Southeast Asia, the Trans Siberian and Scandenavia - Jason Kester
Not really travelling so much this time. Mostly, a winter at work, climbing rocks on the beach. With luck and if the motivation holds up, I'll pull out in the spring and make my way north. I've...

The Second Lap
Bangkok, Thailand
I'm at it again.
This time it's Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and parts north, but it really doesn't matter where. The important part is taken care of. I can already feel myself slipping into travel mode, where you can't control anything and it's no big deal. My bags didn't make it, and everything was closed when the cab dropped me off on Khoa San road at 3:30 this morning, but no worries. Life's about to get good, and small things like that don't seem to carry as much weight over here.
Besides, the best red curry in the world is only twenty paces away. I'm'a gonna get me some.
written by  Jason Kester on January 3, 2004 from Bangkok, Thailand
from the travel blog: Southeast Asia, the Trans Siberian and Scandenavia

Guy on the beach
Ban Ao Nang, Thailand
I spent the better half of last week in a pitched battle for control of my belly. I escalated to antibiotics, and came out the victor. Got back on the rock yesterday and today I was finally starting to hit stride. Got a 7a and worked out a new sequence for a tough 7b that I squeaked by on last time I was here. That's .11d and .12b for the non-french.
But none of that will matter soon, as I am about to become a huge movie star in Thailand! I was sitting in a cafe on the beach, reading a book and toying with the remains of my pad thai this afternoon, when a couple thai girls came up and asked if I'd like to be in a ice cream commercial. But of course. Why else would I be waiting here?
They took a bunch of photos and videotaped me walking up to the camera and smiling and talking about how much I enjoyed partying on the beach and eating ice cream. It was hilarious. Anyway, if I make the cut, they'll ship me and fifteen other superficial looking farang off to some beach in Trang provence for a week. There's even some baht in the deal.
So yeah, that's my story for the day. I'll keep you posted on my soon to be illustrious career as an actor!
written by  Jason Kester on January 16, 2004 from Ban Ao Nang, Thailand
from the travel blog: Southeast Asia, the Trans Siberian and Scandenavia

book.
Ban Ao Nang, Thailand
The following is the contents of an email to our poor kid Ethan, who actually wanted to come out, but put too much faith in the motivation of his friends:
As I can sense the impending weenie excuse, I'll leave you with a theory I've developed about travelling: Your friends don't actually want to go.
They'll say the do, and may even believe it themselves after enough talk and a few beers, but as the date draws near and it's time to drop real money on tickets, the excuses will inevitably come out. The only solution I've found is to always plan to go alone. Prepare for the off chance that maybe somebody will actually decide to come along for a while, but never count on it.
If you really want to go travelling, the best thing you can do is book a ticket today. That may actually spur one of these tossers off the fence, but that's not your concern. It is all good here. Get your ass on a plane.
written by  Jason Kester on January 26, 2004 from Ban Ao Nang, Thailand
from the travel blog: Southeast Asia, the Trans Siberian and Scandenavia

Re: Watch out for THE BIRDS
Ban Ao Nang, Thailand
This was sent in response to one of the emails that I received from every man, woman and child in the United States, warning me about the dreaded Bird Flu in Thailand:
They are running dangerously low on animals to eat over here. I hear kitten is nice. I'm actually all about the chickens these days. I figure after a month of dealing with the quality standards of a Thai kitchen, there is not much you could put in my stomach that it hasn't seen.
So I've been here a month, and I've seen a total of two places. My visa is about to expire, so I am now forced to do at least a nominal amount of travelling. It's off to Penang, Malaysia.
written by  Jason Kester on January 31, 2004 from Ban Ao Nang, Thailand

