Why do lots of women in Bangkok have adams apples?

Hello all and welcome to the latest installment of my blog. I am currently writing to you from Luang Prabang in Northern Laos, which is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful towns in the entire of South-East Asia.

The town sitting in the forest covered mountains of Northern Laos and lieing on the Mekong river, the natural setting is undoubtedly stunning. However it is not just the natural setting, the town is a French colonial jewel, and the town blends perfectly it's natural beauty and it's buddhist and French architecture.

However it is not just Luang Prabang in Laos that is beautiful. I have been generally impressed with this stunning country, which is a pleasant change from the hectic lifestyle of Japan and Thailand. Laos is how I imagine Thailand was 30 years ago, before all the development began. In Laos there is a feeling of true South-East Asian culture that is lacking in the tourist fronts that exist in Thailand.

This is not to say that I disliked Thailand, in fact my time in Bangkok and Chiang Mai (Northern Thailand) was very enjoyable, but it is a different kind of fun. In Laos I am enjoying the culture, in Thailand I loved the nightlife. Whether in Chiang Mai, or Bangkok I rarely got it before sunrise and I doubt this will change when i return to Thailand in a few weeks for the Full Moon Party.

However I best go as I am heading out to try some of the spectacular Laon (I think that's right) cuisine. Tomorrow I head into Vietnamwhere I will spend a couple of weeks before heading into Cambodia.

I will speak to you all soon.

Phil

Gaijin Smash!

Hello all, and welcome to the latest installment of my blog. I am now in Bangkok having arrived in Thailand a couple of days ago following just over a week in Japan.

I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent in Japan, which I would say is probably the country with the most unique culture that I have ever visited. As a people they exceptionally reserved (almost frustratingly so) and even in the hustle and bustle of Tokyo nobody seems to rush anywhere. The other thing is that they have a huge number of cultural norms which you are supposed to follow, and everybody does this without question. For example you could be at a set of traffic lights at 4 in the morning where there wasn't a car on the road, and people would not cross unless the pedestrian light was showing. This is just one thing of hundreds, and from speaking to traveller's i discovered that many merely did not abide by any as it was easier to do none and just be dismissed as a foreigner that didn't know any better. the term used in Japan is gaijin, and led to the phrase being coined by backpackers in the country 'gaijijn smash' which is effectively where you just do what you want and get away with it because the Japanese generally find it more funny these days apparently as your a foreigner that doesn't know any better (although I did make sure I followed all the religious rites).

Anyway aside from culturally offending an entire nation I spent my week in Japan in Tokyo and Kyoto. Tokyo was a crazy city with everything going on at all times, however I far preferred Kyoto. The city is far prettier with beautiful shrines everywhere and geishas walking the streets. The town also has great nightlife, and every night i was there i was out until at least 7 in the morning including hitting up many karaoke bars (worryingly it turns out that my best karaoke number is the Backstreet Boys' 'I Want it That Way).

Anyway that is all for now as I have to head to Bangkok train station to catch a train to Chiang Mai in the North.

I will update you all on my progress soon.

Phil

Hollywood!

Hello everybody and welcome once again to the latest installment of my blog. Yet again I have not posted for a while, however this is due to the fact that I have been exceptionally busy over the last few weeks and have not had the time to sit around and post.

I am currently writing this from my hostel in Tokyo Japan. I have bid farewell to the America`s and yesterday I arrived on Asian soil. I will be here for just over a week before I head to Thailand. I think the shortness of my stay in Japan is a wise choice. Not because i do not like it, in fact today has been fascinating, but because it is extortionately expensive. I have spent all today walking around Tokyo, starting early in the morning at the Tokyo fish market where I had a sushi breakfast whilst wandering around. It seems that the Japanese are the French of the sea, they eat anything that swims. My sushi/sashimi breakfast included salmon eggs, which was interesting to　say the least. The food here is great, if unusual. Last night I had octopus and noodle soup, although how I was supposed to eat the soup itself with the chopsticks i`m still trying to work out.

Anyway since I have last posted I have actually spent the bulk of my time in Mexico and the United States. The rest of my time in Mexico was fairly enjoyable, I spent around a week exploring the countryside around the Copper Canyon and found it very relaxing. It was also nice to get away from the hectic surroundings of Mexico City and into a true wilderness.

Following my time in the Copper Canyon I decided to head straight up to the US. The first stop was San Diego where I stayed for a couple of days. San Diego in actual fact suprised me a little. Despite having relatively little for a backpacker to do in the day apart from going to the beach, it had a great nightlife. The Gas Lamp Quarter in particular was really fun and seemed to have a lot going on every evening, although it is a slight pity that all clubs had to close before 2.

Now following San Diego, my next stop was LA where I was set to fly out to Japan. I was looking forward to LA because a friend, Neil, who I met in Columbia and travelled with for a for a few weeks had invited me to stay with him whilst I was in LA. This was great for 2 reasons, firstly I got on really well with Neil and was looking forward to a few nights out, and secondly it saved me the cost of accomodation for the 5 days I was staying. However I did not know how lucky I had got.

Now I was wondering where Neil was staying in LA. Neil is in fact from the UK and had told me that he was going to be in Austin, Texas for the next couple of months working on a film (he works as a production assistant), so when he told me he was actually working in LA I was suprised. I kind of knew that I had struck it　lucky when I was picked up in a Porsche by Neil`s friend who was also named Neil (i`ll call him by his surname Mandt in order not to make this ridiculously confusing). Now on the drive back to his house he informed me that Neil were old friends who had met travelling about 8 years before and that Neil was now living in his house and working for him. Mandt as it turned out is a very succesful Hollywood TV producer and director who owns his own production company and has directed a number of independent films. He told me that he was more than happy for me to crash in his guest house at his place in the Hollywood hills as he was always willing to help a traveller out and because I was a friend of Neil`s. I still find it almost hard to believe. His place was amazing and quickly made up for all the cockroach-riden hotels i`ve stayed in over the last 6 months.

However that was not all. On the second night I was in LA Mandt invited me along to a party at one of his friends places. This party was as it turned out was in the most ridiculous house I have ever seen. The party was great even if I did not really fit in due to the fact that I was neither an exceptionally attractive girl who worked as an actress/??? or an exceptionally wealthy man. That being said the party was great and I attracted quite a lot of attention, if only for being the only man there under the age of 25.... they probably thought I was an actor, or model.

The rest of the time was fairly chilled

Anyway I best be off, I should be heading out in Tokyo soon.

Speak to you all soon

Phil

Speak to you all soon