Cambodian Outtakes

Here are some out takes from our Cambodia portion of the trip:

On our first day in Cambodia, our amazing hosts took us too a discoclub.  Which was this giant space that had a huge stage and live singers.  The singers also had some back up dancers.  Im having trouble finding the correct words to describe the dancers and their dancing methods.  Basically, if you can lift your arm up in the air and twirl it around, you can be hired as a back up dancer at this place.  The dances were choreographed, so they obviously put some effort in, but they were just really bad.

In addition, Nick got on the dance floor.  The dancing at this place by its patrons was interesting.

Take you to the next day, we're driving from Phnom Phen to Siam Reap.  We get off the road quick to check out an ancient Cambodian bridge.  Its in great shape, really big, and overall, pretty amazing.  Lucky for us, someone who lives next to the bridge has the loudest soundsystem in Cambodia.  So to take in the scenery and enjoy the moment, this is what happened:  (watch the video's in order)

Day 18: Siagon

We hit the city today and accomplished the few things we didn't get done last week.  The "bikes" have been returned and we all somehow survived the driving without any injuries. 

As of now, Charlie and Nick are at the airport and I'm all alone in Saigon.  You'd think I'd be happy to get away from them by now, but that isn't the case at all.  It's not much fun here without them.

I guess the trip is pretty much over. 

:(

(some new posts below and there will hopefully be some more when we get back to the states)

Day 15: lunch (continuation of Nicks previous post)

We stopped in a small town to get some lunch before we headed to Cat Tien National Park.  Finding places to eat in these towns is rediculously difficult.  No restaurant signs, people dressed up as hamburgers trying to get you to come in or drive throughs.  So after a couple stops, we ended up sitting in front of a place that looked like a store.

After trying to communicate to the people, they ended up bring us eight warm beers and some ice.  They were definitely great to have, but we were starving.  So I got out the guidebook and rambled some Vietnamese to them and eventually got them to understand that we wanted some food.  So the four older people there talked for a bit and next thing we knew, one of them grabbed her bike and biked down the road.

Ten minutes later, she came back with two kinds of soup, three chicken legs, some delicious pork, and some steamed veggies (not to gloat, but I mentioned all of these things to the lady in Vietnamese, among many others).  All in all, the meal was just ok, but the service was exceptional.  Here is a pick of a couple of our amazing hosts.

And here is a couple picks of some of the men across the street who wouldn't stop staring at us (we had this happen everywhere we went)

Day 14: Da Lat to Bao Lac

As Nick said in the post earlier, I got the most kicks out of today. Da Lat is about 1500 meters high, kind of a little (150,000 people) mountain town, minus the snow and slopes. It felt like the Vietnamese version of Switzerland to me.

The day started with a delicious breakfast in the kitchen of the hotel. Lots of fresh fruit and the typical baguette with omelette. After breakfast, we decided to check out a few of the sights around Da Lat. The first stop was the Crazy House. The place was half Dali-esque and half completely random, it definitely lived up to its name. I'm really not sure of the background of the place, so I will just let the pics speak for themselves.

After that, we checked out the local market. The market was far and beyond the best market we've been to on this trip (every town has one). It had a crazy butcher section, amazing veggies everywhere, live animals, shops offering 30 different kinds of rice, etc. It had everything. Best part about it was that there were few Westerners there and people generally were not trying to sell us a bunch of cheap knick knacks. It was great.

After the market, we packed our "bikes" up and headed towards Bao Loc with the plan of stopping by a few waterfalls on the way there. The first one offered a "roller coaster" down to the falls. It also offered a ride back up the 1 km trail afterward, so we decided to take it. The waterfalls were pretty nice, but we are all pretty distracted by the various objects the Vietnamese placed around the falls. They were really out of place. Here is a pick of Nick, Charlie and some Vietnamese man wouldn't get out of the way, but ended up doing a great job of participating in the photo:



A few km's down the road, we stopped by another place. We didn't last long at this place. The waterfalls look pretty meek and and ladies hawking cheap shit were relentless, so we got back on our "bikes" and headed towards the next stop.

Nick enjoying a road sign.


Charlie showing Vietnam what he thinks of Di Linh.


About 50 km later, we couldn't find the next place, which has become a routine for us here because there basically are no signs and we do not have a suitable map. So we backtracked about 4 times and finally took a road that led us to our last and by far the most impressive waterfalls of the day. Really big, pretty, and very few people there. I would have been nice to spend some time there, but darkness was coming and we had 60 km to go.

I'm guessing we've given this impression already, but driving on the roads here is crazy. Buses fly at you from both directions, motorbikes are everywhere, animals are all over the side of the road, people light fires everywhere. Its nuts. So a 60 km drive in the dark is pretty scary. Unfortunately for us, Charlies "motorbike" was the only one with working headlights and taillights (my headlights were out and Nicks taillights were out). So Charlie led the pack, Nick followed him, and I took up the rear.

Charlie decided that the best way to blend into this country is by honking at everything that comes his way, he was especially horn happy on this drive. I'm guessing he hit his horn about 300 times. The best honk he had though was when he mistook a road side fire for something that could have been of danger. Yes, Charlie honked at a fire.

We all made it to Bao Loc, a town of 200,000, tired and hungry. Found a hotel and walked around the empty town to find some food. We ended up a Vietnamese Hot Pot restaurant and ate some pretty sketchy food. Fortunately, 6 hours later we felt fine, so we dodged a bullet on that one. Dinner was followed by some treats, then some well needed rest.

All in all, a pretty good day.

