Luang Prabang

From Waterfall

Luang Prabang is a beautiful small town with plenty of temples. AKA tourist trap. After our previous river adventure I was looking forward to something more than cafes, markets and Bhudda's footprint. It actually wasn't that bad. We relaxed, visited holy places, saw the Lao people's amazing craft/textile skills and I got some work done.

FYI: There are no to-go cups in Laos. If you get your drink for take away, you get it in a plastic bag with ice and a straw. Don't set it down!

A couple days later, tired of doing the same old, the tube crew headed for the waterfall. An hour tuk-tuk ride away, this natural masterpiece is situated at the base of a small mountain. I won't try and describe it because there is no way I could relay it's magnificence (check out the photo link.) The waterfall was quite a sight and hiking up the treacherous slick, water soaked trail to its midpoint was pretty fun/sketchy. But the best part of it all were the several swimming holes the water had formed on its way down the hillside.

Being a popular activity there, the pools were packed. (We ran into the Israeli couple there) The water was a little cool, but refreshing. There were also falls and trees to jump from. Although, they were a little lack luster after our river escapade. You could also purchase food and drink at the entrance of the park and bring it in with you. Tons of families, one of which we chatted with extensively. An american man and a Japanese woman. On holiday from Bangkok with their too sons. They were so taken by our charm that they invited us over to their place during our future stop over in Bangkok!

VIP

From Waterfall

All good things must come to an end. As we boarded a true VIP bus the following day for Luang Prabang, we bid farewell to the Dutch.

On the map, Luang Prabang is the same distance Vangvieng is from Vientiane. So I'm thinking it's going to be another 3 hr trip. Wrong, six hours through winding mountains, stuck in the worst seats on the bus. My legs couldn't fit in the regular rows, so I convinced Sus to sit in the back (A Raised four wide over the engine.)
Advantage: • Leg room
Disadvantage(s): • Highest point on the bus moves the greatest amount • The rear axle shocks relayed every bump directly through my spine • There were no armrests to brace yourself • Motion sickness • The engine below heated up the back of the bus and made all the metal on the floor was piping hot • The A/C starting in the front of the bus had a hard time making it to the back • There was no back curtain preventing the midday sun from hitting us • My stinky shoes started to cook on the rear window • Opening the side windows only worked for the window seats (we were in the middle) • Our seats were too high up to see the good views out of the window • We were hungover from the day before • Motion sickness

Having sweated through every article of clothing on my person, we finally get there.

6 Americans, 1 Kiwi, 3 Dutch, 1 Latvian & 1 Italian

From Vangviang

Dingy raised bungalows with communal toilets and snoring neighbors are par for the course, but our day was about to turn around.

We all meet up to rent tubes and catch the few kilometer lift up the river. Now it's the rainy season so they say you can get down the river pretty quickly (1-hr or so / 2-hr in dry season) if you float straight through. They were right, when we pulled up the Mekong was flowing fast. Yes, tubing is fun, but the real reason people go is because there are about 12-15 bars along the way down. Most equipped with a flying fox (zip line) or trapeze swing into the water. Envision a 50-60 beam stretching out over the river with a trapeze swing off to one side, up in a tree loft or makeshift platform. AMAZING! So we all plopped into the water and 50 meters later is the first bar. We immediately go off the swing and grab a beer. A few bars later people are going off tandem and trying backflips. Sus even hurled herself a couple times into the turbulent chocolate colored waters of the Mekong! By the last bar we were making the backflips and swinging three at a time! (One of our other American friends took pictures. I pray that he forwards them on to us.) The river wasn't really crowded that day so we formed, with a few other stragglers, forming the loudest/ most fun crew out there. Which brought our total to 12 (6 Americans, 1 Kiwi, 3 Dutch, 1 Latvian & 1 Italian.) We returned our tubes around dusk and met up to eat later that night. An brilliant day with new friends I'll never forget.

Fan Class is a lot different than First Class.

From Train to Nong...

During our train ride to southern Thailand we were high rollers. Now that the bank accounts are shrinking, our train accommodations riding north were slightly down graded. No private room, no air-con and beds about a foot and a half too short for me. All in all it was fine except for the stewards coming by and warning us all about possible theft. Sleep with one eye open and on your bag, or lock em up!

Waking up the next morning with all out stuff and at the end of the line was sweet. The train stops short of Laos so you have to take a tuk-tuk to the Thai border, get a bus over the Friendship Bridge and then enter though Loa Immigration. During our several mini transports we met an English woman who lives in Laos and publishes "Asia Runner". She is heavy into the endurance sports world and new plenty of folks in So-Cal - The Triathlon Capital.

