Seeing as we messed up our trip to Myanmar, we took our extra time in Bangkok to take in the sites and experiences with the city has to offer. This involved a ping pong show, walking through Pat Pong Market (red light district and awesome knockoff clothing and purses), saw the temples along the river and checked out Chatuchak Weekend market. As well as a bit of shopping :)
I knew that on this trip we would be celebrating my birthday somewhere, but wasn't quite sure where. I was hoping it would be on the beach, but Bangkok was still awesome as well. Joey and I spent most of the day lazying around, and then we went for a very fancy river cruise. We had to go all the way to the Marriot Hotel, which was absolutely stunning. After staying in guesthouses for the last two months, Joey and I were envious of the rich travelers who got to stay here. We were merely just visitors drinking their expensive wine.
The river cruise involved a 5 course dinner and various sight seeing along the river. The ambiance was very relaxed and the food was amazing. It was such a unique and great way to spend my birthday. I am so lucky Joey spoiled me. To top it off, he had arranged for them to bring me a cake. Everyone awkwardly sang me happy birthday on the boat (most ppl didn't know who they were singing for, or what my name was, so there was that awkward pause at happy birthday to (insert name) haha).
A couple days later we spent the day sightseeing along the river. We saw the Royal palace, a couple of wats, and then decided to search for some crazy shrine dedicated to fertility. We had heard that this shrine was located in the parking garage of a 5 star hotel on the other side of town. It is where Thai women come to pray to the god of fertility so that they become pregnant. When they become pregnant they come back to bring an offering. Sounds quite normal right? The peculiar thing about this shrine was there was penis phalluses' everywhere. Made of wood, stone, crystal, glass.. you name it. They were various shapes and sizes. Quite a strange shrine to be in a 5 star hotel.
That night we decided to do the North American thing and go to the movies. We watched the movie Pope Joan. Unless you really like epic/history/religious films, it wasn't our cup of tea. It was still decent though! We finished off our night with stuffed crust pizza from Pizza Hut. I've never had it before nor have I ever been to Pizza Hut, but it was pretty good. Not something I would order again though.
The next day Joey and went to Chatuchak market which is a market that happens every Saturday and Sunday. There are 15,000 stalls of everything you could imagine. We were mainly looking for clothes and maybe some weird souvenirs. It was quite overwhelming how much stuff there was. Our favourite part of the market was when we stumbled upon the pet section. There were baby bunnies that you could pick up and pet. Some of them were sooooooo tiny, and also, there were others wearing little dresses. One of the cutest things I have ever seen. There were also lots of puppies and kittens everywhere. Sometimes even in the same cage. One thing that we saw that was heartbreaking was the full grown adult husky in a small cage. Joey was heartbroken because the dog looked so unhappy being in that cage. Who knows how long he has to stay in there, or if he gets walked or properly fed.
On Monday our plan was to go to the Myanmar embassy, pick up our visa and get ready for our trip there. One thing about Myanmar is that they don't have atm's and nowhere accepts credit card. You must bring all the money you expect to spend for your stay with you. If you don't, you can potentially purchase US dollars from high end hotels who will charge up to 30% commision. It is simply more worth it to bring enough money with you and not worry about it.
We had a couple issues getting our money out because I couldn't remember my PIN and Joey had a limit on his cards. Eventually we got enough money to exchange into US. We went to the MBK (Mahboonkrung Mall) in Bangkok where there are lots of different exchange places. The thing about exchange places here is that they sometimes only have $100 US bills, which aren't usually accepted in Myanmar.
At one exchange place we ran into quite the situation. We were approached by a man with a thick accent (we're not sure where from, but more than likely he was middle eastern) who told us he was going to Toronto soon and wanted to see what our money looked like. He still asked if he could see it. He told us about how he had been living in Australia and that he plans to go to Canada for a while. Joey told him that we didn't have any Canadian money, only American. Joey said I don't know you, but the guy's rebuttal was that he had tons of money which he then showed us (a bunch of 100 USD bill in his wallet) and wouldn't want to steal from us. This is when it got weird. He also had a friend who kept on trying to talk to me while Joey was talking to the other guy. I completely ignored him and was intent on standing right behind the guy looking at our money. I was ready to punch him in the face if he started to run away. The adrenaline was pumping through my veins. I was ready to attack. A conversation that started out as "Do you know what time it is" had turned into a crime scene.
Being the trusting Canadians we are, Joey hands him over the money just to look at. When he went to grab the money back it felt considerably thinner. The guy was folding it and about to put it in his fanny pack. At this point his friend is trying really hard to get my attention, the split second he did, Joey had already grabbed the money back and had pushed the jerk away. They both ran away into the millions of cellphone stalls on the 4th floor of the mall.
We went to security and reported the incident. We weren't quite sure if he had gotten anything but we knew that the wad of cash was only $1's and $5's so it wouldn't have been much anyways. Apparently this kind of thing happens all the time, and the info ladies told us that the criminals are arabic and have tried it many times.
Both of us are embarrassed for being so trusting but also glad that the situation worked out in our favour. Like I said in the last blog post, we are still learning. Unfortunately most of the world isn't like Canada. People here are out to get you and take advantage of our kindness. It makes us more and more jaded. Especially when talking with locals who just want to talk and know about your life and practice their english. It sucks thinking that even cute old men or even monks are out to get you or rip you off. I know it is smart to be skeptical, but sometimes it would be nice to just have an interaction with someone without questioning if they are a good person or not. Unfortunately after this experience with the guy at the mall, Joey and I have our guards up even if it means turning down experiences with locals that mean no harm.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Moral of the story is don't stop for food when you need to be somewhere
Joey and I took a sleeper bus to Chiang Mai to Bangkok. For the first hour of the busride the guy behind us complained non stop that the seats did not fully recline and that it wasn't technically a sleeper bus. The entire time I was thinking this was one of the nicest sleeper buses we've been on and that this guy obviously has only traveled in the comforts of Thailand. Good luck in Laos or Myanmar, buddy.
We arrived in Bangkok around 6 am. Khao San road's party scene was still in full swing. Lady boys, prostitutes and very drunken English guys littered the streets. I think we even saw super man. Staying up all hours of the night drinking on a busy road in Bangkok just doesn't appeal to me. We were glad to find out guest house quite quickly and get into the room where could put our heavy packs down.
The plan was to stay in Bangkok for only 3 days. Enough time to get our Myanmar visa and celebrate my birthday. Joey and I had a couple lazy days of shopping in the MBK and seeing a couple sites around our guesthouse. Our first plan was to go to the Myanmar embassy to apply for our visa. It was relatively easy to get to, and the process was quite quick. The only confusing part was that there were three different times posted to pick up our visas in 2 days. One sign said they closed at 3pm, another said visa pickup was from 3-4:30 and another said it was 3-4pm.