Day 16: Food

We all just ate duck fetus.  (better known as balut)

Yum.

(Charlie also ate a fish eye)

Day 15: Close calls

Day 15 started as most days have: behind schedule. We ate some sort of pork tenderloin + egg + rice concoction for breakfast and packed up our things.

Close call #1: Lost keys
As is common practice in Vietnam, we parked our bikes inside the hotel lobby the previous evening. When I got down to the hotel lobby to pack up my motobike, I noticed that I didn't have my key. To make a long story short, only after fifteen minutes of searching and trying to pry the under-seat compartment open with my bare hands did the lady at the front desk inform me that I left my keys in the ignition the previous night. She had them in her desk.

Close call #2: Cops
Somewhere in between Bao Loc and Cat Tien National Park Danny and I got pulled over by the police. The cop signaled me to pull over and whacked me in the arm with his baton as I slowed down. I quickly recalled post number 3: "If the police stop you, just keep talking English or whatever you want and they'll soon give up and let you go in less than five minutes." He pulled out a driver's license and indicated that he wanted to see our Vietnam license. I just said "I don't understand" a few times and he told us to just go away.

Close call #3: Snake
Despite me being stupid (keys) and acting stupid (cops), we managed to get to Cat Tien National Park before sunset. Charlie and I went for a 20k run through the jungle in search of bat caves. We didn't find them, but we did run across a snake on the trail. The part we could see was at least 6 feet long. Luckily, that was the tail end and he didn't see us. We didn't try to examine its total length. But as actuaries, we feel qualified to estimate the total length as 12 feet.

Close call #4: Spider
Just before we hit the sack for the evening, I heard a little girl scream. Actually it was Charlie in the bathroom. A "giant" spider had just crawled across his foot. And it had "huge spindly legs." I went in for the kill because Charlie couldn't handle it.

We also went for a late night wildlife tour in Cat Tien National Park. The three of us and a tour guide sat in the back of a pickup truck while the driver slowly drove through the main trail. The tour guide tried to spot wildlife with a spotlight. We saw a couple deer and some birds. Danny was disappointed that we didn't encounter any rabid monkeys. It was actually a very cool tour even though we didn't spot much wildlife. It was very peaceful and we had a great view of the night sky.

We stayed overnight in a cabin inside the National Park. We all slept in mosquito nets.

Day 14: Da Lat

Coming soon: details about the Crazy House, Da Lat market, water falls, and a roller coaster. I'll let Danny do this post since he got the biggest kick out of day 14.

Day 13: Mui Ne to Da Lat

We had a weird start today.  Packed our bags, loaded the bikes, then got into a conversation with a moto driver.  We've all quickly learned that the moto drivers have two jobs.  They give people rides for basically nothing and they also claim to have beautiful Boom Boom girls.  So they're basically pimps.

So we got into a conversation with the local pimp and ended up getting some directions from him to Da Lat.  After a three man pow wow, we ended up deciding to take his route.  He was kind enough to draw a little map and wrote some things out in Vietnamese for us in case we need to ask for directions.  This map came in handy.

The route began along the gorgeous coastline, then turned off towards some sand dunes.  All was great, until we came upon a random wedding party, then right after some kids decided to play chicken with us for some reason.  Here is the video (it was much better live):

About an hour later, we stopped on the side of the road for some directions.  I approached an elderly lady who looked at our map and said something to me in Vietnamese.  I clearly had no clue what she was saying.  Instead of trying a different word, giving me hand signals, or just walking away, she decided to repeat the two words.  Over and over again, each time saying it louder and louder.  In the end, she was practically yelling at me.  I still have no idea what she was saying.

See Charlies post for the rest of the amazing day.

Day 12: Mui Ne

Some highlights of today (in addition to Charlies post):

• Finally had our first illness today, Nick was slowed down for a bit, but he's recovered already.
• The beach here is spectacular.
• Charlie and I got some good windsurfing in.
• The Russians have taken over Vietnam (at least this part of it). This town is 95% Russian tourists. All the signs are in Russian, menus have Russion, etc. The front desk at our 4 star resort even has Moscow time on its clock.
• What do three grown men do when its 7 pm and they don't have anything to do? We go and get a massage of course. Charlie decided to bargain with the lady so we all got manicures and pedicures in addition to our $19 massage! My nails have never looked better. (I'm being serious; Nick opted out of the manicure)
• Nick hasn't been the same ever since his pedicure.

We're headed for a coastal ride today, then up into the Central Highlands to a city named Dalat.

(Kudos to my sister Michelle and brother in law Kenny, it sounds like my puppy Grace is raising hell back in Seattle. I can't wait to deal with all of her bad habits when I return.)

Day 11: To the coast

We left Saigon this morning en route to Mui Ne. Danny and I felt like we should really embrace the whole moped thing, so we ditched our motorcycle helmets for some matching Saigon-style motorbike helmets.

Charlie wore the helmet cam to document the madness that is Saigon traffic.  The traffic was definitely a little light, but still pretty imposing.  Nevertheless, vve all made it out unscathed.  Here is a link to the video of us getting out of Saigon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVuLE3zRlXY

The 200k ride to Mui Ne was pretty disappointing. We were hoping to see some of the famed Vietnam countryside, but instead saw a lot of old buildings, trucks, mopeds, and pollution. Highway driving is almost as nuts as Cambodia. We all had a couple close calls with busses and I almost ran over a girl that decided not to look before she walked out into the road.

