Travelingbug.org

moving

I just wanted the readers of travelingbug.org know that I have not posted anything in the last week, because I am in the middle of a move.  I will begin blogging again starting in June.  I also have a guest blogger who will be riding a bicycle across the States for a couple of months who is going to start contributing to the site...

Middle of Laos - Video of the Week

While I was in Luang Prabang, Laos I met 4 random people that invited me to buy and ride a mountain bike through Laos for 4 days.  It was one of the highlights on my trip.  I went with Sven, Kelly, Zoey, and Sarah.  During this time Sven had 2 flat tires.  This was his 2nd flat tire, and we were in the middle of nowhere without a patch up kit to repair the tire.  So we flagged down a Beer Laos truck and hopped in the back.  We sat on beer bottles for about 45 minutes and then arrived in Vang Vien.  Too Funny!

Mar del Plata for "el exodo"

What an incredible city. During the summer and "el exodo" when seemingly all of Buenos Aires heads to this laid back beach town, it's easily on my list of places that I must return to. So to share a few bits of  wisdom and street smarts I picked up, here is my first entry on Travelingbug. Hopefully with this, you’ll save a ton of time figuring things out and make the most of your trip.

So we arrived on Dec. 30th after a very comfortable bus ride from Buenos Aires. To buy tickets, you can do this online and print out the pdf tickets on Plataforma 10 http://www.plataforma10.com/ which I did before even arriving in Argentina. Since practically all the hotels near Playa Grande were booked, we ended up staying at the City Hotel on Diagonal Alberdi. It was a decent place, clean and really friendly staff. But it’s more of a family place and about a 20 minute walk or 5 minute cab ride from Playa Grande which is pretty much where you want to stay.  We were next to the Peotonal San Martin. This is a tourist spot full of little shops, restaurants, and tons of ice cream parlors. Interesting to see, but again, more of a family spot. If you are looking to party, you want to be on Calle Alem. This is where many bars, pubs and lounges can be found. The place is packed at night with all the people from around Argentina on holiday. The nights typically start here, then move on to the boliches, or discos around 1-3am. MDP has no shortage of these. You’ll need to catch a cab and go to Sobremonte. It’s a massive club with several rooms of different house and hip hop. There are se veral others around the same area. I’m sure all are just as good.  There are other events like guest DJs at the beach clubs south of Playa Grande. Such places as Waikiki, La Caseta, etc. are names to know and the places to be during peak season.  We went to Divino (club) at La Caseta for Satoshi Tomiie (an internationally famous house DJ). It was an amazing night with tons of energy, beautiful women and a party that lasted until about 7am when “el amanecer” came. Just thinking about it makes me want to hop on a plane.

Getting to these southern beaches requires one thing: Bus 221. This is the lifeline that goes up and down the coast and the only bus that takes cash; the others require pre-paid cards. The last stop is Playa Serena. True to its name, the beach is quiet, yet among the most beautiful in the entire area. Probably the best place to “get away” from the masses on all the other beaches. During the day, La Caseta and the neighboring beaches are rockin. Tons of beautiful people, music, drinks.

If you’re there over New Year’s, make sure you make advanced arrangements for dinner. In Argentina, people tend to celebrate the New Year at home or with family. Around 1am Calle Alem is unbelievably packed. Next entry will be the agony and ecstasy of New Year’s Eve in Mar del Plata.

A few notes to make your trip smoother:

• One absolute rule: book your hotel, hostel room or apartment rental in Mar del Plata as soon as possible. People start booking as early as a year in advance. It’s crazy.

• Buses:

1. Take the “Suite” class of bus if possible. These have fewer riders because they cost 10 pesos more. The seats recline fully so you can actually sleep. This is huge on a 5 hour bus ride with literally no scenery other than cattle and flat farm lands.  We took Rapido Argentino.

2. Tip the baggage handler a couple pesos.

3. Bring water and an empanada, or something else to eat. The food they give you is pretty terrible. Especially after you’ve been eating incredible food in Buenos.

• The casino is fun but pay odds are pretty bad and just being in there is like smoking a few packs an hour.
• Eat as much ice cream and steak as you can.

 

 

Aboriginal Music at Sydney Harbour - Video of the Week

I was walking around Sydney Harbour with Patty and Michael.  I met these two guys while I was in Mendoza, Argentina.  They are from Ireland and were moving to Sydney to work and live.  We were walking through and these two guys were playing Aboriginal Music.  I thought it was pretty cool stuff.  They sell CD's of their music, and a lot of tourist were dropping tips in a jar while they were walking by.  Enjoy the music!

International voltage (electric) converter

 

One of the most important things that I carried in my backpack while I was traveling was my international electricity converter.  The plug-ins in the States are different from everywhere else around the world.  South America's is different than Australia, Australia's different than Asia, and Asia's different than Europe's. 

I can't tell you how important the converter was to me on my trip.  I carried a couple of items in my backpack that needed to be charged at least once a week.  The most important being my Ipod, which I used everyday multiple times!   The battery on my Ipod would only last about 2 days without being recharged. I also needed the converter to charge my digital camera battery (which lasted about a week) and my cell phone.   

