Sumo Lounge is a new sponsor!

By Steven Shoppman in

July 19, 2007 – 2:30 am

We are proud to announce that we have added a new sponsor.  Sumo Lounge is a company that makes urban style comfort furniture, or the layperson, huge pillows that you can morph into just about whatever shape you want to get comfortable.  At this point you might ask yourself how in the heck we can use urban furniture on an expedition around the world.  The answer is that we can’t…but you can and so can our support team at home.

Sumo Lounge has agreed to help promote us and give a couple of their omni chairs to our home team to keep them comfortable while they are helping us take care of things at home.

So a big thanks to Sumo Lounge, and if you are interested in getting more comfortable in your abode while you watch us get more uncomfortable as we head off into the great unknown…click this link.

By Steven Shoppman | Posted in Expedition Sponsors | Comments (0)

Our First Wonder of the World

By Steven Shoppman in

July 18, 2007 – 3:42 am

A long time ago the seven ancient wonders of the world were made official in a poem by Antipater of Sidon, who described the structures around 140 BC:

"I have set eyes on the wall of lofty Babylon on which is a road for chariots, and the statue of Zeus by the Alpheus, and the hanging gardens, and the Colossus of the Sun, and the huge labour of the high pyramids, and the vast tomb of Mausolus; but when I saw the house of Artemis that mounted to the clouds, those other marvels lost their brilliancy, and I said, ‘Lo, apart from Olympus, the Sun never looked on aught so grand."

Since Antipater was in Greece he did not know the level of amazement some of the other more distant monuments in the world provide.  Our first stop in Cambodia was Siem Reap, which is a small town packed full of tourists, NGOs, expats and locals.  This town is here for many reasons from aid work to removal of mines, but our main draw for coming to this mecca on the travelling circuit was to see the Temples of the Angkorian empire.  Over the course of time many other people and organizations have decided that the Seven Wonders of the World needed to be redefined.  With trains, planes and automobiles the world has become much smaller so I suppose a new definition of these wonders was overdue.

Angkor Wat and the Temples surrounding it were added to one of these new lists.  As we go around the world many of these ancient wonders are on our itinerary and some of the newly appointed ones as well.  The Internet and modern technology have changed these "Seven Wonders" into more of a user fed contest now and for whatever reason Angkor’s Temple system was replaced.  With what?  Christ the Redeemer in Rio De Janeiro.  The numerous Seven Wonders lists seem to be turning into a rotating list of 15-20 these days.

After spending two days touring around with our guide Poleak, we saw all of the main tourist sites in this gargantuan civilization with the grandest temples either Steve or myself have ever seen. Poleak also took us to some of the less visited temples near the minefields that Steve B wrote about previously.  With names like Angkor Wat, Koh Ker, and Bang Mealia these stone structures defy belief that anyone could build something with just man power, hand tools and the help of some elephants.  I wonder who the people are that voted to knock Angkor out of the ranks and replace it with Christ the redeemer.  It is hard to believe that any of them have seen both, because I have, and to be quite honest, Angkor is one of the most amazing things on the planet.

For those of you who have made it to see Christ the Redeemer…imagine that, but then add thousands more of those statues carved out of huge blocks of sandstone that are at minimum double size and tucked deep into the densest parts of the jungle surrounding the city.  All of the bases of these statues would then have intricate carvings of mythology and history that span hundreds of meters and reach a height of well over 15ft.

I heard about the temples of Angkor many years ago.  I was of course interested in visiting these temples, but I figured that they would be just like many of the historical monuments and ruins I had seen in other places around the world many times before. These temples are so much more than could be expected.  They are larger and more detailed than pictures can do them justice.  Since construction of these temples started over 1200 years ago and took over 300 years to finish, many of the temples have been overgrown by the jungle.  This growth surrounding the temples makes a journey to them feel more like an adventure than a day out at a tourist attraction.  It feels like you are the first to discover many of these temples on an expedition to uncover some lost civilization led by a crazy bearded archaeologist who believes he will find the fountain of youth in the middle of one of them.

