End of the line and 40,000 miles.....

Well, it's the 18th of February and the trip which has gone since late September of 2010 is at an end. In a way though the trip started in Mid April 2010 since I started work in Wyoming. I'll have hit I think 40,000 miles by the time I'm back home in Michie, Tennessee. I'm at, I THINK 30,000 or so.

All sorts of crazy ways I've traveled. Car, Plane, Bus, Train, Motorboat, Row boat, Sail boat, Camel, Donkey, Horse, Horse cart, Tuk tuk, ski lift thingy, subway "tube"and of course good old walking!
10 months from home in Tennessee...... but so much has gone on since then and I've grown as a person greatly again. But only possible because I had much much help.

I'd like to try to thank everyone that has helped me along the way in these past months.-

My Parents first and foremost. Without your guys support in so many ways I have no idea where I'd be now. Most likely something not as interesting and most likely unfulfilling.
Thank you Mom and Dad.

Like to thank the staff at Fort Bridger State Historic site. Without you guys re-hiring me again and again I wouldn't have the money to go on these amazing trips. Thank you Linda for hiring me way back in 2006. Thank you Syd for always helping me out in tough times at the fort and your support too. Cecil..... I'll get back to you.
Then everyone else at the fort too that's helped me seeing as there are to many to list!

My Aunt Connie has to rate VERY high here! When I was stuck at the crossroads of staying in the Nile* Valley or going onto the Sinai then Petra Jordan she without missing a beat gave me a nice sum of cash to get me to those place. That would have been very good in itself, BUT then the riots began in the Nile Valley and I would have had a VERY tough time of it in Egypt and getting out of there and then to Thailand here. THANK YOU CONNIE!
"*Or Nail if your an average Egyptian which has a 5 year olds grasp of English"

I'd like to thank Philip Alderton and his great Alderton clan. You made those holiday seasons feel so much better even though I was far far away from home. Plus Philip for all the help on our wacky 3 week Euro road trip and 4 weeks in the UK.

Then like to Thank the Skinner clan of Dublin Ireland. You guys are so kind to let me stay so so so many times in your home these past trips and even more so back in December even in these difficult times.
And of course Kasper & Tomas for enduring my friendship and company!

Like to thank William and Mel and the rest of the gang for putting up with me in the Middle East. You guys were great!

Then a quick thanks to everyone else that helped me out-

Chezaubernard Antoine for being a great guy and letting me stay at his flat in Glasgow on such short notice.
Georgina Pope for letting me crash in the spare room in Edinburgh.
Amanda Stopar for waking up in the morning and getting my butt from the station to the spare couch in her flat in London.
The Bales in California for hosting me at the very start of the 10 month journey and the end of it.

Can't thank you guys enough for that help of a simple bed or couch. It is really nice to have that when you are like 2000-6000 miles from home.
My lodgings are always open to you guys, like all my friends!

Then a shout out to all my great pals from SOSKAN in the UK and then all the travel buds I've had over the past several months.
If I have forgotten anyone, most sorry! But if I have, just in case, THANK YOU!

Apart from the thank you's, not much else going on. Life is easy and I've gotten a little more cash so got some money for fishing off the pier here in Bang bao and drinking cocnuts!

I am shocked it's the end of the trip however.
I leave here on the 20th and just keeping traveling, waiting traveling till I'm back to my home and my room "and dog Ranger" in Tennessee something like a week from now.
All this adventure, missing/avoiding the riots and protests in.... Hmmm, 6 nations. All within no more than 2 weeks. Sometimes 2 days even. I'm a lucky bastard I think. Only thing that slowed me up was snow in December. Delayed me for 12 hours one time and made me re-think a few travel plans. Thats it so far, knock on wood,.... Dang. Good luck there for sure.

Anyway... This will be almost the last post. I think I'll get one more done as a follow up in Tennessee and get photos up on photobucket and post the link to here.
But yeah, thats it.

Thank you if you have kept up with my adventures these past months via my blog.
Now to leave you with a song of Bilbo Baggins! Wow! What a nerd I am.....

(The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.)

It's a dangerous business, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no telling where you might be swept off to.

So for all of you, TRAVEL IF YOU CAN! No matter the age, IF you can, TRAVEL!

Elephants

Well, am in Koh Chang here, which in Thai means "Elephant Island".

So, pretty much not much going on here which suits me.

