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Category Archives: travel

and for my next trick, er… trip

Saturday, December 9, 2006

I’ve done so much research on my trip, in fact, that I already know the route of my next trip to the South East Asia, to take in all the things I’ll miss this time. Starting in Singapore, take the train through Malaysia, stop off on the west coast of Thailand, and the islands of Koh Samui and Koh Pha Ngnan, then continuing on the train to Bangkok, a flight to Cambodia to see Angkor Wat, a riverboat trip across Cambodia to Phnon Penh and then up the Mekong River to Laos (though apparently, you can only go the whole way by river during the rainy season). Then through northern Laos to Yunnan, China.

Let’s say… 2008. Figure it will take 6 or 8 weeks. Who’s with me?

Trip2-1

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Eric’s Trip

Saturday, November 18, 2006

SeaWell, I’ve been pretty busy the past week or so. Last weekend, after talking to my friend, bodyguard and travelling companion, Janelle, we decided to skip Thailand’s Aussie-packed beaches and instead some more of Southeast Asia.

My last trip (to Australia and New Zealand) was kind of about traveling around by bus, car, SUV, ferry and train, spending each night in a different place. This time, I wanted to pick a few places and spend enough time in them to get to know them. And flights in SE Asia are fairly inexpensive — you can see a lot of countries for the price of a round-trip ticket from Vancouver to Montreal.

And so, my free time for the past week or so has mostly been about researching, booking, planning and replanning. But now, at last, I think I can tell you my itinerary.

Marigaon December 17

Arrive in Bangkok. Sleep (it’s an 18-hour flight with a 14-hour time difference).

order accutane online forum December 19

Take the train to Chiang Mai, an ancient city in the mountains or Northern Thailand, with walls, moats, old temples, and the like. There are lots of things to see in the area, too, like the laid-back little town of Pai.

Christmas Eve

Fly to Luang Prabang, Laos. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage City, which I gather is a good thing to be. There’s a backpacker-oriented town nearby called Vang Vieng.

New Year’s Eve

Fly to Vietnam for NYE in Hanoi. That should be interesting. Nearby are Halong Bay and Catba Island, which look astonishingly pretty.

January 3

Down to the Island of Phu Quoc, just south of Cambodia, for a few days. Apparently, the island is lovely, and still somewhat undeveloped — I could only find about ten promising-looking places to stay, several of which had rooms available.

January 7

Back to Bangkok! This time, to check it out properly for a couple of days.

January 10

Off to Japan. I need to change my ticket still, but the plan is to spend a couple of days in Yokosuka and a couple in Osaka, hanging out with various transplanted Saskatchewanians.

January 15

Back to Canada, a little richer and much more annoying for my experiences.

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YOU ARE NOW IMMUNE TO: YELLOW FEVER

Thursday, November 9, 2006

Vaccinated-SnipGot my travel immunizations taken care of. I made sure to get immunized for Cambodia and Laos, as well as Thailand, since I’m still not sure where I’ll be going and I don’t want to limit my options. I am now resistant to Polio, Yellow Fever, Cholera, Diphtheria, Typhoid, Hepatitis A, and Hepatitis B. Malaria will follow. For a healthy person like myself, nothing quite brings home the power of modern medicine like laying down a hundred bucks and getting vaccinated against an array of the last century’s most virulent killers.

For some reason, it makes me think of a video game powerup. Finally, with my Typhoid shield, I can get past the Cambodia level!

The doctor also told me I didn’t need to get treated for rabies, but helpfully suggested that I avoid getting scratched or bitten by any rabid animals in southeast Asia. I was relieved to find out I didn’t need that one — death by rabies is very high up on my list of desirable deaths. It may sound morbid to rate causes of death, but I feel if you don’t make an effort to plan these things, you’ll just end up dying anyway, but from some lame disease like cancer. And let’s face it, “Eric… isn’t he the one that died of rabies?” is actually a pretty great way to be remembered. Plus, Edgar Allen Poe died that way.

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adventures across the Pacific

Saturday, October 7, 2006

Dick Rock SnipThese last few weeks have been pretty stressful, but what’s kept me going is thinking about taking a trip to Asia this winter. And today, as my Vancouver Art Gallery project “soft-launches” and I limit myself to two hats — PhD student and start-up-iste — I bought my ticket.

The plan is to leave Vancouver on December 16, meet up with my friend Janelle in Bangkok, travel around Thailand and Vietnam for a bit, and then stop off for a few days in Osaka on my way back to catch up with fellow Saskatchewan expats Tyler and Carla and possibly Meghan, returning to Vancouver on January 14, at which point, I’ll immediately be throwing myself into completing a paper for ICML, and then trying to complete my PhD proposal (tentatively titled Random Things I Have Researched, Hastily Wedged into a Common Framework) not so ridiculously late that people start wondering if I should be be given the boot.

How’s that for a plan? Thought you’d like it.

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