Whether or not it is on any of the lists of the world’s wonders, Angkor Wat and the wonderful little town of Siem Reap should be on everyone’s list as a place to visit.  Whether you are interested in thousands of years of the worlds history or helping out some NGOs to do a good deed, you will come home with only great stories to tell and a couple of hard drives full of photos.  The temples, the scenery and the people of this area have something that will always leave a sense of wonder in my head, and it is certainly on my list of places to return to someday in the future.

 

If you would like to learn more about the temples, we recommend this book.  It is what we used while visiting the temples ourselves.

By Steven Shoppman | Posted in Cambodia | Comments (1)

Mine Boggling

By Steve Bouey in

July 14, 2007 – 3:49 am

Before we even arrived in Cambodia, I knew the country had a troubled past and one of the results of the conflicts is a landscape littered with land mines. You occasionally read about the Cambodian land mine problem in a magazine or hear about it when a famous celebrity mentions something about it at a PR event. I realized that the situation was bad, but until you see it first hand, you really can’t comprehend the magnitude of the problem.

The other day, we drove out to the more remote temples of Koh Ker and Beng Mealea about 100km from Siem Reap with our excellent guide Poleak. These temples are located in an area of Cambodia that had a heavy Khmer Rouge presence, and until recently, the temple sites were fairly dangerous to access due to the presence of land mines. Today, the road side and small areas around the temple structures have been cleared of mines thanks to the work of organizations such as the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) and the Halo Trust. However, there are still countless active mine fields in the area. Just outside the crumbling walls of many of the temple sites in the area are eery red signs warning of the potential for serious trouble if you continue on.

You might ask yourself, why don’t they just clean up the mines? Unfortunately, the problem is much more complex. The fleeing Khmer Rouge soldiers did not leave maps of where they placed mines and even with all of the advancements in technology, once a land mine is detected, it must be uncovered and removed by hand in a process that can take days. Take into account that it might take one person a day or two to clear a single mine and couple that with the fact that there are thousands if not hundreds of thousands of mines still scattered about and you get the picture.

We were actually fortunate enough to see some mine clearing work in action. We pulled up to a temple complex near Koh Ker and just on the other side of the road, not more than 100 meters from where we parked the car, CMAC Mobile Unit #4 was in the process of clearing an active minefield. (Can you spot Little Pepe in the picture below?) The unit is made up of local Cambodians and the guys were on a lunch break. While asking the crew if it was safe to come over to check out what they were doing, Poleak gave us a bit of a scare when he started to walk through an area that had not yet been cleared. Even when you are walking in the tire tracks of the CMAC truck or standing in an area recently cleared by the team, it is still pretty unnerving to realize that there are active landmines on the other side of the red tape from which you are standing.

At Beng Mealea, we really saw how bad the landmine problem was in that particular area. While exploring the outskirts of the temple, the red signs indicating the presence of a minefield were still present and we came across one that had a number etched into it – (CMAC M. 22188). We thought it was just a survey marker, but Poleak informed us that this was the number of mines cleared from the area. We were even more shocked to learn that these mines were cleared from an area only about one square kilometer in size! That’s right, over 22,000 land mines in a square kilometer… pretty screwed up. Fortunately for the tourists, a lot of the de-mining work has been around the popular temple sites, but sadly for the local villagers, the mines still exist in large numbers on their land and on a daily basis, you see the impact it has had on those who were unfortunate enough to discover a mine while trying to plant rice or graze their cattle.

