Howard's Travel Blog

Howard' Travel Final Review (Entry #25)

Howard Simpson — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 23:35:00 GMT

The four month and two day trip is now long over and it’s time to make the final long anticipated blog entry. I was waiting till after I graduated to write this blog, but it is probably fair to say that I had a case of the writer’s block, or just pure denial, when it came to trying to finish this final entry for my trip. I know that I need to do it though and start moving forward, so here we go.

During my trip and continuing over the past few weeks, I’ve been jotting down ideas I wanted to discuss or review for this entry. Based on many of the questions I’ve received since coming home, many of you have had some of the same thoughts. So the best way to format this entry, I think, is just to share the most common questions I’ve received along with my answers and go from there:

- What was your favorite place? (by far the most common question)

This isn’t really a fair question, since I saw so many amazing places and each had their own quality of greatness, whether it was due to the historical relevance, beauty, and/or excitement/enjoyment of the place itself. By country though, I can pretty confidently say that New Zealand was my favorite place. It had a little of everything. Every area I went to sported a different climate, different geographical surroundings, different things to do. In this regard, it was similar to California (which is always a good thing). I could be on the beach one minute, hiking mountains an hour later, climbing a glacier the next day, and then on a boat the day after that. It was pretty great. Combine that with the great laid-back adventurous attitude of the Kiwis, and it’s hard to argue with that choice. Plus I had a great 30th birthday there and a lot of fun jumping off as many things as I could.

Of course there were plenty of other highlights and things I would strongly recommend. Here are just a few:
Israel: all of it...
Australia: Uluru (Ayers Rock), The Whitsundays, Sydney
Thailand: Ko Phi Phi (my favorite island), Chiang Mai, Pai
Laos: Luang Prabang, Vang Vien
Vietnam: Halong Bay, Hoi Ann, Ho Chi Minh City

- Did you get any viruses or illnesses, especially while in Asia?

For the most part I consider myself pretty lucky. In regards to stomach/digestive ailments that are probably the most discussed and most common illnesses, I feel really lucky. I took some type of preventive medicine that was supposed to be 65% effective against any type of stomach viruses...and it seemed to work. I got sick for a day in Israel, but was fortunate at the time to be with relatives who cared for me. Then I had one bad night in Vietnam, but it was really minor in the big scheme of things (especially when you compare it to the awful awful story I told in blog entry #17, when I witnessed a fellow traveler suffering from a stomach virus)

As many of you know by now, my biggest issues were my chipped tooth and the eye infection I got in Vietnam. I chipped my tooth swinging from trees in Laos. Fortunately, it was something I was able to manage until I came back to LA to get fixed. I don’t think I would have been too happy going to a dentist in Laos. As for the eye infection, well, I’m actually still dealing with it. I self medicated while traveling and then when I got back I saw a doctor and got some real drops…but it got re-irritated at some point and as recently as two weeks ago my eye was just a red puss ball. I was walking around my apartment with the blinds closed, my sunglasses on, and my regular glasses on over that (since I couldn’t wear my contacts and my sunglasses aren’t prescription). I finally seem to have a handle on the infection and, except for not being able to wear contacts for another month, I think I am pretty close to being back to normal.

- What were the other travelers like?

They were great. They were everywhere and they were all out looking to have similar adventures. By far, the biggest group of travelers were British, followed pretty closely by Swedish and Dutch. In Asia, Israeli’s made a pretty good showing. And conversely, by far one of the smallest groups was the Americans. I didn’t meet many, and when people met me they often said I was one of the few Americans they had met. Regardless of where they were from though, everyone was pretty open to meeting new people, giving you advice, or seeking it, on where to go next, or just open to grabbing a drink.

When I was staying in New Zealand and Australia it was much easier to meet people mostly because I was staying in the communal confines of a Hostel. In Asia, it was a bit more difficult because I usually got my own room (which cost less than a bed in an 8-person dorm in Australia). There were still plenty of opportunities though and when I found a group I liked, I tried to travel with them as much as possible, as many of them were headed along the same route as I was, making the community of travelers really small.

My favorite story about other travelers started in Vang Vien, Laos. I was out with some people when there was a blackout. Everyone in the whole town slowly made there way to one bar on the river because it was outside and was the brightest in the moonlight. While we were there a group of British guys started singing some annoying song over and over and over again. We talked to them a bit and joined in, but I never caught any of their names. Three weeks and two countries later I was at bar with a friend in Cambodia and sitting at a table next to us were some British guys. One of them came over to us and asked if they knew me…we tried to make a connection, but couldn’t figure it out and so I decided he must have been mistaken. A little while later they started singing the same annoying song as the group from before. I told the girl I was with, who was Canadian, about my experience a few weeks ago and therefore decided that it must be a British thing to sing this song. By the end of the night we were all at a table together singing the song together. As I was singing one of the verses, I looked around at everyone when it finally hit me...these were the same guys! The first time we met it was almost pitch black and thousands of miles away, but somehow we had ended up at the same bar in Cambodia doing the same thing. I don’t know...I thought it was a pretty crazy coincidence how it all went down, but I guess that’s just part of traveling...

- I sure did get a lot of text messages from you...did you have your phone with you?

God bless technology...that’s all I have to say. When you consider how quickly I always changed cities, at times was in the middle of no where and so far away from anything that I would consider normal, it was amazing how hooked up I was. On my phone I had instant text messages and emails, while on my computer I could browse the internet and watch TV from California using the slingbox.

As for the text messaging...well, most of you received them from me nonstop...whether it was to tell you that I was about to jump from a plane, to wish you a happy birthday, or just ask, ”what’s up?” It really allowed me to keep up with everything that was going on with friends and family back home, so I never felt like I didn’t know what was going on in everyone’s life. At the same time, I tried to share with you what I was doing. Some of you thought maybe I was bragging about what I was doing, but really I was just trying to share...well, most of the time... Here are two of my favorite text correspondences during the trip:

1) I was at a beach bar on an island in Thailand. I took a picture with my phone at the bar and sent it to a few friends with the comments: “Me watching a fire show at a bar on an island in Thailand.” As if they had worked on it together, I received two almost identical messages in return. They were each a picture of a cubicle and the message, “Me watching my computer at work..."

2) I was pretty nervous about my bungy jump in Queenstown, New Zealand, but also on a real high for it. Right before I jumped I texted my brother, “I’m bungy jumping from 440 feet today!!!!!” He replied, “I’m taking grandma to get a haircut today!!!!”

As you all know, technology also allowed me to consistently upload pictures and my blog. It also allowed me access to TV! I would say one of the things I missed the most during traveling was American sports and the excitement around it. Especially during March Madness when I knew everyone was doing their brackets and watching hours and hours of nonstop basketball. After having issues with my slingbox, I was finally able to hook up to my friend’s box in San Diego, which (for those of you that don’t know) allows me to have complete access to anything on TV in San Diego through my computer. I could even change the channel and set up shows to tape on the DVR. It was great for watching UCLA’s run to the Final Four and the Lakers in the playoffs...and by the end I was getting a little greedy, as I also was able to watch many of the shows I missed while traveling.

As I near three pages of text, I feel I should start to end this thing...despite the fact that I have many more things to share. Above are just a few of the items I wanted to stress that either helped me on my travels along the way or observations that made my travels what they were.

I want to thank a lot of people along the way: Of course my parents for watching Mocha while I traveled and allowing me to go on this voyage without too much protest. My brothers’ for their contact along the way and also for being available when I needed research done or something else handled for me. Eric, Aderet, Danae, Marc, Ariel, Aviva, Jonathon, Dave and anyone else that I may have forgotten by now who gave me tips and advice on where to go based on their previous experiences. Matt and Nikki for allowing me to hook up to their slingbox, which saved my life so many times when it came to catching UCLA and Lakers games. They also basically opened their home to me, as I would often be virtually watching TV with them, even going as far as changing the channel on them because I didn’t like what they were watching. Carly and TJ for meeting me along the way and Stephanie and Nick for hosting me in Hong Kong. My roommates Marc and Kyla for dealing with any apartment related issues and checking on my mail for me. Any and all of the many friends I may have contacted with questions, whether it be a score update or quick research information, while I was traveling. Any one else I might have forgotten, and of course all of the “masses” who regularly read my blog and looked at the pictures. I definitely appreciated receiving emails and comments in response to all the entries.

I guess all that’s left is to answer the second most popular question: What’s next?

OK...so I know I need to get a job. I’ve heard it from parents, friends, family friends, debt collectors, Mocha, etc... Now that we’ve established that, what else? I’d love to do this trip again, although I don’t know when that chance will present itself. If I did have the chance, I think I’d try to extend it, not necessarily to see more places, but rather to be able to stay in places longer; allow myself to really become acquainted with places and not become too worn out on moving to a different location so often.

Also, to occupy my time in the absence of this blog, I am setting up a new blog that I strongly encourage you all to subscribe to. It will cover a myriad of topics and can be found at: HOMPspeak

Final Travels Fast Facts:

Date of first blog: January 8
Date of final blog: July 11
Longest stay in one city: 4 days
Longest stay in one country: 28 days
KFC visits abroad: 8
Lakers regular season record abroad: 36-14
yoff record abroad: 6-0
Countries visited: 11 (including the tourist day in LA)
Bungies jumped: 2
Planes dove out of: 1
Text messages sent: Literally thousands
Scuba Dives: 15
Birthdays: 1 (but one big one!)
Bottles of Jack/bourbon bought: 13
Trip time: 4 months and 2 days OR 122 days OR exactly 1/3 of a year (because it’s a leap year)
Pictures taken: about 3,500
Pictures kept and posted: 1,384
Blog entries posted: 25
Blog entries remaining: 0
New Blogs: 1 (HOMPspeak.HOMPparties.com)
Cost: Priceless...(I think that line only works in commercials…it actually cost about twice my original estimate...)