The day we needed to pick up our visa we took the ferry down the river to a stop that connects with the sky train. Before that, we had thought it was a good idea to have a nice lunch at the vegetarian place by our guest house. Ideally we should have left our guesthouse around 2pm. We didn't end up leaving til shortly after 3. Time was running out. We anxiously sat on the ferry and when we got to our stop we bolted off the boat and ran to the sky train.
After getting of the sky train it was time to run as fast as we could through hundreds of school children just getting out of school. We dodged parents, small children, old people with walkers and food vendors. Time was cutting closer and closer. When we turned the corner to the Myanmar embassy, we saw the last worker pulling away on his scooter at 4:29. The door was padlocked and we were screwed.
We sat in disbelief and exchanged some words of frustration with our choice of having lunch. It was one of those shoulda, woulda, coulda situations. Joey and I were truly unimpressed with eachother. We started thinking of ways we could make the situation better. Our flight left the next day and we couldn't get into Myanmar without a Visa. Better yet, it was Friday and the embassy wouldn't be open until Monday. UGH!
Joey and I called Air Asia which is the company we booked our flight to Yangon with. We lied saying that the Myanmar embassy didn't have our visas ready in time, and wouldn't have them available until Monday. Air Asia required proof, and because it was less than 48 hours before our flight there was little they could do for us. Even though I threatened to never fly with them again. Silly me thinking that would work.
We were defeated. Sad, mad, frustrated, annoyed and infuriated with the situation we decided it was time for some beers. At this point we knew we couldn't do much to change the situation and that we were out $250 because of not being able to postpone the flight unless we wanted to take a 4am bus to the airport the next day to argue with the desk.
3 hours later we were feeling better and more confident about the situation and we went to an Air Asia store around 11pm. Joey explained the situation and the guy told us he needed proof our visa wasn't ready. We just said they didn't give us any documentation and what else was there that we could do? The guy felt bad for us and called his supervisor. His supervisor didn't pick up the phone and the guy at the office decided to post pone our flight for us anyways. Obviously it was for an additional fee, but atleast it wasn't the full amount of $250.
We had to stay in Bangkok for another 4 days, but we were okay with that because there is a lot to see and do there. In some ways, despite being an expensive mistake, it was a blessing in disguise. That's all you can hope for when traveling. You just hope that everything works out in some kind of way. Roll with the punches and just deal with what happens. Sometimes there is so little you can control and just knowing that helps us deal with a lot of situations. We're still new to traveling so we make lots of mistakes. So far we've had $800USD and a camera stolen from us. We're still here, happy, alive and having the times of our lives. What more can you ask for.
We arrived in Bangkok around 6 am. Khao San road's party scene was still in full swing. Lady boys, prostitutes and very drunken English guys littered the streets. I think we even saw super man. Staying up all hours of the night drinking on a busy road in Bangkok just doesn't appeal to me. We were glad to find out guest house quite quickly and get into the room where could put our heavy packs down.
The plan was to stay in Bangkok for only 3 days. Enough time to get our Myanmar visa and celebrate my birthday. Joey and I had a couple lazy days of shopping in the MBK and seeing a couple sites around our guesthouse. Our first plan was to go to the Myanmar embassy to apply for our visa. It was relatively easy to get to, and the process was quite quick. The only confusing part was that there were three different times posted to pick up our visas in 2 days. One sign said they closed at 3pm, another said visa pickup was from 3-4:30 and another said it was 3-4pm.
The day we needed to pick up our visa we took the ferry down the river to a stop that connects with the sky train. Before that, we had thought it was a good idea to have a nice lunch at the vegetarian place by our guest house. Ideally we should have left our guesthouse around 2pm. We didn't end up leaving til shortly after 3. Time was running out. We anxiously sat on the ferry and when we got to our stop we bolted off the boat and ran to the sky train.
After getting of the sky train it was time to run as fast as we could through hundreds of school children just getting out of school. We dodged parents, small children, old people with walkers and food vendors. Time was cutting closer and closer. When we turned the corner to the Myanmar embassy, we saw the last worker pulling away on his scooter at 4:29. The door was padlocked and we were screwed.
We sat in disbelief and exchanged some words of frustration with our choice of having lunch. It was one of those shoulda, woulda, coulda situations. Joey and I were truly unimpressed with eachother. We started thinking of ways we could make the situation better. Our flight left the next day and we couldn't get into Myanmar without a Visa. Better yet, it was Friday and the embassy wouldn't be open until Monday. UGH!
Joey and I called Air Asia which is the company we booked our flight to Yangon with. We lied saying that the Myanmar embassy didn't have our visas ready in time, and wouldn't have them available until Monday. Air Asia required proof, and because it was less than 48 hours before our flight there was little they could do for us. Even though I threatened to never fly with them again. Silly me thinking that would work.
We were defeated. Sad, mad, frustrated, annoyed and infuriated with the situation we decided it was time for some beers. At this point we knew we couldn't do much to change the situation and that we were out $250 because of not being able to postpone the flight unless we wanted to take a 4am bus to the airport the next day to argue with the desk.
3 hours later we were feeling better and more confident about the situation and we went to an Air Asia store around 11pm. Joey explained the situation and the guy told us he needed proof our visa wasn't ready. We just said they didn't give us any documentation and what else was there that we could do? The guy felt bad for us and called his supervisor. His supervisor didn't pick up the phone and the guy at the office decided to post pone our flight for us anyways. Obviously it was for an additional fee, but atleast it wasn't the full amount of $250.
We had to stay in Bangkok for another 4 days, but we were okay with that because there is a lot to see and do there. In some ways, despite being an expensive mistake, it was a blessing in disguise. That's all you can hope for when traveling. You just hope that everything works out in some kind of way. Roll with the punches and just deal with what happens. Sometimes there is so little you can control and just knowing that helps us deal with a lot of situations. We're still new to traveling so we make lots of mistakes. So far we've had $800USD and a camera stolen from us. We're still here, happy, alive and having the times of our lives. What more can you ask for.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Elephant Nature Park = Best Day of My life
One of the major things I needed to do while in South East Asia was see elephants. I didn't want my only experience with an elephant to be a 30 minute ride where I don't know how the elephant is treated. I wanted to make sure that I was going to a place that was contributing to the greater good of the diminishing population of Asian Elephants in Thailand. Joey and I googled several places and we found the Elephant Nature Park (http://elephantnaturepark.org/) which is a park started by a Thai woman named Lek. She has been rescuing abused elephants since 1995.
I wasn't quite sure what to expect when going to the park. Driving down the road to the park I saw lots of other tourist parks where the elephants were tied up to posts with small ropes and no access to water or trees/grass to forage from. I was starting to think about what kind of heart break I was getting myself into. I was so relieved to hear about the park we were going to on the way to the park. We were not going to ride the elephants. Our itinerary included feeding, bathing and hanging out with elephants. Exactly like it should be. There are 32 elephants at the park who have come from dire conditions. They are able to roam around where they please; there is no fence or gate to stop them from escaping. They stay because they know it's heaven on earth.