 

By Steve Bouey | Posted in Cambodia, World News | Comments (1)

One Hell of a Ride

By Steve Bouey in

July 12, 2007 – 10:55 am

We have heard many horror stories about the road conditions in Cambodia. People frequently disregard traffic laws and you basically need a tank to get over all of the pot holes. One such stretch of road, famous for being particularly bad, is the road from the border town of Poipet to Siem Reap and the temples of Angkor. Most of the people we spoke with said the trip was horrible at best and to seemingly make matters worse for us, most had made the journey during the dry season. Regardless of what people had said about the road, we thought that there was some degree of hype about it and were fairly confident about the durability of the Toyotas, especially after having them blessed by some friendly monks a few days earlier.

After spending the night in Poipet (which was reminiscent of the bar scene from Star Wars where Luke finds Han) we were eager to see for ourselves just how bad the road really was. Immediately after crossing the border into Cambodia, the quality of the roads declines dramatically. The road is technically paved for the first and last 20 kilometers of the drive, but it was probably paved in 1965 and has not been maintained ever since. Gigantic pot holes that can best be described as bomb craters are everywhere just waiting to wreak havoc on your tires, suspension and any loose items in or on your vehicle.

According to the map, Route 6 is a "major highway," but it is more like a rally car course. This road made the Plenty Highway in outback Australia look like the autobahn. Add a little bit of heavy rain a few days earlier and you have all of the makings of quite an adventure. After about 30 kilometers, Steve and I both concurred that this was the worse road either of us had ever been down. 

It is really difficult to describe just how bad the road is and even more difficult to understand why. Poipet is a major border crossing for the thousands of people that flock to see Angkor Wat each year. Rumor has it that one of the airlines flying into Siem Reap has paid some corrupt government official to divert road funds elsewhere in the hopes that the road will become so bad that people will have no choice but to fly. We did encounter signs of construction here and there, but the funny thing is, it only seemed to make the road worse. The ruts, pot holes and corrugation in the recently "improved" areas were worse than the stretches of road that had been neglected for what looked like decades.

In total, the drive from Poipet to Siem Reap took over 4 hours. There were some stretches of road where we managed to pick up the speed a bit, but mostly we cruised long stretches of road where 20 km/hour was about all that your teeth could handle. The official distance from Poipet to Siem Reap is about 175 kilometers, but if you include all of the zig zagging to avoid pot holes and oncoming traffic and the detours around washed out bridges, it was probably closer to 200.  We saw countless cars and trucks scattered along the side road and in many cases right in the middle that were not quite up to the challenge.  Fortunately for us, both the Thundra and Little Pepe made it in one piece, but I am sure they are both a little upset at us… the Tundra is now orange from all of the mud and dust and the Buddhist amulet hanging from the rear-view mirror of the Sequoia snapped off after about 40 km. I am sure we will encounter road conditions that are just as bad if not worse than HWY 6 in Cambodia, but I don’t think they will be considered highways.

 

By Steve Bouey | Posted in Cambodia, For some laughs | Comments (2)

Dear the rest of the countries in the world,

By Steven Shoppman in

July 8, 2007 – 7:03 am

Now I know that I told all of you I would visit.  A couple of years ago was when I first started talking to all of you.  At this point I know that I look like a bit of a liar.

When Steve and I started planning a while ago we told all of you that we would give you each about 10 days.  I have not heard any outright complaints, but I can here the whispers.

"Why did Australia get 2 months?"

"How come you are still in Thailand? Your visas are about to expire."

"Hey guys you said you would visit our continent in Sept."

I know what we said.  I know that we seem to be going slow, but it is hard.  Some of your cousins are not playing very nice.  We are trying to give each and every one of you a fair chance but one of your biggest friends is holding us out for a lot of money and being a little bossy.

I won’t name any names here but Big C is blocking our path and making a serious fuss about just saying hello for a few weeks.  But enough with the excuses, the truth is that we feel really bad and after all of the tests and stipulations we will be back on path motoring along in no time.  The fact of the matter is that we are just as upset as you are.  If you could maybe ask around and help us out a little we would gladly pick up the pace, maybe you have more pull than we do.