The scooters cruised pretty easily at 70km/hr, but they're no Honda Bahas. Trading the dual sport motorcyles for mopeds is like switching from a manual transmission BMW to an automatic transmission Saturn. You will get you where you need to go, but it's not as fun, not as fast, and you don't want your friends to see you driving it.

Around 175k, we turned toward the coast and finally caught a glimpse of the Pacific - it's just as beautiful from this side of the globe, but not quite as rough. We arrived at our hotel right around nightfall, went for a quick run, and had a disappointing dinner. All in all, not a terribly exciting day. But we're in Mui Ne now and have high hopes for tomorrow. Dune buggies and wind surfing are possibilities.

Day 10: Still in Ho Chi Minh City

Last night after arriving the 6-hour bus trip from Phnom Penh to Saigon, we checked out the local salsa club per Nick's request. We ended up hanging out with the salsa group and going to dinner with them. They took us to a seafood restaurant where we had some amazing food. They ordered three different kind of snails, some clams, scallaps, noodles, and some other delicious food. Definitely our best meal yet. We ended up picking up the tab. For 13 people, food and drinks, it cost us 1,000,000 Dong! Nick couldn't count all the zeros up, so he just paid the bill. Fortunately, that amount is approximately $50. Not bad.

We had a little twist in our "plans" today. We got up fairly early looking a little staggard. After breakfast, we went out to get our motorcycles. Unfortunately, our motorbike connection in HCMC turned out to be a moped connection. After some scrambling and some research, we basically figured out that they do not rent anything more than 125 cc moped. So we went out to talk to a travel agency, this led to us talking to a moto driver, which led us to get into this situation:

The moto's took us to District 7, in search of a "good" moped to buy for our trip. We all tested a moped out and bargained a bit. The deal was $380 per bike and they'd buy it back when we return for $360. Needless to say, we were pretty damn close to becoming moped owners in Vietnam. Last minute though, we decided that the situation was too sketchy and we'd come back later after we talked to some more people.

After some debate, we ended up renting three moped's for $60 for the week. While these are nice, its kind of deflating to go from our Honda Baja Dual Sports to these dinky things, but they will do.

In HCMC, we checked out the war museum, which was pretty amazing. Lots of really cool photos, info, and weapons. Here is a pic of Charlie at the museum:

HCMC is a crazy place. Very crazy. Its beyond any other city I've ever been to before. Oddly enought though, it kind of reminds me of Las Vegas in the sense that if you stay there for two days ,its just the right amount of time, but if you stay longer you want to get the heck out of there. Additionally, in Vegas you hear the constant sound of "ding ding ding ding ding" from the slot machines. Here it is "honk honk" or "honk honk honk" or sometimes if the moto's or taxi's palms are sore from hitting the horn, they just go "honk".
Tomorrow, we're getting on our "motorcycles" and heading to Mui Ne for some beach action. We'll make sure to think of everyone back in Seattle while we're laying on the beach or bobbing in the ocean, soaking up the 85 degree weather.

Day 9: Headed to Vietnam!

We stopped off about 100 km from Phnom Penh last night.  Headed to PP to drop off the bikes, then off top Vietnam!

Well be in Ho Chi Minh City tonight around 8 pm.  Got some great footage on the trip into the city today.

Day 7: In Battambang

I think I spelled this city correctly. Our guide book got shaken off my bike last night, along with our one good map, so we're kind of traveling blind right now.

This place is a French colonial city that is pretty big, but not really touristy at all, which is great. This city seems to be on the cutting edge of Cambodia, lots of "fasion"stores and generally very little cheaped goods. It really has a different feel to it. There also seems to be a ton of pharmacies, not sure why. We got here around 11 am and immediately checked into a Guest House and settled down for a low key day. Hence why we have so many posts today.

For tonight, we're headed to get another massage, then to dinner. Then probably going to bed early.

It appears that we have a big ride tomorrow.

Day 6: Where are we?

Caution: long post, long day

Day 6 started with so much promise. We were riding high after our day at Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom (Day 5) and had an off-the-beaten-path adventure planned, courtesy of Danny's Motorcycle Cambodia book. Look how happy we are before we start!

Charlie, Nick, lady from Two Dragons guesthouse, Danny

We sped off from Siem Reap around 8:30 and hit our first single track dirt road about 45 minutes later. I was leading the charge early on when dirt turned to sand faster than I could react. Crash 1. No problem. It's sand. No blood, no foul. Lesson learned. 60 seconds later. Crash 2. Still no problem. It's sand. But I'm starting to feel like an idiot. And I busted my helmet face guard. Luckily Charlie bit it a couple minutes later, so I started to feel better about myself. Not to long after that we encountered our first major obstacle: a creek. After some reconnaissance, we decided that there was only one way across - straight through. With our shoes off and pants rolled up we walked each bike across. The water level was just below the engine. Carry on. Another 1k later, we ran into a family of 4 walking in the opposite direction. Despite the fact that we know 3 Khmer words and they knew 0 English words, they were able to explain to us that an impassable creek crossing lay ahead. So we turned around, followed them and recrossed the previous creek. Net creek crossings: 0. After we got a further explanation about how to get around the creek, we parted ways with the family. The little girl was so cute that I had to find a gift to give her. I gave her a bell that I attached to my bike on day 1. My aunt gave me the bell as a good luck charm. She loved it. I'm not sure if it made her or me happier.