Still on the beach
So I blew through my 30 day visa without leaving the beach. I'll probably do the same with the new one too. Yessir, traveling far and wide these days.
Ok, I guess I did make it down to Malaysia for a week, but really only to take care of the visa situation and eat a whole bunch of noodles in Chinatown.
Stopped in Trang for a couple nights on the way back, and set off into the countryside on a rented motorbike. There are miles of beautiful white sand beach with basically no development at all, and no tourists except a few Thais. There's even nice rocks to be climbed, just like Railay but without the tourists. I may have to buy some land down there...
One of the beaches that I checked out is only accessable by walking through a cave. And not just one of those duck-under-these-few-rocks caves, but a full on better-have-a-second-light-source cave. With bats.
On the way back, I got rained off the road and into a random little restaurant/shack, where I got to practice my Thai for a few hours with the locals. I still have a long way to go before I can master this language.
Climbing goes well. Flashed a .12a yesterday, just missed flashing another one today, then spent the morning falling off a .13a just for fun.
written by  Jason Kester on February 7, 2004 from Ban Ao Nang, Thailand

Re: Work, hike, and Espanol
I'm still on Tonsai beach. Just paid for another month, in fact. Yesterday was a great day, as I finally got two hard routes that I had been working on for a while. One of the newly arrived portland people (there are 6 of us now) has a digital video camera, so I'll have a DVD full of climbing footage to show you all when I get home.
written by  Jason Kester on February 14, 2004 from Ban Ao Nang, Thailand

RE: mushroom Mushroom!
Dude. I'm running out of things to report over here. Somehow, the fact that I'm still here doing the same stuff as last month does not seem all that newsworthy. I am, however, consistently onsighting .12a, so I guess that's nice.
Me and Jay rented motorbikes the other day and went tearing around the county. It was awesome, and hardly disastrous at all. Jay only made it over the handlebars once, and not even into traffic. I'll certainly be back for more.
written by  Jason Kester on February 24, 2004 from Ban Ao Nang, Thailand

Re: Haven't heard from you for awhile.
I've been to Malaysia again for visa run #2. On the way back, I spent another couple nights in Trang and explored some more of the surrounding area on a rented motorscooter. This time, I made it way down some dirt road and stopped to watch this cool Thai Eagle (like a slightly smaller bald eagle, but brown instead of black), when up scoots a local, shouting greetings. We talked a minute, and he invited me back to his home for lunch.
I followed him down an ever-crazier series of dirt roads, cart tracks, footpaths, and jungle trails until we finally came into a clearing with a couple shacks on stilts and an overview of some ponds and mangroves. By the time I had the Thai dictionary out and found myself a place on the floor of the hut, all the neighbor kids had come running up and were standing in a bunch by the door, staring and giggling. I tried out my Thai "Ben dtek Thai chop farang (thai kids like barbarians)." with much success. Got a tasty meal and some good Thai practice before motorscooting onward to go swimming at an empty beach.
And for the record, these were in fact the dreaded Southern Thailand Muslims, though none to separatist nor fanatical at the moment. Just to tempt fate a bit more, I put in a good attempt to handle one of their chickens.
Two days ago, four of us went up Ao Nang tower, this big spire of rock sticking out of the sea. You get there by hiring a boat to the tower and stepping off the bow onto a ledge at the base of the route. The route is 80 meters long, and you do it in three pitches, with lots of scary moves on overhanging rock with a very pronounced feeling of exposure. Getting down is the fun part. You flag down a passing boatman, then rappel the final 50 meters into the boat. Even better, since the boat drifts away a bit during the time it takes to lower, and you are the only thing it's tied to, you end up rapping down over the open ocean until you can just dip a toe into it. Then the boatman reels you and the boat together and pulls you aboard. Too much fun!
I may be moving on to Laos before too long.
written by  Jason Kester on March 11, 2004 from Ban Ao Nang, Thailand

