Classsic buddist temple. Its the holiday season hear too. So there are Thai tourist all over the place.



These are fishing boat anchored off the beaches of Koa sumi, because of the monsoon creating 2 to 3 meter waves. The King order all boats in the area anchored for 3 full days. This was taken Nov. 21stish

Good old Thailand an it's temples. This one is in Chiang Mai.

Picture of Kim Meeker and I by a cool tree by the King's winter Palace (Chaing Mai) It was great to have a travel campanion for two weeks; especially over the holiday.

Christmas Eve

I wanted to share with you guys how cool Christmas eve was for me. Kim meeker and I had a tradition Western Christmas dinner at the Youth Pastors house and then went to late candle light service. i had lost my voice the day before with a bad cold so i could hardly speak let along sing during the service, which in the end was cool blessing. The service started with everyone sharing how to say "Merry Christmas" in their native tongue; there must have been at least 10 languages repersented. Then all together we started to sing all the normal christmas songs together. here is the cool prt: After the first verse or so of every song everryone started to sing in their own language and not being able to sing myself I able to hear it clerly. So literally around me was 4 to 5 different languages singing same song. It was really powerful to see how diverse the body of christ actually is and see it for atleast one night function as one. There we all were looking and sounding differently, but united as one in our belief in Christ. yep, God took good care of me over the holiday. hope all of you are well.

Thai hair cut

So I finally got my hair cut in Thailand, but what a cultural experience. My barbar was a nice guy who spoke quasi-english named something on the lines of "Shashoo" which he told me ment "young one". As the hair cut went along both of us got nervous. We definalely were miss understanding each other. At first he made me a dome like hair cut which made me look like a I was wearing a astronots helmet. Then inorder to take the roundness out of it we both realized that my hair cut was starting to get pretty short and make all the worst he kept on using thinning clippers for some reason on top. We both started to wonder if i was going to end up bald by the end of the experience. Thankfully both of us were able to laugh about whole thing as we sweated out the ordeal. In the end it came out pretty good; a little shorter than normal, yet not bald. On coolest things is he used a razor blade to clean up and shape my sideburns. I am not sure why i did not get razor burn from it because it hurt like hell, but in the end i looked pretty good and had a fun cultural experience. i will try to put a picture up of my hair in next few days, but this internet that I am using is way too slow.

The truth behind long term travel

i figure most guys might wonder what it like for me to travel for a long time; so decide I blog about it.

Long term travel is mind blowing fun and maybe not so surprising hard and discouraging at times. You have mornings; like this one for me, where you wake up and wonder is worth it to travel being so far from friends, family and comfort of home. i know that this is not something unique to me because alot of other travelors who been out for long time tell me that they also have these feeling now and then.
i have learned that these days are best spent doing nothing in peticular. Stay at same place, splurge on something, read few e-mail from friends and family from home, listen to the i-pod, drink alot of coffee and just be and most importanly for me to have a long QT with the Big Guy. Or today. Watch seinfield on Kim's laptop and doing little blogin. I find it funny that most time during these days at some point I get blown away at how sweet it is to be out here following one of my dreams.
And it is fun traveling, no lie. Eatin exotic food, meeting some most adventures and free spirited people dailly and seeing and experiencing things that only seen on the travel channel. So at no moment feel bad for me in every adventure there is adversity and I feel privialedge that I have such great friends and family and life back home that i get to miss them every once in a while.
One of the great things of being on begining of year of travel is time does not really matter. A week in one place might as well be a day. So this way I never feel like I got to run around to see everything at once and I like this because it breeds spontonousness (is that a word?). So most morning you wake up and move somewhere you found that was cheaper and better than where you were at or go do something that most likely some one the day before told you was sweet. At all times through the day you make mental notes of what is cool to do in town and where people are saying it fun to be or you should go. Fellow Backpackers advice is crutual since they travel and function on the same budget, know the new scams that locals are playing and are always looking for adventure. Yet at the same time i learned that you must find locals and the off the beaten path otherewise you are always around the backpacker crowd and never experience the true side of the country.
Well i hope this gives little insight. Thanks for your guys comments and I will try throw up some pics. i left my camera cable in Bankok so might be a while.

Let me catch you guys up on where I am at. Right now I am on island in S. thailand called Ko samui. It pretty cool place and yes Thailand is a cheap place to travel. Semi-expensive rooms are around $10 night and that your own place and cheaper place are anything from 3ish to 5 dollars. Food can be around 50cents to good meal 3or 5 bucks. Round trip bus and ferrie cost about $50 and it's long way.
My birthday was nice, but I was very tired from the long bus trip and the day of travel the day before. So I did not go out big or anything. but I did get to enjoy sitting at thatch roof bar on the rocks of the beach watching the sun go down and enjoying the sound of ocean as i sipped on some suds. It was nice be able to spend it with Kim meeker a freind that has known me for a while.

