Quick Update

Lounging around, reading books, meeting norweigen/sweedish/belgian girls, hanging out with two Kiwi´s, amazing views, breathtaking drinking games (try saying ¨fuzzy duck¨ or ¨ducky fuzz¨ after a few beers) cooking our own food, bike trekks, coconuts, local sugar-cane rum, Imperial beer, sleeping in a hammock, torrential downpours, not spending money like I did in Bangkok.

Cheers,
Josh

Pura Vida

After leaving the capital city of San Jose yesterday afternoon, I hopped on a 5 hour bus ride headed for Puerto Viejo de Talamanca. It´s asmall little beach town in the southern part of the country on the Carribean side. It´s gorgeous here, and reminds me a lot of Tahiti. I´m sleeping on a hammock for $5 a night in a cool little place that reminds me of the Club Bali Hi.

I sat next to a kid named Josh on the bus, and we met some New Zealanders as well so we´ve just been hanging out lounging around. Tomorrow we might make a trip down to Panama to get another stamp on our passports. We´ve heard great things about a small island called Bocas del Toros, and feel the need to investigate further.

Costa Rica is beautiful, wish my stay could be longer, Imperial Beer is fantastic...blows Corona out of the water.

Mas Tarde,
Josh

TEXAS

6 hours in texas off to CR

Off to Costa Rica

A month or so ago, Camille sent me an email with cheap flights to Central and South America. Having been back in the country for about two months at that point I was clearly feeling stagnant, and dying for another stamp on my passport. So without much hesitation, I called Smith and asked if he's like to join me on this mini-adventure. Unfortunately, he has entered the life of a young professional, and he told me he wouldn't be able to accompany me.

So as Smith started his first day of work today, I just finished packing my bags, and am headed to South Station to hop on the Chinatown bus to NYC where I'll rage all night and head to JFK Airport at 5AM for my 7:50 flight to Dallas, Texas. I'll then sit around there for 6 hours until boarding my connecting flight from Texas to San Jose, Costa Rica where a man named Fernando will be picking me up in a green mini-van and taking me to a hostel.

That's about all I have planned for now. Future plans may or may not include surfing, exploring of rain forests, active volcanoes, coffee picking (similar to rice picking I believe), horseback riding, and of course sampling the local cuisine and imbibing upon the countries finest brews. (not coffee)

Adios,
Josh

7 Days

I have been back in the states for exactly one week now, and what a weeks it's been. Along with enjoying my time at The Tea Room, which is really just a reality TV show waiting to happen, I've been able to experience some of the comforts that aren't necessarily found elsewhere in the world; air conditioning, garbage disposals, washers AND dryers, free internet, and a couple of other things. However being home does have one downfall...I'm underage again.

I have had quite a bit of fun though, I never realized just how great Boston is in the summertime. Typically I get a taste of fall, a hint of spring, and six frigid months of winter. However this time I have the next two weeks to do anything and everything I could possibly want. Lately I've just wandered around the streets taking in the sights I've overlooked for the past year, while stopping every once in a while at some eatery a friend works at so I can sample the daily specials at deeply reduced prices...as long as the boss isn't around.

Two days ago, after finishing up a lovely brunch on Mass. Ave, I watched a couple struggling to get a mattress into the back of a UHAUL. I couldn't pass up a chance to help out my fellow man, and since I hadn't seen the inside of a gym in 2 months I offered them a hand. 2 Tons and 9 hours later, Jen and Alisha were all moved into their new home in Watertown, about 15 minutes outside the city, and we had a nice dinner at the Halfway Cafe. Finding a free meal doesn't seem to be a problem anymore, however I've decided to take that a step further and implement the 10-day fast that I've been meaning to do.

Introducing, THE MASTER CLEANSER (aka The Lemonade Diet). This 10 day intensive cleanse allows only the consumption of freshly squeezed organic lemons, grade B maple syrup, crushed organic cayenne pepper, and spring water. These ingredients are combined into a lemonade of sorts, and sipped on for 10 days straight. The health benefits are enormous and include weight loss, increased energy, relief from headaches and sinus problems, your skin clears up, and your body basically repairs and heals itself back to tip-tip shape.

This is only day one, but I'm pretty confident I'll make if the whole ten days, not to mention the 3 days where you slowly begin to introduce solid foods back into your system. I'll be sure to let everyone know how it's going, but I really recommend googling "Master Cleanser" and reading up on it...pretty facinating.

Until next time,
-Josh

Back in Beantown

Last night I arrived back in Boston around 8PM to find a crowd of people waiting for me. Included in the crowd were a few cameras and reporters with a number of questions for me. I never thought I would the guy they were waiting for.

Today I start work at The Tea Room, I'll be sure to let you all know how that goes. Here's a clip from Fox25 News.

eBay Kid

My English Family

I arrived in Oxford hoping for the best. I had met a girl a month and a half earlier in Vietnam, and moments before my last post, I sent her an email telling her that I would be at the bus station in 4 hours. When I got off the bus, nobody was there. I had no money on me, so I waited there for close to twenty minutes, contemplating whether I ought to ask to use someone's cell phone to call my friend, who's number I had written in bright red marker on the inside cover of my waterproof travel journal. Just then I looked up and saw her walking toward me, and it was as if a weight the size of my backpack had been lifted off of my shoulders.

We hugged, and shook our heads in amazement; a drunken idea had manifested, and 45 days later here I was in Oxford. We walked into a local pub and had half-a-pint that was quite nice, and has a pear aftertaste. I told her of everything that had happened since Vietnam, and we caught up for nearly an hour when she rang her mom. She told her I would be staying the night and to "Throw another Jacket in the Oven" which is just English slang for a baked potato.

We left the pub and headed to her house located in the village of Bleubury. Naturally I walked to the right side of the car to get in, when she asked me it I had planned on driving...that's right, it's all backwards here. The drive took us twice as long because many of the roads had been flooded from the rivers that had overflown their banks. We walked inside, and I was more than excited to meet my first English "mum." She was quite friendly as she fixed us each plate of jackets and beans, and she, like every English person I've mentioned it to, could not believe why anyone would sell themselves on eBay.

After dinner Kirsty told me I should look up the train schedule so I could get to Leicester (pronounced Lester)in the morning, I guess I'll just be staying one night then. I figured it all out, and did some online banking which reminded me of the times I'd be losing in Monopoly and couldn't wait to land in jail so I didn't have to keep landing on hotels.

I was long overdue for a shower, so I cleaned up and went to sleep in her 12 year old sister's room who happened to be at a sleepover for the night. I couldn't fall asleep because I kept wondering whether or not my cousin would receive the email I'd just sent him, telling him that I would be arriving in just about 12 hours. I laid there for an hour or so watching the minutes tick by on one of those clocks that shines the time up onto the ceiling in big red numbers before I finally fell asleep.

In what felt like 15 minutes I was woken up by Kirsty telling me we had to leave in 15 minutes so she could drop me off at the Ditcok train station before work. I fell back asleep and woke up 13 minutes later, threw some clothes on stuffed my bag and ran out the door. We said our goodbyes, made promises to visit soon, and she was off. I bought my ticket to Oxford, and my credit card worked; I could breathe again. The trains were stopped because of the flood so we had to take a bus which also was delayed and took an hour and a half. I made it to Oxford and went to buy my ticket to Leicester. I told the lady behind the counter that if my credit card worked it would be a miracle...it was a miracle. This meant that the money transfer Tyler made had worked, I was rich again!