Here's me, Here's the bear...
Luang Prabang, Laos
So I was mauled by a bear yesterday. Not a very big bear, and not much of a scratch even, but mauled is mauled. I'm sorta proud of myself.
Me & Jay rented motorbikes and headed off to this big waterfall out at the end of a dirt road. It's one of these multi-tiered limestone falls, with lots of pools to swim around in, ledges to jump from, and hidden grottoes behind curtains of water with ferns and moss and forest elves frolicking. A great addition to the end of any dusty dirt road.
Anyway, the caretakers are also nursing back to health a few animals that were retrieved from poachers. There's a large enclosure full of bears, with a shack at one end containing some food and a tiny lady with a stick. If you drop some money in the donation box, she'll hand you a couple bananas and let you in to play with the bears. If they're not too busy fighting amongst themselves and behaving like wild animals, they'll hop up on their hind legs and walk over to take some food from your hand. And maybe take a swipe at you if you don't supply it promptly.
There is also an enclosure with a large tiger inside that you can pet through the bars. I didn't try giving that lady any money.
written by  Jason Kester on March 24, 2004 from Luang Prabang, Laos

Cryin' into a bowl of noodles
Vinh, Vietnam
Made it to Vietnam in grand style. 20 hours with my knees in somebody's back, and to the outskirts of Vinh. Sleep deprived and ill-fed as I may be, I do know that there's only one highway in Vietnam. It goes through the center of every city. The bus driver has pitched our bags out the window exactly a mile short, in front of a group of greedy looking motorcycle taxi drivers.
I stumble forth with book in hand, pointing at a map and debating whether to walk, then do a quick inventory of things hanging from my person. Yessir, remember that little bag with everything valuable that I own...
There follows a loud stream of obscenity, a mad sprint towards the largest looking bike, and some completely unnecessary instructions to the driver as I hop on and we speed off into traffic. Lights are run, large trucks are passed in the gravel, certain death is narrowly avoided dozens of times, yet no large busses seem to be coming into view over the horizon. We give chase at top speed through town and for a full 10 kilometers into the countryside before giving up.
I've already committed myself to the impossible task of contacting the hotel in Vientiane and somehow arranging to have the pack (which contains my laptop, incedentally) picked up on the other end. No Hope of course, but I tell the driver to turn us around. In doing so, we are nearly struck down by my bus, which we have somehow managed to pass on the way through town.
Vinh is interesting, I doubt I'd recommend it to anybody. No tourists here, which amplifies the Vietnamese habit of staring at any westerners and following them around. I'm the only white guy in town at the moment, so I get all the attention. Hey everybody! Come look! He's eating noodles now!
written by  Jason Kester on April 4, 2004 from Vinh, Vietnam

several small bowls of good
Hoi An, Vietnam
Made it to Hoi An.
The food here rocks, as advertised. Good call to those who recommended this place. I was a bit doubtful about this country after Vinh and the stare-fest of a reception I got. now that there's other mzungu around to share in the hassle, it's much easier. May stay a while.
written by  Jason Kester on April 5, 2004 from Hoi An, Vietnam

In search of the perfect seven dollar meal (continued)
Hoi An, Vietnam
I'm still in Hoi An, halfway through my 30 day visa. It's just that pleasant here. Tonight, I had to avoid another incredible Vietnamese meal, if only to keep my sanity. The food is so good. The food is so cheap! I usually go for two appetizers, a main dish, and possibly a couple glasses of the local beer if they have it on tap. And I still have not broken five dollars!
Went Indian tonight. It was good too, but I fear it will only send me back into the fried wontons and white rose with renewed vigor tomorrow. I may never escape this accursed town!
So yeah, I've found the place in SE Asia that even my mother would enjoy. Clean, nice, four zillion tailors (I'm having a silk shirt made for $8, but only because I didn't bargain very hard.) Hot water, A/C if you want it, good coffee. Everything you could need, and cool spring weather to boot. Book a flight to Danang, and catch a shuttle on down. I'll probably still be here.
written by  Jason Kester on April 10, 2004 from Hoi An, Vietnam

