Air And Sun

Bulgaria has one of the peak experiences from my travels, but also one of the lowest. 

My time in Bulgaria did not start off very well. In order to cross the border, I’d asked for a friend’s help in finding an inexpensive route from Istanbul, and luckily found one. I’m pretty sure I was the only non Bulgarian or Turkish passport on the bus, though, which made for an awkward bit crossing the border. I seemed very out of place on a bus that definitely did not speak English, so border security was wary seeing me. They scanned my passport over and over, then eventually asked me to stand to one side to wait further questioning, while they held my passport. Not a comfortable feeling. To their credit, an employee of the bus company came out after about 20 minutes and insisted, so after a few questions in basic English, the border security did let me through. 

It was an uncomfortable moment, but worse was yet to come.

I arrived in Plovdiv at a little after 5 AM. I got a bit confused on my walk to my hostel, so it took me a bit of time to get it figured out. Once I got close,  a couple came up to me and were trying to communicate, though they didn’t have much English, and I speak no Bulgarian. They seemed concerned, and were asking about where I was going. I showed them on my phone, which was a mistake. 

The man seemed interested in seeing the map more closely.  Once he’d moved in closer, he grabbed the phone and passed it to the woman of the two, moving to block the space between us. My immediate reaction, weary and burdened as I was, is that I can not allow this to happen. I lunge at them. I must have shoved him out of the way, as I recall tackling her and myself to the ground, and reaching for her hands, to get my phone back. However, he was still up, and pulled me away. 

I’d just arrived in town, and I was carrying everything I’m travelling with. In this moment, I remembered very suddenly that this could get so much worse than just a phone; a fact that he reinforced by pulling a knife and waving it in my direction. I decided that yeah, you know what, I can get another phone, and they took a run for it as I backed off. 

It took me a bit of time to recover from that one. The adrenaline in the moment took a minute or two to wear off, but I didn’t really feel right, or safe, for some time afterwards. Luckily, it didn’t take too long before I made some new friends in the hostel, who helped me figure out how to replace the phone, and later, took me on one of my favorite ventures so far.

A group of people from my hostel, led by a Canadian man with a plan, drove a few hours outside of Plovdiv. What we were looking to find was a remote, abandoned Soviet structure on top of a distant mountain peak. Completed in 1981, the Buzludzha monument was only used through 1989, when the fall of communism in Bulgaria rendered the building unneeded and politically difficult. That political awkwardness has meant it had become quite ignored by the Bulgarian people. To destroy it or to restore it would both cost a lot of money, and would be sending messages about their history with communism that no one is ready to endorse, so the building stands, in increasing disrepair, as local and visiting artists do their own work on it. 

While it is illegal to enter, and apparently the police regularly come by to reinforce barriers to entry, their fortifications are regularly removed, and you can usually find a way to sneak inside. While I was there, there was a slightly dangerous approach involving climbing into the basement through a small hole in the ground. I definitely could not have made it in and out without the group of people I was with, although once we entered, other tourists around the monument decided it would also be worth a try.

Destination in the background

Kinda looks like a UFO.

Our point of entry

Point of entry, as viewed from inside

Comfortable things to find written in the darkness underground

The front door

Up towards the light

The UFO inside

Where communist mosaics fall apart, street artists fill in

Break in the windows

Better view of the roof.

Some other after-market art

It was pretty awesome getting to explore it, and a definite highlight. 

Sofia was also a great time, but less dramatic in every regard, so I’ll drop you a couple of pictures and leave it at that

and I’ll end with this self portrait:

I landed in Istanbul, excited to see a new part of the world for a few days. In what becomes a pattern all too quickly while travelling, what I’d planned for a couple of days turned into over a week. It’s a good thing; enjoying a place, and the people in it, is kind of the point. Still, it makes moving on difficult, and Istanbul was a real pleasure.

Hagia Sofia 

Dolmabahce Palace

You are not allowed to take pictures in the palace. Eagle eyed viewers will see the security guy who will soon be informing me of this.

