Go To Laos!

Wow, Laos... That is all we can say. We are loving this country and its very happy, friendly, peaceful people. This country moves slow, it's calm and beautiful and full of fun outdoor stuff!

We spent a few days in the city capital and even that place is calm. You feel like you are in a small village but it is the capital, large and full of people (well relatively large and full, this country only has about 6 million people in it and most live in rural, poor places). Man, it is so hot! We splurged (a whopping $10) and got a room with airconditioning and a tv since it is too hot to move. We did manage to make it out to Xieng Khuan, a park full of Buddha stone carvings and sculptures, which was really cool (in a hot sort of way) and we watched a local soccer game afterward with a popcicle in hand (a new addiction of mine, sooo cold and delicious).

After we left the city, we started making our way south on the public bus (oh, fun) with a 2 day stop over in a small town called Na Hin. We were dropped off the bus at the road junction and could only get to Na Hin by waiting for an hour and then cramming in a sawngthaew (large tuk tuk with two rows of seats) with the local village. Yes, I think the whole village was in the truck and Jared counted 25 of us at one time on the ride. With nothing much except for a gigantic cave with an underground river through it (yes this country is full of caves) we didn't stay in the town for too long, except to go to the local New Years party which our hotel host invited us to. New years isn't officially until the 13th, but I think the Laos people start celebrating 2 weeks in advance. It was really interesting, to say the least, and I was offered a many weird and frightening foods, most of which I got down just ok. We rented a motorbike and wound our way through the stunning scenerey and remote, almost archaic villages to the caves entrance. Once at the cave we had to take a motorized fishing boat through which took about 1 hour to make it to the other side of the mountain, about a 7 km one-way journey. Very cool.

We left that mountain town and hopped on another random local bus to make it to Savannaket for one night (nothing to tell except for the wonderful soup dinner on the sidewalk by the mekong with the Laos) and then another really hot bus day to Pakse which is a crossroads town in the south where we have been based for the last few days. There are definately some crazy street foods going on here like dried crickets on sticks, marinated spiders and baby duck eggs. Gross! We rented another motorbike and went onto the Bolaven Plateau for a night which was a little cooler and full of beautiful waterfalls. I had a little misshap with the rocks and ended up with a slight sprained ankle (which seems to be my injury of choice) but don't worry, it's getting better as the days go on. Today we saw an old, old temple called Wat Phu, which was built back between the 7-12th centuries. The ruins were amazing, I think just a little taste for what lays ahead in Agkor, Cambodia.

We spent the last 3 days in Laos on an island in the Mekong river called Don Khon. It was probably the most laid back place I have ever been. There was no phones or internet and we only got power for a few hours in the evening which made the nights very hot! It was a great mix of few tourists, a few good resteraunts and wonderful daily Laos. The main activity for the days were reading in the hammocks or riding cruiser bikes around the island. Not much else. We met so many great locals and it was right in the middle of Laos New Year so there were many water soakings, dancing moments and good cheer. New year is also called the 'water festival' which I think is a better name. No one is safe, and the streets turn to mud after all of the water fights. So fun, this country is the best!

Caves n' Rivers

We had mixed feelings about visiting the backpacker haven of Vang Vieng. Our guide book warned us of sub-standard eateries who loop old re-runs of the TV show 'Friends' (a sad, sad truth as we found out) and wild parties that thumped loud music until dawn. On the other hand, the scenery was described as amazing and the activities endless. How could we resist.

Although the town itself was a bit of a stretch in its efforts to entertain the young backpacker crowd, we did manage to find one excellent organic food restaurant, and the surrounding landscape was impressive.

The limestone formations that shoot into the sky are filled with massive caves--some of which go into the mountains for miles. There are really too many to see, but we rented a motor-bike and had some cavern fun. All over this country are caves that government and military leaders lived in while in exile during the Second IndoChina War (aka Vietnam War). There's a lot of really interesting history in this country that we had no idea existed--I'll save the lessons of yesteryear for another time. The point is that there are lots of caves and we went to some of them.

Beside walking through several huge grottos, we also took a strange tube ride into a cavern that is still being shaped by an underground river. There were fixed ropes through the first 300 feet, making it possible to pull yourself into pitch dark. Luckily the same guy who rents the tubes also rents a massive battery pack that powers a headlamp...live wires and battery acid while floating in a river in a dark cave--nice, but a bit creepy.