Eatin' good in the neighborhood.
Hanoi, Vietnam
I just had another fantastic meal in Vietnam. The food here is SOOOO good! This one was slices of marinated, stirfried pork alongside little deep-fried packets of sticky rice wrapped in rice paper. Incredible. Throw in a plate of spring rolls and a half liter of tasty local beer, charge me four dollars, and I'm a happy man.
Vietnam is still groovy. Found a little roll-your-own springroll place on the street the other day, where they give you some wrappers, a bunch of mint leaves, and a giant platter of raw pork. I thought you were supposed to die if you ate uncooked pork, but the place was packed with locals and none of them seemed to care. Still alive, for the time being.
I'm on the train to China tomorrow night, for some climbing and chillin' in Yangshuo. If it were up to me, I'd take the next 2 months to go through China slowly, then maybe another month for Mongolia and Russia. Unfortunately, the Russians are not too flexible with their visas. I committed to the dates thinking that 5 months in SE Asia would be plenty. It seems that no amount of time is ever quite enough.
written by  Jason Kester on April 22, 2004 from Hanoi, Vietnam

Re: Big Top
Yangshuo, China
Made it to Yangshuo, but somehow I've not been all that motivated to climb. It seems like there are no climbers around.
It's a strange place here. They really love tourism. Everything worth visiting has been developed in the Disneyland model. Bigger is better. Take a place with amazing views and natural splendor, then add roller-coasters and aerial tramways to make it even better. Most tourists are Chinese, in giant package groups.
It's the Chinese labor holiday this week, so everybody is traveling to all the tourist sites. And when everybody in China does something, it's quite a thing to see. Yangshuo was pretty crowded when I first got here, but on the first it just went insane. You simply could not walk down the streets because the people were too thick. Hotel prices are tripled, you can't find an empty seat on a train, and even more tourists are flocking everything. It would be amusing if I wasn't in a hurry to get to Beijing. As it is, I'm essentially trapped in the South for the next 7 days.
written by  Jason Kester on April 30, 2004 from Yangshuo, China

Peking Duck
Beijing, China
I'm in Beijing now, trying in vain to find a restaurant that will serve me some of that famous roast duck. Last night, I was drinking the good cheap local beer and and enjoying the conversation with a bunch of folks from the hostel. At about 4:15 am, somebody suggested that we should walk to Tienaman square to watch the amazing daily Sunrise flag raising ceremony. We barely made it there by 5:00, just in time.
Not at all impressive. But it was nice to see the Sunrise over Beijing, and we found a good restaurant for a breakfast of steamed dumplings and wonton soup. I woke up at 4:30, and am just now getting started with my day.
written by  Jason Kester on May 6, 2004 from Beijing, China

Another rant on Chinese tourism
Beijing, China
China loves its tourism. There is no natural wonder so beautiful that it could not be improved with the help of man. Say you have a really impressive cave with crazy rock formations. That's great and all, but what if you then built a 50 foot tall concrete butterfly over the entrance, added stairs up to it, widened all the passageways, lighted it, installed fountains, and piped in music. It also needs a karaoke bar. THEN, the tour busses will start showing up for real!
There are no tranquil pools that you can sit by and think about life. They have tranquil pools of course, but they are surrounded by hotels, Ferris wheels, aerial tramways, and filled in with gravel so that they can be converted into a Hot Spring.
Beijing is cool though. It's big but not dense. I could deal with living here. Apart from that though, you'd really need to know Chinese well enough to find a remote village if you wanted to see China in its unaltered version.
written by  Jason Kester on May 6, 2004 from Beijing, China

