Beating the Heat, Thai Style

We said farewell to the beautiful but way too expensive south and headed back up to Bangkok. Bangkok with its longtail boats, ancient wats and major modern mega malls kept us busy and entertained for the 2 days we were there. We found that the air conditioned cinemas were a much needed break from scorching midday heat. We managed to wander through the chaotic and lively china town and stopped in at the weekend outdoor market which is a gigantic maze full of junk, any kind of junk you never knew you needed; but the people watching is priceless if you can manage the heat in the over packed stalls. We also got a chance to meet up with my uncle Randy who frequents this tropical paradise from his own tropical paradise in Hawaii. He treated us to a couple of great dinners and it was fun to do things in style for a couple of days.

As we tend to get stuck in big cities we decided to high-tail it out of there and head for the northern city of Chang Mai. Our first day here, we rented cruiser bikes and wandered through the crazy streets in search of a tribal museum. Our bike day turned out to be a bit rainy, but we did stumble upon the museum after much aimless wandering through streets, puddles and parks.

The next day, we rented a scooter and headed up to Doi Suthep which is a famous wat and surrounding national park. The wat was beautiful and full of Thais, foreigners and monks alike. It supposedly has a great view of the city, but due to the haze in the air which is common this time of year, we didn't get to see it. We continued past the wat and visited a few tribal villages that are located in the national park. It was a long day on the scooter, and despite very sore buns, we had so much fun that we kept the scooter and visited another national park, Doi Inthanon, for 2 more nights. Doi Inthanon claims the highest point in Thailand, a whopping 2,500 meters. Relatively not too high, but the cooler air was very welcome. We saw many great waterfalls and stayed in a little hill tribe village right in the park. Our bungalow was old and made of bamboo, but it had a great lounging spot right out in front where we had campfires under the full moon. It seemed that we had the whole park to ourselves, luckily the high season is winding down. The lush green forest hosted many creepy crawlies including one "choncho", the spider who lived under the ply board steps in our bungalows bathroom and would come out at night to scare the living **** out of me when I would wake up to do business. This thing was gigantic, a monster. Think tarantulas, lurking in the corner with its beady eyes, watching you when your half asleep...not so cool. Luckily I got a little sleep in our bungalow since it had a spider proof net (a.k.a mosquito net), although I think Chancho could've eaten his way through if he was hungry enough. We are now back in Chang Mai and are heading toward the Laos boarder tomorrow for what may be 2-3 days of transit before we settle down in Luang Prabang.

Slow Going in Thailand

So after months and months of what locals in many countries called, "unusually cold/wet weather", we are working hard to adjust to the stifiling heat of SE Asia. Lucky for us our current locale makes it easy to keep cool as we have been sure to keep the ocean no further than a stones' throw away. Here in the 'Land of Smiles', the sweat flows non-stop, the 'farangs' (or tourists), bake themselves into different hues of pink and red, and Shanon and Jared seem to come to a screeching halt as the combination of these things has made it difficult to function in an effecient manner. A small price to pay for paradise.

Our quick tour of S.Thailand has been a condensed version of our trip from 2004, although this time the prices are inflated and the US dollar is down--bad for a couple of penny-pinchers who know the end is on the horizon and have to make the most of every cent, or bhat, or yen, or whatever. Either that or we need to start looking into work visas so we can extend indefinately...

Hard to imagine all the destruction that occured here from the Tsunami in 2004--unlike it's much smaller and more volatile counterpart of Sri Lanka who was visibly scarred, Thailand really doesn't show the physical effects of the disaster beyond a few memorials and plenty of Tsunami evacuation signs. The island we're on right now, Koh Phi Phi (pronounced pee-pee...you immature kids can go ahead and laugh at the name), was ravaged by the waves, but being here now you would never know anything happened--and it's still as beautiful as it was the last time we saw it.

Lucky for us we got to enjoy some of the beauty with some fellow SLC-ers (Candace and Cody). Shanon worked with Candace at Huntsman before we quit the rat race, so it was nice to spend some time with friends from home.

