Travelingbug.org

Boarder Crossing from Chiang Khong, Thailand to Houei Xai, Laos

The boarder crossing from Thailand to Laos is a very easy process.  To enter into Thailand for 90 days you don't need a visa, but to enter into Laos you do need a visa. When I got into the small boarder town of Chiang Khong, Thailand I paid a guest house I was staying with 1650 baht (about $50 US) to get my visa before I got to the boarder.  I gave it to the guest house the night I got to Chiang khong, and by the morning I had my passport back.  The other option that I had was to get my visa at customs in Laos, but I never like to leave it to the last minute because things at the boarder are sometimes crazy.

At this point in time I was traveling with about 8 other people to catch the slow boat through Laos.  We all left the guest house early in the morning and arrived at the Thai customs.  It is basically a building that has two rooms with a customs agent sitting in a window.  We all waited in line for a couple of minutes until they started stamping out passports.  As I got to the window the guy took my passport and then pointed to a sign saying that I owed him 5 baht (which is like 7 cents), but I was a little caught off guard.  Nobody told me about having to pay to get out of Thailand.  So I handed him the money and my passport got the exit stamp out of Thailand.

Once my friends all got their passports stamped, we headed down a hill to cross over the Mekong River.  We all reached the river and there was a person sitting at a table in front of these skinny boats.  I assumed they took us over for free.  I was wrong.  They charged us each 10 baht (30 cents) to cross the river.  Its all about the money.  ( I know that it sounds funny that i was shocked to pay a total of 35 cents at the boarder, but when you are used to living off the baht it seems like a lot of money).

 

The worst bus ride in the World - Siem Reap,Cambodia to Bangkok, Thailand

While I was traveling through SE Asia, I had made it to Angkor Wat which is located in Siem Reap, Cambodia.  These ancient temples are some of the coolest things that I have ever seen.  After spending a couple of days in Siem Reap I was starting to run out of time in SE Asia, and needed to make it back to Bangkok, Thailand to catch my flight to Hong Kong.  So I went to a local travel agency, and talked to them about my options.  I basically had two options to get out of Siem Reap:

1. Airplane
2. Bus (which I had heard horror stories from other travelers telling me it was the worst ever)

The first option (airplane) is definitely the fastest and most comfortable way to leave Siem Reap, but it is also more expensive. There is only a couple airlines that is fly in and out of Siem Reap, and one of them is Siem Reap Airways.  They have 5 daily flights that leave Siem Reap, and go direct to Bangkok.  The total of a flight with taxes is $172 US Dollars.  (Siem Reap Airways also flies to Hong Kong, Phuket, and Pakse) 

Running of the Bulls 2008 - Must see video

One of my good friends who I met while traveling the world just went to the Festival de San Fermin.  He was able to capture the opening ceremony (and how crazy it is), how much or a party the festival is, and also the first day of the running of the bulls.  If you really want to experience what the Festival is all about then you have to check out this video.  Enjoy

Sites to see in Lisbon, Portugal

 

Here is a map of Lisbon, Portugal and the sites that you can see while you are visiting the city (courtesy of cityline sightline).  There is so much history in Lisbon, but to be honest with you I was pretty satisfied with sight seeing after one day.  At night, don't miss going to the Docas which is labeled number 6 on the map.  It has a lot of restaurants and bars that are all get pretty crowded during the summer.  I just added a "Video of the Week" about number 5 on the map which is the Terreiro do Paco.

Terreiro do Paco (Most beautiful Square) - Lisbon, Portugal - Video of the week

Hayden, Jared, and I were at the "most beautiful square" in Lisbon (Lisboa), Portugal.  This is one of the biggest Plaza's in Lisbon.  It is located right on the Ocean.  Notice in the backround that there is grey things right underneath the statue.  These are little bathrooms that guys can go and use.  It is kind of crazy to have people watching you go to the bathroom while you are standing in the middle of the Plaza!  Peace 

Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep- Chiang Mai, Thailand

While I was traveling with Howard in Chiang Mai, Thailand for Songkran, we decided to head to the main temple in Chiang Mai that is called Wat Phrathat.  This is one of the most famous temples in Thailand.  It is located on top of a mountain that over looks the whole city.  There is no way that you can walk to this temple.  So instead of hiring a tuk tuk or a taxi to take us to the Temple we decided there was no better way to go than scooters (the locals way to travel!)

We lined up the scooters through Julie's Guest House.  They make it too easy to do things in Chiang Mai.  So a rental company delivered 2 scooters for us to use for the whole day.  (I think it was only about $6 to rent for the whole day).   We took off without any problems.  It was a lot of fun on these things.  There are so many scooters on the street that we just blended in with all the locals.  The only bad thing is the pollution that comes from the trucks that pass you or wait next to you at lights.  I ended up having to put a shirt over my face so that I wasn't sucking down straight pollution out of the tail pipe next to me.

The Killing Fields - Phnom Phen, Cambodia - Video of the Week

I had no idea what the Killing Fields were before I went on my world trip.  I want to say that I never learned about what happened in Cambodia from 1975-1979 in school, but to be honest with you I can't remember.  This place was kind of creepy to me.  When I started traveling through South America I heard people talking about the Killing Fields in Cambodia and I was told that I had to go there.  Once I arrived in Phnom Phen I actually found out the history of what happened in this country during that time period.  During this 4 year period, somewhere around 200,000 people were executed and 1.2 million people were killed from disease or starvation (info from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_Fields).  Check out the video.  It was shot at Choeung Ek.  Where there were mass graves found here from people that were executed for nothing! I am going to blog more about the killing fields in the upcoming month.  Peace