Oh few stories:
Right now there is a monsoon off the coast making the S. coastal water quite wavy. So the ferry to the island was a bumpy ride with swells of 2 to 3 meters or 6 to 9 feet. People were puking all over the place; not exactly what we all thought it be like. It so brutal out there that the boat breaking a twisting on the waves broke quite a few of the ferries windows. Little adventure; I guess. No, I was not one of the people puking, but I know from experience I have good sea legs and I still did not feel that great.

Also, Kim and I drove motorcycles/more like a scooter all yesterday. So much fun! and cheap. With rental and gas it cost 200bat or 6ish dollars. Got to love it for 12hrs of fun.

Hope everyone has great x-mas!

Self portrait of me on the beach in NZ. I am getting skinner by the day and still have not cut my hair. I will either cut in Thailand or go for dreadlocks. What do you think : - )


I must say I have a bit of nostalga going on realizing this my last full day in NZ, but I am ready take off to thailand and start gorging myself on cheap food. No mom i am not starving myself here, but all the walking around, builds quite the appetite and eating huge bowl of porach and bread and eggs for Breakfast, 4 to 5 sandwiches for lunch and massive dinner filled with as much protein as possible and 4 to 6 cups of coffee all adds up!
Looking back on NZ i have to say my favorite moments all came spontanously. Whether it night out with the national womens swedish netball team or being picked up by NZ Hearld journals or all those wonderful nights in the backcountry and all the wonderful people who i met and became friends with, whether we hung out for only a day or week. Yep, I have to come back agian.
Tommorrow off to see kim meeker in Thailand. It be great to see someone I know and have a friend for the holidays.

Rock cropping on the Cathedral Cove


This is on the N Island east coast beach back side of place called "The Mount"

Well I am in Auckland now and have 3 short days until I head to Thailand. I been amazed that the Beaches up North are so Tropical and Beutiful and yet the water is still cold. I must admit that I wish I had stay another few days in the South. The north is nice, but the south and the mountains are more my style. I wish I could make it up to the Bay of Island, but looks like I am going to miss it this trip.
It pretty crazy to realize that I am now over a month travel and i still have a 11 months plus to go.
One of the coolest hitches I got was I got picked up by a van of high school Mari kids on a field trip. I got to learn a little Mari and alot about their culture and quiz them on America; alot of fun a true cultural experiece. I also been amazed by the continual hostipitality of the kiwi's. Today my hitch insited to pay for my lunch and coffee. Talk about nice people!

This is sunset caught from the Muttyn Hut over looking Coggs Resivor.

One of the most amazing things about tramping in NZ is every valley you drop can look totally different with totally different ecosystem.

Well I am in Wellington. A city that Whitney my cousin would love. Everyone is fashionable and black seems to be the color of the day. I like Wellington it reminds me of a small SF and it windy; so much so that if turn corner some times it blows you over.
My last tramp adventure was between Able Tasman and Golden Bay. Beutiful place it was. I found it by asking the DOC lady in Nelson if she had four days where would she go and this where I ended up. The area is called Aruther RAnge and not many people come in except on day hikes so I had the place to my self. Yeah I love the woods. I was told that the hitch was going to be impossible which kind of true I had walk alot but caught a hitch in and out amazingly. In fact, I hitch out on Wensday morning hiked like 13km and then luckly caught a ride out after a nice 10 km hike down hill. Then feeling like what the heck I hitch another 189km to Picton and took the ferry to Wellington. I got in at 11pm with no place to stay and if wasn't bad enough Elton John was in Concert and the town was 98% full according to the paper the next day. So i end up sitting in a lobby until midnight and i just put my stuff in a locker and headed to bars to stay up all night. When a room opened up. I am still not exactly happy how much I paid for it, but I was exhausted and the 50% bump in price was going be cheaper than being robbed at bar because I was going to fall asleep especially after a few beers.
So tommorrrow I head up the East Coast with few Fiji friends that just happen to be staying in the same hostel as me. Small world. So I head up there with them to see another mate I met in Fiji; you got to love the traveling circles you end up in.

View outside my hut for the night up between Able Tasman and Golden Bay. 4 day 3 night tramp loving it!