In the interest of floating in daylight, we also rented a tube for an afternoon and floated down the Nam Song. It's a pretty raucous ride in some areas as the locals have learned that it's a profitable business to sell booze to the mobs young 'falangs'. Again, the scenery along the ride was amazing, but the party was a bit over the top for the likes of us. Unlike many others that day, I'm the sober guy who's upside down in the shot below, trying to pull off a back-flip from one of the many (large) rope swings that lined the shore. Good, clean fun.Our stay in Vang Vieng was better than we anticipated, and we decided we liked the river so much that we booked a drive/kayak trip to get to the capital city of Vientiane. It was a small group, and the river pretty mellow, but there was one small set of rapids that got the better of us--of course no photos to prove it since we were upside down in the water. In the end we conquered the white-water and made it to the country's very laid-back capital.









Since the history of Vientiane is relatively new there's not a lot to do/see here, but it doesn't feel like other capital cities. The mellow vibe here is packed with good restaurants, swanky hotels and plenty of foreign financing. Locals and foreigners who know the country will tell you this place is growing up fast, so we're luck to see it now. Those looking into foreign investment might want to take a look--but you didn't hear that from me. Onward!

The Slow Boat and Luang Prabang

So hot....I'm not sure how hot it is today, but it hurts to be outside. Even the locals are complaining a bit (and even breaking a sweat). Welcome to Laos--(don't pronounce the 's').

We hopped the Thai/Laos border about 5 days ago, which runs neatly down the middle of the Mekong River, and booked a two-day 'slow boat' journey. The flurry of the border crossing put us on a boat crossing to Laos, through customs, on a tuk-tuk ride, and back on the slow boat all in a matter of an hour. Pure chaos. But like most borders we've crossed, it somehow seems to work out...for better or for worse.

Although we were not in the most comfortable river-faring vessel, our trip down this main artery of Asian life was a pretty relaxing and entertaining experience. For a few days we got to see (albeit it from a distance) how the people of this country utilize the murky waters of this massive river for sustainment and entertainment. Naked little boys entertained the 'falangs' with crazy river antics, old men used massive fishing nets from the rock banks or from make-shift boats, and women sifted large pans on the sandy shores (maybe panning for gold). In the end we had pretty sore butts, but the experience had been great.Our end destination was the temple studded city of Luang Prabang. Like many cities in this country it is situated right on the bank of the Mekong, but instead of the rural life we had witnessed the previous two days while on the water, this place is a tourism magnet with plenty to do and see. After being witness to hundreds of Wats over the course of the past few months, we resisted our temptation to not visit any more temples, and we hit the muggy streets. After all, Buddha and the colorful monks who worship him make for great photo-ops.

To beat the heat we also spent an afternoon in the cool waters of a large waterfall near the city--a nice reprieve from the sweltering sun and crippling humidity.

We also ran into our friends Alan and Becky who we had spent time with in Nepal. As always, it was nice to see some familiar faces. Being the brave souls that we are, Alan and I hit the night bazaar and each got a small sample of the insect/reptile stuffed bottles of Lao Lao--the local rice based elixir. (In case the image is hard to see, one bottle is stuffed with a small Cobra and the other with a giant Scorpion.) Through our bravery, I must confess that neither concoction was the least bit tasty--in fact they were horrible, and in the morning I had a hard time keeping my balance. The point is that we are brave. Even Shanon had a small taste of the scorpion--and managed to hold it down. We all vowed, 'never again!'

This is a great country so far, full of lovely people and beautiful scenery. Since we have a lot to do we will head south tomorrow, taking a few days to relax and float the river before arriving in the capital city.

----------------

Note on the Camera: For now our pictures seem to be back (not sure what's going on with the virus), but the internet here is painfully slow. As a result, the photo count on the blog may be kept to a minimum for a while.

Note on the Blog: For our dedicated readers....when you look at the comments, if you ever do, there seems to be several notes from various strangers who provide a link and say something like, "Click Here." Don't ever do it. I do believe it's something bad (i.e. virus).

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!