Along with 32 elephants there were about 20-30 dogs, 20 cats, a herd of cows and water buffalos. The love Lek has for elephants extends to all animals. I was excited about the elephants, and Joey was excited about all the dogs around. No puppies for Joey though, Lek gets all the cats and dogs spayed. The way it should be!
First off we started with a safety and courtesy talk. We learned how to move around elephants, and what parts to touch. Apparently they don't like their snout touched over and over again because they are like us in the way that it's their nose and if it was us, we'd be annoyed if someone kept touching our nose. They also told us how to act around the baby elephants. We were only allowed to touch them if they came to you, or if they were wandering on their own away from the pack. If they were with their mom, watch out. Don't even try! Another note that was made, was that when feeding we MUST feed them out of their own basket (each elephant has their own) or else they will think some other elephant is eating their food. We don't want to start a fight now do we?!
So we went to the feeding area where we fed the elephants from their respective baskets. The elephants eat about 10% of their body weight each day. Their diet mainly consists of pumpkin, watermelon, bananas, leaves, and grass. It was funny to see that different elephants baskets were filled with different things. I guess elephants have a preference for food too! It was really neat to feed them. They first take the food with their trunk and then throw it into their mouth. Some are so greedy for food that they don't even chew until they have so much food they can't cram in anymore. When the basket was empty, they were heart broken. Atleast for a few hours until the next feeding. Can you believe that elephants eat 18 hours out of the day? They sleep for 4 hours at night, then the rest of the time they spend it either bathing or scratching various body parts on any surface they can!
Many of the elephants have had horrific experiences in their life time. Many were born into the logging industry where even from the get go they weren't allowed to nurse from their mothers as much as they needed and were robbed of childhood experiences because they had to follow their mothers while they worked. A common practice when the baby elephant is about 3-5 years old, people take them away from their mothers and place them in a contraption called a crush. Here they are tied down and unable to move. They are unable to access food and water. For the next 3-7 days they are repeatedly beat with sticks covered in nails by villagers until their spirit is literally crushed. This is when they will finally submit to the people. What else can they do? This is when the mahout (elephant trainer) can start to train them for a life of exploitation.
That's only the beginning. After the logging industry became illegal, they moved to the streets. It's illegal in Bangkok now, but 5 years ago the streets were full of elephants who were trained to beg for money from tourists. They would spend hours in the streets without access to clean drinking water or food. Many elephants showed signs of traumitization due to malnourishment, repeated beatings from mahouts, the vibrations and loud noises of the streets. One of the elephants at the camp was blind in both eyes because she refused to work after her baby died. She had to work so they left the baby by a cliff and it fell down and died. Her mahout took a sling shot and put it in her eye. He stabbed the other eye with a knife. I was so happy to see that she is living out her life in a perfect setting away from horrible people like that.
On to happier things... After the feeding we took some of the elephants to the river where we splashed them with water and scrubbed them down with brushes. It was awesome to see the elephants all playful in the water. The babies and their pack had a really fun time rolling around and trying to climb on eachother. It made feel so happy to see them happy. This is the life that an elephant should have. Ideally it would be in the wild, but this is not possible for elephants who have been in the work force. They would not survive. Hopefully Lek continues doing what she's doing and all of these elephants can live the rest of their lives in peace and quiet. The oldest elephant there was 80 years old and she likely has 20-30 years left of her life!
All in all, this experience was truly amazing for me. I got to see my favourite animal in such an ideal setting. I got to interact with them and I also got to see them be happy while interacting with eachother. I hope that this park continues until there isn't an issue of elephant abuse in Thailand.
I wasn't quite sure what to expect when going to the park. Driving down the road to the park I saw lots of other tourist parks where the elephants were tied up to posts with small ropes and no access to water or trees/grass to forage from. I was starting to think about what kind of heart break I was getting myself into. I was so relieved to hear about the park we were going to on the way to the park. We were not going to ride the elephants. Our itinerary included feeding, bathing and hanging out with elephants. Exactly like it should be. There are 32 elephants at the park who have come from dire conditions. They are able to roam around where they please; there is no fence or gate to stop them from escaping. They stay because they know it's heaven on earth.
Along with 32 elephants there were about 20-30 dogs, 20 cats, a herd of cows and water buffalos. The love Lek has for elephants extends to all animals. I was excited about the elephants, and Joey was excited about all the dogs around. No puppies for Joey though, Lek gets all the cats and dogs spayed. The way it should be!
First off we started with a safety and courtesy talk. We learned how to move around elephants, and what parts to touch. Apparently they don't like their snout touched over and over again because they are like us in the way that it's their nose and if it was us, we'd be annoyed if someone kept touching our nose. They also told us how to act around the baby elephants. We were only allowed to touch them if they came to you, or if they were wandering on their own away from the pack. If they were with their mom, watch out. Don't even try! Another note that was made, was that when feeding we MUST feed them out of their own basket (each elephant has their own) or else they will think some other elephant is eating their food. We don't want to start a fight now do we?!
So we went to the feeding area where we fed the elephants from their respective baskets. The elephants eat about 10% of their body weight each day. Their diet mainly consists of pumpkin, watermelon, bananas, leaves, and grass. It was funny to see that different elephants baskets were filled with different things. I guess elephants have a preference for food too! It was really neat to feed them. They first take the food with their trunk and then throw it into their mouth. Some are so greedy for food that they don't even chew until they have so much food they can't cram in anymore. When the basket was empty, they were heart broken. Atleast for a few hours until the next feeding. Can you believe that elephants eat 18 hours out of the day? They sleep for 4 hours at night, then the rest of the time they spend it either bathing or scratching various body parts on any surface they can!
Many of the elephants have had horrific experiences in their life time. Many were born into the logging industry where even from the get go they weren't allowed to nurse from their mothers as much as they needed and were robbed of childhood experiences because they had to follow their mothers while they worked. A common practice when the baby elephant is about 3-5 years old, people take them away from their mothers and place them in a contraption called a crush. Here they are tied down and unable to move. They are unable to access food and water. For the next 3-7 days they are repeatedly beat with sticks covered in nails by villagers until their spirit is literally crushed. This is when they will finally submit to the people. What else can they do? This is when the mahout (elephant trainer) can start to train them for a life of exploitation.
That's only the beginning. After the logging industry became illegal, they moved to the streets. It's illegal in Bangkok now, but 5 years ago the streets were full of elephants who were trained to beg for money from tourists. They would spend hours in the streets without access to clean drinking water or food. Many elephants showed signs of traumitization due to malnourishment, repeated beatings from mahouts, the vibrations and loud noises of the streets. One of the elephants at the camp was blind in both eyes because she refused to work after her baby died. She had to work so they left the baby by a cliff and it fell down and died. Her mahout took a sling shot and put it in her eye. He stabbed the other eye with a knife. I was so happy to see that she is living out her life in a perfect setting away from horrible people like that.