Now we know that the past few updates haven't been very exciting, so we think it's time to get back on the road before the tropical heat either melts our will to move on, or the monsoon rains begin and ruin our future plans for Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. Within the next week or so we'll likely cross the border into Cambodia to start checking out Wats (temples), relaxing on more beaches, exploring steamy jungles and dodging landmines left behind from the Vietnam War. Hopefully we won't be bringing home any shrapnel as souvenirs.

Burned Noses and Mango Shakes

So gone are the days of layering everything in our tiny bags to try to stay warm...it's hot here, really hot and we are finally having the weather that we packed for 6 months ago.

Thailand is, as always, paradise and we wish all of you were here with us. We arrived in Bangkok 4 days ago and bummed around the city for a couple of those days. It was nice to be in a modern city for a change, it has been awhile. Then, when the city became too hot to stay, we took an overnight bus south toward the ocean. The bus was heaven compared to the ones in India and Nepal as everyone had a seat and they weren't blasting Hindi music in our ears for the duration of the ride. The bus and a short boat ride later got us to the beaches on the quiet island of Koh Lanta in the south. Here we have been lazing about ever since and eating the most amazing fresh fruit (you miss this kind of stuff). It's so beautiful here and the beaches are absolutely amazing. Our bungalows aren't quite as fancy as they were 4 years ago, but the budget is definately coming to an end as is our time. However, even our smallish thatched hut room still feels like paradise. We opted for this island first as it is a little more laid back and quiet compared to some of the islands to the north.

Yesterday, we had scooter day, which is always a highlight when you have your own means of transportation. We toured all over this island and found private, remote beaches at every turn. There is not much else to report of other than a lot of general beach bumming. Oh, how we wish all of you were here with us. Candace is here, where are you Candace?!

Our plans are open now, actually we have no plans to speak of, but we do know that in the next 3 months we need to get to Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam as well as northern Thailand. Wow, it's crazy how things to see, money to see it with and time to do it all in are wrapping up. We still have about 3 months, but we all know how fast that time can go...

Kathmandu and the Himalayan Disappearing Act

As I think we mentioned before, Nepal has been a nice change of pace. Because of the size of the country we haven't had to do a whole lot of moving around, and with just two major tourist cities in the country, a fairly painless six hour bus ride connected us from Pokhara to Kathmandu.

Our arrival in the capital city came at the same time as a dense, bronze blanket of pollution that covered the valley and blocked the view of the enormous mountains that we knew were just on the horizon. All of our efforts to get around or above the haze were in vain, so we have had to settle for postcard images of the mighty Himalaya that tower over Kathmandu. Lame. I guess it just gives us a reason to come back here some day so that we can say we've seen the highest mountain in the world (which we should have been able to see from a lookout yesterday--instead we got the view below with the sun about right where we should have been able to see Everest in the distance). Locals as well as other travelers have reminded us to be happy for the few weeks of perfect weather we had while we were in Pokhara and on our trek...so, I guess we won't complain too much. But it's hard being us, ya know?

Actually, what's been really hard is getting around the Kathmandu valley to see some of the cultural gems. Since our arrival there have been protests in the southern part of the country, and for a few weeks gasoline tankers have been backed up at the Indian border not allowed to cross. The massive shortage in fuel has created lines to the gas pumps that carry on for miles and clog the narrow roads. Not only has that made it difficult and time consuming to travel even short distances, but it's also made it more expensive for a taxi or bus ride. Like always though, we have no choice but to find ways to get around such challenges and we've been able to get see some great historical sights (minus the Himalayas looming in the background).

The traveler slum of Kathmandu is called Thamel, and like Pokhara, the streets are lined with mountain gear and souvenir shops, western bakeries and hawkers selling Tiger Balm. Not far outside this very western part of the city is another world full of massive Buddist stupas, Hindu temples and midevial looking architecture. The old cities are just that, really old, the stupas are massive, the Hindu temples full of phalic symbolism, the taxi drivers relentless and the food nice and western, with the occasional bean burrito for Shanon.