After entering Laos, it's a half hour tuk-tuk to the town of Vientiane. During the ride we were with another couple from Israel. They were on holiday for a short period of time in between grad school and their new jobs/internships. We ended up seeing them several times more while on our excursion. Seems that everyone traveling in that area has the same itinerary. No new hot spots discovered recently I guess.

The rest of our initial day in Laos included a fantastic Indian food lunch and bowling. Sus and I hit up the Infamous Lao Bowling Center. We bowled, drank, danced and had a blast with a group of locals in the lane next to us.

The following morning we boarded a bus for Vangvieng. They said it was a VIP bus, but it was more like a mini bus on steroids. Leg to leg, shoulder to shoulder we sat with 18 other travelers. It actually made it pretty easy to chat with the person next to you. Close quarters bring people closer together on many levels. Turns out that three hour experience had just made us good friends for the week to come. The next day we all planned to meet up for the one must do in Vangvieng, tubing!

Bangkok City

From Siam Center

Our next destination is Loas. Being a ways away, we hoped a flight from Krabi up to Bangkok. I'll avoid a 12hr train ride whenever I can. Air Asia makes it so easy to book throughout SE Asia. They're cheap, they go everywhere and have open seating. Making them the Southwest of the Southeast.

We only stayed over a couple nights before taking the train north. Just long enough to check out the Siam Center. Bangkok's eight story mall. The place is immense and contains everything a good mall should. Movie theater, bowling, spa, Sizzler, McDonald's and Dairy Queen (all on the 7th floor). It is the epidemy of excess and overspending. It's way over the top and we, along with everyone else in there, couldn't get enough of it.

So after my Big Mac meal and DQ Oreo Blizzard, I accompanied Sus to the Sex and the City Movie. Yes, it was one long commercial for high end retailers, had a guessable story line and lasted more than 2 hrs, but it was all worth it for the foax Cosmo they handed out prior to its start. Oh, the recliner like seats and individual blankets where also a plus.

The next day we caught the train to Nung Khai.

Thai 2

From Krabi

From Phi Phi we caught another ferry over to Krabi (mainland Thailand.) At this point I'm getting used to the boat thing, but also getting very tired of it. Motion sickness is a severe thorn in my side. Earlier on Sus had bought pressure point wristbands so I sported those while traversing long stretches of open water. I believe they truly saved me from the monsoon stirred Bay of Thailand. I never would have thought there'd be 3'-4' rollers during our ride.

Krabi, being a hot spot for the 20-something Thai tourist, it was almost comical as everyone disembarked the ferry. I felt like there was an assembly line of young backpackers below deck. One after another they come up to the dock, each one only varying in hair color and oversized North Face bag color. At that point I definitely felt like we weren't trying hard enough to get off the beaten path.

We spent the next few nights in Krabi doing the usual. Mostly motor biking about town, window shopping, working and of course finding new places to eat. We'd been pretty good about going to locals only places. The only problem is the language barrier at those joints. You may not always get what you think you ordered, but it's still very good. Krabi was the first place we'd breezed through where the street carts were fairly scarce. We come to find out that this is because there are morning and night markets each day. That's where to find good eats, groceries, t-shirts, jewelry and the occasional Californian. (Most Thai families will pick up their dinner there as well).

After a casual day of working and sipping on Chang (Thai beer that means elephant.) Sus and I headed to the night market for dinner. Midway through our meal we befriended another traveler that happened to be from Cali, East County I believe. Brian was a nice guy who hung out with us the rest of the night. We discussed one another's trips and he balked at our spending habits (We actually thought we were being thrifty.) Brian was a frugal guy who would and had suffered many a meager nights accommodations and endured lengthy public transportation bouts just to save a buck. I can only attribute his resilience to youth. I had never thought of myself as old(er) until that point. Well, maybe I'm not old, but I'm old enough to know what certain creature comforts are worth to me. And yes, I'll gladly pay.

At this point, I was pretty loose from the Chang, satisfied from the meal and happy meeting another Californian, so I thought it'd be an opportune time to order a flask of Sang Som (Thai rum). I grand idea at the time, but in retrospect, unnecessary. Although, I doubt I would have eaten the fried grasshopper at the market that night had we not indulged in the fifth.

The following day... oh scratch that. Two days later Sus wanted to make it to Railey Beach before we left the region. Finding out that it's impossible to get there by motorbike (we tried) the day prior, we jumped on the bus. It's about thirty minutes by local bus to the main beach in Krabi, where you have to take a fifteen minute long tail boat ride to the isolated Railey Beach. It's a peninsula only accessible by water taxi.