On to happier things... After the feeding we took some of the elephants to the river where we splashed them with water and scrubbed them down with brushes. It was awesome to see the elephants all playful in the water. The babies and their pack had a really fun time rolling around and trying to climb on eachother. It made feel so happy to see them happy. This is the life that an elephant should have. Ideally it would be in the wild, but this is not possible for elephants who have been in the work force. They would not survive. Hopefully Lek continues doing what she's doing and all of these elephants can live the rest of their lives in peace and quiet. The oldest elephant there was 80 years old and she likely has 20-30 years left of her life!
All in all, this experience was truly amazing for me. I got to see my favourite animal in such an ideal setting. I got to interact with them and I also got to see them be happy while interacting with eachother. I hope that this park continues until there isn't an issue of elephant abuse in Thailand.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Bye Chiang Mai, Hello Pai!
For a couple weeks Joey and I kept on hearing about a little hippy town tucked away in the hills of Northern Thailand called Pai. Apparently it's where tie dye meets thai culture and everything in between. According to fellow travelers the road was a wicked one and motion sickness pills a necessity. HA! We were still fresh off the bus from Laos. We can handle anything now. We were still wimpy enough to pop some gravol anyways! In reality, the ride was for sissies. 762 curves on the road? Try being a bus with only one working gear that is in constant limbo of dodging oncoming traffic, water buffalo, massive meteor shaped potholes and old ladies.
After a relatively smooth 3 hour bus ride, we arrived in the land of Pai. The place where the thai word sanuk really comes to life. (Sanuk: fun). Pai is very much like an Asian version of Nelson BC or a Salt Spring Island. Westerners and Thai's alike have tattoos, dreadlocks, colourful clothes, and the familiar smell of patchouli and body odour. Along with the mountains in the horizon this was definitely starting to feel like the Kootenays!
We arrived just in time to see the night market starting to set up. Villagers and ex pats alike lined the streets with delectable treats and creative handicrafts to appeal to anyone. Pai is a very common weekend destination for Thai's. In every market on our travels so far, we have been a minority. It was nice to see local people checking out other local people's craftsmanship. For dinner that night with delighted ourselves with random goodies from different vendors. Pumpkin curry spring rolls, coconut banana biscuit thingy's, beef kebabs, sausages, corn on the cob, gyozas and last but not least black rice pancakes. If you ever come to Thailand this treat is an absolute must. I don't care if you have to go all the way to Pai to get one, it is NECESSARY. A purple little patty of rice is grilled over smouldering coals until it browns up and crisps. The lady then puts on sweetened condensed milk and oddly, ovaltine. It is simply divine.
The first night we stayed in a place called Lullaby Pai. I'm not sure what the guesthouse owners thought lullabies were, but this GH was incredibly load because of the street below, the paper thin walls and the fact the whole building shook if someone walked to the bathroom in their own room. Needless to say, we moved to somewhere different the next night.
In Pai we spent most of our days walking or biking in the villages and nature near by, but we also did our fair share of lazying around at internet cafes. Joey and I also met up with our friend Lisa (who we met on the Flight of the GIbbons trip) for some good late night conversations by the peaceful river. I loved the Pai was so quiet especially by the river. You could hear frogs, crickets and the odd bird call. What made it even more cool at night was the lanterns that people could buy at the markets. The lanterns are lit up with a lighter and then let go into the sky. They then float upwards for what seems like forever until eventually they die. They were a bit expensive to buy, so I took joy in watching others spend money and me watching their lanterns.
Joey and I were really falling in love with the peacefulness of Pai, but we knew good things have to come to an end. We only had a 14 day Visa in Thailand because we crossed over a land border. (If you fly into Thailand from another country you get a 30 day visa) We decided after 4 nights and 5 days it was time to head back to the city of Chiang Mai where we had signed up for a tour of an Elephant conservation centre!
After a relatively smooth 3 hour bus ride, we arrived in the land of Pai. The place where the thai word sanuk really comes to life. (Sanuk: fun). Pai is very much like an Asian version of Nelson BC or a Salt Spring Island. Westerners and Thai's alike have tattoos, dreadlocks, colourful clothes, and the familiar smell of patchouli and body odour. Along with the mountains in the horizon this was definitely starting to feel like the Kootenays!
We arrived just in time to see the night market starting to set up. Villagers and ex pats alike lined the streets with delectable treats and creative handicrafts to appeal to anyone. Pai is a very common weekend destination for Thai's. In every market on our travels so far, we have been a minority. It was nice to see local people checking out other local people's craftsmanship. For dinner that night with delighted ourselves with random goodies from different vendors. Pumpkin curry spring rolls, coconut banana biscuit thingy's, beef kebabs, sausages, corn on the cob, gyozas and last but not least black rice pancakes. If you ever come to Thailand this treat is an absolute must. I don't care if you have to go all the way to Pai to get one, it is NECESSARY. A purple little patty of rice is grilled over smouldering coals until it browns up and crisps. The lady then puts on sweetened condensed milk and oddly, ovaltine. It is simply divine.
The first night we stayed in a place called Lullaby Pai. I'm not sure what the guesthouse owners thought lullabies were, but this GH was incredibly load because of the street below, the paper thin walls and the fact the whole building shook if someone walked to the bathroom in their own room. Needless to say, we moved to somewhere different the next night.
In Pai we spent most of our days walking or biking in the villages and nature near by, but we also did our fair share of lazying around at internet cafes. Joey and I also met up with our friend Lisa (who we met on the Flight of the GIbbons trip) for some good late night conversations by the peaceful river. I loved the Pai was so quiet especially by the river. You could hear frogs, crickets and the odd bird call. What made it even more cool at night was the lanterns that people could buy at the markets. The lanterns are lit up with a lighter and then let go into the sky. They then float upwards for what seems like forever until eventually they die. They were a bit expensive to buy, so I took joy in watching others spend money and me watching their lanterns.
Joey and I were really falling in love with the peacefulness of Pai, but we knew good things have to come to an end. We only had a 14 day Visa in Thailand because we crossed over a land border. (If you fly into Thailand from another country you get a 30 day visa) We decided after 4 nights and 5 days it was time to head back to the city of Chiang Mai where we had signed up for a tour of an Elephant conservation centre!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Chiang Mai: Bangkok of the North of Thailand
Bored with the uneventful Chiang Rai, we decided that it was time to head to Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai is a huge city of 1.6 million people. It's the second largest city in Thailand. It's the land of culinary cuisine for the Thai's and very rightly so!
