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Sean Plamondon
Sean Plamondon

Sean Plamondon

s’est rendu dans 86 pays. En savoir plus🇨🇦Ottawa
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  • Sean PlamondonEcuadorSean Plamondon

    Montanita - Day 1

    19 janvier 2020, Équateur ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Decided to rent a car and cruise through all the western coastal towns to montanita. Far more expensive but the flexibility was very appealing. I was told there are so many awesome beach towns, i felt it hopefully was an investment worth making.

    But driving out of guayaquil had me worried. People in the city drive like they are being chased by hitmen. Despite most roads having marked lanes, everyone drives like its a nascar track. And seem completely unaware there is a blindspot. Stop signs are optional. Pedestrians are collateral damage. And cutting off others is sport.

    Anyways it went fine, probably aided greatly by being a sunday. Once i hit the western coast, it was one gorgeous beach town after another. So amazing. I very quickly felt that the 4 days i earmarked for the rental was too short. Its flexibility suddenly felt like a handicap. Ironic.

    On arrival to montanita, i had three goals. Find accomodations, sign up with a surfing school, and find a place to watch the nfl playoffs. The latter became priority number 1.. by a lot heh.

    Montanita has a gorgeous beach and amazing vibe in the streets. Endless restaurants and quaint thatch hut accomodations and other nightlife spots. Plus street craft vendors everywhere. Charm oozing all over.

    I found a place for the football games, then walked across the street and paid for a tiki hut room and booked my surf school for the morning - all without moving more than 30 meters. Oh yes, ceviche for both lunch and supper :) life is good.    En savoir plus

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  • Sean PlamondonEcuadorSean Plamondon
    Something to my left distracted me lol

    Playas

    18 janvier 2020, Équateur ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    The temperatures here are ridiculous. 35C at 9am.. and rising fast! Decided a beach day was in order and headed to the closest beach about an hour away to a verrrrry aptly named town called "playas" which translates to "beaches". Surely it had sun and sand!

    Had an awesome day kicking back in my lounging chair and hopping over some pretty big waves. There were no surfers here, so am excited to see what kind of waves world-renowned surf towns montanita and olon have in store. I will hopefully find out in the coming days.

    Feasted on some delicious ceviche. I had an amazing stew type shrimp and crab ceviche in quito that was perhaps the best thing i have ever tasted. This one was shrimp and octopus. More soupy and far less creamy, but very yummy too. I am not sure why ceviche back home is so different, all i know is we are doing it wrong! Really wrong. I might eat this everyday :)    En savoir plus

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  • Sean PlamondonEcuadorSean Plamondon
    The old town is that hill of colorful houses in the background

    Guayaquil

    17 janvier 2020, Équateur ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    Edgar picked me up a bit after 8am to bring me to the airport. While saying good bye, he made it very clear to contact him for *anything* if i run into problems on the rest of my trip and passed on warm regards from his wife too. Sweet guy.

    Flight was only an hour to guayaquil which is about an hour drive from the ocean, so wanted to spend a day here before exploring the coast. Being close to sea level makes a world of difference. Its stinking hot and humid, but I'm not complaining - bring on the heat! But i have to be careful. The sun is ridiculous here. 15 mins without sunscreen will scorch the skin.

    Spent my day popping in and out of all the downtown cathedrals and strolling along the massive waterfront boardwalk (malecon) which is littered with amusement park rides, restaurants and kids play areas.

    The old town is a really cute hilltop area next to downtown with narrow cobblestone lanes and restaurants and tiny hotels around every corner. Reminds me tons of a hilly greek island village but with vibrant colours instead of white and blue. There are 444 steps to reach the top. I started counting, but then noticed around step #20 that each step had an engraved plaque.

    The heat and humidity here is on another level. All you do here is sweat. I could have used an ocean to jump into. Hopefully Tomorrow!    En savoir plus

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  • Sean PlamondonEcuadorSean Plamondon
    1
    11At global positioning 0" 0" 0"

    Quito / Mindo

    16 janvier 2020, Équateur ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Today i decided to get out of the bustle of Quito and check out Mindo, which is in the middle of a jungle / rain forest. Getting there is a bit of a pain, so i opted to get a 3 hour Uber there for $50, saving me the trouble of getting to the far away bus station and potentionally sitting around there for hours waiting to leave.

    My driver, Edgar, didn't speak any english but we were able to communicate with the incredibly useful offline translator apps we both had on our phones. A few minutes into our drive he asked me if i minded if we picked up his wife for the drive to mindo. I said "sure!", and now we were three. I thought it was adorable he wanted to capitalize on his forced trip to mindo and make it a nice day excursion as a couple (plus one very smiley canadian).

    On the way to Mindo, we stopped at La Mitad Del Mundo which is at the equator, "middle of the earth".. so i took a quick picture with myself at the global positioning of 0" 0" 0" ! I am told toilets flush different directions on the two sides of the equator. But i didn't need to evacuate anything from my body, and we were running late so i didn't test the theory.

    Upon arrival in mindo, i told edgar i needed 3 hours for the waterfalls hike i planned to do, which starts with a very rustic, open air cable car ride across the huge cloud forest valley. I told edgar he and his wife had come all this way, they should take the cable car ride with me, and i happily paid their way. Surprisingly, they even hiked down to the first waterfall with me - down the muddy, steep trail in their street shoes.