Back to the adventure. We got off the single track trail and back onto a "main" road. There was no relief from the sun or the dust and we were already approaching midday. So we decided to alter our adventure. We headed back out to highway 6 towards Battambang. We stopped for lunch near the intersection of highway 6 and route 68. The owner of the restaurant informed us that is was a 50k trek north to route 56 and then a 50k trek W/SW to Sisophan. By this time it was 2:30. We figured this was a doable before sunset. But we hadn't applied the Cambodian actuarial adjustment factor of 1.7 to any estimate of time or distance. 85k of dusty, bumpy road later, we reached the intersection of route 66. It was an amazing ride through the Cambodian countryside, so we weren't too upset about the extra distance. Danny got some pretty good footage on the helmet cam and we have a bunch of pics of the rice fields.
It was approaching 5:00 when took a little gasoline/Fanta break break. We had a sense that we were in for more than 50k again.

About an 45 minutes down the road we were forced to pull over to watch the sunset. Even though we were a little nervous about being far from a major town in a foreign country at dark, we couldn't help but be grateful for the amazing view.

Charlie at sunset. Romantic, isn't it ladies?

Cambodian sunset

Another 45 minutes. Still no sign of Sisophan. But we did find a sign in Khmer that probably told us where to go.

Where is FreeTranslation.com when you need it?

As we were pondering our next step, a boy on a scooter pointed us in the right direction. So we forged onward. More dusty, bumpy, dirt/gravel roads. We pulled over around 7:00 for a little breather and to take in the view. I don't think I've even seen the stars brighter and clearer than I saw them last night. It may have been hallucination because I was completely exhausted and dehydrated after 11 hours of riding. The same boy as before passed us by again and informed us that we had less than an hour to go. By now, we understood that in Cambodian time, this meant at least 90 minutes. We continued on. Dusty. Bumpy. Dark. Bumpy. We pulled over again around 8:30 when we passed a roadside stand. The man spoke no English, but wrote 2kk on a piece of paper. He turned out to be correct. We rolled into Sisophan shortly after 8:30 and stopped at the first guesthouse we found.

Relief overcame exhaustion initially. We got a room and unloaded the bikes. A more careful look around our room and the guesthouse revealed that this guesthouse was the creepiest and most bug infested place we've ever seen. But we had no choice at this point. We couldn't find another guesthouse and didn't have the energy to go any further. So Danny sprayed Deet around his entire mattress, I quarantined my bed with upside down duct tape to trap any would-be insect attackers, and Charlie slept in his mosquito net.

Stats on the day:
250k+
4 wipeouts
3 creek crossings
1 broken facemask
1 flat tire
-1 bell
-1 JT t-shirt
3 very tired actuaries

Day 5: Angkor Wat Temples

Wow, what an amazing place.  We rented a tuk tuk and he tuk tuked us around for the day from temple to temple.  Its really hard to describe what Angkor Wat is like.  Literally a series of temples and other ancient ruins in various conditions. 

I'm not sure where I read about the tranquility of this place because it wasn't that way at all.  With all the tourism, naturally, there are many locals trying to sell cheap goods.  With every temple we saw, we had 50 young girls asking us to buy guidebooks, postcards, etc.  Most were pretty friendly and generally were not very pushy, but it was a little much.

Coincidentally, I think we all thought that Ta Keo and .........(I can't think of the name) were the best.  These two also happened to be the two that we could climb all over the most.  I'm guessing that had something to do with it.  Here is are a couple pics of the two temples:

We also got a massage later that night, hit the old town of Siam Reap, ate at a food stand where the electricy kept going off.  This caused me to unexpectanly eat a hot pepper that was hotter than hot.  We also walked to the night market.  On the way, we were all solicited to see if we'd like to participate in some lewd acts.  I think the best was when Charlie was asked if he'd like to get with a girly boy.  I think this made Charlie blush a bit...

On a side note, one crazy and definitely expected thing about this place is the women here are going crazy over Nick.  They all comment on how he has a great nose and some even chase after him!  I was fortunate to capture this at Angkor Wat.

Angkorian Obstacle

As Nick described in his post, we rode on an old Angkorian Highway for a while, here is one of our obstacles:

And we hit a few difficult areas:

Day 5 - Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, etc.

I'm paying 10 cents to use this computer for 15 minutes, so I need to be quick.  We're in Siam Reap and headed to the temples today.  I'm super excited to experience these ancient monuments and historical sites.  Especially interested in experiencing the tranquility the our guidebooks keep talking about.  We're renting a tuk tuk for the day ($15 w/ driver).  We only have one day to check out the sites around here, which is not nearly enough time, so we'll hopefully get as much in as possible.

After the temples, I'm hoping to get in one of these massages that all Westerners dream about.  (Keep the comments to yourself Ken)  Don't worry, Í'm going to one of the places in the guidebooks, so there definitely will not be any funny business.  Just a good massage to get rid of some of the knots that developed on our ride last night.  If time allows it, I'll also try to check out this town a bit.

We're staying at a great guesthouse.  People are really friendly.  I've developed a strong appreciation for Angkor Beer.  Cambodia is an amazing place.

First ride in Phnom Phen!

Danny's perspective on our first ride in Phnom Penh! Charlie's in the white helmet and Nick's got the black helmet. Enjoy!

Days 1,2,3 - Long flight, Phnom Phen, amazing hosts, thrill ride

So much to say, with so little time to say it.  First off, hello (herro), we're all safe and doing well.   So to summarize some highlights so far:

• Asiana airlines contemplated not sending us out of Seattle b/c we didn't have a return flight home.
• Nicks friend's family gave us the most incredible first day of a trip ever.  
• Charlie managed to go to the restroom in the women's room and ask for directions at a brothel, all on the same day.
• Our one checked bag of luggage did not arrive in Phnom Phen.
• Cambodian people are incredibly nice.
• Motorcycle ride through Phnom Phen during rush our traffic gave all of us a thrill of a lifetime.  Driving here is definitely different. (will try to post a video)
• I ate, frogs legs, fried duck tongue, and snail.  All in the same meal. (going to try to eat fried tarantulas today.)
• Rental place instructed us to not stop for the Police if they try to stop us and to flee the scene of any accident, no matter what happened.  (They target westerners and blame them for any accidents, no matter what happened..  We all feel very comfortable on the bikes.)
• It is humid here.