I thought I'd be clever and book a guesthouse before arriving. I emailed Same Same guesthouse and they said a reservation was all set up for us. We liked them because you got free breakfast and free wifi (which is a necessity for Joey to work). When we arrive, lo and behold they have no room in their guesthouse but have made arrangements for us to stay at a neighbouring guesthouse. They take us there, this place doesn't have free breakfast or wifi, and rooms are only 250baht but they were still going to charge us 400baht. I was livid!
So Joey and I are wandering around Chiang Mai forever trying to find a place. It is hard to find a guesthouse here because most of them will only let you book a room if you book a tour with them first. If you don't they will all of a sudden be 'full' or they will pester you and treat you like poo for your entire stay. We had that in Hanoi, Vietnam. I don't want that again. We finally found a place called Safe House Guest House, which I thought was an ironic name because that was exactly what we were looking for. We wanted to be safe for sales pitching hotel staff!
Despite all the fuss, we ended up booking a tour with our hotel anyways! One thing I really wanted to do in Chiang Mai was something called Flight of the Gibbons. It's basically a zip line tour through the canopy of the forest. The proceeds go to the conservation of the gibbons'habitat and protecting them from poaching. We had quite a lot of fun swinging through the trees, although both of us wish we could could have gone faster and higher. We tried many times to get a jump start, but were soon corrected by our guides. The constant safety reminders also made it a bit more tedious. However, we still had a really great time and met some really nice people.
In Chiang Mai we didn't do much of anything except eat and look at markets. The food here is absolutely amazing. One night Joey and I splurged on a seafood dinner where we got curried vegetables and crab, and grilled king prawns. It was definitely worth every penny. Later on that night we decided that a Muay Thai boxing match was something we needed to experience. We made our way down to the boxing ring via tuk tuk. We paid for ring side seats with all the tourists, while all the locals stand on the other side.
The first match was two young boys who must have been no older than 12. Both of them only weighing in at 31 kg (Less than 70lbs). My brother Calvin could take them any day! It was more of a cultural experience than anything to watch these boys fight. First they do a dance around the ring and praying to every corner of the ring, then they stretch and take off their traditional head rest. Four musicians off to the side start to play god awful music to serenade the boys as they attempt to pummel each other.
After four more matches, I was tired of looking at men beat each other up. I was ready to go home! I can now say I've have seen a Muay Thai boxing match.
I thought I'd be clever and book a guesthouse before arriving. I emailed Same Same guesthouse and they said a reservation was all set up for us. We liked them because you got free breakfast and free wifi (which is a necessity for Joey to work). When we arrive, lo and behold they have no room in their guesthouse but have made arrangements for us to stay at a neighbouring guesthouse. They take us there, this place doesn't have free breakfast or wifi, and rooms are only 250baht but they were still going to charge us 400baht. I was livid!
So Joey and I are wandering around Chiang Mai forever trying to find a place. It is hard to find a guesthouse here because most of them will only let you book a room if you book a tour with them first. If you don't they will all of a sudden be 'full' or they will pester you and treat you like poo for your entire stay. We had that in Hanoi, Vietnam. I don't want that again. We finally found a place called Safe House Guest House, which I thought was an ironic name because that was exactly what we were looking for. We wanted to be safe for sales pitching hotel staff!
Despite all the fuss, we ended up booking a tour with our hotel anyways! One thing I really wanted to do in Chiang Mai was something called Flight of the Gibbons. It's basically a zip line tour through the canopy of the forest. The proceeds go to the conservation of the gibbons'habitat and protecting them from poaching. We had quite a lot of fun swinging through the trees, although both of us wish we could could have gone faster and higher. We tried many times to get a jump start, but were soon corrected by our guides. The constant safety reminders also made it a bit more tedious. However, we still had a really great time and met some really nice people.
In Chiang Mai we didn't do much of anything except eat and look at markets. The food here is absolutely amazing. One night Joey and I splurged on a seafood dinner where we got curried vegetables and crab, and grilled king prawns. It was definitely worth every penny. Later on that night we decided that a Muay Thai boxing match was something we needed to experience. We made our way down to the boxing ring via tuk tuk. We paid for ring side seats with all the tourists, while all the locals stand on the other side.
The first match was two young boys who must have been no older than 12. Both of them only weighing in at 31 kg (Less than 70lbs). My brother Calvin could take them any day! It was more of a cultural experience than anything to watch these boys fight. First they do a dance around the ring and praying to every corner of the ring, then they stretch and take off their traditional head rest. Four musicians off to the side start to play god awful music to serenade the boys as they attempt to pummel each other.
After four more matches, I was tired of looking at men beat each other up. I was ready to go home! I can now say I've have seen a Muay Thai boxing match.
Time flies by!
Joey and I were a bit sad to leave Laos because of the friendly people and the small scale of tourism. We said good bye to Luang Namtha and caught the local bus to Huaxai which is a border town with Chiang Kong in Thailand.
We've had our fair share of crazy buses in Laos, but for surely this took the cake. The bus was an old a/c bus that didn't have opening windows. The only air flow was from the front passenger door that didn't close properly. Locals were sitting on children's plastic stools in the aisle. The air was hot, stagnant and humid. Joey and I were very thankful to our fellow Canadian travel who gave us some of her motion sickness pills. They worked wonders and I'm so glad that I wasn't the puking white girl on the bus. In reality, the locals were the ones puking. We were fortunate enough to be sitting in the front seat so we didn't have to witness such a sight. According to our fellow traveller from California, "there was a puke pile." The one time we got prime seats on a bus, and I'm very glad.
The bus is whipping down the road. I don't know how fast because the speedometer didn't work. (Such a common thing here) The roads are complete chaos. Nice smooth asphalt one second, huge potholes and gravel piles the next. Not to mention the occasional herd of cows or dog crossing the street. The driver was weaving back and forth to get the "good" piece of the road which often put our lives at risk because of oncoming traffic.
We stopped in the middle of nowhere for a break. Not thinking of the women aboard, there was no toilet, and also no privacy especially for travelers due to the curiousity of village kids. What I thought was really a tell tale sign I was still in Laos, was the fact I saw the bus driver doing shots of Lao Lao (Lao Whiskey that is 100 proof) during the break. That ought to make the ride more enjoyable... for him, not for the pukers in the back.
About 12 kms a way from our destination all of the gears on the bus break down. The driver only has 2nd gear to work with. With still a couple of hills to go, the bus driver is gunning it through villages at phenomenal speed without a working horn to alert the villages. It was as if the bus was on fire, that's the look we were getting from villagers running out of the way. He was going fast because we still had a few hills to make it up. He needed to get a running start. Even one of the passengers needed to get off because it was his stop, but the driver didn't care. The passenger would have to wait til we were at the top of a hill so the driver could roll down the hill to kickstart it. Oh joy.
At last we finally arrived at the bus station. It was nice to touch solid ground! The rest of the border crossing was rather uneventful and smooth running. Only 3 hours later we were in Chiang Rai. We arrived with enough daylight to find a guesthouse.
