Southeast Asia here i come!

[goodsamaritan]

Wow Vietnam.  Nice spices too, not as hot as authentic Thai.

Are the ladies prettier in Vietnam than in Thailand?

[yon yonson]

well some of the vietnamese women are really beautiful, but alot are... not. i think overall, thai women are prettier. actually some of the prettiest (to me atleast) women were the hill tribe villagers in sapa, vietnam. for what it's worth.

just arrived in dalat. it's actually somewhat chilly here up in the mountains. beautiful scenery too. lots of pine trees. reminds me of a more tropical colorado or something.

had a goose egg this morning. wow, it was huge. good though. i also found the traditional century eggs in one of the markets only 4000 dong each (about 20 cents US). they're made by covering them in a layer of clay and rice hulls. im not sure if they usually cook them after but i ate mine raw and it was quite good. the 'white' part tasted and felt like when they're cooked but looked clearish brown. the yolk was salty and stinky and delicious. highly recommended.

on another note, this two month trip to southeast asia with my dad and cousin ends at the end of july. however, i might stay in asia and keep travelling (dad has to go back to work). im definitely want to visit the philippines (and gs of course) and might end up going to australia and new zealand too. so, if anyone in australia or new zealand (or southeast asia) wants to meet up it would be nice to know now. i really have no concrete plans so don't know exactly where i'll be but i'd love to meet up with other rpders if possible.


here's a bonus pic of me in a VERY hard to reach waterfall in chiang mai, thailand

[yon yonson]

hey guys, it's been a while. here's an update: i cancelled my return flight to the US. just going to buy a one way ticket back whenever i feel ready/run out of money. im planning on going to the philippines on july 31st. really excited about meeting goodsamaratin! have no plans for after the philippines other than a desire to go to australia and new zealand at some point. so, if anyone in this area of the world has recommendations for things to do or has a place i can crash, please let me know. i'd love to meet up with more rpders.

rpd related: ate some raw crab and squid with three fishermen in ko chang, thailand. apparently that's all they do when it's to stormy to go out and fish. they just pulled out a box of freshly caught crab and squid and dipped them in chili sauce and ate them. the crabs they tore in half and sucked the meat out of the middle part (discarding the legs). anyways, one of the coolest experiences we've had. we were trying to catch some fish off the pier and they saw us and called us over to give us some better bait. then it excalated into a rpd feast, ha! they also serve up raw shrimp at almost every authentic thai restaurant near the sea... im satisfied.

[Josh]

Sounds great.

[goodsamaritan]

Yon with his cousin and I met up.
Last Sunday I picked them up at the airport and we went around town although they hadn't had much sleep from their flight.
Yesterday Tuesday we met up at my office then went up the Sierra Madre mountains for some fresh cool air.
Young adventurers! (22 and 18)

I was able to taste some beef jerky for the first time.

Yon got to taste some local stuff such as horse (asked for seconds), blue marlin / swordfish, tuna, sea urchin, duck eggs, tasted a live clam, beef and some marrow.  Did some market tasting with tiny dulong fish and tiny shrimp.  Also got to taste some sea weed, green oranges, avocados, cucumbers, durian and got a cherimoya, coconuts he says taste the same as thailand.  

Yon and cousin were amazed at how delicious cooked pork blood was: dinuguan / bloodied.
Yon's cousin looks for cooked food.
Yon's cousin also liked the cooked beef intestines at the market.
They are looking forward to find a balut vendor at night.

They had a private audience with my wife and future celtic harp sensation.

This morning planning their flight to Palawan, the last frontier....

[yon yonson]

boy, where to start. well, we had a lot of fun hanging out with gs in the philippines. we're now back in bangkok. my cousin is leaving for the US in two days. i still don't have a return ticket. not sure what im going to do, but leaning towards returning to the US. i was also toying with the idea of going to australia to work on a wwoof farm. need to decide soon though.

so i got pretty sick in the philippines. apparently it was from eating over a half kilo of really fatty roasted pork (lechon). it was a stupid decision and i paid the ultimate price. i good chunk of my time in the philippines was spent recovering. my liver became enflammed which caused my right lung to not get enough air. i had trouble sleeping for almost a week. i also developed a rash on my abdomen and back where the toxins where trying to come out.it was miserable. this all happened in palawan. then i went back to manila and gs helped me recover. i learned a lot about his healing techniques. it was interesting because i know a lot about a healthy diet, but next to nothing about healing protocols and such. he showed me the usefulness of kidney cleansing with avocado leaf tea (cleared up the rash), coffee enema (got some thick black stuff out of my liver), and colon cleansing with dr. tam's tea. anywho, he showed me much more aswell. i really have to gave a heartfelt thank you to edwin. he's a pretty amazing person. had lots of fun with him. while i was recovering in manila, he would take me to various places in and around the city. we went to the east coast of luzon, tagaytay, etc.

i'll try and keep you guys posted on my next move. home sounds pretty damn good right now

[Alan]

Goodsamaritan, you think that Palawan is remote?   It is crawling with foreigners.

You think that the boondocks are dangerous?   I've been all around Mindanao; anyplace in Mindanao has a tenth of the property crime and violence that MM does.

Just go speak to elementary children in Davao Oriental.  They speak better english than most kids in Caloocan.

[goodsamaritan]

Goodsamaritan, you think that Palawan is remote?   It is crawling with foreigners.

I meant that it is the last frontier with virgin forests and virgin swamps, virgin etc.
There are lots of foreigners in palawan operating lots of NGOs to precisely to keep Palawan as the last frontier.
They encourage tourism too for those last frontier appreciation.

