Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Friday, March 5, 2010
Thailand Island photos and into Malaysia!
this trip seems to get more and more picturesque as i head south...the islands of thailand were amazing. the diving was also spectacular only to be left a distant second to the islands of Malaysia...here the diving is unbelieveable with turtles, sharks and moray eels as big as me!
CHeck out the pictures! - sorry no underwater photos this time...i need to buy a new camera for that...
http://picasaweb.google.com/spencerlane/ThailandIslandsMalaysia?feat=directlink
Off to Bali tomorrow to do some more diving and some surfing. then up to the philippines!
CHeck out the pictures! - sorry no underwater photos this time...i need to buy a new camera for that...
http://picasaweb.google.com/spencerlane/ThailandIslandsMalaysia?feat=directlink
Off to Bali tomorrow to do some more diving and some surfing. then up to the philippines!
Monday, February 8, 2010
Thailand
I know its been a while, but to be fair the internet around the islands is not the best, especially when you go to some of the more remote beaches only accessible by boat. Here are some new photos. I miss and love you all. Read the captions! Some really funny times and loving every minute of it. Not easy being away from everyone for so long though! I love you!!
http://picasaweb.google.com/spencerlane/Thailand?feat=directlink
Spence
p.s. heading back to Ko Tao now to continue my skills in scuba diving. After this two day course i'll be able to dive every Wreck site in the world and be able to dive up to 30 Meters deep. For all of the Feet people out there that is 98.452 feet under the sea! After that over to Phi Phi, maybe Phuket then either Cambodia or Malaysia...not sure if im going to do both. Kinda running out of time!!
p.s.s. i love thailand and the thai people. They really are great!
http://picasaweb.google.com/spencerlane/Thailand?feat=directlink
Spence
p.s. heading back to Ko Tao now to continue my skills in scuba diving. After this two day course i'll be able to dive every Wreck site in the world and be able to dive up to 30 Meters deep. For all of the Feet people out there that is 98.452 feet under the sea! After that over to Phi Phi, maybe Phuket then either Cambodia or Malaysia...not sure if im going to do both. Kinda running out of time!!
p.s.s. i love thailand and the thai people. They really are great!
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Hanoi and Halong Bay
Hanoi has been a lot of fun. I spent new years here and regrouped up with a lot of the gang from Nha Trang as well. The city is much more interesting that HCMC in my opinion. I feel like there is so much more organization and character to it. The old quarter is sectioned off almost perfectly by streets with certain streets housing certain types of vendors. See the photos below and you'll see what I mean.
http://picasaweb.google.com/spencerlane/HanoiHalongBay?feat=directlink
There is a street/district for everything you could think of. Even Karaoke bars, which there will never be any shortage of...I met up with Jason Tobin, a friend and expat from Cambridge and he showed me some good local food places. We had some Bun Cha - which is a soup (fish sauce and water with sliced apples, cucumbers, pears, pho, and grilled pork. THis is topped with fresh herbs and lettuce that clearly tastes as though it was picked that day. The specific spot we stopped at, the lady working there has been cooking on that corner for over 55 years. Now that is some serious consistency - her daughter now helps her.
For dinner, Jason and I went to his favorite Cha Ca - cooked whitefish- spot in town. This again, was an amazing meal consisting of pho noodles peanuts, and curried whitefish cooked in front of us with fresh greens on top. I';m salivating now thinking about it...After we hit a few bars, he pulled out another winner with some Banh My! THis is some grilled chicken in a baguette with pate and butter. The perfect drunken munchie food. Also, a good skill that i brought to S.E. Asia - pool. THe vietnamese love their pool tables and it has been quite enjoyable getting some good competition. The same goes for ping pong and fooseball. Thanks again goes right back to Pine Crest Boys dorm for all of the countless ours of playing these games rather than studying :)
After New years, Adam and I decided we wanted to take a trip to Halong Bay. We did the 3 day tour with a stay on a legit "Junk" and a night on a private island. The group was about 25 and we all had a great time. Activities included rock climbing, wakeboarding, kayaking, volleyball, ping pong, and of course drinking. My contribution to the party was introducing everyone to the wonderful game of beer pong. THe aussi's and Kiwi's loved it! I can now tell their accents apart!
We Kayaked into caves, climbed through caves, visited floating villages, and slept in little wall-less bungalows. I;m still amazed that mosquitos haven't zero'd in on the location of these islands as it seems like it would be one of those places where the beauty of a place could be ruined by the bugs, but there were no bugs at all!
