About Me

I'm not really sure what to say here. Everyone who's reading this blog already knows me- which is why you would even care enough to click on my awesomely HTMLed button up top (^look). But for those who've stumbled on this blog- or perhaps got the URL at some point before you forgot who I was...

My name's Sam. This is me drinking a putridly cheap beer at the Kirkwood Freeski Championships in 2006. I'm a 24 year old Californian who's going on my round-the-world trip from April 2009 to July 2010, roughly. I'm not exactly sure when I'm coming back (or even from where, contrary to my assumptions up top), as I've not bought my return ticket home yet. I'm doing this purposely in the gap between my undergrad and grad school, yearning desperately for one last taste of freedom before I drown in a mire of debt.

I've spent the last two years living in San Francisco with my awesome friends (a couple of which are featured here) who I'm going to miss very much.... while saving up for this trip. I reckon I'll see them when I come back, so I'm trying not to be too much of a wimp when I wave goodbye to them in a couple of hours.

I have a dog, a sister, and a set of crazy asian parents who love to remind me that people die traveling all the time-- usually after being kidnapped and stabbed repeatedly-- and that they'd have been fine, if only they listened to their parents more often. Regardless, they have all been very supportive, and understand that this is something I really need to do before my feet gave me any peace. This is particularly astonishing given the crew that they run with. I know they are something of an anomaly in a very conservative crowd, and for that I will be ever grateful.

Aside from my life in the Bay Area, I have a secret life in Tahoe, CA (Kirkwood, particularly). This is me with some of my Ohana, during the season of 07/08. Strap a board to these peoples' feet, and they can fight crime.

... or at least drink a lot of beer.

It's these people that inspire me the most, and although I only ever see the bottom halves of their faces, I'm going to think of them all the time and write a great many postcards.

I suppose that's all. I would post more pictures- particularly of my adorable dog-- but I don't think that quite fits here.

See you all in 2010!

Thailand Photos

So, I haven´t got that many photos to upload here. I´m not sure what happened, but all my photos from Pai Canyon somehow disappeared in the mad rush to make sure my Angkor photos all came out perfectly. Harumph! My April self is so short-sighted. Other than that, most of these are party pics from the day or two I spent in Chiang Mai and Bangkok. I don´t have much else, because- let´s be honest... I didn´t like Thailand.

This is one of the things I DID like about Thailand. Well, TWO things I liked about Thailand. #1- I liked that I met Ben. An oddball, to be sure--- but although I met him on his second day of traveling, EVER... he was one of the best traveling partners I had had in a while. Laid-back, easy-going, and he had oodles of stories about shooting guns that kept an arms neophyte like myself absolutely captivated. #2- One of the best things about South East Asia is that EVERYBODY scoots. Men, women, children... sometimes all three (in plural form) on the same scooter. Good times.



I´m not sure what it is about this photo that keeps me laughing almost half a year afterwards. I think it´s the pleasure of saying it out loud. ¨WE BUY THING!!!! ..... -cough- .... s¨Hahahahhaa.


Everyone that has been to Thailand who enjoys a frothy cold one at the end of the day has had a Chang beer. It´s so strange. We all agree it tastes like piss, we all agree that it´s not actually that cheap, and we all agree that when submerged upside-down in water, an unsettlingly murky substance that isn´t beer creeps from the mouth of the bottle .... and yet... we all drink it. I grew to love it- much like how the newly freed prisoner will creep back into the darkness in Plato´s Cave. I kept creeping back to Chang. It took forced relocation to cure me.

Cambodia Photos

I´ve been putting off updating this section because most of my Cambodia photos are really depressing. Loved it there, loved it loved it loved it. .... which is perhaps why seeing dozens of human skulls in a giant pile at the Killing Fields brings me something less than joy. Anyway, here we go.

I'm only going to post one photo of the Choung Ek Killing Fields because it makes me really sad. After a few war-torn countries and poverty striken areas, you start to become really desensitized to it all. Choung Ek will wake you up. 17,000 people. Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

So, I'm not sure what it was about Kampot that I liked so much. It was buggerly hot, there wasn't actually very much to do, and everyone I was hanging out with kept telling me that there were crocodiles in the water. Anyway, this is a sweet view of this cool field that Matt and I passed on our way to the most delicious dinner ever - Rusty Keyhole, if you're interested -. It's not easy to explain what you love about a place. I'll let the picture do the talking. Kampot, Cambodia.

