Sitting in a coffee shop working on my laptop in Vientiane, Laos…a gentlemen wearing a Lao T-shirt walked up to me.

“Are you visiting alone?” He asked.

Yes yes, it was my first time and first day here.

I inquired about his whereabouts, and whether he was a local. He sure seemed to be.

“My parents were born here, but fled to the states during the Vietnam war and never returned.”

He was visiting Lao, his rightful homeland, for the first time and was almost 30 years old.

Vientiane, Laos

Long before embarking on this trip, I had read many a story on the interwebs about the horrors of bus rides in Laos. One article was titled “The Bus Ride from Hell…”

For starters, I had been booking everything online. Buses, trains, ferries, and of course flights.

For some reason, I could not find anyway to book any transportation in Laos. I could hardly find any information on them, other than the bus rides were long and horrible.

So….just how horrible was it going to be? Was I going to have people sitting on my lap? Would I be hog-tied naked to the roof??

The wild horrors our mind can create…

It’s been a fun and eventful week. I’m sitting in a hotel room in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam. I’m going to try to get some rest over the next couple of days before gearing back up. In the meantime….

Budget or Boutique Airline?

Being around aviation my entire life, I always involuntarily end up comparing airplanes, airlines, and the like.

So without further ado, my experience on Air Asia and Bangkok Airways. Keep in mind this is just one experience.

Air Asia is known as the budget airline of….Asia. Bangkok Airways is “Asia’s Boutique Airline.” Their slogan, not mine.

So…how does a budget airline compare to a “boutique” airline?

“BING BONG……….BINGBONG-BINGBONG!”

The Sun had risen and was shining through the train window, opposite of which my face was pressed against the glass.

We were just over an hour from reaching Chiang Mai, and the train attendant woman was using her special method to get people awake for breakfast.

Deploy From Bunk

I rolled out of my bunk onto the floor around 7:30 am, opting to shower last night to save time.  Plus, I would be soaked in sweat and nastiness in less than an hour anyways.

The temperature was in the mid 90s again today, Bangkok’s “cool” season.

I hadn’t eaten since yesterday early afternoon, so I got the “basic breakfast” from my hostel for just 95baht. ($2.95)

Riverside Alleys

I wandered a few blocks south in the back alleys near the Chao Phraya river.  The goal was to get on the Hop On Hop Off boat and take it upstream to see The Grand Palace and Wat Pho.

While walking through the alleys, I encountered many a stray cat and a dog as well. It was quite sad to see, but its rather common here.

Among many other things I walked past included a very large pile of brake calipers. They were just piled up like a crumbling mountain, at least 20 feet high and 10 feet all across. Can you imagine such a sight on your street in Suburbtown, USA?

Nine days have passed since I left home, and only two nights have I gotten more than three hours of sleep.

I could blame the jetlag, dramatic culture changes, or the inability to quiet my mind.

However, I’ll just say it was the energy of Hong Kong itself that kept me moving.

Get Up and Go!

After being unfathomably tired every single night, I woke up by 4:00 am at the latest and could not go back to sleep. When I woke up I felt incredibly energized.

After spending so much time living in a quiet forest, placing myself into the middle of Asia’s World City was an unavoidable jolt.

Wan Chai, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR China

10:47 am Hong Kong Time; 21st Jan 2018

9:47 pm East Coast USA; 20 Jan 2018

Jet Lagged

Today is the second day of being 13 hours ahead of my home timezone. A bizarre experience it has been to say the least. It is the second straight morning I have woken up at 3am and not gone back to sleep. Joy.

The journey began with a short flight to Miami, immediately followed by a 3 hour flight to Dallas and a stay overnight.

After a 16 hour 30 minute flight that left Dallas Wednesday morning, we scraped the wheels into Hong Kong around sunset on the following day.

For whatever reason, I only managed to sleep for 40 minutes on the very long flight, despite the very comfortable seating arrangements.

Deplaning

Oh shit. Immigration and customs time. My biggest irrational fear in regards to travel.

Are they going to ask me a bunch of questions that I won’t remember the answers to after all this flying? Will I be able to understand their accents? Will I fall into a coma while waiting in the horrendous line?

Did you know that northwest Oklahoma is fairly similar to the Saharan desert of Africa? Really, it is.
Well, at least some parts of it are. During the last few days of May 2016, there was a lull in storm activity, and we ventured into the Oklahoma panhandle in pursuit of a few state parks.

You think Kansas is nothing but endless brown vistas of stinky ass cows?

You are very wrong.

Located in southwestern Kansas, Monument Rocks is perhaps the most mysterious and beautiful pile of dirt you will find on this planet.