Saturday, December 6, 2008

oh, i'm back...

So I've been back in the Bay Area for 3 weeks now and have been so caught up with seeing people and relaxing and being a bum, that I forgot I had a blog!

I've sifted through my 4000+ pictures and have posted 300 of my favorites to highlight parts of the trip. You can find them on facebook/picasa.

Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/photos.php?id=201493
Picasa:
http://picasaweb.google.com/danaung/200807RTWTripEuropeCondensed
http://picasaweb.google.com/danaung/200807RTWTripSEAsiaCondensed#

The current plan is to fly to San Diego on Dec 15th and to leave the country to start work in Shen Zhen on Dec 30th.

When I get settled in, I will probably post pictures of my place in Shen Zhen... but that's it for my travels for now!

Thanks for the comments guys! They were fun surprises during my trip!

Monday, October 20, 2008

blogger blocked from burma, chillin in bangkok

i'm hopping on an airplane to yangon in 10 hrs, so if i don't update my blog it can be for one of 2 reasons:

1. i've become extra extra lazy
2. blogger is censored in burma and i can't find a proxy site that will get me around it

i do have tons of really cool pictures from vietnam and cambodia that i need to post.

oh, and earlier today while i was walking around bangkok i ran into some protests. i took a picture and proceeded to walk in the opposite direction right into a movie theater where i watched max payne (not so great, but i was entertained for 90 minutes, and i was far enough way from large mobs).

so i spent the better part of the last 2 days in bangkok being a mallrat - i watched 3 movies, ate lots of food, and spent a lot of time in bookstores (bangkok has 5 major shopping centers on the same street and they're connected by a skybridge, so you can walk from one right into another). julie, i bought some books, and i might actually read them! maybe by the time you finish 100 books, i'll finish this one that i just bought.

that's kinda it for now. glad that i'm pretty much done with moving hostels/hotels every other day. i'm excited about going back to burma and then excited about going home after!

the current eta in SFO is Nov 17th.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

in cambodia & job in shen zhen!

my dad and i took a bus from saigon to phnomh penh and arrived 2 days ago. we're having lots of fun. it's great that my dad speaks khmer, though it's been about 30 yrs since he's used it. the most fun comes when they speak to each other in khmer under the assumption that we don't understand (my dad has fun translating it to me afterward).

we'll probably head over to siem reap in a day or so. then i have plans to fly back to burma to do some more work with IDE (international development enterprises) before returning home around nov 17th.

for reasons of time, i've cut out laos from my traveling now, and will save it for a trip later on - probably a nice overland trip from shen zhen.

oh, and i've accepted a job in shen zhen for the next 2 years and will be starting in jan 2009. time for me to brush up on my mandarin (especially for ordering food from menus!). if you're looking for an excuse to go to china, this is it!

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

halong bay and ninh binh!

So a few days ago, I spent a night on a boat in the middle of Halong Bay, notable for 3000+ limestone "islands." It was amazing! I think I've determined that I like Vietnam the most when I'm away from the big cities. The landscapes are beautiful and peaceful, while the cities are noisy and in your face. I went kayaking and swimming in Halong Bay (the water is really warm!).


So these last 4 pictures are actually from Ninh Binh, which is the inland version of Halong Bay, and I like it much more (probably because it is much less commercialized (for now). There are limestone islands shooting out of rice paddies rather than water. So on the left, was Tam Coc, where we sat on a little boat and got rowed around for 2 hrs - awesome. It was also the second time in Vietnam where a mother has offered to marry off her daughter (since I look Vietnamese enough, and presumably have money - yes, she was pretty!). For the day, i sat on a motorcycle (and it was really safe - i wore a helmet, the driver drove slowly, and there was very little traffic). It was great just looking around at the views!

After climbing a bunch of steps (~500 steps) here was the view at the top - breathtaking!

Now, i'm really excited about meeting up with my dad in Hanoi tomorrow. I'll take him to Halong Bay again, and we'll start working our way south! Then off to Cambodia where he grew up! Lots to be excited about!