Hanoi, Vietnam - Kangaroo Hotel

While I was traveling through SE Asia I had met a group of 5 people that I had traveled with for about 3 weeks.  Half of the group arrived in Hanoi 1 day before the rest of us.  The first group of people that arrived in Hanoi emailed us that they were staying in the Kangaroo Hotel in the historic Old Quarter.  So when Howard and I arrived in Hanoi we headed from the airport in a taxi to the hotel.  For any traveler looking for an area to stay in around Hanoi I would suggest the Old Quarter.

The rooms are really cheap.  The prices depend on how many people you have per room. The rooms cost $3, $6, $8 or $10 US dollars per night.  My room was pretty simple, but seemed to be pretty clean.  The highlight of the  hotel was that there was free internet!  I was so used to going to internet cafes and having to pay that it was cool just to walk down to the lobby and use it without leaving the hotel!  There was also a television in my room!  I wasn't used to watching t.v., and so when I got back from "Beer Junction" I felt like I was magnitized to it.  They had some programs in english so it I really didn't care what was on t.v.!

Each morning the staff  cooks breakfast for you too.  They cook eggs or toast for you.  Then you can choose either tea or coffee.  They have a little kitchen on the bottom floor with 2 tables.  It is small, but it feels like you are eating in a family's kitchen.

There is also a travel agency that is run out of the lobby of the hotel.  This travel agency lines up trips to Sapa (on the Vietnam/China boarder), Ha Long Bay, and bus tickets/train tickets to go to the South of Vietnam.  We all booked a trip through them to get to Ha Long Bay, and I also bought a bus ticket from Hanoi to Saigon that included 3 stops along the way (Hue, Hoi An, Nha Trang).  They also can assist you in getting your Visa's to enter China, Laos, or Cambodia.

When we booked the trip to Ha Long Bay, the Kangaroo Hotel had a bus pick us up at 7am.  The cool thing was that they let us leave our backpacks at the hotel while we took the 3 day trip.  When we got back to the hotel we were a little dirty and needed a shower.  We were all leaving that night to another city, and they let us (5 of us) use a room and shower to get ready to leave for free!  They were very nice to let us do that! 

Contact information for the hotel

Kangaroo Hotel

71 Hang Luoc Street, Hoan Kiem- Hanoi

Tel: 84-4 8258044

email: [email protected]

Biking through Laos - Video of the week

I bought a moutain bike in Luang Prabang, Laos with 4 other people (Sven, Kelley, Zoey, and Sarah).  This is day 2 of the bike trip through the mountains of Laos somewhere between Kiu Kacham and Phou Khoun.  I had to by the hat for the bike tour!  All the villagers loved it when I came through the little villages.  You can see all kinds of smoke in the backround.  All of the local farmers were burning the fields because of the slash and burn method of farming.  In these mountains you can usually see for miles, but because of all the smoke the view was limited.  The "Tour de Laos" was one of the highlights of my world trip!  Enjoy

Beer Junction - Hanoi, Vietnam

One of the first sites that I saw in Hanoi, Vietnam was Beer Junction (Bia Hoi Junction).  I arrived in Hanoi at about 5pm, and checked into my hotel in the historic Old Quarter.  When I checked in at the hotel I saw a girl named Zoey, that I had traveled through Laos with, and she told me the rest of our friends were down at Beer Junction.  So my friend Howard and I headed straight there to find out what this place was all about.

We hired 2 taxi's (a motorcycle) to take us there.  It took about 3 minutes to get there, and when we arrived it was comedy.  Beer Junction is located off a main street in a little neighborhood.  There is 4 corners where traffic is coming and going.  On each corner there are these "shop" owners that have set up these little plastic chairs and little tables in the street right off of the corners.  These chairs and tables were so small that it was almost like they were made for kids.  While you are sitting there there are motorcycles and cars passing right by me, but I never felt like they were going to hit me.

Sven, Jen, and Kelly, had saved us a seat at their table.  They had been drinking for awhile and told us a little bit about Hanoi since we had just arrived.  I couldn't believe how much a beer was.  It was 2000 Dong.  This turned out to be 10 cents (US) a beer.  And for my friends that were from England it was 5 Pence a beer.  I had no problem buying a round for my friends and everybody else that was hanging out around there.   

Howard and I almost couldn't drink a beer, because we had just come from Songkran (Thai New Year).  We had partied for about 4 straight days and needed a day off.  But since we hadn't see our friends four about a week we decided to hang out for awhile.

The funny part about Beer Junction is that the police come by to patrol the area.  When the cops show up, the store owners make you get up out of your chair and they take your seat and table and bring them back off the street and into their store.   The police just want to make sure you are not in t he street and they will fine the store owners if you are.  As soon as they start leaving the owners put the chairs and tables back down for you to sit in.

Beer Junction is a great place to hang out and meet other travelers from all over the world!  I would highly suggest hitting this up at least one night while you are in Hanoi!