Well I am in Nelson, right now. I like this town it got good downtown, but a quiet feel to it. I head towards Ambel Tazman tommorrow to do little tramping (backpacking) in arthur range at least thats the plan. I am becoming little more comfortible in doing nothing and just enjoying being somewhere different. However, I am looking forward to Asia, where I think things will feel more foriegn. New Zealand is beutiful and all, but feels alot like the states and next to all different language being spoken most days I forget I am on the otheside of the world.

River crossing!

Ah New Zealand at it's finest.

This on the way up the copland pass, beutiful huh!

Rules of Hitching.

1. Be Patient
2. Be Patient and ask locals where they hitch for that matter talk everyon they might end up the "ride"
3. Always be flexible and hold onto your bag of earthly possessions
4. Get Perment Marker
5. Get Carboard (Do not leave sign in cars, what are they going do with it)
6. Know the way you want to go and way you do not
7. Smile - sweet old people trust the smile (They pick you up most)
8. EAT a Huge meal before you Hitch. You are now on there schedule.
9. Pray alot (No psyco axe murder please!)
10. Walk/stand/ Jog/ talk self when no is watching and remember this all part of the fun.

That's right I been hitching NZ. So far my best fet is Oxford literaly a farm town 50km out side of Christchurch to Queenstown (way down south). 8:30 I started walking towards town to 6pm it took me. I am told it actually a 6 1/2 hour drive straight through.
I got picked up all kinds of people. (In order) A farmer on his way to Christ Church with few pigs, a young Canada couple just on Holiday, A ecologist, a nice older couple from Arizon who picked me up in middle of nowhere (Thank you God for them!!!) and lastly a father and son from Hollend who were generous enough to speak to me in English. Funny enough the last ride was the tightest of all. If we crashed I probaly would never moveD!
Tommorow I head toward Mt Aspiration and probably stop in WAnaka to pick up supplies for a sweet 4 day trek on semi-remote part of the park. All depends on the weather. Oh Mt. Cook got bailed on because I needed a ice axe and crampoons for Copeland Pass and I have no so.. whoosh off I go in another direction.
I will do a photo post when I get out of the backcountry. This computer is difficult to attach a cable to. If you like to give a shout out to the Big Guy for me. Please ask for safety for me on this trek and always for a good hitch for where ever I am going.

Well I am in Oxford, NZ hanging out with Katie Chambless who here for WYAM. I been here since Saturday afternoon and enjoying this quient town. I been using the adventures mode of transportation of hitch hiking to get around NZ. I thought I start making my way to Cook Mt to do copland pass today or tommorrow, but I have a raving case of the Fiji runs that refuses to go away. So I think that instead I will head to Queens Town and give my body a chance to rid myself of this nasty bug. Then I hope that I can get trekking in the woods.
I am happy to report that I did do some hiking yesterday up Oxford mt. It beutiful cloudy hike to start, but the rain moved in about 2 hours into hike and drove all of us hiking down off the mountain. In fact, it was raining so hard that trail turned into small creek as we all sloshed our way down. Nontheless, it fun adventure and it was hard not think around the corner that Frodo or sam might jump out. The trees around here are covered in this thick black funges that gives everything a look of once being in forest fire. And, yes there are sheep everywhere and even few scottish cows that remind me of the ranch.

A beutiful sunset on mana island
This was veiw out of my hostels many front doors. Sorry I do not have enough time on my hired internet connection to flip it. So turn your head sideways and enjoy : - )

I write to you from Christchurch, NZ a beutiful town that remind alot of England. Fiji was truly amazing. It's was like hawaii but cheaper. I spent most my time on Mana Island, a typical resort/local village island. Most of my days were spent laying on the beach, swimming and more swimming in the ocean, snorkeling and reading. I got to play a pick up game of rugby one- touch with the local fiji population (15 on 15) and even scored a try! The best part of the island was I hung out same people every day so go to be pretty good friends with quiet a few of them. The snorkeling and just island atmospher of mana is incredible and I recommend it anyone off to fiji.
Now that I am in NZ I am trying figure out how I plan get around island to do some backpacking. I been looking at cars and also trying to maybe hitch with few people who go by the national parks I plan to hike.
For those of you who are worried about me having no friends over here; don't be. The average backpackers are the most friendly people you will ever meet. You run into someone start talking and lone behold you are booking the same hostel together.

Tommorrow is the day I been waiting for and thinking about for last 6 years; it's time to leave the country. I have alot of mixed feelings a bit of excitement, nervous, restlessness and unbelief. I have racked my brain continously trying figure if I am forgeting to do something important, but at last my window is closing which weirdly is relieving. What is done is done and what is not done... well it might just have to stay that way. So I head off to fiji and country apparently tetering on a coup. I guess I wanted adventure and I am about to get it.

This is me in Steamboat before I left the States.