Thursday, September 25, 2008

pictures in the blog!

so i'm going to try to be better about putting pictures in my blog... better late than never!

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

in Sapa!

At the moment, I'm in Sapa in Northwest Vietnam. The terraced hills and the green montains are amazing! The one thing I have noticed about Vietnam is that people are really aggressive and in your face. I've only now started noticing how calm vendors in Thailand and Burma are. They will follow you for a few blocks and grab your arms at times!

Also... here is the view from my corner room at $5 a person.

What I have noticed however, is that I can look Vietnamese, Thai, or Burmese as long as I keep my mouth shut. Usually my attempts to blend in fail because I have a big backpack, i start talking, or i stand around with a map/ distintive lonely planet book.

Later tonight, I hop on a train from Sapa back to Hanoi in hopes of getting out before the typhoon headed this way brings landslides and floods the traintracks. I've heard that the last time this happened, people got stuck for 10 days. This time the Sapa government has made all hotel owners tell their tourists to get out ASAP (so everyone is leaving at the latest, tonight).

Sapa is really relaxing (minus the vendors and the oncoming typhoon).

Friday, September 19, 2008

in shenzhen!

i've been having a blast interviewing with zaotech and walking around shenzhen. these guys are pretty amazing. there's a lot for me to think about both short term and long term, and i need to figure out what i want...

i've visited Xian a few times here and if i end up working here, we'll be room mates (put the tallest with the shortest!).

besides interviewing in shenzhen, i went to windows of the world, an amusement park with scaled and full-size replicas of some of the world's major monuments. what's wrong with this picture?



and... my room is pretty awesome. i'm staying at the marco polo hotel (a 5 star hotel), very different from some of the rooms i've stayed in over the last 2 months (i.e. my $7 khaosan rd room which only had a bed, and rickety fan).

i'm planning the rest of my SE asia trip (or i'm supposed to). In 3 days, i'm flying to vietnam. what's awesome is after a week in northern vietnam, my dad is flying in and we're going to explore central and southern vietnam for a week before exploring cambodia for a week. it's going to be awesome!

that's all for now!

Thursday, September 18, 2008

more on Burma

So, it looks like i can get onto blogspot in shenzhen! Before an update on shenzhen, here's a little more about my three weeks in burma:

Each time im in Burma, it gets harder and harder to leave. I guess i've made some really cool friends there and i enjoy the work that i do. Not sure if i could live and work there like one of my friends, david klaus, but i dont think that it's not a possibility.

An update on the deep lift pump - we finished our test platform on the roof o the workshop (50ft above ground), and have been testing pump designs. We have been able to pump water to the top at a reasonable rate, but there is still lots of design changes to make to the pump, especially after having a chance to go tube well drilling. 1.5" tube wells are drilled 70 to 100 ft below ground by hand for household and farm use.

It's pretty amazing to see how resilient people hit by the cyclone are. While purchasing power is almost gone and debt is high, people are good spirited and optimistic. They are grateful for the aid that is getting to them (i've seen lots of tarps, backpacks, and watertanks provided by foriegn aid as well as fertilizer, rice seed, and tillers provided by IDE), and are optimistic about their recovery (even though for many, it may take 8+ years to recover to pre-cyclone days).

Other little things:
* I found a favorite little burmese restaurant that i've gone to for lunch almost every day i was working on the deep lift pump in the industrial zone
* Last sunday, i went to an 11 match burmese boxing event. Burmese boxing is a lot like muai thai, but i'm not sure what the differences are. However, sitting in the third row does give you a lot of sound effects (lots of fists to face and knees to torso sounds as well as the annoying delayed "pow" and "bam" shouts into the microphone from the guy at ringside).

Who knows when I'll head back to burma... hopefully sometime soon (in the next year?)

Monday, September 15, 2008

finally, a post!

Sorry it's been 3 weeks since my last post. Blogspot is censored in Burma and it's taken me 3 weeks to find a proxy server that isn't blocked so I can post something. In less than 24 hrs, I'm heading to the airport to fly to ShenZhen, and I don't imagine that China's Great Firewall will let me into blogger either, so I'm sorry about that.

