Cairns Australia.

Hello all,

I am currently in Cairns Australia living out of town with limited internet. I stayed in Cairns working on a 1600's sailing ship named the Duyfken. As part of the crew I lived and worked on the boat. We maintained it, gave tours and occasionally went sailing. I've posted some pics.

I am currently living outside of Cairns working on a piece of property next to the beach in exchange for room and board. My daily routine consists of painting, cleaning, mowing etc for half the day. The rest of the day I spend relaxing reading and hanging out on the beach. It is a terrible living. No pics yet, but I'll post soon. I hope you all had a great thanksgiving !!

Sailing the Duyfken

-LR

New blog location...

So Colleen ( my travel buddy) decided to create blog where we both can post pictures and such. After much discussion (IE: None) we decided to make one. We'll both post our pics here:

www.texansdownunder.blogspot.com

You can still email me at lmrinbox@gmail.com though. Enjoy!!

Heading North in Vietnam

Heading up the coast to Northern Vietnam we passed through Hoi An and Nah Trang.

Hoi An and Nah Trang.

Saigon

Here are some pics of Saigon Vietnam....

Saigon

The Killing Fields

While in Cambodia, we visted the capital Phnom Phen. Cambodia has a very dark and sad recent history. During the 1970's the Khmer Rouge took power and executed approx 200,000 people. They wanted to return to a classless society, so they first started with educated people. As time went on they began to execute there own, killing people who knew too much etc.... Some of the leaders of the Khmer Rouge are actually currently on trial for alot of the atrocities that happened, unfortunately it's nearly 30 years too late.

We went to visit one of the "killing fields" where people were murdered and visted Toul Sleng one of the most notorious prisons in the Khmer Rouge. Some may have seen the famous movie, "The Killing Fields" which takes place during the Khmer Rule in Cambodia.

After we headed to Sinoukville Cambodia to enjoy a little time on the beach. Here are some pics, some are not for the light hearted.

Phnom Phen Cambodia

Currently in Cambodia

Here are some pics of Angkor Wat in Cambodia.. google it, it's an amazing place!!


Angkor Wat

Traveling Man

Hey folks, I have left Korea and am currently traveling in Southeast Asia. I've posted some pics... here are a few:

Malaysia

Ko Samui Thailand.

Enjoy, and I'll see you all soon!!

Almost Done

Anyang-Haseyo( Hello in Korean),

Time is flying, I am done here on March 1st and will be heading off to travel in South East Asia until April 15th. I will be visiting Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. I haven't posted much lately since not much has changed. I have been saving up to travel and keeping my outings to a minimum. The won has more or less stabilized, but unfortunately it is at a very crappy exchange rate. I don't see it changing much before I leave, so I guess I should not fret about things I cannot control.

I did just celebrate my birthday. There were no huge festivities. I will go out and have a party of sorts this Saturday, but I will try and keep that experience OFF the internet. My mom DOES read this too..... :) One interesting thing did happen: on the way to my birthday dinner we ran across a very interesting game. In the states we have those "claw" machines where you put a few coins in and try to pick up a teddy bear etc.... Well, we ran across one pretty much identical to those except instead of a toy, you try and pick up a real live lobster. Of course I had to try (yes mean, but hey, I could eat a whole lobster for 25 cents) Unfortunately I did not win, but a young 7 year old Korean kid almost got it. Sadly, it squirmed at the end and wiggled out of the claw. Imagine how proud he would have been to bring home dinner.

Other than that, I'm just getting ready to travel and head home to catch up with all you guys!!

-Luis

PS: I have been scoping the job market at home and it is not looking that great. If you hear of any good jobs for a country hopping bilingual pseudo-engineer let me know. I'm open to just about anything. :)

Holiday Time in Korea

Well as usual the holidays blew by again this year. I'm sure you all had great ones and they went by just as fast. This year I got to play Santa for my Korean students and hand out presents for them. Only about 25% of Korea is Christian, so it is not quite as large a holiday here. Nonetheless, I still got a few days off and went out of town for a couple of days. I stayed at the swankest hotel I will ever stay at and splurged a little. What the hell, it was Christmas. It was a resort hotel on the beach. It was complete with an underground water park and mall. It is located in the North East part of Korea, very close to North Korea. It was a good experience.

For New Year I went to the Korean Bell Ringing near the city center. It is similar to our experience with dropping the ball, except they ring a bell on New Years. There was a stage and Korean performers. Unfortunately it was overtaken by Protesters who want to oust the president. During the count down my friends and I were part of the few who counted down while the others chanted "Lee-Myung-bak, get out!!!", in Korean of course. It was quite an experience, and I'm just happy the protests were peaceful. One of the main reasons the Koreans were protesting was the attempt to pass the Free Trade Agreement with the US before the New Year. They feel the agreement would cost Korean jobs. Good thing I didn't were my US flag T-shirt. :)

I definitely missed home during these holiidays and am looking forward to seeing you all next April!!


Holiday Photos

-LR