I went next door, ordered a sandwich, croissant, and a cup of tea and handed them my card. "We don't take cards, there's a cash-point next door." No worries, be right back.

Insufficient Funds
Insufficient Funds
Insufficient Funds

"I'm sorry, but I cannot pay for this food" and I walked out of the cafe quite embarrassed.

I had stashed a granola bar in my jacket a week ago, and snacked on that while I waited for my bus. The bus ride was painless, and we were in Leicester in just over 3 hours. Ok, time to find my cousin (whom I haven't seen in 7 years, and god forbid he send his wife to get me as I've never met her) I look all over the train station...nothing.

I have exactly enough money for a phone call, which is 40 pence...it rings, then I get a voicemail, now I have nothing. I dig through my backpack and find 8 euro in coins, I can't believe I hadn't spent those, but they may save my ass because the 45 minute bus ride to the village of Broughton Astley costs 2.10 Pounds.

I walk around in the rain to 4 different banks trying to change money;
"Only if you bank with us sir" do I look like I bank with first bank of Scotland?
"Sorry, we only change bills" some of these coins are 2Euro coins, what's that about?
"This isn't a bank at all, this is a bookie joint (to myself)"

I'm told there is a travel agency in The Shires, I think they're talking about Lord of the Rings...rather, it's a shopping mall. I find the travel agency, and walk out of there with 4.20 pounds. That's 2 bus tickets!!!

Back to the bus station, hop on the number 13...I'm going to make it after all. I hand the bus driver a post-it with an address on it and ask him to tell me when to get off. 20 minutes later I'm standing on the corner of Broughton Street next to Ye Olde Bull Pub. I like the idea of that, at least I could wash dishes for food(beer)if need be. I walk down Broughton Street looking for Astley House, heaven forbid they use street numbers. 10 houses down the lane I read "Astley House" on one of the brick walls. Maybe this is it? Then I see a Dodge truck...this has to be it, only an American would have a Dodge in England.

I knock at the door, no answer...I peer in the window and see baby toys! I MADE IT, it's just nobody was home. I pull out an old train ticket from my bag and a red pen,

"MIKE, I'm at the pub down the street." -Josh

I walk in the pub, "What ya got in that rucksack, you're whole life?" some tough lookin' guy says to me. "Pretty much" I respond, "Any of you know the guitar teacher down the road?"

Nobody knows the guitar teacher down the road. I ask them if I can "Hang Out" for a bit, see if my cousin turns up. The bartender and a regular named George split the cost of a pint for me, and invite me to sit down and tell them why the hell I'm in Broughton Astley.

I tell them about my trip, but realize these guys only want to hear the parts of my story that I'll never tell my kids...so I entertained them for a while and looked out the window at a gentleman approaching, I turned to the bartender, "I think that's my cousin walking in..."


-Josh

London Calling

So my trusty travel partner left me stranded with his cousin's fiance in an apartment in The Netherlands. I spent the day there playing with the cat, and attempted to do some laundry, where I managed to flood the laundry room, and cause a leak through the floor into the shoe store below the apartment. I swear, you leave me alone for just one minute...

Anyway the next morning i woke up (after missing my alarm) and ran to the train station headed to Amsterdam. I got to my gate and met two girls from Long Island headed to London themselves. One of them had been studying Eastern medicine in India for 2 months which I happen to be an expert on, and the other is a social worker...also a hobby of mine.

We chatted for a while, then were seperated during the flight, and reunited at the baggage carouselle. They were headed somewhere on the tube, and I was headed anywhere, so I joined them. We ended up in downtown London, hunting for the CBRE building where a man she had met a year earlier worked at. They had met once, kept in touch online, and now my backpack was being stored on the 5th floor in the fire closet. That was fantastic because while Smith did take some of my stuff with him when he left, my backpack still weighs 40 pounds.

We headed out to explore, me and the two 25 year olds, and a couple of pounds in my pocket. The exchange rate in England is 2-1 however everything has the same price number value so you're basically paying twice as much. Scoop od ice cream, £5=$10. There will be no ice cream for me.

We went out to a dinner I couldn't afford, where our new friend invited the 3 of us to stay the night...even after I told him that I had met the girls eight hours earlier. That was also fantastic because it looked like I was going to be sharing a tent with the protesters across from Wesminster Abbey with the "Free Palestine" signs everywhere.

We cruised around all day, I had a few conversations with an ATM machine, I would say "Please give me money..." and it kept responding "Insufficient Funds!"

Headed to Oxford to stay with a girl i met in Vietnam...out of internet time, I'm alive, stay well.

- Josh

I must have blacked out......In a heartbeat

Tomorrow I head back to the home land.. I guess most people would say this is the end of the line for this traveller.



I however would say this is just the beginning of a new chapter.



I have seen 4 continents, 15 countries, 10 planes, 2 sweet rental modes of transportation, tons of buses, trains and cabs, 300 beers, and millions of aussie backpackers, in just 2 months.



Punk rockers and sushi in Japan, my first overnight train and seeing josh cry (the 1st time) in thailand



Rice planters, rice wine and NVA soldiers in vietnam, Atms with american dollars and temples the size of Rhode Island in Cambodia



The Atlantic Ocean and the best orange juice in the whole world in Morocco, an awesome drunk guy in a bar named Deter and the Autobahn in Germany.



A Polish waitress named Milena (who Josh Vows to marry) and 20 zlotz that i hope i get to spend on my next trip to Poland,



Goulash and Amazing beer in the Cezch Rep., a trip through Slovakia

for a good sit with some wine in Austria



A full family of friends and a jacket from a factory that I worked in from Italy,

Space cakes and flowers in the Netherlands and a night in a train station in Belguim.



Today was the last day of my journey, I leave josh to fend for himself, although I am sure he will do just fine i have eaten every meal, slept in the same room and gone on an adventure of a life time each and everyday with him for 2 months.



Its been two months and it seems like its been two weeks.



I checked the news everyonce in a while, only when i remembered.



I forgot what its like to check for your cellphone when you wake up in the morning or get home from a long night of drinking.



I have learned to take my money out of a pouch that i keep in my pants instead of out a wallet.



I use ciao for hello and goodbye, i some times catch myself saying things like "good on ya" or "spot on".



I dont ever check the weather b/c i only have one pair of long pants and a light weight zip-up so i am pretty much prepared for nothing.



I have learned a new definition of clean and dirty, which i am pretty ok with.



I eat when food is available and sleep when ever i get the chance.



I wrote and called my mom when i got the chance. More than i thought i would have been able too.



I tried to send post cards in all the countries i went too but got too lazy after vietnam.



I would have liked to have packed less so I could bring back more.



I wouldnt have fallen alseep in the sun with out sunscreen in vietnam, but would have more in the alps.



I think i would have tried Dog if i had the chance and still eaten the cockroach in a bar in Cambodia.



I have a new appreciation of the convenince that we are accustomed to in the states, stores being open on sundays, always having hot water and electricity, a somewhat decent level of taxation and representation, decent prices on petrol even though we think its outrageous (come here and then complain about what we have at home).



I have a new understanding of money and work.



I am selling my first friend on Ebay and eating my last dinner in Europe.



I wakeboarded in the Netherlands and raced dune buggies in Italy.



