Birr...it's cold in here!

If you don't know Ethiopian currency, then you probably don't get the reference. But, I will tell you that it is not easy to get Birr in Ethiopia. I arrived on my Emirates flight and was the first one off the plane, the first through immigration (as always), and the first to get my bag. And so I immediately went to the Bureau de Change to get Birr. But, of course, no one was there. Just a window, a light on, and Birr all over the place inside, protected by what may have been bullet proof glass.

So, I walked outside and was greeted by Emanuel. Emanuel is Salem's permanent driver. Salem is Saamra's mom. Saamra is my good friend and old roommate of many years. I came to Ethiopia because Saamra was visiting at the same time, and I never pass up an opportunity to stay with a family in a foreign country. But, of course, I got there, and Saamra's flight was cancelled. So, I got to hang out with her family all by myself. But, more on that later.

I flew into Addis Ababa. The first thing I noticed was how cold it was. What a shock to come to Africa from Southeast Asia, and be shivering. Ok, shivering might be an excessive word. But, it was damn cold. Addis Ababa sits at 7000 feet above see level, roughly the same altitude as Park City, Utah. (Lesson 1: Even if you are staying with friends in other countries, at least research the weather.)

Emanuel took me to a bank straight away. But, there are no ATMs. Zero. None. So, I asked them if they could exchange travellers checks. They told me to come back at 4pm. I don't know why. So, I left. We went to Salem's house in Addis (people abbreviate Addis Ababa to just Addis.) Unfortunately, Salem was not in Ethiopia the entire time I was there. But, Zeritu was there to welcome me. Zeritu is the house caretaker and amazing cook.

No sooner than I had laid down my bags did she ask me if I was ready for lunch. I approached the table and saw 5 full bowls of food, plus a platter of injera (Ethiopian flat bread). I wondered what army was joining me for lunch, but of course, it was all just for me. I felt like I had 5 helpings of everything, and still it looked as if I had made no dent.

After lunch I ventured out of the house to get cash at another bank recommended by some family members there. It worked! Birr, at last...

That night I was picked up by Saamra's Aunt and Uncle. They took me to a dinner party with them. Once again, other cultures are just so accepting of visitors and take care of their guests so well, it is just astounding. (Especially in my case, because according to my friends, I am an embarrassment to all. These guys had no idea what they were getting themselves into.)

I sat down at a table with 6-7 other guys in the front yard. Each one warmly greeted my and introduced themselves. Every once in a while, a single guy would chat with me briefly about where I was from, what I was doing, etc... But, for the most part, the group of guys were talking as a group in Amharic. Now, you are probably assuming that I don't speak Amharic. And, that is where you are correct. Nonetheless, I can't express how much I enjoyed the dinner party. These guys were clearly old friends, and I could share in their laughter because of their tone, and it was clear when they were giving one another a hard time. In addition, the group broke out into song numerous times throughout the night. The dinner party was one of the highlights of my month long stint in Africa.

Two days later I ventured with Saamra to Lake Tana, the source of the Nile river. We went to the Blue Nile Falls and saw the largest waterfall I'd ever seen. It was also interesting just getting there considering we took a tiny prop plane from Addis. In addition, the airport was so small that their departure and arrival schedule was written on a chalk board.

The highlights of Ethiopia was most certainly the people I met, most of whom were in Saamra's family. They made me feel extraordinarily welcome in their homes. Everyone was extremely nice, intelligent, and, most of all, fun. The food was also exquisite. I looked forward to every meal in that country, and was legitimately disappointed when I ate a meal or two that were not Ethiopian cuisine. The other great sight we visited was Washa Mikael church. This church was carved out of rock (instead of being built), much like the huge Kailash temple in Ellora, India.

On the day we visited the church, we ended up running out of the forest because it started to rain, and we knew the lightning was coming. We were lucky we got out of there, because few minutes later, it started hailing. Are you joking me! It doesn't hail in Africa, does it?

Bioluminescence

Without a doubt, bioluminescence is one of the coolest things I've ever seen in my life, and is reason enough to become scuba certified. But, more on that shortly.

We arrived in Krabi late on the 12th, and went straight to our hotel called the Blue Village. (We booked it at Bangkok airport. A grievous error considering we got charged double.) It was low season, and there was not one other guest at our entire resort. The next morning we immediately transferred to Koh Phi Phi via a two hour ferry boat ride from Ao Nong. It turns out that all of the scuba operators in Krabi take you two hours each way out to the coral reefs just off of Koh Phi Phi anyway, so we just decided to stay there.