    They left me to hike the next two hours alone to 5 more waterfalls while they headed back to the cantina, exhausted. The trail to the other waterfalls was in dense, wet jungle. It put such a smile on my face to be scrambling up and down steep trails and being rewarded with a series of gorgeous waterfalls and swimming holes.

    FYI, Mindo is especially famous for its birds. It typically has over 400 different species of birds, capturing the title for most on the planet 6 times in the last 20 years. Yes, there is a competition for everything.    En savoir plus

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  • Sean PlamondonEcuadorSean Plamondon
    1
    1

    Quito - Day 1

    15 janvier 2020, Équateur ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Today i went full tourist. My lonely planet book had a self guided walking tour route, so i followed to a 't' all through quito's gorgeous old town snapping pictures with map always in hand.

    I wandered in and out of countless cathedrals, monestaries and palaces, shuffling across pretty plazas with ornately restored colonial buildings on all sides. Ambling down narrow cobblestone streets enjoying all the warm, smiling ecuadorian faces. A police officer approached me, and my guard went up.. uh oh! And then she handed me a map of quito and smiled. That pretty much sums up how people here are. Very warm and eager to help.

    The highlight of my afternoon was at the massive basilica. In addition to its impressive size and architecture, there are steps (and i use that term generously!) to the top of the bell tower and its not for the faint of heart. I got to the top but I admit it was scary!! Haha. Gave me a lot of second thoughts about my plans to repel a waterfall in banos later this trip. Yikes.

    And its possible i enjoyed a few craft beers between cathedrals too....    En savoir plus

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  • Sean PlamondonEcuadorSean Plamondon
    1

    In Transit

    14 janvier 2020, Panama ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Nothing like a 14 hour travel day to suck out the excitement of a new adventure. Doesn't help that i was out the night before until midnight for a friend's birthday and still hadn't packed yet when i got home :)

    But my day was pretty fun. On my flight to washington, the lady next to me is the mother-in-law of former Senators goalie Mike Bales (?) and she had some interesting stories.

    Then met Tyler from Atlanta at a Dulles airport pub who i shared a few drinks with.

    Longest leg was to Panama. Upon arrival, I found my gate and then grabbed a beer at a nearby magazine stand and started to catch up on my messages, when i hear my name announced over the intercom to urgently come to the gate. It was still 45 minutes to departure. So i ran to the gate and the attendant said i was the last to board. I was really puzzled but when i got on board, it made a bit more sense... as there are only 10 other people on this huge plane. Weird! I can't help but think about the opening scenes of "Knight and Day"... hopefully this is will involve less hand-to-hand combat :) Next stop, Quito!    En savoir plus

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  • Sean PlamondonSoutheast AsiaSean Plamondon

    Hong Kong

    29 juillet 2019, Hong Kong ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    I was able to side step immigration and go straight to my gate at Hong Kong airport which is a relief. Was concerned my passport might trigger an issue. 15 hour flight to Toronto coming up..

  • Sean PlamondonSoutheast AsiaSean Plamondon
    Crocodile street meat!
    Lovely buffets here

    Bangkok

    28 juillet 2019, Thaïlande ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C

    Got into Bangkok late afternoon and checked into hotel with a concerning forewarning from reception... "the music will stop at 2am and you paid for a standard room, here are your earplugs". Lol. Uh oh. More on that later..

    Grabbed my last noodle dish of trip on bustling Khaosan Road and bought a few tshirts - as souvenirs but also because i really needed something to wear haha. Then did a walk through a bunch of markets and gorged on more gelato - this heat really brings out my ice cream sweet tooth. Found the craft beer place i was looking for, but it was disappointing.

    Back to hotel around 7 and napped until 9:30 off and on but the music was ramping up pretty good now and it felt like the speakers were in my room. Never, ever, get a hotel right on Khaosan Road. That was ill advised.

    Feeling refreshed and with the bass pretty much bouncing me out of my bed, i decided to have one last adventure and seek out a popular nightlife area of bangkok, and away from khaosan road, which was too touristy. Hopped in the back of a tuk tuk and hung on tight as he raced through the streets. Right away met 4 guys from Singapore and hopped in and out of a few places with them before heading back.

    Got back around 1am and things were 10x busier on my street and volumes were ridiculous. I had to be up at 4am so i wasn't even sure if i should bother trying. Lay down anyways and made the best of it.

    ...And that pretty much wraps up an amazingly fun romp through southeast asia.    En savoir plus

  • Sean PlamondonSoutheast AsiaSean Plamondon

    Patong (Phuket)

    27 juillet 2019, Thaïlande ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    Took a late morning ferry to island of Phuket and headed to the city of Patong. There didnt seem to be any dramatic mountains or cliffs like everywhere else i have been in Thailand, but it did have a massive beautiful beach. So i got myself a lounging chair and had a relaxing afternoon in and out of water and kicking back.

    Then found a couple of gelato places and really gorged myself on ice cream. Oh boy i didn't feel so great for a while haha.. all self inflicted. But sooo good.

    Then went off to see what the hype is all about on the bar pedestrian street in patong. Its completely bananas. Gogo dancers at almost every establishment, even just normal pubs have them too, and a verrrry bizarre range of live shows you can take in. To be (sorta) clear, I'm not talking broadway stuff lol.. more like Amsterdam crazy stuff. And beyond. And every place has female hosts that come sit with you to keep you company.