I woke up some times and forgot what country we were in, but never had a bad night of sleep.



I met friends from all over the world and can't wait for them to come visit.



I missed my Computer dearly, but only because I am sick of the songs on my iPod.



I have learned, seen, tried and experienced so much that I figured out I have so much more to Learn, see, try and experience.



I am sad to leave and happy to come home.



If you asked "if you had the chance.....and couldn't change a thing....if you had the chance to do it all over again?"





.....In a Heart Beat........

Josh on eBay

I'm for sale

http://cgi.ebay.com/HELP-IM-STUCK-IN-EUROPE_W0QQitemZ250145393034QQihZ015QQcategoryZ1468QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Your Money Is No Good Here!

That is without a doubt the best thing two kids traveling around the world on a dwindling budget could ever hear. And it was repeated time after time for an entire week while our favorite Italian family adopted us, and showed us the highlights of northern Italy... here are a few of them:

3 gorgeous daughters aged 16, 22, and 24.

Italian graduation party where we all ended up in a swimming pool, and all of the graduates had their GPA written in black sharpee on their faces.

I learned to drive a stick shift on a tractor at 3 am after some heavy drinking.

We jumped off a 30 foot bridge into a river that saw some of the bloodiest battles of the second world war.

Ate more than we could eat in two lifetimes.

Worked in the Parajumper factory. Earned 2 jackets.

Went dune-buggying through the italian alps at about 50 mph.

Drank cases of the best wine on the planet.

Ate on top of a hill that reminded us of some of the shacks in Vietnam.

Drove Massimo's Mercedes 100 KM to rescue his Harley davidson that had been left on the side of the road the night before.

From there we hopped on a train to Rome (a train where I left my videocamera) and met up with Cami, who was my 8 month crush at St. John's and has since started playing for the other team (lesbian) and now sharing a bed is harmless. Still find myself waking up naked, with clothes strwn about the apartment that we ended up in. Cami's friend has a grandpa who has a vacation apartment that looks onto the Vatican which Smith and I have had the run of for 4 days. I don't know why people trust us so much...we almost burned the place down the first night when we were taking "flaming shots" of 190 proof alcohol which I bought on accident. Luckily only my hand caught on fire that night.

We are headed to Brussels tonight then onto Amsterdamn wher we will settle up on some bets that we've made throughout the trip...Smith's ahead by a significant margine but I'm not throwing in the towel yet. Smith will then head home because he had enough money to buy a ticket. I on the other hand am left with a few options.

Idea one which will be implemented shortly is to sell myself and 1 week of work/manual labor to the highest bidder within the continental United States on EBAY in exchange for a plane ticket.

Idea two is to travel as a courrier for British Airways whom I have already contacted, however most trips require a return flight.

Idea three is to have some sort of "Bring Back Josh" party in various locations throughout the world.

Idea four would be to hop on a boat headed anywhere and arrive somewhere at sometime.

None of these ideas will be of any importance until after I spend some time in the UK where I will stay with some family, and hopefully get the chance to buy a girl whom I met in Vietnam a drink and appologize for something that happened 9 countries ago.

We'll keep you updated on all of the preceeding, as well as the sleeping arrangements inside a Belgian airport.

Ciao,
Josh

Made in Italy

After a wild Birthday in Prague, and dancing all till 6 AM in a five story club next to the St. Charles bridge we met up with our old friend Brett and his trusty Ford Focus which would hopefully take us to Austria. We decided that driving straight through lacked the excitement that we were used to, and we chose to stop for lunch in Slovakia's capital city of Bratislava, a town famous for beautiful women and apple strudel...unfortunately we couldn't find any strudel.

We continued onward toward Austria, arriving in Vienna a short while later. We got completely lost trying to find our hostel, and when we finally arrived, they told us there was a two night minimum stay...this didn't jive with our plans, as we had to meet Massimo in Italy the following day. I found a computer in the corner with a train schedule, and asked Smith how he felt about leaving in 3 hours.

We decided it was our best option, and that Austria would have to wait for the opportunity to fully experience Josh and Smith. "Brett! Take us to the Sudbanhof!!!" (south train station) I purchased our tickets with a credit card that's balance is about to reach the stratosphere, and we waited for our train.

In the station, we bought a stick of Vienna's finest Sausage, and a liter of wine, and proceeded to entertain ourselves with the "International Caps Championship." If you don't know what that is, ask any college student, or Tyler. Smith won as usual, but I put up a helluva fight. We boarded our trian with a Hungarian family, had a lesson in Hungarian and passed out in a way that a contortionist would have been impressed by.

We woke up at 3am after the air conditioning was turned off and hopped off at Venice's Maestro train station where we would wait for Massimo to arrive around 8am. Little did we know this train station was not like the indoor station in Vienna, but very much outdoors. We dawned our best transient apparel and slept on a bench in-between tracks 2 and 3.

Sunrise came quickly, and we began our futile attempts to contact Massimo. Sure wish my cell phone wasn't in a ditch on the side of the road in Cambodia... Luckily, Massimo arrived at 8:15AM and drove us to his house in the Italain alps, a town called Seguizino.

More later, our new girlfriends are taking us out for happy hour. Things are going quite swimmingly.

- Josh

Detour, wait did we miss a sign?

So Berlin is famous for its night life.
With little or no reservation we jump on the pub crawl the hostel was offering.

free beer

bar one drinks 3 euro and a free shot

jager in an alleyway

bar two: gross beer 1.50 euro plus a conversation with an Australian army soldier on vacation around Europe offering us a FREE ride to Prague...priceless......

10 am on the side of the road Brett(the Australian) shows up....phew i am relieved...i was pumped to get on the road again...

We throw Jerry Seinfeld in the Cd player and recap the prior evening. 1.5 hours later we hit the border crossing. Josh promptly asks that they stamp our passports and with in minutes we are off....thank god the Czech are so nice....but they seem to be laughing....no matter we are off...

about 5 minutes later i ask josh, just to confirm i hear right that the exchange rate was indeed 20 Czech to one us dollar, he confirms my inquiry. ok.....hmm something is off but i don't worry i guess gas just must be 30 cents to the liter here....and wait don't those signs look strange?

no matter we are guys and guys know where they are at all times...i mean as an organization we are the most successful at acquiring women so why wouldn't we also be amazing at getting from point a to point b

ok....we haven't seen a sign for praha for nearly and hour....

with a quick look to brett and josh......lets whip out the map.....OH Sh*t were in Poland!!!

ok no matter carry on......the signs were all there..our passports said PL not CZ the guards were laughing at us...the exchange was different we were int he middle of no where and we had convinced ourselves that we were fine...thanks Seinfeld....

lunch in the most beautiful part of Poland and 200km later we hit the Czech border...4 stamps in one day three countries and 600 km....we are on an adventure and there is no telling where we will be next.....

P.S. Prague is the most amazing city we have seen yet......

Deutschland we are here

As the pilot begins his decent into Frankfurt Germany we have a sinking feeling in our stomachs, were landing in Frankfurt Han, not Frankfurt the largest airport in Germany. How could we have made that mistake? No matter we are on an adventure. lets rewind a 15 hours.

