Hontoon Island State Park, Florida

6th November, 2016

One of only a dozen or so of Florida’s 174 State Parks that I have been able to reach more than once is the secluded and secretive Hontoon Island.

Located near Deland, or about halfway in between Orlando and Daytona Beach, this park is only accessible by boat. So if you don’t have a boat to get there, sorry, you are screwed.

Not to worry, as the park offers a “ferry” to help you cross the St. Johns River and reach the island park.  The cost of the ferry is free and the ride lasts for about three minutes.

Also, this is one of the few parks that does not charge for admission either. I do encourage you to donate however to help support the park, as every dollar helps.

12 Feb 2018 – Hue, Vietnam

Tonight was the second night I spent in the street level bar of my hostel in Hue, Vietnam. It was also the second night I spent drinking a pitcher of beer with a German guy and our friend the Canadian Hedon Cowboy.

Let’s call the Canadian Cowboy….Nate.  Come to think of it, I never exchanged names with ‘Nate’ the three days we spent in Hue. This is not at all a surprise considering the circumstances at this particular stop in the journey.

Nate had blonde wavy hair that came down just past his ears and almost to his neck.  He looked like David Spade in Joe Dirt with a sprinkling of Matthew McConaughey. He also acted this way…if that even makes any sense.

11 Feb 2018 – Old Quarter, Hà Nội, Vietnam 

You’ve been standing on the side of the road for almost 20 minutes now. Your Grab driver was supposed to have arrived about six minutes ago. You can’t check where the driver is without an internet connection, however.

You decide to walk back to the homestay you just left in order to check on your Grab driver’s wellbeing. Of course, they canceled your ride.

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.