    I didnt take in any shows but sat at a few gogo bars just to see what it was all about. Wasn't feeling terribly social today or making the effort to meet new people so was kinda just right to have hosts chat with me instead.

    I think the combination of end of trip being near and being on the move so much has worn me down a bit. Feeling a bit lethargic and content to just people watch. Which in this city is extremely entertaining!    En savoir plus

  • Sean PlamondonSoutheast AsiaSean Plamondon
    One of the thai fighters after his match
    Liam from england1Another dutch familyGirl who challenged me to fight. I would have gotten destroyed

    Phi Phi - Day 2

    26 juillet 2019, Strait of Malacca ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    Spent the morning and afternoon lounging at a beach restaurant with feet in sand, sipping on beer and chatting with everyone unfortunate enough to sit at the table next to me haha. I decided my plan today was to do as little as possible. I think i executed it perfectly.

    First i met Aiesh who works for a business management group in dubai and is interested in investing in my web project codevscode. Made me a tempting offer. Then jasmine and yvonne helped book my hotels in phuket and bangkok because they live in thailand and know it well. Chatted with liam for an hour or two before realizing he's the best friend of the wildling i met the night before. Who incidentally is not going to fight in ring tonight. Boooooo. And finally Chris and his family from holland until sunset.

    Made my way to the reggae bar where the muay thai fighting ring is, and watched a bunch of amateur kickboxers. People were literally getting out of their seats in stands and putting on boxing gloves and into the ring. Very entertaining. A girl challenged me to a fight in ring but i declined lol.. of course.

    Hung out at an irish bar for a bit and then made my way to the beach and chatted with some canadians while sitting in the sand, watching the waves roll in under the moonlight. Next up.. phuket...    En savoir plus

  • Sean PlamondonSoutheast AsiaSean Plamondon

    Phi Phi - Day 1

    25 juillet 2019, Thaïlande ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Took an early ferry to the island of Phi Phi. Hard decision because Krabi was so awesome but gotta see more before heading home. I've completely changed my rough plan and decided to make my way to phuket to witness the insanity i keep hearing about and fly to bangkok from there. Phi Phi is half way to Phuket. Sorta.

    Spent my entire two hour boat ride chatting with friendly Emily from Oregon, then made my way thru the pedestrian streets to hotel. There's no cars or scooters or even golf carts on this island. Foot power or boats.. thats it. Checked into hotel and they handed me ear plugs "in case"... uh oh lol

    After yesterday's hiking adventure in Krabi i looked at my map and looked for more hiking in phi phi. Found a trail that goes to other side of island to some different beaches. Yay.. giddyup. Immediately realized it went to top of mountain and back down other side. Thats ok could use more exercise. Half way up the people took left fork in road so i went right and found more monkeys!! ... suckers! Haha. My instincts are so fine tuned ha.

    Got to top and then descended down other side thru really dense jungle. I admit, it was a bit spooky. Lots of noises i have never heard before and really narrow trail which was hardly recognizable as one. And no one else was doing this part of trail. Hmmm.. lol. I got to the bottom to a nice beach but there was no charm to the eateries.. big buffet setups for chinese tourists. Asked about boats back to other side of island and i would have to wait two hours. Forget that. They asked how i got there and their jaws dropped when i told them i came via the jungle trail and said i was crazy haha. And i was sadly resigned to saving my day and re doing the jungle trail back up. Bleh. Could hear monkeys above me everywhere in trees moving about but needed to keep moving to stay ahead of bugs all over me.

    Finally got back to phi phi beach and ran into the water to cool off and met three really cool israeli girls who took me to the pool party of all pool parties. It was insane... to be brief. Also made a new friend helga from spain there who took me to a bunch of wild beach parties. And finished up a weird helium balloon party place and met a guy right out of game of thrones who is supposed to fight in a ring at the reggae bar on friday.. so stay tuned for that haha. Ridiculous day. So many new and fun friends.    En savoir plus

  • Sean PlamondonSoutheast AsiaSean Plamondon
    Ton Sai beach
    David and I finally reaching Railay beachPhra Nang beachView from unsuccessful jungle pass to phra nang beach

    Krabi - Day 3

    24 juillet 2019, Thaïlande ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    Third day in one place. Nice to put down some roots for a change and relax a bit. Days are getting numbered so its appealing to stay in such a beautiful spot for a few days. Especially with my amazing hotel.

    Off to Railay beach today which is not accessible any other way but by boat because tall cliff rock walls create a huge natural barrier. Met a nice korean-american named david going to the same place. Our boat pulled into a beach and we got off but then quickly realized we were the only ones who got off and the boat was already gone. Wrong beach. Ton Sai beach. Pulled out my map and could see if we traipsed through some jungle we could hike to Railay beach, which we did.

    Railay was striking with more karst rock formations and loads of restaurants on the beach. Had lunch there and then i found another jungle trail to try to reach another beach. This trail was a lot less defined and rough terrain and david only had flipflops and had to abort. I kept going only to find out the other beach was accessible on this trail by going through a cave to the other side but you needed ropes to get up to it. So i had to head back too but got some nice shots from high up.

    David decided to call it a day and head back on next boat but i was more determined and found another path that lead me to Phra Nang Beach through some low level caves and was rewarded with more stunning views and monkeys everywhere! The whole reason david and i hiked that rough terrain was to find monkeys. Poor guy lol.