Here are picture highlights from the beginning of my trip to my graduation!

And here is a video highlight I made from anything I may have chosen to video tape along the way...

May 9 (Entry #24)

Howard Simpson — Thu, 08 May 2008 18:54:00 GMT

And just like that...the travels come to an end...

Please check back over the next week as I post the final blog reviewing my trip, including some final thoughts, tips, conclusions, facts, etc. Will this final blog try to encompass too much, like some think the last Seinfeld did, or will it be a perfect ending to a great series, like Cheers? You will just have to tune in and find out for yourself.

Airplane fast facts:

Date of previous blog entry: May 9
Date of this blog entry: May 9
Time passed between the drafting of the two blogs: 26 hours 24 mins (more than 24 hours, but the same day...crazy, huh?)
Flight number: United 862
Meals: 3
Movies: 2 (National Treasure and The Great Debaters
Hours slept on the plane: 2
International date lines crossed: 1
Flight time: 12 hours 24 mins
Time sat in traffic on the 405: 1 hour 30 min
Blog entries: 1
Blog entries remaining: 1

May 9 (Entry #23)

Howard Simpson — Thu, 08 May 2008 18:22:00 GMT

While I have left SE Asia behind me, there is still plenty of Asia to see. My next stop was Hong Kong, where I went to visit my friends Stephanie, from UCLA, and Nick, her fiancé. After months of living in hostel dorms and cheap hotel rooms, it is so nice to be able to stay at someone’s home...it doesn’t hurt that the home is nice and in the heart of Hong Kong either. I definitely welcomed the hospitality and friendly faces.

My first night in Hong Kong I met up with some friends from business school, Tai and Henry. Stephanie and Nick were out of town that night, so I ventured out on my own to find them. I met them out in a busy area for nightlife, especially among foreigners, called Lan Kwai Fong. It seemed like a fun area and we had a few drinks before heading over the river to Kowloon. Here we went to a few bars that were definitely more often frequented by locals. This meant cheaper drinks and bigger pours. I couldn’t complain. I also learned a dice game that all the locals play. Overall, it was a fun first night.

The next day, Stephanie and Nick returned and we headed to The Peak, which overlooks the city. Unfortunately, it was quite cloudy and misty, which is apparently pretty common here, and therefore the view wasn’t the best. I still got a good feel for the city though. From there we headed to the Hong Kong Zoo. This zoo was pretty small compared to any zoo I’ve ever been to before (not that I’ve been to too many zoos, but...). The reptile section was populated by three reptiles. The largest collection of animals was the different types of monkeys. I could have watched them swing and mess with each other all day.

On Wednesday, we headed to Stanley Market, a great little place to buy some fun souvenirs located right off the water on the less built up side of Hong Kong Island. This side of the island was definitely calmer, without large skyscrapers shooting up everywhere or bulldozers dumping dirt into the water in an effort to create more land to build on, as is

common in the city center. After some shopping, we had a nice lunch by the water. Our trek back to the apartment allowed me to explore the city some more, walking through Hong Kong Park. That night we took a ferry across the bay to the Inter-Continental Hotel in Kowloon. The hotel has a great view of the Hong Kong skyline. Every night at 8:00 there is a light show from all the skyscrapers. So we ordered dinner and sat at the hotel watching the city light up.

Yesterday morning I woke early, ready to watch Kobe Bryant get his MVP trophy and see the Lakers beat the Jazz again. As you all know, it was a great game and Kobe got his MVP. With the game over and the whole afternoon still in front of us, there was only one question left to be answered: “Howard, you just watched Kobe Bryant win the MVP award and the Lakers go up 2-0 in their series, what are you going to do now?!” The answer, of course, was easy: “I’m going to Hong Kong Disneyland!”

While Hong Kong Disneyland is much smaller than Disneyland in Anaheim, the duplication of the original Disneyland was quite impressive. It was hard to remember sometimes that I was still in Hong Kong. Unfortunately, many of the rides weren’t there, like Pirates and the Matterhorn, but the rest was great. Also, the skies were completely clear and the sun was out. Stephanie said it was one of the most beautiful days she’s seen in Hong Kong since moving here. I don’t think

I've been to Disneyland since GradNight 12 years ago (wow, I’m old...). The first thing we did (besides buy ridiculous hats to block the unexpected sun) was to go on Space Mountain. Space Mountain was the first roller coaster (does it count as a roller coaster?) I ever went on at the age of 7. Perhaps the highlight of the day was It’s A Small World. That ride just never gets old, although I’m pretty sure some of the displays they had here were different than the original ones. It was great because it represented a microcosm of my trip and many of the places I experienced. I quickly started cursing myself as I realized that I could have saved thousands of dollars and just ridden It’s A Small World over and over again. Oh well, maybe next time...

After saying our goodbyes to Mickey and Minnie and making plans to see them in LA, we headed to dinner at a Chinese restaurant near the apartment. Now it is time to say goodbye to Stephanie and Nick as I am off again to my next location. Stay tuned as there are only two blogs left!!!

Hong Kong Fast Facts:

Pictures of the Hong Kong skyline: 87 (I deleted about 75 of them though)
Sunny days: 1
KFC visits: 1 (and I wasn’t overly impressed…Australia has still had the best so far)
Friends visited: 4
Monkeys jumping around their cages: about 30
Pirates of the Caribbean rides: 0 (how do you not have the Pirates and still call yourself Disneyland?)
Traveled around the world: 1 (It’s A Small World counts, right?)
Lakers Performance: Kobe won the MVP and the Lakers went up 2-0 in their best of 7
Churros and funnel cake ate: 0 (they didn’t sell it at Hong Kong Disneyland!!!)
Chicken Feet ate: 0 (last year in China I had 2!)
Days: 5
Blog Entries: 1
Blog Entries left: 2

Click here to see pictures of Hong Kong and Disneyland

May 5 (Entry #22)

Howard Simpson — Sun, 04 May 2008 21:29:00 GMT

After almost four months of traveling, country to country, city to city, hostel to hostel, I ended my South East Asia loop by entering back into southern Thailand to enjoy some much deserved vacation time on the islands (that’s right, I think I deserve it!). Basically for the last week I have kept up a pretty good routine of eating, beach, pool, nap, and repeat. That’s pretty much the whole blog entry...

In case you wanted a few more details though, I started out on Ko Samui, which is pretty much just a big busy island with some nice beaches. From there I headed to Ko Phangan. Ko Phangan is the home of the infamous Full Moon Party. My dates didn’t match up with the monthly party, so the island was much calmer while I was there. I was on the island for four full days and nights…the longest I have stayed in one place the whole trip (well, aside from the cyclone days in Fiji).

It was a good place to stop for that long. With an upgrade at my hotel, I had a view of the beach and pool from my balcony and a 27 inch flat screen that I was able to hook my computer up to in order to watch the Lakers playoff games!

With all my time on Phangan, I did mix my normal routine up a little bit. One day I met up with some friends from Cambodia and we got a boat to a more secluded beach for a nice relaxing day. Another day I took part in one of Thailand’s favorite past times, boxing. Muay Boxing (Thai Boxing) is huge. At least once a day in every city I’ve been to in Thailand there have been trucks going up and down the streets with posters and loud speakers announcing matches. I took an hour class, which

was actually taught by a guy from San Diego (does that make it less authentic?)... It was quite intense. I was already sweating from the humidity when I walked into the gym, but by the time I was done with the lesson, I was completely drenched in sweat. Muay Boxing involves constant movement, with nonstop jabs and kicks. Needless to say, having never thrown a punch in my peaceful life, I wasn’t too good…but now I’m a fighting machine...so watch out...

After my four relaxing days on Ko Phangan, I went Ko Tao, known for its diving. Just a few

hours after getting to the island I was in the water for my first ever night dive. Visibility was pretty good and scuba diving in the dark was definitely a different experience than normal diving. The highlight though was coming out of the water to a star covered sky. The next day I did two more dives. Again the visibility was good and the water was a rich dark blue, as opposed to the more aqua color I have experienced with my other dives. Not bad for my last dives of the trip.

For my last day in Thailand, I returned to Ko Samui because I fly out early in the morning. Unfortunately, this last day of beach time was a cloudy day, but I still jumped in the water and did my best to enjoy my vacation from my travels.

Thailand Fast Facts (part 2):

Islands visited: 5 (2 during the first visit and 3 this visit)
Lakers performance: Completed sweep of the Nuggets, won Game 1 against the Jazz
Scuba Dives: 5 (2 and 3)
Diving by flashlight: 1
Remaining Blog Entries: 3 (that’s right...the countdown has begun!)
Next time I plan on eating Thai food: A long long time from now
Boxing classes: 1
KOs: 0...
Days: 22 (13 and 9)
Blog entries: 3 (2 and 1)

Click here to see my photos of my beach time

April 26 (Entry #21)

Howard Simpson — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 08:53:00 GMT

After crossing the border into Cambodia it was only two more hours to get to my first city, Phnom Penh, the capital. To be honest, there are only one or two things to see here and I considered skipping it, but I decided I couldn't overlook them. Of course, as the capital, Phnom Penh has a great National Museum and a beautiful Royal Palace (both worth stopping by if you are in the area), but the impetus for my stop was located about 14km outside of town.