Global Domination!
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Yalp! I'm in Mongolia now. Yeah that's right, freakin' Mongolia! I've moved in with 5 armies, and I'm about to roll on into Irkutsk. I should have all the green territories by the time I'm finished, and we all know that's 9 armies a turn. Let's see what your little exploits in North America pan out to.
But for now, I'm swaddled in a crazy padded jacket that I bought out of a shipping crate of stolen Russian army gear. Tomorrow I'm off to the hills to live in a Ger and drink some fermented mare's milk. Tonight, I hit the town, Ulaanbaatar style!
written by  Jason Kester on May 14, 2004 from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Chillin' with Chingis
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
I spent the last 4 days wandering about in rural Mongolia, sleeping in a Ger just outside of Kharkhorim, which is the village that now stands where Karakorum used to be. Nothing is left of the old capital except a couple stone turtles that used to mark its boundaries.
Mongolia is really cool. It's like you took eastern Washington, made it 100 times as vast, covered it with a nice lawn and added Yaks. Not a fence to be seen outside of town, and not much in the way of towns. We drove for 8 hours and passed one village on the way east from Ulaan Baatar.
My cyrillic skills are coming along, which in nice, otherwise I'd never find my way back to YnaaH baatap, or anybody to sell me some byy3 or xyywyyp for lunch.
Tonight I hop the train North, so I'll be out of communication for at least a week. Got a pocket full of Roubles and a smile on my face. This should be good!
written by  Jason Kester on May 18, 2004 from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

The Trans-Siberian
Moscow, Russia
Made it to Moscow OK, and I'm enjoying the benefits of being back in Europe. That being, I'm typing from my laptop in a coffee shop in a mall under Red Square.
The train was fun, though not quite the grand adventure it's made out to be. Mostly it was the easiest part of my trip thus far. Just hanging out in one place for 4 days and talking to people in German (nobody speaks english in Russia, but they usually understand some German.) Every few hours, you get to step out onto the platform for 15 minutes and buy more Piroshkis or sausages. Got two books read!
written by  Jason Kester on May 28, 2004 from Moscow, Russia

St. Pete
Saint Petersburg, Russia
I'm in St Petersburg now. It's starting to grow on me, but my first impressions were not good.
The train got in at 7am, and the hostel I wanted opens at 8, so I killed an hour walking along Nevsky Prospekt and checking out an old monastery. Fine so far, but the hostel turned out to be full. Went back to the train station where there is an internet café and found and booked a different hostel.
Walking out of the station I took a wrong turn and didn't realize it until I was a mile down the wrong road. Cut across town, managing to pass roughly every tourist site in town, and finally made it to where I wanted to be. Only to find that this hostel has no sign out front. And I didn't have the address written down.
No phone number, no address, no sign. Three hours had passed by the time I made it back to the same internet café and purchased another 5 minutes online and a pencil.
Lucky for me, they actually honored my online reservation, so I'm sorted. I was close to booking a ticket to Helsinki for tonight. I figured I'd seen the whole town anyway, and clearly it didn't want me here. But life is good again. I think I'll go sleep away the afternoon.
written by  Jason Kester on May 31, 2004 from Saint Petersburg, Russia

Waiting for Spring
Stockholm, Sweden
Did Helsinki for a week, then bought a ScanRail pass and headed North in search of the midnight sun. Digging Scandinavia thus far, with one notable exception:
Nobody drinks coffee in Finland. At least they don't drink it in the morning when it makes sense. If you search far and wide you can find a coffee shop, but then it won't open until 10:30am. I can't see how these people survive. Had to leave.
I'm in Stockholm now, about to catch up on much lost sleep. Did a night train from Kemijarvi to Turku, then a day wandering around in search of said cuppacino, then straight onto the night ferry for Sweden, with no cabins available. Got in to a hostel this morning, and ended up in a room with 5 loud italian guys who proceded to pack and talk for 2 hours. Yessir, sleep sounds good.
The midnight sun was cool!
written by  Jason Kester on June 16, 2004 from Stockholm, Sweden

Back in civilization
Munich, Germany
So I made it out of Asia, and am safely back on European soil. Things make sense here. People don't follow me down the streets and ask to take pictures. Police don't stop me every block and ask for my papers. Toilets can even flush toilet paper. I'm loving it!
Everybody already knows everything about Europe, so I'll stop recording my progress at this point. I'm already running low on motivation to see any more cathedrals. I'll probably start looking for a flight home before the month is out.
Anybody up for the Silk Roads next year?
written by  Jason Kester on July 1, 2004 from Munich, Germany

Kung Fu Newspaper Guy!