    From there caught a boat back to Ao Nang where i was staying, to avoid the big storm clouds rolling in. Walking down the road, i was cat called by a bunch of thai ladies having drinks on a patio, so i wandered over and joined them for a beer. Destroyed one of them in 4 games of pool haha and then headed off my hotel pool swim up bar to relax for a while.

    Went back out and had an amazing red snapper main, with green mango salad, and prawns for 10 dollars for supper, a few beers and off to bed to get up early for ferry trip to phi phi island in morning. Pretty sure i will return to Krabi some day. It was a gamble coming here because people i met in cambodia said it rained all day here for a few weeks straight. Its rainy season in all four countries but I haven't had a single day rained out so far. I have a sun-finding gift. And a monkey finding gift too apparently haha.    En savoir plus

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  • Sean PlamondonSoutheast AsiaSean Plamondon

    Krabi - Day 2

    23 juillet 2019, Thaïlande ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    Today did a hike in jungle to some rivers with aqua marine colours, swam in one for a while and then found a beautiful isolated beach outside the main town with almost no one there. Relaxed there for a few hours enjoying a few beers, and hopping in and out of the water to cool off. But not really because the water is warmer than my hotel shower. Incredibly tranquile

    Headed back to town and got a seaside table for some more amazing thai food and people watching while writing my blog entry :) My welsh friend Marianne eventually came and joined me and we set off to find a more happening spot. The nightlife never took off that night but we had fun playing jenga and connect 4 lol over several beers to wind down a very chill day. The northern ireland couple really overdid it the night prior and weren't able to come meet us but probably for the best as they were off to phi phi island the next morning and Marianne was off to some other island, which i completely forget now.

    Some fun facts about thailand. They drive on the left side of the road; they dont use chopsticks; and there's a pretty sizeable muslim population here that i wasn't expecting. There's also a bit of a dictatorship military government going on and all the elections are rigged in their favour. Protesting doesn't seem to be permitted so its a very hard road in Thailand to push forward change. Feel bad for them especially because they're all so friendly and nice.    En savoir plus

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  • Sean PlamondonSoutheast AsiaSean Plamondon
    My resort hotel

    Krabi - Day 1

    22 juillet 2019, Thaïlande ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    Woke up lazily at 8am, when it dawned on me that i have a flight this morning! At 9:45. And my backpack contents were all over the hotel room. Scrambled everything together frantically and ran outside and hopped into a tuk tuk to the airport. When i arrived, the airline knew who i was before telling them haha.. last person. Mid flight i realized i didn't even brush my teeth or look in the mirror before leaving haha. And yes they laughed at my passport when i handed it to them.

    Arrived in krabi many hours later and drive from airport to my resort was amazing. Same karst mountains i saw in halong bay but inland. And yes, i said resort. This place is 30 dollars a night and gorgeous. I think it might be the most I've paid all trip, but still cheap and amazing value.

    Walked down to Ao Nang beach and took in the beautiful bay views and walked around the boardwalk scoping out establishments for later. Its really geared for big tourist numbers.. but its down season now.

    Back to hotel pool bar and met another solo traveller from Wales who has been travelling since November, sold everything, created a finance managing freelance company, and works remotely while travelling. And she has no plans to stop this lifestyle. Incredible concept. I dont think its for me but very interesting.

    Welch girl and i wandered down to the beach bars and met a fun couple from northern ireland and spent the rest of the night sharing travel stories, beers and lots of laughs. This town is a really fun place to be. I think i might stay a while..    En savoir plus

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  • Sean PlamondonSoutheast AsiaSean Plamondon

    Siem Reap - Day 2

    21 juillet 2019, Cambodge ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    After a very uninspiring blog entry yesterday, i felt i needed to up the crazy today.. so hang on tight (mom, I'm just kidding, I don't plan the crazy, I'm just lucky that way haha). But seriously, what a fun day!

    Spent my daylight hours visiting angkor temples. Thats such an understatement. There aren't enough exclamation points to hit the proper emotions of what i saw. Indescribable really. Gate entranceways on their own would be worth the visit, but they were merely foreplay. These were entire cities of ancient temples in amazing conditions. I can't imagine any location on the planet that truly compares, but then again thats why i flew here.

    Wandered in and out of ancient temples all day which were all individual cities and a km apart from each other. Having a personal driver was crucial. Speaking of which, i have a strict rule of taking a pic of everyone i interact with for 10+ mins in this trip. Sorry Kwan! To make things even better, there were monkeys at a number of ruins and temples. One came over to me and some Japanese ladies all friendly like and then scared the crap out of us when it started screaching and showing its teeth repeatedly. It wanted food and we had none. Or were we the food? Dunno. Didn't stick around to ask.