Choeung Ek, or simply "Killing Fields" as it is often called, is the home of 129 mass graves, accounting for about 17,000 men, women and children. From 1975 to 1978 the Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, attempted to create a classless agrarian society by forcing all citizens into the countryside. It began by actually falsely announcing over loud speakers in

all the big cities at the United States was planning to bomb Cambodia's major cities and then forcing everyone to walk to the "countryside" with no belongings to escape the US bombardment. Many people died from the walk alone. Later, the regime began killing any individual and their family members that they saw as a threat. That meant anyone educated, smart, or just appearing smart (glasses apparently were an indication of one's intellect). The killing process first had the people becoming prisoners at "S-21," a converted school originally called Svay Prey High School. The prisoners were held, tortured, and interrogated here before being taking outside of Phnom Penh to Choeung Ek to be killed.

Of the 129 graves, 86 have been disinterred. At the entrance to the fields there is a tall white stupa that serves as a memorial to the people killed. This memorial is also the final resting point for many of the people found when the graves were excavated, as about 8,000 skulls fill the stupa from the floor to ceiling. Many of these skulls show markings from being killed by ax, bullet, club, etc. As a Jew who has visited many of the Nazi concentration camps in Poland, I felt I needed to visit here as well, and couldn't help but

compare the two. While not on the same scale as the Nazi's efforts, it almost seems that the mass killings in Cambodia were more savage...if that's possible..not to mention much more recent.

From Phnom Penh I headed to Siem Reap (on a bus that included a row of people sitting on lawn chairs down the center aisle). Siem Reap is the jumping off point for visits to Angkor Wat, which, as opposed to Choeung Ek, is a source of national pride. Angkor Wat itself was built in the 12th century, but all the temples making up the area, which encompasses a few square miles, were built between the 9th and 13th centuries as part of an empire

that went from Burma to Vietnam. Angkor Wat represents the world's largest religious building. It is surrounded by a moat, although perhaps calling it a river would be more appropriate, that no draw bridge could cross. I would guess is at least a football field wide. As soon as I drove up to Angkor Wat and saw it from afar I was awe struck. It actually lost some of its appeal as I got closer (and the pictures I took definitely don't do it justice), but it still is quite amazing. I spent two days walking through the different temples. I know many people who visit here are enthralled both by the buildings themselves as well as their spirituality. I am not an especially spiritual person, so maybe I missed out on something from that aspect, but as far as "ancient" cities I've visited go, it easily ranks up there with Petra and Cappadoccia.

In addition to the main Angkor Wat temple, I visited many of the smaller sites. One temple on a hill made for a great sunset view. I also visited the temple that was used in the movie Tomb Raider. These structures looked like they were right out of an Indiana Jones movie. I can't even count the number of times during my two days exploring these temples that I caught myself humming the theme song from Indiana Jones (in fact, I'm humming it right now). As a result, these occurrences, along with the fact that the new Indiana Jones is coming out this summer, have solidified Indiana Jones as the first HOMP movie of the summer (you heard it here first! See what kind of inside information you get by reading the blog!!!!).

Aside from the temples, Siem Reap represented the beginning of a long "vacation period" I plan on taking to end my travels. Feeling a bit tired of the cheap accommodations I have experienced the past 4 months, I stayed at a really nice 4-star hotel that a mother/daughter traveling combo recommended to me. While the comforts of this hotel were not significantly more than you might expect at an average hotel in the States, I can't begin to

tell you how nice it seemed to me. My feelings were justified when I found out that during my stay there the hotel was officially changing from a 'hotel' to a 'resort and spa' (which brings with it the award of a 5th star). This switch was accompanied by a huge party attended by Cambodia's Minister of Tourism. Unfortunately, this meant the pool was closed for party preparation for 2 days of my stay there (taking 2 stars away from the hotel in my opinion), but it was still fun to watch the party unfold.

Now I am back in Thailand to continue my vacation period...

Cambodia Fast Facts:

Bus passengers to Siem Reap: 70 (on a 50 person maximum occupancy bus)
Lakers playoffs: 2-0 against Denver in the first round
KFC visits: 0
Travelers ran into that I already met in other countries: 8 (some funny stories here...)
Currency: Riel
Currency used by everyone: US$
Weight lost due to sweat dripped while walking through the temples: 5lbs, easily
Pictures taken of the temples of Angkor Wat: 347
Pictures edited out of the photo album to make it manageable to go through: 284
Days: 5
Blog Entries: 1

Click here to view my Cambodian pictures (I literally deleted over 400 pictures to bring it down to the remaining 92)

April 22 (Entry #20)

Howard Simpson — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 05:06:00 GMT

I left the north to check out central Vietnam. I ended up in Hoi An, which is known for its old town, relaxed environment, and the beach that’s about 15 minutes away. It’s also known as a great place to have custom clothes made. After already getting two suits made last year when I was in Shanghai, I planned on going to Hoi An only to experience the city and the beach. While I was walking around though, I stumbled into a fabric shop and decided that I could use maybe one shirt. A little further down the

street I stopped at a shoe store and a minute later the lady had my foot on a pad of paper and was sketching it out for the two custom shoes I ordered. By the end of the day I had placed orders for two shoes, one winter coat, and six nice shirts for less than $150, all custom made to fit my body (which hopefully won’t be a problem since I’m sure I’ll gain back the 12 pounds that I’ve lost on this trip when I’m back in LA ...). Aside from the shopping, I enjoyed some time walking through the town and relaxing at the beach.

From Hoi An I rushed down south to Ho Chi Minh City (a.k.a. Saigon) for the first night of Passover. I registered earlier in the week to attend the seder (the meal you are supposed to eat the first and second night of Passover) at Vietnam Chabad House. When I walked in I was asked English or Hebrew. Upon answering English I was put at an empty table with English Hagadahs (the book read during the seder). I should have

said Hebrew. The Hebrew table was full and they looked like fun people. In any event, my table filled up and had some nice people. After making it through the surprisingly quick and very unorganized reading of the Hagadah, it was time to eat. I was actually pretty excited to get some good ol’ fashioned matzah and gefilte fish. It's funny...each seder is always concluded with the words, "Next year in Jerusalem." I don't remember last year saying, "Next year in Vietnam."

The rest of my time in Vietnam was spent delving deeper into Vietnam’s history, specifically the “Anti-American War.” First I hit up Reunification Palace. This was originally called Independence Palace and was equivalent back in the day to the White House in its functions, as home, office, and reception spot for VIP guests. A big part of the palace was dedicated to showing the North Vietnamese crashing through the gates and capturing it at the end of the war, changing its name to Reunification Palace.

From there it was on to the War Remnants Museum. Aside from the mass amount of American tanks and jets outside the museum, the bulk of the exhibits here were pictures showing the atrocities of war, mostly from the Vietnam and anti-American perspective. Photographs ranged from soldiers slicing up Vietnamese civilians to children with birth defects from the American dropped Agent Orange.

My final stop in Ho Chi Minh took me to Cu Chi Tunnels, a maze of 200km of tunnels going as deep as 15m below the ground all the way from Cambodia to Saigon. These tunnels were originally built during Vietnam’s French War, but were greatly expanded during the American War. The tunnels for the most part were small throughout, but there were strategic locations where the tunnels would actually get very tight with the thinking that the average Vietnamese soldier could fit, but the bigger American soldier could not. In addition, they had on display an array of spiked traps set up by the Vietnamese to capture and gravely injure any American soldiers that might happen upon them. They also had a shooting range

there where you could take a try at shooting a weapon from the war. With the thoughts of the many American soldiers that died on these fields and in these traps, I opted not to shoot any guns.

While I really enjoyed Vietnam, making it one of the highlights of the trip, and never felt a single anti-American vibe from anyone I met, whether on the street, in an establishment or in a museum, all the exhibits at places like the War Remnants Museum and especially at the Cu Chi Tunnels were staunchly anti-American. These exhibits referred to Americans during the war with adjectives from as simple as “the enemy” to as extreme as “a batch of soldiers with the devil as their souls.” I definitely felt uncomfortable, as an American, at these museums. Often questioning both, how much of the information was true/biased and how did America get into a war that allowed for such things to occur. I really enjoy American history, but honestly feel a little ignorant on this subject (maybe I shouldn’t have cheated as much as I did in 11th grade US History...well, whatever, I still got a 4 on the AP test). To cure my ignorance I bought a book called In Retrospect by then Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. I haven’t finished it, but have found it helpful so far. It’s a hard read though, because it’s clearly not an original print. It appears as if they copied the book and then sold it, like a pirated copy. Although, it’s not just photocopied, I think someone actually re-typed it, because there are spelling errors and formatting problems that wouldn’t have been present in a photocopy (my favorite error has been when Robert Kennedy was called “Booby Kennedy” instead of Bobby)...but I digress.

My final experience in Vietnam was an adventurous one. The travel agent I booked my morning bus with gave me the wrong time, and so therefore I missed it by about 10 minutes. The travel agency called the bus and then threw me on the back of a motorcycle to catch it. It was seven in the morning and I was racing through Ho Chi Minh in rush hour traffic on a motorcycle with my big backpack wedged between the bike driver and the handle bars, my small backpack on my back, and me barely holding onto my duffle bag (newly bought to hold all my new clothes) off to my right side. After driving for about 15 minutes I realized the bus hadn’t stopped and waited for me, rather we were trying to catch up to it. At the 25 minute mark I began to wonder if I was going to ride this motorcycle for the full 6 hour trip. Finally at the 30 minute mark we spotted the bus and I was able to hop on. At this point all the adrenaline left me, and I slouched down in my seat drained and sweaty. After cooling down a bit, I fell asleep and woke up three hours later successfully at the Cambodian border.