In any case, I've posted a few pictures from Thailand on Picasa.

A few highlights in the last three weeks:
* Went to a cyclone area, Kunyangon
* Drilled and donated a tubewell and pump for a family in Kunyangon
* Went to a Yangon Dance Club with a few friends
* Went to see 11 Burmese Boxing matches (sitting in the 3rd row really lets your hear the punches and kicks)

More later!

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

in burma (finally!) and more pictures!

So i was finally able to get my visa to burma and now i'm actually in burma! it worked out since i got to spend some extra time exploring both bangkok and chiang mai, which was great.

Chiang mai was awesome. i loved the markets, the greenery, and how relaxing it was, especially compared to bangkok. Here are some late pictures from Chiang Mai:

(left) the group i traveled with: 2 from holland, one from australia, 2 from france, and 3 from hungary (right) this is me learning how much i like the color green

this is where i stayed in an overnight hut during our trek

in bangkok, i've been staying at lots of different places so i've gotten to see lots of different sides of bangkok. i've stayed at the city center/redlight district, the tourist/backpackers district (khaosan rd), and the high society area (suhkumvit).

It's been pretty busy here in Burma. I'm spending the month here doing work with an NGO called IDE (international development enterprises). The hope is to finish up the development of a deep lift water pump i designed a year and a half ago and also to help with the implementation of other projects in the pipeline (like the Infinican water basket started by a few friends at Stanford). I'm staying at the directors' house (where i've stayed the last time i came), and i love it. it's great here. i love reconnecting with old friends here and just meeting the people here. the people here just have so much character and sincerity.

In any case, you're probably looking for pictures... since i've given Ross and Mark all of my pictures from europe, i can't post more pictures from europe. when i have more time (hopefully by the end of the week), i'll post some pictures from chiang mai and burma.

Till then, here are more pictures from Ross - i think he's continually updating them:

Spain
France
Switzerland
Italy

Thursday, August 14, 2008

chiang mai!

in about half an hr, i'm going on a 2-day hiking trip through the jungles in chiang mai with a little rafting and such (led by a tour group - so not completely unsafe). the weather here is pretty humid. my clothes are taking a bit longer to dry than usual, but luckily i didn't bring too much cotton.

i spent the last few days in bangkok running errands (i.e. i now have my japanese encephalitis shot - it's supposedly a better vaccination that hasn't made it to the US yet), but haven't been able to get my visa for burma yet. i guess it's taking a little while to get my paperwork ready, and since i've only gotten official visas my last two visits, they won't give me anything else (i.e. tourist/business visas). i fly back to bangkok in a few days to try again - should be fine, but who knows!

anyhoo, off to doing some fun stuff after all these errands!

Saturday, August 9, 2008

in athens!

just spent the day in the sun exploring the acropolis. it's really amazing that these buildings are more than 2000 yrs old. visiting santorini started off slow - a bit disappointing until we found the right places to go. pretty awesome views.

susan, sirena - you know those greeting cards daddy brought home ~8 yrs ago that we've been trying to use, "cats in greece," with those blue domed churches... i was there! it was in santorini!

we're going to buy have a few drinks and grab dinner with a view of the acropolis at night... not a bad way to spend the evening.

pictures of greece to some... maybe when i'm in bangkok in a few days?

Sunday, August 3, 2008

more pictures from ross!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2137137&id=201896&ref=mf

switzerland, venice, rome update

hey guys,
i just posted some new pictures from switzerland, venice, and rome. i have to say, when i make lots of money, my summer home or retirement home will be in muren so i can hike the swiss alps every morning! the alps are awesome and i wish i could take it with me. the fresh air, the views, the calmness... everything (except for the cost of living).

venice was fun to explore in one day, but we soon found out that we couldn't take the swiss alps weather with us. italy is HOT and we're cooking in the sun. we've walked around practically all of rome and had a chance to see almost every piazza and fountain there is. we've also been playing find the obelisk (since the romans took a bunch of obelisks from the egyptians and put them throughout rome... i think we've found at least 6 big ones and 2 small ones so far).