Tibetean Buddhist influence in Nepal gives it a very different feel from India, and the Buddhist sites we visited were spiritual places alive with energy from the continuous chant, "Om Mani Padmi Om", colorful prayer flags and beads, and a positive energy radiated by people all walking clockwise around the worlds largest stupa spinning prayer wheels. Although we're not ready to exchange our street clothes for Buddhist robes, it was interesting to see these Tibetean exiles perform their spiritual rituals.

The days seem to be falling off the calendar now, and tomorrow we fly to Bangkok--a little sooner than expected, but we think we might be rushing the next three months to beat the relentless SE Asia monsoon rains. Overall, Nepal has been a great experience and it marks the end of country number eight on our voyage. Look for the cold weather clothes to be gone next time there is a blog update...it's officially time to sweat.

Last but not least, one thing that really helped while in Kathmandu (and Nepal in general) was the power of numbers. Since our arrival to the country we have been on the move with a great couple from England, and not only does doing things in a pack of four greatly increase our bartering power, but they were genuinely great people to spend time with. They're off to India again for a week (suckers!), but we hope to catch up with them again some day soon in SE Asia.

Thanks for the good times Becky and Alan!

9 Days of Himalayan Fun

Let it be confirmed that the Himalayas are really big (Annapurna South on the left). After nearly a week of lazy lounging in the laid back city of Pokhara, we rented a backpack, a couple of sleeping bags, and started out on one of the most famous treks in Nepal, called the Jomsom Trail (or appropriately dubbed the 'Apple Pie Trail' because of the number of westerner trekkers--and the apple orchards).

The original plan was to take a 20 minute flight to the top of the trek, and then make the 9 day journey back down to Pokhara. As it turns out, we spent yet another morning waiting in a small airport for a flight that would never leave--seems to happen a lot here because of the wind in Jomsom. It was slightly reminiscent of our experience in Bolivia so many months ago.

Anyway, we decided to start from the bottom of the trail and hope that we would actually reach the end destination, then be able to fly back....more on that later.

A two hour bus ride took us to our trailhead where we started. To our surprise we were feeling rather good for how out of shape we've become after not getting much exercise since S. Africa. Then the steps began--and they didn't stop for about 3.5 hours. At some point in time the Nepali people decided that the quickest way to travel from point A to point B was a straight line--no matter what was in the way of that line. Not only do the local people of the foothill villages cover ground quickly (up hundreds of thousads of meters at a time), they do it with massive loads of goods and sometimes they're wearing flip-flops. Even the porters who are over 70 years old move at a pace that put us to shame. Really amazing to witness.

The views on the trek are all of the Annapurna Range, and while making the ascent there are soaring peaks of varying heights, some of them up to 15,000 feet or more. Then after hiking for a while and we were on higher ground the REALLY big mountains come into view. In this range of the Himalaya there are several peaks over 8,000 meters (25,000 ft.+).

Along our route we stayed in guest houses that line the trail (which is sadly being converted into a road), some of which were pretty nice. Most days we stared hiking about 8:30 and would finish mid-afternoon in one of the villages that dot the trail--in fact, you can hardly walk 10 minutes without encountering people working their crop terraces, collecting cow dung to use as a fuel source, washing clothes or lazing about in the afternoon sun.
Near Jomsom I came down with something, still not sure what, and had a long night of night terrors and feverish ramblings while poor Shanon devised evacuation plans in her head and tried to figure out how she was going to get me to a good hospital in Bangkok. I survived the night, thankfully, and we made it Jomsom and scheduled our flight back to Pokhara for the next day. As fate would have it no planes were leaving again because of wind, and so instead of hoping for good luck the next day we decided to retrace or steps--some of them by jeep, and get back down the long way. In other words, our 20 minute flight back to Pokhara turned into 2 more days of trekking/transit.

Overall....
The Views: Woweee.

The Villages: About every 10 minutes or so--but fascinating to see how people live up here.

The Food: Decent, but after four days we decided that they might be recycling grease up there, and everything started tasting the same.

The Smells: Ahhhh....Fresh Himalayan air, lots of body odor, and plenty o' mule stench.

The Trekkers: Slightly sore, but happy (and healthy).