My day is pretty much this. I wake up between 8 or 9 AM. I roll out of bed, do a few hygiene things and then after stretching out on my porch which has a DIRECT view on the sea with NOTHING blocking it. Hehe, yes I am that lucky AND it only costs me 12 dollars a night.

So the weather is usually about 80-90F or 30-35C. Nights are never to bad, and the days you can get through. My hut is very Spartan and the bed is hard, but I like how simple it is too. But it is right on the sea too.

So after leaving the hut I go to the pricey bar which has hammocks, which I then lay in for 2-3 hours till lunch. I sometimes read or talk to other guests while there.
Then I get a tasty Thailand lunch, get a snack and go on the internet for 30 minutes or 60.
After all that hard hard work I go back to the cottages or to the beach and sun, read and lay around more until dinner, which I get around 5-6.

Then I rest more or read more and my day is over around between 9 to 11 PM.

So that is what I do mostly, EXCEPT today.

I saw an Elephant, and then I got on him and rode around for 2 hours.

An elephant at a zoo seems so close but is always so distant too.
When you get up to one they are far more interesting I think. You see there eyes, which look similar to a horses, there skin is VERY thick and has many small hairs and they are a rather plodding creature which I'm amazed that we as people can even control since they can go fast and be mean if they want too.

So as the day went I was driven directly to the Elephant place and was put on what seemed to be THE biggest one. The driver was nice enough but rather harsh to his elephant. Not being an elephant man I have NO clue if he was to harsh or if he needed to be. Seems being lax with a giant elephant may or may not be a good idea.

Anyway we plodded along a well used trail going partly into a rather unexciting jungle. Mostly it was good for getting photos of being on the elephant. Though, to my surprise the driver got off and told me to ride behind the head of this huge elephant while he walked ahead! Though he was nearby I was expected to help with getting this giant to move and to stay on him! That was rather scary at first, but easier as we went along.

After the jungle trek we were taken to a spot to swim with the elephants. Not being aware of this before I did not have swim wear, so I only watched. Though it may surprise some, elephants are very good in water!
Pretty neat to watch them swim around and have fun. Also the elephants were using there trunks rather well and use them like hands! I saw how well they did with the other tourists that gave them bananas.

So after our swim we got back to the pens.... then it dumped rain like crazy while we going back. Gladly the rain was warmish and I had plastic bags for my camera. Also the rain washed the elephant smell off.
Overall, good time had today!

Now for laying around till the 20ths then days of travel till home, in Tennessee! What a trip this has been!

Bangkok Baby and Beyond!

Well well. I am here now in Bangkok, Las Vegas on speed.

Bleh, took a lot of time, but I got here.
Long flight and time to get from Amman Jordan, to Bahrain airport, then a 10 hour layover there. a 6 or 7 hour flight to get to Bangkok, of which I mostly slept through, and about 3 hours of waiting to get my passport done, getting lost in the airport and getting to my hostel.

Bangkok is a rather interesting city. The smell of raw sewer is sometimes in the air, or gross fish WTF smell too, but, all in all it ain't bad. Thai's are far friendlier than people from Tunisi to Turkey and everything in-between. Prices are fair and set, plus its VERY cheap here. I really love the food here!

Kinda hot here though. Around 90 or 30C. So its a mixed blessing of warm weather, but I'm missing the cold at times.

Not doing all that much here. Asia has no real draw to me, except the food, cheap stuff and laying on a beach. Saw some temples here and having fun with hostel mates.
The days here are very long it seems and this isn't the most relaxing of places. Busy busy!

Now, I'm sure many of you have heard of Thai Massages and "Happy endings".... Well, most seem to be legit and I can tell you, being beat up like a piece of dough is rather interesting. How a Thai girl, who is very small have so much muscle... god only knows! It feels good after, but I'm rather sore now. Sure its good in the long term though.

Oh, now the other things with Bangkok. Asians DO drive well here, Middle Eastern people can't drive, except the Tuk-tuk drivers are a bit crazy! In Bangkok they STOP at the light, which was rare in Egypt. Yes there are PLENTY of the "lady boys" and shows of an illict nature about on the streets in certian areas. But the hassle is low for so much of the city. Makes it easy to get around and feel more relaxed. I've hardly felt like I've been ripped off.