So stay up Euros, Africans and South Americans, we are on our way and promise to bring some presents when we arrive.

Sincerely,

Steven Shoppman

By Steven Shoppman | Posted in For some laughs, Thailand | Comments (0)

Our Last Few Days in Thailand

By Steve Bouey in

July 7, 2007 – 7:26 am

We only have a few days left before we drive on to Cambodia, and there are a lot of things to update everyone on regarding our last several days in Thailand.
As far as mosquito bites and fevers go, I am feeling a lot better. I still don’t seem to have much energy and find myself longing for sleep more than I ever have in my life. Even the smallest of tasks seem to wear me out but hopefully that will come to pass as well in the near future.

Since we have been in Bangkok, we have been working with USAID to film some of the projects they support in the region. Specifically we have been working with Wild Alliance(formerly Wild Aid) and learning more about the work they to to combat the illegal wildlife trade in SE Asia. The illegal wildlife trade is a pretty big problem in the region and we got to observe with our own eyes at the sprawling Jatuchak (J.J.)weekend market here in town. Staff from Wild Alliance also took us to visit a village on the outskirts of Khao Yai National Park where we meet Kuman… a former poacher turned organic mushroom farmer. With the help of Wild Alliance, Kuman is now a protector of wildlife in the park.

In the last week we have also been fortunate to meet Prah Luis, a Buddhist monk who found out about The World By Road while doing an internet search for Madagascar (long story). Prah Luis is working to connect travelers, volunteers and professionals who come to Thailand with projects that are in need of assistance. We have been staying at Wat Thakham, a Buddhist temple about an hour outside of Bangkok with Prah Luis and learning about his goals not just in Thailand, but around the world. The monks have been very kind and warm and we have found that we now have a pretty big support network in the region. If we are ever in need of a place to lay our heads for the night, there is a temple with open doors not that far off. The monks also assure us that the same hospitality will be extended to anyone passing through, you just might have to help out around the temple for a few hours. In our case the monks are working to build one of the tallest Buddha statues in the region at nearly 40 meters tall. We mixed some mortar and Steve climbed to the top of the structure to help secure some rebar…  a small price to pay for a rewarding cultural experience.

There is also some news to report from the getting into China front, we had to find a place that would perform a road safety check on the trucks. Apparently, China wants to make sure that our cars are not going to fall apart when we drive them across the border. The fact that they are new, manufactured to strict standards and have current registrations and documentation is not good enough I guess. Luckily, we found a place in Bangkok that performs such a test and 4 hours and 1,600 Baht later, we had our documents to send to China. Word on the street now is that we will have an entry date by the end of the month… fingers crossed. We have already deposited $1,000 into our contact’s account in China and he seems to think things will go smoothly.

 

By Steve Bouey | Posted in Expedition Updates, Thailand | Comments (1)

Update From My Death Bed

By Steve Bouey in

July 3, 2007 – 7:04 am

O.K., not my death bed, but I certainly have felt like I wanted to die a few times. For the past five days or so, I have been… well, not well. I think I am starting to turn a corner, but after the roller coaster ride I have been on, I am not holding my breath, especially since one of my lungs feels like it has collapsed.

About mid last week, I felt fine and then almost instantaneously, I was hit with a noticeable fever. The fever was compounded by long periods of intense sweating followed by equally long if not longer periods of extreme chills. If I am not huddled in front of the air-con, I am curled up in a ball under a hot steaming shower. To make matters even more uncomfortable, my arms, hips and legs ache like they have never ached before. I feel like I am being used as a heavy bag by a championship boxer training for a title fight. I did manage to find my appetite somewhere in the last day which is nice, because I was not able to eat a single thing for nearly four days and the shorts I bought in Phuket are now about 3 sizes too big.