The view of Istanbul from Galata Tower

The view of Galata Tower from Istanbul

Mosques, old and new!

The walls that kept the Roman Empire alive until 1453.

I’m not sure it was technically legal to enter the Theodosian walls, but I can say that it was really cool. 

Istanbul straddles the Bosporus, and I took several trips back to Asia. Istanbul is a really big city...

This is just a portion of the Asia side.

I’ve fallen so far behind in posting, I decided to do a roundup to catch up. 

After I left Australia, I flew to Bali, Indonesia. Indonesia is the most populous Muslim majority country, and Bali is the one Hindu majority island. It has  a culture all it’s own, and I managed to meet a ton of excellent people. Parts of Bali also have a lot of local people in the same spots that the tourists go to. Here are some pictures:

There are some great beaches in Bali...

But it’s important to also call out the damage that our economy and our careless consumption does.

Anyway, enough about reckless capitalism! Here’s some monkey pictures!

And other pretty things.

(that’s me, at the top)

And finally: A E S T H E T I C

There’s a ton of things not included in here, as always. I lost my cell phone early on in my time in Bali (and survived to buy a replacement thanks to the kindness of some friends and some strangers), I made a ton of good friends and met up with a couple old ones, and did a lot of living it up and seeing things that wasn’t as much fun on camera. Gotta stay brief if I ever want to catch up. More full stories available in person.

Ok so I also went to Malaysia. I spent less time here, mostly just getting ready to head to Europe. To enter Indonesia on a tourist visa, you legally have to have a proof of transit out. The airline in Australia wouldn’t let me print my boarding pass without proof of another flight. So, standing in the airport, I bought a fully refundable flight, and I figured I wanted to see Malaysia, and it wasn’t too expensive, so why not? Maybe I’ll just move the date around, right? Wellllll, it was only refundable for 24 hours, it turns out, and after a night flight, it didn’t occur to me to check into it until well after 24 hours had expired. So, went to Malaysia with no planning!

Sadly, I only ended up seeing Penang and Kuala Lumpur, but both had plenty to offer, and in the end I’d say it was time well spent.

Penang has some cool buildings...

... and great street art all around.

Kuala Lumpur has cool buildings... Did you know that because of the high price of steel in the area, they ended up using a lot of... ok you can just go to Wikipedia if you want to know more, but they’re cool buildings with a bit of unique history that teaches you a thing or two about building really large things.

They also have huge malls. There are another 3 floors to this baby, under that fake tree cover you see in the bottom of this picture.

More big buildings! This time as seen from another big building!

Very late post! Cool city!

Melbourne is a great city. The CBD is denser than in Sydney, so its easier to access everything the city has to offer. And there’s a lot to love about it. Melbourne has great street art, coffee, bars and clubs, architecture and history, and even some nice ocean-side, although it was a bit cold to go for a swim.

Here are some pretty pictures of my time there:

Street art varies a bit, it’s everywhere and great.

This can’t be Chinatown: where are the hills?

 It’s the year of the (weird looking) dog!

Sydney is my first stop in the wide world of Australia, and after some gentle interruptions at customs, I made my way into this beautiful city by the beach. Unlike my home in the Bay Area, the beaches here are readily accessible by public transport, gorgeous and warm. Like California, the prices are absurdly high, and after getting used to spending $3-10 on accommodation in Southeast Asia, the price jump took some getting used to. Luckily, I had some friends in town who made my arrival and time here much more pleasant (shout out to Charlotte and Selina for taking me in and making my time here a delight). 

The beaches, as mentioned, are gorgeous. It may not be for everyone, but I was delighted to find that the ocean water here is cold, like home. As nice as warm water beaches were in Asia, it felt great to return to some familiar, low humid sun and cold cold waves. 

I got to see a bunch of neat museums and attractions around the CBD, as well as the gorgeous nature.