The place is beautiful! Long stretches of white sand beach contrasting crystal clear blue water, surrounded by rock cliffs. The kind that jut straight out of the earth, defying the natural terrain (It's a popular place for climbing.) We got massages, rented kayaks and got completely burnt. It had been raining on and off for an entire week, so we were both eager to soak up some rays. We were also fortunate enough to be passing through on a Sunday, football (soccer) league day. As we basked, the locals played game after game on the beach. These weren't pick up games either. Marked off field, refs, jerseys and crazy fans. Mostly young girls who used any shot/pass/block as an excuse to scream as loud as they could. On a side note, EUR08 is huge here. It certainly rivals muay Thai boxing as the country's favorite sport, which narrowly edged out badminton and snooker.

A fantastic day.

Thailand

From Khao Lak

Bangkok
I thought Bangkok was a great place despite recommendations to "get in and get out" quickly. We stayed right in the heart of the enormous southeastern powerhouse, in a tiny accommodation called Wild Orchid Villas. Very reasonably priced, clean and among many others like it, filled with travelers, ex-pats and hippies alike. We were close to just about everything and anything that you couldn't walk to was a tuk tuk ride away. My favorite amenity of the villa was their wireless internet connection. Although it wasn't lightning fast, it blew Bali speeds out of the water and was in the common/eating area.

Some pertinent items I've come to find out in Bangkok are as follows. It is mainly a motorbike society. There as many Vespas as there are pretty women on the streets. And in certain places, most of those women are for sale. I saw a strikingly large number of older men cruising about town with a young Thai girl on their arm. But, buyer beware, there are many slender, feminine men, dressed as ladies around town. These he-shes are widely accepted as part of the Thai community. Most everything you need or want or buy is very cheap! It's all made right there. The food is excellent! We ate more from street cart vendors and local joints than we did from our hotel. You can also make your meal as hot as you care to. (I really need to get a Thai cookbook before we leave.) The traffic is as heavy as any major bustling city, but the pollution is outrageous. (There are no smog checks happening there.) A good part of the city is on the water. Water taxis run daily throughout. Oh, and one more thing, IT'S FRICKIN' HOT.

During our time in Bangkok I had to work a fair amount, but we did try to do one big thing everyday. First tourist item on the list was The Grand Palace. A ridiculously ornate compound made for the current ruler a few hundred years ago. The pictures we took really don't do it justice. The place is an artistic marvel. Brightly colored stones, glass, mirrors and GOLD make up the outer parts of every building. The main temple housing a priceless jade buddha, the only one of its kind. The following day we continued with our spiritual quest by visiting temples home to the tallest and oldest buddhas.

Our next main tourist stop was the weekend world market. Holy Cow! Football fields of boxed off vendors covered with an ocean of blue tarps and more people than any sports stadium could hold. You can buy anything you want there. And I do mean anything. Groceries, clothes, jewelry, house-ware, furniture, pets, feed, etc. It was absolutely overwhelming. After a few hours par-oozing in the sauna like conditions, we had to call it a day.

The next distinctly Thai thing we did was to go watch a Muay Thai Boxing match. Susanna took a little convincing to go (I had to buy her ticket) but it turned out to be quite an experience. Ten different bouts, five rounds each and the fighter's ability progress' as the night goes on. It just so happens that we caught it on a championship night. The seventh matchup was for a prominent Thai Belt. This being known, I knew I could get Sus to stay until then. At that point my curiosity would surely be satisfied. Well, what we saw was pretty intense. Each match begins with the fighters dancing to ceremonial music (also continues through the actual round). It is an honor to fight and the traditions of their predecessors are carried on without fail. Now they wear gloves, but kicking is allowed and encouraged by the fans. Most of which were there to gamble on the matches. These guys are tough. With each knee to the ribs, the crowd shouts. Each fighter carrying their side of the crowd. Punches, kicks and elbows to the head are standard. These men are machines. Out of all the matches we watched only one guy was taken out by a face punch (glass jaw). The rest of the bouts lasted the full five rounds each, with a decision coming from the judges.

The last thing we did before catching a train south was the riverboat taxi. This was nothing spectacular, but it did give us a better sense of the city. We took a bunch of picts and stopped off a couple places to walk around and of course eat. Other than that, our days in Bangkok consisted of just cruising around, eating, sweating and shopping, with a few hours for my work tossed in there as well. All in all a great place and I'm glad I didn't just "get in and get out".