Chiang Rai is a northern city with not much charm. I thought it would be a good idea to see a town that isn't so touristy. What we really did in this town was relax in the comforts of the modern world. Working internet, hot shower and eating food that wouldn't kill us. This was the life. We spent most of our day lounging around.
We've had our fair share of crazy buses in Laos, but for surely this took the cake. The bus was an old a/c bus that didn't have opening windows. The only air flow was from the front passenger door that didn't close properly. Locals were sitting on children's plastic stools in the aisle. The air was hot, stagnant and humid. Joey and I were very thankful to our fellow Canadian travel who gave us some of her motion sickness pills. They worked wonders and I'm so glad that I wasn't the puking white girl on the bus. In reality, the locals were the ones puking. We were fortunate enough to be sitting in the front seat so we didn't have to witness such a sight. According to our fellow traveller from California, "there was a puke pile." The one time we got prime seats on a bus, and I'm very glad.
The bus is whipping down the road. I don't know how fast because the speedometer didn't work. (Such a common thing here) The roads are complete chaos. Nice smooth asphalt one second, huge potholes and gravel piles the next. Not to mention the occasional herd of cows or dog crossing the street. The driver was weaving back and forth to get the "good" piece of the road which often put our lives at risk because of oncoming traffic.
We stopped in the middle of nowhere for a break. Not thinking of the women aboard, there was no toilet, and also no privacy especially for travelers due to the curiousity of village kids. What I thought was really a tell tale sign I was still in Laos, was the fact I saw the bus driver doing shots of Lao Lao (Lao Whiskey that is 100 proof) during the break. That ought to make the ride more enjoyable... for him, not for the pukers in the back.
About 12 kms a way from our destination all of the gears on the bus break down. The driver only has 2nd gear to work with. With still a couple of hills to go, the bus driver is gunning it through villages at phenomenal speed without a working horn to alert the villages. It was as if the bus was on fire, that's the look we were getting from villagers running out of the way. He was going fast because we still had a few hills to make it up. He needed to get a running start. Even one of the passengers needed to get off because it was his stop, but the driver didn't care. The passenger would have to wait til we were at the top of a hill so the driver could roll down the hill to kickstart it. Oh joy.
At last we finally arrived at the bus station. It was nice to touch solid ground! The rest of the border crossing was rather uneventful and smooth running. Only 3 hours later we were in Chiang Rai. We arrived with enough daylight to find a guesthouse.
Chiang Rai is a northern city with not much charm. I thought it would be a good idea to see a town that isn't so touristy. What we really did in this town was relax in the comforts of the modern world. Working internet, hot shower and eating food that wouldn't kill us. This was the life. We spent most of our day lounging around.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
This is a long one
After Vang Vieng, we headed to Luang Prabang which is apparently the most photogenic city in South East Asia. It should also be in the category of most touristy and most expensive! We arrived pretty late and were in a rush to find a room before it got any darker. We finally found a room at Sok Dee guesthouse which is a very fancy guesthouse, that has rooms for around $50-60USD a night. I guess when the day comes to an end, they still had empty rooms and wanted to get some backpackers in. We got a room for less than $13. It was pretty big, with a nice bathroom. The only unfortunate thing (which they didn’t tell us) was that they were doing minor construction right by our room. Every morning we woke up to the voices of workers and their shovelling. Oh well, beggars can’t be choosers in this case.
Luang Prabang is supposed to be where you do all your trekking and exploring of the mountains from, but it’s pretty expensive to book tours. Joey and I decided we were going to wait until Luang Namtha. We met up with our friend Ian again in LP which was nice. We met up with some other travellers to go to Kuasi Waterfall which is about 35 km out of town. It was such a beautiful sight. The water was crystal blue like the blue lagoon in Vang Vieng. We hiked up to the top of the water fall and got a great view of the surrounding mountains and the plummeting water. I’m glad there were fences up there to prevent falls!
Although it was quite pricey to eat in the fancy restaurants in town, the markets are dirt cheap. We walked down the Night Food market alleyway and found a vegetarian buffet for $1.25 for one plate. You get a plate and fill it as much as you can. Oh my god. The food was absolutely amazing. There were perfectly seasoned noodles and rice, coconutty squash, tons of veggies and tasty tofu dish. (I don’t think this would be appealing to you Rej) I ended up eating dinner here all three nights we spent in LP.
Every night in LP there was a night market where hundreds of women came to sell beautiful crafts, fabrics, jewellery and nick nacks of all shapes and sizes. I was so so so to buy a bunch of stuff, but I really don’t want to have to put it in my bag for the next 4 months. I guess we could always send stuff home, but this stuff is nothing we really need. One thing I’ve really liked about Laos so far is that they aren’t pushy. I walked through this market a bunch of times and only heard a couple of “Sa bai dee’s” (Laos for hello) from the sellers. None of them are saying LADY WANT TO BUY? HOW ABOUT YOU BUY SOMETHING?! If a seller says that to me, I pretty much want to run away from their stall. I don’t want to be called lady, and no I don’t want to buy your junk. Laos is new to tourism so a lot of the locals have not caught on, and have yet to become greedy from western money. It felt nice to be at ease and not feel obligated to buy something just because I glanced in that direction.
One thing about Luang Prabang that made it extremely difficult for Joey to work, and to contact our familes, was the fact that they shut down the power from 10am to 6pm every day. We were never told this. Talk about an inconvenience, especially because the ATM’s also shut down. We were stuck with only 40,000 kip ($5usd) and still had to have lunch and dinner. We ended up scrounging up some Chinese Yuan in our backpacks (that NO ONE has ever wanted to exchange for us) and brought it to the exchange place. We were surprised they actually accepted it.
On our last full day in Louang Prabang we wanted to rent bikes. We chose this one place to rent bikes from, and the seats on the bikes were so low that I had to have my knees stick out to the side to ride it. We went back to the shop and asked if they had tools to change the seats to a higher level. She didn’t seem impressed and tossed a bag of mix matched wrenches at us to figure out for ourselves. After we adjusted our seats it was time to the hit the road. I braved the bike for a while, but after a few km, I couldn’t stand the flat tires, the rusty chain and the wobbly wheel. Joey and I went back to the store and got our money back. I felt kinda bad, but if you’re gonna charge a lot of money to rent a bike, it seems reasonable to keep air in the tires and oil on the chain... maybe that’s just me?
That night we decided we must be the perfect tourist and go bowling in LP. We went with our new found friend, Tory who is Canadian/American. In all of Laos there is a curfew, but it varies from town to town. In LP, the bowling alley is open until 3 am, so after the bars close this is where everyone goes. It was fun to bowl for once. I really miss having a bowling alley back in Victoria.