    On long walks between dropoffs and temples were little kids selling cambodian knick knacks. The boys were annoying and whiney, but the little girls got me every time with their adorable personalities. Somehow they all knew i was a huge softie and i always had a huge crowd of kids swarming me while other tourists walked around freely. Not fair. I won't tell you what transpired, but i will say Sean's cambodian emporium is now open for business. I have magnets, scarves, tshirts, purses, and fans. Everything must go! Cheapie, cheapie for you 😁 lol

    After my temple tour was done (and my acquisition of Cambodian junk), I fulfilled a promise I made a day earlier and walked over to the "bugs cafe" and ordered the small "discovery platter". It had ant springrolls, a tarantula donut, silkworm balls, a skewer with grasshoppers, a small tarantula and a scorpion, and a salad with crickets and larvae of some sort. This was verrrrry hard to do alone!! I was actually nervous with every bite and was talking to myself out loud haha. And then i saw 3 tourists walk in so i waved at them and convinced them to join me. 2 Canadians and one American. They ordered the same platter i had, and we had so many laughs trying to make our way thru the "food". Fyi, scorpions are not tasty at all !! Tarantula donut was probably my favourite but really, its a dumb thing to try to rank haha.

    We left together to find a normal restaurant, and we passed a street vendor selling bbq snakes.. so i got one of course. Blech. After an amazing meal (at the restaurant), we parted ways and i ended up at a nightclub when it dawned on me that its 11pm and i hadn't booked my flight yet for tomorrow. Had to push aside all the cambodian "ladies" to get some important paperwork done. Booked my flight to Krabi thailand, wherever that is, and now my dance card was open for business lol.

    A few hours later after declining several marriage proposals, i walked back to my hostel, trying to count the number of females i met tonight who were born females.. sadly, not a big number heh. Strange world over here haha. One guy tried to wager sex with me over a foozball game. He settled with a beer.    En savoir plus

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  • Sean PlamondonSoutheast AsiaSean Plamondon

    Siem Reap - Day 1

    20 juillet 2019, Cambodge ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    Today caught a flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia. Wasn't so sure i was going to get here though. A few days ago when i hiked up the mountain in the humid jungle, my passport was in my back pocket and it got drenched from the humidity. My passport photo is now a bit washed out. The airline gave me a pretty hard time about it today but cambodian passport control didn't seem to care thankfully. Hopefully i dont need to visit an embassy. The airline also searched my backpack which i thought was weird. Some souvenirs in my bag caught their attention. I think they thought i was smuggling drugs.

    Checked into my hotel and walked around. Everyone here is super friendly. Sat down at a restaurant and it came to 4 dollars for my main dish and a beer. Every place here is advertising mugs of beer for 50 cents. And american currency is more prevalent than their own. Even the ATMs spit out US dollars. Waitresses bow with hands together during most interactions, which is a nice touch.

    Cruised through the night market, and then stumbled upon a place that specializes in bugs for cuisine. And not just crickets, but tarantulas and scorpions. Wasnt hungry but i plan to return tomorrow and see how brave i am. When in Rome...

    Crashed early to recharge my batteries. In bed by 9pm and have a big day at the temples coming up. Plus not feeling 100%. A good nights sleep should help a lot.    En savoir plus

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  • Sean PlamondonSoutheast AsiaSean Plamondon

    Luang Prabang - Day 2

    19 juillet 2019, Laos ⋅ ⛅ 34 °C

    Laos is the land of a million elephants. And currently there are only 800 in Laos and apparently losing 40 per year. Tragic.

    Shelf that for a minute. Hired a driver to this crazy cascading waterfall that must have had 25 levels of cascading pools at least. Hiked to the top and bottom and jumped around in some of the pools. There was also a sun bear conservation on the premises to rehab bears. Could have stayed all day but i had other plans and this was a really fun way to kill a few hours.

    Had a tour with elephants and i did a fair amount of research to make sure it was as humanitarian as possible because there's a lot of bad ones (sanctuaries, not elephants). The one I chose is the only one i found that doesn't allow riding them and they don't use physical force on elephants, just positive reinforcement. Riding elephants hurts them apparently. Hard on their spine and neck. All these elephants were rescued from logging operations and they teach them how to be elephants again and eventually release back into wild.

    This place is 20 hectares on the side of a mountain, with no fences but the elephants dont leave because they get fed and love. Day started by me and others in my group preparing some elephant snacks which were rolling sticky rice balls into rock salt and putting salt into some split bananas. Also brought some sugar cane and banana tree branches. Then we boated across a river to where the elephants were and fed them.

    At first i was putting food right into its mouth, and after some mixed levels of success the elephant wanted me to place food on its trunk end so it could put in its mouth itself. Then we walked with the elephants up the jungle mountain side a bit so they could find some bamboo trees to eat and some trees to rub against. Pretty surreal experience.

    Hours later, back in luang prabang i ran into some dutch guys i met on the bus ride from nong khiaw who recommended an awesome restaurant across the river that was all cushions on the floor with low tables. Not only was this the most comfortable restaurant ever, but the food was unbelievable. As per the waiter's suggestion i got sausage for an app and whole fish for my main. Best I've ever had for either and i brought some of my feast to nearby tables to share the experience with. They all fully agreed on how delicious it was. Met my first Canadian from this trip at one of those tables.