Koh Rong's sandflies are NOTHING against my E-Cran... an odd tube of sweet smelling something that may make my gums tingle, but keeps the bugs away. This means that I can enjoy myself outside to views like this. Man, I wish I'd taken more pictures that day... this was one of the most beautiful places I'd ever seen. Koh Rong Island, Cambodia.

So, I have to post a picture of Matt. Matt was a funny Australian I met in Kratie that told me on the sly that he had accidentally deleted a giant folder of very important information for his company... which would cost them numerous hours and countless Aussie dollars (so, countable US dollars) to replace. We spent most of our time together thinking of probable excuses to tell his boss. Other than that- this was the second time we saw each other... on one of his breaks from work. Sihanoukville, Cambodia.

One last photo of Angkor Wat. I've seen some Wonders of the World. I've seen some that have sucked (Tikal), and I've seen some that were bomb diggity good (Giza). NOTHING compares to what I saw here ... except Machu Picchu. They are tied for top. Check out this shit. Got up at 4 in the morning and got my ass on a bike to ride around ALL day at Angkor. If it wasn't for the fact that Alex and I were literally melting, we may never have gone home. Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

Myanmar Photos

My favorite country. It's a shame I'm trying to do this about half a year after I left. Hard to remember everything.

So this is a lotus stem being broken and stretched to create a fabric. It's much more precious than silk and Inle Lake, Burma, is the only place in the world that makes it. Not to be a fuddy-duddy (is that how you use that term?), but I'm not sure why. It wasn't very soft, and looked quite lumpy when woven into a fabric. Regardless, it was cool to see. Inle Lake, Burma.

Kalaw, and the trek I did there, was one of the best things I did in Burma, and in fact, my whole trip. This morning, Miki, myself, and our guides had a fun time dressing up. In this little Pa'O villge, they believe that they're decended from a dragon and an alchemist that met in the forest. In honor of that, the women dress up in a fuck ton of layers and decorate their heads in the dragon fashion. It's bloody hot.... but cool nonetheless. This was a fun morning. Pa'O village, Burma.

This is some temple or something in Bagan. I'm not sure what. Honestly, by the time I got here, I was very much over temples. Extreme templing in Cambodia left me absolutely exhausted. But aside from that, I think you should admire the shot. Beautiful, I'd say. Bagan, Burma.

There's a bit of a story with this photo. When I was in Pyin U Lwin, I stayed in a crummy little hotel on the main strip, with way too many mosquitos and a funny bathroom smell that permeated every corner. The only other people there for the first night was this young Burmese couple. I was hanging out on the balcony attempting to escape the smell when the young man (what am I saying, he was older than I am) came out and started chatting. We got on well until he told me (proudly) that he was an officer in the military... and started to ask me what I knew about the Burmese military. Since I didn't want to get deported, I decided to refrain from telling him about the atrocities I'd heard of, and about my vehement desire for Burmese liberation... and just say I didn't know anything. Later on, he took it upon himself to give me the cadet handbook to "educate" me. This is one of the articles. Apparently Buddha wants you to murder people... how did i miss that? Pyin U Lwin, Burma.

Thailand Photos

Coming Soon...!

Sri Lanka Photos

I can't believe it's taken me this bloody long to update this page. Sri Lanka was even my most favouritest country in the world! Well--- it WAS, until I got to Burma.... but that's a thought for later.

These are totally going to be out of order.... especially since I'm starting with a sideways photo of the last thing I did in Sri Lanka--- climbing Adam's Peak. Hey- internet is expensive here- sue me. Now, Adam's Peak is best sought out from a small, shitty little town in the Hill Country of Sri Lanka called Dalhousie. It's roughly 5,200 steps to the top. I completed about 1,000 before I started whinging. It was as very long climb for Danielle and Dave .

