Last summer I was sitting in a rented room in Vancouver, trying to decide where I was going to go next on my little adventure. I had always had New Zealand at the top of my list, but given how it was winter in the southern hemisphere, I needed to come up with a plan that didn’t involve freezing to death. After all, I am a migratory nerd, so I should probably follow the sunshine. Sam and Scott That’s when my friends, Scott and Sam, contacted me and said they were going to be in Thailand for a few months and that I should come for a visit. Thailand: land of smiles; I like happy people, so it ...

As per my last post, I was supposed to spend the weekend in Bangkok this weekend and then head to Auckland on Monday. But given how people are evacuating from Bangkok, I decided to try and change my flights around to get out before things get even worse. Even the smallest penguin can change the course of the future Thankfully most airlines (including mine, Air Canada) are offering free change fees on flights to and from Bangkok due to the flooding crisis there, so my ticket was eligible for a change. I tried calling last night to sort it out, but unfortunately due to the time change I didn’t ...

After leaving Koh Tao, I took the ferry back to Koh Samui and boarded a Bangkok Airways flight for Krabi. Krabi is a little town on the west coast of Thailand, and one of two gateways over to the Phi Phi Islands (the other being Phuket). Given the distance between the two locations, I couldn’t find another way to get to Koh Phi Phi in one day, other than to fly to Krabi instead of bus. So that’s what I ended up doing. The ferry was late getting back to Koh Samui, and even though I had pre-booked a taxi and had him waiting for me, I was probably about 30 seconds away from missing my flight ...

I left Koh Samui in the afternoon on Friday and made my way down to the Maenom ferry dock. I booked a high speed catamaran with Lomprayah. They actually had a deal going on where they would include a pick-up at your hotel, so that worked out great. They give you a 20 minute window where you need to wait in front of your hotel, and eventually a shuttlebus picks you up and takes you down to the ferry. We actually were there with plenty of time to spare, but I suspect that’s deliberate since they have their own restaurant and store there, and there’s not much else to do. The ferry to Koh Tao ...

By the time this year is over, I will have spent nearly eight months away from home and on the road. I’ve been to South America, Europe, back to North America, over to Asia, and will soon be heading down to Oceania. I’ll have close to 100,000 kilometers of flying under my belt by the time it’s over, and will hopefully have my silver elite status. And yet despite all the traveling I have done though, I haven’t really done much backpacking, other than the odd weekend trip. Usually when I go see something new, I branch out from my home-base on a weekend and simply grab a hotel or a hostel ...

My phone gave me a warning last night that my Internet package was about to expire. That means I’ve officially been in Thailand one month now. Chewang Beach I still have to do a write-up about my adventures in Chiang Mai, but I’m just waiting for a few of my photos to go up, as well as some Scott took with his point and shoot (I didn’t take my SLR out around the elephants as it was a bit too dirty and wet for my liking). But hopefully this week I’ll write a big post about my adventures up there, as it was a really good time. West side of Koh Samui I have only four weeks left in Thailand. ...

I’ve been in Thailand now for about three weeks. So far, it’s pretty much everything I hoped it would be. Food is amazingly cheap, the people are super friendly, and in general Thailand is really laid back and accommodating. While the weather has been mostly cloudy lately, it’s still warm by North American standards, and a daily dip in the pool has become part of my routine. Pad Thai Back home a Pad Thai dish probably runs around $12 or $13 a plate. Some of the best Pad Thai I’ve had here costs around 50 baht ($1.66), so there’s quite a big price difference. At one place, you can pay ...

I had heard of the legendary full moon parties in Thailand before coming here, but I wasn’t entirely sure I’d get a chance to check one out. It wasn’t until I got set up in Koh Samui that I realized Koh Phangan, the island where the full moon parties take place, was literally next to us. So it seemed like a shame to be so close and to not visit it. Making Plans To save money, I was originally thinking that my friend Scott and I could head over on the day of the event, party all night, and then simply come back in the morning without sleeping. Turns out that would have been a really bad idea, ...

A few weeks ago I stumbled across a few websites where you can order custom clothing from Asia. Since I was heading to Asia, I decided to Google around and see how easy it was to get custom tailored clothing in Thailand. Sure enough, not only is it easy, but tailors in Thailand are extremely prevalent. Unfortunately, many of the tailors here are simply around to sell you expensive fabrics. Once purchased, they are sent somewhere else along with your measurements for the actual sewing. Often you get back something decent, but there are lots of negative reviews as well from people where the process ...

I made it! After nearly 18 hours of flying, I finally landed in Koh Samui a few days ago. My friends Scott and Samantha had an airport shuttle booked for me, so I simply got in the shuttle after landing and headed down to my new apartment here. The place I’m renting is about a 10 minute walk from the beach, but it’s in a new complex with a pool, internet, maid service (for $5 a pop), and air conditioning. Normally these units run for about 21,000 Baht/mo (around $700 CAD), but because we were renting two units for two months each, Scott managed to negotiate down to 18,000 Baht/mo ($600/mo), ...

I was just lying in my hotel bed here in Richmond, about to go to sleep, when I realized I hadn’t written anything about heading out tomorrow. On the last round of travel I did, I couldn’t wait to write a post and get the ball moving. But with my cousin recently dying, and the last minute shuffle to get everything back into storage, I’ve actually been pretty wiped out lately. But in about 12 hours I’ll be heading to Vancouver International Airport and getting ready to head to Thailand. I have a 10.5 hour flight to Tokyo in the morning following by a 6.5 hour flight to Bangkok. Together ...

I’m down to 12 days until I leave to Thailand, and it’s definitely fast approaching. My friends Scott and Samantha leave tomorrow, so I’ll get to starting watching their Facebook stream in the next few days to see my first glimpses of Thailand. Cultus Lake Golf I spent the last few days camping up at Cultus Lake, which is one of my favourite summer activities. It was pretty much perfect weather, other than being a tad cold at night, and was really enjoyable and relaxing. I have all my camping gear in my car right now, and am going to start getting it ready this afternoon to put back into ...

I just got back from a four day whirlwind trip to the Toronto area. That means I have another 4,000 miles of flying under my belt this year, putting my grand total somewhere around 50,000 miles since January I believe. The trip back to Vancouver was pretty rickety with turbulence, but I was working on my laptop which helped distract me from the fact that I was hurtling through the atmosphere in a big pressurized pop can. Thailand Beach, Photo by tartarin2009 on Flickr Thailand is fast approaching, and I’m down to only 18 days to get ready. While I’m looking forward to seeing a new country ...

Canadians who just show up in Thailand are usually given a 30 day tourist visa without any hassles, or so I’m told. But given how I’m heading there for two months, I require a visa that is valid for a longer than normal duration. Generally people in my scenario can simply do a visa run, where basically you exit the country and return a short while later. In Buenos Aires most people would simply head over to Uruguay for the day and obtain a new 90 day visa upon return. But truthfully, I didn’t really want to have to worry about that while in Thailand, so I decided to get it all done beforehand. ...

One of the main reasons I came back from my last trip was to take a bit of a breather in BC for a few months, and also to enjoy a bit of time camping in the outdoors. I’ve managed to do both since arriving back at the end of April, and so it’s time to start thinking about moving on again. I quite liked escaping some of Vancouver’s dreary rainy/cold season last year in Argentina, and I thought I would head to the southern hemisphere again this year. With that in mind, I’ve been thinking about New Zealand for almost a year as a place I’d like to visit during North American fall/winter. Around ...