Miserable in Morocco was where we left last time. after returning to our hotel with purchased tickets fresh in our mind we were able to read up on our new destination. The first line of the book reads "Only budget airlines like Ryanair would say that Frankfurt has two airports, Han 70 km north of the city" anyway.....

were elated none the less to be leaving Morocco and to be honest the rest of the day was amazing. Coffee and ice cream, some sun and reading. we had the most pleasent afternoon, and the cheapest since we left. as the sun set the crowds returned and we had a delightfult dinner, followed by a glass of orange juice (thez dont sell beer or liqour anywhere in morocco) and a cab ride to the airport. after setting up shop for the night josh pulled out his hammock and i made a nice little bed with our bags we slept quite well.

8am: grab our flight, meet some german girls who we thought we could get some insider info about germany and potentially a ride to berlin, that plan crashed and burned.

2pm: the first foot steps on german soil were...really really cold...we were not aware its cold here. Shorts and flip flops did not work, but after a quick outfit change we were ready to go, bus to frankfurt, the real one and a fast walk around to find a place to sleep we were set.

8pm: bring on the Americans, So for more than a month now we have been travelling. 5 countries and 15,000 miles and countless nights and days on the road. Total American count < 5. Europe is filled with americans, and it was a bit of a shock, josh believes that that the only drawback to Germany is all the americans, I reminded him we ARE also americans. with that behind us we plan to go to berlin.

100 Euro !!!, and thats for the train. new plan. we meet a guy from virginia and use our international drivers lisence and grab a rental car and head for the Autobaun, which as it turns out is the entire highway system not just one road, and its true there are no speed limits. Cruising speed is about 180 km(115mph). our little Skoda wagon was not what you would call a speed demon but we hit a top speed of 220km (137mph), but were being passed by the far superior bavarian engineered BMW's and Mercedes. 600km later Berlin!!!!

Berlin is amazing. We drove past the wall and through the city. We have arrived to Berlin on the 4th of july, Nick(virginia boy) and josh had been celebrating the whole way with the apfelwein and beer we picked up on the way.

Now as i said before we have been on the road for quite some time and been living by the seat of our pants no plans just going with the flow. S.E. that works apparenty Germany isnt really down with that. 10 hostels later and 5 Euro in internet later we were still homeless. Turns out the entire world was planning on coming to Berlin to sleep.

11pm Josh uses some sweet talking to get the desk manager of a little hotel to "accidentally" give us the wrong key to a large room instead of the tiny single we paid for.

Beat from the long drive i crahed, Josh hit the town, met another lady boy, some nice German's and a few not so nice, but in the spirit of the trip its all a good story in the morning. We traded in the car for a new set of hogs, this time the human powered model with a coushined seat and a bell instead of a horn. We cruised the citytook some pictures, had a nap, i went for a run in the rain and 2 cups of coffee.

Germany

We're going to Germany?

It's been quite some time since we've put up a new blog, so I appologiwe, but it's for good reason. The motorcycle ride caused me to lose all dexterity in my left hand...I couldn't even hold chopsticks (not good in asia) or type. I'm almost all better, but the Moroccans seem to use an "AZERTY" keyboard, rather than the US "QWERTY" style we use at home; this makes typing nearly impossible but I've figured out a way around that.

Anyway, we're sitting in a cyber-cafe in Marrakech right now, killing time befor we head to the airport (where we will be sleeping tonight) for our 8AM flight to Frankfurt, Germany. We're not sure how we ended up with tickets to Germany, but they were the cheapest, and Morocco is not what we thought it would be so we're getting the hell out ASAP. Smith and I's backsides are both a little sore from the way we've been screwed since we first got here.

Everyone has their hand out, and will lie and cheat you for every cent they can get out of you. A woman chased me through the Medina (main square) yesterday offering to put a Scorpion henna tattoo on my cheek, when I refused she squirted it on my hand and left a nice mark on it because I couldnt find a paper towel to get it off right away.

It's definitely a spectacle, the snake charmers are there each night, monkeys, drug addicts, dancers, spin doctors... 5 times a day there is indistinguishable screaming coming from the minarettes which provides intertainment for smith and I as we immitate a professional boxing announcer. "In the red burka, weighing in at 145lbs, the Moroccan Maniac..."

Whatever, we've had enough of the spectacle, so we're heading to Eastern Europe where we'll stretch every euro to make this ride last as long as we can. I've sat on Skype for the last 3 hours calling every resource I've got whose willing to help out two crazy Americans, although we've been "Canadian" twice to save us the story about how they love Americans and we're all best friends.

Stay Strong,
- Josh

Cambodian plane crash: 22 feared dead

Luckily, Smith and I were not aboard this flight, we landed 3 hours earlier.

Here's the story from USA Today

PREY PEAY, Cambodia (AP) — Rescue teams searched jungles of southern Cambodia for a passenger plane believed to have crashed with 22 people aboard, including South Korean and Czech tourists, while flying between two popular destinations, officials said.
The plane, a Russian-made An-24, disappeared in a mountainous jungle area in Kampot province Monday morning.

Officials said they were certain the PMT Air flight had crashed, and a police chief cited witness acounts of a plane going down in the area, but searchers had not yet found the wreckage.

The search for the plane was suspended for the night about 12 hours after it disappeared, said Nhim Vanda, vice president of the National Committee for Disaster Management.

Him Sarun, head of the Secretariat of Civil Aviation, said it was unlikely any survivors would be found.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: South Korea | Cambodia | Czech | PHNOM PENH | Siem | Kampot | Sihanoukville
"If we located the plane three or four hours after the crash, there might have been some hope of survivors ... but since it is going to be a whole night passing without finding it, even if there had been any survivors, they could die from loss of blood," he said.

The plane had been flying from Siem Reap — where the famous Angkor Wat temple complex is located — to Sihanoukville, a coastal city with access to beaches, said Him Sarun.

An official at Siem Reap airport said 13 of the passengers were from South Korea — a figure confirmed by officials in Seoul — and three were Czech.

The official, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the press, said the plane carried a crew of five Cambodians and a Russian co-pilot.

"It is 100% certain that the plane has crashed, but we still do not know who might have been killed or who might have survived," said Sith Sakal, head of the aviation secretariat's security department.

PMT Air is a small Cambodia airline that began flights from Siem Reap to Sihanoukville in January.

The airport official said contact with the plane was lost at 10:50 a.m., five minutes before it was due to land.

Him Sarun said the crash site is thought to be between Kamchay and Bokor mountains in Kampot province, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) southwest of the capital, Phnom Penh.

"I have received information from conservationists based on Bokor mountain who said they had spotted a plane crash" from a distance, said In Chiva, the Kampot province police chief, adding that the area is in a thick forest.

Rescue teams, comprising mostly soldiers and police, searched the area, but their efforts were hampered by slippery soil caused by recent rains, making trails impassable for vehicles, he said.


- Josh

So long Vietnam

We leave for Cambodia in a matter of minutes. Vietnam has been a country full of surprises, something that i half expected but never thought that it would have left me so breathless so many times..

Josh went to great efforts to tell you how amazing our time in the north of the country truly was, but there are no words that can explain to you how surreal the entire last week has been. Three days ago we had gone through and entire day of enduring, tiresome and inspiring dirtbiking through the country, to break down fall behind schedule and arrive at our boat to Bebe national park at dark. after we CAREFULLY loaded our bikes, packs and 4 guys( Josh, myself, our giude minh and the dirver/owner of the house we are staying with) on this boat, that could maybe be categorized as a large raft with an engine, we were off.