    Finished the night at the same pub as night prior to cap my luang prabang experience with some friendly faces. Off to Cambodia tomorrow.    En savoir plus

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  • Sean PlamondonSoutheast AsiaSean Plamondon

    Luang Prabang - Day 1

    18 juillet 2019, Laos ⋅ ⛅ 35 °C

    I will start with how last night ended. After supper i had a beer at a sleepy pub and when it shut down at 10 i started heading home. On the way, there was about 20 Lao having a huge feast near the street, and they were being a bit rowdy. My instincts drew me to walking by close to them, I smiled and said hi in passing. Next thing i know, they're scrambing to get me a chair, fixing me a plate of food and pouring me a beer. It was the dak lak wedding all over again. Everyone was obsessed with me, challenging me to chug beer after beer... and lots of laughs. Omg it was such a hilarious good time. I offered several times to pay for the beer i was drinking but that went no where fast. Not sure what time i stumbled out of there but it ended with hugs all around. Bit sad to leave nong khiaw as i think seeing them the next day would have been awesome.

    This morning took a VERY bumpy 4 hour bus ride to Luang Prabang. Felt really nauseous so checked into hotel and lay down for a few hours. I never want to take another bus ride in this country again. Blech.

    Walked around the old quarter popping in and out of a gazillion buddist temples and monestaries plus the royal palace. You can't throw a stone in this city without hitting 3 temples. They're everywhere. Crossed a ridiculously ricketty bamboo bridge that really had myself questioning that decision.. but it somehow held together. This city is immaculately clean and all the buildings have a similar look with white exterior and deep brown wood trim.

    Wanted to hit the night market tonight and check out some really interesting open air lounges but the skies really opened up tonight, so doing much of anything has been challenging. I was just thinking about how lucky i have been with rain lately, so this was overdue, especially this being rainy season. So found a quiet pub near my hotel and chatted with bartender for a couple hours and off to bed. Tomorrow is supposed to be dry...    En savoir plus

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  • Sean PlamondonSoutheast AsiaSean Plamondon
    Kung Fu Monks
    My new Lao familyFound this cave on the way up that i did NOT enter1View from peakHold my beer...3Me being a pirate and boarding a vessel uninvited

    Nong Khiaw - Day 2

    17 juillet 2019, Laos ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C

    Meant to get up at 6 to hike one of the nearby towering mountains. The valley is so narrow, its really hard to get a good picture because everything is so close and straight up. Anyways didnt get rolling until 7:30 and it was getting hot fast.

    On my way to the trail i passed by a buddhist temple gated area. I asked a monk if i could walk in and take some pics. He smiled and agreed but i could see all of them keeping a very close eye on me while they swept the grounds. So i snapped a bunch of quick pics before they went kung fu panda on me with their brooms.

    Walking down the same dirt road a bit further, side stepping all the roosters and chickens, 3 lao kids spotted me and sprinted towards me wanting high fives all around. I whipped out the phone and they immediately huddled up and struck a pose. Too cute.

    The trail was closed but told a nearby barkeep my problem and he ran down the road to get the gatekeeper to let me in. Then up and up through the dense jungle canopy. It was so dense, i didn't see daylight until i reached the top which was great for not being in the sun but very bad for mosquitos (malaria pills in action) and ridiculous humidity. Everything was wet even without any rain and 40C temps. Didnt see any wildlife except lizards and a massive centipede that wrapped its body around a sizeable tree branch. Yuck.

    I was being really careful to not touch any vegetation, learning from Orlis' wisdom in Colombia and watch out for holes, but they were everywhere... in trees and all the rocks and ground. And with the trail pitch being 60 to 70 degrees steep, i had to grab onto anything i could and with very tricky footwork.

    I was about 80% up, and pulled my hand back from a branch i used for support and a black bug about half the size of my palm had attached itself to it. I let out a girly scream and flicked it off but not before it bit me or stabbed me.. i dunno, i had one puncture spot. So i stood there for 5 mins waiting to see if it would swell up and also trying to decide if i should abort and rush back down the mountain or continue to the top. I got to the summit, took in the view for 30 mins and sadly didn't develop any superhero abilities to spray webs from my wrists, so i walked back down.

    Spent the afternoon lazily hanging by the river jumping in and out of the water. A river boat was drifting slowly in front of my hotel so i dove in and climbed aboard haha. Arrrrrr, i be a pirate!

    Early bus ride tomorrow to Luang Prabang so not anticipating adding anything else to this entry in this sleepy town but who knows where dinner will lead....

    EDIT: Wow was i wrong. As i walked home i strolled past a lao party and joined them. It was like the wedding all over again! Soooo fun.    En savoir plus

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  • Sean PlamondonSoutheast AsiaSean Plamondon

    Nong Khiaw - Day 1

    16 juillet 2019, Laos ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    Today taking a 5 hour boat down the Nam Ou river to Nong Khiaw. Got money out of the ATM first thing yay! Then wandered around the village interacting with locals. Everyone here is so smiley and happy when i say hi - its very infectious. There's chickens and roosters all over the streets haha.. i love it. Something big was going on at the temple so checked that out for a bit. Everyone was carrying some sort of gold or silver urn with them. And there was a constant parade of women carrying big platters of food in and out of the temple. Blessing the food? Apparently today is Buddha day, the biggest of the month. So, happy buddha day to everyone reading this!