^ This is in English. Can you read it? There’s a whole poem of this.

After Cambodia, my next plan was to head to Australia. To do that, I needed to fly, and my Cambodian visa was running out. I opted to fly out of Bangkok, since it was a major airport with a lot of flight options, and visas to Thailand are the easiest I’ve encountered. Plus, I hadn’t seen Bangkok yet!

At this point, I was without a card (lost in Siem Reap, never to be recovered), so I booked my flight before cancelling the card, and then survived off some Western Union transfers from back home (shout out to Robert Beck coming through in the clutch), so I had some fun running around surviving off of cash and last minute planning for a while.

Bangkok is an interesting city for sure, and I think a lot of travellers don’t see much of it, and end up thinking it’s not so great. I think it’s a hard city to get to know, but luckily I had a friend on the inside (shout out to Trang Nguyen for the semi-insider tips that kept Bangkok lively and fun).

I got to see the coolest night market I’ve seen yet in the Rachada Night Train Market,

Got some great street food in Phrom Phong, as well as some new glasses,

And later got to see Bangkok’s china town.

In the middle of my time in Bangkok, I realized I had plenty of spare time and some cash on hand, so I thought why not go get scuba certified in one of the best and least expensive dive spots in the world: Koh Tao!

Sadly. I’m not equipped with an underwater camera, so I don’t have any pictures of the diving, but here’s a picture of the beach on the island to tide you over.

Siem Reap is the town just outside of the Angkor Wat temple complex, and the temple complex is definitely the focus of tourism there. And for good reason:

The temples are quite something.

Many people spend several days exploring the huge grounds and variety of temples. I only spent a day checking them out, and I definitely missed a lot. We went up to see the sunrise at the Angkor Wat temple itself, and while it was worth it, waking up at 4 AM definitely had me off my game all day. I lost my wallet somewhere along the way, as well as injuring my foot getting into the Tuk Tuk. A reminder to not wake up at the crack of dawn, or to be extra careful when I’m low on sleep. Still, it was an absolutely stunning experience, seeing the sun rise over the largest temple complex in the world.

One of the odd things about Siem Reap is that, once you’ve seen the Angkor Wat complex, the town’s primary tourist offering is, essentially, partying. After several locations in a row that had their party scene shut down at midnight or 2 AM, it was easy to lose track of time, and somehow find yourself wandering back to your hostel at 4 AM. Staying at a hostel with a 24 hour kitchen didn’t hurt. This meant that the late night party returns would run into the temple bound tourists on their way out. It was a charming and strange feature of the town.

Siem Reap was an interesting juxtaposition, and I’m sure there was a lot more to see there (and I didn’t get everything I saw into this post), but this post is already quite long, and took me several days to complete in poor Wi-Fi conditions. It’s almost like crashing on the couch of a slummy beach apartment on an isolated continent while using a neighbor’s Wi-Fi is not a good recipe for good, consistent connections for uploading pictures... 

Everyone said that Phnom Penh was not a good place to stick around, so I didn’t. I’m glad I listened. What I saw there felt seedy and unpleasant. I’m sure there are great things in the city, but it seems most of what’s accessible, especially to western tourists, didn’t feel too comfortable.

So, while I was there, I visited the S21 Prison Museum, and the killing fields. I managed to fit that into one, intense, heartbreaking afternoon. 

The S-21 prison is a high school that was converted to a secret political prison under the Khmer Rouge regime. There are still individuals being identified in the photos and records kept by the regime. So many people passed through and died here that it’s tough to keep track. While the regime was rigorous about record-keeping, they were also enthusiastic about destroying those records on their way out. The prison is located centrally in Phnom Penh, but because the Khmer Rouge followed an anti intellectual, agrarian idealizing version of Communism, they had driven almost all of the population out, so there were no neighbors to notice the constant torture and barbed wire fences going up.