What's remarkable about Sri Lanka is the sheer beauty of everything. The country is so clean and unspoilt, the hill country is stunning, the people are good-looking--- and the best sunsets and sunrises I've ever seen in my life were viewed from Sri Lankan soil. Really- nowhere on earth can match it for sheer likeability. This was from the top of Adam's Peak--- the site of Buddha's right footprint as he left the earth and stepped his left into heaven.

I did a lot of climbing in this country-- and none of it was easy. This is a photo of my sweaty back after climbing Little Adam's Peak in Ella-- the hill country. I think this was my favorite climb of my whole trip. The best thing about Sri Lanka-- for the time being (and probably not very much longer) is that it's so untouristed. The people are still so keen to get to know all about you-- a rarity in a world that is fast becoming westernized and homogenized--- and climbs like this illicit so many stares and salutations that even though the view is secondary to the REAL Adam's Peak- it made for a fun one.

This is probably one of my best pictures from Sri Lanka. I'm not sure what about it makes me love it so much. It might be that the guy down on the bottom had been picking his ass just moments before. The horizon is also impeccably straight- a must-have for my photos.

This is me feeding an elephant at the orphanage in Kandy- the hill country. This little bugger ate about 4 bushels of bananas all by himself. A touristy experience, but a fun one nonetheless. It was pretty much a dream come true for Emil- who regularly uses the word "majestic" to refer to different species of wildlife.

Sigiraya was an important experience for me. There is a major difference in traveling with a budget, and existing with a budget. There are some budget travelers that are so focused on stemming the outflow of their money in order to stay out longer... that they don't end up doing anything at all. You get to wondering why they even bothered to leave home in the first place. Sigiraya is a temple built on the top of a protruding rock in the middle of absolutely nowhere in northern Sri Lanka. From what I hear, there's an entire civilization up on the top--- World Wonder material, really. I chose not to go. $30 might not seem like a lot to the average person,... but when you're subsiting on something like $15 dollars a day... it's the difference between staying out or going home early. After my friends took leave of me to ascend the rock, I found myself wandering around aimlessly for about 10 minutes before some locals asked me why I didn't go visit the temple down the road instead. Hitching a ride on a passing bike- I manged to get to an odd little hut with only one tourist- an English man who had made documenting the temples of the north his life's work. He clued me in to this spot right here- and pointed me up a hidden path- untrod for what looked like years to ascend the rock next door. Up on the top- I found this spectacular flat- unknown and unpopulated, where I listened to music, ate cheese nips, and marvelled at one of the World's Wonders from far away. Free! This should have been a learning experience for me- about spending money where it was due... but I somehow managed to dodge that one. Another win for Sam Chu!

India Photos

India-

Oh India. I hated you. I loved you. I thought you were overrun with tourists, and I thought I might be the only person alive inside you. How is it possible to choose but a few pictures for 2 1/2 intoxicating months?

I'm going to choose this picture, but only because I think this is the only one I never put on my facebook. I was trying for a ninja kick-- but as you can see, 2 weeks of Tae Kwon Do at the age of 12 doesn't amount to much. Thanksgiving Day, 2009. Agra, India.

I chose this picture as well, even though I know I posted it somewhere else. Tom and Poppy (not featured) were the first people in nearly 2 months of travel that I had more than a cursory conversation with. This is Tom serenading our Singaporean mafia on Anjuna beach. First week of December, Anjuna, India.

I've posted this photo a bunch, but I never get tired of it. Henrik- you're a genius! This is from the top of Matanga Hill, in Hampi, India. I've also got to post one of Emil- the first and only person I've ever travelled with for more than a month, and indeed, the only person I can stand for 24 straight hours, several weeks at a time (albeit not without having to rip ruthlessly at his knee-pit hair every now and again to keep him in line). It almost looks fish-eyed here... but no, that's just Hampi. Wonderful, breathtaking, and my favorite place in India. Hampi, India.