At first I thought what I had contracted was just a passing cold or maybe a case of the flu, but after 72 hours with little improvement and the fact that my gums were starting to bleed every time I tried to brush my teeth, I though I had better ask around. Believe it or not, many expat and US workers over here who saw me (yes we are still going out and trying to film stories) and listened to my symptoms smiled and told tales of when they too had been bitten by the odd mosquito who happened to be carrying  a bit of the old dengue fever with it.

I had heard of dengue fever, but I thought that it was more of a threat in Central America, Africa and India. As it turns out, it has a fairly sizable presence, actually epidemic, in the urban areas of SE Asia as well. After jumping online and looking at my symptoms, I am fairly certain that dengue fever is what my body is dealing with right now. Unfortunately, the only way to be 100 percent sure is to get a blood test and for those who know me… I won’t be pricking my veins to test for a disease that at this time does not have a treatment. That’s right, no cure no miracle treatment. Just rest, fluids and depending on how strong my immune system is, it might start to pass after a week or so. The good news? If it is dengue that I have contracted, I will now be immune from one of the four strains. The bad news? Since we are on the move on an expedition, we will probably be hanging out with the other three at some point.

Anyway, I am starting to feel a little bit better and for those who had to see the blood on my hands… literally… that seems to have tapered off as well. If it is what I think it is, I should have this thing licked in another few days. Luckily for me, I was in Bangkok when this thing hit instead of a tent on a lonely plateau in Mongolia.

By Steve Bouey | Posted in Thailand | Comments (2)

Call for Expedition Members

By Steven Shoppman in

June 30, 2007 – 10:57 am

As many of you already know, we have had the crew fluctuating lately.  Up and down from 3-6 people we are now down to just Steve Bouey and I.  So I thought I would put out this little blog to formally announce that we are looking for crew members.  More than that though, we are just looking for interesting people to join us for even small periods of time.

We have found quite a few prospective joinees here in Bangkok, so we should have our numbers back up shortly, but we are always look for more good people.  So if you know anyone that may be interested, or are interested yourself, please email me or submit on the join us page.

All we ask from people that join is that they contribute for gas, which many times comes out to less than the cost of public transportation in many of these countries.  If you become a true asset to the crew we are even willing to pick up some of your costs.  But first things first…just come join up with us and we promise there are good times and unbelievable experiences waiting to be had.

By Steven Shoppman | Posted in Expedition Updates, Thailand | Comments (0)

Blogs, Blogs, Where are the Blogs?

By Steven Shoppman in

June 30, 2007 – 8:13 am

Over the last week we have had many wonderful things happen.  We met with the nice people at USAID, which then lead us to the nice people at Wild Aid.  Much of our time is spent here in Bangkok taking care of business as we prepare for the less organized countries that we will be traveling to next.  Part of this business is planning some interaction with organizations that USAID supports like Wild Aid.  Our plans include some really interesting things, such as exotic animal poachers that have been converted to farmers that now help to stop other poachers.  We will also be meeting with some organizations dealing with human traffic, unexploded ordinance and orphans as a result of birth defects from agent orange.

I can imagine that the last couple of sentences would put negative thoughts in your heads.  I won’t argue that these topics are not the most happy things to think about; however, we have learned as travel that the majority of these organizations are far from sad.  In fact, they are some of the most inspiring and positive places on the planet.  As the larger news organizations produce stories around the world, they tend to focus on the more sensational and hopeless stories.  Obviously this is because these stories sell, but we are going to show all of you the positive side of what is happening in SE Asia.  The passionate people and enthusiastic locals are making a huge difference in the world that we live in, and in the end most of these stories will leave you with a good feeling about what is happening in the rest of the world.

We have also recently been invited by some Buddhist Monks to visit their temple and spend a couple of nights there.  We will stop by here on the way to Cambodia next week.  They have even offered to put us in contact with some more temples as we travel if we need places to stay.