Khao Lak
After our overnight train ride (pretty funny) and three hour bus ride (it did have A/C) we arrived in the little beach town of Khao Lak. Completely torn down from the tsunami four years ago, this little town has rebuilt itself, for the most part. This two strip town was fairly mellow (we found out we are here during the low season [a.k.a monsoon season]). A bunch of guest houses and little local eateries and bars, mixed with a few posh resorts on the beach front. The pace was slow and it really agreed with us. Our place was middle of the road (although better than our current average) and within walking distance from the beach. We had a pool, a/c and wireless (I was stoked). Our routine wavered only slightly. In addition to eating, shopping and working, we added sunning and motor biking. We rented a scooter (my first time riding a two wheeled motor vehicle) and did the aforementioned with greater ease. The beaches were sauna like and the Andaman Sea temp was equivalent to bath water.

Unfortunately, we didn't pay homage at either tsunami memorial, but we did go elephant trekking! Sus and I each got our own elephant (equipped with trainer/guide) for a hour long tour through the jungle. Hmm, well it was mainly through rubber tree groves, creeks and bamboo brush, but the actual experience didn't suffer. It was amazing being on top (in a chair) of the elephant as it tramped through the bush. My elephant (the son of the one Sus rode) ate the entire time. As my guide and I struggled with the language barrier, I was able decipher through our small talk that the beasts consume 200-250 kilos of food a day. He was a genuine man about my age who has been working with the mammals for half of his life. And only recently did he move to Khao Lak to stay at this elephant camp. Oh, and every elephant has only one handler/care taker.

Phuket
Another couple hour bus ride south from Khao Lak is the widely popular Phuket. We crashed in the city for a night to get our bearings. During our brief stay, Sus caught an Indie Film Showcase and we bother stumble into a local bar's grand opening. A proper set up with free food and live music. It just so happened that we met another western couple (we were the only four in the whole bar) living in Nai Harn (our next destination). We got a few tips from them and the next day were on our way.

Nai Harn
The island of Phuket has many beach towns that fell victim to the tsunami. However those places didn't look too worse for the wear. These tourist hotspots were filled with hotels, shops, clubs and people. There are a bunch of little beaches all around this little island, but we opted to stay far south at Nai Harn. Partially because it was away from the crowds and partly for the surf possibility. Being the southern most beach on the island it's well exposed to any swells coming up from the Indian Ocean and wrapping around Sumatra. Before adventuring over to Thailand, we were told by a few travelers that there were surf spots on the southern west coast. Having been to most of them and hearing the locals talk, the surf comes infrequently, if at all. But it being monsoon season, I still had high hopes.

No surf, but after a good sunburn and another scooter rental we fell upon a live snake show. This had to have been the most outlandish thing I've ever been witness to. Maybe because I despise snakes or maybe it's because I'm a rational person, but either way I sat in utter shock as this 15 year snake handling veteran wrestled with the deadly serpents. The picts aren't that telling, but the video clips Sus got say it all. Hopefully, I can try and figure out how to post them. Otherwise, the next holiday get together will a little more special.

Phi Phi Island
The easy life gets kind of repetitious after a while, so we've jetted to Phi Phi Island. A two hour boat ride from the town of Phuket, this island is a diving, partying and vacationing mecca. Luckily, we managed to grab a bungalow right on the beach (it's really quite a piece). We are away from the main drag again, but a 100 baht boat taxi can remedy that in about 10 minutes. Relaxing, sunning, shopping and now catching up on overdue emails are now the norm. We booked a dive charter for tomorrow morning so I'll be diving while Sus snorkels. No experience, no certificate, no problem! I love Thailand.

Well, I'm an official diver now. I completed a little orientation course and two 50 minute dives - even have the certificate to prove it. I was a bit nervous at the start but caught on very quickly. The equipment is the same as snorkeling, so my prior experience with that certainly helped out. Seemingly, the two most difficult things to do while submerged were fill you mask up with water, then clear it and remove your regulator, keep exhaling and reattach it. Both came quite easy which made the two dives that much more enjoyable. More time seeing new things and less time thinking about needed skill sets. While under I got to see up close all the things my sister's told me about and that I've only seen while bobbing at the surface. Such as eels, parrot fish, grouper and a reef shark! The colors were brilliant and the feeling of staying under for so long was unreal. It's tranquil and other worldly down there.

Not only did I have a great time, but Sus got in the big blue as well. She set aside her uneasiness about the ocean and went snorkeling for the first time! She had a two man escort (myself and the instructor) from the boat to the reef. She didn't last long but got to see a lot of new things and said afterwards that it made her "feel little". Kind of like the feeling you get when you look up at the stars at night. I know from many times in the water with Sus that it took all she had to get off that boat and I couldn't be more proud of her.

From Bali Beaches

I know its been a while, but I felt it'd be inappropriate to converse about Bali until I could verbally compose my true feelings about it. What I can say is that Bali is a personal favorite that will outlast modern times. I will write about is when I can sufficiently do it justice. I can't wait to relay it in all its native glory.