tomorrow is our travel day to greece, the last leg of our trip. lots of relaxing beach time... hopefully it won't be too hot!

the next time i update photos will probably be sometime during mid august when i'm in chiang mai, thailand, or yangon, burma.

later!

http://picasaweb.google.it/danaung/VersaillesGardens
http://picasaweb.google.it/danaung/Switzerland
http://picasaweb.google.it/danaung/Venice
http://picasaweb.google.it/danaung/VaticanCity
http://picasaweb.google.it/danaung/Rome

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

in Venice!

hey guys,
i'm at an internet cafe in Venice. we spent the day getting lost in Venice and riding on the grand canal. now, we're getting ready to hop on a train for Rome!

more pix coming soon...

Sunday, July 27, 2008

in switzerland!

so i'm now in the swiss alps in a little town called muren, 5500ft above sea level. you wouldn't believe the view from our balcony. it's pretty amazing.

tomorrow, breakfast at 10,000ft and lots of hiking!

Friday, July 25, 2008

in paris!

hey guys!

[first of all, i'm typing on this non qwerty keyboard so excuse my grammar/spelling]

since i last posted, i've left barcelona and am currently at a little restaurant near our hotel right outside paris, grabbing breakfast and getting ready to visit a few museums, take a cruise on the seine, and climb the eiffle tower. tomorrow, we are going to versailles! exciting!

our hotel manager is awesome and we've met some amazing people in paris so far. since we're just outside of the main part of paris, we get to meet people that aren't annoyed by tourists.

in barcelona, we got to walk around the bari goti and check out a lot of gaudi's architecture (amazing stuff).

in paris we got a museum pass and are running around trying to see everything.

as for food, i've been able to find enough vegetarian food, so i'm eating pretty well. laundry has been going great too. all i can say is that i have a new appreciation for quick-drying polyester and sinks.

gotta go start my day! later!

btw, i've posted pictures on my picassa page:

http://picasaweb.google.com/danaung/Barcelona
http://picasaweb.google.com/danaung/Paris

Monday, July 21, 2008

In Barcelona!

I´m in Barcelona on in an Internet Cafe. Flight and hostel went well and we´re having fun (and spending a lot). That´s all i have time for now, but pictures and such are coming soon...

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Finalized Summer Itinerary

July 19 - San Francisco to Barcelona
Aug 11 - Athens to Bangkok
Aug 13 - Bangkok to Chiang Mai
Aug 17 - Chiang Mai to Yangon
Sept 16 - Yangon to Bangkok to Shen Zhen
Sept 22/23 - Shen Zhen to Bangkok to Hanoi
Oct 9 - Ho Chi Minh City to Phnomh Penh
Oct 18 - Siem Reap to Luang Prabang
Oct 26/27 - Vientiene to Bangkok to San Francisco

Friday, July 4, 2008

Tentative Summer Itinerary v2

July 19 - San Francisco to Barcelona
Aug 11 - Athens to Bangkok
Aug 13 - Bangkok to Chiang Mai
Aug 17 - Chiang Mai to Yangon
Sept 20 - Yangon to Bankok to Hong Kong to Shen Zhen
Sept 26 - Hong Kong to Hanoi
Oct 10 - Ho Chi Minh City to Phnomh Penh
Oct 18 - Siem Reap to Luang Prabang
Oct 23 - Luang Prabang to Vientiene
Oct 26 - Vientiene to Bangkok
Oct 25 - Bangkok to San Francisco

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Tentative Summer Itinerary

July 19 - San Francisco to Barcelona
Aug 11 - Athens to Bangkok
Aug 16 - Bangkok to Yangon
Sept 20 - Yangon to Shenzhen
Sept 28 - Shenzhen to Bangkok via Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia
Oct 25 - Bangkok to San Francisco

Nov 8 - San Francisco to San Diego
Nov 16 - San Diego to Shenzhen (then work for a year or two)

First Post

Since I'm going to start traveling soon, I figure maybe it's time to start a blog. Hopefully, I'll be good about updating it!