I have only a few travel mottos that I 100% believe in: If it's Not a Good Time, it's a Good Story, Pack Light, There's Always a Cheap Option, and The Quality of your Trip is Dependent on the Quality of the People in it. That being said- I've got to post one of my Swedes (Matt, I count you here- your Swedish is too good!) It's of course, very easy to find people you like when you travel... but to find people that you like still one month 2 countries, and 5 cities later? RARE! Gotta love them- best party and travel mates I'd had in a long time. Left to right- Emma, Emil Henrik and Matt. Love you guys! NYE party, Shiva Valley, Anjuna, India.

I've uploaded a lot of scenic pictures of India all over my posts and facebook- so I thought I'd post this. The last picture I took of the country--- the back of an average newspaper. Zero in on some of these--- if I'm still single at 50- I might be revisiting this page of the paper with more interest. Tiruchirapalli, India.

Ethiopia Photos

OK- getting to this point has taken forever. Ethiopian. Computers. SUCK!!!! I thought I had bad internet in Bolivia, but then I got to Guatemala and was corrected.... but when you're on the only computer in town with a guy standing behind you tilting a weird metal box so that the possibility of DIAL-up is within reach... you know you've hit bottom.

Anyway, here are a couple of pics I've been holding onto for a month and a half...


Here I am with some of my KGers. The great thing about spending my Wednesdays and Fridays at this school was that the students are happy to learn how to draw the letter G. Then they want to play with your hair and hit each other with sticks. It was much less stressful than the grade school, where you're actually expected to TEACH something.

This here on the left is Muhammed. See how cute he is?? How very cute! He was easily my favorite student (and he knew it too) but I'm pretty sure neither he nor I knew why. I think it's just that he was the cutest kid in all my classes... plus he thought it was funny when I rolled my "R"s. I like that.

This is me near the end of my time in Ethiopia. I went eastward to Harar, an ancient walled city and the first place Islam really took off in the country. The place was alright overall--- but the cool thing was that there were tons of hyenas everywhere. They were really cute, except when they launched into killing mode. Here is me forking over a sliver of decaying flesh--- note how I'm in my ready-to-jump-up-and-run position. I even put on my track pants for effect.

I'm only going to post one more since everything else can be found on my facebook. This is Helena, the first grade teacher, rocking out in a coffee ceremony for me at her house. The coffee in Ethiopia was REALLY good. If you know me, you know that normally, not only do I not drink coffee, but I want to punch it, and the little cups it comes in in the face. However, it was actually alright here. Not too bad, unless you had more than a cup. I also thought the smoke looked sweet in this photo...

I would post more except that I'm in India and can't bother. Maybe I'll update more in the future...

Egypt Photos

This is me at Giza. I told the girl to try to take the shot so that there were almost no other people in it, but it looks as if, for people who don't speak English as their native language, that sounds exactly like "fill my fucking picture with as many tourists as you can". There was almost no one there when we arrived, but it looks like everyone who was there is in my photo





This is Khan-al-Khalili market in Cairo. I arrived in Cairo during the month of Ramadan.... so this picture was taken during breakfast (aka. 6 something PM.. the first time people are allowed to eat all day)... very quiet, so you can see the market for how beautiful it really is.




The White Desert. I took a lot of hopping around to get this shot right. It's hard to jump in sand. There's a sweet movie I got of us flying through this area in our LandCruiser. I posted it to Flickr, bu I can't figure out how to do it on this blog.

Here's a sweet photo of the Nile from the bridge in Cairo. A lot of people seem to think of Cairo as a dirty city, and of the Nile as being a dirty river-- but, unlike the Ganges, there are no bodies floating in this one.... I quite liked it.

This is a photo of me with my Egyptian entourage. Here's the story with these guys. Hamdi (the one to my immediate skier's left), saw me standing at the wrong bus station, chatting it up with a swarm of schoolchildren who were out and about for Eid, the day after the end of Ramadan. I was quite lost. It was apparent. He then took it upon himself, and upon his two friends (seen here flanking the two of us), to make sure I not only got to the correct bus station, but that I was given the local price for the bus as well. He also insisted on carrying my big backpack for me.... all day long while I waited for my 9pm bus to Luxor. He didn't try any moves, he didn't ask for any baksheesh... he just had an afternoon free and wanted to help a stranger. Him and his friends earn about 50 points a piece for Cairo.