Organized chaos

We rented our bikes a few hours ago and decided to try the bikes and our riding skills out in evening rush hour traffic. Organized chaos is really the only way to describe the traffic in Phnom Penh. Rules like riding on the right side of the road and staying in lanes are loosely - if at all - followed. After we set out on the bikes, we quickly discovered that riding together was not an option. So the plan was to meet back at the hotel by 6:00 pm. So far Danny and I have made it back to the hotel safely. We know Charlie is still alive because our contacts in Phnom Penh (Sopagna's family) drove by him a few minutes ago. They said he was driving cautiously and looked very out of place. While his riding skills are up to snuff, it appears his navigation skills are lacking. Thus, we have a few minutes to kill while we wait for Charles to find his way back. We'll post more later and hopefully get the first helmet cam video up for your viewing pleasure.

Day 1 - Its freakin cold in Seattle and 90 degrees in Cambodia

Unbelievable, the trip is finally here.  Our flight is at 1:20 this afternoon.  We have 12 hur flight through South Korea, then a 6 hour flight to Phnom Phen. 

I think all of our excitements have been tempered by being extremely busy with work and life, but all three of us are leaving that now, so let the excitement begin!

Corrections to Danny's original blog description

We are Nick, Charlie, and Danny. True. Three actuaries going on a motorcycling journey to Cambodia and Vietnam. Also true. Do we know how ride a motorcycle? No. Technically, we all know how to ride a motorcycle. We've all been licensed within the past 3 months. But I'm willing to bet that at least one of us will be laying face first in Cambodian soil at some point. Can we speak any of the languages? No. Still very true. Do we know what we are going to do there? No. Still mostly true. We've got a few ideas, but no real itinerary other than riding around aimlessly on 250cc dual sport Hondas. Do we know when we are coming home? No. We all bought return tickets this weekend. I guess the only thing that we do know is that this is going to be a trip of a lifetime. It will still be an awesome trip - just slightly less hardcore than the initial billing.

testing

Salsa in HCMC

Instead of researching trifling matters like motorcycle rental in Cambodia or return flights, I've been spending my time looking into salsa dancing in HCMC. I'm not really sure why the thought even crept into my mind. SE Asia doesn't seem like it would be a mecca for Latin dance. Nonetheless, I ran across this site: http://www.salsaigon.com, which seems to indicate that there is at least one salsa club in HCMC. Charlie and Danny have (begrudgingly) agreed to add this to the HCMC itinerary. Is it easier to dance in motorcyling boots or sandals?

Motorcycle Jacket

Got my jacket.  Its not the color I wanted, but it will do.  Here is a pic:

To make it even better, Nick decided to get the same jacket in blue.  So we'll both be riding in style in Vietnam.  (Charlie already has a jacket, so he didn't get included in this).

I also bought a pair of riding pants that should give me some extra protection on my legs.

BTW, if you're looking for some motorcycle gear, the salesman at http://www.atomic-moto.com/ is super friendly and extremely helpful.  He kind of reminded me of my brother in law (in the sense he got me to buy a couple extra things).

I think these purchases are pretty much the last of the things I wanted to buy for the trip!

Motorcycle Jacket?

I learned a lesson today.  I finally found a jacket that I liked that is perfect for the trip and for around Seattle.

I searched around, found the cheapest website selling it and ordered it.  Unfortunately, an hour later, I received an email from the website saying "that it is out of stock".  (Why is it available on your website then!)

So, no problem, found another site, ordered it.  Two hours later I received a call.  "The item you purchased is on backorder, we can get it to you by December 5th."

Can you ship to Vietnam?  No.

So, from there, I called the next website, and the next one, and the next one, and the next one.  None have it in stock, but they can all get it to me by December 5th.

So, lesson learned, when ordering from a motorcycle gear website, call and ask if they have it in stock. 

Now I need to find another jacket....

Two Dragons Guesthouse - Siem Reap

This was sent to me from a friend.  She really liked this place:  http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g297390-d626053-Reviews-Two_Dragons_Guesthouse-Siem_Reap.html

Getting from Phnom Penh to Saigon

Fast boats leave every day from Phnom Phen around 1 pm daily.  They arrive in Chau Doc five hours later.

Chau Doc is on the border between Cambodia and Vietnam. 

There is also a bus, but taking the Mekong River seems like the best option by far.

Central Highlands - Vietnam

From the Lonely Planet Guidebook:  "It's easy to get off the beaten track in this wonderfully scenic part of the country.  Only Kalat makes it on to most tourists' radars, meaning that the rest of the region still allows an element of adventure.  This is a great part of the country to see on the back of a motorbike - stopping at will to admire an amazing mountain view, to explore a wild waterfall or to interact with villagers from the local hill tribes.  The cooler climate also makes a good respite for those not used to tropical climates.

Mui Ne Beach - South Central Coast of Vietnam

This one is specifically for Charlie:

Mui Ne has a developing reputation as the action capital of the coast.  When Nha Trang and Hoi An get the rains, Mui Ne gets the waves.  Surf's up from August to December.