I hope everyone had a good Earth Day.

Vietnam Fast Facts:

Moto rides: 8
Felt like I was going to fall off the moto: about 25 (that’s just over 3 times a ride, for you math whizzes)
Custom shoes made: 2
Custom shirts made: 6
Custom winter coat made: 1
Cost of all shoes and clothes: $150
Worst/best invention: DVD players in vans...but not just normal DVD players like you have in the US. There were microphones attached to them so you could play karaoke discs. Worst invention because you can see how that can be really annoying, but it could be good if you're in the right mood...but then again, in the US you can't drink in cars, so when would you really be in the right mood?...
Lakers final standings: 57-25 (1st place in the Western Conference)
KFC visits: 2
Favorite censored movie line: Die Hard was on TV, and while “Fuck” was edited cleanly out of a few parts, when Agent Johnson (no, not that Agent Johnson, the other Agent Johnson) said, “Just like Fucking Vietnam!” the whole line was cut out...
Seders: 1
Gefilte fish ate: 2
Someone saying “hello, my friend” in order to sell me something or get me to take a taxi ride: 5 billion times!
Got stuck in a Vietcong tunnel: 1
Days in Vietnam: 14
Blog Entries: 2

Click here to see pictures from Hoi An and Ho Chi Minh City (and a few from my night out in Halong Bay that didn’t get posted with the last blog).

April 16 (Entry #19)

Howard Simpson — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 09:20:00 GMT

Goooooooood Morning, Vietnam!!!! (come on...you had to see that one coming)

I started off my much anticipated Vietnam trip in the north in Hanoi. the country's capital. I really liked the energy of this city. There are a billion things going on at once. It's kind of like organized chaos. I probably couldn't spend more than a week in this environment, but for the few days I was there, it was great. The first thing one has to know about Vietnam is

that there are no traffic rules...or if there are, no one listens to them. I've been to many places with bad/scary driving (Egypt and China top the list), but they have nothing on Vietnam. Not only are cars (well, actually mostly motorcycles) going in all directions, but the traffic never stops. Crossing the street is like a game of Frogger. You just go and move back and forth until you get across. I felt like George Costanza every time I stepped into the street.

As crazy as the traffic was, I had to experience it for myself. I quickly discovered that the cheapest, most readily available, and most fun way to experience the city is on the back of someones motorcycle. Every time I walked anyway there was always someone offering me a ride on their 'moto.' I finally decided to take someone up on it and it was great. I'm not

going to lie...it was a bit nerve racking at times, but I have to believe there is no better way to see the city. As he was cutting in and out of traffic, with cars coming from the front, left, right, and behind, I just sat there and watched the city go by. It was great...oh, and did I mention he offered to sit and wait for me wherever I went so that he could drive me to the next place? All in all, for a grand total of $5, I had my own driver who showed me around the city for the day.

With the triumph of riding on a motorcycle in Hanoi behind me, I daringly sought out to truly experience the city in another way...the food. I'm not talking about just eating Vietnamese food, but actually eating where the locals sit. I decided I would sit down at a place if I saw at least 5 people already there (as if that would indicate something good about it). On my way walking around the city on my second day, I saw a group of five ladies sitting on stools on the curb, while a sixth lady took ingredients from a basket and put them in a pot that was sitting on coal on the side walk. A cheaper restaurant location could not be found. I stood for a minute staring closely when one of the ladies pointed to a stool and I sat down. The soup was really really good. And the company wasn't bad either. This one lady spoke

to me the whole time, of course it was in Vietnamese and so I never responded...but she kept talking. At the end, my bill for this great meal was equivalent to 62 cents. It was great and I felt no ill-effects of my decision in the following days. (Of course, not 2 days later I get on a plane and am handed a free paper, which has the headline: "Hanoi battles cholera outbreak, over 130 infected, another 1,600 hospitalized for diahrrea. Street vendors main culprit")

Aside from the cultural experiences I just shared, most of my time was spent at museums and other sites. The Ethnology Museum was a great one. It displayed many of the different ethnic groups in Vietnam, how they live, and how they are dealing with urbanization of their villages becoming towns becoming cities. Another highlight was the Temple of Literature, which is a huge plot of land filled with different buildings once used as a university and dedicated Confucius back in 1070. Hoan Kiem Lake was also a good spot. You could just sit by the lake and read, or walk over the bridge to the Ngoc Son Temple, which was located on an island in the middle of the lake. Hoa Lo Prison Museum was very interested, perhaps due more to current events than anything. It was originally a prison used by Vietnam to house any government opposition in the early and mid 1900s. More

recently though, it was home to many POWs (who had nicknamed it "Hanoi Hilton", including current presidential nominee, John McCain. The museum was pretty well done. I found it interested how it portrayed how brutal and torturous the conditions were when Vietnamese prisoners were held there, but when they discussed the POWs, they showed pictures of them playing basketball in the yard, playing cards, watching a movie, and celebrating Christmas...hmmmm

By far though, the best site was the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. Inside lies former leader Ho Chi Minh's body and it's embalmed and out there for all to see just like it was the day he died. Unfortunately, no cameras were allowed inside, so you'll have to take my word for it, but it was definitely interested. Oh, and in case you were wondering, Ho Chi Minh actually requested to be cremated...oops.

After Hanoi, it was off further north to Sapa. Everyone I spoke to who had been to Vietnam either said Sapa was great and I had to go, or that Sapa was the one thing they wish they didn't' skip and therefore I had to go. Well, to be honest, I wasn't as im pressed. Maybe it was everyone's high praise that doomed me to have such lofty expectations. Don't get me

wrong, I liked it, but it's not a must see, at least not what I saw. The town was your basic tourist town with a lot of hotels and a lot of people selling things. If you showed the slightest bit of interest in anything, you would literally become surrounded by 20 girls trying to sell you some knick knack. Once I got up there, I hired a guide, Chom, who was from the local village to take me and a few other people on a trek. We walked to her village and saw great scenery and learned a lot, but unfortunately, much of the lush hills that are supposed to be highlights of Sapa were covered in mist. It was an interested day though, as Chom, who was 17, told us about her family, including one sister who has recently died and another who was stolen a long time ago, likely taken and sold in China.

After Sapa, I headed to Halong Bay. Now this met all my expectations. We sat on a boat all day and just sailed around these rocks that just jetted up straight from the water. There were hundreds of different rocks/islands like this, each more amazing than the one before it. It accounted for great scenery and a great sunset. The first night in Halong Bay I spent on a boat. There

were 4 other people on the boat in my age group and they were definitely good fun. The next day, after a sunrise kayak, the boat docked at Cat Ba, the only island in Halong Bay to be inhabited. Me and the four people I met on
the boat spent the day at a "water park"...although it was really just two slides and a big pool. The bigger slide was turned off and the smaller slide was no bigger than a slide you would find at a local park. Oh well, the pool itself was a nice change. While the wharf at Cat Ba was full of boats, we didn't see many other foreigners when we went out that night. Fortunately, the five of us formed a coalition of the willing, and we made it a real fun night.

Now I am off south to continue exploring Vietnam.

Click here for pictures of Vietnam (there are a lot this time)...

April 9 (Entry #18)

Howard Simpson — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 02:57:00 GMT

Due to a lot of various factors I was left feeling tired of traveling and ready to go home during my last few days in Thailand and first day or so in Laos. Whether it was the Laos people, the landscape, the activities I did there, or the other travelers I met, Laos quickly made me dismiss these feelings. Out of all the countries I had on my itinerary for this trip, Laos was the most abstract in my mind; not really knowing what at all to expect so it was all new to me. The country as a whole is really beautiful and the people are nice and not too pushy when it comes to asking you to spend money.

On my first day there I was in the city of Luang Prabang and took a two hour trip up the Mekong River. The Mekong River is a lifeline for this region, feeding from Thailand through Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia. This short trip took me to caves that were used as places of worship and were full of Buddha icons. On the way to the caves the boat made a stop at a village that was known for
	producing its own whiskey. Of course I had to take a taste and purchase a bottle. It wasn’t bad, although it tasted more like tequila than whiskey... That afternoon I headed out to a beautiful waterfall. The waterfall itself was pretty impressive, but it also fed into many different pools making each different section its own little swimming pool.

The next day I rented a bike (just a normal bike this time, no motor involved), and rode around the city and its outstretches to check out the area and see some of the wats. April 13-15 is New Years in Laos (Thailand and Cambodia too) and one of the ways they celebrate is by having huge "water festivals." Basically, just a huge water fight for three days (Chiang Mai, Thailand is known as having one of the biggest festivals and attracts thousands of people from throughout the region. Picture having a water fight throughout a whole city with thousands of people participating!). Anyway, apparently the kids in Luanng Prabang decided they needed to start practicing for the big event because that

day while I was riding on my bike I got ambushed at least a dozen times. I ended the day completely soaked from head to toe to every kip (Laos currency) in my wallet. It was pretty fun, I just wish I had a water gun to get them back!

