Fred asked me to post up stuff about what i have done about the place in the past 5 months. So here is my review of the world. Bear in mind I am misserable fuck. Feel free to challenge my opinions or ask questions, I have had a great time everywhere i have gone...in some cases i am just pointing out the bad as opposed the majority of the time that i enjoyed (apart from australia, fuck australia). Enjoy.
Thailand
Thailand is a crazy sick country. Bangkok is a really nice cultured city (fuck what films, tv & popularised legends tell you) and it appears to have come a long from the rep it picked up in the 70s-80s. I went to loads of temples and ate some crazy nice food. Chiang Mai is the other city I went to in Thailand and it was fucking amazing. Super chilled out, reggae bars etc. all over the place. You know all the shit you see about Thailand – riding elephants, trekking to waterfalls, stroking tigers etc. etc. that’s in chiang mai….coupled to being a super nice city. On the bad side (I guess for no one really) its where I actually sat down and did a bit of reading on Buddhism and realised how absolutely fucking ludicrous it is and how its just as bad as the rest. I saw a sign up at a temple which read 'Ignorance is the real evil’. It’s a nice little saying, but when you analyse it after reading up a bit on the religion it just exemplifies why they are just as bad as the rest – they are saying you are wrong, we are right and you have to accept our version of reality.
Cambodia
Cambodia fucked with my head, when I was with people it was a really nice country with loads to offer, when I was travelling alone no one wanted to no me and it made me feel fucking shitty. I was there for about 3 weeks and I was travelling alone for two of them. When you go to hostels the owners are always nice and have a chat with you, make you feel welcome and do the same throughout your stay – in Cambodia you are just a number and it really sucks. I hit up Siem Reap for Angkor Wat etc. and that was crazy cool. I went to Battambang for no real reason and it was shite. I hit up Sihanoukville for the parties and it was a bit too much for me so I island hopped to Koh Rong. Koh Rong was so awesome. Population of 100 + visitors. Bamboo Bungalow by the sea for $10 a night, white sands, blue sea etc. I was meant to be there for a day and I stayed for a week. Then I hit up Phonm Penh and did the 'cambodia’ stuff. That country has a fucking messed up history and it really fucked with my head, I also read 'First They Killed My Father’ when I was there and it was really depressing.
Vietnam.
I really liked Vietnam. From getting off the night bus at 8 am and being offered free pho for breakfast at my hostel while I waited for my room, too being offered a deluxe suite in a hotel in Hanoi for $12 a night because they sold my bed…it was just really nice. I hit up Saigon and saw the Vietnamese propaganda about the war and chilled out. Went to Da Lat and saw the mountain. Then Hanoi to do some shopping for chopsticks and shit, Halong Bay and Trekking in Sa Pa. It was just a nice country, with genuinely nice people. Great food and everything is dirt cheap. I can’t recommend Vietnam enough.
China
China is a fascinating country. If you want to feel like a celebrity and you aren’t of east Asian decent then go to china. Non stop cameras being shoved in my face, people staring at me non stop etc. it was crazy. I hit Chongqing because I have a friend that lives there and checked out his home city and ate some insane spicy food. I went to Chengdu and saw the worlds largest panda conservation centre and they didn’t change my view of pandas – being the most useless animal in need of conservation. I then went to Xi’an and saw the terracotta army which was cool. After that I did Beijing for the usual stuff – Great Wall, Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and general partying. After that I did my last stop in Asia which was Shanghai. The only thing Shanghai has going for it is the skyscrapers and that’s all I really did. I went to the world highest bar on my last night which was sweet. It was above the horizon as well so I watched the sunset from the ground and then went up and watch it set again from the sky.
Australia.
I did two days in Sydney – fuck Australia.
New Zealand.
I did 6 weeks in New Zealand. The first two weeks I travelled with my gran which was cool – 5* hotels, free meals in nice restaurants etc. etc. I climbed loads of mountains and hiked loads on the south island and had a great time. On the north island it was a different matter. There is jack shit too do on the north island. I did wellington and saw the art galleries and museums, Auckland where I did three days of nothing, because there is nothing to do. Then I went to Rotorua for two weeks of skating and general insanity. The first day I hooked up with this german chick who decided that my life wasn’t exciting enough so I did white water rafting without a raft which was insanely fun. I also did a swoop which was so scary. You basically getting in a sleeping bag they winch you up 40 M (120 ft) then you have to pull a tag which will result in you flying back at the ground at 70 mph. It felt like my stomach was coming out of my arse and genuinely one of the scariest things I have ever done. Heres a video of someone else doing it - . After two weeks of partying and chilling with the german chick I headed back to Auckland where I did fuck all.
USA.
I hit up LA on my stopover to DC. LA is bizarre. It was a shit hole, but I really want to go back…
I don’t get it but it has a weird gravitational pull. DC was great apart from the Smithsonian, its idea of history being ridiculous. The city was really nice, I was staying 3 miles out of the centre so I walked in everyday instead of the bus, mainly because it was a nice walk. I am currently in Boston, heading to New York tomorrow. Boston is cool, but there really isn’t that much to do here. I have just been chilling, I had a mate from the UK in the area yesterday so we watched the CL final together and got a bit pissed up. My observation on America so far is this. I have been told (by various mediums) that Vegas is where Americans go to get a bit wild and excessive…if that is the case then America is where we go too get a bit wild and excessive. It worries me how convenient and cheap the bad stuff is out here. An XL slurpie in 7/11 is $2.20…its about 1.2L big. A 16”(40 cm) pizza is $10. It is scary, and it is why there are so many epidemics out here on Diabetes, Cancer, Obesity etc. I will post up NY and some photos when I get home.