Anyway, not many posts after this. Going to the island of Ko Chang tomorrow for and elephant ride and mostly laying about doing NOTHING. Sitting on a beach sunds good for the next 10 days. so idea when the next blog post will be, but I'm back to the USA on the 21st I think and back in Tennessee on the 24th. Gosh, just 2 weeks left, really less since there will be several long travel days.

Sure has been SOME trip......

Out of Egypt....

Well, long time since I've written, been WAY busy making the Exodus out of Egypt via the Red Sea and the Sinai.

As all of you know there have been many troubles in Egypt and I was glad to get out. Though when this has all been going on, I was near Dahab in the Sinai.

Not much went on there. Our internet got shut down and we didn't get it again till Jordan. Had barely a clue as what was going on, except the guy at the front desk kept saying "Oh don't worry, Cairo is safe. The Government has quelled the riot." BULLSHIT....
Now, I HAD a flight out of Cairo, but decided that would NOT work, so I after getting to Jordan I decided to fly from Jordan to Bahrain to get my flight there to Bangkok. Hoping that'll work seeing as my flight is tomorrow.

Anyway, as a day trip in Egypt on our last day I think, we "Me, Bill, Mel and our friends from the Nile boat trip, Dan and Claire" went to Mt. Sinai where God was supposed to have given Moses, THE yes THE Fifteen.... I mean TEN commandments. After getting their we went to the nice monastery setup at the foot of the Mountain, but it was rather crowded and not marked out.

Though, there was a corner with a couple bushes and a fence taking photos. thinking they were taking photos of a building I took little notice. However after a few minutes I was told by Bill, that he just found out that the bush "Which really wasn't bush like at all" was THE, yes THE burning bush, or it was at least related. Some less famous burning bush or son of.
But... what was next to it! "LO! And I beheld that next to the most holy plant on earth, and most famous for burning too, had, what... A fire extinguisher." Yes you heard me right folks! I swear to god, right next to the famed burning bush was in FACT, a fire extinguisher in plain sight.... Oh boy! Safe to say, many a joke and pun was cracked about that.

The walk up and down were far less exciting and the route was littered with rubbish on the foot of the most holy Mt. Sinai. The views from up top were amazing however. Took about 3 hours up and 2 down, partly in the dark.

After a rest, we made our planned trip to Jordan, which gladly was planned at just the right time.
If it wasn't for my friends Bill and Mel heading to Petra Jordan and my Aunt Connie for adding funds to my bank, I would have been in the Nile valley as I speak, and trying to get the hell out of Egypt in a stressful way! Instead we took a quick bus trip to the ferry, went over and took a mini bus to Petra and booked a night.

Petra is just... well just amazing! You have to have been there or seen photos. It was very magical and would put you in awe if you saw it. Though it is hard to describe the true beauty of it. So I'll let Wikipedia handle the most of it! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petra
Petra, though very pricey to get in, is kept up FAR FAR FAR better than anything in Egypt and people clean up the rubbish. This I think adds to it greatly. Something Egypt could take a lesson from.

So after Petra I sadly parted ways with Mel who'd be around since my first day in Egypt. Dan and Claire since the Nile boat trip. So now the gang went down to, Me, Bill and a Croatian girl called Jasna who'd been around since we first got to the Sinai.

The bus trip to Amman here went smooth enough and we checked out the city yesterday and today some old castles. The People of Jordan are so different then the Egyptians. FAR more honest, FAR more truly nice. They will get you tea or let you go to the bathroom without money. Not been asked for "Backsheesh" ONCE... Backsheesh meaning Tips, Alms, money for nothing.

I really like the people here, though it does cost more here, it is more what I'm used to in nations from Ireland to Bulgaria. Though, admittedly the city streets aren't as full as much life and don't seem out of National Geographic or the 1800's like Egypt. But at this point I want to meet nice non creepy people and walk on level streets!

Now however is the end of the Middle east for me, and just in time since the problems in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen could spread. Hopefully not to Jordan since they got their shit together here pretty much compared to the other nations close by.

But now I'm off to Bangkok starting tomorrow and I'm on my own again till I get back to the states. Kinda sad really. Going to miss all my pals.... Oh well, for future trips!

Next post, BANGKOK BABY!

P.S. I have ridden on or in a camel, donkey, horse, horse cart, row boat, motor boat, sail boat in Egypt and in Thailand I shall have an elephant ride and go in a tuk-tuk too. That way I'll cover most of the strange and exotic transport of the world! Also by the end of the trip I will have added 16 nations and Asia to places I've been. Wow, 29 Nations... North America, Europe, Africa and Asia. What a trip!

