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Showing posts from October, 2005

For ur viewing pleasure

I've finally finished commenting all the Vietnam/Cambodia photos , enjoy. Whoops just realized Costco/Snapfish make you register to see them, sorry bout that but there is no way i'm moving that and commenting all those photos elsewhere.

Cambodian Monkey Attack Video

So I've posted a video of a moment when we were in Cambodia and there were monkeys on the side of the road. The locals were feeding them by hand and they were very gentle, but we had a banana and they freak for nanas. Jess was about to feed one that was patiently waiting, then alpha male comes at her blindspot for the steal as you will see in this briefly scary then hilarious video .

rolling out of bed

ok so I woke at 4:30am an improvement on the pain of 2:30am yesterday. i've got alot more to catch up on in terms of the ride home from Sappa and the whole Cambodia section, i know i know. in the meantime a cool link. Time Out magazine and Deaf Dumb & Blind Communications are launching The Other Side today. Unlike other travel guides you've seen before these guides are hosted by native DJs who not only curate a CD with music that gives a vibe of the city, they also serve as the hosts of the DVD, which features video tours of must-see and must-do things that are slightly off the radar. Clever. The first three city guides (The Other Side of New York featuring Fischerspooner, The Other Side of London featuring Damian Lazarus and The Other Side of Paris featuring Black Strobe) drop today. Expect another three cities every six months. Produced by URBANATION which have additional content on their site.

my clock is off

we woke up this morn at 2:30am and could not go back to sleep, so here I am, jess cooked us a fat american breakfast and now she's ironing. When the hell are we going to get back to normal? First day of work should be interesting, looks like i'm gonna be dog piled. Downloaded all our photos and movies, gotta tag them all then i'll post a link soon. I've had a raging headache for 2 days now, nothing that starbucks can't fix, ah my first starbucks in way too long.

lost my notebook

Shizer! I lost my notebook on the plane to Cambodia, so bummed as I'm going to have to remember all the little things by memory. I left off in Sapa, I'll continue soon but fyi we are now in Cambodia. Let me start off by saying Ankor, Cambodia is the best kept secret of Asia, it blows the doors off of Vietnam, the people are amazingly warm and beyond freaking cool. The Sofitel here in Ankor is so sick and luxurious you have to see it to believe it. I've got to run to bed but in a nutshell, 2 street lights in town, ox walking next to streets, monkeys nearby walking around, the temples are so tomb raider surreal, monks walking around, every one smiling and bowing....zzzzz

clean dirty clean

We have to leave the comforts of our beloved Sofitel Metropole hotel in Hanoi for the hellish Vietnam train system to Sapa. Our conierge tells Emily someone will meet us on our train with her return ticket, of course that never happens, fortunately she will be reimbursed by the Sofitel when she gets back. We get to the train station in Hanoi and there is a flurry of activity, we are the dear in the headlight suckers and as soon as they take our tickets some crackhead looking kid takes Emily's giant rolling duffle bag and leads us to our train which is hidden behind another train. Rolling our luggage over the tracks and keeping up with Opiumboy is a challenge. He leads us into our jail cell sized cabin and demands 50kDong, I look at Emily and she thinks that is absurd. I offer him 20k he refuses and demands 50k, I cave and offer 30, again he refuses. Emily tells me to drop the money on the bunk and ignore him, he picks up the money and slams it on the bunk and demands 50k. Emily te

Bed bugs bite

We just arrived in the mountain top town of Sappa, by far my favorite place in Vietnam. Fewer people, fewer street hustlers (but not by much), and less traffic. Our last night in Hanoi we went to see a water puppet show that was the highlight of the stay. We then took a cyclo around the old quarter which is essentially the tightest streets packed with people and ministores, very blade runner. I finally figured out if a woman is riding a nice Vespa she is a prostitute as quality of scooters reflect status and wealth. The humid heat in Hanoi was beyond explanation, essentially you walk out the hotel door and your sweating instantly. I'm useless in the day and at night it's not cool but rather warm and sticky. The cities of Vietnam are like trying to function in a greenhouse full of smog. We eat dinner at a place called the City View Cafe overlooking a mini lake that people walk around. After we jump into a cab to pick up some outfits that were custom made for Jess and Em. Turns o

Hanoi Rocks

Yesterday we went to a market in Saigon, the market was essentially an open warehouse filled with a packed maze of various products, clothing, and food. It feels like having a pillow pressed on your face while someone points a blowdryer at you. The vendors tap your arm and ask you what you want, it's a bit aggressive by our standards but no harm or offense is intended or taken. You walk down endless isles, if you can call them that, that have enough room for one person to walk down and they are crowded with people, you are constantly walking sideways as you try to avoid stepping on the vendors that are crouched down eating pho. We get overheated and claustrophobia in a short amount of time and need to get out to the street where the cyclo drivers barrage us with offers for rides. Everyone is trying to make a buck, and the Vietnamese people are tenacious to make a sale they keep coming at you even if you say no, the trick is to ignore or say no about 5 times. There is no peace in Sa

Last day in Saigon

Yesterday we did a tour of the Me Kong Delta it was a sobering change to the half day Saigon tour we did yesterday which was essentially a military history tour that left you pretty shaken (I would avoid the war atrocities part its way too graphic). Me Kong was beautiful, tranquil, and relaxing. We took a car there and you can see how development is in it's infant stage here but about to explode. The roads are beginging to improve and luxury apartment buildings skeletons are popping up yet right next to that there are shacks where people live and work out of what looks to be a garage type box in sweltering heat. On the side of the road I saw a 50 something woman with 3 cages stacked, the bottom with full of live rats, the middle had live pigeons, and the top cage was full of live snakes. We finally get to the delta where we are met by street vendors running at our car to sell us traditional hats and photos of the delta in broken English, we buy 2 hats at a buck each. Our guide walk

Safe in Saigon

So the wife and myself arrived here in Saigon today via Tapai China. I feel like i've been at some all night rave and its the next evening and i cant figure out if i should sleep or drink more coffee. I'm still in work mode and i'm worrying how my loose ends are getting tied at present. Anyhow its humid and crowded here, kinda like a dirty new york in shorts. The first thing you notice is the insane amount of scooters, they move like a living organism. Crossing the street here is playing the lotto with your life each time. So much for the relaxing vacation so far, but it's really exciting. There does seem to be quite a bit of pollution and things are just kinda dirty in some places but it seems with the new influx of money (via tourism etc..) things are definately on the up and up. I'm seeing neon billboards everywhere and small businesses are thriving, very exciting from an economical perspective. Gonna do some touring tomorrow as tonight was a stroll around the ho

i'm off to vietnam

and cambodia via Taipai China, crazy huh? Get busy livin or get busy dying... I'll be updating the blog from any internet cafes i can find. -Adolfo

10 Super Foods U Should Never eat!

shit #1 is my favorite, read more .

October should deliver new iPods, Pro machines

Several pieces of evidence suggest that Apple is preparing new product introductions for next month, primarily new hard disk drive (HDD) iPods and professional Macs. Like the nano, Apple's fifth-generation HDD iPods are expected to gain an Apple-designed click-wheel and see a significant reduction in overall size and volume. ( read more )...