Malaria

I went and talked to a travel consultant/doctor on friday at the UW.  Received a typhoid, Hep A and Flu Vaccine.  Also received some malaria pills, diarrhea pills, and sleeping pills for the flight.

I originally was pretty determined to not take any malaria pills (they have side affects), but after consultation and looking at that map above, I think I'm going to.  One shitty thing about them is they cost $7 per pill.  Which I guess is cheaper than getting the disease. 

One other sad thing I learned is that its a good idea to stay away from monkeys.  Some can be aggressive and they could have rabies.  So if a monkey comes near us, I'm going to have Charlie protect me (after I take a photo of it).

Ho Chi Minh City weather

Weather is looking pretty great in Vietnam.  Massive humidity though; that should be fun with a full face helmet on...

Phnom Phen weather

We might need to bring a rain jacket.

Laos - Visa

I'm not exactly sure why, but I'm really interested in checking out Laos for a day.  After some review online, visa's are required for US residents, but obtaining a visa is a pain in the ass and requires you to go through a third party so you can be "sponsored" to enter.  At this point, I'm not taking the risk of sending my passport and my CC to someone I do not know.  So instead....

I found a site that basically said you can try to enter from any border crossing and see what happens.  I'm hoping with a little bit of cash and the site of three americans that have not clue what they are doing will be the perfect reason for Laosian Border Guards to let us enter their country.

Helmet Camera

I purchased the helmet camera today.  Contour HD 1080.

I think this is a good purchase.  I can't wait to get it so I can figure out how to use it.  It also came with a bundle of other things.  One of which should give us the ability to upload photos/movies to the internet directly from the sim card!  Very exciting.

Charlies Motorcycle Outfit

I thought Charlie was going to post this, but since he didn't, here is a sneak peak of his motorcycle outfit for the trip.  Great outfit Charlie!

Trip mode

Definitely in trip mode now and I'm starting to feel the pressure.  I don't think we are necessarily behind with the small amount of planning we planned on doing, but it feels like there is a ton of stuff that needs to get done. 

Unfortunately, most requires me to buy more stuff, but that is just how it has to be.

One big purchase is a helmet camera.  I think I'm going to go with the Contour 1080 as seen here:   http://contour.com/  I'll hopefully get this purchased this weekend.

An another note, old blue is back and is running great.  I'm really pleased with the small amount of work that the mechanic did last week.  Definitely worth the $200.

Let the planning begin

Here are some of the items recommended to bring by a fellow travelor:

1. My own helmet and riding gear. While some rental agencies had helmets, they were as fragile as eggshells and needed a microwave cleaning.
2. A large tool and spare parts kit that included tire repair tools, a hand air pump and spare inner tubes.
3. Bungee cords or tie downs.
4. Soft sided bags and a tank bag.
5. A small handlebar windscreen for longer trips, one that clamped to the handlebars.
6. A seat pad, later an inflatable one, but minimally a sheep skin with rubber backing.
7. Helmet lock and chain and lock for the motorcycle

Halloween

Quick pick from Halloween.  You can see that both Nick and Charlie really went crazy this year and decided to dress as themselves (That is kind of a lie, Charlie's costume is in his arms).  I was dressed as Paul the Octopus.

Old Blue Update

Just talked to the mechanic.  Old Blue only needed a new battery.  So with that and a general tune up, she'll be up and running by tomorrow!  I never thought I'd miss having her around this much.

On a side note, here is a good youtube video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKcFPnS9r8Y&feature=player_embedded

Old Blue

Old Blue is down and out and is in the shop right now.  Nick and I finally decided to take her in last thursday to fix the starter.  So far, the only thing we know is the battery needed to be replaced.  Hopefully after she is fixed, we wont have to embarrass ourselves by push starting her every time we want to go somewhere.

We miss you Old Blue!

Floods

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2013216072_apasvietnamfloodsbus.html

No need to worry. We'll be on motorcycles, not buses.

In all seriousness, we're probably going to stay in southern Vietnam and avoid monsoon season in the central and northern regions of the country.

1 Month to go (and counting)

The countdown to the trip has officially started!

Clear skies + full moon = awesome

Just had a great ride.  Went from Nicks to Lake Washington Blvd to Seward Park then back to my place.  The moon illuminated the sky and reflected off the lake.  The air also had a nice, crisp feeling to it. 

Tonight was definitely my most enjoyable ride yet.  Can't wait to get out there again....

Snake Wine

I definitely plan on trying this stuff....I wonder if its legal in the US?

"Snake wine and Scorpion wine are asian beverages that can be found in some Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, Laos Cambodia, but also in Korea, and Japan.

To prepare this incredible beverage a cobra snake or some scorpions are put into a bottle fulfilled with transparent rice wine liquor and some herbs are added before the drink is left to ferment for months. The venomous cobra snake used to make Snake wine is preserved to have the snake poison dissolved in the rice wine, but because snake venoms are protein-based they are inactivated by the denaturing effects of ethanol, and no more dangerous, but this makes a healthy liquor with many health benefits.

Many types of snake drinks can be found all across Asia, but the most famous one and the only original one is the one found in Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos."

We've hit a milestone

We just hit 1,000 page views! 

I'm guessing 600 of these are from me, 300 are from Nick, and 50 are from Charlie.

Movie Night!

The three of us got together for a movie night last night!  The movie choice was the American classic "Easy Rider."  If you have not seen it, I highly recommend it.