    Boat ride was awesome. Motoring down the river past rural laos villages, winding through towering mountains. Regularly passing by fishermen and water buffalo taking a bath in the river. The journey was as great as the destination. Everything is so lush and jungly. But hot! I was really hoping for a bit of a break of the heat in the mountains... but i think its worse with the much higher humidity. I booked a nice cabin right on the river with a cute deck in front. See pic :)

    Chilled for a few hours by the river on my deck, then found a restaurant with amazing views of the river and surrounding mountains. Not much happening for nightlife so will likely be another early night. Which is good because i want to try one of the high mountain hiking trails tomorrow and best to do early.    En savoir plus

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  • Sean PlamondonSoutheast AsiaSean Plamondon
    My propeller plane to dien bien phu
    Plains meets mountains before LaosTiered rice paddy farming1

    Muang Khua (Laos)

    15 juillet 2019, Laos ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    Well today certainly was interesting. Flew from Hanoi to the far northwest reaches of vietnam to Dien Bien Phu. Next bus wasn't until the morning but I wanted to be on a boat in Laos down the river Nam Ou tomorrow morning so splurged on a taxi to the Laos border for $25. Now the fun begins..

    My taxi can't cross the border because he didn't have required permits for it. But this is a really remote crossing point and there's no transportation on other side. Plus the lady who does the Laos visas left work for the day as she was apparently drunk. Or perhaps i got a poor translation.. dunno. Either way i have two problems to solve. There was a small place renting rooms on viet side so i know i wont be sleeping on the side of road at least.

    The vietnamese exit guards managed to contact someone in laos who would drive me all the way to muang khua for 100 dollars. Total rip off and would eat most of my american money. But i brought it for getting out of a bind and this qualified. Waited 90 mins for that guy to finally show up. Then he somehow knew where the drunk laos visa lady was and went to get her. In the meantime, my viet taxi guy stuck around the entire 90 mins for some reason. I told him he could go because i had accomodations right there if i needed them but he stuck around anyways. Bored? Entertained? I dunno. He was really nice though as he stopped a number of times during drive to show me some pretty spots for pictures. Ah vietnam, i will miss you.

    When visa lady showed up, boy was she in a foul mood. Berated me for showing up so late at the border (5:30pm lol). My visa cost me another 40 US and she charged me another 10 for making her work overtime. And she was ridiculously picky about which bills she would accept. They had to be in pristine shape. She rejected almost all the ones i handed her but fortunately there were a few to her liking and my visa got processed. She didnt seem to know how to talk to me without yelling. See you later, dragon lady.

    All the people at the border kept asking why was i crossing there lol. It was really perplexing to them why i didnt fly in somewhere and went to the trouble of this remote land crossing. The answer to me was obvious. It was absolutely gorgeous. High up in the mountains and deep in the jungle, the scenery was breathtaking. Back in vietnam, in dien bien phu, it was flat but you could see the wall of mountains towards laos in the distance... much like calgary towards the rockies.

    Fortunately i had just enough viet dong to pay my driver and salvaged my US dollars, and very thankfully. I made an error and showed up in Laos without any of their currency (Kip) and all the ATMs were out of order or locked up for the night. I arrived in muang khua in the dark after 8pm and found two guesthouses. One had A/C, no wifi and would not accept dollars. The other no A/C, wifi yes, and 10 dollars was good for them as payment. Easy choice.

    Found a place for food, and some beer that won't win any creative naming awards (beerlao), and i was thoroughly enjoying things falling into place and laughing about today's challenges. The restaurant lady was really nice and her cute daughter and i played as the restaurant lady shut things down. Early night for me.    En savoir plus

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  • Sean PlamondonSoutheast AsiaSean Plamondon

    Hanoi - Day 2

    14 juillet 2019, Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    This morning i found the international post office, lugged my large souvenirs there, paid waaaaay more than i wanted to send them home. And then found a market and bought two more of the same thing lol !! Boy i really hope the receivers of these particular items like them as much as i do cuz its been challenging dragging them all over this country.

    After that i did a bit of a pub crawl. Went to legend beer garden. Then pasteur brewery. Then new gentry beer house.

    Then i had hilarious fun at the famous train street of hanoi where the train cuts right through a pile of buildings. They have tons of tables and chairs set up against the tracks and as the train approaches, waiters come running out, yanking tables and chairs out from under you and everyone scrambles against a nearby wall. Its not as dangerous as it sounds because it comes in pretty slow but still alarming at first even though you know its coming.

    Went back to the night market, and found a spot higher up to watch them set up and later found an awesome side street spot to watch the world pass by while i sipped on beers relecting on the crazy fun this vietnam trip has been. If things work out tomorrow i will be in Laos by the end of the day so really enjoyed having a quiet day to leisurely walk around and take in some final views.    En savoir plus

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  • Sean PlamondonSoutheast AsiaSean Plamondon

    Hanoi - Day 1

    13 juillet 2019, Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 35 °C

    In the morning, our ship docked at one of the karst islands for us to hike up it and into a cave near the top and spend a bit of time on sandy beach at bottom. From there we zigzagged thru dragon back rocks unti we reached the port again around 11am. I fully intend to return some day and do that again and a longer cruise too.. wow!

    Around noon, we were put on luxury vans for our commute to Hanoi. Leather lazy boy type seats and wifi for the 3 hour ride. In my van was a really sweet family of 4 from Holland who i chatted with the entire ride. I was actually sad to say bye to them as we arrived at my hotel first, but its been that kind of trip. Everyone i meet is awesome.

    Checked into hotel and set off to find Pasteur Street brewery 3 blocks away. After a quick pint, walking back with a grumbling tummy, i spotted a pho restaurant with a lineup out the door and down the street, so i got in line of course :) I was seated at a long community type table and was again lucky to have english speaking locals all around me.

