trip of a Lifetime Round 2 (China Part 1: The Great Wall, Tianamen Square and, The Forbidden City)
Well as the title of this post indicates, I am officially back on the road! I flew from San Francisco to Beijing, China via Hong Kong on May 12th and have officially begun the second go around of my trip.
I started off the trip with a major bang. The first site I decided to visit was the Great Wall of China. This monument is truly as impressive, if not more so, than any of you can imagine. Instead of going to the main section dedicated for tourists, I decided to go a to a section that has not been as restored and is much more "real and original." This turned out to be the best decision I could have ever made. I started at a point called Jinshanling and ended at a point called Simantai. The whole section was 6.5 miles long and consisted of 30 watchtowers as well as the wall! Not only was this section almost completely void of tourists, it was situated in the mountains and while extremely steep at points, the views were unreal. The fog decided to hang around the day that I went so at times, I was literally climbing the wall into the mist. It was truly a site that I will absolutely NEVER forget.
The next day, I headed to Tiananmen Square and The Forbidden City. For those of you who do not know what these are here is a brief description: Tiananmen Square is the largest public square in the world and is home to many buildings dedicated to Chairman Mao (who basically brought communism to China.) It even houses a building that holds the mummified remains of the Chairman himself! The Forbidden City is adjacent to Tiananmen Square and is the largest concentration of historical and restored buildings in all of China. It got its name because it was "off limits" to outsiders for 500 years.
The Square was amazing and came complete with massive Chinese flags, army soldiers, and INSANE amounts of Chinese citizens who travel from far and wide to pay their respects to the Chairman. The Forbidden City was also quite a sight. It stretches for what seems like miles and has many "traditional" Chinese buildings that have been beautifully restored. These buildings include former residences, banquet halls, and entertainment complexes of former Emperors. Both sites were unreal!
The Sites that I have seen so far have been impressive, but some of the foods that I have seen on the street have been down right INSANE. Now I am sure that all of you have heard rumors of "interesting" things that are eaten China and let me be the first to tell you, THEY ARE ALL TRUE! While walking around the streets of Beijing in search of food, I came into contact with stalls selling things including: (and I am NOT joking about this,) fried scorpion, dog meat, chicken kidneys, chicken hearts, shark, starfish, and basically any other entrails that you can come up with. I decided to stick with the Chicken Kebabs which I think was a safe thing to do.
Well that's all for now but be sure to check back over the next few days to see the pictures from the first set of adventures as well as the next post!
Until Next Time,
Evan
I started off the trip with a major bang. The first site I decided to visit was the Great Wall of China. This monument is truly as impressive, if not more so, than any of you can imagine. Instead of going to the main section dedicated for tourists, I decided to go a to a section that has not been as restored and is much more "real and original." This turned out to be the best decision I could have ever made. I started at a point called Jinshanling and ended at a point called Simantai. The whole section was 6.5 miles long and consisted of 30 watchtowers as well as the wall! Not only was this section almost completely void of tourists, it was situated in the mountains and while extremely steep at points, the views were unreal. The fog decided to hang around the day that I went so at times, I was literally climbing the wall into the mist. It was truly a site that I will absolutely NEVER forget.
The next day, I headed to Tiananmen Square and The Forbidden City. For those of you who do not know what these are here is a brief description: Tiananmen Square is the largest public square in the world and is home to many buildings dedicated to Chairman Mao (who basically brought communism to China.) It even houses a building that holds the mummified remains of the Chairman himself! The Forbidden City is adjacent to Tiananmen Square and is the largest concentration of historical and restored buildings in all of China. It got its name because it was "off limits" to outsiders for 500 years.
The Square was amazing and came complete with massive Chinese flags, army soldiers, and INSANE amounts of Chinese citizens who travel from far and wide to pay their respects to the Chairman. The Forbidden City was also quite a sight. It stretches for what seems like miles and has many "traditional" Chinese buildings that have been beautifully restored. These buildings include former residences, banquet halls, and entertainment complexes of former Emperors. Both sites were unreal!
The Sites that I have seen so far have been impressive, but some of the foods that I have seen on the street have been down right INSANE. Now I am sure that all of you have heard rumors of "interesting" things that are eaten China and let me be the first to tell you, THEY ARE ALL TRUE! While walking around the streets of Beijing in search of food, I came into contact with stalls selling things including: (and I am NOT joking about this,) fried scorpion, dog meat, chicken kidneys, chicken hearts, shark, starfish, and basically any other entrails that you can come up with. I decided to stick with the Chicken Kebabs which I think was a safe thing to do.
Well that's all for now but be sure to check back over the next few days to see the pictures from the first set of adventures as well as the next post!
Until Next Time,
Evan
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Back on the Road!!
So as the title of this post indicates, as of tomorrow (May 12th), at 1:20 AM PST, I will officially be back on my "Trip of a Lifetime." My foot is 100% better and I am now able to pick up where I left off. Seeing as though I now have a new time frame to work with, I had to alter my itenerary slightly. This time, I will be starting my trip in China, then head to Vietnam, then Malaysia, then Laos, then Cambodia, and finally Thailand.
I will be traveling from May 12th until July 21st. Be sure to check back for updates and posts from "Round 2" of my Trip of a Lifetime.
Talk to yall soon!
Evan
I will be traveling from May 12th until July 21st. Be sure to check back for updates and posts from "Round 2" of my Trip of a Lifetime.
Talk to yall soon!
Evan
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