The food was awesome and the coffee sweet, but strong. We headed back on the 3rd day and got back to Hanoi at 5pm just in time for me to buy a ticket to Laos. I head there tomorrow!
http://picasaweb.google.com/spencerlane/HanoiHalongBay?feat=directlink
There is a street/district for everything you could think of. Even Karaoke bars, which there will never be any shortage of...I met up with Jason Tobin, a friend and expat from Cambridge and he showed me some good local food places. We had some Bun Cha - which is a soup (fish sauce and water with sliced apples, cucumbers, pears, pho, and grilled pork. THis is topped with fresh herbs and lettuce that clearly tastes as though it was picked that day. The specific spot we stopped at, the lady working there has been cooking on that corner for over 55 years. Now that is some serious consistency - her daughter now helps her.
For dinner, Jason and I went to his favorite Cha Ca - cooked whitefish- spot in town. This again, was an amazing meal consisting of pho noodles peanuts, and curried whitefish cooked in front of us with fresh greens on top. I';m salivating now thinking about it...After we hit a few bars, he pulled out another winner with some Banh My! THis is some grilled chicken in a baguette with pate and butter. The perfect drunken munchie food. Also, a good skill that i brought to S.E. Asia - pool. THe vietnamese love their pool tables and it has been quite enjoyable getting some good competition. The same goes for ping pong and fooseball. Thanks again goes right back to Pine Crest Boys dorm for all of the countless ours of playing these games rather than studying :)
After New years, Adam and I decided we wanted to take a trip to Halong Bay. We did the 3 day tour with a stay on a legit "Junk" and a night on a private island. The group was about 25 and we all had a great time. Activities included rock climbing, wakeboarding, kayaking, volleyball, ping pong, and of course drinking. My contribution to the party was introducing everyone to the wonderful game of beer pong. THe aussi's and Kiwi's loved it! I can now tell their accents apart!
We Kayaked into caves, climbed through caves, visited floating villages, and slept in little wall-less bungalows. I;m still amazed that mosquitos haven't zero'd in on the location of these islands as it seems like it would be one of those places where the beauty of a place could be ruined by the bugs, but there were no bugs at all!
The food was awesome and the coffee sweet, but strong. We headed back on the 3rd day and got back to Hanoi at 5pm just in time for me to buy a ticket to Laos. I head there tomorrow!
From Mui Ne, Nha Trang, to Hoi An, to Hue!
The peaceful one road town of Mui Ne was really relaxed and allowed for my friend Matt and I to give these Motorbikes a try. They were a blast and were much better than having to haggle with the local xe om drivers for rides. Many days of sunning, eating amazing sea food, and struggling to find some nightlife in the evenings as the town shuts down around 10pm. The skies were riddled with kite surfers. Realizing that Kitesurfing was a bit too daunting of an undertaking giving the extreme wind conditions, i decided to try to learn windsurfing from an instructor who little to no english. This was a riot, especially since they had wanted to charge me the full price for an english lesson! It was awesome! I got up only after a few tries and even learned how to turn. Interestingly enough, one of the more memorably parts of that experience was leaving the windsurfing place and looking into the cage of a monkey....Said monkey had clearly seen some other tourists before, because as soon as I sat down about 15 inches from the cage, he ran and jumped up on the cage, and grabbed my sunglasses hanging from my mouth and took them into his cage and began eating them!!!! He immediately ate the middle rubber part over the nose, i was soooo pissed and I couldnt get them back! I grabbed my windsurfing teach and he scared the monkeys away from them and kicked them over to me and fortunately they aren't too banged up :)
After Mui Ne, I met Adam Hill from Canada. We headed up on a sleeper bus to Nha Trang...As of that trip, i officially decided that long bus trips on sleeper buses that are made for people around 5'2'' kinda suck. It was really hard to leave Mui Ne, but it was time to go.
We arrived in Nha Trang tired and exhausted and wandered for a while and found a decent hotel on the beach. We met up with a ton of people at the Sailing Club and had several fun days and nights on the beach, but not nearly as nice as Mui Ne. We werent too thrilled with Nha Trang overall and thought that LP over sells it a bit.
After Nha Trang we headed off to Hoi An. Hoi An was amazing and very peaceful. The town's primary focus is tailored clothes. Every hotel has their own tailor, every store seems to be a tailor shop, and just about everything possible could be custom made for you. Once again, though, i controlled myself and have still yet to purchase just about anything. I just havent felt any urge to purchase things. I like the feeling of not having anything other than the few things in my backpack...it is liberating.