Prisoners here were not permitted to die until the head of the prison said it was okay; guards who killed one of their malnourished, already badly injured prisoner in the process of regular torture would often fill the deceased’s spot in the prison. The egregious crimes committed here are still being prosecuted, and the Khmer Rouge was recognized as a legitimate Cambodian government until 1991 by the UN. (The Vietnamese army, fresh from finishing off the war with the USA, invaded and installed a less slaughter-y communist regime in 1978-79)

The killing fields is really one of many locations that the Khmer Rouge brought people to for killing and mass burial. This particular location was mostly where prisoners from S-21 were brought for disposal, as it’s near Phnom Penh. The Phmer Rouge killed a horrifying number of people; estimates range, but it was likely between 1/4 and 1/3 of the population at the time, in just the range from 1975 - January 1979. They needed to bury a lot of bodies. Even this site, used now as a museum and testament to the atrocities, still has human remains undiscovered, and signs around the sight warn that, after rains, you need to especially avoid stepping off the path, so that curators can find and recover what has washed up.

Experiencing this all in a day leads to a somber feeling. I was very glad to see it all, and the combination of these two locations really helped me feel in touch with the genocide, comparatively recent and dramatic in scale. While in Vietnam, I’d been thinking about how anyone my parent’s age would have memories of the time where Americans were dominating and bombing Vietnam for their own, foreign and imperialistic reasons. In Cambodia, its hard to find people of that age range; literally 1/3 of them were killed all at once. All of Cambodia still feels the reverberations of the regime today. If you’re attentive to it, you can see it everywhere.

Kampot is a little town along a river in the south of Cambodia. It’s a very relaxed place, with some good things to see outside of town (along with a durian fruit statue in the center of town, pictured above).

There was Bokor National Park, which has at various times been built up and then abandoned, especially during the Khmer Rouge’s reign. It’s a neat drive up a windy road, with some gorgeous nature and abandonned buildings. They’re building it up again, with a resort, a new casino going in, and reportedly they’re considering building a small airport or helipad here, so that rich, mostly Chinese, tourists can get straight to the resorts they’re making here. Mostly, I checked out the old buildings and nice views.

Kep was another town nearby, along the coast, and it was just a short drive to visit. It certainly had its charms, but I ended up being glad I stayed in Kampot instead

I also got the best tacos I’ve had since I left the US, sorely needed. I mean, it wasn’t a burrito, but beggars can’t be choosers.

On my way out of Kampot, I got to spend an evening at Arcadia Backpackers, which is a hostel 7km outside of the city, on a cleaner part of the river. They set up a water park there, so you can spend the day swimming, diving off tall things, and riding the water slide. 

Kampot was so dope, I went back later. I drank some coconut,

looked at some sunset,

saw some caves,

hung out with spiderman and his buddy,

made a new friend,

saw some flowers,

and got some food poisoning,

NOT PICTURED.

I started off my time in Cambodia on Otres Beach 2, just outside Sihanoukville. Above, see the beach I stayed on. It was a great couple days just laying in the sun, swimming, and unwinding from the intensity of Saigon and the bus ride from Vietnam to Cambodia. 

I didn’t get to spend much time on Ko Rong, this idyllic island off the coast of Cambodia, but what time I did spend was great.

I woke up on my only full day on the island sunburned and sore from my time on the beach on the mainland. Nevertheless, my esteemed travel companion got us up and ready to go for a long hike for the day, to go and see the prettiest beach around the way on the island.

On the way out, I was tired, sore, way overheated, and generally in a bad mood. I was trying to push through to see this beach, and because I couldn’t abide coming all the way to the island to barely see it. I considered turning around at a few points, but never did (thank you Chloe, for putting up with me!) and I’m very glad now.

We arrived at what must be one of the best beaches in the world. When we got there, there were three other people on it at all: one couple that must have arrived very early, and a Cambodian woman selling (much needed) drinking water. As the day progressed, a few more people arrived, but for how crowded the main town was, this beach felt like it was all ours.