We lay on the front of the boat in the pitch black with the dark silhouettes of the mts on either side of this narrow river a bright half moon leading the way and fireflies along both sides of the water. The sky was full of stars, something rarely seen in Boston, or even fl and ca. for that matter. a shooting star and the sounds of crickets were the only sights and sounds other than the dull humm of the motor putt putting along.

We sat there wondering if we had ever in a million years thought we would be in north Vietnam in the middle of a lake in the dark with two Vietnamese, three dirt bikes and the sweat tears and cuts to prove the journey was an arduous one?......Not in a million.

No matter how hard try to explain or describe what it was like to be in that moment there are no pictures or words that can convey what the thoughts and feelings were like going through out minds and bodies right at that moment. It was something that i will never forget.

Cambodia and another adventure and story awaits.

Motorcycle Diaries

The morning after we returned from Halong Bay we packed up all our gear and headed over to Huang's garage where we picked up our dirtbikes. Smith was on year 2000, 230cc Honda with electric start, I was on a 1996, 175cc Yamaha with a kickstart, and gears that could never find neutral, and our guide Minh was on a 125cc Russian made Minsk motorbike left over from the war, famous for breakdowns and no suspension.

Together we were most badass motorcycle gang Vietnam had ever seen. We strapped down our packs and headed out of the city. There are 3.5 million people living in Vietnam, and 2 million motorbikes. The majority of the traffic lights flash yellow, and to cross an intersection you just proceed straight ahead, the other drivers can smell fear, so confidence is a must, and nerves of steel don't hurt.

I manage to stall at every red light as we head out of the city, buses honking at me, trucks flashing their lights... We get to some road that's under construction, dust flying everywhere, mud, puddles, sand, people, dead ends, livestock everywhere...this is mayhem, and we're only 1 hour into a 5 day trip.

We rode 300 kilometers that day, both Smith and I had some close calls with some water buffalo that had stopped in the middle of the road. Minh said no rain for the trip; he was right for about 6 hours until torrential downpours had us huddled under a hut with some locals. Smith's raincover for his pack flew off a few kilometers back, so everything he owned got soaked. We were happy to arrive around 7pm that night In Ha Giang (Ha Zan) where we were greated with Bia Hoi (draft beer for 20 cents a glass) and some locals that rarely saw foreigners and invited us to go to discotec with them.

We passed on the clubbing and ended up at a restaurant that had run out of food, and served us fried fat, pineapple, and tomatoes. We got to our guesthouse which had 3 beds per room, and passed out.

Now for the highlights to save time:

I run out of gas as we pull into a gas station

Almost crash into water buffalo

Visited the palace of the Mong King (mountain people)

Tried to catch a chicken for dinner (farmer says his all died from bird flu)

Cham Vu Cham means "100%" you say it to a person and you cheers and finish your drink

Breakfast is no different than lunch or dinner, pork and beef are perfectly acceptable choices

We pass people who've never seen Americans and we feel like rockstars the way they wave at us, and come out of their houses when they hear us coming

I break a small plastic kiddie chair at lunch and fall on my ass

Another hotel with 3 beds?

We plant rice with the locals, they're better than us

Woman invites us in for rabbit

We hear gunshots, and watch army target practice

Played soccer with Viet kids

Crash Viet dinner party, they all say the following "Hello, my name ___, you drink rice wine wit me?" we have no choice, they won't let us leave.

Breathtaking scenery

Karaoke...

Opportunity to eat dog presents itself, we pass.

Sleeping naked again

My geat shifter breaks, clutch is hanging by a thread

I hit gravel while taking a turn at 30 mph and my bike slips out from under me. I slide along the asphalt and cut up my arm and knee. Smith see's my head bounce off the ground, but the helmet saved my life. There are chunks of plastic missing from the helmet. I'm fine, but shaken up

We spend 2 entire days on dirt roads with rocks, puddles, rivers, forests, jungles, and mud up to out knees. We ruin our clothes, and leave our socks behind each night

Smith burns his leg on his exhaust and puts a big hole in his pants

I'm forced off the road by a bus in my lane trying to pass a truck and i hit a pile of bricks which throws off the alignment and costs me $10 when I return the bike

Started with 4 turn indicators, finished with 1, which I'm keeping as a momento

Flat tires, wet spark plugs, no rear brakes, no mirors, food shortage, riding at night, taking a boat up the river with only the moon and fireflys to guide us, staying in the house of an ex-soldier in the North Vietnamese Army (not our side), corn whiskey, great pictures, adrenaline rushes, riding single file up and down trails not even suitable for hiking along a 60 foot ledge...

We're black and blue, but breathing nonetheless.

-Josh

The American War

After all, that's what they call it here. However their thoughts on the war are much different than our thoughts on the war. We hear stories of terror and bloodshed and of all the soldiers lost fighting against the NVA, and the subject is hardly ever talked about here. I had doubts when we first arrived at the airport of how we'd be received...Smith and I being some of the most American looking Americans I know, but I've found the Vietnamese to be some of the greatest people we've met so far. The majority of the country is under the age of 35, and the war is just a history lesson to them, something that is taught, not experienced. Please believe me when I say you know nothing about this country. We've been here 4 days and are just beginning to grasp the culture and lifestyle of these fascinating people.

Yesterday morning Smith and I got up early and hopped in a van headed for Ha Long bay. It's a three hour ride to the coast and some of the most amazing islands I've ever seen. A kid from Singapore asked where I was from, and if Northeastern had any relation to Northwestern (no matter how far I go people get that wrong) I tell him he speaks great English, and he tells me English is their first language in Singapore. I feel like an idiot, but I learned something. Did you know that the money in Australia is waterproof? (makes sense living on a big island i guess)We boarded a 3 story Chinese Junk and headed out into what looked like ominous islands from Pirates of the Carribean. Pretty awesome, then we head into a huge cave, then kayaked for a bit.

We went for a swim, and Smith got me to jump off the top of the boat, about 3 stories. Jumping isn't my thing, but that's his job...making me do things. We have a great dinner then Karaoke begins. Our tour guide Tom (who was born 3 days before Smith, making them both Rats in the Vietnamese zodiac, and is reason enough for multiple shots of rice wine) starts us off with a beautiful rendition of The Rolling Stone's "Paint it Black." He basically screamed in broken English as loud as he could into a microphone with reverb that couldn't be turned off. Smith and I followed with some Green Day, YMCA, Backstreet Boys, and then I did Born in the USA.

After Stan the French guy sang Britney Spears, Smith stole some beers, and we headed to the top deck for some bonding. Little did we know that the entire crew was up there getting wasted off of a jug of rice wine and eating strips of dried squid with chili sauce. We were well received, and over the course of an hour drank enough rice wine to kill a small animal.

We were woken up by a cute Vietnamese girl who was probably wondering why our windows were open and we were butt naked, but we smiled and told her not to worry. I wore a white sheet up to breakfast, and got a few funny looks from the crew. Smith made it up a half hour later, then proceeded to sunburn his entire front by falling asleep in the sun for 2 hours.

We're back in Ha Noi now getting ready for the weekly BBQ at the Hostel, and we leave tomorrow morning for 5 days of intensive exploration on our greatly upgraded hogs. We've gotten ourselves a tour guide, and we're headed up to the Northeast part of the country near the China border. This is the part of Vietnam where dogs and cats become their bread and butter, and even the rice runs out on occasion. This is the last you'll hear from us for a few days, but I'm sure we'll make it home alive...

