Adventure Dispatches
Travelers Notebook: 24 Hours & $24 to Hanoi - Part 6
When we last left our wanna-be heroes in Part 5, we were preparing to board the only bus out of the tiny Vietnamese village of Kay-son to make a connection in the mainline town of Vinh and get to Hanoi before we run completely out of cash. Unfortunately our day of travel has been filled with delays, and our driver seems a bit drunk. I’ll pick up the direct transcription of my notes from aboard the bus…
Our driver seems totally trashed, coming back to give us all high fives, stealing our headphones to sneak a listen and dance. This guy is a prick.
Date: December 13th, 2006 |
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Share your adventure!
I’ve been sharing a few pages out of my Traveler’s Notebook (see Travelers Notebook: 24 Hours & $24 to Hanoi) with you, but now I’d like to hear (or, uh, read) a few of your traveling tales.
Wanna share your backpacking trip to Greenland, your Eurail nightmare, your sweetest safari?
Keep to 500 words or less and shoot it to me as a txt file or word document at ericcmack@gmail.com and I’ll share the best with all the Logueheads here on AdventureLogue. Any pictures you have to illustrate are welcome too.
Date: December 5th, 2006 |
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Another Update from Oaxaca
November 25th, 2006 - Radio Zapote writes:
Today, after the seventh megamarch in Oaxaca, members of the APPO attempted to form a human fence around the federal preventative police (PFP), but were attacked with gas. This unleashed a series of clashes with violence again igniting in the city. Many have been arrested and there are reports of many wounded, some by gunfire. It is confirmed that three people were killed.
The march unfolded in a festive atmosphere until it reached Oaxaca’s downtown. There began the attempt to form a human fence around the PFP forces in Oaxaca’s zocalo. Groups of PRI members started provoking the demonstraters with insults and shooting slingshots with marbles. Later, the PFP began using tear gas to disperse the people. People started to withdraw, but police kept moving forward and then began the riot. While shooting off tear gas, police kept charging on.
Date: November 27th, 2006 |
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Video Dispatch Supreme - Ski-Gliding the Eiger
Clips like this are why YouTube was invented. If you’ve never heard of Ski-Gliding, you’ll have a pretty good idea of what it is in just a few minutes. Thanks to Bob at the Offside for this one. Here’s the official caption:
“The 14th of june, François Bon and Antoine Montant did the world first speedflying descent of the mount Eiger in Swiss. See more here: http://www.acro-base.com … (more) ”
Date: November 21st, 2006 |
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Dispatch: Introduction to Bangkok
Touching down in Bangkok is a bit like starting from a paused position, frame frozen, then skipping real time to go directly into a fast forward mode. Not the old analog FF that simply speeds things up, splitting images with lines of static, but a digital fast forward where entire images, details and scenes must be skipped if you are to be able to move forward fast enough to avoid being skipped yourself.
Date: November 17th, 2006 |
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Travelers Notebook: 24 Hours & $24 to Hanoi - Part 4
Last time in this installment of Traveler’s Notebook, we had just crossed over a remote border crossing from Laos to Vietnam just as our visas ran out. But it’s still a long journey to the promised land of Hanoi where a gilded ATM lies in wait and we have barely (or maybe not) enough cash to get us there. We’ve already had to fork out precious change on phony customs scams at the border. But, that’s just the beginning… I’ll pick up the direct transcription of my notes from that point.
We approach a mob of anxious moto drivers that appeared from the deserted oblivion when we arrived. We share no common language except for the word ‘dollar’ which sounds dangerously close to the Vietnamese currency unit, the ‘Dong.’ Finally, a price is negotiated with the use of a calculator and we hop on for a ride down the mountain to Kay-son with our bags strapped to each motorcycle, leaving little passenger room.
Date: December 5th, 2006 |
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The Tunnels of Everything but Love
Think you’ve had a hard time crossing a few borders in your life? Well, if you’re looking for a real adventure, try crossing under the border between Mexico and the U.S. The LA Times has this fairly badass account of life below the border, literally. I love this passage in particular - sounds like a tale from an industrial apocalypse, or maybe, Detroit:
Inside the largest known tunnels on the border — two passages that make up an enormous drainage system linking Nogales, Mexico, with Nogales, Ariz. — migrants stumble blindly through toxic puddles and duck low-flying bats. Methamphetamine-addicted …
Date: November 28th, 2006 |
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Travelers Notebook: 24 Hours & $24 to Hanoi - Part 3
In this third installment of our own version of 24 (sans Keifer Sutherland), we start out with the clock approaching noon and we still haven’t made it to Laos-Vietnam border after running out of cash and days on our visas in Laos. We’ll pick up the direct transcription of my notes after negotiating a ride to the border in a truck taxi for about double the fair price. Here’s part 3 of 24 Hours & $24 to Hanoi:
I opt for the roof of the overcrowded pick-up instead of hanging onto the rear bumper. View from roof is amazing, I put on suntan lotion, take in views of Karst ranges, small villages and footpaths carving through canyons and over ridges; children play in old bomb shells, stands sell Beer Lao. Ride is great despite driver’s complete lack of skill in shifting gears.
Date: November 27th, 2006 |
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The week’s best audio adventures
My eternal pimping of public radio marches on. These were some of the best journeys I had from my laptop or through my headphones this week:
NPR : Mount Rainier Park Starts Long Road to Recovery
The World: The Newest Pacific Island
Weekend America: Tree Hunting
Haunted Alaska
Date: November 18th, 2006 |
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Travelers Notebook: 24 Hours & $24 to Hanoi - Part 2
In the last passage from my Travelers Notebook, we were on a bus speeding towards Vietnam after running out of cash and days on our visas in Laos. We’ll pick up the direct transcription of my notes on that ride now in part 2 of 24 Hours & $24 to Hanoi:
In second half of ride, local hill-tribe woman sits herself nearly in my lap, forcing her way into the third seat of our 2-person bench. I begin to count the KM markers, doing the conversion to MPH over and over again in my head, but still unable to come up with an average speed over 15 (in MPH or KMH); no way we will reach border before the two-hour lunch break starts at 11:30 a.m.
Date: November 15th, 2006 |
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