The next day we were on our way to Luang Nam Tha. Instead of taking public transit, we opted to spend a dollar more for a mini bus. I am soooooo glad that we did. The mini bus gets you there 2-3 hours sooner, plus there are less people on the bus and you can stop if you really need to. That was probably one of the most brutal busrides of my life. Both Joey and I were near puking our brains out the entire time. Most of the road is paved, but there are huge patches that have been washed out by mudslides. It was incredibly bumpy and windy through the mountains. Of course I scored the best seat in the bus... not. I don’t know how I manage it, but I always get the back seat. This usually occurs because the tuk tuk supposed to be taking us to the bus, usually forgets or is extremely late. Gotta love living on Laos time. While the guy beside us casually read his book the entire time, Joeys and my face are green the entire 8 hour ride.
The ride just wasn’t enough for us, we also decided it was a good idea to go to the night market and get food poisoning. We have eaten at a lot of food stalls and markets and have never felt sick. In a lot of ways it’s actually safer to eat at a market because you can see them prepare the food for you. You don’t know what the heck they might do to the food or the way they prepare it in the back of a restaurant. Two days later we are still feeling the effects. Nothing that a little electrolytes, probiotics and antibiotics can’t help.
Since we spent most of our day in bed yesterday watching movies from the 80’s on HBO, it was really nice to get out on the river in a kayak. We signed up for a tour with Green Discovery which is an eco tourism company that really helps the villages in the surrounding areas, and also the environment. The pamphlet and office looked really fancy, so we had high expectations. I think that is our downfall when it comes to tours. We went to the office this morning and met up with our guide. I don’t even remember his name because we spoke so few words during our 6 hours together. It would be one thing if there were 6 other people on the tour, but it was only Joey and I signed up for the day.
Getting on the water was amazing. Once we got the hang of the boat and the river, it was really beautiful. Joey and I motored along because we hadn’t exercised in a couple of days and were feeling restless. Our guide was lost in the dust. We finally let him catch up with us a bit later down the river when we stopped at a village to look around. The village was the home of a tribe that are of Chinese descent. I would love to tell you more, but that’s all our guide told us. We continued kayaking down the river until we made it to a hut on the river side. We stopped there for lunch. The tour provided us with food made from local ingredients such as pumpkin and chicken, beef and bean and sticky rice. The villagers provided us with even more local cuisine.... rat stew. Both of us are still not feeling 100% and me being the chicken I am, only dipped my sticky rice into the broth. Joey actually ate some of the rat, and didn’t mind it too much. It definitely wasn’t anything he’d cook for himself or company!
During the meal we were accompanied by a very cute puppy. The people who owned the house kept on tossing scraps to the puppy to devour. Outside there was this old dog looking longingly at the food. Little did we know that he was the lucky one. He was the family dog. The puppy we had been feeding scraps to, was going to be dinner in a few weeks time. They were just trying to fatten him up! Poor puppy!
We headed further down the river to see more villages. These villagers have been living the way they do for hundreds of years. It is like going back a thousand years, minus the plastic, the cellphones and scooters. It is truly amazing to see how little people can live with, but can manage to be so happy. They are hard workers in Lao because they need to survive, but you can tell that they still have fun and enjoy eachother’s company. I think that is really important and what keeps their culture so strong.
By the end of the journey, Joey and I were pooped from all the paddling. We were excited to get back so we could start planning our trip to Thailand... more of that to come.
Luang Prabang is supposed to be where you do all your trekking and exploring of the mountains from, but it’s pretty expensive to book tours. Joey and I decided we were going to wait until Luang Namtha. We met up with our friend Ian again in LP which was nice. We met up with some other travellers to go to Kuasi Waterfall which is about 35 km out of town. It was such a beautiful sight. The water was crystal blue like the blue lagoon in Vang Vieng. We hiked up to the top of the water fall and got a great view of the surrounding mountains and the plummeting water. I’m glad there were fences up there to prevent falls!
Although it was quite pricey to eat in the fancy restaurants in town, the markets are dirt cheap. We walked down the Night Food market alleyway and found a vegetarian buffet for $1.25 for one plate. You get a plate and fill it as much as you can. Oh my god. The food was absolutely amazing. There were perfectly seasoned noodles and rice, coconutty squash, tons of veggies and tasty tofu dish. (I don’t think this would be appealing to you Rej) I ended up eating dinner here all three nights we spent in LP.
Every night in LP there was a night market where hundreds of women came to sell beautiful crafts, fabrics, jewellery and nick nacks of all shapes and sizes. I was so so so to buy a bunch of stuff, but I really don’t want to have to put it in my bag for the next 4 months. I guess we could always send stuff home, but this stuff is nothing we really need. One thing I’ve really liked about Laos so far is that they aren’t pushy. I walked through this market a bunch of times and only heard a couple of “Sa bai dee’s” (Laos for hello) from the sellers. None of them are saying LADY WANT TO BUY? HOW ABOUT YOU BUY SOMETHING?! If a seller says that to me, I pretty much want to run away from their stall. I don’t want to be called lady, and no I don’t want to buy your junk. Laos is new to tourism so a lot of the locals have not caught on, and have yet to become greedy from western money. It felt nice to be at ease and not feel obligated to buy something just because I glanced in that direction.
One thing about Luang Prabang that made it extremely difficult for Joey to work, and to contact our familes, was the fact that they shut down the power from 10am to 6pm every day. We were never told this. Talk about an inconvenience, especially because the ATM’s also shut down. We were stuck with only 40,000 kip ($5usd) and still had to have lunch and dinner. We ended up scrounging up some Chinese Yuan in our backpacks (that NO ONE has ever wanted to exchange for us) and brought it to the exchange place. We were surprised they actually accepted it.
On our last full day in Louang Prabang we wanted to rent bikes. We chose this one place to rent bikes from, and the seats on the bikes were so low that I had to have my knees stick out to the side to ride it. We went back to the shop and asked if they had tools to change the seats to a higher level. She didn’t seem impressed and tossed a bag of mix matched wrenches at us to figure out for ourselves. After we adjusted our seats it was time to the hit the road. I braved the bike for a while, but after a few km, I couldn’t stand the flat tires, the rusty chain and the wobbly wheel. Joey and I went back to the store and got our money back. I felt kinda bad, but if you’re gonna charge a lot of money to rent a bike, it seems reasonable to keep air in the tires and oil on the chain... maybe that’s just me?
That night we decided we must be the perfect tourist and go bowling in LP. We went with our new found friend, Tory who is Canadian/American. In all of Laos there is a curfew, but it varies from town to town. In LP, the bowling alley is open until 3 am, so after the bars close this is where everyone goes. It was fun to bowl for once. I really miss having a bowling alley back in Victoria.