Keep on keepin' on,
Zoz (closest they can get to Josh in Vietnam)

Miss America

No, not the contest, but do I miss America? The short answer is no. There is so much of this world left to explore. The ppl the places and the food around every corner offer so much more of an insight to what our planet is than i could ever look up on the internet or see on TV. Sure I miss the convenience of having a sub place across the street or being able to do my laundry or shower when ever i want, but I am in Vietnam, eating from street vendors meeting ppl from all over the world. I can honestly say i have learned more about other countries in the last three weeks than i have my entire educational career. Wars, customs, habits... For example i doubt that anyone knew that the queen of England is the head of state of both Australia and Canada....thats pretty crazy ehh?

So I have been on the road for a little more than two weeks. maybe two and a half, if that; but i can definitely see there are some travellers' illnesses we've picked up.... for example Josh more than definitely suffers from:

Cultural Emulation Syndrome: "Going native" if you will, picking up the local social, dress and eating habits of the country, Josh for the last several days have been wearing what i would call a camono maybe? a sort of man dress?

Cultural Enhancement Syndrome: Exaggerating the home countries local customs....for example, the loud american who likes to go to strip clubs and get massages.

Obssesive Junk Food cravings: Often the result of an unfamiliar and unfulfilling diet for a time unend. in most cases will cause the afflicted to ravage particular foodmarts for the particular brand or item on hand. A chilli cheese burger in the heart of tokyo perhaps?

I currently suffer from at least the following and probably more:

Pack Stoop: Casused by lugging an over-heavy backpack ffrom hostel to hostel seeming to get worse the longer we travel, especially as we load up on un-necessary goods and presents for those loved ones at home....

Constipated Payment Disorder: The result of a traveller not wanting to pay the asked for rate even though when we are home I would easily pay upwards of ten times the going rate here. We could pay the rate they ask but then we run the risk of getting lectured by fellow travellers about the "its not the money, its the principal." - Actually in most of the countries here its custom to haggle and looked as a sign of respect. Weird huh?

anyway tomorrow we leave for a 7 day adventure...two days in halong bay doing water stuff then 5 days on our new hogs...bigger and badder than ever...josh got his yamaha 175 cc and I my 230 CC honda and our giude; just the three of us and 1000km of open road, two homestays, a hotel and a guest house.....sick right? get ready for the pictures and adventures of the trip so far....

Good Morning Vietnam!!

So we made it last night, a great flight with both of us having and entire row to ourselves. We spent most of the flight both completely tangled in our Vietnam guidebooks. This is the country that I am most excited about. We head out of a surprisingly simple customs, when compared to Thailand. Our Hostel Pick-up was there to meet us and after a quick change of some money, 2 million dong = 120 dollars....what a conversion right...

We jump in the bag of what looks like a civic that was left in the dryer too long, a bit small. The roads here are horrendous, random piles of bricks laying in the middle of the road, which is owned by motorbikes. Hundreds of them, no street lights and absolutely no rhyme of reason about who goes when, the bigger car really wins if you are bigger you don't need to stop at intersections. The trick to crossing the road when on foot, walk slow, make eye contact and they will go around you. The first time we did this, i panicked and ran. were good now. We crashed early last night to get a go at it early this morning. Eggs and bread for breakfast with some instant coffee that is actually quite good.
One of the pair of Aussies that runs this joint was really helpful with us this morning and we are heading to Halong bay tomorrow and up to the northern part of the country for a bike tour, then back here to Hanoi and down to ho Chi Min City, HCMC, then hopefully to Cambodia and on to Bangkok for our flight to Morocco, all in two weeks? that's the plan anyway .... I am sure it will change at least three times more, Bangkok in two weeks or bust

How Do You Make A Thai Girl Laugh?

Here are some pictures of the advuture to date.


Enjoy,
Josh

Chiang Mai - Zen and the art of Motorcycles in Thailand

We left Bangkok tues night, and as usual we waited on Josh. Only this time we had three companions. Courtney, Mike and John. Courtney the one from Texas and John and mike the British boys, actyually liverpool. Anyway we grab our overnight train that cost us about 25 bucks and head to chiang mai. The train wa a riot, Loud, kinda dirty and the toilet emptied right on to the tracks. But no matter for us. We are on an adventure. We travel through some of the most beautiful countryside i have ever seen. Try and wake up for the sunrise but didnt make it. once we landed, or better, pulled into the station we looked for who ever looked the most interesting and ended up at a hostel called BMP backpackers meeting place. THEY HAVE A POOL!! first things first. We are WAY behind schedule. so we opt out of the trek to take a plane to vietnam, we leave tomorrow afternoon.

our new friends pick a two day two night trek, we more decided mostly to opt out beause it seemed a little bit touristy and not really authentic and we are blazing our own trail on this trip my friends...so we had spoken to two guys that rented motorcycles for about 5 bucks a DAY and they ahd a blast, so why not. after a few negotiations we were set two manual and three automatic 125cc motorbikes. We only had a few hours of sun light so we head out to a temple about 45 min away, if you know where you are going. and clearly we did not, another adventure begins.

Traffice in chaing mai is a little bit less hectic than in bangkok but not by much i would say its the difference between NYC and Boston. In and out of traffic you have to be aggressive and its mostly a go and pray mentality, and to be honest i think ppl are better drivers b/c yu have to be aware wof what is going on or you will get hit. So we grab some lunch and our biker gang is off. Up in the MT. winding roads and blissful views are suddenly stopped by the sounds of a motorbike careening off the edge. Courtney took a huge spill and to the hospital we go, Josh chases the cab I deal with the thia police who were amazingly helpful, a few bumps and bruises some meds later and a 6 dollar bill and we are out the door haha. 6 bucks!!!

Right so the guys head back up to the temple and have the most fun on this trip so far, josh and I find this awesome trail do some psuedo offroading and end up in some guys front yard...ok back to the highway. No speed limits and almost no rules about traffic makes for a great time with alot of freedom. We have some dinner and crash early after a few rounds of mauy Thai fighting.

This mornign we wake up early and say goodbye to our buyddies and hit the road. We are on a 120 km journey to Doi indoin the highest point in thailand. The sun is out our skin is hot and the road awaits. Just us our HOGS and the road, we head out of town with little trouble and start getting on to what looks like I-70 across the midwest but hot and with ox instead of cows and rice instead of corn. only 40 km left. I had read about 30 times that Northern Thialand was notorious for Monsoons this time of year. What Rubbish!!, except that they were right. A few much welcomed sprinkles of rain turned into an all out down pour of rain and drop of 30 degrees to about 60, we were only 9 km from the top. we had to push on

After about 20 min under some cover the rain suppressed enough for us to make it to the top to an Oasis of Ramen and hot coffee and for just 3 dollars we were warmer than before but just as wet with no sun in sight. Josh and Smith around the world or we shouldn't be alive? you decide either way we got some of the most amazing footage and shots to date. 45 min later on a slow trek down and huge goosebumps josh has a flat....good thing we are another 30+km from civilization. no matter we are a biker gang, minus three, with motorbikes not choppers but who's counting anyway.