Egypt, part 2!

..... The morning I awoke groggy and tired but feeling quite well given the night.

The new 5 people we had were still in a foul mood as they woke up, but we knew they would soon depart. The big upside is that the one fellow knew Arabic and when they left the boat, they left their Chocolate! Hurrah!

But before they left, one of the girls found her bag wet and complained and then told the crew member to "carry that bag because its wet!". Safe to say, we were glad to see that they went off.

So it was down to, Me, Bill, Mel in our gang, Then Dan and Claire an English and Kiwi Couple. Then 2 girls that are friends, Zara and Lucia. What a great group of people! They really made the trip. How crew was 2 guys named Ramadan and Allah, both nick or middle names. Course the amount of dope they smoked seemed more like a steam ship then a sail boat! I gave them the name Cheec and Chong. That name seemed to have stuck by the end of the trip!

Anyway after sailing a bit we landed at a place quickly and I got a few neat photos, saw an old watch tower then we headed quickly to a small town. We decided once again to go ashore together, "That is Me, Bill and Mel" with Zara tagging along too. With our captain, leading us to a shop we seemed to have all the kids of the village coming out to greet us. Me and Bill then started playing with the kids by kicking a soccer ball about, trying to ride there kid sized bikes and teaching them the great American "High-five". The kids were so excited and yelling and saying hello. Very few were asking for anything and just seemed plain excited that tourists would come to their village. Not a usual thing it seems!

After that we went across the other side of the Nile and made camp on an island. And make camp I really mean we sleep on the boat and have a fire on the land. The boat is much nicer to sleep on then the sandy ground.

So after getting some firewood I talked William into walking around the island a bit before night, which was soon coming. So we walked around, seeing the amazing trees and farming that is pretty much unchanged in thousands of years. Course right as we might have turned around, there was a man with a donkey and cow, who then insisted that we join him by his fire with his buddies. It seemed only rude not to accept, so we did. Sadly we couldn't talk to each other well, but it seems one was a taxi driver from Dubai who was in Egypt on holiday. That was about as much as we could talk about. After being given a cigarette which I then tried to smoke out of good faith and trying talk more, William then decided it was a good idea to head back to the boat, least they think we were lost or whatever.

Though instead of walking we were then offered donkey taxis. Yes, you heard me right! The hospitality of these guys were amazing, and never really wanting any "Backsheesh" either. In so many of the tourist areas the people are ruined like over feed pigeons in a city square! They are god awful annoying there and always looking for hand outs. But the Egyptians off the main drag are great.

Lets see, oh yes! So after the Egyptian guys talked us into a donkey ride back to the boat we were off. Interesting to be on a donkey at night going back to a boat. The rest of our boat mates were a bit surprised to see 2 donkeys come out of the dark with us riding AND while whistling the "Lawrence of Arabia" tune.

The rest of the night then passed with singing songs that we knew only a few words too, charades and trying to tell a pass it around story involving Flesh eating vampire donkeys and no we were only a little drunk that night!

However in the morning that was the end of our 3 day 2 night boat trip. We were landed and our lazy crew then took us quickly to the landing point. They were alright guys, but they drank our beer, lied to us AND used NILE WATER to clean our dishes. Thankfully none of us got sick.

I guess they could have been worse. Maybe. Then sticking there hands out into our faces for tips was off putting, BUT overall the trip along the Nile was AMAZING! Great times!

We then boarded a mini bus to see some temples before we got to Luxor. Amazing temples and a nice drive, course we were all pretty exhausted.

Getting to Luxor we were accosted by touts saying "Oh that hotel is closed! Come stay at ours!". An old trick. LIARS! we said, and we went to our hotel of choice.......... which we then found out was indeed shut...... So we walked to the next place Lonely planet guide said was good........

"Dear Lonely Planet...

You suck. You lazy bastards don't bother mentioning prices hikes, slimly hotel manager an that the FREAKING mosque BLASTS the call to prayer literally in front of our room.... at 5:30 in the morning. You guys have bad info and just get drunk"

So next day all of us had moved. Luxor is kinda shit, but great things to see around. The temples and tombs are amazing! Seeing the Pharaohs tombs in the valley of the kings was awesome. Just amazing. But the city and people weren't that wonderful.