On a more unfortunate note and the larger reason for the lack of action on the website, Bouey and I have both been sick for the last couple of days.  I am feeling better now, but Steve’s flu (for lack of diagnosis) is still giving him a bit of a hard time.  So send your good vibes to Steve and hopefully we will both be back to 100% very soon.

By Steven Shoppman | Posted in Expedition Updates, Thailand | Comments (4)

Battle Hardened

By Steve Bouey in

June 25, 2007 – 5:06 am

The vast majority of auto commercials you see on television qualify the driving scenes with "professional driver on a closed course." When we first started planning for The World by Road, we though it would be an interesting angle if we pushed that we were by no means professionals… an angle that your average consumer could better relate to. We are simply ordinary individuals driving two cars around the world… albeit in some not so ordinary situations.

After four months on the road, I can’t help but think that we have become professional drivers in our own right. To date, we have only driven in countries where you drive on the left hand side of the road. Given that our trucks are left-hand drive, you must not only learn to become comfortable at driving on the opposite side of the road, but doing so in a vehicle that is significantly larger than most other vehicles out there.

Australia served as a good proving ground for identifying where new blind spots exist and learning the ins and outs of driving on the other side of the road in relatively calm conditions. Here in SE Asia, it is a whole new ballgame. There are a lot more vehicles on the road, traffic and roads signs are rarely in English and although there are traffic laws, it seems that people only follow them when it is convenient. In Thailand for example, there are long stretches of road were medians prevent you from making right turns as often as you would like. To avoid having to drive further down the road to where you can make a u-turn, people simply use the shoulder and head into oncoming traffic to get to their desired destination more quickly.

Driving into Bangkok was our latest test behind the wheel, and I am happy to say that Steve and I passed with flying colors. This was quite an accomplishment for us since it was just the two of us. Steve drove little pepe while trying to navigate and read the map and I followed in the thundra, blocking traffic when we needed to change lanes or make a sudden turn. The approaching afternoon rain darkened the skies on the way into the city and the rain, compounded by the air quality in and around Bangkok, necessitated the use of headlights at 3 in the afternoon. Relatively speaking, the road to Bangkok is in pretty good condition, except for having to avoid two foot deep potholes that jump out at you every now and then.

About 20km outside of Bangkok we hit gridlock. The traffic was not as bad as we had expected, probably because it was a Sunday afternoon, but it was still pretty intense. Officially, the highway is three lanes but by now, people had formed five lanes of traffic in hopes of moving faster, only to realize it adds to the problem. To make matters worse, people don’t really do a good job of securing loads onto their trucks. It is quite amazing to see just how high people can pile unsecured bags of rice in the back of a pickup truck. At one point, a large rainwater container fell off the back of a truck in front of Steve which he quickly avoided. Luckily the momentum of the container carried it forward allowing me to slip by unscathed as well, however, after a quick glance into the rear-view mirror, it was apparent that other motorists were not as fortunate. After weaving our way past a few more minor to moderate accidents and stopping to jump across the seat to pay the expressway toll (one of the additional requirements of driving a left-hand drive truck by yourself) we were in the city. Again, with luck on our side, we managed to find the right exists, make the right turns, avoid the plethora of mopeds and tuk-tuks and arrive safely at our destination in central Bangkok.

Driving in and around cities such as Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and now Bangkok has dramatically increased my alertness, patience, accident avoidance and not to mention my offensive and defensive driving skills. Couple that with the off-roading we have done and will soon face when we cross into Cambodia, I’d say my driving skills are becoming quite impressive.

We also just found out that when we arrive in China, we have to take a driving instruction course in order to be issued the licenses and number plates we need to continue on. I won’t go into how taking a driving course from a Chinese instructor in China makes me feel, but it should make for some good video. Considering all of the driving we have done thus far and all of the conditions we have found ourselves in, I would have to say that some of those professional drivers you see on television might have a thing or two to learn from Steve & Steve.

By Steve Bouey | Posted in Thailand, The Toyotas | Comments (1)