After Luang Prabang I headed south to Vang Vieng. All I knew about this city was that people told me I had to go tubing there and that the Lonely Planet mentioned something about a Friends phenomenon at the restaurants. Not sure what either description of the city exactly entailed I headed to find out. OK, so this Friends thing?...picture being in a restaurant with the street-side wall missing giving the restaurants a very open feeling, with tables about a foot off the ground with pillows for you to sit on, but all the pillows are on one side so that everyone is facing the inside wall which is covered with multiple TVs playing endless loops of Friends episodes! Now imagine standing in the middle of the street being surrounded by ten identical restaurants and hearing ten different Friends episodes from different seasons being played from each restaurant and you can begin to understand this experience. I don’t know how this started, or why it stuck, but it has. Keep in mind that my Lonely Planet was written two years ago...meaning that for at least two years (and probably many more) Friends has been playing nonstop everyday at these restaurants. Basically I decided where to eat each day by which season I wanted to watch...did I feel like watching before Ross and Rachel got together, or after they were on a break? Is there any episode playing with one of those flashbacks to the 80s where Monica is fat or maybe the one with Reese Witherspoon guest starring?...

The actual city itself had a lot to offer. First I trekked through a cave. I started by entering the cave on an inner tube, then swam, walked, and finally had to crawl to get through. Parts of the cave were so small I actually had to crawl on my hands and knees for over 20 minutes. I don’t know how babies do it. It’s not as easy as it looks! After
that we headed back down into the city on kayak. This was down the Nam Song River , which ran by this beautiful mountain range. Of course, my delicate hands weren’t quite ready for kayaking...I mean just two weeks earlier they were making works of art in a Thai kitchen and now they were being used for hard labor?! Needless to say, I had many blisters by the end of the day.

	My final day in Vang Vieng I went to check out the other highlight of the city, tubing. I didn’t have good cell reception in Laos, so I didn’t bring my phone with me to go tubing, which is probably a good thing because if I did many of you would have received a text message that said something like: "OMG!! I am tubing down a river lined with bars. Welcome to Spring Break Laos!!" Basically you just sit in a tube and float down the Nam Song. Every 100 yards or
so there’s a bar playing very loud music and a man with a bamboo stick trying to get you to grabe on to the stick so he can pull you in. Once you getto the bar you sit there and have a few drinks and then get back in your tube and go down to the next bar. Most of
the bars had some type of swing set up to swing from the top of the bar into the water. This was the highlight for me (FYI - I had specifically planned to do the tubing this day because just hours earlier the NCAA championship game ended and UCLA was supposed to be in it and was supposed to win! This was going to be my victory parade, damn it!!). I was like a kid in a toy store. I’d have a drink and then run up the ladder to the swing.

	By the end of the day I must have done the swing 30 times...I should have stopped at 29... We were at the last bar and I said I wanted to do the swing one more time (famous last words, right?). By that point everything started working against me: the day’s worth of drinking, the energy it took to hold on to the bar as you swung back and forth 29 times, the blisters on my hands from kayaking and the new ones from the
swing...all combined to me jumping off the platform and then simply letting go of the swing a second later. I just couldn’t hold it. I held on just long enough to get a lot of
momentum going in the horizontal direction, so as I fell I hit the water at full force. At first I thought I broke a rib...but as I slowly came out of the daze and reached the surface I realize I only had the wind knocked out of me. As I slowly reached the side of the river I realized that my jaw had snapped together from the impact so hard that I actually chipped a tooth! I was like the walking wounded as I stumbled out of the river. Fortunately it was just a covering that chipped and it’s not really noticeable unless you look for it. I can live with it for the next month or so, but I definitely have to pay the dentist a visit when I get home. Ugh...I hate the dentist! Moral of the story, go to Vang Vieng and go tubing, but stop after swing number 29...

Laos Fast Facts:

KFC visits: 0
Different swings used: 3
Times swung: 30
Chipped teeth: 1
Splashed by little kids while on a bike: 13
Side of the road driven: Right (first time cars have driven on the right side of the road since LA!)
UCLA consecutive Final Four appearances: 3
UCLA championships celebrated in Laos: 0
Friends episodes watched: 11
Days: 7
Blog Entries: 1

I will be posting a new video soon, so watch for it!

Click here for pictures of Laos

April 3 (Entry #17)

Howard Simpson — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 13:21:00 GMT

Warning: Grab a cup of coffee, this is a long one
Warning 2: The content in this entry is suitable for mature audiences only

On my own again, I headed up north to Chiang Mai, a major northern city without the same hustle and bustle of Bangkok. Despite it being much smaller than Bangkok though, it has almost as many wats (temples). I spent my first few hours there walking around the ancient part of the city, surrounded by a wall and moat, and saw a lot of wats. I mean, how many wats does one city need. I saw so many wats it left me thinking, “Wat the fuck?...” (Get it? Get it?! I crack me up).

With the desire to see any more wats behind me, I signed up for a Thai cooking class. This was an all day cooking class teaching you the basics from picking ingredients at the market to preparing and serving everything. This class also happened to take place at the same time as one of UCLA’s tournament games. Prompting a friend of mine, when I texted him asking for score updates because I was in cooking class, to ask, “Will you need help reattaching your testicles when you are done?” That’s fine though. I’m secure in my masculinity and I know who won’t be sampling any of my cooking when I get home. In the class I cooked tom yam soup, panaeng curry with chicken, chicken with cashew nuts, and pad thai. As a group we also
made papaya salad, spring rolls, and sticky rice with mango. This was easily the best
	Thai food I have ever had, if I do say so myself. I was quite impressed. Now, there’s probably no way I will ever be able to recreate any of this on my own…there’s probably no way I will put in the effort to recreate this on my own…but at least I know on this one day I was a Thai cook, and a good one.

Because of its surrounding environment, Chiang Mai is a good hopping off place for treks. I decided to do a three day trek that included spending a night in a village populated by the Lahu Tribe (originally from Tibet). They seemed like nice enough people. Their village was high up in the hills and all the structures were made
of bamboo. I saw one girl, I would have guessed to be around 12, carrying a baby boy. I assumed it was her little brother, until I saw her lift her shirt and start breast feeding him. I later found out that girls in the village usually start having kids at around 14 years of age and usually have about 15 children!

Of course with trekking, and traveling in general, there are always dangers of eating something that doesn’t agree with you. In the interest of keeping this blog as transparent to my real experiences as possible, I must share this story, but I apologize for it in advance. When we reached our stop for the second night we sat down to relax. I was talking to one guy on the trip and he was completely fine, drinking a beer, laughing, etc. I swear you could see the change in his face, and within seconds he gets up and goes to the bathroom. This poor guy was so sick. All night through dinner and the campfire you could hear him moaning from either his bed (which is just a mattress in a big room that we were all sleeping in) or the bathroom. Now, the bathroom was a solid 50 yard walk in complete darkness over dirt and rocks from where we slept. And the bathroom itself was literally just a hole. With this in mind, and the amount of times he was getting up and making the trip to the bathroom, I guess the decision was made to just bring a bucket in the room and let him go in there. His girlfriend would then go and dump it out after each time…now that is true love. At first, I didn’t mind. I wasn’t in the room for most of it and because it was made from bamboo, there was plenty fresh air circulating. When I went to bed I fell asleep right away not even noticing the bucket. But then I woke up at one point in the night and opened my eyes to see him from the backside knelt over the bucket. It was just about the worst thing I have ever seen with my own two eyes. I’m talking “2girls1cup” flashbacks! This happened one more time in the night. After that I would wake up and lay completely still, refusing to even open my eyes for fear of what I may see. I was so happy that it wasn’t me though and remain hopeful that I will make it through the rest of my trip without getting anything remotely that bad (I hope I didn’t just curse myself).

That aside, the trek itself was pretty active. I had thought that maybe there would be some driving here and there between points, but it was an honest to goodness trek. We were dropped off at one spot on day one, rode some elephants a small distance, hiked to different villages each day, and then finally to a river on the last day where we took a bamboo raft back down to our original starting point. And these villages were high in the mountains, often requiring hiking up steep inclines for

hours. Needless to say I was quite tired by the end. We also hiked through a forest fire! Right along our path was a fire that looked like it had already engulfed a good section of the forest. Our guide said it was not common and was probably set illegally by an elephant herder who wanted to clear the area. I find it hard to believe it wasn’t common though, because no one seemed to care about the fire and we walked right through it as if it was supposed to be there…

	After the tiring trek, I needed some relaxation so I headed to the city of Pai, which is just a really small chill town in the mountains. I got a nice hut near the river and spent my first few hours just sitting on the porch reading. After that I decided to explore some of the areas surrounding Pai…and I decided to do this on motorbike. I know after the jeep/bus incident I said I wouldn’t drive on this trip again, but I figured, “what the hell?” As I
jumped on the bike and started to ride I had two thoughts flash in my head: 1) Don’t go too fast and be a ‘hot rod’, whihc is what my used to call us when we were driving too fast (this is the same grandfather that broke his leg while riding a motorcycle…or maybe that’s just a story my mom told me to convince me not to ride motorcycles); 2) The first and last time I rode a motorbike was in Greece 10 years ago when a friend rented one.
He let me try it and within literally five seconds, I was on the ground… With all this in my mind, I hit the road on my motorcycle (ok, scooter) with the wind in my hair (ok, with the wind over my helmet). If I said I went over 50 km/hour (about 32mph) I’d be lying, but it was still fun. I was able to check out some of the canyons and hot springs in the area, which is exactly what I needed for my still aching body. Pai was a nice relaxing way to end my Thailand trip (at least for now…).