Most the stuff I saw was well known, and won't bore with details.

Now I'm on the red sea coast, enjoying a great place, great weather. Feasting on fresh Red sea Lobster and Shark. Dahab really is great and relaxing, though the 19 hour bus ride from Luxor sucked. ALL by land too! Oh boy! But relaxed now and I plan to do very little, until PETRA JORDAN! WOOOO!

Kinda sad now though....... on the last 3-4 weeks of the trip. Well on the most exciting stuff now! Hurrah!

Amazing Egypt... Part 1

Wow! I'm gonna say, Egypt is the highlight of the trip I think, as I thought it would be. Might be loud and gross at times, but it really is a rather amazing place to see.


Where was I last? Ah yes, just leaving Aswan....

Anyway, after walking around Aswan, Me and Bill managed to find food and even so far as going to a goverment bakery that was hot and running! For a little "Backsheesh" a word we now love to joke about, we got some more bread. After a couple hours we met our hostel friend Mel at her hotel and waited around to be picked up. Took awhile, but got on the Felluca sail boat. Not a huge boat, but nice and cozy. But seeing as everything is set on Egyptian Standard time, it was around 3:30 before we set off. Sailing around for a couple hours we then picked up more people. Course at 7 people, and 2 crew we couldn't fit much more, but we then picked up 5 more people! Everyone on the boat already just accepted that they were getting on, but those new 5 people were rather pissed off! Anyway, after they accepted their fate they boarded.

We then sailed till about 9 or so, an hour after we should have, we got to a landing spot and moored that night. One of our crew was going on shore to get more supplies and some of us asked to come along. Although he looked somewhat confused by this, he let us come along anyway. Walking to the local town by Full moonlight was very fun. With all the sand and palm trees about and quant farms. Our captian then went and knocked on the door of a house which would fit better in a historic movie about Romans than the 21st century.

An old woman then answered the door dressed in black and invited us in. We were then lead to what I think was the bedroom and sat down. Tea was brought out. Our Captian asked us what we wanted from the store and left us. Forantly for us, someone in our shore party knew Arabic well enough to talk to the Mother, daughter and Son. We asked some questions and generally relaxed. It was just so neat to see such a setup.

All of us spent I'd say almost an hour on shore and I loved it the whole time. Everyone else seemed to feel the same. Later that night we had a nice camp fire party till into the wee morning..........

Stay tunned for part 2!

Amazing to see, impossible to tell well!

Wow! What a trip here! Egypt is amazing! Just amazing...



Where was I last post? Ahh yes, Cairo,the smoggy city, the honking horns and other lovely city things. Well after the Egyptian museum and the next day it was decided as the last day in Cairo should be spent around the city. So the citidel was decided as the first place that day. It is pretty much a walled compound and Mosques inside. There is a Military museum in there, whichis...interesting. Lets stay at "The creative team from North Korea in 1990's helped design this". No joke...



Anyway, after poking about there for a couple hours, me, William, and this strange burned out cranky hippy dude who invited himself along from the hostel, went to Islamic Cairo. Wow! Such a cool place! Muddy streets, people and cars everywhere, not a word in anything other than Arabic. It was like a National Geoghapic TV show or Magazine. The few photos I got can't get the smell, sounds, people and feel of it in. All I can tell you is I've never seen a place like it.



The people were very nice and the food and drink different. We got a drink first at a place, which was sugar cane put into a machine then pulped up quick. Tasted creamy AND great! Next we walked ansWilliam got hungary, but the live Catfish and dead Nile perch didn't look all that tasty. Banannas were all over, but even though we had the numbers down, we didn't know what weight it was at that price. So walking along saw a little hole in the wall place and ordered a meal, which later found was Liver, Tripe and god knows what else. Not great when while looking about you see dead parts of animals being sold outside in the sun without cooling.

So after poking about there we took the night train to Aswan, which was plesant enough. Though we found that the windows are very much dirty to the poiunt you can't hardly see out!
Aswan is a wonderful place. More laid back than Cairo of course.

Among the things to see and do down here is the tomb of the nobles, Camel riding which was very fun, local villages, taking a row boat across the Nile, little kids saying hello, meeting great people and eating great food! The amount of ruins and quality is just amazing!


Anyway, one day I'll get photos up again, but right now I need to get ready for a sail boat tour of the Nile tomorrow! Onto Luxor!