I think the jury is still out to which one of us is most like each character.  I'm not sure we'll ever be able to decide that, but we might try to sport some of the looks from the movie.  Charlie is going to grow a mustache just like Dennis Hopper, Nick will wear Peter Fonda's super cool glasses, and I'll fashion Jack Nicholson's helmet.  We're going to be the coolest Americans in Cambodia/Vietnam (or at least feel that way). 

250 cc's of fury

With 400 miles under my belt on Old Blue, I decided it was time to take it to the next level. Tonight around 11:45 pm, after a night of studying at Starbucks and salsa dancing at SCT, I entered the I5 on-ramp off of NE 50th street. I had second thoughts as I saw a semi fly past me halfway down the ramp, but I took solace in knowing that if I was going down, I was taking the ASM study manual with me. Old Blue didn't let me down. She sped up to 70 in a hurry and smoothly sailed all 5 miles on her maiden I5 voyage. I live to study another day.

Riding in the rain

You know all those times that you are driving comfortably in your car in the rain, you come across a motorcyclist who is soaking wet and you say, "man, I feel bad for that idiot."

Well, I'm officially one of those idiots.  I pushed my luck tonight and got caught in a nice little downpour.  Fortunately, I was only in Ballard, but I still got pretty wet.  Riding wet and in the rain is about as much fun as it sounds.  Its also a little more scary because we do not have windshield wipers on our helmets, so the water beads up on the visor and limits the vision a bit.

I think I learned a lesson tonight, but I have a feeling that this is going to happen again pretty soon.

Luggage

Stopped by REI this morning and bought a duffel bag for the trip.  As shown in the pick above, its The North Face Base Camp duffel bag.  I decided to go with the small, which should fit nicely on the back of a motorcycle.  The size of the bag is also going to force me to pack light.

I wonder how many Justin Timberlake T-shirts will fit in there?

Motorcyle Horn

I'm not sure if you have ever heard a motorcycle horn before.  Think of it as a cross between the sound a clown's nose makes and a dog squeeky toy.  Basically, when I hit it, I turn around and act that it didn't come from me when I hit it because its so damn wimpy and somewhat embarrassing (its a man thing).

Well, let me tell you, for it being wimpy and embarrassing, that thing is effective.  I've honked twice now.  First when a guy in front of me wasn't paying attention and didn't see that the red light turned to green.  The second time was tonight.  Someone decided to pull out in front of my on Leary Way in Ballard and then proceeded to go around 20 mph (Its a 35 mph road).  So, after a few blocks, I hit my wimpy horn.  Lone and behold, it worked!  The car moved over and let me pass.

Now I'm trying to figure out what is more embarrassing.  Hitting Old Blue's wimpy horn or being someone who responds to the horn?

To compensate for the lack of posts, check out this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21CtfYmqYnM&feature=player_embedded#!

I'll take a poll, of us three (Danny, Nick, Charlie), who do you think dances most like this guy?

First Ride

I survived my first ride last night. I went home after work, got dressed, put on some Bruce Springsteen for inspiration, and headed off to Nick's apt.

Getting the bike going was a little difficult, but all in all, once I got moving I felt pretty comfortable right away. I decided to take things a little easy and start slow by driving from Cap Hill, through downtown, then off to West Seattle, all at night. Everything went pretty well and I accomplished several things, including:

Running my first red light, performing multiple California Stops, first illegal turn, going the wrong direction on a one way street (on purpose), having my first "oh shit" moment (seeing construction zones can be difficult), first hand wave to a fellow motorcyclist, first compliment on the Nighthawk, first major maneuver around a obstacle at a high rate of speed, and first time going 10mph + over the speed limit.

It was a good trip. All in all, I might be hooked and I now understand why Nick is always so giddy after his rides.

Let the riding begin

After two really long days, I passed the written and field motorcycle tests today.  Scored a 96 on the written and a 89 on the field.  My original plan was to grab the Nighthawk and go for a ride, but I'm too damn tired.

Just to limit Nicks posting material, he scored a 100 on both tests.  Which translates into a score of 10 for us actuaries.  I think my score is around a 7 or a high 6.  Either way, this once again proves that he is more of a man than me.  Even with at J. Timberlake shirt on.....

JT

I got bored of studying for Exam C yesterday, so I decided to swing by the thrift store to pick up a few things for the trip. My plan is to bring mostly thrift store clothes and ditch them as we go so that I don't have to carry along stinky clothes or try to wash clothes in the Mekong. I got a pair of jeans and a few shirts, one of which you will see below. What kind of ambassador would I be if I didn't have a JT shirt?

Riding a motorcycle is pretty tiring....

Day 1 of my motorcycle course is officially over.  No crashes, but I did kill the engine about four times.  Overall, my body is really tired.  Sitting on a bike for that long is much more difficult than I imagined!

On a different note, I finally found a mexican restaurant in Seattle that I actually like.  I wandered into this place during the lunch break.  It sat on a stretch of road that was dominated by "adult" stores, so naturally, I decided to eat there.  I went in, went to the counter, and quickly realized that no one there spoke english.  Better yet, I was the only gringo in the place.  I threw out some rusty spanish and ended up with a delicious lunch.  I'm definitely headed back there tomorrow.

Motorcycle Course this weekend!

Watch out people, assuming I pass this course this weekend, I will legally be allowed to drive the motorcycle on city roads!  So if you see someone that looks like me, driving a blue motorcycle and wearing a funny looking helmet, its most likely me.

Pop Quiz

Name the official language of Cambodia?  First person to get it right gets a date with Nick.

(No cheating)

Angkor Wat

I think my next priority with this trip will be to figure out what type of temple this is and its general history.  I can't wait to go there.