However, it wasn't trivial getting to the island. When we boarded the ferry, Ryan and I thought we got the best seats in the house. We were sitting right in front of the captain's room, and had a great view. Everything was smooth sailing until we got out of the bay. Suddenly, the boat starting bobbing up and down and crashing into the waves, and each time we got heavily sprayed with warm ocean water. I genuinely thought it was only going to last for one or two waves, so I chose to stick it out. Within 3 minutes, I was soaking wet, at which point, I just figured that I would chill there anyway since there was nothing else to lose. Well, after 15 minutes of getting pounded, I decided to move to the back of the boat. Of course, as soon as I did that, it started to downpour. So, we went inside the cabin of the boat, which just happened to be the most well air-conditioned room I'd been in in over a month. (I am pretty sure I was shivering for 45 minutes straight.)

Once we arrived in Koh Phi Phi though, everything was instantly better. This island is all mountains that are connected by a small isthmus not wider than 750 feet, and, at most, 1/2 mile long. It's waters are crystal clear blue water at a balmy 86 degrees. Oh, and they also have amazing Banana Shakes. In a word, paradise. So much so, that we had a bit too much to drink our first night, which we definitely paid the price for the next morning.

Our diving trip to Bida Nai left at 8 am...brutally early after a late night of beer drinking. Ryan was much worse off than I, and it was clear when halfway through our trip out to the reef, Ryan suddenly lost all color in his face and rushed off to the bathroom. (Personally, I would have just hurled off the side of the boat.) However, it didn't dissuade us from diving, and that morning we saw two leopard sharks and a black tipped reef shark.

Later that night, we also went for our first night dive. While it was interesting to be in the water at night (it was a new moon, so it was truly pitch black), and see barracuda's feeding all around us, nothing was as cool as bioluminescence. I'd heard about this, but couldn't quite fathom how amazing it really is. Once I discovered that I could simply wave my hand and have it light up in front of me, everything else in the dive sort of lost its luster. In fact, I'd say that I spent the next 15 minutes pretty much exclusively focused on my hand, and trying to keep my torch off as much as possible.

The following day we dived at two different sites and saw some more great marine life. We also ate extremely well. There is one restaurant called Papaya on the island that serves outstanding Thai food, including my new favorite curry, masaman curry. If you've never tried it, give it a go, you won't be disappointed. (Oh, and of course I had many more banana shakes.)

On our third day on the island, we went rock climbing with SpiderMonkey. The karst formations here are very similar to the limestone in Halong Bay. They provide fantastic climbing routes, and for some reason, the rock is softer on Phi Phi than it is in Krabi and Rai Lay. We climbed three different routes, one of which was 120 feet in a single pitch. (I didn't even know they made 80 meter ropes.) The picture of the bay is from the top of my climb.

The next day we headed back to Rai Lay beach on the mainland so that we could easily transfer to the airport for our flight, and because it is the best known place for climbing in the area. What I didn't expect was for it to also have one of the most amazing beaches I've ever seen. Unfortunately, we didn't have much time to beach it up, because we were climbing very early the next morning.

We did four climbs the following morning, the tallest of which was about 100 feet. But, what made this climbing unique was that it was right on the water. And I mean, we had to move the rope and take off our shoes while being belayed so that they didn't get wet when it was high tide. You can see from the photos that we had to coil the rope on a mat while standing in 1 foot deep water. (This was one of the best climbing experiences of my life. If you are a climber, this is a destination not to be missed.)

Banana Shake

Oh banana shake, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways, or sheer number of shakes I consumed while in Laos, and in Thailand. We arrived in Laos mid-day, and immediately had to get our visas on arrival. If there is one thing I've learned in all my travels, it is push, shove, trample, and trip everyone else so you can get to the immigration line first. Once again, my tactics worked and we were the second ones to get our visas on arrival, while those in the back waited for almost an hour just to get their visa. What is funny is that you must pay a $30 fee, in USD only, and in cash only, to get your visa. (Canadians have to pay more, $35. I am guessing it is because their accents are just weird) However, there are no cash machines, and they don't accept American Express or travellers cheques. Luckily, Ryan and I knew this in advance, but the Aussies in front of us, were in a bit of a pickle.



It turns out that Laos, though billed as a third world country going through development, was actually much more westernized, at least in Luang Prabang, than any of the other countries we visited on our trip, as were their prices. We immediately went out on a trek throughout the small city, and took in the sights. The town is very quaint, with just two major roads situated right on the Mekong.



The following day we went on a Kayaking trip on the Nam Ou river, down to the confluence with the Mekong. On the way, we visited several villages to see the different crafts. We saw a paper manufacturer in one of the villages. It was amazing to see them take the pulp of the tree and transform it into beautiful parchment. But, what struck me most, or at least it hit me in Laos for the first time, was the incredible amount of responsibility children bear in nations such as Laos at such a young age. I remember looking at one girl who was probably 6 or 7. She was holding a knife approximately a foot in length, and was carefully cutting a cucumber (one that I've never seen before. It actually looks like a cantaloupe.) in several sections and eating it straight off the knife. It struck me because I know my parents, granted they worry more than anyone on the planet, would never have let me cut anything with a knife at that age. This girl was an expert with it.