[yon yonson]

home at last! long ass plane ride. im super jetlagged right now. anyways, it's really good to be back. maybe i'll give a more thorough update later.

[miles]

Did you fly by airplane or aeroplane?

[yon yonson]

hmmm, is this a british thing? im gonna go with airplane

[yon yonson]

so i didn't realize it at the time, but i lost a LOT of weight while i was sick in the philippines from eating too much fatty cooked pork. when i got back to the US, i weight myself and apparently lost 17 pounds! and im a small person, so that's really significant. my normal weight is 125 lbs and i dropped to 108... disturbing. but have no fear. i've been back for a little over two weeks now and have been eating a ton. feeling really good now. already gained back 6 lbs of solid muscle. and i don't see much of an end in site. my metabolism is kickin. i should be back to my normal weight within a week or two. definitely gonna try and go beyond too.

also, for those interested, the quality of meat i get in the US is drastically better than most of the meat i got in asia. maybe it's just that im used to it, but i doubt it. so much more flavor and i can eat a lot more of the grass fed stuff from the US. GS has got some pretty awesome stuff in the philippines, but my beef makes thailand, vietnam, laos, and cambodia's meat look pretty weak. im kinda puzzled because i heard someone on hear saying aajonus likes thai beef the most. i don't get it. i mean sometimes it's okay but it's nothing compared to texas grass fed beef.

i'm gonna try and post some pics from my trip soon. stay posted

[TylerDurden]

Useful to know as I will be visiting SE Asia in a few years, with luck. I suppose the best option is raw seafood, in those regions.

[yon yonson]

i suck at computers. anyone know how to get these to show up as pictures?

[TylerDurden]

I'd like to know that too.

[goodsamaritan]

Useful to know as I will be visiting SE Asia in a few years, with luck. I suppose the best option is raw seafood, in those regions.

Remember to stop by Manila.

[TylerDurden]

Remember to stop by Manila.

Sure.

[yon yonson]

i figured the pictures out. here we go!

me buying some rose apples (the red fruits) at the floating market outside bangkok


we took one of these long boats on a two day ride from northern thailand to luang prabang laos


kwang si waterfall in luang prabang. one of the most amazing places i've ever been hands down


more


what the fuck? painted on the wall of a buddhist temple in luang prabang. that horse needs help


we got in a wreck... it sucked but no one was hurt


vietnamese parkour group in hanoi. apparently they're the only parkour group in all of vietnam. pretty sweet


my cousin drinking snake wine. yeah, it's a cobra


ha long bay vietnam


my dad kayaking

[yuli]

Wow, those mountains/rocks & the nature is absolutely gorgeous!
The cobra wine is out of this world, did that fuck up your cousin in any way? lol

There is a good chance I am going this winter to Trinidad for a work trip. I have never even been to a warm country I have no clue how it will be and what the hell I will eat there....Anyone know how I can stay raw paleo or at least semi-raw paleo in Trinidad?

[yon yonson]

more ha long bay


night


me hiking


sapa vietnam


we befriended some hmong hill tribe girls. amazingly kind


walking to their village


my cousin dyed his shirt with their indigo


my homies (from left): coo, sasa, and gon


five leaf clover i found with the help and wisdom of coo


she had about 15 four leaf clovers, 5 five leaf clovers, and 1 six leaf clover. pretty fuckin cool


hoi an vietnam


got up early to get the good stuff at the market: whole cow brain for US $0.50


buying avocados (not as good as haas - not nearly as fatty)


sunrise after long bus ride


motorbikes in dalat vietnam. really cool pine forests

[yon yonson]

ate some cooked snails with some college kids


walkable stream in munei vietnam


"independence or death" - ho chi minh   (looks like a banksy by the way)


tuol sleng prison in phnom phen cambodia. heavy stuff. a converted elementary school transformed into the khmer rouge's main torturing center


bullet through the skull


angkor wat. haha, what dorks


ta prom. go nature!

[yon yonson]

The cobra wine is out of this world, did that fuck up your cousin in any way? lol

we all just took a shot of it. it wasn't so bad. it was kinda licorice flavored with a hint of... dead snake, ha

[yon yonson]

raw ant larvae! one of the best things i ate in asia. delicious. kinda tasted like scrambled eggs but saltier


floating village on tonle sap lake




wild monkeys on ko chang thailand


we kayaked out to an unihabited island and i found a coconut. ripped off the husk and had a good drink and some nice coconut meat


ko mak thailand


me and edwin in the mountains outside manila


really cool native palawan museum. blowguns, bows, spears, snares, etc


ugh, this is what's left of the lechon (roasted pork coated in MSG) that got me sick for 3 weeks.


what's with that tree!?


on the farm in aborlan, palawan, PI


sabang palawan


water buffalo


we found a cool cave on a hike




paddling through world's longest subterranean river


edwin's son, cush, on the east coast of luzon


edwin with his kids


tagaytay volcano. active while we were there


awesome wet market edwin and I went to. the most fresh beef i've ever seen in one place


woah! i wish the US had markets like this


that meat was still twitching. unreal.


we had a nice picnic of fresh beef and liver


edwin eating some small lake fish


back in thailand. got some dancing shrimp for dinner. the shrimp are still alive and kickin in some fresh chili and greens


trat. really cool old town


back on ko chang hiking to waterfall




nice sunset to end it




and there you have it finally. hope you enjoy

[goodsamaritan]

Cool pics!  You would have enjoyed it more if you didn't get sick.

[Cinna]

Amazing pix!