After a full day of swimming, sunbathing, and swimming some more in the clearest water and the cleanest sand I think I’ve ever seen, we decided it was time to trek home. The path we’d taken out ran along the outside of the island, and was a circuitous route. The more direct path... Well, it led straight through the jungle, and up to the top of the island. We had come in just flip flops, so we had to take much of the climb totally barefoot. We didn’t let that intimidate us, though.

By the time we started the trek, I was already in much better spirits. 15 minutes into the climb, I was literally dripping with sweat, but I was happy. I thoroughly enjoyed this kind of absurd adventure. We capped the evening with some lovely and well needed dinner, and some great crepes made by an actual french woman! (We’d had some pretty reprehensible crepes at another establishment earlier on the island). 

Saigon is the other big city of Vietnam, and it feels big. Its packed, loud, and nonstop. The trend of honking constantly persists, and the traffic is so dense and intense that you pretty much can’t get away from the constant blare of scooter and car horns everywhere. It can wear you out, but it’s also an amazing city, with a lot to see and enjoy. Just walking around the city made for some pleasant sights

The Cu Chi tunnels and War Remnants Museum were powerful, and important viewing, especially for an American

(I was sure I wouldn’t fit in the little tunnel entrances they had (not pictured, sadly), so when I gave it a try I was shocked to discover I could make it in without even really squeezing! Really bummed I didn’t get a photo of it)

Also some other fun things and pictures

(Gift shop at the Chi Chi tunnels. Where the Vietnamese people fought and died for independence from foreign powers and for Communism, they’ve put up a shop to sell trinkets to foreign tourists. I’m sure this is exactly what Ho Chi Minh envisioned.)

Mui Ne is a little beach town in Southern Vietnam that was very tourist centered. Many of the tourist resorts were aimed towards Eastern European tourists, which I’d certainly seen before in my travels, but not as much as in Mui Ne.

The hostel was great, with two different pools to choose from, the beach was a short walk down the hill, and there were food places inside a short walk. Mui Ne itself has three main attractions: 

the beach

the fairy stream

and the sand dunes

Also a fun tourist attraction in Mui Ne: bribing police officers! (not pictured).

We arrived here after a 22 hour bus ride, averaging just over 35km/hr (~27mph). Let me take this chance to thank Dwight D. Eisenhower for the US’s Interstate Highway System.

Hoi An is a cute little town along a river, with some great, preserved old buildings, from the French colonial style to an ancient Japanese bridge spanning the river. The town itself is chock full of little shops selling all sorts of things, but their specialty is some great clothes and shoes. Remind me to come back here when I become rich enough to take shopping trips that involve travelling. I really wished I could carry more out. 

While we were here, we rented some bikes and took a nice long bike tour and ride of the surrounding environs. After crossing a rather intimidatingly tall bridge, we ran into a local woman who wanted to take us with her to her village. We followed behind her motor scooter, and ate some of the freshest, best seafood I’ve ever eaten, right on the pier. We spent the day hanging out with her, and meeting the most adorable puppy, who must have been less than a month old. I happened to have taken allergy meds this day (cute stray dogs are everywhere in Vietnam, as in much of SE Asia), so I got to spend some time holding and petting the adorable little thing. 

The townspeople encouraged us to take him home with us; apparently he was one of a whole litter that had just been born, and the locals seemed to have little interest as contrasted with our fascination. Sadly, we had to leave him behind.

After a long farewell and some presents from our new favorite host, we headed back into the town of Hoi An proper, to see the night market. We ended up buying a few things in town, as well as getting what is so far my favorite Pho ever.

For such a brief visit, Hoi An was a really special place. I enjoyed it a lot, and would definitely go back, if I ever make it back to Vietnam.

The Imperial City of Huế is quite pretty. The old section of the city was empty, partially because it’s all tourist attraction now, and partially because the rain probably kept the tourists out. Unfortunately I didn’t spend enough time to see more than just the old city and palace, but no matter how long you spend anywhere, you can’t see everything.