    After a lot of chatter, one offered to show me around the old quarter and off we went. Cruised around the night market for a bit, then went to a water puppet theatre performance. Whats that? Heck if i know lol.. what a strange experience haha. There's a pool of water in a theatre and people playing instruments on both right and left sides plus doing voices of puppets that swim around in the water. Very cute. 9/10 for creativity? Some old friends from banff would be particularly interested in attending this thing while on their favourite flavour of illicit goodies i think.

    Then we jammed ourselves through ridiculous crowds on some narrow streets that were littered with tiny tables and tiny stools and a string of endless pubs and eateries as far as you could see. Hanoi has a lot more intimacy and character than ho chi minh city but you really pay for it when everyone wants to be in the happening spots.

    I will share one last humourous moment that i should probably keep to myself. We ducked indoors to a lounge to escape the heat (even at night, its ridiculous). They had these huge sliding glass doors to get in and out. After a pint, I asked where the toilets were and it was across the street. Like a bird, i waltzed straight into a pane of glass in full stride like i thought i could walk through walls and bounced back. Two staff ran to me making an even bigger spectacle of my stupidity lol. Nothing damaged but my pride heh. Will see how else i can embarrass myself tomorrow.    En savoir plus

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  • Sean PlamondonSoutheast AsiaSean Plamondon

    Halong Bay

    13 juillet 2019, Gulf of Tonkin ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    Today i am off to halong bay. Transportation there was supposed to be easy. Anything but. Booked a grab taxi which i was told would take 2 hours so i left at 8:30 and needed to be at cruise port by 12 sharp. 1/4 of the way there my driver realizes his address given is in hanoi for some halong bay company. So me and him and grab company had a bit of a disagreement on the new price which now jumped from $50 to $100. 30 mins later we were back on the road but time was becoming an issue.

    Arrived at cruise port terminal at 12. Ran in and the person i talked to said I'm at the wrong terminal. Got her to call my ship and they said i had 15 mins to get there. I asked how long it would take to drive there and they said 15 mins lol. I ran out found a taxi stand and all the drivers were perplexed on the address i handed them. One seemed to have an idea so off we went. Arrived at 12:30 and luckily they held up the boat for me. Phew.

    As soon as i got on the boat i was adopted by a british family to join them for lunch which was nice. Also met a nice couple from san diego who just got married in thailand and another person from NYC.

    When i booked this cruise, i had no idea how luxurious it would be. My room is huge and gorgeously decorated. I even have jacuzzi tub. There are menus on the tables for each meal but you don't pick what you want - they just bring you everything on it. Impossible to eat every dish they bring and sooo good. There are only 24 passengers, but 30+ staff so the service was awesome. And they had all our names memorized.

    The rock formations are very similar to what i saw in Tam Coc, but being in the ocean made them all the more striking. Shortly after lunch we dropped anchor and kayaked around some of the giant rocks. The water was incredibly warm just like in da nang. Amazing. Followed by supper under the stars and an early night as everything shut down around 10. Its impossible to put into words how beautiful halong bay is, but lets just say it held up to my lofty expectations as the trip's highlight (so far).    En savoir plus

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  • Sean PlamondonSoutheast AsiaSean Plamondon

    Tam Coc - Day 2

    12 juillet 2019, Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    As per the hotel managers recommendation i took a taxi to trang an and got into a small boat with two spaniards from madrid (Nacho and Jose) for a 3 hour tour of the towering rock formations jetting straight out of the water. We meandered slowly around the monolithes, and through 9 caves that went right through the giant rocks. Also stopped at a few buddhist temples built right into the sides of the rock.

    Easily the most beautiful thing ive ever seen and experienced. When you look at the pics, picture them surrounding you and much higher as the camera seems to flatten them out. Surprisingly the rower for each boat was female. Who needs a gym membership when you get paid to row people all day! These girls were in amazing shape.

    I caught a taxi with nacho and jose back to Tam Coc where we caught another boat to take us up another river with similar formations for 1.5 hours and 3 more caves. Equally beautiful and amazing. Our rower here was male and he only used his feet! Hard to picture eh? At the far end of the river, was a small floating market where we bought some beer, fruit and nuts for the ride back as this boat ride backtracks instead of a big loop like the first one. So i made myself more comfortable lying down, feet over the edge, sipping my beer as i floated slowly through paradise.

    Jose spotted a can floating in the river so i scooped it out as we went by. Then i noticed something else in the river and pointed to it for our rower to steer that way with his talented feet :) It was a rice paddy hat, so i fished it out and wore it the rest of the day. I love it, even the pink chin strap haha.

    After that the guys wanted to find some big pagoda, but i was starving and they opted to come follow my nose to a nearby restaurant where we had a huge feast and many a beer as well (shocking, i know). Shame they were heading south while i headed north as they were good fun to spend time with. So we parted ways with each others contact info.

    Back to the hotel to chill in the pool and sift through my 500 pics taken on the boat rides today. Might have had a beer too.. perhaps :) Later around 9, the hotel manager "Ha" took me on a tour of Tam Coc's sleepy nightlife scene and most notably she showed me a bus bar where the roof of a working bus was turned into a lounge. Pretty cool. Fantastic finish to a picture perfect day.

    I can only post 6 pics but google Tam Coc and Trang An to see more.    En savoir plus

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