The next morning we visited the Kuangsi Waterfalls, about 35 KM outside of Luang Prabang. We arrived there at 9:30am, and were the first Tuk Tuk to arrive in the parking lot. We basically had the entire park and waterfall to ourselves. On the hike in, we passed the bear and tiger preserves. These preserves exist to protect the last remaining species that have been killed off by poachers in this region. After watching the tiger for some time, we moved on to the waterfalls.



The falls cascade down six or seven different levels through the course of the park. At several of the levels, there are natural pools that have formed that are perfect for swimming, diving, and swinging on ropes. The water was probably around 70 degrees, and was quite chilly considering it was still quite cool in the morning.

After the waterfalls, we headed back in to Luang Prabang, where I had another two banana shakes before taking off for the airport.

Vietnam Craziness

It has been an interesting past few days in the capital city of Hanoi. It started out with our trip to Halong Bay. Halong Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and it is not to be missed during your lifetime. In fact, I can't wait to go back. It is a bay that is filled with over 3000 Karst (limestone) formations that rise straight up out of the water. As a result, it is like going through a maze of islands, and tunnels! We visited one tunnel that was over 10000 square meters, and just kept getting bigger and bigger. We were able to kayak on the bay, and I went for a swim at 5:30am in the middle of the bay while it was completely calm and the sun was rising. Simply incredible! We slept on the boat for that one night.

We returned to Hanoi later in the day on Sunday and went to the famous Water Puppet Show. It was interesting, but nothing to write home about. Then the craziness started.

We were eating dinner at 9:30pm or so when all of a sudden we heard a tremendous number of people honking and shouting, and waving the Vietnam flag. Well, that didn't stop for the following 4 hours! Vietnam beat the UAE team in the AFC Asian Cup which just happened to be played in Hanoi that night. Their victory meant that they were now able to enter international competetion freely for the first time in their history. The players lead the group of 1000s of motor bikes, and they just kept going around the central lake in the city for four hours, and there was a massive party.

Unfortunately, the next day, we hit our first snafoo of the trip. We arrived at the airport to find that our flight to Laos had been cancelled due to technical difficulties. So, they put us up at a 4 star resort hotel, right on a lake, with a beautiful pool. The covered all of out meals, and handed us a $50 bill! RIDICULOUS. They treated us 10 times better than any US airline would. But, we did have to waste a day in Hanoi, and our trip to Laos has been cut down to only 48 hours. Bummer. So, we leave in one more hour to head to the airport.

Nha Trang

The next two days were amazing as I did my first four scuba dives after getting my PADI certification. The diving was excellent, and the water was a cold 86 degrees.

After the two days of scuba diving and relaxing on the beach, we headed off to Hoi An on an overnight train. I slept like a champ, but Ryan did not, and he ended up catching a cold.

So, I spent the first day wandering the streets of Hoi An solo. It is a fantastic city with tons of charm. All of the streets are quite old and chill. You can get tons of clothes made there for really cheap, and they have fantastic food. They have a dish there called Cao Lau that is excellent. It is traditionally made with pork, but I went with the tofu version. (Mom, still a good jew!)

The next day Ryan felt up for wandering the city a bit. And, in the afternoon, we hit up the beach in Hoi An. It was much much better than the beach in Nha Trang. Unfortunately, in Nha Trang, they don't take care of their beaches and their is garbage all over the beach, and floating in the water, so much so that it doesn't look remotely appetizing to dive into the turquoise blue water. But, in Hoi An, it was extremely clean, and almost nobody around. In fact, there are over 30 KMs of beaches from Hoi An to Danang, including the famous China Beach.

This morning, we took a car up to Hue, and took a look at the marble mountains. There are some pretty cool natural caves. And, once we arrive in Hue, we took a tour of the city in a cyclo (a bicycle with a seat for a passenger in the front). This evening, we sat down for a beer and spring rolls on the Perfume River.

In closing, this country is outstanding. I can't say enough good things about it. Cheers!

Biking Da Lat to Nha Trang

The next day we set out for Nha Trang, from Da Lat. It is approximately 130 KMs from city to city, and it takes the bus between 5-7 hours. We decided to make it much more exciting and bike from one to the other. We set out at 8am, and our driver took us 18 KMs outside of town, through some particularly bad roads. We then stopped, and got out with our guide and bikes, and set out on our way. The first 30 KMs or so was rolling hills, with some pretty solid uphills. After about just 20 minutes of biking, it started to rain. Within another 20 mins, it was a torrential downpour. I mean, every single inch of me was soaking wet, and it didn't let up for two hours. Thankfully it was in the low 70s, and I had my rain jacket.

