Tamarindo is a laid-back fishing town that has been and continues to be converted over to a surfing town and a major tourist destination for foreigners. I stayed in a great hostile with a talkative parrot outside in a cage. I spent my time relaxing, improving my surfing, and hanging out with my newfound friends from Quebec who were staying in a nearby hotel. I really enjoyed the great surfing, amazing sunsets, relaxing atmosphere and friendly people. I greatly improved my confidence and skill in surfing and my appreciation for the skill and fitness the sport entails. I would love to go back and visit Tamarindo as it is a great place for relaxation, fun and surfing. Pura Vida!

Labels: Central America, Costa Rica, Travel, World Tour

Costa Rica is a beautiful country and it has learned to leverage that for its tourist industry. Its most popular form of tourism he is called eco-tourism which promotes exploring its beautiful national parks, beaches, rain forests, volcanoes, and mountains. After a 12 hour layover in Atlanta, allowing me to visit my family, I headed to the airport for my final journey of the trip. The three hour flight to Costa Rica was an easy one and by far the shortest I had taken. I flew into Liberia, Costa Rica where I stayed for one day as arranged transport and lodging for the rest of the trip. The following day I visited Santa Rosa National Park home to volcanic hot springs and boiling mud pools, as well as beautiful rain forest, the Colorado River and one of the most beautiful waterfalls I've seen in my life. I met some new friends from Quebec Canada and hiked most of the trails with them. I heard monkeys, saw a unique raccoon and a large spider while on the hike. At the end of the day I headed back to my hostel in Liberia and rested up to get ready for my trip the following morning to Tamarindo.

Labels: Central America, Costa Rica, Travel, World Tour

I had a twenty three hour layover in Incheon Airport which is just a short bus ride from Seoul, so decided to head into Seoul, get some sleep and explore a bit. I arrived late at night so I found my hostel and went to bed. The next day I spent my time exploring about some of the palaces, markets full of dried anything from the ocean and walking around the main road near my hostel. I didn't spend enough time to have real feel for Seoul, but from my time there I did enjoy it and wouldn't mind visiting again in the future.

Labels: Asia, Dried Sea Creatures, Seoul, South Korea, Temple, Travel, World Tour

Melbourne is a city with a very creative and artistic feel to it. There is a huge focus an design both in the architecture of the city and in the universities and around it. Melbourne feels a little more laid back and relaxed feel than Sydney, but is just as much fun and interesting none the less. I stayed with a couple friends while visiting and was amazed at how broad a reach the local transport had and how relatively easy it was to get around on. One of the highlights of my trip to Melbourne was going with some friend to see an Ausie Rules Football Game! If you have never been or seen a game I highly recommend it. It seems to be a mix of the speed and intensity of soccer with the rules similar to American Football and the no pads roughness of Rugby. It is awesome! I also got to catch up with new and old friends, take a day trip along the Great Ocean Road, See some Kangaroos in the wild, eat Kangaroo for the first time and go to a Pixar Exhibit. I really enjoyed the atmosphere, design and culture of Melbourne and if I had to pick where to live between Sydney and Melbourne I think I would pick Melbourne.

Labels: Australia, Cities, Melbourne, Travel, World Tour

If I had to pick another country to live in permanently so far I would have to pick Australia. The people are friendly, fun and adventurous. The landscape is as varied and unique as the people and the atmosphere in the cities I visited was full of excitement, pride and friendship. Sydney is another city that seems to do a great job of mixing skyscrapers with nature. From the tallest building in Sydney it is about a fifteen minute walk to the Royal Botanical Gardens. The Gardens are impassively large and full of beautiful and unique plants and flowers from all over the world.
They are open to the public and free to explore. I really enjoyed seeing the beautifully designed Opera House, Botanical Gardens and most of all catching up with some old and new friends. Australians seem to have a good live play balance. Occasionally a little to much alcohol is involved in the play, but for the most part, they know how to have a good time and welcome others to join in. I was fortunate enough to take a friends generous offer and stay on her couch in Manly, a beautiful surfers paradise that reminded me a little bit of Seaside in Florida.