Thailand Fast Facts Part 1 (I come back to Thailand in a month or so):

Scuba dives: 2
Cooking classes: 1
Kilometers traveled by scooter: about 70
KFC visits: 0
Pad thai eaten: way more than I want to remember
Conversion rate when my lonely planet guide book was published (2006): 1 US$ = 41 Thai baht
Conversion rate today: 1 US$ = 31 Thai baht (meaning things are costing me about 33% than it would have two years ago…thanks US economy!)
Avg price of a plate of pad thai: still only $2.00 (in 2006 it would have been $1.50)
Friends from home: 3
Most exciting purchase: A bottle of one of Jack Daniel’s ‘scenes of Lynchburg’ commemorative bottles. (when I was at the JD distillery they told me it could only be purchased at the distillery)
UCLA tournament wins: 3
Lakers record: 3-3
Accidents while driving: 0!!
Blog entries: 2
Days: 13

Click here to see pictures of Northern Thailand

March 27 (Entry #16)

Howard Simpson — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:20:00 GMT

I rearranged part of my trip in Australia in order to meet up with my friend Carly in Thailand. In fact, I had it worked out so we both would land in Bangkok within 5 mins of each other. When I got to the airport in Sydney though, I was informed that my flight had been canceled. They graciously offered to put me up in a hotel, including dinner and a free whole three minute phone call, but this would not do. I had no way to reach Carly who was already in the air (traveling from Hong Kong where she was visiting another friend of ours). It was quite a frustrating few moments where no one would listen to the fact that I needed to meet a friend that I had no way of getting in touch with and that a day delay would totally derail all my other plans. Finally I got someone who was sympathetic and actually got me on another airline’s flight getting me into Bangkok four hours earlier than originally planned. After being mistreated by airlines many a time before (including once by a supposed old friend of my mother who did nothing more than give me a form and fax number to submit it to…and no, Mom, I won’t let it go), this effort was greatly appreciated. The new flight worked out both for the schedule, and because the airport had free internet, so I spent those four hours watching some tournament basketball!

By the time Carly and I actually connected, got to the city and our hotel, the day was half gone. We quickly went out to see some of the main wats (temples). Unfortunately, due to the death of the king's sister, whose body was on display at the Great Palace, many of the wats and the Great Palace were open to only native Thai. Couple that with the fact that every person we spoke to gave us a different time for when the palace would open again (2:30, then 4:30, then finally not at all),
we had to miss out on one of the main Bangkok attractions. We did get in a nice canal tour and a viewing of the famous Reclining Buddha. That night we met up with some friends of
	mine from business school who are in Thailand doing the same school trip that I did last year. We briefly considered Bangkok’s ‘must-see’ ping pong show (if you don’t know it, I’m not going to explain it to you), but opted for the more tranquil setting of an Irish bar. Despite some of the places being closed, I liked Bangkok, at least better than the first time I visited it last year. It was still oppressively humid, but the city didn’t seem as dirty as I remember it and I enjoyed the crazy liveliness that was going on all around.

The next morning it was off to Phuket, Thailand’s biggest island and gateway to the paradisiacal island of Ko Phi Phi. Phuket was as I remembered it, nice beach, pleasant restaurants, and way too built up and busy for an island getaway. I enjoyed our time there sitting on the beach and checking out the scene at Patong, but was happy when we caught a ferry the following day to Phi Phi.

Although there was significantly more development than when I had been there a year before (as post-Tsunami building continues to take place), the island remained the calm getaway it is known for; no cars, beaches everywhere, and naturally formed breathtaking coves. The first afternoon there was split between the hotel pool and the beach just a 40 second walk away. On Tuesday we went on a diving trip. I was doing

I was doing my 9th and 10th dive and Carly was doing an introductory dive. The visibility was great! I knew the visibility at the Barrier Reef in Australia wasn't great when I dove there, but I didn't realize how bad it was until I was able to compare it with the visibility at Ko Phi Phi (that being said, the reef was better in Australia). Both dives were good and relaxing, just the way I like them. I also was able to entertain myself between dives with some fun jumping off the top of the boat.

We woke up early the next morning to catch the ferry back to Phuket and then fly to Bangkok. We were really hoping to make it back in time to check out the sites we missed a few days before, but it didn't happen. I felt bad that it didn't work out for Carly to see the sites. While I would have liked to have seen those places, the truth is everything I've done in Thailand so far basically mirrored my trip from last year, so I didn't necessarily need to see those places again. We cut our losses and just enjoyed the area we were staying in, which was a cool little strip with a great vibe...oh, and a Chabad house across the street from the hotel, for those of you who care (Mom & Dad).

Now Carly is headed back home. The comfort of speaking the same language as the locals in New Zealand and Australia and other people I have been traveling with (although I couldn't understand most of what the Irish were saying) is now behind me and there's definitely a language barrier that I have to deal with now in Asia. But with all the exciting things I have ahead of me and after being a bit rejuvenated by hanging out with a group of friends from home, I am ready to head out again on my own. Off to northern Thailand now!

Click here to see photos from my first week in Thailand

March 21 (Entry #15)

Howard Simpson — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 16:48:00 GMT

With the Fraser Island ‘fender bender’ behind me, I was finally on my way to Sydney. I started by bus for a few hours to Brisbane, then flew to Sydney airport, took a train into the heart of Sydney, and then a boat ride to the bay where I was staying. So basically, short of jumping in a zorb ball to travel down a hill, I pretty much traveled in every possible way to get to Sydney...and it was worth it. After seeing the

beauty of the city, especially the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House, so many times on TV during New Year’s celebrations and the 2000 Olympics, it didn’t disappoint. By the time I got to the harbor for my ferry to Manly Beach, where I was staying, it was dark and I got to see the landmarks lit up.

The next morning I was back on the ferry to the city and got to see everything in the light of day. While this view was good, I wanted to take a closer look, so I did the bridge climb, taking me from the base of the bridge up over 130m above the water to the very top
	of the bridge (for those of you paying attention, that means the height of the very top of the bridge was about the same height as my bungy jump in New Zealand). The climb was actually a bit long for my taste. Between the preparation and the pausing for other groups to take pictures, the whole climb took almost three hours and monopolized much of my day…but I still had great views of Sydney.

Later that day I checked out the Opera House. This complex was amazing as much from the inside as it was from the outside. We weren't able to take pictures in the actual
	halls, which was too bad because they were the best part. We did go in one of the halls while they were doing a sound check for that night's show, so I got to hear a little preview. I even went and looked into buying opera tickets for the next night (hey, when in Rome, right?), but they were sold out. I guess I will have to continue being uncultured.

On my second full day in Sydney, I opted to head out to the Blue Mountains. The
mountains themselves aren't actually blue (duh), but the oil from the trees there make the air look blue around the mountains (or something like that). Unfortunately, because of a near by fire a day earlier, the air wasn't as blue as they normally are. There was still quite a bit of good scenery though and some nice walks. I even saw a kangaroo for the last time during my Australia trip.

Today was my final day in Sydney. I had nothing concrete planned, but hoped to walk around the city a lot and spend some time on the cities beautiful beaches. A combination of rain and everything being closed for Good Friday though, made most of this day not possible. Instead I sat and hooked up to the slingbox (thanks Matt) and watched a few hours of the opening day of March Madness. I have to say, this is one of the things that I feel I am missing out on the most. Such a great time of year and I'm not excited about missing UCLA's championship game when I'm in Laos...but hey, I'll be in Laos, so...

Australia Fast Facts:

Kangaroos spotted: 12 (2 in captivity)
Scuba Dives: 4
KFC visits: 2 (and they were quite good)
Times I was asked for ID during three domestic flights (including check in, security, and boarding): 0
Weirdest time zone crossed: Melbourne (+10) to Adelaide (+9.5) (who ever heard of a half hour time difference?!)
New Facebook friends (a sign of the times): 27 (Australia 16, New Zealand 9, Fiji 2)
Helicopter Rides: 1
Accidents while I was behind the wheel: 1
Lakers Record: 8-4

Click here to see Fraser Island and Sydney Pictures

March 18 (Entry #14)

Howard Simpson — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 12:06:00 GMT

My next stop in Australia was Fraser Island, the worlds largest sand island. There are two main ways to view the island. One is to take a tour and the other, more exciting option, is going on a self guided tour. This involves being placed in groups of 11, being given a map, a few pointers on how to drive on
sand, and a four wheel drive jeep. What could be better? The first day we drove to Lake Mckenzie, one of the nicest lakes I have ever seen. Beautiful white sand, clear water, surrounded by trees. All in all, I was pretty happy with my choice...at the time, at least.

The next day I decided I would try driving. I haven't driven at all in the South Pacific (where they drive on the left side of the road) and I've only driven stick a few times, but I think I'm a pretty good driver in LA so how hard could this be? I was a bit hesitant at first, but slowly got more comfortable with the jeep. At one point we were behind another jeep when we got to some rocks, so we had to take a side dirt road up a small hill around the rocks. When I got to the top of

the path I saw a bus stopped on the side of it, not leaving a lot of room for me to slide by. I was going to stop, but the jeep in front of us had passed with no problem...so I went for it. My part of the jeep had just cleared the bus when the road tilted and the top of the back of the jeep slammed into the side bus window. Ouch!! The driver immediately came out and started yelling at us. This was clearly not a high point of my trip. In the end, my self guided tour cost an additional $1,200 to replace a damn window! I convinced the rest of my group to pay $50 each, leaving me with a $700 bill. Ouch again!!!

It may come as a shock, but after that I wasn't allowed to drive anymore. So I sat in the back and just tried to enjoy the rest of the day, although it wasn't easy. Once the bus thing was "worked out" we headed to see a ship wreck that has been on the island since the 1930s. It was definitely a cool site to see...plus this ship clearly looked much worse off than the bus did, so I used that as a silver lining.