[video=facebook;10150296888241241]http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150296888241241&saved[/video]
Thailand
Thailand is a crazy sick country. Bangkok is a really nice cultured city (fuck what films, tv & popularised legends tell you) and it appears to have come a long from the rep it picked up in the 70s-80s. I went to loads of temples and ate some crazy nice food. Chiang Mai is the other city I went to in Thailand and it was fucking amazing. Super chilled out, reggae bars etc. all over the place. You know all the shit you see about Thailand – riding elephants, trekking to waterfalls, stroking tigers etc. etc. that’s in chiang mai….coupled to being a super nice city. On the bad side (I guess for no one really) its where I actually sat down and did a bit of reading on Buddhism and realised how absolutely fucking ludicrous it is and how its just as bad as the rest. I saw a sign up at a temple which read 'Ignorance is the real evil’. It’s a nice little saying, but when you analyse it after reading up a bit on the religion it just exemplifies why they are just as bad as the rest – they are saying you are wrong, we are right and you have to accept our version of reality.
Cambodia
Cambodia fucked with my head, when I was with people it was a really nice country with loads to offer, when I was travelling alone no one wanted to no me and it made me feel fucking shitty. I was there for about 3 weeks and I was travelling alone for two of them. When you go to hostels the owners are always nice and have a chat with you, make you feel welcome and do the same throughout your stay – in Cambodia you are just a number and it really sucks. I hit up Siem Reap for Angkor Wat etc. and that was crazy cool. I went to Battambang for no real reason and it was shite. I hit up Sihanoukville for the parties and it was a bit too much for me so I island hopped to Koh Rong. Koh Rong was so awesome. Population of 100 + visitors. Bamboo Bungalow by the sea for $10 a night, white sands, blue sea etc. I was meant to be there for a day and I stayed for a week. Then I hit up Phonm Penh and did the 'cambodia’ stuff. That country has a fucking messed up history and it really fucked with my head, I also read 'First They Killed My Father’ when I was there and it was really depressing.
Vietnam.
I really liked Vietnam. From getting off the night bus at 8 am and being offered free pho for breakfast at my hostel while I waited for my room, too being offered a deluxe suite in a hotel in Hanoi for $12 a night because they sold my bed…it was just really nice. I hit up Saigon and saw the Vietnamese propaganda about the war and chilled out. Went to Da Lat and saw the mountain. Then Hanoi to do some shopping for chopsticks and shit, Halong Bay and Trekking in Sa Pa. It was just a nice country, with genuinely nice people. Great food and everything is dirt cheap. I can’t recommend Vietnam enough.
China
China is a fascinating country. If you want to feel like a celebrity and you aren’t of east Asian decent then go to china. Non stop cameras being shoved in my face, people staring at me non stop etc. it was crazy. I hit Chongqing because I have a friend that lives there and checked out his home city and ate some insane spicy food. I went to Chengdu and saw the worlds largest panda conservation centre and they didn’t change my view of pandas – being the most useless animal in need of conservation. I then went to Xi’an and saw the terracotta army which was cool. After that I did Beijing for the usual stuff – Great Wall, Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and general partying. After that I did my last stop in Asia which was Shanghai. The only thing Shanghai has going for it is the skyscrapers and that’s all I really did. I went to the world highest bar on my last night which was sweet. It was above the horizon as well so I watched the sunset from the ground and then went up and watch it set again from the sky.
Australia.
I did two days in Sydney – fuck Australia.
New Zealand.
I did 6 weeks in New Zealand. The first two weeks I travelled with my gran which was cool – 5* hotels, free meals in nice restaurants etc. etc. I climbed loads of mountains and hiked loads on the south island and had a great time. On the north island it was a different matter. There is jack shit too do on the north island. I did wellington and saw the art galleries and museums, Auckland where I did three days of nothing, because there is nothing to do. Then I went to Rotorua for two weeks of skating and general insanity. The first day I hooked up with this german chick who decided that my life wasn’t exciting enough so I did white water rafting without a raft which was insanely fun. I also did a swoop which was so scary. You basically getting in a sleeping bag they winch you up 40 M (120 ft) then you have to pull a tag which will result in you flying back at the ground at 70 mph. It felt like my stomach was coming out of my arse and genuinely one of the scariest things I have ever done. Heres a video of someone else doing it - . After two weeks of partying and chilling with the german chick I headed back to Auckland where I did fuck all.
USA.
I hit up LA on my stopover to DC. LA is bizarre. It was a shit hole, but I really want to go back…
I don’t get it but it has a weird gravitational pull. DC was great apart from the Smithsonian, its idea of history being ridiculous. The city was really nice, I was staying 3 miles out of the centre so I walked in everyday instead of the bus, mainly because it was a nice walk. I am currently in Boston, heading to New York tomorrow. Boston is cool, but there really isn’t that much to do here. I have just been chilling, I had a mate from the UK in the area yesterday so we watched the CL final together and got a bit pissed up. My observation on America so far is this. I have been told (by various mediums) that Vegas is where Americans go to get a bit wild and excessive…if that is the case then America is where we go too get a bit wild and excessive. It worries me how convenient and cheap the bad stuff is out here. An XL slurpie in 7/11 is $2.20…its about 1.2L big. A 16”(40 cm) pizza is $10. It is scary, and it is why there are so many epidemics out here on Diabetes, Cancer, Obesity etc. I will post up NY and some photos when I get home.[video=facebook;10150296888241241]http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150296888241241&saved[/video]
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