We made it and found a nice kid that for 2.50 will change the tire in about 20 min. Exsausted and warming up we sit. "ill be right back" says josh, mind you we are in the middle of no where with a lady who has two pet pigeons and about 5 dogs who all look they have rabias, "ok Josh sounds good" and off he goes to return no more than 2 min later with two huge cold beers. what a guy. The trip home was awesome riding like the locals and exploring Thailand like no one would have expected. Off the beaten trek we found water falls, rice patties and the most picturesque locations you could imagine, Today was the best day we have had Yet. Tomorrow Viet Nam awaits. A few beers and a surise from the top of the Temple 30 min away we couldnt ask for a better ending to our journey in Thailand....

Lessons learned so far....
Never leave with out knowing EXACTLY how to get to the airport
Never use a wallet, they maybe lame but money belts are the way of the future
Never Leave for a Mt. with out a rain coat or at LEAST a jacket......More lessons ahead

Ping, Pang, Pong

It's not Thai, it's a driking game 2 Englishmen taught us last night at the bar on Pat Pong street.

Quick update on our travels as we have to leave soon to catch the 12 hour sleeper train to Chaing Mai in Northern Thailand with three friends we picked up.

Smith is in Bangkok.

This morning I had my entire front waxed for 9 dollars just to see what it was like. It was the most painful thing I've ever experienced and I can't wear a shirt because I'm still raw.

Made friends with multiple Aussies and English fellows who convinced us not to do Western Europe next month, but to do the Eastern Block instead...we're buying tickets currently, most likely landing in Split, Croatia.

Ate a shrimp dish that was so hot it made me cry and an Australain guy had to leave the restaurant to get me some chocolate milk.

Was left alone in a Thai strip joint when my mates were followed into the bathroom by lady boys and left without telling me.

I speak a new dialect of English with British and Australian influences. Don't know why.

Watched a woman play "catch" with herself and a banana.

Lost my wallet/cash/credit cards in a shopping mall...

Found my wallet/cash/credit cards in a shopping mall...

My travel log, watch and iPod are missing. I hope they turn up.

Ate like kings in a middle eastern restaurant for 4 dollars US.

Learned the rules of cricket, might take it up when I get home.

Got invites to go to a Liverpool football game with John and Mike.

Thats it for now.


From Chaing Mai we'll do a 3 day trek into the jungle then onto Laos.




Thank you Tyler for that badass web thing you made, I'll try to get in on the blog.

Peace
-Josh

Grassoppers, Lady Boys, and German Girls...Oh my!!!

As you probably have figured out by now, I am in Bangkok...and Smith is not. That said, I've taken it upon myself to explore the city as much as possible while I wait for Smith who ought to be here around midnight. Here is a rundown of what's been going on in the last 48 hours.

Arrive in Bangkok at midnight, get to Hostel and pass out immediately. Wake up at 7am and hit the streets. Take the skytrain the wrong way and end up looking for a nonexistant marketplace for 2 hours. Bangkok is wild, people drive like maniacs on the wrong side of the road. Wander into numerous back alleys. Find some temple and asked a monk if they let westeners meditate with them, he says sometimes, i say now? he says no. Back to hostel. Go next door and have Thai woman shave my head, it would have taken me 5 minutes, but it too ker 45 minutes as she payed close attention to detail. Other woman wants to give me massage, and says she likes my style, my name there is Sexy Man...just like in the states. Start drinking great beer and talking about life with the pregnant hostel owners wife and we help eachother with relationship troubles. She's a beautiful and brilliant girl who teaches me much, along with some Thai phrases. I meet 4 german girls (one was french) but majority wins and they were all german to me. I tell them we party tonight, they say ok. I meet a new friend from Estonia, it's a country...look it up, and we head to Khao San Road. We arrive at different times, and know we'll never see eachother. Khao San is the area wher Leonardo DiCapprio drinks snake blood in the movie the beach. It's overrated, Leo wasn't there, and it was just a bunch of fat, shirtless, Americans and Australians wandering the streets drunk, waiting to get home and tell their friends how exotic Thailand is.

Mel the Estonian and I find German Girls...YAY! We have dinner and go to Club Lava for tequila shots to kill any bacteria that may be in the ice we had in our drinks with dinner. I show my moves th Thai people, they love me. German Girls peace, and we hang for a few more minutes. We leave, i fall asleep in cab, wake up when we get home. I steal pregnant girls mangosteen fruits and promise to buy her 10 kilos tomorrow...I still owe her 10 kilos. 2 am, Courtney from Texas walks in, i ask her if she wants to go out, she says yes. We go to Pat Pong where there are local sex shows, and the cops let them serve booze till 8am. We show up too late for sex shows so we go to a bar instead. I talk Thai to the bartender and she compliments me and asks how much time i've spent in Thailand. I tell her 24 hours. She proceeds to beat me 10 times at connect 4 and Courtney and I get massages while sitting at the bar. Than a Lady Boy walks in. Transvestite Thai men have sex change operations and prowl the streets looking for unsuspecting men. They are very beautiful, but I am a suspecting man. Somehow my hand ends up on her breast, pretty nice, the whole bar enjoys this. 4 am Courtney and I leave and find a hookah bar where we share life stories and our reasons for traveling until the sun comes up around 6am.

I spent all day today with an Aussie and an Irish kid. We had breakfast together then sat at starbucks for 2 hours sharing drunken stories from our respective countries. We found the markets I tried to find yesterday and walked around for hours. We ate Grasshoppers, Flies, Grubs, Beatles, and Chicken fetuses from a street vendor and payed way too much. Saw pet shop with millions of fish and birds and turtles and squirrels and dogs and snakes and tarantulas and scorpions etc... I want to drink snake blood to improve my virility, but could find none. Aussie kid just left for the airport, and said I could stay anytime. He's gonna add me on facebook. (australia has facebook). Tonight we'll go to cowboy road with the Irish kid and some Englishmen and meet up with Smith around midnight...


I hope he sleeps on the plane.


- Josh

Hello from the Tokyo Half

Everyday I step outside the doors of my Sleeping hole with the idea that its an adventure. i never know what to expect and expect nothing. Flights at 6:10pm. So we head out at about 2:30. 3.5 hours ahead of the flight that should be plenty. My adventure begins. So far on this trip i have had adventurous treks, adventurous meals and more adventures on the streets of Tokyo than I can explain. This is just another adventure. 1 hour to get to the airport and more than 15 stops between me and my goal. Next thing i know were running, no Sprinting through the airport, ANA Airlines, United where the hell is the check in desk. Finally we made it, I am sorry Mr. Anderson you have missed your flight. AHHHH! ok keep calm, no worries when is the next flight? "well let me check" well it seems that this ticket can not be changed through us your going to have to get in touch with your travel agency. Well i know there is a United flight in 45 min. can i get on that one? (ANA and United are partner airlines). i grab my bags and we run to United, 4 min of some Japanese some smiles and some laughs I am confident that I will make the flight, a quick phone call and I am all set. We can get you on this flight but you will have to pay full fare...$1500, I turn to Josh "its and adventure" and with a fist pound he is off running down the terminal, it was a scene right out a movie except there was no happy reunion at the gate where i Say I love you stay with me, it was just me my two Japanese flight attendants and some screaming Children in the background.