Because of the tide that day, we had to set up camp early. It was now about 3pm on March 16th, and the four Irish guys in my group decided it was time to start celebrating St. Patrick's Day. With the rough day I had, I too was ready to start the celebrating...which is pretty much how my Fraser Island trip ended. The next day we walked through some huge sand dunes to get to another lake and then left the sand island to officially celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

Now I am in Sydney for my final three days in Australia!

(Look for pictures of Fraser Island (and the bus) in my next blog entry.)

March 14 (Entry #13)

Howard Simpson — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 07:41:00 GMT

This entry takes us to the popular east coast of Australia and specifically, the famous Great Barrier Reef. First of all, let's acknowledge that it's weird that the Pacific Ocean is on the east coast, right?...or is that just me?

Unfortunately I only had one day in Cairns, so I did my best to put it to use. I signed up for an all day cruise that was supposed to take me to the "outer barrier reef." They say "outer" because there are so many tourists now filling the reef that supposedly by

going to the outer reef I will see something more exclusive. Truth is, I think they're at the point where they need to start talking about going to the outer outer reef, because everywhere we turned there were people. Anyway, after a nice ride out to the reef I did my first official dive as a certified diver. As I mentioned in my previous blog, the weather in this area hadn't been good for a few weeks, which is why I avoided it by going to Uluru first. Now that I was there, the weather was great, but the effects of the storms were still prevalent in the water, as the visibility was very low making it a disappointing first dive.

To redeem the dive, I decided to take a helicopter ride! I have always wanted to do one, but thought it was too expensive. They had an open seat on the helicopter and I happened to be in the right place at the right time, so the guy offered it to me for half price. The view of the reef from above is exactly as you see in the postcards. It was great. The helicopter ride was only 10 mins, but I saw more of the reef and from a better angle than I did on my dive. Plus the shortness of the ride allowed me to get in a second dive attempt. This one was much better and I saw a lot more of the reef and sea life.

After this quick Cairns trip it was off on an all day bus trip to Airlie Beach, as I try to cover as much of the coast as possible. Airlie Beach is the jumping point to the Whitsunday Islands, a collection of beautiful, mostly uninhabited islands. I was taking a 3 day, 3 night sailing trip through these islands. The trip overall was great. The weather cooperated and the islands lived up to its billing. Again, the visibility was a real disappointment. I could barely see five feet in front of me during the first dive. My second dive was a bit better, but still not great. We were hoping to sail out to another part of the reef as well, but weather kept us restricted to the islands.

I had never really traveled on a sail boat before. It was quite fun, although the sleeping quarters and bathrooms left a lot to be desired... I usually ended up sleeping on the deck for half the night until it started raining, so that made it a little more comfortable. We actually used the motor most of the time, so I don't know if that technically qualifies as a sailing trip. We would usually put up the sail once a day and race around the island for an hour before lowering them and putting the motors back on. Overall though, the trip was really nice. A lot of laying on the deck, snorkeling, swimming, and getting splashed by sea water as we sailed with the boat tipped at a 45 degree angle.

After arriving back safely on land again I took an all night 14 hour bus ride to Rainbow beach, which is where I am now. Tomorrow I set off to explore Frasier Island for three days.

One quick note: "If you love something set it free, if it comes back it was meant to be..." or something like that... I have four real valuable electronics with me: my iPod, which I already described how I lost and found it again in Auckland; my blackberry, which I would be lost without, was left on a chair lift in Queenstown, but was still on the same chair when I went back for it an hour later; my computer, which I have yet to lose; and my camera... I was too cheap to buy a waterproof case for my camera when I first got it, but after spending money on 2 disposable waterproof cameras (one of which had the film exposed...I don't understand how these cameras with film work?...) and paying to develop the film, I finally decided to get a case for it. I used my camera and case for the first time on my dive in the Whitsundays. After not seeing anything worthy of pictures for 30 mins I finally saw something cool and waved my hands to show it to other people...it is then that I lost my 3rd of 4 valuable possessions. We spent 10 mins looking for it and right when I was ready to give up it was found floating behind a rock! Again, I was so thankful. I guess that just leaves my computer to lose and then wait to see how it comes back...

Click here to see the pics of the reef from above and below.

March 6 (Entry #12)

Howard Simpson — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 09:17:00 GMT

So much for the expected blog entry of: "Today I laid on the beach in the sun all day..."

A combination of realizing how little time I have in Australia (due to extra time spent in Fiji and New Zealand, and leaving a few days earlier than planned to meet a friend in Thailand) and how many different things I wanted to do, lead me to schedule out pretty much every second of my trip here. It's not really how I wanted to travel in Australia, but decided it was better to do it this way and not miss something than to be lazy, not book something soon enough or realize the timing doesn't work because I spent the day on the beach instead.

The first part of my scheduled trip takes me inland. I opted to do a seven-day trip to the center of Australia to see Uluru (formerly Ayers Rock, formerly Uluru). I know this is cutting a lot of well deserved time from places like Byron Bay, Melbourne, and Sydney, but the eastern coast has been getting hit with a lot of rain and after New Zealand I was done with rain. Plus, I know when I come back to Australia I will travel the coast, but will I do a week long camping outback trip? I think not...

So I "did" Melbourne in just a few hours and then caught a plane to Adelaide. The first day was mostly a drive day and an introduction to the outback. The second day we reached the Oodnadatta Track, driving all day on only dirt roads, watching the sand turn brown to red. We ended in William Creek, a city with a population of six. They do have a pub though, where we had a few drinks and I met the local pilot who a few people and I hired to take us flying in the morning...because where else in a city of six would you look for a qualified

pilot... The next morning he took us flying over the "Painted Mountains." It is very common to fly over this area, but there are no roads of any kind going there, so most of what we saw has never actually been stepped on by man (or at least that was the pilot's selling point). And everything we saw was just amazing in color.

The next stop on the way to Uluru was Coober Pedy, an opal mining town. This town was unique because the miners discovered it was cooler (in the temperature sense, not in the quality of someone or something sense) to sleep in the mines than in their homes, leading to now everyone living in homes underground. These homes were actually semi-impressive, coming fully equipped with all the amenities you expect in most homes (except natural lighting). We

even went out that night to a bar that was tunneled into a mountain.

After a full day of driving, including a three hour pit stop because our trailer broke down, we made it to our campsite outside Uluru! The next morning it was a 4:30 wake up to catch the sunrise as it hit the Rock! It was pretty impressive to see the color of the rock change with every passing second, as you will be able to see by my multiple pictures.

Uluru is Aboriginal sacred land and they prefer you not to climb it, but people still do. Our bus was split as to whether we should climb it or not. In the end, it didn't matter because the climb was closed due to high wind. Instead we did the 9km circumference walk. This allowed me to really grasp how big this rock was as it took three hours in the 100 plus degree weather to circle it. That night we were back at the rock to see the sunset. Talk about full circle.

We did two more really good hikes in the area, Tjukurpa and Kings Canyon. Both had varying landscapes and great scenery and allowed us to learn more about the Aboriginal people and how they used to survive on the land.

Finally, the seven day voyage ended at the booming metropolis of Alice Springs. It may be only 20,000 people big, but it is the main city in the center of Australia and provided me with my first chance at consistent internet and phone reception in over a week. In addition, it was only 94 degrees in Alice Springs, which seemed freezing compared to the heat I had while hiking.

In the end I am pretty happy about choosing to do the trip. I got to see the outback, see the famous Uluru, and I had completely clear skies the whole week while it was raining on the coast. Tonight I flew to Cairns to experience the Great Barrier Reef. I am only here for a day though before I rush off to continue the rest of my Australian adventure.

Click here to see the many colors of the desert.

February 27 (Entry #11)

Howard Simpson — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 20:39:00 GMT

So compared to the rest of my trip, especially following the Nevis Bungy jump, my last weekend in New Zealand was relatively boring. I took off from Queenstown and headed south to
Milford Sound. The Milford Sound cruise was rumored to be amazingly beautiful. I was told it was hard to go wrong. It would either be sunny and nice, or if it's raining, the waterfalls would be that much better. Unfortunately I got neither. It was cloudy, so no sun and it didn't rain so the waterfalls were average. It was still pretty amazing, but not as spectacular as I had hoped.

The next day was more of the same. We went to Stewart Island, the southernmost part of New

Zealand. This part of the trip probably took me closer to Antarctica than I may ever be again. I saw many pictures of this island and was really looking forward to hiking the miles and miles of untouched bush or kayaking in the water. It was cloudy and kinda made the island look gloomy...so a friend and I decided to take the day easy just walking around the main town and taking advantage of having control of the remote control in the empty TV room. That night though, I went to a great restaurant. I treated myself to a great surf & turf meal. The steak was probably the biggest I have ever had in one sitting. It was so thick! And it was served on a stone grill, so I actually cooked it myself as I was eating the 'turf' section of my meal. Mmmmmm...so good.

My final day in the south was spent in Dunedin, a college town. I didn't get to see much of it,

but it seemed like a really nice city with a great atmosphere. There were a lot of older style buildings and friendly pubs. Dunedin is also home of Speights beer. It has been brewed there since 1876 and is one of New Zealand's, especially the South Island, most popular beers, reflected in its slogan, "Pride of the South." I went and took a very nice tour of the distillery. The tour itself could not compare to the Jack Daniels and Makers Mark tours I did last year, but the tasting at the end was definitely more generous than the bourbon tours.

