Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Goodbye Bangkok, Hello Nepal

Well, we're off to Nepal. I haven't been eating very much; I have no appetite (very unusual - bad sign) and some abdominal discomfort, but no symptoms other than that. Weird. I've been getting massages every night the last few days ($6/hr). I found out there's a certification you can get at one of the local temples, but it takes a week and I only just found out about it. Both Thai massage and foot massage, too. I went to see the floating market north of Bangkok today and it was a total tourist trap but whatever, it was cool. But the other accompanying tourist trap was crazy and worth it: the snake dudes.

It's a snake farm where they have a bunch of snakes and milk their venom to produce the serum for snake bites. They also host groups of 100 or so tourists for a freak show every hour. They have these four dudes that are absolutely lunatic and go into this ring and agitate the snake enough for it to try to attack them, and they doge it. They're really good at it, but it still looks dangerous as hell. I posted two pics, but I have some incredible video once I have a good connection.

So I thought you guys might be interested in what we brought on this trip, so Em and I arranged everything and took a few pics. Here's the list, of what's in the picture, starting in the upper left and going counterclockwise.



rain jackets
hiking boots (2 pair)
running shoes (em)
closed toe sandals (me)
flip flops (me)
clogs (em)
lightweight daypack
socks, underwear, long johns
pants, long sleeve shirt, running shorts
chess set
plastic screw container (spices n stuff)
Aloe Vera
razor
toothbrushes and toothpaste
sunscreen
cards
laundry detergent for washing clothes in sink
knife
pain killers
hand sanitizer
dish rag
strong bug repellent
watch (lost soon after photo was taken. also almost immediately after chris starts wearing it.)
more bug repellent.
water tablets
floss
hand soap
women's deodorant
2 headlamps
more sunscreen
umbrella
books: The Lexus and the Olive Tree, Bird of Thailand, John Irving's World According to Garp, Memoirs of a Geisha, and a few romance novels
maps: around vang vient, around Koh Tao, around Laos
traveler bible: lonely planet
2 silk sleep sacks
small leather notebook
sunglasses
purse with most official paperwork
regular wallet and travel wallet
frisbee
water pump
petroleum jelly
emergency shelter
sleeping bags
stove with windscreen
first aid kit
pots
2 spoons (usually, one's missing)
compass
emergency fire starters
2 sarongs
1 hat
tent
poles
2 sleeping pads
medications, as noted previously
camp towel that smells like ass
wall plug converter
more meds
camping cup for tea and shit
tampons
big camera (canon SE15)
small camera (canon)
laptop

4 comments:

Audrey said...

i was worried that you might not have left fully prepared in the sarong department, but now i see that you packed an extra, and i feel much better.

have fun in nepal! i just read "into thin air," and would really appreciate it if you two would not go much further than base camp.

ethan said...

for sure ditch the romance novels to cut out some weight. nepal should be a blast.

ps dad has a sore throat and his remedy for it is to be constantly snacking on salty, greasy and fatty foods (popcorn, mcdonalds, cookies, beer etc...) which supposedly soothe the throat. hes also roaming around the house speaking in barely audible whispers and knocking on tables to communicate. what a wangsta. thats pretty much the only interesting thing going on here.

Chelsea said...

i'm a little less interested in the gear you've packed as i am in seeing how it was to be reunited/did emma arrive? put some emotion into the blog! haha

Peter Spiro said...

Watch out for the leeches! I'm serious they hang out on the trail and latch (or is it leech) onto you as you walk by. At the end of the day you'll find them under your socks and stuff.

Skillz!