I made several calls the the US STA Travel office with absolutely no success, 24 hour support, who are they kidding. After getting in touch with a gentleman who was no help I concluded the best plan of action was to head back to Tokyo on the same trains that had caused this whole fiasco to begin with. As i arrive back into the city I grab some food because i am famished at this point and Head back to Laynas apt, where i had been staying for the last week. She and her roommates are at MT. Fuji for the weekend which makes it really convenient for me to get back into their apt. My arms are too BIG!!! I can't reach the keys at the bottom of her mail drop box. I walk around outside looking for inspiration and a small purple umbrella is what I found. I felt terrible taking my wire cutters to it. A few bends and creases and I had myself a beautiful hook that was to hopefully keep me from sleeping inthe streets. A few trys later, Eureka, food in hand i am so excited it worked i left the keys in the door, This morning bright and early I packed my bag again and got ready to head to Bangkok. Two trains later I am learning that The only way to change my ticket is to talk to the US office when they open Monday. Monday Night here. With that in mind i grab a ticket for a measly $450.00 and pray that I can get a refund on my last ticket bc if not I may not make it home......Back to laynas it is...and wouldn't you know it God must have seen me steal that poor umbrella b/c it rained the entire walk back...Karma...JOSH ARE YOU ALIVE...still haven't heard from him...another day another adventure.

Half and Half

It took us 4 different trains to make it to Narita Airport, where one of us made our flight, and one of us didn't.

Who's in Bangkok???

Who's in Japan???

Find out next blog...

Sayonara Japan

So we're about to leave the wonderful island that is Japan. I was only here for 2 days, but it felt like a week, waking up every hour of the night trying to figure out what time zone I was in. Yesterday was awesome, I went to the fish market with a very intense french girl who was always in a hurry to get everywhere however took about 300 pictures of the fish. This place is very hectic, and it's hard to believe any sea animal would be dumb enough to swim within 100 miles of Japan, the way they rape the sea life day in and day out. Smith and I finally met up around noon, and headed for Kama Kura (Big Buddha) which is about an hour outside the city. Had a great lunch by the train station where I ate a wasabi something or rather and started sweating from every pore, all the Japanese laughed at me. We then followed a woman and her daughter to some badass temple which we explored for an hour or so then went on to see the Big Buddha. They weren't kidding, it's huge, and 800 years old. We then went on a 1.6km hike to the next train station. After about 2 hours and 3km in the Japanese forest we ended up in some woman's backyard. We told her we were headed to Kita-Kama Kura, and she looked at us as if we were crazy and said something in Japanese along the lines of "Silly Americans!!! You have very long way to go, and rain is coming!!!" We told her we knew that, and she put us on the right path and left us with the kind of you would leave someone you knew you would never see again.

We made it to the station and got back to Shibuya, the land of the Super Cool Japanese Hipsters, and looked for some food. For some reason I traveled all the way to Japan and was dying for some good old fashioned American food, so I got a chili cheese burger, and a chili dog. I felt like an idiot, but it was fantastic. We then got an ice cream filled crepe and went to the bank (I was broke for a second time in 2 days) then split off to go to our respective holes in the wall for sleeping.

We met in the morning at the fish market and had some really fresh sushi and were complimented on our excellent use of the chopstick and told we were both "rearry good guys." At about 8:45 AM i stumbled upon my favorite vending machine... the one with the beer in it. By noon I had found 2 others, one which was sporting a 1000 ml can of Asahi which lasted me the entire hour subway ride. We had an excellent luncheon of Point and Pray which yielded Ramen, Tofu, Rice, Potstickers (goyza to those in the know) and some sore of yello (jello) dessert.

Tonight we head to Bangkok!!!

-Josh

Josh in Japan

I made it to Japan, and will be meeting up with Smith at a giant dog across from Starbucks in Shibuya. I just took the train in from the airport, and may already be out of money, luckily a nice gentleman from the netherlands bought me a water as i was a little dehydrated from double-fisting a beer and a coffee just before we landed. My backpack is like carrying a midget and I:m sweating my face off right now.

this japanese keyboard has a space-bar the size of a quarter, and the buttons to either side change the english text to japanese...huge pain in the ass, requires great precision.

still homeless, time to go scout out a nice park bench for myself.

-Josh

Three days in Tokyo

So I am here in Tokyo, made it pretty painless. I had an entire row to sleep on the first plane, and exit row with a young couple on the second plane and two seats that were just big enough for me to lay down and sleep. Extremely painless for anyone who has flown over seas before. I have had some pretty bad experiences in planes. anyway I get here and jump on a train that a very helpful english speaking japanese girl helped me figure out. The train was similar to the commuter rail in the distance between stops and the fact that we were in a suburban area but resembles the T in the way it looks but clearly much cleaner. I didn't really do much but sit there and observe the japanese ppl. They are very quite, always looking at their cellphones and rarely looked up for more than a second. I definitely did not make eye contact with anyone. They, I know i'm generalizing and grouping ppl but what ever it works easier for this forum. anyway they were all reading these little books that had the same book covering, kinda like your text books in middle school and I am very curious to know what they are.

I got off the train in the middle of that huge intersection that you always see on the discovery and travel channel with like a million ppl crossing diagonal across the street, it was pretty rad. Similar to time square but Japanese. You would assume that being in Japan they would have some sweet ads about some Japanese video game and huge ramen noodle restaurants. Nope billboards for movies like 300 which hasn't been released here and the worlds highest grossing starbucks is the first thing I see, which by the way only allows you to order things in the tall size, the glutenous Americans we are with our venti coffee.

So I met layna and her apt is really small but cozy, I have to duck to get in door ways and all the matresses are on the floor. Hot water comes from individual heating units in the shower and at the sink. The toilets have a little faucet at the top I am assuming to wash your hands in, but then it drains into the reservoir for the next flush? confusing right. So clearly when you come to live in another country you should at least put some effort into learning the language right? well not these girls thats for sure. we head out to dinner and pick three things on the menu, which we can't read...I coined it point and pray. we got two decent noodle dishes(cold noodles with hot dipping stuff) one so so noodle dish with a bland dipping stuff and one awful duck noodle cold bread thing...

My meals have been really good over all and I have had a great time, its wildly over priced, extravagant and definitely something to be experienced at some point in your life. I guess I'm here for a reason. We hit up the bars last night and ended up roaming the streets drinking cold saki purchased from a 7/11. Made it home to crash on a mattress on the floor how fitting. future plans...meet josh, hit up the fish market, eat from a sushi conveyor belt and see the imperial gardens...and possibly climb mt fuji?

T-minus three days for the old one.

Three days until I leave for Japan. I haven't packed or done laundry, didn't meet with my advisor yet so that's good news. But on to the plan. I will be in Japan for 9 days. I land on the 31st and will meet Layna in the airport. She seemed a little bit unsure about the best way to get to her apt from the airport so I think its for the best. We will be staying in her apt. I am not sure if she is telling her teachers or who ever is in charge that I am staying here so I could be on the streets at any given time which just adds to the over all excitement. She has class pretty much everyday so Ill be kickin it with the likes of Yao Ming and his relatives on the street eat some weird looking food. Then I catch a ride down to Bangkok Thailand. Josh will be meeting me in Tokyo on the 6th at some point, hopefully if we cant find each other we land within an hour of one another in Thailand. This is where we get really vague about our travels. we have about three weeks to visit Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia before we take off for Africa, Morocco more specifically. a week or so there and we are off to Madrid, Portugal, Germany, Amsterdam and maybe hit up London on the way back...Now just as a word of caution, all of our plans may change day to day. We plan on updating this as much as possible obviously depending on Internet accessibility etc.... For now Peace out.