We finally reached the summit of 5500 feet after two hours of riding. We then got a glorious downhill of 31 kms, that took us all the way down to 300 feet. It took us over an hour to get down the section because it was raining so hard, and we had to squeeze the crap out of the breaks in order to get our bikes to slow down. The greatest part was that I could feel it warming up as I descended through the mountains. By the time we reached sea level, I was half way dry, and feeling good. The last 43 KMs we rode after a hearty lunch, and it was lots of rolling hills and flats. Once again, the people drained out of their houses to say hello to us. At one point there was a line of kids asking for high fives as we rode by on our bikes. (Such a high! I can only imagine what it is like for the riders in the Tour De France.) Unfortunately, at one point, I tried to capture this on video tape, and a dog ran in front of me and I took a digger, and scraped up my right shin. Yes, I have it one video, so if you get me drunk enough, I might show it to you.

We finally reached our hotel after a grand total of 104 KMs (just over 60 miles). Ah, and then we hit our first snag in the trip. Our hotel only had us booked for one night instead of two, and they didn't have room for us the next night. So, that was a bit of a downer. We figured it out though. However, when we first got into the room, I decided to wash my torched clothes. Well, I started washing them in the sink like I normally do. (Can you see where this is going?) After washing them for 1 minute, the sink broke right off the wall (I am sure it is because I am so ripped), and I was stuck there holding it while Ryan ran downstairs and told the reception. They didn't care and were super busy. So, I just sat there in the bathroom holding a sink for a solid 15 minutes while Ryan tried to get someone to help.

Outdoor Adventures

The past four days have been by far the most adventurous of the trip. After our jungle trek, we arrived in Da Lat, a very cool city with weather reminiscent of San Francisco. It was incredible refreshing to have to wear long sleeves and pants.

We were picked up very early in the morning on Friday to go canyoning. Canyoning is another word for rapelling down a river valley, often through waterfalls. During out trip, we descended about a 1000 vertical feet through six different sections. We hiked a lot through the narrow gorge. Our first rappel was probably 40 vertical feet, and we landed on solid ground.

Our second rappel was a bit more hairy in that we landed in waist deep water. It was a drop of approx 50 feet. We then continued our hike down the river valley, at various points hiking in the river and stream while holding on to our dry bags. Our next adventure was when we hit a 20 foot waterfall that flowed at about at 30 degree angle over what looked like jagged rock. We were surprised when our guide then told us that we were going to go down it like a waterslide. We took three different rides down the rock, and it was a blast. A perfect natural waterslide.

After lunch, we hit the biggest waterfall of the day, as you can see in the pic. The volume of water was so huge in this pic, that I couldn't see or hear the guide above me yelling. The best part about this one was that once you got over the edge, you were able to just let go and jump backwards. You landed on your back in a gigantic watering hole. I let go at about 15 feet about the water surface. This was actually easier than what I did next because there wasn't much time to think, and you were being pelted by massive amounts of water.

After travelling a bit more downstream, we got to another large watering hole, where our guides just told us to jump. A solid 20 foot jump! And then we headed to our last abseil of the day, into what was called the dishwasher. We did this one twice, and then hiked out of the valley.

Dodging Leeches

I have another first on this trip. I got a leech during my jungle trek in Cat Tien National Park. These were not the leeches that were in "Stand by Me," they were much smaller, and they moved very fast on the ground. We got some video, so I can show you at some point.

We drove approx 3 hours to Cat Tien National Park with Long, our guide for the next four days. We crossed the large river in a boat that barely was above the water line, and then headed out on a 3.5 hour trek through the jungle. But, not before putting on out leech socks, and gobs of insect repellent. It turns out that leeches can feel your body warmth from very far away, and they make a bee line right for you. They'll actually climb up your clothing until they can find a way to get to your skin. That is what happened to me. It somehow made it all the way onto my stomach, and who knows how long it had been there before I took it off. It continued to bleed for a couple of hours because, like mosquitoes, they inject an anti-coagulant into you so that you provide a steady stream of blood.

The actual jungle trek was very interesting, and I've never seen so much life anywhere. We saw an amazing number of trees, flowers, insects, birds, and butterflies. The fauna was probably the most interesting. (Never thought I'd say that either.) The next morning we left Cat Tien early and headed up to Da Lat. On the way we stopped at Dambri and Elephant water falls. We also stopped at a silk manufacturing plant to see how silk is actually made. It is pretty incredible because entire towns are dedicated to making silk. One family will grow the mulberry plants to feel the worms. Once the worms form their cocoon, they are sold to someone else who soaks them in hot water and actually takes the silk and puts them onto spools. Another family creates the bamboo holders for all of the cocoons and finished silk. Yet another family then buys the dead worms and sells them on the open market as food. Pretty incredible.