Labels: Australia, Cities, Sydney, Travel, World Tour

Tokyo is an amazing city. It's size and population are stagering. It is a city that in it's busy parts never sleeps, but, surprisingly, on the outskirts can feel like a small town and can be very peaceful and quiet even at lunch time. The metropolis of Tokyo consists of 23 city wards, 26 cities, 5 towns and 8 villages at over 12 million people There a difference of 2 million people in Tokyo between night and day due to the amazingly efficient and vast subway system. I really enjoyed visiting Tokyo and experiencing a taste of both the amazing energy, technology and night life as well as the beauty serenity and peace that can be found in the same amazing city. While their I rented a city bike for three dollars a day and used that to explore my area. I also used the subway extensively and was amazed both by it's complexity and scale as well as how intuitive, easy and most of all punctual it was. I visited the Electronics District Akihabara, The Tsukiji Fish Market, Shibuya, Asakusa Temple as well as Kappabashi Street an are full shops with all kinds of kitchen gadgets and even plastic food that looks so real it makes your mouth water. I hope to return to Japan in the future and further explore this beautiful country that seems to do a great job mixing cutting edge technology and culture with tradition and nature.

Labels: Asia, Japan, Tokyo, Travel, World Tour

If you want to go to a beautiful and incredibly inexpensive beach paradise I highly recommend Koh Chang Island! The water is beautiful, the people are amazingly kind and generous and the atmosphere is fun, and relaxing. I stayed in a bamboo bungalow right on the ocean. The Sunsets here were some of the best I've seen with Palm tree silhouettes and beautiful calm water.
I had a very relaxing time and met some new friends from Germany while there. We all went on a snorkeling trip on one day and got to see the beautiful underwater life of the Gulf of Siam. I hope to visit Koh Chang again in the future as I developed a good friendship with the sweet hotel owner and loved the beautiful and relaxing atmosphere.

Labels: Asia, Island, Koh Chang, Ocean, thailand, Travel, World Tour

Home to beautiful caves, waterfalls, and a dark history, Kanachaburi is the location of the famous Bridge over the River Kwai, Hell Fire Pass and the Kanachaburi War Cemetery. After a sobering, but informative and awe inspiring visit to the War Cemetery, Bridge over the River Kwai and Hell Fire Pass I was excited to find my pre-aranged lodging for the night turned out to be a very nice floating hotel on the river accessed via motorized Thai Long Tail Boat! It was a really cool hotel and quite a treat.The next day I woke up early to go ride and wash Elephants. Elephants are very awkward animals to ride in my opinion. Not uncomfortable, but I just felt like it would be easy to fall of if you weren't careful and the top of an elephants head is pretty high in the air. It was really fun to ride the elephants and bathing them after the ride was well worth the extra money it had cost. They are amazingly gentle animals and fun to play in the water with. After the Elephant ride I went spelunking in a really cool cave and then to a beautiful water fall to swim a bit before heading back to Bangkok to leave for Koh Chang the next day.

Labels: Asia, Bridge Over the River Kwai, Kanachaburi, thailand, Travel, World Tour

The city of old and new, tradition and transition, poor and rich, historic and modern. Bangkok is an interesting city to say the least. It is a city with many traditions that is merging with the modern world and all the minor and major changes that bring with it. It was amazing to walk down one of the most touristy streets in Bangkok and see a mix of travelers, businessmen, street vendors and beggars/homeless all living and interacting together. I enjoyed seeing the diverse culture and visiting some of the amazingly intricate palaces, temples, monuments and statues although it was sad to see people so devoted and entrenched in a religion that causes many of them to live in fear of bad luck and disfavor with the gods.
I was also saddened to see the prevalence and relative openness of the so called sex trade there. From tourists walking around with different Thai "girlfriends" every day to the Tuk-Tuk drivers always willing to take you to a massage parlor or ping pong show for free, to the "girly" boy that asked me if he/she/it could come to my room with me. I loved how inexpensive everything was and plan to return to southeast Asia again to further explore and enjoy the beautiful people, culture and landscape there.

Labels: Bangkok, thailand, Travel, World Tour