The next day we were on our way to Luang Nam Tha. Instead of taking public transit, we opted to spend a dollar more for a mini bus. I am soooooo glad that we did. The mini bus gets you there 2-3 hours sooner, plus there are less people on the bus and you can stop if you really need to. That was probably one of the most brutal busrides of my life. Both Joey and I were near puking our brains out the entire time. Most of the road is paved, but there are huge patches that have been washed out by mudslides. It was incredibly bumpy and windy through the mountains. Of course I scored the best seat in the bus... not. I don’t know how I manage it, but I always get the back seat. This usually occurs because the tuk tuk supposed to be taking us to the bus, usually forgets or is extremely late. Gotta love living on Laos time. While the guy beside us casually read his book the entire time, Joeys and my face are green the entire 8 hour ride.
The ride just wasn’t enough for us, we also decided it was a good idea to go to the night market and get food poisoning. We have eaten at a lot of food stalls and markets and have never felt sick. In a lot of ways it’s actually safer to eat at a market because you can see them prepare the food for you. You don’t know what the heck they might do to the food or the way they prepare it in the back of a restaurant. Two days later we are still feeling the effects. Nothing that a little electrolytes, probiotics and antibiotics can’t help.
Since we spent most of our day in bed yesterday watching movies from the 80’s on HBO, it was really nice to get out on the river in a kayak. We signed up for a tour with Green Discovery which is an eco tourism company that really helps the villages in the surrounding areas, and also the environment. The pamphlet and office looked really fancy, so we had high expectations. I think that is our downfall when it comes to tours. We went to the office this morning and met up with our guide. I don’t even remember his name because we spoke so few words during our 6 hours together. It would be one thing if there were 6 other people on the tour, but it was only Joey and I signed up for the day.
Getting on the water was amazing. Once we got the hang of the boat and the river, it was really beautiful. Joey and I motored along because we hadn’t exercised in a couple of days and were feeling restless. Our guide was lost in the dust. We finally let him catch up with us a bit later down the river when we stopped at a village to look around. The village was the home of a tribe that are of Chinese descent. I would love to tell you more, but that’s all our guide told us. We continued kayaking down the river until we made it to a hut on the river side. We stopped there for lunch. The tour provided us with food made from local ingredients such as pumpkin and chicken, beef and bean and sticky rice. The villagers provided us with even more local cuisine.... rat stew. Both of us are still not feeling 100% and me being the chicken I am, only dipped my sticky rice into the broth. Joey actually ate some of the rat, and didn’t mind it too much. It definitely wasn’t anything he’d cook for himself or company!
During the meal we were accompanied by a very cute puppy. The people who owned the house kept on tossing scraps to the puppy to devour. Outside there was this old dog looking longingly at the food. Little did we know that he was the lucky one. He was the family dog. The puppy we had been feeding scraps to, was going to be dinner in a few weeks time. They were just trying to fatten him up! Poor puppy!
We headed further down the river to see more villages. These villagers have been living the way they do for hundreds of years. It is like going back a thousand years, minus the plastic, the cellphones and scooters. It is truly amazing to see how little people can live with, but can manage to be so happy. They are hard workers in Lao because they need to survive, but you can tell that they still have fun and enjoy eachother’s company. I think that is really important and what keeps their culture so strong.
By the end of the journey, Joey and I were pooped from all the paddling. We were excited to get back so we could start planning our trip to Thailand... more of that to come.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Bringin’ In the New Year in Vang Vieng, Laos
We ended up making it to Vang Vieng around 3 pm the next morning. It’s a cute little town. There aren’t many locals because it is mostly a tourist town, but it still has a nice charm. The people of Laos have been so friendly so far. It’s been really refreshing and relaxing to be in a place where we aren’t constantly asked for money or people trying to sell us useless stuff.
The only thing that I could complain about in this town, is that internet is expensive and most guesthouses don’t offer free wireless. It’s made it a bit tough for me to write on the blog, and really frustrating for Joey because he has to work 4 hours a day.
We spent our first full day in Vang Vieng exploring the back roads on a motorbike with our Aussie friends, Ian and Ruby. The roads were rough and I thought I may be launched off the back of the bike because of huge potholes. Vang Vieng is surrounded by beautiful limestone mountains that are filled with caves. The only cave we made it to was Tham Phou Kham which is a massive cave. Our group didn’t want to pay for a guide so we only journeyed through the beginning of the cave. It was quite challenging without a flash light!
At the bottom of the mountain that the cave is in, there was a beautiful swimming hole called the Blue Lagoon. The water was a pristine blue colour, which is nice to look at, but not if you don’t like seeing fish. I do not like to know that I am swimming with fish. Needless to say I did not stay in the water for very long. Joey and our friends had a good time jumping out of the tree into the water.
On our way back we stopped at a shack for some lunch. A really old man came over us and attempted to speak to Joey in broken French. The man told Joey he used to parachute out of planes during the Indochine war. Even old men in Laos like to talk about the war days. See, we’re not so different in Canada!
Just down the road from the restaurant was a hiking trail up a mountain. We paid 10,000 kip each to climb it. If there is anything I have learned on this trip is that if there is anything worth seeing or doing, someone’s gonna make money off you. Nothing is free, not even nature. Atleast when we paid to hike up the mountain, we were joined by 3 very cute little local boys. The hike was strenuous and we were all pretty pooped when we reached the top. The view was worth it. We could see the valley below us that was covered in farm land, and the neighbouring limestone mountains. The site was breathtaking and well worth the sweat and Joey’s tears. (Just kidding)
We had arrived in Vang Vieng just in time for the New Years activities! Our idea of having a good New Years eve was floating down the river on an inner tube. Floating down this river was different than any other river I have ever floated down, mainly because this river resembles the Vegas strip with bars lining the shore. The aim of the game is to go to as many places as possible and jump off random platforms and slides hoping you don’t hit fellow tubers. It was quite fun, except for that we lost our video camera and we’re covered in bruises and scratches from the river being kind of low.
The last couple of days we have just been taking it easy. Joey has had to work, and I’ve been living a really hard life of watching Friends, reading a book and getting a massage. Speaking of massage... I thought today would be a great day for a back and neck massage because they have both taken quite a beating from sleeper buses. I went to the massage place and into the room walks a she-male. I don’t know if you guys were aware of this, but they are absolutely everywhere. Lucky me, I got to experience the caress of one first hand. This massage was anything but relaxing. The entire time it was chewing gum with its mouth open (For those of you who don’t know me well, there is nothing that bugs me more) and better yet, he was talking to his friends who were visiting during my massage. Also, traditional Laos massages are not your typical Western massage. It involves a lot of smacking, slapping, and vigorous (read:painful) jabbing. It will take me a while to get over this experience. I should really shower so I don’t smell like tiger balm and baby oil anymore.
Tomorrow we’re taking a 7 hour bus ride to Louang Probang which is a hub for boat rides down the Mekong River. I am very excited to have a slow boat down the Mekong River and see the lives of people who live on the river. Tonite Joey and I are going out for dinner with the friends we’ve made here because they will be staying here longer and we might not see them again.
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