The grounnds were pleasant, if wet, and I enjoyed just walking around and seeing the old Imperial City and palaces. They were badly destroyed in the war with the US, and while a lot of restoration has already completed, there is still some work being done, and much that will simply never come back.

There was also a museum with recovered materials from the war with the US, and a neat little market right next to the river.

It was a lovely day, although I was totally soaked through by the end of it. We closed the day out with the first wine I’ve had on the trip. It was... well, good drinking partners improve the quality of anything!

Easily the least satisfying tour I’ve taken so far on my trip, Ha Long bay itself still managed to impress me with it’s beauty, even on an unusually cold, uncomfortable couple of days.

Normally, Ha Long bay tours are sunny, warm, and a great chance to swim and drink in the sun and gorgeous nature. The tour itself made a lot of promises, and failed in most of them. In place of a lot of kayaking, fishing, games on the boat, a tour guide to tell us all about the bay, a clean, comfortable boat to enjoy it all from, and a proper party with an open bar, we got one of those things. Well, two, since we sort of made our own party. But the entire list of activities they actually provided was 30 minutes of kayaking. They even forgot to give us an entire portion of our meal once. It was pretty clear the crew did not care at all about us.

Hanoi is a loud, obnoxious, crazy, intense, crammed, incomprehensible hodgepodge of a city, and I fucking love it. 

It has remnants of the old mixed casually in with the new,

a road that is also an active train track,

some gorgeous architecture,

things to climb on,

some of the best coffee (based) drinks ever,

intense markets,

great food,

the tomb of Ho Chi Minh,

and (bad) beer for under 25c, in the middle of the street.

I also got a much needed hair cut.

Hanoi was pretty great.

Out of all of Laos, I ended up only seeing Luang Prabang and it’s surroundings. It’s a pity; i clearly missed a lot. I suppose this only means I’ll have to go back some day. What a terrible burden!

(Above: Lao communism in action, a bustling street market)

Luang Prabang is a small but pretty, historic, and touristy city in the northern area of Laos. It hosts a vibrant night market, a host of Buddhist temples, and a central hill.

I spent a handful of days there. The thing that stands out to me the most was the waterfall. It started with a bear sanctuary that you could walk through and read about.

WHERE WOULD WE BE WITHOUT BEAR GRYLLS?!? Also, note propagation of the Bernstain bears parallel universe.

After that, you go up the path through a series of small, beautiful waterfalls, until you get to the big, central one. It was stunning.

We elected to take the short but steep hike around and up the side of the waterfall, to see the top of what we’d just been gazing up at.

Screw you, sign. I do what I want. 

 After the trek, we went back down, and went for a swim in the pretty blue water.

The pools are filled with little fish that will try to munch on the excess skin on your feet, but it’s otherwise it was a very relaxing, cool swim in the middle of a hot day and a vigorous hike. You can also climb all the way into and underneath some of the (smaller) bits of the falls, which is pretty neat!

After the waterfall, we went quickly back to town, to climb the hill in the middle, so we could watch the sunset from outside the monastery there.

It was pretty amazing. Almost everyone but our group left immediately after the sun set, but we stayed for a bit, to play some guitar and sing some songs while we watched the last light fade from the sky.

Photo taken with nothing more than a phone camera and pollution!

After that, we decided it was time for some revelry. We went to a charming, spread out bar right on the river, had some drinks, and watched the river flow by. 

We could only do that for a bit, though, as soon after the bar closed. Apparently it’s illegal to stay open as a bar past 11PM in Luang Prabang. But the bowling alley across town stays open into the wee hours of the morning, and all the truck drivers outside are waiting to ferry you straight there at closing...

I was told two conflicting stories as to why, and both seem totally plausible to me. The more amusing of the two is that a police captain in town owns the bowling alley, so while other locations will be fined for serving after hours, the bowling spot never does. Thus a small economy of pushing tourists to the one place still open last has arisen.