We rented motorbikes and headed to the beach quite a bit here. The restaurants were phenomenal and i have an addiction to pineapple shakes - you know the kind where they take a pineapple and shove it into a blender and serve it up - perfection!! The beaches all over Vietnam are riddled with ladies selling fresh fruit, hand bags, bracelets and everything. They love the term happy hour, and more or less apply it to everything that can be sold. We ate at the number 9 restaurant one day then changed it up and went to the number 5 restaurant the next day. The beach restaurants serve up delicious seafood and everything else you could think of - as well as, Pineapple shakes of course! The restaurant names are quite unique ranging from The Number 1 restaurant, all the way up to number 9 restaurant. Fortunately they are strategically lined up along the beach as well for easy finding.
We celebrated Christmas eve drinking and Christmas Day on the beach sobering up with - pineapple shakes and christmas hats. THe weather was perfect and about 78ish.
Check out the pics of Hoi An below.
http://picasaweb.google.com/spencerlane/HoiAn?feat=directlink
After some great days in Hoi An meeting up with Matt, Jenni, Kathryn, Manoj, Katie and Katie, Cat, Steve, Paul, and several other Aussi's and Kiwis, Adam and I decided to bail on Hoi An and head to Hue.
The bus ride was tolerable, but once i got to Hue I started getting a bit sick. I camped out in my hotel for the day and let is all come out if you know what I mean. Also, i have found that many hotels like to promise wifi - but in reality not actually have wifi. Lots of empty promises I have found. But every once in a while they do have it when they dont promise it like today! Hence the reason i have been so remiss in writing more often.
Hue was a bit boring, I went to the citadel and took a cyclo around the city, but was a little bored. So i grabbed a flight to Hanoi and Adam took the 14 hr bus ride.
After Mui Ne, I met Adam Hill from Canada. We headed up on a sleeper bus to Nha Trang...As of that trip, i officially decided that long bus trips on sleeper buses that are made for people around 5'2'' kinda suck. It was really hard to leave Mui Ne, but it was time to go.
We arrived in Nha Trang tired and exhausted and wandered for a while and found a decent hotel on the beach. We met up with a ton of people at the Sailing Club and had several fun days and nights on the beach, but not nearly as nice as Mui Ne. We werent too thrilled with Nha Trang overall and thought that LP over sells it a bit.
After Nha Trang we headed off to Hoi An. Hoi An was amazing and very peaceful. The town's primary focus is tailored clothes. Every hotel has their own tailor, every store seems to be a tailor shop, and just about everything possible could be custom made for you. Once again, though, i controlled myself and have still yet to purchase just about anything. I just havent felt any urge to purchase things. I like the feeling of not having anything other than the few things in my backpack...it is liberating.
We rented motorbikes and headed to the beach quite a bit here. The restaurants were phenomenal and i have an addiction to pineapple shakes - you know the kind where they take a pineapple and shove it into a blender and serve it up - perfection!! The beaches all over Vietnam are riddled with ladies selling fresh fruit, hand bags, bracelets and everything. They love the term happy hour, and more or less apply it to everything that can be sold. We ate at the number 9 restaurant one day then changed it up and went to the number 5 restaurant the next day. The beach restaurants serve up delicious seafood and everything else you could think of - as well as, Pineapple shakes of course! The restaurant names are quite unique ranging from The Number 1 restaurant, all the way up to number 9 restaurant. Fortunately they are strategically lined up along the beach as well for easy finding.
We celebrated Christmas eve drinking and Christmas Day on the beach sobering up with - pineapple shakes and christmas hats. THe weather was perfect and about 78ish.
Check out the pics of Hoi An below.
http://picasaweb.google.com/spencerlane/HoiAn?feat=directlink
After some great days in Hoi An meeting up with Matt, Jenni, Kathryn, Manoj, Katie and Katie, Cat, Steve, Paul, and several other Aussi's and Kiwis, Adam and I decided to bail on Hoi An and head to Hue.
The bus ride was tolerable, but once i got to Hue I started getting a bit sick. I camped out in my hotel for the day and let is all come out if you know what I mean. Also, i have found that many hotels like to promise wifi - but in reality not actually have wifi. Lots of empty promises I have found. But every once in a while they do have it when they dont promise it like today! Hence the reason i have been so remiss in writing more often.
Hue was a bit boring, I went to the citadel and took a cyclo around the city, but was a little bored. So i grabbed a flight to Hanoi and Adam took the 14 hr bus ride.
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