Practice

Today Danny and I practiced what will be played out many times in Vietnam. I drove the motorcycle and Danny rode on the back as we drove to get pho for dinner. Some old lady almost drove us off the road.

pho: $10, gas for motorcycle: $0.21, Danny with one arm around my waist and the other frantically waving at the old lady: priceless.

AB - Our Coworker

AB is a coworker of ours. AB is an old fogey and doesn't play nicely with Excel, Lotus Notes, or really anything invented after the abacus. To compensate, he spends a large part of his day making fun of me. I'm constantly giving him ammo, so it doesn't take a whole lot of ingenuity on his part. He is the author of such lines as "Nick, I think you're the only one in this place that doesn't see sucker written on your forehead." He has also nicknamed me "Crash" for having two bike accidents in one week.

Anyway, he's been giving Danny and I a lot of shit lately for our trip. He has taken to calling us Harry and Lloyd - a reference to Dumb and Dumber. I guess we can thank him for that since it's now in the url for our blog. Yesterday I shared with him that Charlie is joining us on our epic voyage. His response was "I used to think Charlie was more intelligent than that. You and Danny I understand, but I really thought Charlie was smarter than that." Charlie, I'm not sure if you should take that as a compliment or not. He also promised to pony up $12 to bail us out of a Cambodian prison should we need it. But only if that's for all 3 of us. We're not worth $12 each.

Shout out to our newest follower

Marion Bagley just created our first mother/daughter pair of followers!  Welcome!  We'll do our best to entertain you as much as possible.

If you are not a follower yet and you are interested, please become one.

Guidebook comment of the day

"The best massage in town is given by the blind masseuses in a little street off Samsenthai Rd, 2 blocks down from Simuang Minimart.  There are 2 blind masseuse businesses side by side and either one is fantastic: Tradional Clinic and Porm Clinic."   From the Footprint series.

If you want to go there, its in Northern Laos...

Message from a concerned friend

 suzanne:  you guys aren't really going to ride 1 motorcycle are you?  cause the Vietnamese might think you are trolling for 12 year old boys then
 me:  I can only speak for myself

Here is a pic from our motorcycle practice on Saturday

The blog has gone international!

We officially have international visitors to our blog!  Charlie sends a big hug to our visitors from Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia and the UK.  I have no clue why you're looking at this blog, but we're glad someone else besides us is actually interested!

Time well spent

Based on the prior two posts, it is clear that Nick is prioritizing his time by researching important and useful information for our trip, instead of studying for that exam he wont stop talking about...

Also, I bought a helmet and gloves for the trip this weekend.  Based on those two purchases, I'm pretty sure that I'm going to be the most "metro" guy on our trip.  This comment will make a lot more sense if you see the graphics on my helmet....

More about motorcyling in Vietnam

Riding in the big cities, especially Ho Chi Minh City, is a very different matter, and not advisable unless you are an experienced rider with a very cool head. Traffic is intense and chaotic, with a long list of unwritten rules that don't resemble traffic laws anywhere else. "Right of way" is a nearly unknown concept. Riding in HCMC is like finding yourself in the middle of a 3-D video game where anything can come at you from any direction, and you only have one life.
http://wikitravel.org/en/Vietnam

Rules of the road

Vietnam motorcycling tips: http://www.offroadvietnam.com/eng/18-125.php
My favorites:
(5) Animals are everywhere in the country or mountain roads. Dogs and chickens are the most then come water buffaloes, cows, pigs and horses...If you kill a dog or a chicken don't stop, cry and feel sorry, it's not your fault. Slow down when you spot these animals and don't hit water buffaloes, cows, pigs and horses, simply they are too big!
(8) If the police stop you (this rarely happens), just keep talking English or whatever you want and they'll soon give up and let you go in less than five minutes.

Why?

Why Cambodia/Vietnam? Why on a motorcycle? Why buy a one-way ticket? And why go with a questionable character like Danny? These are all seemingly reasonable questions asked by reasonable people expecting reasonable answers.

If you knew me at any point in my life save the last couple months, you know that I have taken the responsible approach to life: sacrificing fun for studying, running, work, etc. This was all fine and good because - as Dan Finn once told me - "sometimes you've got to do stuff that sucks in order to do stuff that rocks." Well it turns out that stuff that rocks doesn't just happen. And if you just sit around studying for actuarial exams it never will. You have to make it happen. So why buy a one-way ticket to Cambodia to aimlessly ride motorcycles around with a shady sidekick and no particular plan or destination? Because it rocks. Commence quarter-life crisis.

Sometimes you've got to do stuff that sucks in order to do stuff that rocks . . . but sometimes you've just got to do stuff that rocks.

Welcome

Wow, am I really writing on a blog?  I never thought this would happen.  So why did we start the Psuedo Mid Mid Life Crisis blog.  We're doing this to document our upcoming trip to Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos and also to share our journey along the way.  Our plan is to fly into Phnom Phen on November 24th, 2010 and then.....   

Actually, we don't have plans.  The beauty of this trip (besides Charlies muscles and Nicks smile) is that it is completely open ended.  We really do not have any plans besides our one way plane ticket to Phnom Phen, Cambodia and our main source of travel, which is going to be by motorcycle.  That is right, motorcycle.  Do we know how to drive a motorcycle?  As of three weeks ago, the answer would be no for all of us.  Nick has since gotten his motorcycle license and is cruising around on a 250 cc that he randomly bought on Craigslist two weeks ago.  My license will be coming in about a week and Charlies will be in two weeks.  So we're doing our best to get prepared.