The Funny Mummy restaurant in Dahab, on the Sinai penninsula. I really should have gotten pics of some of the other restaurants on the beach- ones that maybe didn't have that weird red wire thing... but I think this one gets my point across. The water literally lapped right up to the edge- you could peer down into the coral as you had breakfast. Pretty awesome... except for maybe all the cats.

El Salvador Photos

This is me on Day Two of surfing. My insane (and not just a little bit pervy) instructor took me out here. This is with full optical zoom to find me. So here I am looking cool, like I´m about to get up.

This is me right afterwards.

Ian was a hot guy from Tucson, Arizona that we hung out with for a few days in El Tunco. He managed to create a couple of pretty realistic renditions of human genitalia on the black sand beaches out there. Here is a picture of him with a giant penis.










This is me and Shiran getting really excited about finding 35 cent pupusas. Pupusas are the comida típica in El Salvador, and unlike street chicken and baleadas from Guatemala and Honduras, they haven´t given me the runs yet. There is controversy regarding whether you will get brain parasites from eating the revueltos, but those are really the best kind... and really, you can cure it easy, can´t you?




Interesting story about this apple.. O n Day 2 of my surf instruction, I was placed with a new teacher who dragged me out waaaaaaaay way far into the ocean on a short board, after I admitted that I wasn´t the strongest swimmer. He was claiming that the waves were slower, though much bigger than those breaking closer to the beach. After I wiped out several times and drank half my weight in salt water, he paddled me back to shore to give me a breather. I didn´t realize this also involved kissing my neck and pushing his very erect penis into my back. He continued to follow me about for the next few days (I´m assuming, in the attempt of gaining the novelty of having bedded a Californian). When he finally chased me to my hostel, I decided to make the best of the situation and at least smoke all of his herb,... if I was to be stalked for the next week or so- I might as well be high as a kite for it. This is me smoking everything I could of his, after passing around the apple to every one of my friends th at wanted it. He eventually left me alone after I proved to be quite an expensive conquest.

So this is me with my diagnosis and medication. Getting amoebas can really suck while you're on the road. Thankfully, this was just when I met up with Uga, so I had the home toilet advantage for the worst part of the spe ll.

Honduras Photos

Here are some photos I took in La Moskitia. I can't add captions or format it to look decent now because I'm almost out of internet time... although if you read my post on the trip, the stories that go with them can all be found there.












Since I have no idea how to move all those pictures around (bloody mess, they are!), I´m just going to add on down here.

Nicaragua Photos

This is me ¨volcano boarding¨... There were several shots to choose from, but I decided that this one was the best to post due to the fact that it´s impossible to tell how fucked up I am from this distance. Eating shit on volcano rubble is much different than eating shit on snow or water.



I am going to probably post this one twice because I am going to write a short post on this, but here is the view from the Mirador of the Bioreserve Miraflor near Estelí, Nicaragua. It was quite a hike to get here, but once there, it was absolutely beautiful. One of the best things I´ve done in Central America so far. Kudos to Trev and Kyri for cluing me in..





This is me at the port of San Juan del Sur at sunset... it´s hard to see all the boats from this view-- but this town is built on a tiny crescent shaped bay into which the boats come to dock. At sunset, all you can see is the brilliant colors of the sky and all the lanchas silhouetted against the horizon.



This is Dara, chasing crabs in the middle of the night. While hanging out outside, we stupidly left the front door of our room open to the dozens of crabs running about on Playa Maderas. We thought there were only three-- there ended up being over 10. Our method of elimination involved a broom, a dustbin, and lots of terror... on the crabs´parts, anyway. It was a bit like curling.

Getting crabs isn´t as easy as people think it is.



I have to throw in this last pic of Trev and his horrible Amelia Peabody book. One crucial bit of information I try to pass on to other travelers is to NEVER trade a good book that you´ve already read for a terrible book you´ve yet to read. Poor Trev was stuck with this awful embarrassment to English literature for over 2 weeks, being unable to trade it for anything else. I eventually passed on my Jules Verne and Jeff Eugenides books to him and Kyri... I chose to go without rather than drag the Peabody around with me.