In the end...success. The struggles always prove to be some of the best stories when you look back on an adventure, and this trek definitely had a few struggles. But what a beautiful region and what friendly people. Since it's winter here there weren't alot of trekkers, so we were often the only two people in the guesthouses we'd end up in, but one friendly local told us that in October his small village sees more than 250 foreigners roll through in a single day. We love the off-season.

We're now safe and sound back in Pokhara, and planning our next move. Nepal is a small country, so it's been a nice change from having to take 10 hour bus/train rides to get to our next destination. Next up will likely be the noisy capital of Katmandu.

The trekkers cheating a bit and catching a ride on top of a local Himalayan taxi.

N-E-P-A-L, Viva Nepal

Oh yeah! We sucessfully crossed the boarder (easiest boarder crossing so far) into Nepal after 2 horrific and caustrophobic days of bus rides. I feel much better and we are loving Nepal.


First though, our last stop in India.

Varanasi is a holy city for hindu people as it is the site of the holy Ganges river and religious ghats (stairs/platforms to the river) line the bank. Many Indian people make a pilgramage to this city each year to bathe in the river, it is believed to wash one of all their sins and help them achieve Nirvana. The old city lies right along the river and there is a walkway along all of the ghats. There are hundreds if temples in this city as well.

Each ghat is special for its own religious reason and some date back thousands of years. As you walk along the ghats and river you can see many people bathing, making religious offerings or priests performing religious rites. I tell you the people watching is at its best here.

One especially bizaar ghat was Manikarnika where cremations are performed all day, every day. A worker told us that there are about 350 cremations done each day. As a foreigner, this is really a bizaar sight and strange to be standing there watching these proceedings. For Indians, this is the place to come and die. The most holy place and people come from all over India to spend their last days.

Another ghat has nightly Hindu ceremonies where people buy floating candels and orange marigolds to float down the river and the priests perform some religious songs/actions. The river lights up as hundreds of these candles float buy.

The river itself is said (by western scientists) to be dead, or septic; so polluted and dirty that it is shocking that people (by the hundreds) are bathing in it and drinking it. But the Hindus believe that it is holy and will cure ills, clean them physically, spiritually and emotionally. You can watch the bathers lined along the ghats and flintch as they wash their babies, rinse their mouth and swim across the water. They say that you may also see an occasional dead cow (or body) floating down the water, but luckily we didn't get to see this. People on land will be going the bathroom (not just #1) a few feet from the shore and raw sewage is another big pollution in the river. With my western conception of sanitation, it was hard to watch and we often had to cover our mouths and look away. It's hard not to pass judgement, this is their beliefs and way of living, and they have been making pilgramages here for thousands of years.

After a few mind-blowing days in Varanasai, we finally said farewell to India (good riddance) and headed into Nepal. It took two full days of train rides and horrifying bus rides to get to Pokara, Nepal where we dropped our things and stayed for 4 days. We are so happy to have some fresh air and mountain stuff to do (the trekking, rafting, hiking, yoga, climbing...possibilities are endless). We were feeling quite a bit out of sorts in India where there isn't much activity other than fighting off rickshaw drivers, eating, and coughing. We met a great couple from England on our last train in India and crossed the boarder together. They also had mixed feelings about India and we had many a great moments rehashing our crazy stories together. We really did see some great things, and man the stories to tell.... but it was a test of severe patience every day, and we are happy to be in the slower, friendlier, not so pushy northern neighbor now. Ahhhh (you can see my happiness in one of these pictures).




We have already done a couple of wonderful day hikes; one to a tibetan world peace pagoda which looks out over all of Pokara and the lake. We were escorted by some very good guides who kept us safe and entertained the whole way up.



Another hike was bright and early to a viewpoint at sunrise to watch the amazing, towering, close Annapurna range change from blue to pink to white, beautiful.

We are scheduled to fly to Jomosom tomorrow to start a 10 day trek among small Nepali villages and massive Himalayan peaks. So excited, but it is going to be freezing again. We will be out of internet range for the trek so we will update this blog when we get back to Pokara (not sure how long we will take maybe a little more than a week).