That was about it for the very south of the South Island. The highlights were probably the Speights brewery and a 45 ft bridge the bus stopped at that I got to jump off of into some real cold water. I was really looking forward to this leg of the trip, but now wish I had chosen to do the Bay of Islands up north instead. Oh well, this will give me a reason to come back.

To finish off my time in New Zealand I signed up for a two day rafting trip. This was a bit of a misnomer as we actually got to this beautiful lodge around 3pm the first day and just relaxed the day away and then didn't start rafting until about noon on the second day, making it only a three hour rafting trip, but I digress. While the trip itself was quite short compared to the two rafting trips I have been on in my life, the time we spent on the river was much more intense than I have experienced before, hitting a few class 5 rapids. It was so much fun and I never fell out of the boat (at least not due to a rapid).

I spent my last night in New Zealand in a motel in Christchurch. After a month of dorm rooms I decided it was time to get my own room with my own bathroom and TV. Privacy is so underrated! I spent most of my time either watching TV or taking advantage of the internet in the room, but of the few minutes I saw of Christchurch it seemed like a nice enough place, but the truth is by that point I didn't care anymore.

Now I have just arrived in Melbourne, Australia to start the next leg of my trip. I don't think it will be as adventurous as New Zealand. I expect a lot more blog entries of "I spent today lying on the beach..." which may not make for a great blog, but does make for a pretty good trip. Stay tuned to see...

New Zealand fast facts:

Population: 4 million
Sheep population: 44 million
Bridges crossed: hundreds
Bridges crossed that were built wide enough for cars to go in both directions: 2
Bungy Jumps: 2
Zorb rides: 1
Sky dives: 1
Totoal distance jumped (all jumps more than 10m): 15,630 ft. (skydive, two bungies, a bridge jump and one cliff jump)
Friends from California seen: 2
Hair combed: 0
Almost killed crossing the street: about 30 (the cars come from the wrong direction here!!!)
Text/emails written: too many to count
Birth"days" celebrated: 1 7/8
KFCs visited: 1 (and I wasn't overly impressed)
Lakers record during my stay: 11-1
Tennis balls found: 1 (Mocha must have put it in my bag while packing hoping I would play with her. How cute is that bitch?!)
Glaciers hiked: 1
Laundry: 2
Costumes worn that I shouldn't have: 1
Cylcones: 0
Favorite commercial: One that describes the acceptable distance from the beach it is ok for a man to wear a bikini bathing suit
Blog Entries: 6

Check out the final pictures from New Zealand (mostly beautiful scenery pics)

February 20 (Entry #10)

Howard Simpson — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 22:52:00 GMT

Well, for those of you that weren't clear about my President's Day reference, it also happened to be my birthday! After spending the last day of my 20s hiking a glacier (how many people can say that?) the next few days were spent celebrating the 30s. As I mentioned in my last entry, the group I am with now is a good one. So after the glacier we went out to the only real bar in Franz Josef and at midnight I got drinks bought for me and happy birthday sung to ring in the new year. The next morning I started our bus ride off with the announcement that it was my birthday and that I would be in the back of the bus drinking all day and there was plenty for anyone that wanted to join me. It was a long day of driving, but there were a lot of breaks at random scenery spots and a few swimming spots. I was sure to bring my cup with me at each location though.

That night we ended in a town called Makarora with a population of about 40... When you're at a place with a population this small and it's your birthday there's really only one thing to do...that's right, karaoke! And for some reason (refer to line about drinking in the back of the bus all day) I was more than willing to get up and sing multiple songs. There was one more birthday song sung (this time with a brownie and a candle) and then my birthday officially ended...

...at least in New Zealand. In my hometown of Los Angeles though, my birthday was just beginning and I had 21 more hours to go. For most of those 21 hours, I relaxed/recovered on the bus, but eventually made it to Queenstown. Queenstown was a cute little lakeside town. I had assumed it was a big city, but it really was more of a resort town, featuring a beautiful lake and huge mountains. By pure coincidence, my friend TJ from business school got to Queenstown with his wife, Cheri, on the same day. I knew he was going to be in New Zealand, only for a week though and never assumed we'd be able to meet up, but it worked out perfectly. We met up at this nice Italian restaurant where they treated me to a birthday meal. It

was probably one of the nicer places I've been to on this trip, which isn't necessarily saying much considering my budget traveling, but this place was still nice. We followed this by a trip to Minus 5, a bar where everything is made out of ice. It was a pretty fun experience, especially shattering your ice cups after finishing your drinks. You are only allowed to be in the bar for 30 mins at a time...which worked out well because we got there at 8:30, meaning we would be finishing up at 8:59pm New Zealand time, or 11:59pm LA time on February 18th...thus ending my long 45 hour 30th birthday.

The next day I followed my birthday up with one of the most exhilarating things I have ever done. Ever since I first heard about the Nevis Bungy jump I knew it was something I wanted to try. My bungy jump in Auckland was only a mere warm up for this jump. The Nevis jump is a 134 meter drop, or 440 feet. It's basically like jumping off a 44 story building. Well, actually, like a 45 or 46 story building because you don't go all the way to the 1st floor... I have to be honest, I was really scared. I woke up about three times the night before thinking about the jump. I'm not sure why I was so nervous. Obviously it was much higher than my Auckland jump

(which was only 40m), but this was still safe, right?... By the time I made it to the pod hanging over the canyon where I would jump I was as scared as I had ever been. And then I just jumped... It was the best feeling ever!! To be so scared one second and then have the best ride ever the next moment was just the best feeling ever. The best part may have actually been the initial bounce back up and down again. That rebound alone is higher than either of my two previous bungy jumps. Thankfully I have the photos and video to prove it. The day ended with a ride on some luges at the top of the mountain and then another night out with TJ, Cheri, and my friend Lisa who's on my bus.

I know the past few days were definitely the high note of the New Zealand leg of my trip, but I hope the last week will still hold some highlights.

Click here to see my pictures!

Click play below to see the bungy jump. It's worth every second (I think), and if you think you're done, just wait for the last minute...

February 17 (Entry #9b)

Howard Simpson — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 07:16:00 GMT

Here are the pics I owe you from the previous blog. Be warned that there are a lot more scenery pictures in here than normal, but that's mostly because the sun finally came out. Just know that I actually deleted at least 100 similar photos, so I tried my best to limit them... Enjoy!

February 17 (Entry #9)

Howard Simpson — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 04:28:00 GMT

The past few days have been pretty nice. New Zealand is apparently in a drought, but you wouldn't know it by my experience. The past two weeks here I've seen more rain than I would normally see in a year in LA, but whatever... Nice weather finally came, so I will stop

complaining. I signed up for a 2 day trip around Abel Tasman National Park, named for the Dutch guy that first found New Zealand. The only thing is, Abel never actually made it to land. He got into bay, the Maori locals came out on boats, and some kind of miscommunication happened and the Maori attacked. Three of Abel's men were killed, causing him to call the bay Murder Bay, and then he moved on. Nevertheless, the park named after him, and the surrounding bays were quite nice.

The trip wasn't as adventurous as I would have liked, but it was still nice. I took a boat around the bays with the driver stopping to point out different things along the way. The highlight of this section were the dolphins. I knew we might see them and didn't think I would get that excited over that, but they were really sweet and did some performing for us. Once we got to the other side of the park, I checked into a hostel and went to relax on the beach. The next morning I woke up and went for a bike ride to some rock formations called the Grove (in case you were

wondering, no, it is not anything like the Grove next to my apartment, which is too bad because I could have used a stop at Banana Republic). The day ended with a drive back through the park. We made a stop to do some fishing. This too wasn't that adventurous as it was at a salmon farm...but I am proud to say that I caught two fish. It was harder, mentally, to kill them then I thought it would be, but I finally did it. That night I enjoyed some really really good fish.

Friday I joined a new bus of people. So far these people are a lot of fun and I'm enjoying myself.

That night we stopped in a small town called Barrytown. Literally, there was nothing there except for a place where you can make your own knives. I assume it is this seclusion that inspires the hostel to run costume party nights every time a bus comes through. They provide all the costumes, we just have to be willing to put them on. And this willingness took a fair amount of drinking first. Basically we were there for cross dressing night. It actually was a great night, but I am hesitant to post all the pictures from it for fear my outfit will haunt me for years to come...

Now I am in the town of Franz Joseph and today (Sunday) we hiked Franz Joseph, which is also the name of the glacier! It was great. I felt like Superman walking through my Fortress of Solitude. It was an all day hike and not easy. It wasn't hard, but it definitely wasn't easy. Of course we were equipped with crampons, which are huge metal cleats you attach to your boots. No matter where I stepped on the ice I couldn't fall. It was fun. There were a few mishaps as my crampons got snagged on my pants in a small cave we were going through. This caused me to fall right onto my knees. The cave was only as wide as I was and the sides were smooth ice, so I just couldn't get up. Finally someone was able to come around from behind and pull me up from my backpack. That moment of helplessness aside, I felt pretty accomplished when we got to our top height and I looked back on the path I had just taken.

After accomplishing all this, I am now ready to celebrate President's Day, February 18th. Of course, because of the 21 hour difference between New Zealand and Los Angeles, I will actually be able to justify celebrating...President's Day...for 45 full hours. This will start at midnight tonight in Franz Joseph and end in Queenstown in two days. Should be a good time. Feel free to call or email me over that time to wish me a happy...President's Day... I'm sure I'll have updates about that soon.

Pictures were taking too long to upload (and I still question some of the party pictures...), but I will try to upload them in the next day or two and get them out.